As the year drew near its end, the various departments sealed their brushes and closed their records. Hua Zhi accordingly treated her duties as Grand Tutor as though they had come to a natural pause, and took up residence in her library, perfectly content to go nowhere. Anyone who wanted to find her was sure to find her there.

The Grand Empress Dowager, having shed her formal robes, came directly to the library accompanied by a single elderly nursemaid. She spent the better part of her days in the Regent’s Manor these days, tucked away in the inner quarters, never putting on the airs of the senior matriarch. As time passed, the entire household had come to regard her simply as an ordinary senior elder.

This was her first time visiting the library. She signaled to the nursemaid to stay outside and pushed open the door herself. Her first sight was Hua Zhi up on a ladder, reaching for a book.

Hua Zhi had spotted her as well, and moved to come down and pay her respects.

“Careful—don’t fall.”

The Grand Empress Dowager smiled and walked over, reaching up to steady her. Once Hua Zhi had come down, she would not allow her to kneel, instead taking her by the arm and guiding her to a small table nearby. She looked around, then asked, “Xiao Han isn’t here?”

“That you should ask after him—he’s gone to the Hua Family’s clan school today. He simply cannot be kept from people entirely.”

The Grand Empress Dowager nodded. Hua Zhi had long since made it known that she would take no more disciples. Of her two students, one lived mostly in the palace, while only Zeng Han stayed by her side year-round. As for whether her health would allow her to have a child of her own—that was uncertain. The household’s people treated Zeng Han nearly as they would a proper master. Even though she had long since come to terms with this, a thread of complicated feeling still lingered in her heart. Truly, this was her one remaining regret.

Setting those stray thoughts aside, the Grand Empress Dowager looked with a smile at her granddaughter-in-law, whose expression was serene and composed. “Grandmother won’t talk in circles. I’ve come today about the Emperor’s marriage.”

Hua Zhi was not surprised. “Whatever you need of me, you need only say so.”

“I haven’t come to give you instructions.” The Grand Empress Dowager turned her gaze away, letting it settle on the towering bookshelves that required one to lift one’s head to see the top. “More than me, I believe the Emperor would rather you be the one to oversee this matter.”

Hua Zhi was startled for a moment—then she suddenly recalled that before Shao Yao’s wedding, the Emperor had once asked her whether she would take just as much care over his own marriage. She had given her word.

“I trust your judgment, and I trust that you will think of the Emperor’s wellbeing wholeheartedly.” The Grand Empress Dowager patted her hand, then picked up a book nearby and flipped through it idly. The fragrance of ink wafted up, and she drew in a deep breath without thinking. The more time she spent with Hua Zhi, the more her old worries seemed unnecessary. Hua Zhi was even more principled and self-restrained than she had anticipated, never stepping a single inch beyond what was proper. Her ambition for official position was not even a match for this library of hers. This granddaughter-in-law of hers—aside from the difficulty around children, there was truly not another single fault to be found.

Hua Zhi agreed to take charge of the matter without much deliberation. She understood that choosing a fitting Empress for the Emperor—one the Emperor himself would find agreeable—was far harder than finding a match for the eldest legitimate son of the Hua Family. Yet the duty fell squarely on her shoulders. It was a promise she had made.

On the thirtieth day of the twelfth month, the Emperor, unlike in years past, did not hold a banquet for his officials. Even the imperial family gathered only for a simple reunion dinner before he dismissed everyone—nothing like the elaborate affairs of previous years. When the time came to see in the New Year that evening, the Grand Empress Dowager retired early, leaving only the Regent and his wife and Xiao Han to accompany the Emperor in the warm inner hall. The four of them sat on the floor in a circle, easy and close.

“I expect everyone must be feeling rather uneasy.” Hua Zhi offered this subtle remark, though she did not think the change was anything to object to. The thirtieth day of the twelfth month was meant for family—why carry on with all those formalities? It was only that it had been done this way for so many years that it had simply become habit.

“After a few more times, they’ll get used to it. I don’t want to waste time on things that aren’t necessary.” The Emperor had one arm around Zeng Han and the other raised with his wine cup, teasing him. Zeng Han was not as intimidated by the Emperor as others were, and kept swaying and dodging with a look of undisguised disdain on his face—which made the Emperor laugh out loud.

Those present were truly his own people, and the Emperor was entirely at ease, indulging in some lighthearted mischief. The features that had grown ever more refined in recent years softened visibly now.

The married couple made no move to intervene. Gu Yanxi leaned back against a cushion with his wine, while Hua Zhi picked idly at the nuts beside her, watching with a smile as her little disciple ultimately failed to escape those scheming hands, was forced to down a mouthful of wine, and promptly scrunched every feature of his face into a knot.

The Emperor’s laughter grew louder.

“Don’t be surprised if he refuses to come to the palace again next time.”

That only spurred the Emperor on. He would not have that at all—he pulled the fleeing boy back by main force and held up the wine cup in mock threat. “The next time I summon you to the palace, will you come?”

Zeng Han’s face went red—whether from that mouthful of wine or from sheer indignation. He glared with wide eyes, opened his mouth to say he would not, but the wine cup was nearly touching his nose, and the smell of it made him waver. He capitulated, huffing in irritation. “Fine. I’ll come.”

“Good boy. When you’re grown, this senior apprentice-brother will give you an official post.”

Zeng Han crawled over to sit beside his teacher and pressed close to her side, refusing to spare the Emperor even a glance. Senior apprentice-brother—honestly, sometimes he was truly unbearable.

Hua Zhi casually fed a piece of walnut into her small disciple’s mouth, then looked up at her elder disciple, who was reclining against a cushion with his face propped on one hand, still grinning. “Your Majesty seems genuinely fond of Xiao Han.”

“If I say yes, will the Grand Tutor send the little apprentice-brother to come and keep me company in the palace?”

“That depends on whether Xiao Han is willing.”

Zeng Han didn’t even think before shaking his head. “No.”

“There you have it.” Hua Zhi fed her small disciple another piece of walnut. “If Your Majesty finds some rare editions to tempt him, there might be a chance he’d come to the palace on his own.”

The Emperor laughed with delight and raised his cup toward the Regent in a toast. The rare editions he had found—none of them had ever made it to the little apprentice-brother. They had all gone straight to the Grand Tutor to fill her library. She had accepted them and pretended not to remember!

“The memorials urging the establishment of an Empress have been coming in with increasing frequency.”

Hua Zhi hadn’t intended to raise such a topic on New Year’s Eve. Privately, she had even thought that if the Emperor did not wish to marry too early, she would help stall—even though once the Emperor took an Empress she could gracefully step back from her role, she had endured these past few years and a little more would not matter.

Since it had been brought up, however, she followed the thread. “Does Your Majesty wish to comply with the wishes of your officials?”

“Will the Grand Tutor oversee the matter on my behalf?”

“If that is Your Majesty’s wish, I will naturally do everything in my power to manage it for you.”

The Emperor’s lips curved upward. “Then I ask the Grand Tutor to take the trouble.”

“Yes. This subject accepts the imperial command.”

The Emperor seemed suddenly in high spirits. “Does the Grand Tutor already have a candidate in mind?”

“A few days ago, your grandmother spoke with me about Your Majesty’s marriage, and I have been keeping my eyes open since. Only there has not been enough time to decide. Does Your Majesty have someone in mind?”

So the Grand Tutor had already been attending to this even before being asked? The Emperor’s mood lifted further, and buoyed by the wine, his smile grew more radiant. “I trust the Grand Tutor’s eye. I leave the decision entirely in the Grand Tutor’s hands.”

Hua Zhi could not help but smile. “Bailin said the very same thing.”

Right—that young man was around the same age as the Emperor, and as the eldest legitimate grandson of the Hua Family, the Grand Tutor’s own brother, and the Emperor’s study companion, he had surely been watched by any number of people long ago. Thinking of this, the Emperor felt a flash of kinship—two people sharing the same predicament. He really ought to have kept that boy here to see in the New Year with them. No matter what anyone outside might say.