Chapter 1

My husband, Qi Lei, fell off his horse and broke his leg.

I instructed his honored concubine, Liu Yingying, to nurse him carefully every day.

“Madam,” she said, looking at me in my finery, ready to go out, her resentment plain, “you go off enjoying yourself and leave all the dirty, exhausting work to me?”

“Honored or otherwise, you’re still a concubine,” I said coldly. “You’re expected to wait on your man.”

“If you won’t, plenty of others will.”

It was hardly a gracious reply.

But Liu Yingying dared not say another word.

I was the mistress of the household. If I refused to wait on him, the worst I would get was a scolding.

If she refused, she might be sent packing.

Qi Lei lay in bed, his face livid.

“Madam, I am your husband.”

I raised an eyebrow. “My husband, as you know, Lady Wang next door has invited me to join her at the tea party given by the Minister of Personnel’s wife.”

“You may be injured and confined to the house, but matters at court change by the hour. All I can do is gather useful information among the ladies, in the hope of helping you.”

Qi Lei had no answer. After a long silence, he managed, “What a virtuous wife.”

Virtuous? Of course I was.

Spending your family’s money, cultivating connections for you, and padding my own private purse along the way.

While your beloved concubine did every dirty, tiring job at home.

When I first learned that my husband had a mistress, I ate two extra bowls at breakfast.

My personal maid stamped her feet in distress. “Young Madam, you must think of something!”

I put down my chopsticks. “Come. We’re going to the mouth of the lane.”

“What?”

“To share the good news with the other wives.”

Yes, I—the Qi family’s eldest daughter-in-law—had been married into the family for a full year. My greatest wish was neither my husband’s affection nor control of the household accounts. It was to break into the circle of wives who lived along our lane.

Unfortunately, my birth family had little standing and my dowry was modest. A sweet tongue could get me only so far.

Poetry gatherings, flower parties, tea parties… I attended every event the ladies gave and sent out gifts by the armful. They still greeted me with “Oh,” “Mm,” and “We must talk another time.”

Today was different.

“My husband is keeping a mistress.”

For one moment, the air went still.

The next, they surrounded me.

“My dear, tell us everything.”

“When did this happen? Who is she?”

“You mustn’t let her walk all over you!”

The daughter-in-law of the Chief Minister of the Court of Judicial Review taught me how to deal with that little vixen. The wife of a director in the Ministry of Rites taught me how to keep the brazen hussy in hand.

I listened with shining eyes, nodding eagerly, wishing I could take notes on the spot.

They held my hands, asked after my well-being, and fussed over me like sisters reunited after years apart.

Heaven knew I had tried everything during my first year in the Qi household and never managed to get into their circle.

And now the news of my husband’s mistress had opened every door at once.