Chapter 2

Chapter 2

“Who says it isn’t absurd!”

Deep in the night, the main courtyard of Prince Xi’s mansion remained brightly lit. A beautiful woman in a crimson kesi robe leaned against her bolster, tears streaming down her face:

“Poor Ling’er. She fell ill and, just before Heng’er’s wedding, took refuge at Green Mountain Temple. I hear she’s now thin as a rake…”

Xun Yunling and Pei Muheng had grown up together as childhood sweethearts, visiting Prince Xi’s mansion daily to pay her respects. The Princess Consort treated her as her own daughter and had long regarded her as her future daughter-in-law. After crying for a while, she thought of Pei Muheng’s loss of such a fine match and gnashed her teeth in resentment:

“Among His Majesty’s seventeen imperial grandsons, every one has married either a daughter of a distinguished noble house or a descendant of a high minister—only our Heng’er… is reduced to accepting a fifth-rank director’s daughter.” The more she spoke, the angrier she grew, her brows knitting into a dark cloud of worry that would not dissipate. “You didn’t see those sisters-in-law today—every last one of them gloating, hiding knives behind their smiles. In all my life, I have never been so humiliated!”

Whenever she thought of the Xu family’s origins, the Princess Consort’s heart ached until she could barely breathe.

The Xu family had originally been merchants. Later, they prospered and purchased an official title to join the gentry, yet they were still shunned by the local elite. Only after Xu’s father passed the imperial examinations did the Xu family gradually gain a foothold in Jingzhou. Then Director Xu seized an opportunity amid the power struggle between the Crown Prince and Prince Qin and was transferred to the capital for office.

Such a background was truly unworthy of Prince Xi’s household.

Prince Xi, seated beside her, understood his wife and son’s grievance well. He sighed softly and, after a moment’s silence, raised his sleeve to wipe away his wife’s tears, offering both consolation and counsel:

“If others are foolish enough to mock our household, why must you be foolish too? Surely you don’t think His Majesty misspoke because he was drunk?”

The Princess Consort paused, tears still clinging to her lashes, and asked hoarsely, “What do you mean?”

Prince Xi stroked his beard and sighed. “His Majesty is advanced in years, and lately his wariness has grown. He must have seen us choosing a Grand Secretary’s daughter for Heng’er and taken offense. So he used the wine as an excuse to arrange this marriage for Heng’er—on the surface, a drunken whim of mismatched couples, but in truth, a warning to Prince Xi’s household.”

“You’ve complained enough. The new bride has already entered our gates. No matter what, you must not act willfully any longer. You must not provoke His Majesty’s displeasure further.”

The Princess Consort’s lips trembled, but she was speechless.

Pei Muheng was indeed the Emperor’s most favored legitimate grandson. But while the Emperor permitted Pei Muheng to distinguish himself, he would not allow him to slip out of his control. Lately, the court was in turmoil, with the Crown Prince and Prince Qin locked in fierce struggle. With the Emperor’s health clearly failing, Pei Muheng had also hoped to use this marriage to test the Emperor’s attitude toward Prince Xi’s household. Now the verdict was clear—and it was not the outcome he had wanted.

In the western annex, lamplight flickered, and the occasional rustle of turning pages could be heard—Pei Muheng was likely attending to official business. Xu Yunqi, however, slept soundly.

Having spent half her life drifting from place to place, she had developed the habit of falling asleep the moment her head touched the pillow. Even after a day of chaos, she slept well through the night.

The next morning, the rain had passed and the sky cleared. The air was filled with moist, fresh vitality.

Xu Yunqi glanced at the unfamiliar room, brushed away her moment of disorientation, and let Yinxing help her dress. Through the beaded curtain, she heard movement in the main hall. She paused briefly, then quickly finished her toilette, rounded the screen, and found Pei Muheng already seated in the center of the hall waiting for her.

The tall young man had changed into a crimson casual robe and sat upright behind the table. Before him lay more than a dozen breakfast dishes, arranged in jade-like clusters, rich in color and fragrance—all delicacies whose names Xu Yunqi could not pronounce.

She came to sit across from Pei Muheng, lifted her gaze, and softly addressed him as “Third Master.”

Pei Muheng kept his brows and eyes lowered, idly toying with the silver chopsticks before him. At her soft voice, he slowly raised his eyes to look at Xu Yunqi.

He had always had trouble sleeping in unfamiliar beds. He had slept in the eastern annex his whole life, and the western annex the night before had made for a restless night. If he felt this way, surely this young woman, newly arrived in a strange household, must have slept poorly as well. So he asked gently:

“Being new to the prince’s mansion, are you settling in well?”

Xu Yunqi wore an indifferent smile in her eyes. “Everything is fine.”

Pei Muheng assumed she was merely being polite, and gave a slight nod.

The two were not yet familiar with each other, and the conversation ended there.

They were to go to the main courtyard later to present tea to his parents, so husband and wife ate in silence.

Recalling Pei Muheng’s tone from the night before, which made clear his fear of her clinging, Xu Yunqi kept the rules firmly in mind. She ate on her own and made no effort to observe Pei Muheng’s eating habits. Pei Muheng, for his part, had no interest in what Xu Yunqi liked to eat.

They finished their meal and set down their chopsticks one after another.

Xu Yunqui, mindful that she was now a wife and that propriety could not be neglected, raised her sleeve and moved to pour tea for Pei Muheng. Pei Muheng had always been attended by his personal valets; now that there was a mistress in the inner quarters, the valets could not easily enter, and he disliked using maidservants, so he had no choice but to do it himself.

Without warning, a jade-like arm reached out, and both of their hands grasped the gold-and-silver-inlaid teapot handle at the same time.

Soft, warm skin brushed against the back of his cool hand—a damp, tactile sensation.

Caught off guard, Xu Yunqi immediately withdrew her hand. Pei Muheng paused, his expression shifting almost imperceptibly. The place she had touched seemed to prickle with goosebumps. He had never liked being touched, especially by women.

Suppressing his discomfort, Pei Muheng poured a cup of tea with an unruffled air, though his long, well-defined fingers held the cup for a long while without bringing it to his lips.

Xu Yunqi, unaware of Pei Muheng’s sensitivities, waited until he had finished pouring before quickly filling her own cup. As she raised her sleeve to conceal her drinking, she caught a strange sight from the corner of her eye: Pei Muheng was surreptitiously wiping the spot she had touched with a damp cloth.

Xu Yunqi: “…”

Autumn sunlight spread brightly beneath the veranda, gilding the hem of Xu Yunqi’s skirt with a golden edge. Prince Xi’s mansion was grand and magnificent, its opulence beyond words. Pavilion after pavilion stretched along the route, jade-green and resplendent. Xu Yunqi followed close behind Pei Muheng toward the main courtyard. After the earlier incident, she deliberately kept some distance from him, lest she offend this golden, noble imperial grandson.

Recently, a major case had erupted in Tongzhou, its developments shifting by the hour. Pei Muheng was preoccupied with the machinations behind it and was entirely unaware that his young wife was keeping her distance.

Perhaps because Pei Muheng’s residence was somewhat secluded, the path was nearly deserted. It was only after passing a pavilion nestled amid lush greenery that the main hall came into view—soaring eaves piercing the sky, autumn chrysanthemums clustering in splendor before the courtyard, not a speck of dust in sight. A row of impeccably dressed servants stood in attendance, all holding their breath in silence, heads bowed.

Such grandeur could only belong to the Jinhua Hall, residence of Prince Xi and the Princess Consort.

It was only then that Pei Muheng emerged from his heavy thoughts. Noticing that Xu Yunqi had fallen five paces behind him, he stood with his hands clasped behind his back beneath the veranda, waiting for her to catch up.

Xu Yunqi walked slowly out of the corridor. The clear autumn light crept from the hem of her skirt up to her brows, making her features all the more luminous. In that instant, Pei Muheng realized that this face seemed familiar—as if he had seen it somewhere before.

Xu Yunqi followed Pei Muheng into Jinhua Hall.

Prince Xi and the Princess Consort sat in the main seats of the central hall. Prince Xi was robust and spirited, while the Princess Consort’s expression was cold; from start to finish, she did not spare Xu Yunqi so much as a glance. Flanking them on both sides stood the rest of the household. Before coming, Xu Yunqi’s mother had told her that Prince Xi’s household had three branches.

The eldest son, Pei Muxiang, was Pei Muheng’s full elder brother. The stern-faced young woman standing beside him, whose demeanor was all gravity, was likely his wife, Lady Xie. The second son, Pei Mujing, was a concubine-born son of Noble Consort Gao. Of a reserved temperament, he cast Xu Yunqi a cautious glance and then lowered his head in silence. His wife, Second Young Mistress Li, however, regarded Xu Yunqi with open curiosity; when Xu Yunqi looked back at her, she even offered a mischievous smile.

The Princess Consort caught sight of her concubine-born daughter-in-law’s antics and her face fell immediately.

“Enough. Present the tea.”

Pei Muheng and Xu Yunqi knelt one by one to pay their respects to Prince Xi and the Princess Consort.

Prince Xi found his daughter-in-law beautiful and refined, her looks a match for his son’s, and felt quite pleased.

“A fine man and a beautiful woman. His Majesty’s judgment is indeed excellent.”

At these words, no one responded.

Xu Yunqi, kneeling beside Pei Muheng, showed no reaction either.

The eldest son, Pei Muxiang, would have liked to rescue his father from the awkwardness, but a glance at his frost-faced mother left him pretending to have gone deaf.

Prince Xi gave an embarrassed cough.

In addition to the brothers and sisters-in-law, there were two unmarried younger sisters. The tea-presenting ceremony was concluded quickly enough.

On the eve of Xu Yunqi’s wedding, the prince’s mansion had sent word that she need not prepare any tea-presentation gifts—likely out of fear that the Xu family’s humble offerings would be too shabby to bear, and would embarrass Pei Muheng. The tea-presentation gifts for today had been personally prepared by the Princess Consort on Xu Yunqi’s behalf.

Everyone in the household knew this. They accepted those gifts without much delight.

Xu Yunqi, for her part, had spent nothing and received several chests of meeting gifts in return.

In the eyes of the eldest daughter-in-law, Lady Xie, this was her mother-in-law subtly subsidizing her younger son.

Second Young Mistress Li’s gaze lingered on Xu Yunqi as she silently wondered: was this third sister-in-law a blockhead? Her mother-in-law had told her not to prepare gifts, and so she had truly come empty-handed. Any clever girl would have embroidered something herself to present alongside the official offerings, as a token of sincerity.

But this one was just dense.

With such a sister-in-law, there would be entertainment to come—so she thought.

Prince Xi, oblivious to the women’s quiet maneuvering, looked kindly upon his youngest son and his wife:

“The hour grows late. Hurry into the palace to pay your respects to your imperial grandfather and grandmother.”

Pei Muheng made a formal bow, glanced at Xu Yunqi, and signaled for her to follow.

Only two elderly matrons attended to Pei Muheng’s Qinghui Garden; the rest were his trusted personal attendants, all tight-lipped, and no one knew that the couple had not consummated their marriage.

The Princess Consort watched them cross the threshold one after the other—first him, then her—and tears welled in her eyes again. Only after they had gone did she choke back a sob: “My poor son…”

Prince Xi, seeing her weep before the sons and daughters-in-law, frowned. “Enough. I find the third son’s wife docile and well-behaved—a fine girl. Now that she has entered our gates, she is family. None of you are to slight her.” This last was addressed to the younger generation. Lady Xie and the others all curtsied in unison, murmuring their assent.

An imperial carriage was already waiting at the prince’s mansion gate. With eunuchs present, Pei Muheng had no choice but to share the carriage with her, however much he disliked it. Xu Yunqi, well aware of his peculiarities, tucked herself into a corner as soon as they boarded, making every effort not to disturb him.

Husband and wife sat—one left, one right—with enough space between them for two or three more people. Pei Muheng lounged with a languid air, lost in thought. Xu Yunqi leaned against the carriage wall and pretended to nap; neither looked at the other.

Within a quarter-hour, the couple had passed through the palace gates. Around noon, they met the Emperor and Empress. Compared to Prince Xi’s mansion, the imperial couple was quite satisfied with Xu Yunqi. The Empress even praised her for possessing an ethereal beauty unlike the capital’s noble daughters—clearly to bolster Xu Yunqi’s standing, she bestowed a gift one-tenth more generous than those given to previous imperial grandsons’ wives.

Xu Yunqi noticed that only upon entering the palace did Pei Muheng finally allow a smile to grace his handsome face.

In late autumn, darkness fell swiftly. By the time they finished their social obligations and returned home, dusk had settled thickly.

The Emperor had granted Pei Muheng three days’ leave, ordering him to stay in the mansion with his new wife. Pei Muheng dared not disobey. He followed Xu Yunqi back to the mansion in silence. They had barely stepped onto the slanting corridor before Qinghui Garden when Steward Chen hurried forward and bowed:

“Third Master, the annual tribute from the imperial estate at Tongzhou has arrived early. The inventory list is in your study, awaiting your review.”

Years ago, Pei Muheng’s extraordinary courage had humiliated the Great Wu envoy. After the crisis was resolved, the Emperor rewarded him for his contributions by granting him an imperial estate—an exceptionally productive one. At the time, Pei Muheng was young, and the estate’s proceeds were managed by the Princess Consort. Only after he turned fifteen was it returned to him. But Pei Muheng was filial, and over the years, whenever the annual tribute came in, he kept only the silver and turned over all other goods to the Princess Consort. Year after year, without exception.

Pei Muheng answered without hesitation:

“Follow the usual practice.”

Steward Chen was about to turn away when Pei Muheng’s peripheral vision caught his newlywed wife standing gracefully not far off. He paused.

Times had changed. He now had a wife. Whether he liked it or not, Xu Yunqi had married him—that was an accomplished fact. Matters of the inner household should be decided by his wife.

He raised a hand to stop Steward Chen, then clasped his hands behind his back and looked at Xu Yunqi. Beneath the slanting corridor, light and shadow danced, osmanthus branches trembling. Her slender figure leaned against the veranda, soft as jade and delicate as a flower in the evening breeze. Pei Muheng opened his mouth to speak, then realized he did not even know her given name. To call her “Xu” would be too cold; to address her by her personal name was still too familiar. Weighing his options, he formally acknowledged Xu Yunqi as his wife, and spoke in a calm tone:

“The estate’s annual tribute has arrived. How does my lady think it should be handled?”