Chapter 1

Song Jin did not come on the day of our betrothal.

In his place came Matron Zhou, the most trusted attendant of the marquis’s mother.

She brought sixty-four loads of betrothal gifts. Red silk filled the courtyard, so dazzling it hurt to look at.

Father could not stop smiling.

His wife took my hand and praised me sincerely for the first time. “A girl raised in our household, through and through. You’ve done us proud.”

My elder sister sat beside us, looking far from pleased.

She had always looked down on me. She still did.

But the man she would marry next month was merely the second son of a vice minister of rites.

He had passed the imperial examinations, but held no noble title. His mother was also a formidable woman. By any measure, his family could not rival the Mingguo household.

I lowered my eyes, smiling, and pretended not to see her envy.

Matron Zhou looked me over from head to foot.

Her smile was courteous. “The third young master is rather undisciplined. We shall be relying on his wife to guide him.”

How delicately put.

Strip away the pretty words, and the meaning could not be clearer.

Song Jin was a shameless rake who already kept a mistress. His family could not control him, so they wanted a clever wife to clean up his messes.

I feigned bashfulness. “You flatter me, Matron. A wife must follow her husband. How could I presume to instruct mine?”

“But husband and wife are one. If he finds himself in difficulty, I will do all I can.”

Matron Zhou’s smile deepened.

Since childhood, my mother had taught me to tailor my words to the listener.

Song Jin detested rules. I could not be a wooden creature forever reciting proprieties.

His grandmother valued the family name. I could not appear to have no principles at all.

I need not reform him. I could cover for him.

Sure enough, after Matron Zhou returned, the family sent me a pair of jade bangles the old madam had treasured for years.

That evening, my mother held the bangles beneath the lamp for a long time.

Candlelight shone through the green jade, deepening the shadows in her eyes.

“Are you happy?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Afraid?”

I thought for a moment, then shook my head. “Being afraid won’t help.”

She smiled.

She smoothed the loose hair at my temple, her voice as soft as a sigh.

“A marquis’s household is no schoolroom.”

“Those noble girls could dislike you, but the worst they could do was turn a cold face on you.”

“Behind the walls of a great house, someone who dislikes you may want you dead.”

I stared at the jade bangles. “Then I must make them need me.”

At last, she looked satisfied.

“Remember, a man’s affection is the least dependable thing there is.”

“You may use it. You must never trust it.”

“Then what can I trust?”

“Money. Power. Children. And secrets you hold in your own hands.”

She paused, then added, “If you have none of those, make yourself indispensable to the household.”

I nodded, committing every word to memory.

With three months still to go before the wedding, I had someone make inquiries about Song Jin’s mistress.

Her name was Liu Ying’er. She came from the court entertainment bureau, had a delicate, touching beauty, and excelled at singing songs from Jiangnan.

Song Jin had bought her a small residence with two courtyards in the south of the city. Gold and silver jewelry flowed into it like water.

Liu Ying’er was said to be two months pregnant, but the pregnancy was precarious. They had kept it from the marquis’s family.

I was choosing items for my dowry with my father’s wife when the news reached me.

She pointed to a set of pure-gold hair ornaments and asked whether I liked them.

I smiled and said I did, then quietly told my maid to pass the news to my mother.

It was dark by the time I returned to our courtyard.

Mother read the note and said only one thing.

“That child cannot be allowed to live.”

I shook my head.

“It must.”

She frowned slightly. “If a mistress bears a son before you do, he will be the eldest.”

“She’ll have secured a place before you’ve even entered the household. In time, she may become impossible to control.”

“If the child is lost, Liu Ying’er will be nothing more than a favored mistress.”

I dropped the note into the brazier and watched the flames eat away the writing.

“Song Jin may pity her for losing his child and favor her all the more.”

“But if the child is born, she’ll have a weakness.”

Mother watched me in silence for a moment, then suddenly smiled.

“You’re more ruthless than I am.”

“You taught me well.”