However, the matter that had long been weighing on Zhao Shi’s mind finally came to light.

Just as the Zhou family’s womenfolk boarded the boat and prepared to depart, Hu Shi suddenly suffered from seasickness and began vomiting. A physician was summoned to take her pulse — and to everyone’s astonishment, she was with child!

This sent Zhao Shi — who had been desperately longing for a grandchild until her eyes had gone red — into a state of overjoyed elation.

But this meant that for the sake of preserving Hu Shi’s health, the already slow boat would need to travel even more slowly.

On days when the waves and wind picked up, they would stop entirely and wait for the weather to calm before pressing on.

As a result, what should have been a journey of a little over twenty days ended up taking a full two months.

By the time Chu Linlang caught sight of the capital’s gates, she was so exhausted she actually felt the rare urge to shed tears — had she endured any more time aboard that boat, she might have developed the delusion of morning sickness herself, ready to retch into the wind.

Xia He, seeing that Linlang had barely eaten these past few days, suspected the young concubine’s pregnancy had been causing her distress, and offered quiet words of comfort: “Miss, your constitution has always been strong. Once we reach the capital and find a renowned physician to help you recover, you’ll certainly be able to conceive…”

Dongxue gave a cold snort from beside them: “If you ask me, it was the year the Young Miss got married — she took in cold air and exhausted her body that very year!”

In the past, the Young Miss’s monthly cycle had been very regular. But in that first year of marriage, a shipment of goods arrived at the shop and the cart had broken down and been stranded in the mountains. The Young Miss had personally led people out to shovel snow, dig out the cart, and haul the goods. In the biting cold, her monthly flow was simply frozen away.

From then on, the Young Miss’s cycle was always delayed by a few days.

Women of other households needed only to manage affairs at home. But theirs — she was the pillar that held up both inside and outside, truly treating herself like a rough laboring man. With such exhaustion of heart and mind, it would be a wonder if she could conceive at all!

Chu Linlang had done nothing more than lose her appetite these past few days, yet somehow her two maids had managed to draw out this entire string of grievances from it.

She rose to her feet with resignation, stood by the roadside at the dock, and gazed in the direction of the capital.

After the boat docked, a manservant had already been sent into the city to deliver word and see whether Zhou Sui’an could dispatch a carriage and sedan to receive his mother.

Yet even after all the trunks had been unloaded from the boat, there was still no sign of anyone coming to meet them.

Chu Linlang turned to look at her thoroughly exhausted mother-in-law, and at Hu Shi who had been sitting beneath the shade awning the whole time clutching a copper basin. She decided to wait no longer and simply find a few carts at the nearby carriage house to make do.

But just then, several fine horses came galloping from the official road not far away. The riders were dressed in the uniforms of the Court of Judicial Review, cutting imposing figures as they rode swiftly past.

The horses had already passed by, but after a short while the one at the lead suddenly pulled hard on the reins and turned back, his horse trotting up to Chu Linlang’s side.

Chu Linlang looked up — and gave a start. What a narrow world it was — the man on horseback was none other than Situ Sheng, whom she had not seen in a long while.

As it turned out, Lord Situ had been out on official business and was making his way back into the city when, by chance, he encountered Chu Linlang at the riverbank dock, having just arrived in the capital.

This was Chu Linlang’s first time seeing Situ Sheng in official uniform. The man suited the Court of Judicial Review’s attire far too well — clad in a long crimson robe cinched with a sash belt, it accentuated his ramrod-straight figure. Mounted as he was atop a tall and spirited horse, for a moment she almost didn’t dare recognize him.

Situ Sheng asked a few questions and, learning that Zhou Sui’an had not yet sent anyone to receive the womenfolk, exchanged a few words with the military-clad man at his side. Before long, several carriages bearing military camp plaques arrived, along with over a dozen soldiers to help carry their belongings.

Chu Linlang had now moved house twice with cargo, and both times Situ Sheng had turned up — she couldn’t help but remark on the coincidence, and promptly stepped forward to express her thanks to Lord Situ for his assistance.

Situ Sheng looked at Chu Linlang’s face and said with measured calm: “After several months apart, Madam Chu appears to have grown somewhat thinner.”

Chu Linlang responded politely with a smile: “The waterway journey was rough and I had little appetite — I may have lost some weight. Fortunately, now that we’ve arrived in the capital, I can finally get properly settled.”

The military-clad man beside Situ Sheng walked over at this point, looking at Madam Chu with curiosity, and asked: “And this lady is…?”

Chu Linlang hurried to greet him, and through Situ Sheng’s brief introduction she learned that this man, who appeared to be in his thirties, was in fact General Li Chengyi of the Ministry of War.

It was said that his grandfather had once been the right-hand man of the great General Yang Xun. However, when Yang Xun set out on his campaign against the Kingdom of Jing, old General Li had not accompanied him due to illness.

After the Yang family met their catastrophic downfall, the court was left nearly devoid of capable generals. The Li family’s elderly general had personally volunteered for battle at that moment of crisis and resolved the court’s desperate situation.

In earlier days, when Prince Tai had wielded tremendous power, the Li family had been loyal imperial supporters and had endured considerable marginalization as a result. Now that Prince Tai’s faction had suffered defeat, the great power of the Ministry of War had fallen into the Li family’s hands.

What began as an exchange of polite pleasantries took an unexpected turn: upon hearing that Chu Linlang was Zhou Sui’an’s wife, General Li’s gaze became scrutinizing as it traveled over her from head to foot — an expression of curiosity, mixed with what seemed very much like pity.

However, General Li and Situ Sheng had official duties and could not linger long. After helping the Zhou household load the carts, they took their leave and entered the city ahead.

Zhou Sui’an’s current residence was in Wooden Fish Stone Lane, in the eastern part of the city. This area sat apart from the busy markets. Named for its terrain — the elevated ground formed a shape resembling a great wooden fish — it commanded a prime location.

When Chu Linlang stepped down from the carriage, she noticed clusters of green bamboo planted at the mouth of the lane, and the stone-flagged path had been scrubbed clean and bright. The several household gates along the lane all presented themselves with considerable style.

Entering the Zhou family’s courtyard, she found it unexpectedly impressive — the rooms and yard were remarkably bright and spacious.

Although Chu Linlang was not a native of the capital, she could well guess that this courtyard was worth no small sum. If it had been allocated by the court, Zhou Sui’an’s current rank of the sixth grade hardly seemed sufficient to qualify for such a place.

Zhao Shi looked over the furnishings inside and out, her face radiant and glowing. Her back straightened without her even noticing, and she murmured to herself: “My son has truly made something of himself! To have established such a household! May all the ancestral spirits of the Zhou family above watch over my son Sui’an and bring him great success!”

Having said all this, she still couldn’t resist a few pointed remarks at Chu Linlang: “You have good fortune too — you entered our Zhou family’s doors precisely when we were struggling through hardship. Back when you were traveling around with your father trading salt, I don’t suppose you ever imagined you’d see such a fine life as today’s. But you’ll need to change that small-minded, penny-pinching way of yours — that kind of frugality brings shame upon your husband’s face!”

These past days had not been easy on Zhao Shi either, and she kept bringing up how Chu Linlang’s choice to save money by hiring the slow boat had made the whole family suffer.

Now, after the long and arduous journey by water and land, arriving suddenly at such a grand and distinguished household — it truly felt like ascending to heaven in a single step.

Her son had made good, and she, a widowed mother, had finally survived to see better days!

The young concubine Hu Shi was also very pleased, allowing the serving women to support her as she walked circuits around the courtyard.

Watching the whole household bask in joy, Chu Linlang didn’t feel it was the right moment to voice her doubts about how all this sat so oddly with Zhou Sui’an’s current official rank. She suppressed her misgivings and first saw to settling Zhao Shi and the pregnant Hu Shi comfortably.

As for Yuan’er, she had fallen asleep before even boarding the carriage and had still not woken even now. The younger sister-in-law Zhou Xiuling carried the child away to rest in her room.

By the time Linlang had seen to the old and the young, she was exhausted to the bone, her back aching, and was finally able to lie down in bed and stretch her limbs.

She slept so long she even missed the evening meal. Fortunately, Zhao Shi and the others had also been worn out enough to sleep, and no one had arranged for dinner.

It was only after the lamps were lit that Zhou Sui’an — who should have gone to the city gates to welcome his family — finally came home.

According to the manservant Manfu, the master had gone to the residence of the Ministry of Finance’s Minister Shen to drink wine. Today was the one-month celebration for Minister Shen’s grandson, and the master truly could not get away — which was why he had not gone to the city gates to receive the family.

Chu Linlang wrapped herself in a robe and watched as Zhou Sui’an was carried home on a manservant’s back. The wine fumes radiating off him told her he had drunk no small amount.

Thinking of Hu Shi’s pregnancy and the precariousness of an early-stage fetus, Linlang had the manservant carry Zhou Sui’an to her own room.

Counting the days, it had been almost two months since they last saw each other. Zhou Sui’an seemed to have adapted well to life in the capital alone. The clothes he wore must have been tailored after his arrival — they were in the fashionable style favored by the capital’s elite, and the fabric appeared quite fine…

As Chu Linlang helped him undress, something suddenly slipped out from the sleeve pocket of his robe — an exquisitely made sachet.

The sachet was crafted from plum-blossom satin, adorned with delicate embroidered patterns, and filled with fragrant herbs that gave off a sweet, pleasing scent. It was certainly nothing that had ever belonged among Zhou Sui’an’s personal belongings before.

Then again, before coming to the capital, Zhou Sui’an rarely came to her room, and all his clothing had been handled by the young concubine Hu Shi.

Perhaps this sachet had been sewn for him by Hu Shi. Chu Linlang couldn’t be bothered to look further and casually placed the sachet in the willow-wood box on the nearby cabinet.

The next morning, after daylight had fully arrived, Zhou Sui’an finally sobered up and rose from bed. But the whole man looked listless, his expression weighted with unspoken concerns. Even when Chu Linlang spoke to him, he could barely be bothered to respond.

Linlang sat before her dressing mirror, combing out her long hair, while directing Xia He to bring Zhou Sui’an the sobering broth.

Zhou Sui’an drank a few sips and listened as Chu Linlang recounted the events of their arrival in the city the day before.

When she mentioned that Lord Situ had helped arrange the carts, he couldn’t help but furrow his brow and warned her: “You’ve only just arrived and may not know — Situ Sheng’s reputation in the capital is quite foul these days. Our Zhou family would do well not to become too closely acquainted with him.”

Chu Linlang paused slightly: “Why is that?”

Zhou Sui’an gave a cold snort and brushed the matter aside: “These are matters of officialdom — a woman has no business asking. Just remember to steer clear of him in the future.”

As he said this, he picked up his clothes — which were still hanging nearby unwashed — and reached a hand into the pockets. His expression shifted suddenly, and he began patting the garment inside and out.

Chu Linlang happened to glance back and noticed, so she asked what he was looking for.

But Zhou Sui’an said nothing, only continuing to search through the pockets. Chu Linlang, with deliberate calm, said: “Are you looking for a sachet? I put it in the box on the cabinet over there.”

Zhou Sui’an heard this and immediately opened the cabinet box. There indeed lay the plum-blossom satin sachet.

Through the gleaming copper mirror, Chu Linlang could see clearly: the master quietly released a breath of relief, then tucked the sachet back into his sleeve pocket.

Chu Linlang applied her rouge powder, and asked with deliberate casualness: “Was that sachet sewn for you by Hu Shi? I don’t recall seeing it before.”

Zhou Sui’an made an indistinct sound of assent and went off to the dining hall for breakfast.

Today was his day off — he had no duty at the Ministry of Finance — but word had it he had social engagements with colleagues. After finishing his meal, he took his manservant and headed out early.

Later, when Chu Linlang was helping the servants organize Hu Shi’s room, she remarked casually: “I noticed the sachet you embroidered for the master — your needlework really is lovely. Once you’ve given birth, you simply must embroider one for me as well.”

Hu Shi blinked in puzzlement, looking a little flustered: “My father always had me spend more time on books growing up, so I’m not very skilled with needlework. If you don’t mind the poor quality, Young Mistress, I’d be happy to try to make one for you… but — I’ve never actually made a sachet for the master.”