Chapter 6

On the day of the victory feast,

I had not wanted to go. But the other soldiers’ families nearby urged me to join them.

“General Pei asked for you by name. If you don’t go, he may make life difficult for your husband.”

My husband was good to me. I wanted to be good to him, too.

Before we left, I darkened my face with powder and put on a veil.

Then I wrapped cotton padding around my shoulders, waist, and calves.

I looked so much stouter that even I could barely recognize myself.

When we reached camp, Lu Yan’s fellow officers called him away.

I sat with the soldiers’ wives I knew.

They were startled by the sight of me.

But they did not ask questions. Instead, they quietly praised me.

“With all these men in camp, it’s better to keep a low profile and look a little plain.”

Soon a bonfire was lit, and lamb roasted over the flames.

After so long apart, I saw Pei Xuan again.

He had lost a great deal of weight, and his skin was tanned.

He had less of a pampered nobleman’s refinement. His features looked sharper, his presence more intimidating.

Once during the feast, our eyes happened to meet.

But he quickly looked away, his expression unchanged.

Just as though I were a stranger.

Even when Lu Yan brought me before him, he treated me casually, no differently from the other soldiers’ families.

Relief loosened my chest, and my appetite returned a little.

Lu Yan carefully cut my lamb into pieces.

I ate most of it, then smiled at him.

“Thank you, husband.”

After the feast, Lu Yan still had military matters to discuss.

I headed home with the soldiers’ wives I knew.

Halfway back, I discovered that the longevity-lock pendant I had worn since childhood was gone.

I told them to go on and hurried back to camp alone to look for it.

Once I explained who I was, the guards at the gate were courteous.

They took me to the feast site and called a few other soldiers to help search.

I searched so intently that, without noticing, I drifted away from the others.

Something gold flashed before me. I peered closer.

There it was—my gold lock, beside a patch of grass.

I hurried to pick it up, but someone reached down and snatched it first.

“This longevity lock looks familiar.”

The familiar, ominous voice sounded like a thunderclap above my head.

I went rigid. When I looked up, there was Pei Xuan’s face.

He toyed with the pendant, looking down at me.

“How does a maid come by such an exquisite, valuable piece?”

There was a trace of a smile on his lips.

“It looks rather like the one my fiancée wears.”

“Tell me. Why are you wearing something that belongs to Lin Shunian?”

Moonlight fell over us. This corner of the camp was frighteningly quiet.

I knew I must not admit who I was.

For my own sake, and for Lu Yan’s.

I dropped to my knees and heard my own voice tremble.

“Forgive me, General. Before I married, I saw how valuable it was and stole it from my mistress.”

“I’m sorry. I was so poor that I betrayed her trust.”

I pulled off my gold bracelet, scraping my wrist painfully in my haste.

“Please, for all the years I served her, forgive me this once.”

“I surrender the lock. Take the bracelet as atonement, too.”

“General, please have mercy. Don’t expose me.”