Chapter 3

The crowd surged into the inn in a black tide, only to search the place without finding a soul.

The officer in command grabbed Master Cui by the collar in a rage. “Where is he?”

The young lord and I were sitting on the second floor across the street, at a private table in a teahouse whose window faced the Fenglai Inn.

We watched Master Cui bow and scrape and apologize over and over. In the end, he had to hand over a large sum of silver before they let him go.

The sight was immensely satisfying.

I had told the young lord to wait at the teahouse when I left that morning, just in case.

Who would have guessed that someone would follow me on my way back? I pretended not to notice, went in through the front of the inn, then slipped quietly into the kitchen and out the rear door to meet the young lord.

If I had not taken that one precaution, we would have been on our way to prison by now.

The uproar downstairs ended, but the young lord continued to stare blankly across the street.

It was probably difficult to accept that his own uncle had sold him out.

He did not say a word from beginning to end, yet in that single instant, he seemed to grow up.

With no family willing to shelter us, we had no choice but to go home.

The carriage I had hired in advance was waiting below the teahouse.

The young lord was astonished. “Didn’t you say we had no money?”

When he learned that I had pawned the gold hairpin, he became sullen. “That was my coming-of-age gift to you.”

But if I had not traded it for money as soon as we entered the city, how could we have stayed at the inn, taken a table at the teahouse, or escaped with our lives?

The authorities were already on the move. If we did not leave quickly, the city gates would be locked and we would be trapped like fish in a barrel.

Nothing mattered more than staying alive.

“Doesn’t it hurt?” he asked. “I may never be able to afford such an expensive gift for you again.”

The carriage rocked into motion. His voice was light and faint, filled with uncertainty about the future.

“I’ve put it on your account. You owe me, so you’ll have to find a way to repay it.”

I believed he would.

Our young lord was accomplished in poetry, the classics, chess, and painting. He was the moon in the heavens. Clouds might obscure him for a time, but one day they would part and the moon would shine again.

Mother froze when she saw him. “Why did you bring him back?”

When I explained, she slapped her thighs in fury. “That murderous bastard! Selling his own nephew when he’s hardly short of money. What does he stand to gain?”

How would I know?

The young lord supplied an answer. “He is probably afraid of being implicated.”

He understood more than we did. By piecing together what he had seen and heard along the road, he had worked out the truth of his family’s downfall.

It was nothing more than a struggle for imperial power. The Fourth Prince, whom the Marquis supported, had lost ground, and the Marquis had been cut away as one of his wings.

Fortunately, the Fourth Prince had not lost completely. Though unable to save the household, he had done his best to preserve the Marquis’s life.

“Then this Fourth Prince is rather decent,” Mother said.

Even at such a critical moment, he had not sacrificed his rook to save the king.

“It has nothing to do with decency. The Marquis of Changyuan’s household still has value, and he is unwilling to discard it.”

The young lord’s grandfather had once served as Imperial Tutor. Nearly half the officials at court had studied under the old marquis. If the Fourth Prince abandoned the family now, who at court would still be willing to pledge him loyalty and support?

“But if he loses completely, the Marquis of Changyuan’s household will never rise again.”

Candlelight flickered across the young lord’s face, throwing it in and out of shadow. His voice, too, seemed indistinct. “So, Ah Man, if my family is ruined, I won’t be able to marry you. Your investment will be a loss. Think carefully before you decide to keep me.”

Mother pulled me aside. “A growing boy can eat his father poor. He has been pampered since birth. We can’t afford him, so don’t do anything foolish.”

The young lord must have heard her, but his face did not change. He did not so much as furrow his brow.

He had been like this ever since the journey to Suzhou.

As though it were only natural for anyone to abandon or betray him.

As though he himself were ready to abandon the world at any moment.

A ten-year-old child had already seen too much of the world’s coldness; the weariness of old age seemed to shadow him.

My heart ached for him. I shot Mother a look. “Mother, don’t be ridiculous. I’ll look after the young lord. I have a way to support him.”