Many of the merchants Xia Qingyun was acquainted with had, in their singleminded rush to the northern territories, become entangled in the smuggled saltpeter case and had their trade journeys thrown into disarray.

Some who had managed to reach the north at great effort found that many of their transit documents — obtained through back channels and in violation of regulations — had been invalidated and declared void, forcing them to turn their cargo ships around and head back with nothing to show for it.

There was no shortage of merchants who had tried to profit from speculation and ended up ruined as a result.

Xia Qingyun was grateful he had listened to the young mistress and thus escaped this catastrophe of ruin. So for what to do next, he had specifically written a letter to ask Linlang’s guidance.

Linlang wrote back saying that the rainy season was approaching, and that the northwest business had turned a sufficient profit — it was time to return to the capital, rest, and run shorter routes for a while.

Xia Qingyun accordingly put his fleet in order and, carrying some of the northwestern specialty goods Linlang had specified, set off on the return journey.

Chu Linlang tallied up her accounts. The two shops she owned in her hometown already had a prospective buyer making inquiries, though the price offered was not yet quite right — she could let it sit a while longer before selling. Once sold, she would be able to pool enough funds to buy a commercial property in the capital.

Compared to those hopeless marriage prospects, a shop that could generate wealth for three generations was far more reliable than any man!

When she mentioned wanting to return to her hometown to handle the transfer of the shops, Situ Sheng disagreed. He said only that the waterways were not entirely safe at present — if she wished to sell the shops, he could ask an official at the Ministry of Finance to write to the county magistrate in Jiang Kou on her behalf, requesting that he act as guarantor for the sale.

Chu Linlang heard this out but did not agree. Selling a shop was no small matter, and she was a born worrier by nature — if she couldn’t be there in person, she would never feel fully at ease.

Jiang Kou was a place she had no great desire to return to. Yet she also knew she had to make one trip back.

Though the letters her mother sent had as always reported everything to be well, she could always sense between the lines the grievances her mother endured.

She had originally planned to wait until she had saved enough money to buy a house and bring her mother to the capital. But before that, she needed to see her mother with her own eyes to feel truly at ease.

Counting the time, the girls’ school had a summer recess. She planned to use that break to return to her hometown to visit family, and conveniently sell the shops at the same time.

If all went well, she also hoped to bring her mother back with her.

Her father had a houseful of wives and concubines — he wouldn’t miss one. If the opportunity arose, she might even be able to persuade her father to release her.

Having this to look forward to gave her drive and purpose. The business affairs had all been arranged — what remained was her own studies.

Today at the girls’ school, in addition to music, there was a history lesson. The teacher was again Teacher Liao.

Though he was past thirty, he was still among the younger teachers on staff — only he had no care for his appearance, his topknot disheveled, his half-grown beard perpetually askew.

When Chu Linlang’s attention drifted during class, she would pass the time observing the subtle reactions of everyone in the room, which made the dull hours of lessons far more interesting.

For instance, every time the slovenly Teacher Liao made his entrance, the others reacted as they would — but Tao Yashu in particular seemed to freeze entirely in place, her body leaning slightly backward, her breathing slowing and softening considerably, as though afraid that breathing too deeply might let her inhale the scruffy teacher’s air.

Watching Tao Yashu force herself to pay careful attention to the lesson, while simultaneously holding her body rigid the entire time, Chu Linlang couldn’t help feeling a certain sympathy for Miss Tao.

She even let her imagination wander a little — what Tao Yashu’s mind most wanted to do was probably kick this teacher straight into a tub of scalding water and then order a few servants to shave his beard clean, wasn’t it?

And not only did Teacher Liao push the limits of one’s eyes today — today’s lecture content also pushed the limits of the students’ understanding.

What he covered was the Empress Dugu of the previous dynasty. When many historical records attributed her removal of Crown Prince Yang Yong in favor of Yang Guang — which led to the dynasty’s short-lived collapse — to “her heart being uneven, using her favored position to displace the legitimate heir,” Teacher Liao did not agree. Instead, he was full of praise for her dominance over the inner palace, feeling that among the many empresses in history, she alone had served as empress without losing her true self.

This insistence on preserving one’s true self was, in truth, more rare and admirable than any virtue of virtuous conduct.

At these words, the female students looked at one another in surprise.

Because when they had studied this period of history, although the court historians affirmed Empress Dugu’s virtuous conduct, they also sharply criticized her jealousy — her refusal to tolerate other women in the imperial harem, which led to the Emperor having dangerously few heirs. This had been deemed a fatal flaw.

So much so that in the end, among those few heirs of the Sui Emperor, not a single one possessed the qualities of a true ruler. Add to this her involvement in deposing the eldest son in favor of a younger one, and her interference in court affairs — all of it was utterly incompatible with ritual propriety.

A temperament so jealous as to forbid one’s husband from taking concubines — how could the court historians who compiled the official records stomach that?

Previously, teachers had all held her up as a negative example. In fact, even without the teachers pointing it out, in the eyes of many daughters of noble families, being jealous and refusing to permit one’s husband to take concubines was also a violation of ritual propriety. If one’s husband were a common peddler or laborer, perhaps — but as the ruler of an entire nation, to be kept under a woman’s thumb was really rather unseemly.

Yet Teacher Liao went entirely against the grain, praising Empress Dugu as the first and only unfeigned woman among all the renowned empresses.

Such an unorthodox declaration left the female students listening with fresh curiosity, and with the teacher’s humorous manner of speaking, there were frequent bursts of suppressed laughter throughout.

There was, however, one person whose brow was tightly furrowed — and that was Miss Tao Yashu.

On several occasions, as Teacher Liao recounted with a tone of gentle mockery the blindly devoted ministers of past dynasties and the empresses who had merely performed virtue, Miss Tao’s body gave a faint tremor, and she seemed several times on the verge of speaking but held herself back.

In the end she couldn’t help it, and during a pause in the teacher’s lecture she said: “Teacher Liao — the official historical records do not describe it in this way.”

Teacher Liao smiled gently and replied in a mild voice: “What I present is not unofficial legend either. I have simply drawn from different historical texts and documents, blended them together, and offered them to you all. As for what is right and wrong at the heart of it, that is for each of you ladies to judge for yourselves. ‘Using copper as a mirror, one can straighten one’s attire; using history as a mirror, one can understand the rise and fall of dynasties’ — as long as all of you take something away from it, that is well enough.”

Chu Linlang felt that without the restraint of good breeding, Miss Tao might have been unable to stop herself from refuting Teacher Liao outright in the middle of class.

At the time of Tao Yashu’s entrance essay for the girls’ school, the teacher in charge of literary composition had read it aloud as a model piece to all the female students.

The several exemplary empresses Teacher Liao had just playfully mocked had all been showered with the highest praise in Tao Yashu’s entrance essay.

And now, Teacher Liao’s lecture amounted to a direct rebuttal from a distance, tearing apart Tao Yashu’s entrance essay as utterly worthless.

What a pity that Teacher Liao had never seen Miss Tao’s essay and had no idea he had inadvertently offended a woman who might very well become the future mistress of the inner palace.

He remained fully immersed in his own eloquent flow, and when the spirit moved him, he even lifted his purple clay teapot and took a long, gurgling swig — the brownish tea liquid and a few loose tea leaves lodging themselves in his thick, abundant beard.

Chu Linlang, catching sight of his glistening, tea-sodden beard, gave a silent cry of dismay.

She turned to look at Miss Tao — who was staring fixedly at the teacher’s beard, her two slender arms trembling faintly, as though she had reached the very limit of her endurance.

When the lesson concluded, Teacher Liao began assigning homework — distributing the list of history books and chapters to each student — after which class was dismissed.

However, Chu Linlang, having a weaker academic foundation, was kept behind by the teacher for extra attention, and was given several additional introductory volumes.

After receiving her list, Chu Linlang turned to leave and noticed that one other person had not yet gone — and it was Miss Tao.

Miss Tao’s expression at that moment was iced over with frosty composure. Without even waiting for Chu Linlang to leave first, she addressed Teacher Liao with a bow, her tone carrying a pointed edge: “Teacher Liao, I have a few points of confusion and humbly request the teacher’s explanation.”

Teacher Liao, hearing the slight edge in Miss Tao’s words, kept the open-minded smile of an enlightened educator on his face and turned to Chu Linlang: “Come — sit and take notes. Write down the points of debate between Miss Tao and myself. Next class, we can discuss them together with all the students.”

Chu Linlang, seeing Miss Tao’s drawn-sword-and-drawn-crossbow bearing, was somewhat uncertain whether what was about to unfold was something she should be committing to paper.

But the teacher had given his instruction — there was no leaving. She could only pull out paper and ink in a pretense of compliance.

Linlang’s note-taking speed was nowhere near keeping pace with the two combatants’ sharp verbal exchanges. She could only scrawl on the paper: “Fellow student Tao said three things; the teacher then said four things. As for what the two of them are saying — it’s absolute nonsense, this student is too dim to follow any of it…”

In the midst of the back-and-forth verbal duel, Tao Yashu’s eyes had been fixed the entire time on Teacher Liao’s beard. She endured and endured, then, feeling she couldn’t hold back any longer, she said with some embarrassment: “Teacher — there are a few tea leaves stuck to your beard…”

Chu Linlang perked up instantly — this part she understood. She noted it down at once: “Miss Tao reminded the teacher to tidy his appearance.”

At this moment, Teacher Liao was entirely absorbed in the spirited debate with his talented student and heard her but paid no attention whatsoever — not even a faint blush of embarrassment reached the cheeks buried beneath his beard.

Tao Yashu’s shoulders were trembling ever so slightly.

Seeing the teacher take no notice, she appeared to have been pushed to her absolute limit. She suddenly wheeled around, pulled a fine-toothed comb from her book box, strode straight up to the teacher, seized that beard in one hand, and began combing it with vigorous force, teeth gritted, as she said: “The teacher instructs us in history and ought to know — ‘using history as a mirror, one may discern right from wrong.’ But Teacher, do you not even look in the mirror in your daily life? Without straightening one’s attire, how can one speak of straightening others!”

Her words were full of aggrieved fury, seething with the rage of “I have been tolerating you for a very long time”!

Unfortunately, the teacher’s beard was thoroughly knotted, and one brute-force pull of the comb through it — the classroom filled with the sounds of the teacher’s yelps of “Oh! Ow! Ow!” mingled with the crisp snap and pop of beard hairs being yanked free.

Chu Linlang could practically feel the pain in her own jaw on his behalf.

She deeply regretted her failure to consult the divining shells this morning before class — for why else would she have been left standing in this brutal, carnage-filled arena?

The future Empress of the Great Jin, in the middle of a classroom, yanking a teacher’s beard — just imagining it made her feel she ought to be silenced permanently.

In a moment of panicked urgency, she flung down her paper and brush, rushed over, wrested the comb from Tao Yashu’s hand, and then deftly continued smoothing the teacher’s beard herself, saying with cheerful composure as though nothing were amiss: “Teacher, Miss Tao is not wrong — you really do need to look in a mirror now and then. If you like, I’ll give you one — guaranteed to show a bright, clear reflection, making you look impeccably presentable!”

Liao Jingxuan had been thoroughly bewildered by the two girls. His newly tidied jaw quivered with suppressed indignation as he glared at both Tao Yashu and Chu Linlang.

Tao Yashu herself appeared to have been startled by her own loss of composure. But turning to leave at this moment would cost her the high ground she had staked in the debate, so she maintained her cool, collected stance, ready to continue the argument with the teacher until right and wrong were thoroughly established.

Chu Linlang felt she had done more than her part — she had offered both parties a way to climb down gracefully. Whether they chose to take it was entirely up to them. She had fulfilled her duty of benevolence and propriety, and it was time to make a swift exit!

So after setting down the comb, she clutched her stomach, feigning a sudden cramp, and hoisted up her book box, racing toward the door.

And behind her, Teacher Liao finally broke the silence — though his words were clearly laced with considerably more edge.

As Chu Linlang stepped out, she could still hear through the window the heated “discussion” between Miss Tao and Teacher Liao.

This was a battle of wits between an accomplished scholar and an accomplished student — Chu Linlang couldn’t follow a word of it and made haste to leave, sparing herself the awkwardness of witnessing either side’s defeat.

However, as Chu Linlang turned the corner of the building, she found that Yixiu Junzhu had not yet left, and was crouching beneath the window with her maidservant, thoroughly absorbed in eavesdropping.

It was only when Chu Linlang came walking up that Yixiu Junzhu pretended to pick up a handkerchief from the ground, stood up with languid satisfaction, and fell into step beside Chu Linlang as she headed out.

A princess of her rank normally disdained to speak with someone of Chu Linlang’s station. But today she was in the mood for gossip and had no other kindred spirits nearby, so she turned to Chu Linlang and said: “Did you see that? She’s clearly already treating herself like the empress — won’t let anyone say a word against any of the virtuous empresses! When we see her from now on, are we supposed to kowtow with the full ceremonial bow?”

After saying this, Yixiu laughed out loud — but she was even more eager to know what had been making the teacher yelp in pain inside that room just now.

Having crouched down in fear of being discovered, she hadn’t been able to press her face to the window gap in time, and now needed to pry some warm details out of Chu Linlang’s mouth.

Unfortunately, Chu Linlang was not so obliging — she pretended not to hear and quickened her pace, shaking off Yixiu as she headed out.

Yixiu Junzhu never expected to be given the cold shoulder by this lowly classmate of hers, and was momentarily so angry her pretty brows knitted together: “She’s putting on airs? Does she think she’s the legitimate wife of some prince? What a nerve!”

The little maidservant beside her said quietly: “Did you hear? It seems that because of her, Lord Situ clashed with the deputy commander of the cavalry garrison, and there may even have been a death involved!”

Yixiu Junzhu heard this and couldn’t contain her eye-roll: “She may have a few points of good looks, but she’s hardly the reincarnation of Yang Yuhuan or Zhao Feiyan. And Lord Situ is no fool — would he get involved with a woman of her background?”

As she said this, her words carried a faint undercurrent of sourness.

These days she was preparing to discuss a marriage arrangement, and when her mother asked whom she had in mind, the first person she had thought of was Situ Sheng.

There was nothing to be done about it — among all the officials in the capital, he was simply the handsomest, and after Yixiu Junzhu caught a glimpse of him at the academy, she had felt rather smitten at first sight.

Unfortunately, her mother had shaken her head repeatedly, saying this kind of official with no family roots was like horse dung dusted with frost — smooth and bright on the outside, but completely hollow underneath. Not nearly as solid as hereditary gentry.

Besides, his current campaign of reforming official land allocations had the entire court in an uproar — was that any kind of match for a daughter?

After being lectured by her mother, Yixiu Junzhu knew there would be no approval, and her spirits had flagged.

Then, beyond all expectation, after her father had gone to have a drink with the Fourth Prince, her mother’s attitude had shifted somewhat — it sounded as though the Fourth Prince was quite in favor of the Yun family — her mother’s family — forging a marital alliance with this Situ Sheng.

If Situ Sheng could be brought into their fold, it would be a great asset for the Fourth Prince. Even if his family was somewhat poor, with the Fourth Prince’s future patronage, his prospects were boundless.

Only, Situ Sheng had always publicly declared he was observing mourning for his late mother and would not entertain marriage discussions. So her father planned to first secure the betrothal with Situ Sheng, then wait another two years before the formal wedding.

Now, though the matchmaker had not yet come calling, Yixiu was already certain this marriage was as good as settled.

The Crown Prince, since being punished by kneeling before the Emperor that last time, had remained behind closed doors in penance, and many of the major affairs of the court had been handled in his stead by the Fourth Prince.

The Fourth Prince’s reception hall had grown busy and lively once again.

After all, Situ Sheng was no fool — he certainly knew that marrying a daughter of the Yun family meant securing a foothold in the favor of Consort Jing and the Fourth Prince.

Assured of this, Yixiu Junzhu had initiated a conversation with Chu Niangzi just now partly to get acquainted with a servant of the Vice Minister’s household in advance, and to fish for information.

To think that this Chu Niangzi would be so unaccommodating as to not even take the bait she offered!

The little maidservant beside her curled her lip: “Perhaps she thinks she’s climbed to some high branch and is putting on the airs of a mistress?”

She caught herself as soon as the words left her mouth, for the princess shot her a sharp glare.

But Yixiu Junzhu considered herself not the petty type — men’s little indiscretions before marriage were best looked at with one eye closed.

To be jealous and spiteful over a lowly woman who wasn’t even a concubine would be too small-minded.

She could deal with whatever foxes haunted that household after she moved in…

Though Yixiu had it all figured out in her head, when she arrived at the academy gate, she found a carriage already parked early at the school entrance.

Chu Linlang was standing beneath the carriage with a stack of books in her arms, smiling up at the man inside. The man had leaned his head out of the carriage, taken her books with one hand, and passed down a paper bag of freshly heated roasted chestnuts.

To anyone who didn’t know better, it might have looked like a kind elder brother coming to pick up a younger sister from school.

The faint smile spreading across the handsome man’s face was enough to make one dizzy with sweetness. Watching it, Yixiu felt a bubbling, sour sensation rise in her chest. It was enough to make her teeth ache!

She deliberately coughed twice — but Situ Sheng didn’t look her way at all, which she found thoroughly deflating. She stamped her foot and hurried off, her heart seething: when on earth would her father go and propose to Situ Sheng? He’d better start keeping his distance — how could he be so cozy with a servant at the academy gate!

As for Situ Sheng — his official duties had concluded for the day and he had originally been heading back to the residence. But passing through the market street, he heard a vendor calling out candied roasted chestnuts, and suddenly remembered that yesterday, when he and Chu Niangzi had been tucked away together in the study, she had muttered that she was craving sugared chestnuts.

He stopped and bought a bag, then decided the freshly made ones were better eaten warm.

Checking the time, he tucked the scalding hot chestnuts against his chest and went to wait at the academy gate.

Only today, the beauty’s dismissal from school looked more like an escape from the jaws of death — she had been running along holding up her skirts, and arrived slightly breathless.

Situ Sheng asked what had happened. Chu Linlang only gave a helpless wave of her hand, with the look of “please, don’t ask.”

When Chu Linlang took the paper bag from him, she discovered he had already shelled half a bag of chestnuts. She quickly popped a few into her mouth to calm her nerves — they were wonderfully soft and sweet.

“My lord, have you eaten any?”

As she said it, she picked up a chestnut intending to feed it to him — but with her hand halfway extended, she suddenly remembered where she was, and what sort of brazen behavior this was. She hastily drew her hand back.

Situ Sheng had already half-opened his mouth in anticipation — and found himself left empty-handed.

When Chu Linlang got into the carriage and tried to feed him again after the curtain was drawn, Situ Sheng kept his expression stiff and refused to open his mouth.

Chu Linlang found his sulking expression utterly insufferable, and so leaned into his arms, narrowing her crafty eyes as she reached out to poke at his mouth: “Aiya, let me see — what’s the matter with my lord’s mouth? Stuffed with paste? Why won’t it open?”

Situ Sheng turned his head and pushed her hand away, feigning cold indifference: “I am something that cannot be seen in daylight — why bother with me?”

Chu Linlang cupped his chin in one hand and patiently coaxed him: “At the academy gate, with people coming and going — how would it look if I were too familiar with you? Who knows, my lord’s future wife might be studying right here at this academy! If she saw us, wouldn’t that saddle you with a most inconvenient old grievance?”

This argument had some logic — his future wife did indeed need to come from this academy.

But… this remark sounded less like jealousy and more like soothing a child.

Situ Sheng didn’t particularly like her breezy, devil-may-care tone — but his tightly sealed mouth relaxed slightly, and the female steward dutifully popped in a sweet chestnut.

Just as the two of them were being tender inside the carriage and it was about to depart, a voice suddenly rang out from the academy gate: “Situ Sheng, wait for me!”

Chu Linlang recognized the voice and poked her head out — and it was Teacher Liao!

He came at a rapid pace, paying no mind to whether Situ Sheng responded, and with a face full of thunder plonked himself down on the carriage step, calling to Situ Sheng who was peering out from the carriage compartment: “Get up there and let me take cover — quick, tell the coachman to get moving!”

Situ Sheng glanced at Miss Tao, who had come marching out behind him, and gave an amused, knowing smile before asking: “Even you have moments when you need to hide from someone?”

Teacher Liao rubbed his still-aching jaw and shook his head helplessly: “Today I stirred up the virtuous empress hornets’ nest — a whole roomful of rigid little girls trying to drown me in their outrage. No matter how I explain it, everything gets filtered through the lens of law and propriety, until my ears are on the verge of turning sour from the strain. So I made up an excuse about a prior engagement and got out — and spotted your carriage just in time…”

Teacher Liao stopped mid-sentence and fell silent. Because he had just noticed that his other student, Chu Linlang, was also inside the carriage compartment.

Chu Linlang gave the teacher an awkward smile. It seemed Miss Tao’s powers were truly formidable — comparable to the monk Tang Sanzang chanting the golden-band incantation — she had rattled Teacher Liao into fleeing under a false pretense.

Teacher Liao suddenly realized why Situ Sheng’s carriage had come to the academy gate — he had come to personally collect his beauty after school.

He immediately had the good sense to hop down, waved a hand to signal he would not intrude on Lord Situ’s delightful errand, and turned to leave.

But in turning, he came face to face with Miss Tao herself, stepping out with measured dignity, neck held high, robes and sash in perfect order.

She didn’t spare the embarrassed Teacher Liao so much as a glance, gave him the proper bow of farewell as propriety demanded, then mounted the Tao family carriage with poised elegance and departed ahead of them.

Teacher Liao shook his head helplessly and said to Situ Sheng: “These young ladies from noble households — truly not to be trifled with!”

That Miss Tao had just argued so fiercely with him, and by the look of it, she seemed to be heading to lodge a complaint with Qi Gong.

Word had long spread that this Miss Tao would inherit the mantle of her deceased aunt and become the next empress — so whatever he had said in the classroom was unlikely to sit well with a young lady being groomed for that role.

Situ Sheng looked at Liao Jingxuan’s beard — which was, for once, tolerably smooth and orderly — and gave a quiet smile: “If you can’t handle this line of work, go back and report to the Ministry of Works. Those city wall bricks certainly won’t come chasing after you.”

With that, he paid no further mind to his old friend and led Chu Linlang away.

But Chu Linlang felt some sympathy for Liao Jingxuan. If Miss Tao couldn’t stand him, she would most likely file a complaint. Teaching improper ideas to a woman about to enter the palace was no small offense.

And with Yixiu Junzhu spreading word everywhere that Tao Yashu had taken Teacher Liao severely to task, the other female students whispered privately that Miss Tao was unlikely to let the matter rest easily.

A teacher as entertaining as Teacher Liao was truly a rare find. Guan Jinhe and a few other small friends had wanted to put in a good word for him, but couldn’t find a way in.

So Chu Linlang, seizing the opportunity of distributing cosmetic samples to her classmates, privately tested the waters with Miss Tao to gauge her intentions, and took the chance to plead Teacher Liao’s case.