Chapter 2

Before I left, I put every last affair of the Prince of Qi’s household in order.

I arranged the medicinal meals for the prince and princess consort, matched maids and servants who were old enough to marry, and even drew up plans for the proper reception Madam Ge should receive on her visit home.

Madam Ge and I had clashed after she first married into the family. She was a concubine-born daughter whose life in her maiden home had taught her to fight for attention. She was not truly cruel, and in time, we had grown close. If she was going home, she deserved to go with dignity.

Li Yi came to find me while I was running myself ragged.

“What did Mother say?” he asked awkwardly.

I gave him one last chance. “Have you truly thought this through?”

Impatience crept into his voice. “Mother dotes on you. If you plead with her sincerely for my sake, she will agree.”

I smiled. “I was entirely sincere. That is why she agreed.”

Delight flooded his face. “Then arrange the betrothal gifts at once. She will be the heir’s secondary wife, so you must also settle the matter of her family background and—”

I spread my hands. “I’m afraid I cannot do that.”

He froze. “Why not?”

I handed him the divorce agreement. “Sorry. I’ve been so busy these past two days that I forgot to tell you.”

He looked from the document to me in disbelief. “Impossible. You are the heir’s wife—”

“The Princess Consort can make it possible.”

No member of the imperial clan had ever divorced by mutual agreement. But the Princess Consort of Qi had fought beside her husband and earned such distinguished military honors that even the imperial family celebrated her birthday with army drums and music. If anyone could win this exception for me, she could.

Li Yi’s eyes reddened with fury and panic. “How will you survive outside the prince’s household? You have no family left!”

“I will live in the palace for a while and tend to the Empress Dowager’s health. After that, perhaps I’ll open a restaurant.”

His eyes grew redder still. He knew without being told that his mother had arranged it all.

“Why?” he demanded, as though he had never broken a promise to me.

“Because you don’t like my soup.”

He stared. “Over that?”

“Yes. I won’t force you to drink it. I’ll make soup for people who enjoy it instead.”

To my astonishment, he began to cry. “Bai Qiqi, are you abandoning Ke’er too?”

I gave a cold laugh. “What would I want him for? He doesn’t like my soup either.”

I left through the side gate.

The Princess Consort had wanted me to depart through the front gate in a grand procession to the palace. I refused. I had always preferred peace and quiet.

The prince had beaten Li Yi so badly that he could not rise from bed, while Ke’er had been sent to kneel in the ancestral hall.

To my surprise, the Empress Dowager sent her own nephew, Jiang Pu, to escort me. He was five years younger than I was.

When I stepped outside, he stood beneath the blue eaves beside a carriage, dressed in scarlet official robes. Though a civil official, he was straight as a pine, with features sharp enough to cut.

“Lord Jiang.” I hurried to bow.

His face suddenly flushed. “Sister Qiqi.”

I nearly jumped out of my skin. Since when were we close enough for that?

“Thank you for the medicinal soup that soothes stagnant qi,” he said softly.

I stared at him. “Have you been drinking the soup I made for the Empress Dowager?”

He turned his face away. “It was delicious.”

That cheered me considerably. Plenty of people liked my soup after all.

Then a rough voice thundered across the courtyard.

“Sister-in-law!”

Li Lin came striding toward me, his petite wife hurrying beside him.

“Second Young Lord?”

“How could you simply divorce him? Did that bastard do something to you?”

Madam Ge was so distraught that she bounced on her toes as she reached for my sleeve, shedding hair ornaments with every hop. Servants followed behind her, picking them up one by one.

“Sister-in-law, don’t go…”

“It isn’t as though we’ll never see each other again.”

Li Lin erupted. “I’ll chop that useless wretch down! You can stay in the household as his widow and keep making soup for us!”

“Exactly,” Madam Ge agreed.

I wanted to leap up and clamp a hand over his mouth. Jiang Pu served in the Censorate, and rumors that the two brothers of the Prince of Qi’s household were at odds had never died down.

I pulled Madam Ge aside. “Stop talking nonsense, and make your husband stop too. Go home and behave yourselves. The Empress Dowager is waiting for me.”

Madam Ge dissolved into tears. “Are you truly leaving?”

At the sight of her tears, I nearly lost the courage to nod.

“I am. But our friendship is ours. If you miss my soup, come find me.”

“Me too!” Li Lin roared, nearly deafening me.

Madam Ge had been married into the household in place of her legitimate elder sister. Li Lin was enormous, loud as a bell, and rough in his manners. At first glance, he truly looked like the sort of man who might beat his wife. Madam Ge was so small that her leg was thinner than his arm. She had strutted and snarled in public after the wedding while privately frightening herself half to death.

It had taken me a long time to coax her out of her shell. Now the two of them were inseparable, and I had no reason to worry about her.

I patted her head. “If you need to cry, cry on your own husband’s chest. Don’t soil my clothes. I still have to enter the palace.”

After a great deal of persuasion, I finally sent the little terror home.

Jiang Pu rode beside my carriage. Worried about the prince’s reputation, I lifted the curtain and said, “As you saw, Madam Ge and I are very close. Naturally, that is because the two brothers enjoy an excellent relationship.”

He gave me a surprised look.

“I don’t think so.”

“What?”

“I think Madam Ge likes you because being with you feels like standing in a spring breeze.”

With that, he spurred his horse ahead.

I sat stunned inside the carriage until the meaning struck me.

That brat had been flirting with me.

The carriage suddenly lurched.

Jiang Pu’s stern voice rang out. “Who dares obstruct a carriage of the palace?”

I lifted the curtain and found Liu Yan standing in our path. She looked ready to devour me alive.

“Lord Jiang,” I said, “she is an old acquaintance. There are a few things I would like to say to her.”