Chapter 2

I had always believed this about my father.

He had no room in his heart for family affection.

But when I saw the travel-worn carriage at our gates, I realized he wasn’t entirely without a father’s love. He simply bestowed it on someone other than me.

For my younger sister, Wang Jingruo, even humbling himself was no great matter.

I went around through the back entrance and climbed onto the roof. There were Father and Lady Li, both kneeling outside the ancestral hall.

I was savoring the sight when a pebble flew over and struck my right arm.

I ducked my head back and met Grandmother’s eyes, still bright and piercing though she was past fifty. Meekly, I climbed down to apologize.

“What are you apologizing for? You don’t think you did anything wrong.”

Grandmother poked my forehead, then softened her voice. “Jingwan, your father may not be much of a father, but he has held his ground in Shangjing for years. He is no ordinary man. With his help, your road ahead will be steadier.”

She brushed the loose hair away from my forehead.

“Why make such an ugly scene with him just to avenge your granny? Playing along is the wiser course.”

I rested my head in her lap.

“I don’t want his protection. Grandpa Xun will look after me.”

Grandmother said nothing.

She stroked my long hair, again and again. After a long while, she asked softly, “I’ll ask you once more. Do you truly wish to enter the palace? If you don’t, I have ways to keep you safe.”

“I do, Granny.”

“Even the humblest person must not forget the troubles of the nation. Isn’t that what you taught me?”

After leaving Grandmother’s room, I was about to return to mine to wash and change.

But someone stopped me.

A pretty young woman stood in my path.

Though I hadn’t seen her in years, I recognized my half sister at once: Wang Jingruo.

I didn’t like her.

Her mother had once been an orphan who sought refuge with mine. Yet while my mother was gravely ill, she became involved with my father and drove my mother to die of grief and anger.

Of course, my father was no better. Barely had the first period of mourning for his wife ended before he eagerly married again. After several fruitless attempts to remonstrate with him, Grandmother took me away to our old family home in Yizhou.

On the day we left, nobody tried to keep us. Nobody came to see us off.

How desolate it was.

“Sister.”

Wang Jingruo curtsied. “I’ve come to pay my respects to Grandmother.”

I nodded and stepped around her.

She called after me again, her voice soft. “Sister, it wasn’t my idea to have you marry in my place. I begged Father, but he said I’ve always been frail and he couldn’t bear to send me into the palace.”

I glanced back at her.

For some reason, everyone who came from Shangjing looked down on me. Wang Jingruo did it; so had the steward. They really thought I was a foolish country girl.

“Sister, are you saying the palace is a place that devours people?”

Wang Jingruo faltered. “That’s not what I meant…”

“Then why should frailty prevent you from entering it? The world’s rare treasures and finest physicians are gathered in the emperor’s palace. If you’re weak, all the more reason to recover at His Majesty’s side. Why don’t I speak to Grandmother for you…”

“I’m not going into the palace!” she blurted.

She was only a fourteen-year-old girl, after all.

She couldn’t take a little teasing.

Rather bored, I turned to leave, only to be ordered to stop again.

This time it was my father, whom I hadn’t seen for so long.

With a sobbing Wang Jingruo in his arms, he looked at me with loathing.

“Wang Jingwan! You know your sister is weak. How can you bully her like this?”

Wang Jingruo choked out, “Father, don’t blame Sister. I said the wrong thing…”

Her tears fell onto the back of his hand. They seemed to scald him: he strode toward me and raised his palm.

I caught his hand.

“Grand Chamberlain, if you damage my face, you’ll have to send your beloved daughter into the palace.”

Father stared at me coldly.

I stared back without a trace of fear.

“Let’s see how long you can shelter under His Majesty’s banner.”

At last, he lowered his hand and shoved me away. “When you’re flayed and dismembered, you wretched child, nobody will collect your remains!”

Wang Jingruo followed Father and brushed past me.

“There’s something you don’t know yet, Sister. The empress dowager once sent two palace women to attend His Majesty. They angered him with a careless remark, and he had their skin stripped off and left them to die in the sun.”

Tears still clung to her cheeks, but when our eyes met, she smiled.

“Sister, may you and His Majesty have a flourishing family.”