Chapter 2

What was done was done. Father sighed.

“Then what are we to do about your marriage?”

Before Xie Ruo’an, I had been promised to someone else.

He was Father’s most accomplished student, a resourceful man whom I had known since childhood.

But the second time Xie Ruo’an met me,

he had lured that man away with wealth and troops.

By now, he had married another woman and become an adviser to the Xie clan.

I understood perfectly well.

Father was the governor of Wu Commandery, and Mother was frail.

I was their only child.

The age of war was upon us.

The fate of our entire clan, and even of Wu Commandery, was bound up with mine.

After a moment’s thought, I asked,

“Father, do you remember Xu Xingzhi, across the river?”

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “That upstart?”

Yes. An upstart with several thousand soldiers under his command.

With no distinguished ancestry, he was despised by the great clans.

Not long ago, he had crossed the river to ask for my hand, and Father had had him driven out.

No one knew

that he would one day hold one bank of the river while Xie Ruo’an held the other, dividing the realm between them.

But that was not why I chose him.

In the fifth year of my marriage to Xie Ruo’an,

a neighboring commandery fell.

Mother had gone to visit a friend and was trapped on the far bank.

Frantic, I took advisers from the Cui clan to rescue her.

But word of our movements leaked out.

At the ferry landing, Mother and I could neither advance nor retreat.

Then Xu Xingzhi rode up.

He rebuked his men.

“What is there to boast about in trapping old people, women, and children? If I mean to win, I’ll fight my way over fairly one day.”

Someone hesitated. “But she is Marquis Xie’s wife.”

Xu Xingzhi raised an eyebrow. “And?”

With that single word, he let us go. From that moment, I understood that he had ambition, but had not lost his humanity.

Father was silent for a long time. In the end, he trusted me.

He wrote a letter.

The reply came soon afterward.

It said Xu Xingzhi wished to ask me himself.

My answer was simple.

I sought no love, only an alliance.

In this life, all I wanted was to protect my family and Wu Commandery.

Nothing else mattered anymore.

I waited a long time for the second letter.

As though its writer had agonized over every word, it contained just one sentence.

“Very well. I will not let you suffer.”

And so my marriage was settled.

Before long, Xu Xingzhi sent the betrothal gifts.

The lists made a thick stack. Besides the customary wild geese, he had personally hunted a tiger to show how much he valued the match.

As for the man himself,

his adviser relayed his words: “If I am to take a wife, I must first pacify the surrounding lands.”

“I can’t have you come here only to live in fear every day.”

For days, Mother had worried that Father was marrying me off hastily for political gain.

Now, at last, she was reassured.

I wanted to spend more time with her before I married.

On the pretext of adding to my dowry, I took her out for a change of scene.

I had not expected to find Chu Ying arguing with the shopkeeper when we arrived.

The shopkeeper breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of me.

“Here is the owner. You can discuss it with her.”

I had heard she and Xie Ruo’an were already betrothed in Langya.

I did not know what had brought her here.

This was our first meeting in this life.

But she had already recognized me from the family crest on our carriage.

“So you are Cui Jingshu?” she asked warmly.

“If not for you, Marquis Xie and I would have lost each other for nothing. You are kind, and you have such good taste. I’m sure you’ll let me have this jewelry. I’ll pay twice the price.”

A breeze passed.

I lowered my eyes and drew my sleeves together.

“I won’t.”

She blinked. “Then… three times?”

She really was innocent and unguarded.

I had no wish to say more. Just as I was about to leave with my things,

Xie Ruo’an arrived.

After hearing what had happened, he escorted Chu Ying back to the carriage.

Then

he returned and bowed to me.

“I have yet to thank you for what you did that day, my lady. If the Cui clan ever needs anything, I will do all I can.”

I stood where I was and accepted his bow.

He paused, then added, “She is very fond of those pieces. Will you let her have them?”

Mother gave a cold laugh. She could barely stay on her feet.

I caught her arm.

Lifting my eyes, I looked at Xie Ruo’an.

“Of course.”

“But what are you prepared to offer for a smile from your beauty, Marquis Xie?”