Hua Zhi took a few more steps, then paused and turned back. She reached her hand through the doorway toward Yanxi inside.

Gu Yanxi’s gaze flickered. He stepped forward quickly and took her hand, and the two of them arrived before the four dumbfounded mistresses hand in hand, side by side.

“Your daughter has been unfilial and caused Mother to worry.”

Hua Zhi curtsied before Zhu Shi. She had barely begun to bend her waist before Zhu Shi had already caught her by the arms, and at the sight of her daughter’s haggard appearance, tears streamed down her face in an unbroken line. “I knew it, I just knew it — you would never have stayed away from home if you weren’t really unwell.”

“I’m much better now.” Hua Zhi then bowed in turn to her three aunts-by-marriage, and all three hurried to pull her upright.

Unable to bear seeing her mother in tears, Hua Zhi drew Yanxi forward a step to stand beside her and introduced him one by one: “My mother. Second Aunt. Third Aunt. Fourth Aunt.”

Gu Yanxi bowed to each in turn as a junior member of the family. He was still dressed in the full regalia of the Prince Regent, and even with his presence reined in, it was still an imposing sight — and all four women’s first instinct was to step back rather than receive his bow.

Hua Zhi held her mother firmly in place and would not let her move. “Since he intends to marry me, he is a junior in this household, and it is entirely proper for a junior to bow before his elders. You need only accept it.”

Zhu Shi was no longer the woman who had kept to the inner chambers and shut out the world. She had heard something of the matter between her daughter and the Prince Regent, had even gone to make inquiries with her own father, and had come to understand how much the man had looked after her daughter over these two years. But still…

Zhu Shi thought of the late Emperor’s posthumous decree and could not help feeling both afraid and, in some measure, resentful of the Prince Regent. Zhi’er was already eighteen — if things dragged on another three years she would be considered a spinster! The Prince Regent was free to take additional consorts as he pleased — but what would become of her daughter then? Would she enter the household already as a mother figure? And so, though she was still thoroughly intimidated, she steeled herself and did not step back. She could not show weakness.

Clutching her daughter’s hand tightly, Zhu Shi steadied her voice as best she could and offered a shallow curtsey. “Greetings, my lord. Zhi’er has been in your care.”

Gu Yanxi turned slightly to decline receiving the full curtsey. “I have done little. If anything, it is A’Zhi who has helped me greatly.”

Hua Zhi was rather surprised — she had not noticed when exactly her mother, who used to cry at the slightest provocation, had grown somewhat bolder. Come to think of it, with the inner household running smoothly and the women of each branch getting along well without any troublesome complications, she really had not paid attention to the inner court for quite some time.

Watching her mother not quite knowing where to put her hands or feet, Hua Zhi steered her gently toward the three aunts. “Why don’t you all go and have a look around the inner courtyard and see how things stand? We need everything in order before Grandfather and Father return.”

At the mention of this, all thoughts of fear were forgotten, replaced by an excitement that could barely be contained. They had believed they might never see each other again in their lifetime — and yet here they were, barely two years later, returning in full and glorious vindication. A reversal of fortunes this swift was a rare thing even in the pages of history.

Watching them depart with light, eager steps, Hua Zhi wrapped her right arm around her left shoulder and gave it a squeeze — and the smile froze on her face at Yanxi’s next words: “I have seen you press your left shoulder several times today. Is it itching or aching?”

Hua Zhi lowered her gaze. A moment passed before she slowly raised her left hand. She held it up to chest height and spread her fingers open — or tried to. No matter how she tried, her fingers remained curled, and no amount of effort could straighten them out into a flat palm.

Gu Yanxi was badly shaken. He cupped her hand in both of his and said in a tense voice, “When did this start? Why did you not say anything?”

“It’s only been these past few days. When Elder Yu told me to move my arm around a little, I noticed it wasn’t quite responding the way it should. I didn’t think much of it at the time — I assumed it was because I hadn’t been using it and it had stiffened up.” Hua Zhi flexed the fingers of her left hand — fingers that could not fully extend and could only curl into a loose fist — and spoke in a detached, almost casual tone, as though she were talking about someone else entirely. “It has improved a little over these past two days.”

Gu Yanxi raised his hand and gave himself a sharp slap across the face. Something this serious, and he had not noticed until today.

Hua Zhi had not been fast enough to stop him. She pressed one hand over his and gently touched his cheek with the other. “I am still here. And as long as I am here, anything is possible. Do not worry.”

Gu Yanxi turned away and crouched down before A’Zhi, not saying a word.

Hua Zhi knew that in this matter the fault was her own. But Yanxi had already been run ragged — she had not wanted to add yet more to his burdens. And besides, she had genuinely been seeing improvement. She had been using some rehabilitative exercises these past few days, and they had proved effective. She had been meaning to speak to Elder Yu about the situation that very day — but as it happened, Yanxi’s eyes were sharper than she had anticipated, and he had caught it at exactly this moment.

She obediently lay forward against him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and made her appeal: “I don’t want to go back to the palace.”

Gu Yanxi’s steps faltered. She saw an opening and immediately pressed further in her softest, most delicate voice: “I want to stay here.”

Gu Yanxi breathed a quiet sigh in his heart. He could not refuse A’Zhi anything — and besides, he understood better than anyone how much this place meant to her. After everything she had gone through to come back to it, how could he ask her to leave?

“The inner courtyard is not convenient for me to enter. I’ll have someone prepare a room in the front courtyard for you to stay in first.”

Hua Zhi leaned in and pressed a firm kiss to the man’s cheek, expressing all her delight in that single action. Hua Bailin, who had just come out at exactly that moment, immediately covered his eyes and turned around. Elder Sister really was bold — truly worthy of being Elder Sister!

At the same moment, Hua Zhi spotted him as well. “Bailin, come here.”

“Mother and the others must have brought maids and servants when they came — have them do the tidying.” She gave a brief explanation and then sent Bailin off to pass the message. She had not found it awkward in the least to be carried on a man’s back in front of family — she was not particularly bothered about such things among her own people.

What more could Gu Yanxi say? He carried her to a clean spot and settled her there, then left promptly to fetch Elder Yu himself. Zhu Shi, who had been watching from a discreet distance for some time, came forward then to sit beside her daughter, touching her daughter’s gaunt face with a soft, gentle hand. “How is it that you never come through something without being hurt?”

“Blame your daughter for being too easy a target — people always pick on the soft ones.” Hua Zhi leaned against the corridor pillar, laughing without a shred of dignity. Zhu Shi was struck by a sudden realization: in all those many years before, her daughter had never once spoken to her this way. She had always been quiet. Proper. Never a hair out of place in her manners or bearing — and never approachable because of it.

Even when the match with the Shen Family had been discussed, she had only smiled with lips gently closed and said that she would defer to her parents’ arrangements. So much so that when Zhi’er had taken over the household afterward, Zhu Shi had been unable to believe for a long time that this was truly her daughter. What depths of patience must a person have to conceal talents like that so completely — and Zhi’er had truly done it without a single leak.

The thought moved her so strongly that she gave voice to the impulse before she could think better of it: “Before all of this — were you happy?”

Hua Zhi raised an eyebrow. She sat up straighter and shifted a little closer to her mother. “Of course I was happy. Above me, Grandfather held up the sky; in between, Father and the uncles sheltered us from the winds and storms; and further ahead, brothers who had been well taught were there to take over in turn. I had not a single thing to worry about. Fed on the finest food every day, not a drop of cold water on these hands, a whole vast library tower to wander through at leisure, and free time to sit with Grandfather over a game of chess or share a cup of tea in easy conversation. That was a life fit for the immortals. And even the match that had been arranged for me was with Father’s own student — had things gone smoothly, it would have been the most peaceful and secure life a daughter of a great family could ask for. How could I not have been happy?”

The expression on Zhu Shi’s face grew complicated. She had never known her daughter’s life before had been so full. “And now?”

Hua Zhi looked at the servants moving busily in the distance and smiled softly. “Like a stone lifted from my chest.”