Chapter 2

“No!”

I kicked over the carved lacquer stand by the door and advanced on He Zhili, the willow branch trailing in my hand.

“Stay away!” He Zhili scrambled about in fear, trying one hiding place after another.

Grandmother called me insolent. Aunt told me to calm down.

Mother knew my temper and hurried to stop me. “Ah Ci, let it go. Little Four will depend on him for the rest of her life… Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise.”

“A blessing?” I gave a short laugh and fixed her with a cold stare. “He Zhili is eighteen. He hasn’t married, and he already has three bedchamber maids. You think marrying a man like that would be a blessing for Little Four?”

Mother retreated a step under my gaze. “You heard them. There is no other way. Besides, your aunt will be there. She won’t let Little Four be mistreated.”

“You know how much Little Four has suffered in her own home, don’t you? Her own mother couldn’t protect her. Yet you believe a mere aunt can? An aunt who raised a son like He Zhili? She opens her mouth and says Little Four won’t suffer, and you believe her?”

Mother flushed with shame. “What am I supposed to do now?” she stammered over and over. “What can I do?”

I had no patience for this. “Move.”

No one could stop me.

After such a scandal, the front hall had been cleared of servants, apart from Grandmother’s senior maid and a trusted old nurse.

The two maids I had brought were quick-witted. Each took hold of Grandmother or Aunt, who were fluttering about in alarm, and prevented them from coming any closer.

Only then did Aunt remember whom I had married.

My husband was the heir to the Marquis of Huaiyuan, the young general whose name was known throughout Great Qi.

Both my maids were trained fighters.

“Zhili, kneel down and apologize to your cousin Yanci!” Aunt ordered at once.

He Zhili craned his neck in protest. “I told you, I was drunk and mistook her for someone else! I didn’t mean to—”

I lashed his face.

He howled. “All right, all right! I’ll take Fourth Cousin as a concubine! I agree! What more do you want?”

The willow whistled through the air, blow after blow.

Blood seeped through He Zhili’s robe.

“Mother, help me!”

“Grandmother, save me!”

Grandmother wailed as though I were striking her own flesh. “Wretched girl! Stop! Are you going to beat your cousin to death?”

Aunt wept. “Mother, you’ve forgotten. Yanci is the Huaiyuan heir’s wife now. What are you and I to her?”

“She could be the King of Heaven himself, and I would still be her grandmother! Jiang Yanci, how dare you defy me?”

Mother was crying too. “Stop, Yanci! If you beat him like this, what place will Little Four have in the He household?”

I stopped.

He Zhili lay groaning on the floor.

He was going to die. Just not by my hand.

Aunt threw herself down beside him.

Grandmother immediately called for a doctor.

Jiaoyue did not move. The old nurse, Nurse Zhou, had barely taken a step when one of my maids drew the sword at her waist with a hiss.

Trembling, Nurse Zhou drew her foot back.

I flung the willow branch into He Zhili’s face and looked around the hall.

“Article Three Hundred and Twenty-Eight of the laws of Great Qi: the rape of a young girl is punishable by immediate beheading!”