By midday Minglan had returned to the residence. Danju carefully removed the hairpins, ornaments, and embroidered robe from her, stowing each piece away properly and preparing to lock them in the wardrobe. Minglan said with a straight face and a half-joking tone: “That imperial title certificate and the pearl crown and ceremonial robe absolutely cannot go missing — otherwise your mistress’s imperial title would no longer count.”

Who would have thought that Danju took her quite literally? She went carefully through each item, then said in all seriousness: “This pearl crown and robe don’t look particularly remarkable to me — given the right materials, they could be made again. But the scroll certificate is the most important thing — I’ll go and find a very sturdy lock for it.” And with an expression of complete gravity, she went out to do exactly that.

After lunch, Minglan slipped into bed for her afternoon nap. Danju gently massaged her aching and swollen little legs for her, and Minglan drifted off amid a pleasant, drowsy haze, not knowing how much time had passed before she felt something heavy pressing down on her. She opened her eyes — it was Gu Tingye.

He wore only a simple moon-white inner robe, his arms wrapped around Minglan as he slept soundly. His arms were solid as iron rings, and Minglan could not manage to crawl out from underneath him. So she simply closed her eyes and went back to sleep.

They slept straight through until the sun began to sink in the west. Only then did both stir and sit up groggily, husband and wife looking at each other, both wearing identical expressions of slow, heavy-lidded contentment. Gu Tingye’s thick, dark hair hung loose around his shoulders, adding a certain languid charm to his already handsome face. Minglan’s jade-pale cheeks were still faintly imprinted with creases, her expression soft and blurry, her small, plump fists busily rubbing at her eyes.

Gu Tingye found her utterly delightful, and could not help pulling her toward him for a few vigorous kisses pressed against her cheek and neck. Minglan mewled and murmured like a drowsy kitten for a moment before gradually waking up properly.

“Napping through the whole afternoon is already improper, and on top of that for a husband and wife to nap together in the daytime… oh dear…” Minglan leaned against her quilt, tilting her head to one side, sighing eloquently with borrowed classical gravitas — meaning that it would be better in the future for them to nap separately, so as to avoid people gossiping.

“A man of true character does as he pleases — why should he care what others say?” Gu Tingye continued nuzzling and kissing at Minglan’s soft neck; Minglan glanced sideways at him and said: “What does being a man of true character have to do with taking afternoon naps?”

“Nothing at all — which is precisely why the gate should be secured more tightly,” Gu Tingye replied, settling her comfortably into his arms and propping himself against the head of the bed with a pillow, his expression entirely earnest. “If no one knows, then no one can say anything about us.”

Minglan stared at him. He looked back at her. After a moment, Minglan turned her head away — a brazen level of shamelessness required no commentary.

After the nap, her mouth was somewhat dry. Minglan shifted and made to reach past Gu Tingye toward the small table at the head of the bed for some water. Gu Tingye pressed her back and retrieved the entire teapot himself and brought it to her. Minglan took it in both small hands and tilted the spout directly to her lips, drinking in great steady gulps — glugging away like a little fat squirrel that had found a cache of oil. Gu Tingye watched her with a contained smile.

After dinner, Gu Tingye still needed to go to the outer study to discuss matters with Master Gongsun. Since they had already slept through most of the afternoon, the two of them threw caution to the wind, had the maids prepare the evening meal, and settled back together on the daybed. Gu Tingye lay with his arm around Minglan’s slender waist, half-reclining with his head resting in the crook of her arms, while Minglan’s soft, nimble fingers pressed and worked their way across his temples and around his head.

This technique had been passed down directly from Nanny Fang and had been extensively practiced on Sheng Lao — the results thoroughly proven. Gu Tingye lay with his eyes half-closed in a state of pleasant drowsiness.

Minglan spoke in a leisurely, meandering way, telling him about the things she had witnessed that morning in Cining Palace. Gu Tingye lay with his eyes partially shut and added a few comments of his own: “…I have met Brother Shen’s first wife, Lady Zou — she was truly a remarkable woman: courageous, resolute, and deeply kind. The southwestern frontier was remote and desolate, yet for the sake of Brother Shen’s attachment to the Empress, she — a fragile woman — gave her whole-hearted support for her husband to leave his homeland and settle far away at the frontier. While Brother Shen served in the frontier army, Lady Zou regularly went to keep the Empress company and offer comfort, and in the meantime helped and cared for the local people and the poor, earning a considerable reputation for virtue in that region. I once heard that the year the Crown Prince was born prematurely, there was not a proper wet nurse to be found anywhere in the entire princely residence. At precisely that time, Lady Zou had also just given birth. She set aside her own newborn son and first nursed the Crown Prince, caring for him devotedly. A woman who does not rest and recover properly during her postpartum month lays down the roots of illness — and that was when hers took hold.”

Minglan sighed with emotion at this — which was why, she reflected, that even devotion needed to be measured. One must not sacrifice even one’s own life in offering it.

“And how did you come to know the Eighth Prince in the first place?”

Gu Tingye slid his hand beneath Minglan’s inner robe, stroking the fine texture of her skin, his eyes opening partway with a lazy smile: “That year I had taken on a business venture that took me to Sichuan, and my route passed through the Eighth Prince’s feudal territory. It happened that the Eighth Prince’s household steward had gone to invite a physician from the Sichuan Prince’s residence, but the physician, in a most despicable manner, made excuses and refused to come. I have always despised this type of person — those who flatter the powerful and look down on the weak. In a fit of anger, that very night I covered my face, led a group of brothers, broke down the physician’s gate, and hauled him out bodily along with his medicine chest to send to the Eighth Prince’s residence!”

“You…?! The Sichuan Prince was a powerful man — wouldn’t that have brought trouble down on the Eighth Prince?” Minglan stared, jaw dropped. “What happened after that?”

Gu Tingye looked entirely unperturbed, and laughed: “Officials have their official ways; outlaws have their outlaw ways — I had my methods. This type of person has always been a bully who fears only those stronger than himself. I held a knife to the physician’s throat and threatened him that if he dared go and report me to the Sichuan Prince, I would burn down his house and farmland, and slaughter a few of his concubines and sons and grandchildren for good measure. He could hide for a while but not forever — he could hide himself but not his entire household! I was an outlaw, a man of righteous indignation who came and went without a trace — impossible to catch!”

Minglan listened with her brows lifted in delight, covering her mouth with her hand and laughing until she toppled against the man: “You scheming little troublemaker!”

Recalling those days, Gu Tingye also felt a surge of exhilaration and amusement: “When all was done, I intended simply to leave, but as it happened, in the years before the Emperor had been given his princely residence, he had caught a glimpse of me in the capital a few times. I was caught off-guard — and he actually recognized me!… After that, one thing led to another, and I became a regular visitor to the Eighth Prince’s residence. Sometimes I would bring mountain delicacies or seafood; sometimes rare curiosities or calligraphy and paintings; sometimes I would handle various matters for the Emperor. When I fell ill or was injured or grew weary, I would simply show up at the princely residence and stay for five days without the slightest hesitation — and among those who regularly attended to me there was that little eunuch Xia. In those days the Emperor was lonely and bored, so I would go and ramble on about all sorts of things from the four corners of the world. If Brother Shen had a free moment, the three of us would have a small drink together and curse the heavens freely afterward. It was a good release.”

“The Emperor’s eyesight is truly exceptional — he could recognize you even through a face covering!” Minglan clapped her hands in admiring laughter. “And your approach was really very clever. You helped people with small favors, then went to enjoy their food and drink in return — an even exchange of give and take, and that is precisely what makes people genuinely fond of you.”

Gu Tingye took hold of Minglan’s small hand and brought it to his lips. He looked at her with an expression of warm appreciation: “Having knocked about in the world long enough, one learns something about the ways of human nature. Too much benevolence breeds resentment — an overwhelming favor becomes an enemy. Besides, the Eighth Prince was after all imperial blood; I always felt it would not do to make him feel uncomfortable or indebted. And in any case, it was not entirely calculated — on several occasions I had caught illnesses of the season, and without the care of the princely household, it would not have been easy to recover.”

Minglan thought of how he had grown up surrounded by servants and attendants, yet had then spent years wandering alone through the world, unfamiliar with rest and routine and even the simplest daily needs of a cup of tea or a meal. He must have endured untold hardships before finally emerging from the other side. That he had survived it at all was remarkable. Thinking this, Minglan looked at him, and without intending to, her gaze filled with a mingling of tenderness and admiration. Gu Tingye caught that look, and something stirred in him. He said in a low voice: “Back then I could never have imagined that things would come to where they are today. All I wanted was to earn enough money and make something of myself so that no one could look down on me…”

He was hardly the only one who could not have imagined it. The number of officials who had lost their futures and their lives in those factional struggles was not small. Minglan gave a quiet, low sigh: “Lady Zou was a great loss.”

“She was a loss, yes — but what Brother Shen has done in this matter is not well-handled,” Gu Tingye said crisply.

Minglan was momentarily startled, and after a brief pause replied: “…Master Shen was probably also left without options. There was nothing else he could do.”

To her surprise, Gu Tingye gave a dismissive shake of his head, a slight slant to his lips, a suggestion of displeasure in his eyes. Then he shifted and asked: “You saw that younger Zou lady today — what did you make of her?”

Minglan was evasive in her response; she was reluctant to pass judgment on someone she had just met for the first time. She ventured only: “She seemed to be on quite close terms with the Empress.”

“And that is precisely what makes it troublesome!” Gu Tingye’s gaze turned cold and piercing. “I have met the younger Zou lady a few times — she appears fragile, but she is ambitious and determined. The Empress, in remembrance of the late Lady Zou’s kindness, treats her generously at every turn and has not the heart to be strict with her. Now on top of all that she has been granted an imperial title. Lady Shen is after all the legitimate daughter of the Zhang family — she married below her station in coming to the Shen household. For Brother Shen to conduct himself in this way — where does that leave the Duke of England’s honor?!”

“You… think Master Shen should not have taken in the younger Zou lady?” Minglan studied him with a probing gaze. There seemed to be a trace of transferred resentment in Gu Tingye’s attitude — had this perhaps stirred thoughts of Lady Bai?

“No.” To her surprise, Gu Tingye rejected this flatly. “It matters not which woman Brother Shen married — each choice would have its justification. What matters is that Brother Shen has not handled the matter well.”

Gu Tingye sat up, his broad shoulders resting against the head of the bed. He said with a low sigh: “It is a good thing that Brother Shen values loyalty and sentiment. But in this world there are some things that cannot be had both ways at once. When a decision must be made and is not made, chaos is the inevitable result. Either he should have properly married the Zhang family woman and made the best of it, or he should have gone and married the Zou girl outright. Given Lady Zou’s great virtue and kindness in her lifetime, the Emperor — moved by old affection — might not have forced Brother Shen’s hand in marrying the Zhang family woman. He could have arranged for a younger Shen sister to marry into the Duke of England’s household instead, and had the daughter of Brother Duan’s household form a union with the Zheng family — that would also have served. Brother Shen simply delayed and dithered, wanting both to honor his personal ties and to have a smooth path ahead. When has the world ever offered such a convenient arrangement for anyone?!”

Minglan was hearing the inside story for the first time, and her heart was in considerable tumult. Gu Tingye continued: “Very well — if Brother Shen truly wished to form a match with the Duke of England’s household — understandable enough, as these things go — then at the very least he should have made it clean and done it properly. If he worried that having a stepmother would mean having a stepfather in spirit for his children, then taking the younger sister-in-law as a concubine could also have worked — but he needed to maintain the proper boundaries. The Zhang household had already sent their legitimate daughter as a remarriage wife — that was already an act of considerable goodwill. And yet the Shen family continues to elevate the younger Zou lady again and again, with no restraint… You just wait. Sooner or later, something will go wrong. If the Duke of England’s household is truly provoked into anger, what can the Emperor say at that point? It may very well even drag the Empress into trouble.”

To others, the National Uncle’s domestic affairs might be nothing more than casual dinner conversation. To Gu Tingye, it was a serious political matter. The Duke of England’s household did not have only one option. If they truly fell out with the Shen family, they might well turn to invest their support in another consort. As a friend, Gu Tingye had no wish to see Shen Congxing’s future undermined by trouble within his own household.

Minglan tilted her head and studied Gu Tingye. She was not particularly invested in the Shen family’s affairs. What genuinely interested her was Gu Tingye’s way of thinking and his approach to things. She carefully leaned in a little closer, her two small hands perched on the man’s shoulders, and said in a honeyed little voice: “Hmm… let me ask you this — if you were the National Uncle Shen, which woman would you have chosen?” On one side was a limitless future; on the other was a deeply beloved wife, a pitiful young child. What should one do?

Gu Tingye laughed: “How could I possibly know?” Ever since the day he had rescued Minglan from the river, he had spent his days turning over in his mind schemes for winning her over.

“Think it through properly. Supposing I were dead — would you marry someone from a prominent family, or would you marry my younger sister to take care of the children?” Minglan’s eyes shone brightly as she pressed the question, relentless. Gu Tingye slowly narrowed his eyes, a glint of something dangerous in his gaze. Minglan swallowed and retreated a step. Gu Tingye stared at her for a long time, then said slowly and deliberately: “I would naturally marry someone from a prominent family — it would not matter if she were haughty and forceful. After all, she would still be able to bear me more children.”

Minglan gasped, nearly unable to draw breath. After a considerable struggle to recover, she raised her foot and launched a bare, round, white little foot directly at his shoulder, striking it like a small fleshy cannonball, and said with furious indignation: “You — you — you… you scoundrel!”

Gu Tingye grabbed hold of her foot with one swift motion and wrapped his arm around her smooth, soft little leg. He bared his white teeth in a wide grin and bit down with gentle force on her calf — somewhere between playful and deliberate. Minglan cried out in mock pain and pounded at him with her fists, while he laughed in great booming waves: “So, my lady had best not die — take every care of yourself. At the very least, live longer than your husband.”