Rumors that grow in the retelling are commonplace enough. The truth of any matter is often a thousand li removed from the version that circulates.
As the Duke of Lu saw it, Lord Beizhen had simply watched the Iron Mask Army’s momentum grow impressive and had decided, in secret, to fawn and ingratiate himself with them.
At this thought, the Duke of Lu let out a cold, contemptuous laugh. Did that man have any sense of his own measure? What use could the Beizhen Wang household — that declining branch of the imperial family — possibly be to the Iron Mask Army?
Those two feckless father and son combined did not have a fraction of the popular renown that Cao Sheng had enjoyed among the common people. If that pair came stumbling in with their troops, not knowing when to stay out of things, they would be nothing more than a pair of jumping clowns putting on a show for nobody.
With a few words, the Duke of Lu dissolved the Duke and Duchess of Jun’s misgivings. Besides, they had nowhere else to go. Maolin County was calm and settled — at least it was a decent place to sit out the trouble.
Their arrival, however, made life considerably less comfortable for Su Guiyan and his household.
Maolin County was not a large town, and presentable residences were scarce. With distinguished guests arriving so abruptly, Su Guiyan naturally had to do his utmost to arrange lodgings for them.
But as a local official serving the people, he was not willing to impose on private citizens or compel anyone to vacate their home.
After some thought, he decided to give up his own official residence for the guests’ use, while he and his family would rent whatever modest dwelling was available and make do there.
Even so, the Duchess of Jun was far from satisfied. She said to Qian Xiaoyu — the county deputy magistrate’s wife, who had come to receive them — in a tone that dripped with barely concealed contempt: “Even if we find ourselves somewhat reduced in circumstances at the moment, there is no need for you local officials to treat us so shabbily. Is this a place fit for human habitation? The rooms are so small one can barely turn around. I have truly seen something new today. Any one of us from the Lu Ducal or the Jun Ducal household is a name of distinction in the Great Wei. Is it really so unreasonable to ask your husband to find a decent set of rooms? Or is it that the Su family bears some particular grudge against our Jun Ducal household and is deliberately making things difficult?”
Qian Xiaoyu had grown up steeped in books, well-versed in the classical arts, and all the people she had known in her life had been gentle and cultivated. Faced with the Duchess of Jun’s merciless sourness, she found herself at a complete loss, standing there awkwardly, her heart brimming with aggrieved frustration. She wanted to retort, but feared making trouble for her husband.
For a moment, Qian Xiaoyu’s expression was quite unpleasant.
Knowing full well the sort of behavior these people were capable of, Luoyun had been uneasy and had come along with her sister-in-law.
The Duchess of Jun’s words were clearly an insinuation — implying that the Su family resented the broken engagement and was deliberately making things difficult.
Seeing that her sister-in-law was struggling to hold her ground, Luoyun stepped in and said: “In a remote backwater like this, the buildings naturally cannot compare to what you are used to in the capital. But the official residences here all look the same. My brother is not a man given to comfort and luxury. In the more than a year he has been at this post, he has not been willing to spend a single coin of the county’s budget refurbishing the courtyard he lives in — every tael of limited funds goes toward farmland and water management. But these rooms are not dilapidated. If the Duchess of Jun would like to broaden her horizons a little further, you are welcome to come and see the courtyard where my brother and his wife are now staying. That is a residence that stood vacant for half a year — the window paper is torn through. When I went to look just now, there were spider webs hanging from the roof beams. I do blame my brother for his lack of foresight. Had he known that such honored guests would be coming, he would have mortgaged everything he owned to have the place rebuilt, so that all of you might be perfectly comfortable and at ease…”
The Duchess of Jun had not expected this — the blind woman who had always kept her eyes lowered at the capital’s tea parties now had the use of those eyes, and had apparently also found her tongue. Luoyun’s words were not particularly fierce, but they hit every tender spot with precision.
Who did she think she was? The daughter of a petty merchant family, who had latched onto a lecherous, down-at-heel young lord with a few measures of looks, and now genuinely believed she had risen to the sky and could stand on equal footing with families of true pedigree?
The duchess’s face tightened with suppressed fury. She glared at Luoyun and snapped: “The impudence of your tongue — have you no upbringing whatsoever?”
Su Luoyun raised an eyebrow with a certain mild bewilderment and replied at a leisurely pace: “Speaking of rank — you are indeed an honored Duchess, a title conferred by imperial decree, which is an eminence not to be taken lightly. But whatever else our Wang household may be, we are still descendants of the Han imperial line. Could it be that the Duchess of Jun looks down upon our distant Wang household, and upon me — a daughter-in-law of the Han imperial family — and for that reason feels free to summon and dismiss us as she pleases?”
Recalling Han Linfeng’s account of how the Jun Ducal household had played a part in engineering Han Yao’s forced marriage away as a peace offering, Luoyun found she could not stomach this sharp-tongued old woman for another moment. She had come intending to show the usual courtesy to guests, whatever their character. She had not anticipated that anyone could be so brazen — posturing in the middle of a world at war.
Luoyun was perfectly capable of playing the gentle and virtuous wife. But once she unleashed her full force, what tongue could contend with skills honed over years of sparring daily with a vicious stepmother?
She took a sip of tea and continued: “In the past, when our Wang household overlooked the disrespect shown to us, it was entirely out of regard for our Commandery Princess’s feelings. But the Princess has now dissolved her engagement with your household and married young General Zhao — a fine match all around. I really cannot see why I should continue exchanging warmth for cold contempt and going out of my way to court your household’s goodwill, when all ties between us have long since been cut.”
The Duchess of Jun was accustomed to always getting in the last word. Never in her life had anyone confronted her face-to-face with such ruthless precision. Now, struck again and again by Luoyun’s sharp tongue, she felt her face flush the color of pig’s liver, the upturned corners of her eyes practically boring into her own temples with suppressed rage.
The Duke of Jun, sitting nearby, heard the undertone in Su Luoyun’s words.
Quite so — the Beizhen Wang father and son were a pair of useless men, to be sure. But Han Yao had married Zhao Dong’s son. And Zhao Dong himself was a man commanding serious military force — a man who could well shift the balance of the present situation.
The only trouble was that news of Zhao Dong was unclear. They knew he had come back with troops; they did not know whether he was standing with the Empress and the Sixth Prince, or with the Emperor.
Looked at in this light, it would be genuinely unwise to offend the Shizi’s consort of Beizhen just now.
The Duke of Jun hurried to smooth things over. “It is we who have imposed so carelessly. To have County Deputy Magistrate Su and his family give up the official residence for us is already more than we can repay in gratitude. My wife has simply grown accustomed to the large houses of the capital and let slip a few words of complaint without thinking. Please do not take it to heart, Shizi’s Consort.”
Su Luoyun smiled. Since the Duke of Jun had understood the point she was making, she was content to leave it there. She picked up his words and carried them gracefully forward: “Oh — I myself am of humble origins and have read little. I have always been blunt and straightforward and cannot seem to improve. You must forgive me for that. In these turbulent times, we must all make the best of things together and wait for His Majesty to return to the palace and restore order. If there is any shortcoming in our hospitality, I hope you will all be generous in overlooking it…”
Having thus discharged her duties as host, Luoyun brought her sister-in-law Qian Xiaoyu out with her.
The two women walked together toward the front courtyard of the residence. Luoyun lowered her voice to comfort her sister-in-law, who had been on the receiving end of so much unpleasantness: “Ladies who come out of the great capital households are all practiced at grinding people down. From now on, when there is nothing pressing, you need not go out of your way to attend to them. Still, you and Guiyan will have to put up with some discomfort for this time. As for Guiyan — honestly, finding such a run-down place to live. He still thinks he is living alone and has not once stopped to think about you. Once the trouble in the capital is settled, I will ask your brother-in-law to see what can be arranged, and try to keep you closer to us. Guiyan can take a posting somewhere in the Huicheng area — there will be less political scheming there, and I can look after you both properly and have a proper house built for you.”
In Luoyun’s mind, once Han Linfeng settled the rebellion in the capital, he would certainly negotiate satisfactory terms with all parties and lead his troops back to his own territory — to live as a feudal lord, comfortable and untroubled, with his military force intact. Having her brother nearby would leave her with one less thing to worry about.
Qian Xiaoyu knew that this elder sister-in-law of hers was a woman of means, and hearing Luoyun speak of building a proper house, she could not help smiling. “My husband and I are alike in this — neither of us cares much for comfort and luxury. As long as there are bamboo before the windows and books on the shelf, we are content with plain food and simple living. But if it means being closer to you, Sister, my husband will certainly be glad. I thank you for us both.”
Luoyun smiled as well. “That is my own merchant’s thinking showing through. You and Guiyan are both devoted to learning. My brother has found his true companion in you — and seeing you both so well-suited makes me entirely at ease…”
As she was speaking, Luoyun suddenly retched again. Qian Xiaoyu quickly patted her on the back. “What is it? Did you eat something that disagreed with you?”
Luoyun herself was puzzled. She was not on a boat now — why was she still retching?
Just as she pressed her handkerchief to her mouth, she looked up and saw Fang Jinshu standing at the moon gate ahead, maidservants at her side, watching her with cold, measuring eyes.
Luoyun had no desire to exchange words with the second Fang daughter. This particular unhinged woman was nothing like the Duchess of Jun.
She was a pampered, indulged young mistress who had always had a violent temper — the kind who could slap a famous courtesan across the face in the middle of the street without a moment’s hesitation, utterly without restraint. Now that she was a fresh widow, her temper might well have grown even more unpredictable. Luoyun’s approach to her was the same as it had always been: avoid her when possible. So after a bow of greeting, she turned to leave.
But Fang Jinshu stepped directly in front of her, looked her up and down, and asked: “Has the Shizi taken any concubines since he returned to Liang Prefecture?”
Luoyun suppressed her nausea and said mildly: “Princess, I am feeling unwell and must go rest…”
Fang Jinshu would not move aside. Her expression was complicated as she pressed: “Are you with child?”
Luoyun had been occupied with affairs inside and outside the household these past months, sometimes missing all three meals in a day. Her monthly cycle had been irregular for several months running. She could not even recall when her last one had been. Still — calculating the timing, she and Han Linfeng were together so seldom that the chances of such fortunate coincidence seemed remote. Besides, this was an entirely private matter that was no business of Fang Jinshu’s. So she said simply: “Thank you for your concern, Princess. It is only something I ate.”
Fang Jinshu studied her and concluded she was not lying. She let out a contemptuous little laugh. “His nature has always been to tire of the new and move on. No matter how pretty a girl, she loses her appeal within a month or so of being with him. You look well enough, I suppose — but how long can that last? If he has found someone new and stopped coming to your bed, how would you conceive anything?”
Xiangcao, standing behind Luoyun, could not hold back: “Our Shizi’s household is perfectly orderly. The Shizi does not even keep a bedchamber maid. He respects and loves only our Shizi’s Consort — there is no such thing as a concubine or secondary woman in our household.”
At these words, Fang Jinshu’s expression shifted slightly. She murmured, almost to herself: “How is that possible?”
She herself was a daughter of an aristocratic family and was not without her own beauty. Yet after marrying the Ninth Prince, she had submitted to the same expectation as any wife — tolerating his taking of new women. It was true that this had partly suited her own inclinations; she had little desire for the Ninth Prince to linger in her chambers and had herself arranged to send attractive women his way. But this was entirely commonplace in the great houses of the capital — indeed, doing so made one the very model of a virtuous wife.
And now to hear that Han Linfeng’s household was spotlessly free of such arrangements — Fang Jinshu felt something sour and unsettling stir in her chest.
Why? Why had this blind woman seized the opportunity she had missed, married Han Linfeng, and now enjoyed his sole devotion on top of it?
In beauty, in talent, in family background — in which of these did she fall short of Su Luoyun? Yet here she was, swept up in the struggle for imperial power, her husband dead, fleeing with her parents to this wretched little backwater — running like a stray dog with nowhere to go.
And this woman — who had nothing to her name — sat quietly at that man’s side, enjoying the peace of days simply lived.
The more Fang Jinshu thought along these lines, the more her rage built. The look she turned on Su Luoyun grew increasingly hostile.
“A mere little Shizi’s consort, and she cannot even keep her serving girl in line — letting that maid shout and clamor right in my presence. Does she think that because the Prince of Rui is gone, I will simply allow any passing cat or dog to bully me as they please?”
Luoyun recognized it at once: the old ailment was flaring again. Fang Jinshu was looking for a pretext to vent her spite.
She had the use of her eyes now, and she had already noticed that Fang Jinshu’s expression was wrong. She took a step back in preparation.
Sure enough, Fang Jinshu raised her hand to strike her across the face — but Luoyun had already stepped back just in time, and the blow skimmed past her without landing.
Fang Jinshu, unable to pull her hand back quickly enough, lost her balance and stumbled sideways into the frame of the moon gate.
Bad luck, as it happened — she struck her forehead squarely on the frame, and a red mark bloomed on her skin.
This sent Fang Jinshu into an even greater explosion of fury.
Luoyun said in a steady voice: “I ask the Princess to compose herself. You struck yourself — that is no one else’s fault.”
Fang Jinshu let out a cold laugh. “You lot have been calling me Female Zhang Fei behind my back — do you think I don’t know? Since everyone already thinks me a brute, I have no need to offer reasons when I want to teach someone a lesson.”
With that, she turned and called her guards, ordering them to come and restrain Su Luoyun.
In the past, however much she had loathed this woman, Luoyun would have swallowed the insult and given some face to this declining branch of the imperial family. At most she would have parried with words and let the blind woman absorb the humiliation quietly.
But now, in this remote backwater, with the blind woman fetched up in her brother’s home and isolated — why should she spare her? She was not her father or mother; she did not have to weigh and calculate every step. Things were already at this pass, and life was short and uncertain. One had to do whatever was necessary to feel fully alive.
With that settled in her mind, the consort of Prince Rui rounded her almond eyes and bellowed at her guards: “Seize that insolent woman!”
The guards waiting behind her surged forward toward Luoyun.
But at that same moment, two of Luoyun’s personal guards leaped in a single bound to place themselves in front of her, drew their swords, and pressed the blades against the throats of the advancing men.
A third guard put a sharp whistle between his lips and sent a piercing shriek into the air.
The shrill sound was like disturbing a nest of wild hornets. From over the courtyard walls and through the main gate, Luoyun’s northern guards came flooding in — men Han Linfeng had personally selected and assigned to her protection, agile and devoted, every one of them willing to die for her.
They were built like iron — sinewy and dark-skinned, with eyes that, when narrowed, turned the whites of those broad, coal-black faces into something genuinely unnerving.
The guards Fang Jinshu had brought out of the capital were themselves carefully chosen — but chosen primarily to look impressive: tall, well-built, handsome enough not to offend a noble lady’s eye. They had connections that had landed them this comfortable post with its generous pay. But how many of them had ever seen blood?
When the two sides clashed, the contrast was immediately stark.
The northern guards either held back entirely or struck without mercy. Once they moved, every blow was lethal in intent. The sound of breaking bones was like snapping green onion stalks — crisp and clean — punctuated by a rising chorus of wails and shrieks.
At this, the Duke of Lu and the Duke of Jun came rushing out from the main hall, and the sight stopped them cold, both drawing sharp breaths — they thought for a moment that pursuers had caught up with them.
Though the fight was between the two sides’ guards, Fang Jinshu — precious flower that she was — was caught in the crossfire and received two solid slaps from some unknown iron palm.
Luoyun, meanwhile, was shielded so effectively by her towering, iron-built guards that she emerged entirely unscathed. She watched with cool eyes until her people had clearly gained the upper hand, then said mildly: “All right. It was a misunderstanding. Stand down.”
At the Shizi’s consort’s word, her men stopped as one, stepping back and leaving the fallen guards where they lay on the ground.
The Duchess of Lu, frantic with maternal anxiety, rushed to pull up her wailing daughter, then turned and glared at Su Luoyun. “What do you think you are doing? You have a great deal of nerve!”
Su Luoyun decided this outcome was actually quite satisfactory.
The surrounding situation was still in chaos, and she needed to remain here and wait for news of Han Linfeng. These capital grandees had taken over her brother’s home like cuckoos in a nest and were not going anywhere soon. Better to draw the lines clearly now and teach them what limits were for.
So she replied with unhurried composure: “The Duchess should be asking the Princess of Rui what she was trying to do — not me. She blocked my path when I tried to leave, asked whether my household kept concubines, pried into private matters between the Shizi and myself, used those pretexts to abuse my maidservant, and then called her guards to restrain me and raise her hand against me. That is quite a display of power! Even if she is a Prince’s Royal Consort, our Shizi is a true and legitimate descendant of the imperial bloodline — and I, as his Shizi’s consort, am not the sort of person who can be summoned and dismissed at will, struck and cursed as though I were a common serving maid.”
At this, the Duke and Duchess of Lu knew perfectly well what had happened. They understood their daughter’s particular frenzy better than anyone. She had seen the Shizi’s consort of Beizhen and her old obsession had taken hold again, driving her to pick a fight and make trouble.
The pity was that this time, their daughter had picked on someone who would not yield.
How had this woman from a small family background managed to stop being blind — and also to grow so bold?
They remembered that back in the capital, no matter how their daughter had needled and mocked her, this Su Luoyun had always played the fool, said nothing, and absorbed it all in silence.
And those guards of hers — were they wolves turned human? This was not a battlefield. Why did they strike with such complete ruthlessness?
The Duchess of Lu knew perfectly well whose fault this was, but she was constitutionally incapable of letting her child be wrong. She still attempted a few lines of rebuttal: “You impudent girl! Do you truly think that just because you married into the Beizhen Wang household…”
But she was cut off midway by a single silencing look from the Duke of Lu. “That’s enough. Haven’t we caused enough trouble? We are here to avoid a disaster — not to create one!”
Having rebuked his wife, he turned to Su Luoyun and gave a formal bow. “As the Shizi’s consort said herself — it was a misunderstanding all around. Please make allowances for my daughter’s grief at losing her husband; her spirits have not yet settled. You wished to be on your way — I will not detain you further. Please.”
Su Luoyun was content to stop where she had stopped. Since the Duke of Lu was willing to speak reasonably, she would treat him with the courtesy that warranted.
She gave a bow of apology in return, and then, with her full complement of guards sweeping out behind her, she collected her dazed and wide-eyed sister-in-law Qian Xiaoyu and walked calmly out of the courtyard.
After they had gone, Fang Jinshu erupted in furious tears. “Father — how could you let that lowborn woman treat me like that without so much as defending me?”
The Duke of Lu had not expected that his daughter, now married with a child of her own, was apparently still no less obsessed with Han Linfeng than before.
Not wishing to give the Jun Ducal household more to laugh about, he drew his wife and daughter back to their own rooms before turning on his daughter with a grave expression. “Truly short-sighted, the both of you! Did neither of you notice what kind of men that Shizi’s consort of Beizhen has surrounding her?”
The women naturally had not understood what they were looking at. But the Duke of Lu had served in the Ministry of War, and had conducted several inspections in the military encampments. He knew the ways of soldiers.
The seasoned veterans of the Great Wei military had a custom: for every ten enemies killed in battle, a soldier would have a small ox-horn shape pricked into the back of his hand with an inked needle — a silent boast of battlefield achievement and seniority.
The guards in Su Luoyun’s retinue — the least decorated among them had three or four such marks on their hands. The ones who had fought hardest and most ferociously today had so many that the marks were practically forming a connected band around the hand like a bracelet.
If they were not simply boasting, then these men were battlefield killers who had slaughtered without count.
That pack of rough-handed veterans, if they turned bloodthirsty, would run a blade through you without a second thought — it made no difference whether you were a duchess or a noble daughter.
That was why, in the chaos of those moments, the Duke of Lu had urgently silenced his wife’s sharp tongue — to let the Shizi’s consort of Beizhen take those killing spirits away as quickly as possible.
Fang Jinshu pressed her hands to her swollen, burning face and wept with fury. The Duchess of Lu herself had never been so thoroughly humiliated in her life, and could only weep as well, and complain to the Duke: “Born into this ruined age — to endure such groundless humiliation without cause. And my poor elder daughter, gone with the Sixth Prince to the detached palace — whether she is alive or dead, we have no way of knowing!”
The Duke of Lu let out a long sigh and said nothing for a long while. Outside, a distant peal of thunder rumbled, and a heavy rain began to move in.
On the other side of the estate, Luoyun and Qian Xiaoyu were hurrying back through the rain to the modest rented courtyard when they nearly walked straight into a man coming from the opposite direction.
Luoyun looked up, and her face lit with surprised delight. “Uncle! What brings you here?”
It was none other than her uncle, Hu Xuesong.
He had been on standby at the naval garrison, but had happened to hear that aristocratic families from the capital were headed to Maolin County, and that troops were being dispatched there as well from above. Worried about the young Guiyan, he had taken advantage of the troop movement to come along and see for himself.
He had not expected to arrive at the wharf and hear from Guiyan that Luoyun was also here. And so uncle and nephew had made their way back together to wait for her.
Luoyun had not seen her uncle in a long while. The moment they met, words came tumbling out on both sides without end, and the unpleasantness of the afternoon was considerably washed away.
Qian Xiaoyu, for her part, had never in her life witnessed anything like the scene she had just lived through. Even walking back through the downpour, she had not fully come back to herself. The fight between Luoyun’s guards and the Lu Ducal household’s men was no small matter.
So even in the midst of the happy reunion, she could not help dampening the mood somewhat — pulling Su Guiyan quietly aside and whispering to him everything that had just happened.
Su Guiyan listened, and his indignation rose at once. “That second Fang daughter is still so outrageously unreasonable! She sees that my sister is easy to push around and finds new ways to torment her!”
Hu Xuesong overheard this, and once the full account had been explained to him, his verdict was straightforward: served her right. What duke, what great household? In a world already gone to pieces, everyone was stripped back to what they actually were. Did they truly think his niece was some helpless soft persimmon to be squeezed at will?
Qian Xiaoyu found it remarkable that the very thing she had been anxious about provoked not the slightest concern from either of these two. She let out a quiet, drawn-out sigh, the knot between her brows refusing to loosen.
Luoyun knew exactly what her sister-in-law was worrying about, and smiled in reassurance. “The Princess of Rui and I have been carrying a longstanding mutual antagonism. If I was going to offend her, I offended her long ago. One more time makes no difference.”