chapter 2

But the next day, I waited by the North Gate until the snow fell in drifts like jade dust — and still Wei Lingxiao did not come.

She had sent a trusted soldier to deliver a message.

It said that the previous night, my imperial father had summoned her by urgent decree and ordered her to lead the army out of the city.

I could not help frowning.

It must have been so cold.

She was only one year older than I was, yet while I did not even dare walk a night road, she could already march through the night with her troops.

The soldier asked if I had any words to send to Wei Lingxiao. I thought for a long time. “Wind, frost, rain, and snow cannot stop Jing’an from studying. May the Marquess take care of herself and return safe and sound.”

When the soldier had gone a little way, something occurred to me and I hurriedly called him back.

“Please bring her one more message.”

Without knowing why, my heart suddenly beat very fast. “I will wait for her to come back, and we will go to Shangshan Hall to study together.”

Qijin, my senior palace maid, teased me. “Other princesses invite young lords and nobles; our princess, on the other hand, has taken to clinging to a female general.”

I sat in the palanquin, watching the winter snow powder the crimson palace walls white, my heart as restless as the drifting flakes.

“Qijin, she is different.” I hugged my book satchel, and in the moment I understood, I grew much more resolute. “She is not like those young lords who treat women as ornaments. She respects me. In her eyes, I am a princess who can discuss statecraft — a princess just like my imperial brothers.”

Qijin shook her head, worry on her face. “This servant has attended many masters, and it is only with the Princess and Consort Tan that I have been treated so well. So I will presume to speak a disrespectful word.”

“Some of the Princess’s and the Consort’s thoughts are not meant to harm anyone, but if they reach the ears of the wrong people, they may still bring trouble. There are some matters best left unthought of.”

Qijin was a senior palace maid of considerable standing, who had seen many households rise to splendor and fall to ruin.

So I knew she meant well for both my mother and me, and I obediently agreed. “I understand your kindness, and I will likewise advise my mother in my daily life.”

Qijin looked relieved, helped me out of the palanquin, and led me toward Shangshan Hall.

She could not resist reminding me once more. “The Princess has only to humble herself a little. Do not make too much of an enemy of the princes, or it is always the Princess who suffers.”

“Yes, it is always the princess who suffers.” I could not help repeating her words.

On reflection, it was utterly absurd.

Brothers and sisters fight, all of us children of the same imperial father — yet it is always the daughters who suffer.

I had prepared myself to bow my head and play the good little girl. But no sooner had I stepped into the schoolroom than two of my imperial brothers greeted me and escorted me to my seat with great enthusiasm.

I looked around in bewilderment. The Fourth Imperial Brother, who could never hold his tongue, crouched at my side and smiled ingratiatingly.

“My dear sister is on such good terms with Marquis Wei — why did she never tell us brothers? Yesterday’s bit of sibling horseplay even moved her to lodge a complaint before the Emperor. A misunderstanding, truly.”

I blinked, thinking to myself: so there are women you are afraid of after all?

So the five of you scheme against one another over the throne, and yet you know there is a first-rank female military marquess who holds the realm’s heavy troops in her hands, and whoever she supports gains the greatest advantage?

But on the surface I still had to play meek. “When I returned to the palace yesterday, I had caught a chill and gone straight to bed, so I knew nothing of it—”

I paused, and with private motives, changed my form of address. “As for Sister Xiao going before the Emperor to complain, that is simply the way she is — swift and decisive, with no tolerance for flaws. She has a soldier’s temper, and I ask my brothers to bear with her.”

The brothers all said pleasantries, except for Brother Crown Prince, whose face stayed dark the whole time.

He said something I could not understand. “So the Marquis Wei really does repay every grievance — she cannot even wait a single day.”

It was only after I returned to the palace that I heard my mother explain the reason.

For this campaign, Wei Lingxiao had specifically requested that the Crown Princess’s younger brother accompany her.

He was a pampered, weak-willed good-for-nothing — a legitimate son spoiled rotten at home. The battlefield was fraught with danger, and no one could say whether he would come back alive.

I asked my mother softly, “Mother, do you suppose Lord Wei arranged it that way to avenge me?”

My mother was marking key passages in my book and answered casually, “The two of you have no friendship. Why would she stick her neck out for you? Besides, no matter how brilliant her record, she would not lightly offend the Crown Prince.”

At that, I felt a brief, barely perceptible disappointment, but my mother’s reasoning was sound, and I could only nod.

It had been unspoken and unexplained from the very beginning.