Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The next time I saw Hang Lanque was at the Flower Festival banquet hosted by the Empress.

His coarse linen clothes had been replaced by splendid robes of purple damask, and the boarhide belt at his waist had become a swastika-patterned jade belt set with nine cat’s-eye gemstones. He was, in a word, dazzling.

The face was still that face. But the gap between a condemned fugitive awaiting execution and the heir of a marquisate was so vast that, for a moment, I did not dare be sure.

Only when I heard the Empress call him by his pet name, “Ah Xiao,” did I finally connect him with the man who had once been my husband.

Eight years ago, Hang Lanque had not yet been Hang Lanque.

When we met in Xian Capital, he told me his name was Su Xiao. He claimed he was a fugitive sentenced to execution after killing someone back in his hometown, and that, like me, he had come to Xian Capital to scrape out a living.

Su Xiao. Ah Xiao. Hang Lanque. Fugitive. Heir.

The face matched. The names matched. It was him, all right.

A protagonist from a story I had long since forgotten had suddenly appeared before me-and that story alone was enough to destroy the reputation and status I had painstakingly built.

In that instant, I felt not the slightest joy at our reunion. My mind was filled with only one thought: run.

I was a Fifth-rank Shangyi, a female official of the inner court, the younger sister of a minister, and the aunt of an Imperial Consort. For years, I had relied on my lofty conduct, refined sensibilities, brilliant literary talent, and a work style that was strict with myself and equally strict with others to win unanimous praise from titled ladies both inside and outside the palace. People had even given me a nickname-Heisha Niangzi.

Hang Lanque was a third-rank General of Cloud Command, the grandson of a Cavalry General, and the younger brother of the Empress. For years, he had relied on superb tactics, ruthless methods, an undefeated record, and a work style that, like mine, was strict with himself and equally strict with others to earn the highest regard from court and common world alike. Officials and civilians alike called him-Ghost Xiao Yama.

By all rights, the two of us should never have had anything to do with each other. One of us was inside the palace, the other outside it. One was in the capital, the other at the border. One came from the Cui Family, a clan renowned for three generations of scholars; the other came from a household of military men since the founding of the dynasty. And inside the palace, my niece Consort Cui and his sister Empress Hang were sworn enemies.

Yet somehow, thousands of li away in Xian Capital, we had once been husband and wife.

Too terrifying…

I was an inner court female official, not a guest at the banquet. Leaving without drawing notice would not have been difficult.

But just as I slipped into the cluster of female officials, the Imperial Consort mentioned me. “This sliced fish is very tender. Yuan Ci likes it best. Bring some over for her to taste.”

I was the youngest daughter my father had with a maidservant when he was already past fifty. I was even five years younger than Consort Cui, my eldest brother’s youngest child. Because my birth mother was of humble origin, my eldest sister-in-law had kept me by her side and raised me from childhood.

So on the surface, Consort Cui was my superior. In reality, she was my niece. To put it even more plainly, she was someone who had watched me grow up.

Consort Cui was as harsh as a stepmother toward the princes and princesses she had given birth to herself, yet toward me she was all gentle warmth. Anything good to eat or drink was always saved for me. The entire palace knew of this favor.

But right now, of all times, this was not the moment!

Seeing me frozen in place, my colleague Yan Sizan from the Ceremonial Bureau pinched my arm through my sleeve. With a smile on her face, she reminded me in a low voice, “Hurry and go thank her for the grace.”

Going was impossible. Not going was impossible. I wished I could vanish on the spot.

Consort Cui laughed softly. “What is it? Is Yuan Ci feeling unwell?”

I shot Yan Sizan a look. Yan Sizan had always worked in perfect tacit understanding with me. She stepped forward in my place to express thanks, saying that I was presently unwell and feared I might offend the noble ladies, so it was inconvenient for me to come forward.

After hearing this, the Imperial Consort told me to hurry back and rest. I had already shrunk into the place with the most palace servants, and now, with her permission, I continued quietly making my way out.

However, change always happened in an instant. I had taken barely two steps when, from outside the banquet grounds, a small gray bald-furred thing charged straight in. Its limbs moved nimbly as it climbed up my palace skirt, only stopping once it had wrapped itself around my waist.

The palace servants were frightened by the scene and scattered in all directions, leaving only me standing there.

Consort Cui hurriedly said, “What is that?! Quickly knock that wild thing down! Don’t let it hurt Yuan Ci!”

She did not recognize the little thing clinging to me, but I did. Not only did I recognize it, our relationship was quite special.

This was, in fact, the child of Hang Lanque and me. Eight years ago, I had lied to him that I had been forced to drink a sterilizing decoction and could not bear children. He had also said that his foundation had been damaged in prison and he could no longer have offspring. So the two of us found this little monkey in the mountains, named it Su Doudou, and made him our third son.

Besides him, there had also been our eldest daughter, the koi Su Mianmian, and our second son, the civet cat Su Bobo. One had overeaten and burst to death. The other had chased butterflies off a cliff and fallen to his death. The surviving Doudou had also been raised until he was dusty-faced and sparse-furred, ugly even by monkey standards.

When Hang Lanque said he was going to earn money repairing the city wall, he took Su Doudou with him. I never imagined that after all these years, he would still be keeping him by his side.

It was not that I had never heard rumors about Young General Hang in the palace. The rumors said he kept a mandrill… A mandrill. Those people truly knew how to exaggerate. A little gray monkey could be blown up into a mandrill. No wonder I had never connected him with my former husband.

Besides, this was a palace banquet. He had brought a monkey to a palace banquet?

At this moment, the Empress stepped in to smooth things over. “Imperial Consort, Cui Shangyi, do not be afraid. This is Ah Xiao’s pet. Ah Xiao, quickly have it let go of Cui Shangyi.”

Su Doudou cried out excitedly, “Jiji, jiji,” several times. Clinging to my waist, he waved his arms at Hang Lanque as if saying, “Dad, I found Mom!”

From far across the banquet, Hang Lanque’s gaze fell on me.

I had nowhere left to hide.