Chapter 2
Chapter 2
The woman Prince Kang had sent, Meng Yan, was casually placed by Qi Chong in the most remote side courtyard.
Meng Yan changed into a beautiful dress and knelt outside his room, looking delicate and pitiful, but Qi Chong acted as if he didn’t see her.
Meng Yan personally cooked soup and brought it to him, but Qi Chong refused to accept it and wouldn’t allow her into his study.
Qi Chong was not a man ruled by lust.
Otherwise, when he first came to the Shen Family to propose marriage, he would never have chosen me, a woman known only for talent and plain in appearance.
Nor would he later have married the Empress Dowager’s plain-looking niece.
That day, Meng Yan once again ran into a wall with Qi Chong and returned to her room in frustration.
Lately, all her thoughts had been fixed on Qi Chong, and she had also realized that I was not a harsh mistress of the household.
So when she saw me, she merely gave me a perfunctory curtsey.
“Greetings, Madam.”
I saw the food box in her hands and knew Qi Chong still had not softened, so I smiled and said, “What delicious things did you make, little sister?”
Unsure what I was up to, Meng Yan simply opened the box.
Chicken and bamboo shoot soup, wolfberries dressed in oil, and steamed mandarin fish.
They were all dishes favored by the capital’s scholars: light, refined, elegant.
It seemed Prince Kang had put real effort into training these women.
These days in the capital, heavily seasoned food was mostly disdained by literary gentlemen, who believed that sort of fare was for common laborers scraping out a living.
Back when Qi Chong was still a poor provincial scholar newly arrived in the capital, he had once been mocked by his colleagues at a banquet for ordering braised pork knuckle.
Qi Chong remembered that humiliation. From then on, everyone in the Qi household was only allowed to eat lightly seasoned food.
I closed the food box and gave a soft sigh.
“My lord is from Tanzhou.”
Before she could react, I had already brushed past her.
Meng Yan was very clever.
By noon the next day, I heard from the maids that Qi Chong still had not allowed Meng Yan to step into his courtyard.
But he had kept the food Meng Yan delivered.
Along with the lightly flavored dishes, there had also been a bowl of ginger-spiced hot soup.
It was a hometown dish from where Qi Chong came from.
That evening, while I was reading by lamplight, someone knocked on my door.
It was Meng Yan.
She knelt on the floor and bowed gracefully.
“Thank you, Elder Sister, for your guidance.”
As she bent low, a section of her fair neck showed beneath the crimson collar.
She was like a famous sword fresh from its sheath, beautiful in a lethal, intimidating way that made people fear her at a glance.
After a moment’s thought, I told a maid to fetch a few plain, unworn dresses from my room and give them to her.
When Meng Yan’s maid accepted the clothes, she could not hide the disdain on her face.
Even Meng Yan could not tell what I meant. She thought I was deliberately making things difficult for her, trying to make her look ugly and lose favor.
The dresses were too plain. There wasn’t even any embroidery on them. At a glance, they looked like the everyday clothes worn by ordinary women while doing housework.
Meng Yan did not want to wear such dresses, and said hesitantly, “If my lord asks about it…”
I shifted the book in my hand and smiled at her meaningfully.
“Then tell him I’m bullying you.”
Meng Yan froze, then suddenly looked at me as if waking from a dream.
As though the person sitting before her was not the foolish, jealous shrew of city rumor, but a strategist with every move planned in advance.
I pulled several books from the shelf and placed them in her hands.
“These are books my husband likes.”
Meng Yan understood at once and accepted them with both hands, grateful.
“I have read a little myself. At the prince’s estate, I had the good fortune to receive instruction from several Hanlin academicians. I ought to be able to speak with my lord about many things.”
I shook my head gently.
No. You must not talk with him. You must listen to him humbly.
Men in this world all like beautiful, clever women.
But for a man like Qi Chong, one born poor and suddenly risen to power-
You must not be too clever. Better to have the kind of small cleverness that flatters him and lets him bask in self-satisfaction.
And you must not be too beautiful either. Better to wear simple hairpins and plain cloth skirts, so he will not feel unworthy of you.
Meng Yan accepted the clothes and books, all the contempt she once held swept away.
As she withdrew to the doorway, she gave me a deep and respectful bow, her face full of reverence.
“This concubine dares ask you one question. Why are you helping me?”
I helped her to her feet, tucked back the loose strand of hair by her temple, and smiled.
“Because I want my husband to love you more than his own life.”