All along the way, Hua Zhi asked questions, and Chen Shan answered them as thoroughly as he could. The moment he had seen the eldest young miss, he knew she would be their pillar.

“Chen Shan, you’re a little late today. Your master has been waiting for a while. Hua Da, Chen Shan is here.”

Hua Pingyu came out from inside the front gate and caught sight of the person standing beside Chen Shan. His eyes went wide with shock. This wasn’t — this wasn’t —

Hua Zhi had always believed her feelings for her father were not deep — merely a tie of blood, nothing more. But in this moment she felt, with vivid clarity, the innate closeness that ran in the blood.

She ran forward several quick steps and bowed to the ground. “Father…”

Hua Pingyu hastily helped her up. His lips moved several times, but not a single word came out. His daughter’s arrival had caught him utterly off guard.

It was the person standing nearby who spoke first, face full of astonishment. “Hua Da, is this your son? That’s not right — weren’t all children ten and under exiled from your family? This is deceiving the Emperor!”

Hua Pingyu had no wish to bear the charge of deceiving the Emperor. His brow grew cold and he said: “Open your eyes and look clearly. This is my eldest daughter. The women of the Hua Family were not sentenced to exile!”

That set the people nearby laughing. The Hua Family’s daughter had come all the way from the capital to Yinshan Pass? Who would believe such a thing?

“Hua Da, tell all the tall tales you like. We’ll see if the general believes you.”

Hua Zhi turned around and slowly lowered her hood, revealing her delicate features. Her cool gaze swept one by one over the crowd. “Do you all think that a daughter of the Hua Family is easy to bully?”

Though her tone was cool, no one there was deaf. It was plainly a woman’s voice. Looking more closely at that face — even dressed in the clothes of a young man, the beauty that was distinctly a woman’s could not be concealed.

Truly, a young miss had come all the way from the capital to Yinshan Pass?

The laughter died at once. They stared with eyes nearly popping from their heads.

Hua Pingyu’s face broke into the quietly proud smile of a father. “Wait here a moment. Your father will go and request leave from his superior.”

Hua Zhi answered obediently, without questioning whether her father could actually obtain leave. He had his literary man’s pride, but he had been an official for many years. What needed to be known, he knew.

“Chen Shan, look after Zhi’er.”

“Yes.”

Hua Pingyu turned and hurried back. Hua Zhi replaced her hood and turned her gaze away from the ever-growing crowd.

Gu Yanxi’s expression grew serious. He led Linying forward and stood in front of her, cutting off everyone’s line of sight.

Shao Yao sidled up to Hua Zhi, clutching her arm and grumbling, “These people are so disagreeable.”

Hua Zhi took hold of her hand but did not respond. She regarded them as ants beneath notice — how could they affect her?

Before long there was movement at the gate. Hua Zhi glanced over and met her father’s gaze — helpless, yet tinged with barely concealed pride.

Hua Pingyu had no desire for his daughter to be gawked at this way, yet his heart was truly glad she had come. He did not quite know what expression to put on.

Hua Zhi stepped out from behind the horse. She turned to bow gracefully toward all those inside the gate, knowing full well that these were the colleagues her father would be living among. Perhaps they did not even rank as petty officials, but if they chose to make things difficult for her father, his days would be troubled. Courtesy never hurt.

The clamor fell instantly to silence. Hearing it told was one thing, but seeing it in person was quite another. Who did not have family? Visits were not unheard of. But a sheltered young woman traveling a thousand miles to come here — this was the first time anyone had witnessed such a thing.

Several who had felt uneasy — whether from envy or jealousy — now found themselves moved. One man among them patted Hua Da on the shoulder and said, “A trip like that is no small thing. You have the afternoon off.”

Hua Pingyu had only managed to secure an hour’s leave, and upon hearing these words he was overjoyed, turning to bow deeply.

Hua Zhi heard it too, and bowed once more toward the man who had spoken. He raised a hand to stop her, then turned and walked away with his hands clasped behind his back, thinking to himself: what a fine daughter the Hua Family had raised — her courage and bearing were no less than any man’s.

Hua Pingyu, sweeping away the shadow that had hung over him for so long, straightened his back and walked tall as he led his daughter toward his father’s quarters. All along the way he kept asking about the household, and the more he learned the more he understood how blind he had been to this daughter of his.

Out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of the woman walking beside his daughter wearing a veiled hat, and the other figure — a man with a commanding, formidable bearing. He was curious about their identities, but he did not ask. After all that had happened, he now trusted his daughter completely.

Inside the small room, Hua Yi was coughing softly and continuously, yet the hand holding his brush remained steady, and not a single character in his writing was disturbed.

When the light in the room dimmed, he looked up and saw his younger son come in carrying the food box. He set down his brush and walked to one side to wash his hands.

Having a private room to work in, with coal burning even if it was not the quality the Hua Family had once used — food and clothing sufficient, though not lavish. Life in exile had turned out to be far more bearable than expected. Reaching this point had cost a great price, and more than half of the silver Zhi’er had prepared had already been spent. Yet even so, Hua Yi had not stopped his younger son from doing what needed to be done.

He had to live. He had to live to return to his wife’s side. They were suffering here — but could the women left behind in the capital, living in constant fear and worry, be faring any better?

“How are they doing?”

Knowing whom his father was asking about, Hua Pingyang did not conceal anything. “They are still unconscious. The fourth one has not yet broken his fever.”

Hua Yi was silent for a moment, then let out a long sigh. “Find a way to help them as best you can. The Hua Family cannot afford to lose anyone.”

“Yes, I understand.” Hua Pingyang smiled as he answered, swallowing down the bitterness that filled his heart. The silver on hand was already running low, yet the demands on it were too many. Plug one hole and another opened up, with nothing to spare.

These were people who had been raised in pampered comfort all their lives, and already several had fallen ill in barely the start of the eleventh month. The cold would only grow worse as the season deepened. He did not know how they would make it through the winter.

Father and son sat across from each other in silence, both finding it difficult to eat.

When there was a sound at the door, Hua Pingyang set down his bowl and rose to look — and at what he saw, his eyes nearly leaped from their sockets.

“Father, Father, come quickly…”

Hua Yi’s heart lurched. He knew well what his younger son was capable of; for something to so change his expression…

Hua Yi hurriedly set down his bowl, gathered his robe, and strode over in a few large steps. When he saw who was standing outside the door, he finally understood why his son had been so undone. He had never imagined — never dared to imagine — that the granddaughter who should have been far away in the capital, holding things together, would appear here before him.

Looking at his grandfather — his bearing still dignified, his clothing proper, yet visibly aged — Hua Zhi knelt with reddened eyes. “Your granddaughter brings the greetings of all the Hua Family’s descendants to grandfather.”

Even Hua Yi, who had weathered countless storms, felt the heat rise in his eyes and his nose begin to ache. His beard trembled with small tremors. Hoarseness in his voice, he stepped forward to help her up. “Rise, rise — quickly, rise.”

In the rooms all around, large and small, people came filing out. They stood in silence, watching the scene unfold. Those who had been in the middle of chewing their meals had stopped, cheeks puffed out in a way that might have looked comical under other circumstances — yet no one laughed.

PS: There will be a double update.