Han Linfeng rubbed his temples with weary exasperation, knowing he had been too hasty. That little snail of his was retreating back into her shell.

“…Your reaction is infuriating. Can you not manage even a hint of jealousy?”

Su Luoyun paused, taken aback. What did he mean? Had he said what he said earlier on purpose to provoke her — without any real intention of taking concubines?

She could not say why, but hearing him put it like that, something in her chest eased — then suddenly lurched with a sharp pang: could it be… that the heaviness she had carried all afternoon was jealousy?

She… had actually developed a possessive longing for the Shizi?

And yet in any household of even modest prosperity, it was perfectly ordinary for a man to have a wife and concubines.

Her own father — who had built his fortune on the wealth of his wife’s family — had not been exempt from this. He had kept Ding Shi as an outside mistress, and even after elevating her to the position of principal wife, there were still one or two serving maids in his rooms. Ding Shi herself simply turned a blind eye.

None of them had formally been raised to concubines, but Su Luoyun and her siblings had all known perfectly well what was going on.

If a small merchant family was like this, how could someone as exalted as a Shizi possibly spend his entire life with only one woman?

She dared not, and did not want, to pin her hopes on such a castle in the clouds. It was true that the Shizi was deeply devoted to her now — but feelings always cooled with time.

If she invested too many foolish hopes, would she not end up like her mother — her dream of love shattered, her body broken by sorrow, dying far too young?

Thinking it over, her heart was left with a bittersweet mix she could not name. She lowered her head: “Then what would you have me do? Cry and make a scene, and refuse to let you take concubines? The daughter-in-law of the Jing’an Duke’s household in the capital was proud enough — she had all her husband’s chamberwomen and concubines dismissed. And how did that turn out? Not only did she become the laughingstock of every other household as a shrewish wife, but even her mother-in-law reprimanded her for being jealous and lacking virtue, for failing to understand a husband’s needs. In the end she was sent back to her own family’s home to reflect on herself. Not a single soul in all of the capital praised her for loving her husband deeply…”

Han Linfeng tugged at her hair: “If you wanted to stop it, you could find a perfectly respectable excuse. I already made a false promise before the Emperor — said I would take no concubines for five years. You could use that to talk me out of it entirely. You are far more cunning than the Jing’an Duke’s daughter-in-law. If you were the jealous type, you would do it so smoothly no one could find fault with it. Besides, people outside already say my kidneys are weak! If you truly cared about your husband’s wellbeing, how could you bring more temptresses into the household to drain my vital essence?”

Su Luoyun was so exasperated by his absurd reasoning that she burst out laughing — she had never met anyone who would so helpfully suggest to his own wife how to prevent him from taking concubines.

“So all that scheming to trick me into marrying you — it was just so I could make a jealous spectacle of myself and protect your kidneys?”

Han Linfeng swept her up in his arms: “Wrong. It was to absorb your vitality and keep all that goodness for myself — to properly replenish this little enchantress of mine.”

And with that he lifted her and carried her behind the embroidered bed curtains.

He realised he had let himself be driven to stupidity before — what was the point of punching sandbags when there was this little fox spirit to tend to?

She wanted to push him off to another — he would keep her so thoroughly fed that she had no room to think of such things.

He had been away from the estate for many days. Tonight he would pour out every last drop of what had been accumulating.

Only when she was left breathless and barely able to open her eyes did Han Linfeng press his cheek against hers and speak against the curve of her neck, low and unhurried: “No matter how capable you are, you are not my retainer. You need not charge to the front line and wear yourself out in my service. Know this — it is only when you are well and safe that I am at ease. In future, when you encounter situations like this, stay far away and wait for me to come back and deal with it… What I said about taking concubines was only to provoke you. If you take me seriously again, you may as well just take a knife and carve out my heart — that would be quicker and less painful…”

Su Luoyun held her breath. She had heard about him bursting the sandbag during his afternoon practice. Could he really have been that angry simply because she had shown no jealousy?

She slowly nestled against his chest, listening quietly to his heartbeat, and asked softly, “But you are a Shizi — surely you cannot go your entire life without even a single chamberwoman? Is such a vow not rather unrealistic?”

Han Linfeng gave a low, quiet laugh: “I am not the Emperor, obliged to fill three palaces and six courts with consorts to placate the great clans. I am a down-at-heel Shizi in the countryside. For this lifetime, you alone are enough — or could it be you intend to leave me hungry?”

Su Luoyun slowly reached out and encircled his waist with her arms, smiling softly: “Very well. Since that is how it is, you cannot blame me if the household lacks for beautiful flowers to please the eye in future…”

The Shizi had no desire to hear another provoking remark from her. He decided to repeat his earlier method of persuasion and pulled the red quilt over them to deal with his little troublemaker.

Laughter rang through the room for some time.

The following morning, however, when Xiangcao went to fetch her mistress’s clothes and opened the wardrobe chest, she let out a startled cry.

Su Luoyun had no idea what had happened and asked what was wrong.

“Miss, we have been robbed! The linings of these clothes — why have they all been cut open? And the banknotes inside are gone.”

Su Luoyun was stunned for a moment, then shuffled over in her slippers to feel for herself.

Not only were the banknotes gone — the gold bars she had tucked inside the pillow had been extracted as well.

When Han Linfeng returned from his morning exercises, Su Luoyun asked him whether he had touched her private savings.

“Hiding money in clothes brings bad feng shui,” Han Linfeng said mildly. “I took it all out.”

Su Luoyun was once again struck speechless. “Which fortune-teller told you that? What business is it of anyone where a woman keeps her private savings? And how exactly is the feng shui bad?”

Han Linfeng sipped his tea without so much as a flicker of guilt and said simply, “Hiding money that way ruins the clothes.”

Just then, someone came to the door with a message — the Princess Consort was asking for the Shizi’s consort to come and speak with her.

Han Linfeng considered for a moment, then said, “Go on ahead. I will come shortly to get you out of it.”

“No need for that,” Su Luoyun smiled. “She is only still venting her temper — a few words of scolding, and it will pass. Since I cannot be your adviser and retainer, I will naturally choose the easier path and not go lighting fuses of my own accord anymore…”

But when Su Luoyun went to see the Princess Consort, she found that the one planning to light a fuse was, in fact, her dear mother-in-law.

After the Princess Consort listened with lowered eyes to Su Luoyun’s sincere apology, she replied in a composed and unhurried tone, “I am too old to truly quarrel with young people. Besides, Linfeng himself said yesterday that the matter at camp was serious — not something for us women to interfere in. You played the villain to spare me the awkwardness. I ought to be thanking you.”

These words were quite reasonable — they would have been even more persuasive had her tone not carried a faint note of hollow resignation.

Having cleared the air over the earlier dispute between mother- and daughter-in-law, the Princess Consort at last came to the point: “Since you are clearly a sensible woman, you truly are a capable helpmate for Linfeng. But he is stationed in camp now with no one close to tend to him, and you must remain here at the estate to serve your parents-in-law. In my view, you ought to find a few chamberwomen and concubines for your husband — someone to travel with him and see to his comfort.”

The moment the Princess Consort finished speaking, Nanny Xi, pressing a hand to her still-aching chest, said coldly from the side, “Our household is not some small merchant family — it is perfectly ordinary for a gentleman to have several wives and concubines. By rights, when you married in, you should have brought along some presentable maidservants of your own. Once the wedding was over, you could have selected the most virtuous among them to be admitted as chamberwomen. But you are not from a great family, and your maids carry the air of the marketplace about them — they are not suited to the Shizi. Fortunately, our household has a number of maids raised within these walls from childhood, trained in the Princess Consort’s own presence. Their bearing and manner are not inferior to those of any ordinary young lady.”

At this, the Princess Consort smiled faintly: “It is not that I distrust your maids — only that girls raised within the household are known quantities, which puts one’s mind at ease. I have already taken it upon myself to select two candidates for you. Would you like to take a look and see if they are to your liking?”

Su Luoyun quietly sighed inwardly on her mother-in-law’s behalf. The Princess Consort’s timing was too late. Had this come even one day earlier, she would have agreed without a second thought.

But because of this concubine business, Han Linfeng had already quarrelled with her — punching sandbags, cutting open her clothes — quite enough of a spectacle. The two of them had only just made their peace, and so this matter of the Princess Consort’s would likely have to fall through again.

Thinking of this, she felt sorry for her mother-in-law, having to deal with another disappointment so early in the morning.

As for the excuse — she did not even need to think. Someone had already provided it for her the night before: “Mother’s words are entirely right, and I have long wished to make arrangements myself. But the Prince wrote to the Shizi when he first arrived, expressly stating that he was not to take concubines for five years. So when His Majesty kindly offered to bestow several palace maids upon him as consorts, the Shizi politely declined… A matter of such significance is not within this daughter-in-law’s power to decide. Perhaps, Mother, you ought to ask the Shizi directly.”

Nanny Xi, listening from the side, could not contain herself: “What boldness — invoking the Prince and the Emperor as your shield? I have never once heard the Prince mention this.”

Su Luoyun had a thorough dislike for this Nanny Xi, and so she merely raised her chin slightly toward her with cool composure: “Oh? Is Nanny Xi the mistress of this household? Must the Prince report to you first before he corrects his son?”

Nanny Xi had by now grown accustomed to this seemingly soft, mild young woman’s habit of turning sharp without warning, and gave a cold laugh of her own: “Who am I to be a mistress — though even those who fancy themselves persons of consequence can be kicked flat by the Shizi on your behalf.”

Hearing Nanny Xi say this, the Princess Consort’s anger, which she had just pressed back down, surged up once more.

So the Prince had supposedly told Linfeng not to take concubines, had he? But when had the Prince himself ever been able to resist an imperial gift? He had accepted a whole string of beautiful concubines into the household without a moment’s hesitation. And now when it came to his son, the man was suddenly upright and temperate?

The Princess Consort said coldly, “That was then, this is now. You have been married into this household for some time, and yet there is still no sign of a child. Are you intending to see the Shizi’s line die out? Linfeng needs people around him right now, and you need not trouble yourself over this matter. I will select the girls myself.”

Su Luoyun drew a quiet breath, then lobbed out another large bombshell with a slightly bashful air: “But… Mother… the Shizi’s kidneys are not well. All those dissolute years have left him quite depleted… I am afraid that if you arrange concubines for him without restraint, his constitution will not hold up…”

Saying this, Su Luoyun pressed a handkerchief to the corner of her eye, quite regretting that she had not rubbed any chilli pepper into it beforehand. She was genuinely trying to look worried enough to weep, and finding it rather difficult to produce tears on demand.

The Princess Consort stared at her with jaw half open, exchanging a wide-eyed glance with Nanny Xi, who looked equally stunned.

She had not expected her daughter-in-law to blurt out such intimate bedroom secrets.

Could it be that the reason she had not yet conceived was because Han Linfeng was incapable in bed?

But then again, if it were fabricated, Su Luoyun was hardly dim-witted enough to go around proclaiming her husband’s inadequacy. If the Shizi ever found out, would he not break her legs?

At that precise moment, a deliberately conspicuous cough sounded from the doorway.

The Princess Consort turned her head to find Han Linfeng standing at the entrance — clearly having arrived some time ago, having caught every last word Su Luoyun had just said.

Su Luoyun had not expected him to arrive so quickly. Had she known, she would have let him tell his mother about his kidneys himself.

“Linfeng, you heard what she just said, didn’t you? Just look at the nonsense she is making up to stop you from taking concubines!”

The Princess Consort was also deeply embarrassed and could only pre-empt things by lodging a fierce complaint against Su Luoyun.

Han Linfeng was silent for a moment, his expression dark, not saying a word. His manner seemed to suggest he was tacitly confirming it.

Su Luoyun hurriedly tried to walk it back: “Mother has misunderstood. The Shizi is in perfectly robust health. I only meant… that I was worried he might tire himself out…”

Han Linfeng had no desire to watch her dig herself deeper. The wretched girl — this time she really had taken his joking words and used them. Was this her revenge for him cutting open her golden celestial robes?

But since they had come this far, Han Linfeng said to the Princess Consort, bluntly: “Mother need not concern herself with the matter of concubines. Common, unremarkable women would only be a bother. Having them around me would get in the way of my work. If there is nothing else, I will take her back now. I cannot find something of mine — she needs to come back and help me look for it.”

With that, he seemed eager to drag her back to their rooms to settle accounts. He seized her arm and strode out of the hall at a great pace.

In a blink they were gone. Only the Princess Consort and Nanny Xi remained, staring at each other in bewilderment — a man that tall, and supposedly hollow inside?

If he were hollow, how did he punch sandbags with such force?

Back in their rooms, Han Linfeng pulled Su Luoyun inside to continue their interrupted breakfast.

He took a bite of dried fish, then pinched Su Luoyun’s cheeks: “The nerve of you. Give you an inch and you take a mile.”

Su Luoyun nibbled on her chopsticks with not quite enough confidence: “I only said what the Shizi instructed me to say. Is that a problem now?”

Han Linfeng was so amused he nearly choked: “So now you are listening to me? Then keep on listening — stop acting as though you are about to sneak away at any moment… I have been thinking — if you and Mother cannot get on, you might as well move out to Fengwei Village, near the Qianxi Camp. I can tell Mother that I need someone to look after me, and what concubine could be as devoted as a wife? It would be a good excuse to have you come and take care of my meals and daily living.”

Su Luoyun paused. This was clearly the approach of a frontline military wife.

The senior household members were all here. How could she decently go off and set up a separate home with him?

“I have already spoken with Father just now, and he has agreed. In a moment you can pack your most essential things and come back with me,” Han Linfeng said.

Su Luoyun caught the crucial point: “Mother… does not know about this yet, does she?”

Han Linfeng smiled: “Which is why you need to pack quickly. We leave first and talk later — Father will handle the rest.”

It was a mystery how he had persuaded the Prince, but Prince Beizhen had apparently consented to let his daughter-in-law go off and live separately with his son.

Su Luoyun was not one for blind filial obedience. She had only yesterday been struck on the palms, and it was fair to say the Princess Consort would not be cooling down anytime soon. If there was a chance to leave, what was she waiting for?

And so Su Luoyun had Xiangcao and Ji Qiu pack two chests of clothes in short order. Taking her money chest with her, she boarded the carriage without delay and went with Han Linfeng back to the Qianxi Camp.

As for the Princess Consort — still stung from another round of her daughter-in-law’s sharp tongue, she could barely bring herself to eat breakfast.

Han Linfeng was becoming utterly impossible — all the new bride’s doing, pulling him along. At this rate, even finding a few maids to quietly bring in as concubines would not be possible.

She had made up her mind to handle the concubine arrangements herself. She had a suitable candidate among her distant relatives — a few well-read, refined young women she could select and formally bring in as proper concubines for Han Linfeng.

But before she could even send for someone to convey the message, she received the astonishing news that the young couple had departed together for the Qianxi Camp without a word of farewell to her.

The Princess Consort was furious beyond words. She went directly to find the Prince: “That Su Luoyun left without saying a single word to me? Even in an ordinary merchant household, no daughter-in-law behaves like this.”

Prince Beizhen was in his study, leisurely passing the time sketching. He listened to his wife’s indignant account and replied with no great concern, “You have been finding fault with her anyway, haven’t you? Is it not convenient that she is gone? She is cooped up in the estate, nothing to see and nothing to do, and you complain she is a liability to take out. Linfeng says she gives excellent massages, and his legs have been troubled by rheumatism lately. Having her there to ease the pain, someone to look after him — is that not perfectly good?”

The Princess Consort stared at the Prince calmly adding detail to a drawing of flat bamboo, perfectly at his leisure, and felt the anger surge inside her: “I am still the mistress of this household. Why is nothing discussed with me anymore? I know you have never taken me seriously — but now even a daughter-in-law who has only just married in is following your example and learning to show me disrespect.”

Prince Beizhen looked up with a frown: “You want to stir things up when the household is finally quiet? With the younger generation all here, I had rather not say this. But if that new bride had not shown some sense and driven those foolish women out, heaven knows what promises you would have made. The situation at the border is tangled and precarious, and Linfeng is shouldering an assignment that could cost him his head at any moment. You know you are the mistress of this household — should you not set an example and be a little more clear-headed?”

He was not finished speaking when the Princess Consort surged forward and tore the flat bamboo drawing to pieces. Her eyes glistened with tears as she cried out at him, “Have I not done enough? I know you only have her in your heart. No matter how hard I try, no matter how much bitterness I swallowed raising her child, you still think I owe it to her. Han Yi — you had better be clear about this: you came to beg at my family’s door, and it was eight sedan chairs that carried me into your Han household. If not for you, I would still be in the capital, living without a care in the world. Why should I be here, swallowing grievances, unwelcome on all sides?”

The flat bamboo had been her favourite. In years past, the back courtyard of the estate had been planted with an entire grove of it. But after she was gone, the Princess Consort had ordered it all cut down. And yet the Prince, it seemed, had taken to painting it every now and then.

Han Yi, hearing her tear open old wounds, also flushed with a mix of shame and anger, and said in a low, heavy voice, “Are you finished? Raking up things from how many years ago? And you took Linfeng and raised him as your own — can you honestly say that was entirely selfless?”

In a moment, husband and wife were in the full grip of a fierce quarrel in the study. In the end the Prince had the better of it.

When the Princess Consort emerged, eyes red-rimmed and tear-streaked, she returned to her rooms and did not eat a single thing for the rest of the day.

Su Luoyun only learned of the commotion in the estate later, through her young sister-in-law Han Yao.

She sighed quietly to herself. Her father- and mother-in-law had never been on easy terms with each other, and now, with Han Linfeng having taken her out of the estate without warning, things would likely only grow worse.

But she had already left, and it would hardly do to turn around and go back immediately. By now she was settled in Fengwei Village, not far from the Qianxi Camp.

The previous supply officer had purchased a small courtyard in the village and renovated it thoroughly. Though modest in size, it lacked for nothing. Even the outhouse at the back had been built with rosewood, with fragrant wood shavings lining the bucket and fine incense — the kind only found in the capital — set out on a rack beside it.

The kitchen was equally well-appointed. Beyond the cooking stove, there was even a stone roasting oven for grilling meat. The heated brick bed inside the rooms was already warm and glowing.

Even without seeing it, Su Luoyun could sense the refinement of every detail — it was like a miniature travelling palace.

Having lived her whole life in the south, she had long heard of the famous warmth of northern heated brick beds. It was a surprise to finally experience them not in a grand estate but in this unassuming little village, on a bitter winter’s night.

As Han Linfeng stored her money chest beside the bedding chest next to the heated bed, he explained, “The previous supply officer was a brother-in-law by marriage to the eldest son of the Junguo Duke’s household — a man of particular tastes. He had the courtyard fitted out to rival a capital mansion. Come summer, there is even a warm spring pool in the yard where one can soak under the shade of trees at leisure. When he left, he was hoping to sell the place, and it was rather sought after — several of my officers were eager to buy it…”

Su Luoyun laughed: “What a pity — those fine gentlemen who wanted to buy it were rounded up by their new commanding officer in a single evening, and the courtyard became an awkward piece of property no one could offload.”

Han Linfeng stretched out across the heated bed with a long, contented sigh: “I had not originally intended to buy it. But when I came to look, I thought suddenly that it would be perfect as a place to keep a treasure hidden away. So I made an offer and bought it — to keep you tucked in here.”

Su Luoyun felt her way to the bed and spread the quilt out across the warm surface. Smiling at his words, she thought of something and grew a little worried: “Will my being here interfere with your duties? Might someone submit a memorial impeaching you?”

Han Linfeng kissed her lightly on the forehead: “You are not living inside the camp — only in a nearby village, cooking my meals and washing my clothes. If a dutiful wife like that were subject to impeachment, there would be no justice in the world. Besides, I will only be able to keep you company for a few days — I am soon to transport grain to Jiayong Prefecture.”

Hearing that he was to deliver grain, Su Luoyun felt a flutter of worry: “The grain you are guarding now — Wang Yun does not want it, but the Tiefu people and the rebel Qiu Zhen are all eyeing it hungrily. The moment you set out on the road, will you not be like a fat rabbit bolting from its warren with every wolf in the hills drooling after it?”

“Indeed,” Han Linfeng said with a smile. “Three factions, all with ill intent, all hoping to catch a rabbit and line their winter burrows with the spoils. What do you think this rabbit should do?”

Su Luoyun did not believe for a moment that he had no plan. But she had in fact spent a good deal of time thinking on his behalf, and was not sure whether her idea had any merit. After a moment, she said softly, “Since you must play the rabbit, you should play a cunning one — a rabbit with three burrows, or four, or even five. No matter how many wolves come, you will break every last one of their necks.”

Han Linfeng listened, and found that this girl’s thinking had arrived at exactly the same place as his own. What he did not yet know was — if she were the one to set it in motion, how did she picture building these decoy rabbit warrens?