Han Yao, standing nearby, found it difficult to watch and could not help reminding her mother, “Sister-in-law’s clothes are all in the fashionable styles of the capital — they look lovely.”

The Princess Consort glared at her: “Fashionable or not — the mistresses of our Prince’s household are not common village girls dressed up in gaudy colours on a street corner. Truly refined styles are not the sort of thing that needs to be altered back and forth.”

Su Luoyun did not care much about matters of dress. It was only a small thing — widening or narrowing a sleeve — and she smiled and replied accommodatingly, “I defer entirely to Mother. Now that you mention it, I have been thinking myself that these clothes could do with some adjustments.”

Pleased by Su Luoyun’s compliance, the Princess Consort nodded in satisfaction, and while she was at it, had all of her daughter’s new clothes brought from the capital altered as well.

Han Yao, who cared deeply about her appearance, found her fashionable new capital-style garments suddenly transformed into something that smelled of rural taste. She could not help drooping with gloom, all her spirits quite deflated.

Su Luoyun smiled inwardly and at last understood where Nanny Xi’s sense of style when dressing Han Yao had come from.

Even now that she was in Liangzhou, the Princess Consort stubbornly clung to the tastes she had cultivated in her girlhood. Those narrow sleeves and the unfashionable silhouettes — all of it seemed to be the cherished memory of her own youthful beauty, not a thread of which could be changed.

Because distinguished guests were coming to the house, and wishing the family to present a tidy, united front, the Princess Consort also arranged to have her younger son Han Xiao, who was studying in Huicheng, brought back home.

According to Xiangcao’s description to Su Luoyun, her young brother-in-law had a fair, clean complexion; and like his father, Prince Beizhen, he was also very tall in stature.

His cool, aloof manner, however, was entirely his mother’s — and even when meeting his new sister-in-law for the first time, his manner was somewhat frosty, with not a single superfluous word to offer.

As for the customary gesture of serving his sister-in-law tea, not a word was said of it by anyone.

Yet the young gentleman’s coldness was not directed at Su Luoyun specifically. When the Princess Consort spoke to him at too great a length, he would impatiently interrupt: “Have you said enough, Mother? I am going back to my study to read.”

Whenever this happened, the Princess Consort’s temper turned unusually soft; she would speak to her son gently and apologetically, then order the maidservants to quickly prepare tea and refreshments to tend to the young lord’s studies.

Even without seeing any of this, Su Luoyun could hear it clearly enough — her young brother-in-law had a temperament shaped entirely by his mother’s doting. There was something of a self-important air about him, a disposition to look down on the common folk of the world.

She felt, in truth, something like relief. It was fortunate that the Princess Consort did not dote on Han Linfeng in the same way — for with his inherently daring, audacious nature, subjected to unrestrained spoiling without any discipline, he might very well have become a truly dissolute wastrel who answered to no one.

All these careful preparations made, on the day General Wang Yun and his wife arrived, the Princess Consort dressed in her finest and led her daughter, her daughter-in-law, and her younger son Han Xiao — freshly recalled from the academy — to follow behind the Prince in receiving the General and his wife.

When the two parties met, the exchange of courteous pleasantries was of course obligatory. After warmly ushering the Wang couple inside, the Princess Consort exchanged a round of polite small talk, then proactively mentioned that her younger son was currently studying in Huicheng, and that she would likely see Madam Wei again when she went to visit him there during her long stays in Huicheng.

Madam Wei, out of courtesy, asked after the young lord’s studies. The Princess Consort immediately had someone bring in a piece of her son’s recent writing for the Madam and the General to examine.

After Madam Wei dutifully praised the young lord’s talents once more, the Princess Consort finally moved on with an air of satisfaction: “Madam Wei, why did your third young lady not come with you? I even prepared a special gift for her.”

The Princess Consort had made enquiries well in advance. General Wang Yun’s youngest daughter was thirteen this year and said to have grown into a beauty of exceptional loveliness — a perfect match for her own son Han Xiao.

If the two families should take a liking to each other on this occasion, it would be a fine chance to secure a prestigious match for her son.

Hearing this, Su Luoyun at last dimly guessed the true reason behind her mother-in-law’s unusually eager hospitality — it turned out she had been hoping to arrange a marriage for her young brother-in-law.

But to think she intended to seek an alliance with the Wang family of Changxi — to become relatives by marriage with the Empress herself? Such… ambition was truly boundless.

It seemed that when it came to arranging marriages for her children, the Princess Consort was always one to reach very far indeed — utterly unafraid of overextending herself.

The Wang family, evidently, had no such thoughts. Madam Wei smiled and replied, “My daughter is already engaged, so I left her at her maternal grandmother’s home — a good opportunity to find a propriety governess to teach her some manners.”

At these words, the smile on the Princess Consort’s face faltered slightly, and her disappointment was not entirely concealed.

Her expression only gradually revived when she received the gift box Madam Wei presented. To show warmth and intimacy with the General’s wife, she did not stand on ceremony and opened the box on the spot. But when she saw that the lacquered box contained only two porcelain vases of decent quality, the Princess Consort’s smile looked like a paper-cutout flower on a freshly paste-smeared window — barely holding itself together by sheer effort.

Had the Wang family gone bankrupt? How could they produce something so stingy?

And to think she had carefully prepared a mutton-fat jade carving of a flowering orchid tree, both palms in size, to offer as a return gift.

If she were to produce it in a moment — one extravagant, one meagre, nothing could compare — would it not look as though the Beizhen household was desperately fawning over a proud and self-important military family?

Su Luoyun, however, received the jade bracelet of ordinary quality that Madam Wei presented her with perfect composure, smiling as she said, “My family’s dowry included a few fragrance shops, and I have always been fond of blending incense myself, so I only prepared a few boxes of incense I blended personally for the General’s household — for Madam Wei and the young ladies and gentlemen. Had I known you would present me with something so generous, I should have prepared something more carefully.”

These words were neither servile nor overbearing — the sincerity of a handcrafted gift, without the extravagance of great expense. In one stroke, the Princess Consort felt much more at ease, and decided to follow her daughter-in-law’s lead in taking things in stride. The jade orchid tree could stay where it was.

So the Princess Consort spoke up as well: “My eldest daughter-in-law asked me what to prepare for you, and I thought — now that you have come to this remote place, you probably could not have brought everything you need. So I had her blend some fine, elegant incense; I shall offer this borrowed flower as my own gift in return, and thank you with it.”

The Princess Consort was inwardly seething — incensed that the General’s wife had not thought her worth any real effort. And so she simply treated the incense as a joint return gift from mother-in-law and daughter-in-law alike, and presented it to Madam Wei.

Madam Wei, for her part, did not trouble herself over such details. As her husband had said: a down-at-heel branch of the imperial family in a backwater, people she was unlikely to have much to do with in the future. Perfunctory courtesy was quite sufficient.

And so she smiled and said, “I have heard that the Shizi’s consort’s fragrance shop in the capital is quite remarkable — patronised by the ladies of noble houses, praised even by Her Majesty the Empress herself. The incense she presents must be no ordinary thing.”

After this exchange of pleasantries, the women remained behind at the estate to drink wine and chat, while Han Linfeng accompanied his father in escorting General Wang on an inspection of Liangzhou’s grain reserves.

Wang Yun’s true purpose in coming was to probe the inner workings of the supply depot.

Yet the moment he arrived at the gates of the depot, the General had quite an eyeful.

The two sentries posted at the entrance were slovenly and dishevelled, huddled together shaking dice and drinking.

Only when they saw Han Linfeng alight from his carriage did they scramble to their feet, straightening their collars and standing at attention.

Han Linfeng reprimanded them sharply, then turned with an apologetic expression: “This place is nothing like the front lines — the gate is usually quiet, and these worthless men have no discipline. I will deal with them properly when I return.”

Prince Beizhen, however, frowned and reproved his son: “Strictness is necessary, but it must have limits. Do you remember the story I told you of General Hua Yuan of the Song state during the Spring and Autumn period — who forgot to distribute meat to his charioteer, and was promptly driven straight into the enemy camp? Remember: treat those under you well. Do not be too severe.”

Prince Beizhen’s earnest invocation of historical precedent, utterly heedless of time or place, had the manner of a pedantic old scholar from a provincial backwater, dispensing stiff lectures to juniors.

Regrettably, the son seemed little persuaded by his father’s words, and the two of them traded volleys back and forth for half the walk there.

Wang Yun left them to their bickering and walked a circuit of the loosely managed depot in silence.

In the end, his verdict was this: the court could have dragged a monkey out of the mountains to serve as supply officer, and it would have been more competent than this Han Linfeng.

What a fine depot it must once have been — and what a den of chaos it had become.

Wang Yun had walked a full circuit and observed the daily state of affairs in the supply barracks. He was a seasoned veteran with a sharp and exacting eye. The moment he entered the camp, he had first examined the grain transport carts. The axles had a dusty, neglected look — as though they had not been greased and maintained in a long while.

Come the depths of winter, one bout of rain or snow and those axles would be frozen solid.

The camp’s equipment was stored in disarray, and compared to his last visit, the change was considerable. A slack, undisciplined atmosphere pervaded everything — clearly a new commander who had failed to light even his first three fires, lacking all authority, while the soldiers and officers under him had grown loose and disorderly.

If the camp itself was in such a state, how could the work it produced be any better?

Prince Heng, Prince Heng — wherever did you dig up this remarkable specimen?

Wang Yun felt his mind fully at rest. When the military situation eventually went wrong, the one left holding the blame would without question be this good-for-nothing. Dealing with such an incompetent, Wang Yun felt it would even be a thoroughly just outcome — no innocent man wronged.

Wang Yun had at the time captured a consignment of grain and supplies from the rebel leader Qiu Zhen, but he had kept his wits about him and by no means sent the full amount to the Qianxi supply depot. Instead, he had diverted a portion to Huicheng, keeping some reserves in hand for himself.

Looking at things now, he had been right to do so.

This place was, indeed, exactly as his spies had reported — personnel in utter disorder — and the accounts Han Linfeng had submitted showed that the grain stockpiled here was insufficient to see them through a harsh winter. Should fighting break out and the supply lines be cut, the existing provisions would be wholly inadequate to sustain a prolonged campaign.

With this settled in his mind, he turned to Han Linfeng with a genial smile: “The Shizi has only recently taken up his post in the supply depot and needs time to familiarise himself with the procedures. There is no rush to transport the grain until everything is properly prepared.”

Prince Beizhen, relieved and pleased, also smiled: “Linfeng, are you not going to thank the General for his generosity? Serve well under the General’s command, and one day you will earn your military merit.”

Han Linfeng let out a long breath: “I have been genuinely afraid the front lines might urgently need the grain. If I were asked to move it right now, I truly would be caught off guard. I have barely had time to learn all the names of the soldiers under my command.”

Wang Yun stroked his beard and smiled: “You have only just arrived, Shizi — naturally you need time to sort out the personnel. Take your time, and transport the grain to the front once you are ready.”

Had one not known of his secret dealings with the Sixth Prince, he would have seemed a perfectly amiable superior.

The smile on Han Linfeng’s face deepened: “With the General’s word, I am at ease. I shall be counting on your generous guidance in the days ahead.”

And so, after a circuit of inspection, Wang Yun felt he had taken a thorough measure of the court’s newly assigned supply officer. His heart was now entirely settled.

At that, the General had no intention of lingering here any longer.

After the banquet at the Prince’s estate, he declined the Prince and Princess Consort’s invitations to stay, and went directly to Huizhou to settle his wife Madam Wei there before returning to Jiayong Prefecture.

Once the General and his wife had departed, Han Linfeng was preparing to return to camp as well.

Su Luoyun could see how urgent his haste was, and had already guessed something of his intentions. As she helped fasten his cloak, she murmured, “Off to flush out the grain-rats? Be careful — even a cornered rat will bite.”

Han Linfeng tweaked her nose: “It is a good thing I married you into the household. You understand me so well — if you were my enemy instead, you would have me completely figured out.”

Su Luoyun thought back to the heart-stopping terror of being lured into his estate for that “Hongmen Banquet,” and answered with complete candour, “That would never happen. If things between us went badly, I would simply stay as far from you as possible. Why would I want to make an enemy of you? I am not out of my mind…”

Given his depth of scheming, her small measure of cleverness would not even amount to a condiment alongside his. What blood feud could possibly be great enough to make her want to provoke a figure like him?

But her half-joking words struck a nerve in the man. He thought of the golden pillow — and the banknotes tucked in her lapel.

This little fox’s joke might very well come true.

His expression slowly clouded, a shadow gathering in his eyes, though his voice remained measured: “Rest assured — that day will never come…”

And with that, he turned and left the estate.

When Su Luoyun returned to her rooms, Xiangcao said with lingering unease, “Miss, please be more careful with your words in the future. Did you not see the Shizi’s expression just now? It was terrifying.”

Su Luoyun paused, trying to recall what she had said just now that could have displeased him.

Though she did not think Han Linfeng had actually turned cold on her — perhaps he had simply been thinking about dealing with his grasping and unruly subordinates, and his expression had darkened for that reason…

After all, he had been tolerating those loathsome rats for so long — and at last, he no longer had to.

Very soon, the long-quiet gates of the Beizhen estate suddenly grew clamorous.

It turned out that the wives of Han Linfeng’s subordinates had come in droves to the door, seeking an audience with the Shizi’s consort to beg for clemency on their husbands’ behalf.

Han Linfeng had been at the Qianxi depot for quite some time without taking any action, turning a blind eye to whatever his subordinates did. As time passed, those who had been keeping their heads down gradually relaxed their guard and resumed the schemes they knew best — pilfering grain from the supply depot to sell on the black market.

In times of war, grain was as precious as gold. To guard a treasury and take nothing from it would be a dereliction of the convenient privilege their posts afforded.

And so the grain-rats poured out of the stores one after another. In the past they had at least been furtive in their theft and resale of grain. But now, with a new superior who was an utter nonentity, they grew ever bolder, and the quantities being siphoned off were becoming quite substantial.

Just as everyone was busy enriching themselves, the feckless Shizi suddenly struck. After the General had completed his inspection of the supply depot, he abruptly launched a sweeping purge of its personnel.

While the transport officer Chen Qun was leading several of his confidants in a transaction with private grain merchants, Han Linfeng appeared without warning and caught them in the act.

Under military law, embezzling provisions in the field was a capital offence.

And so the wives and families came weeping and wailing to the door, imploring the Princess Consort and the Shizi’s consort to go and speak with the Shizi, to stay his hand and spare their husbands’ lives.

Liangzhou was a small place. The pool of mahjong companions was a limited one — the same faces round the table, rotation after rotation.

The Princess Consort had dined and played cards with several of these women; and some among the intercessors sent to plead on the men’s behalf were also distantly related to the estate through one winding connection or another.

Seeing them come to beg, the Princess Consort felt that they were people she would meet again and again — what matter was so grave that it required executions? Surely there could be some accommodation.

After the women had finished their tearful account, the Princess Consort felt it was, in the end, only a matter of petty pilfering — a punishment of military flogging would be enough, and talk of executions seemed far too extreme.

Just as she was thinking to agree and make the promise, Su Luoyun spoke up calmly and without haste: “The military has its own regulations, and since military law has been violated, matters must be handled according to proper procedure. As for the affairs of the men outside — how can we women presume to meddle? It would be easy enough for me to agree to this right now — it is only a matter of opening my mouth. But Mother and I are not the Minister of War; how can we make decisions of such magnitude?”

At these words, wailing broke out afresh in the reception hall.

Among those who had been invited to intercede was a distant collateral relative of the Princess Consort — three generations removed, a cousin-in-law of sorts — who was also the maternal aunt of Chen Qun, the transport officer.

She sighed heavily: “A matter like this can be made large or small, depending on the commanding officer’s view. If the supervising officer considers them contemptible, they should be flogged, and whatever compensation is required, we will pay it — we accept the penalty. Shizi’s consort, you have only recently married into the estate, so of course you do not know us as relatives yet. But the Princess Consort has been in Liangzhou for many years and understands these social obligations. If the commanding officer executes so many people all at once, will he not make enemies of every local gentry family and distant relation the Prince’s household has in Liangzhou? Our Beizhen household has always been known for its generosity — we cannot allow such a reputation to be ruined… Princess Consort, the Shizi has always been filial. If you speak on their behalf, you will surely be able to intercede.”

This cousin-in-law clearly understood the Princess Consort well. Seeing that the new daughter-in-law was difficult to reason with, she turned her appeals directly to the Princess Consort.

The Princess Consort had always prized face above all things.

In this small and remote place, to be surrounded and fawned over by the wives of local gentry officers — it soothed her vanity, and felt almost like being back in the circles of high society in the capital.

That feeling was a warm and comforting balm.

If Han Linfeng started a massacre, he would essentially eliminate half of the Princess Consort’s mahjong circle. After that, people would probably stop gathering around her entirely.

These words struck the Princess Consort’s weak point precisely. And being told that she, as a mother, could command the Shizi also pleased her greatly.

Quite pleased with herself, the Princess Consort was just about to agree — when her newly wed daughter-in-law spoke up once more, unhurried as ever: “It is precisely because Mother is wise and knows the law that the Shizi is so filial. If a mother were like some ignorant village woman who, because her son holds a position, went about making all manner of reckless promises and trafficking in influence and rank, could she raise a filial son? On the day of the banquet at camp, I was there and saw the Shizi questioning the men and asking for the grain accounts — Chen Qun played ignorant like a man humbouring a fool, pretending not to know the answer to one question in three. Was he counting on the Shizi’s youth, thinking him easy to manipulate? And was it because his maternal aunt has ties to our estate that he felt so emboldened to act without restraint?”

“This…” Chen Qun’s maternal aunt had no idea what had transpired that day, and found herself backed into a corner with every sentence by this young Shizi’s consort, unable to get a word in edgeways. She could only look awkwardly toward Chen Qun’s wife.

Chen Qun’s wife was also rather taken aback. She had never before thought this blind Shizi’s consort could be so formidable in argument.

In fact, she had assumed this blind woman had no grip over her husband’s dissolute habits — aware, and yet letting him drink and gamble openly at banquets, like a woman entirely without discernment. And so she had come today full of confidence, bold enough to present herself at the door and ask for a favour.

She had not expected that the Princess Consort would be the more easily appeased of the two, while this outwardly gentle and delicate Shizi’s consort seemed an entirely different person — shutting down the argument at every turn, leaving no room for manoeuvre.

It turned out the little stratagem her husband had played that day had been noticed all along.

And yet for all this time, not a flicker of it had shown — this was a truly formidable adversary.

Chen Qun’s wife could only offer a dry smile: “Shizi’s consort, Liangzhou is such a small place — go back three generations and everyone is related to everyone. Please be magnanimous and do not hold it against us small folk.”

The Princess Consort had now been cut off by Su Luoyun several times, and her displeasure was mounting. She spoke up: “Luoyun, speak more politely. Some of those present are your elders — do not invite ridicule.”

Su Luoyun lowered her head respectfully, and replied to the Princess Consort without any sign of agitation: “Mother is right. I know nothing of any of this, nor do I know what these tangled family connections are that would make it worth Mother’s while to set aside her own son’s life and future, and extend such face to these women — doing something unlawful. But you, Mother, will surely know your own mind, and would never let yourself be used as someone’s instrument, giving people cause to laugh behind our backs at how soft-hearted the women of the Beizhen household are.”

Emboldened by the Princess Consort seeming to take her side, the cousin-in-law’s confidence immediately surged: “Shizi’s consort, what exactly do you mean? Standing there blocking the Princess Consort from agreeing — has the mistress of this household changed? Has it fallen to you to run things now?”

The Princess Consort, also stoked to anger by Su Luoyun, stretched out her words coldly: “The mistress of this household has not changed. This matter does not concern you — you may go.”

At these words, the assembled women all relaxed their expressions, sensing the opening they needed.

Su Luoyun heard the Princess Consort dismiss her, yet remained perfectly still. Without the least hurry, she turned to the woman who had been pleading their case and said, “This household is of course managed by Mother — no three-generations-removed cousin has any business here directing matters. Since you call yourself a relative of the estate, you naturally know that the Shizi was not born to Mother. And yet Mother has shown him extraordinary care and support all these years, guiding him to inherit the Prince’s title — a devotion more genuine than that of his own birth mother. Could more than twenty years of mother-and-son bond be destroyed in a single day by the likes of you, with your thick-faced pleading? You are asking Mother to commit the crime of wronging her own son by bending the law. If anyone who did not know the truth were to hear of this, they might conclude that Mother resented the Shizi and was deliberately slighting him.”

At these words, the entire room changed colour.

How daring was this blind woman — how could she possibly raise such private matters of the household? Though it was an open secret that the Shizi was not born to the Princess Consort, no one would ever broach the subject in her presence.

These words were too ruthless. Whatever the Princess Consort had left to say in rebuke of Su Luoyun stuck fast in her throat.

Indeed — she was not the Shizi’s birth mother. If she were to press and compel him to break the law as a favour to others, and something went wrong, it would be seen as a scheme to frame and harm him — clearing the path for his younger brother to take his place.

This wretched girl — what had gotten into her today? She was going off like a loaded musket — every word a pointed barb.

Since the situation had been torn open so completely, there was no recovering it. The Princess Consort at last declared coldly that the Shizi’s affairs were beyond her authority, and had all those tearful, wailing women shown out.

Once the guests had left, the Princess Consort’s expression turned utterly dark. She called out coldly to Su Luoyun: “Kneel.”

Su Luoyun knew full well that she had blocked the Princess Consort from doing a favour for others and had thoroughly enraged her. And so she went along with it without argument and knelt compliantly.

“Nanny Xi said before that you were difficult to discipline, and I did not take it to heart at the time. But today I see it is true. To make me lose face in front of so many people — you have quite some nerve.”

When the Princess Consort flew into a rage, the whole hall fell silent — except for Nanny Xi behind her, who, unwilling to let the matter die down, continued to add fuel to the fire: “Princess Consort, do you see now? The Shizi’s consort really does have no sense of occasion when she speaks…”