Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Young Madam was the legitimate daughter of Grand Tutor He, a talented young lady of considerable renown in the imperial capital.

Her engagement to Young General had been arranged when they were children.

Young Madam had grown up at her father’s side, steeped in poetry and books. When she first heard she was to marry a military officer, she refused no matter what anyone said.

She said Young General was the only son in the household, and Old Madam must have spoiled him into a boor.

Besides, a man who took up weapons and killed for a living was always one day away from death. She did not want to spend her days in constant fear.

But Young General visited her once, and she changed her mind.

That day, when he went to call on her family, Old Madam was afraid Young General might be lacking in etiquette, so she specifically ordered me to accompany him.

That was why I knew exactly how Young Madam fell for Young General at first sight, and sank beyond saving at the second.

She spoke of poetry and prose, and he answered with ease.

She discussed governance and statecraft, and his vision reached even farther than hers.

“My father and elder brothers all died on the battlefield. They did not fight for empty glory, but for peace.”

Young General would never say such things to us in the residence, but he would say them to her.

In his heart, only someone of the status of Grand Tutor He’s legitimate daughter was worthy of discussing the nation and the world with him.

And her expression was sincere as well. “Then if you did not become a general, wouldn’t there be no more killing?”

He accepted the tea she handed him.

“The four kingdoms surround us like tigers and wolves. If we had no generals, they would only bully us all the more.

“A single battle may cost the lives of a thousand soldiers, but it protects countless common people on the border. Third Miss He is intelligent. You can surely calculate that account.”

Young General leaned back in his chair. Bamboo shadows filtered through the window and fell across his calm, unruffled features.

He was skilled in war, yet did not delight in it. Such ability and breadth of vision in a man only just past twenty would naturally move anyone’s heart.

And so the way she looked at him was no longer guarded or disdainful.

The beauty smiled and said she had studied archery a little, and wished to compete with him.

Her arrow landed close to the bull’s-eye. She said modestly, “General, there is no need to let me win.”

“Does Third Miss He wish to win?” The moment Young General asked that, I knew he was certain of himself.

But she was poised and gracious, letting the breeze stir her skirt and hairpins, and said, “Of course I wish to win, but more than that, I wish to lose fair and square.”

A few more traces of admiration appeared in Young General’s eyes.

He drew his bow and loosed an arrow. Just when I thought he would shoot the bull’s-eye, his arrow instead pierced through Young Madam’s arrow and landed in the exact same spot.

He turned back. The ribbon tying his hair high swung down onto the jade belt at his chest-

That belt had been fastened on him by the emperor himself after his father and brothers died in battle, when he led troops alone, defeated the enemy, and retook three fallen cities.

Yet the young general did not take pride in his fame and achievements. He merely smiled gently at the girl who had caught his heart.

“In that case, let us count this as a draw between Third Miss He and me.”

Third Miss He stood dazed for a long while. That single meeting became a story people loved to tell, and even more, it became a fine marriage.

When we returned to the residence that day, Old Madam asked me how it had gone.

I thought for quite a while before saying, “Young General was not entirely perfect in etiquette, but what matters is that Third Miss He was pleased.”

Old Madam had once been close friends with Third Miss He’s grandmother in their maiden days, and she valued this marriage highly. Only after hearing my words did she finally set her mind at ease.

“A granddaughter raised by her could not possibly be poor in character.” At the mention of her old friend, Old Madam began to reminisce.

Beneath her silver hair, her eyes were still clear in black and white. Her thoughts drifted far away as she gazed toward the green plum branches outside the window.

“When she and I studied together at Shangshan Hall as children, she could recite lessons so quickly. She truly lived up to the saying ‘never forgets what she has seen.'” Old Madam gave a faint smile.

“I was different.” In those aged eyes, there seemed to gleam the radiance of youth. “I always loved mixing with the boys, learning to ride horses and playing with long swords. Once, I dressed myself up as a boy, and Old Marquis even mistook me for his family’s second son. Later, when I met that second son, looking at him in a daze, I truly thought he resembled me. Perhaps because we looked alike, from the very first glance, I felt close to him, as if he were an old friend I had not seen in a long time.”

The Old Marquis whom Old Madam mentioned was the late Marquis Who Assists the State.

And that Old Marquis’s second son was Old Madam’s future husband, Young General’s grandfather.