Chapter 1

Pei Feng had always been used to having his own way.

When I first heard he had brought a woman home, my hand merely paused for a moment in the middle of brushing my hair.

“How can you still sit there, my lady?” The maid who had come with me when I married was already snorting with anger, her hands on her hips. “Your husband has gone too far! Last night he argued with you and said he was going drinking at a pleasure house. Today he’s actually brought a woman back! Aren’t you going to have a look?”

I went on brushing my hair without betraying any reaction.

I had been married to Pei Feng for only six months, but I knew his character very well.

Yesterday, we had been playing a guessing game with Go stones. After losing several rounds in a row, I discovered that he had hidden stones in his sleeve to cheat.

Even after I caught him, he had the nerve to grin.

“I cheated fair and square. Why shouldn’t it count as a win?”

Furious, I grabbed a basket of stones and poured them down the front of his clothes. Pei Feng hopped about, yelping at the cold, and the stones tumbled out of his clothes and clattered across the floor.

That was when he panicked.

“Those are the Yunzi stones Grandfather gave me!”

“You’ve broken something priceless! Grandfather’s going to beat me again!”

I folded my arms and watched him coolly, taking my time.

“You deserve it. Who told you to use such dirty tricks?”

Pei Feng couldn’t bear losing face. Now he was angry too.

He slammed the door and announced that he was going to a pleasure house.

I couldn’t be bothered with him. When the curfew came and the gates were locked without his returning, I wrapped myself in the quilt and went to sleep. But when I woke, I learned he had only just come home after drinking all night—and had brought a beautiful woman with him.

Well.

Look who had grown so bold.

Still, I was in no hurry. Pei Feng’s family was strict. If his grandfather heard he had brought a courtesan home, I wouldn’t even have to lift a finger. At least one of Pei Feng’s three legs would end up broken.

Besides, knowing him as I did,

I wouldn’t have to go looking for him. He would certainly come looking for me—

“Zhao Qingzhi! Zhao Qingzhi! Get out here and beg your husband!”

Sure enough, hurried footsteps sounded outside.

Pei Feng strode in. One brow rose, and he gave me a thoroughly smug smile.

“Zhao Qingzhi, I’ll give you one more chance to save face.”

“Apologize for yesterday and replace my Go stones, and I’ll forgive you and send that woman back.”

I gave a cold laugh.

After he stormed out yesterday, I had gone to a bookshop to ask around. Pei Feng hadn’t lied. Those Yunzi stones really were worth a fortune. They felt smooth and lustrous in the hand, the white ones like congealed cream and the black ones like raven feathers. Held up to the light, the black stones even showed a faint green tint. It was a basket of those green-tinged stones that I had smashed.

That had made me feel guilty for a moment.

Pei Feng and his father were both military men, but his grandfather was an eminent Confucian scholar. If Grandfather learned he had treated something so valuable so carelessly, a good beating would be inevitable. I certainly couldn’t replace them. If Pei Feng had spoken to me properly, I could have offered to confess to Grandfather myself. But after the stunt he had pulled first thing this morning, I couldn’t swallow my pride either. Now I didn’t want to say a word.

He deserved it!

The man was asking for a beating!

“I can’t replace them, and I’m not going to,” I said, shaking my head.

Thwarted at once, Pei Feng cried out in exasperation.

“What do you mean, you can’t?”

“You brought a hundred loads of dowry and own all those shops! Aren’t you always boasting that even the Minister of Revenue would bow to your skill with accounts? You’re doing this just to humiliate me!”

I did enjoy watching him make a fool of himself.

But that wasn’t what I was doing this time.

Yesterday, the bookshop owner had explained that Yunzi came in ordinary and superior grades. The superior stones I had smashed were also called Yongzi, and a set cost upwards of five or six hundred taels. I hated parting with money, but even as I winced at the price, I had sent my maid home to fetch the silver.

The shopkeeper had shaken his head.

“They have a price, but there’s nothing on the market.”

“They are often presented as tribute to the court. Money alone won’t buy them. Go home for now, my lady. If a set comes in, I’ll send word.”

But I wasn’t about to tell Pei Feng that.

If he discovered I had already yielded, there was no telling how much he would mock and lecture me.

“Zhao Qingzhi, are you determined to fight me?” Pei Feng stamped his feet in anger. “Do you believe I’ll really take that woman as a concubine?”

Naturally, I wouldn’t yield either. “Take her if you like. Once a courtesan enters this household, your grandfather will deal with you without any help from me. Then you won’t have to worry about the Go stones. Isn’t it convenient to get both beatings over with at once?”

At that, the anger abruptly vanished from Pei Feng’s wide eyes.

As though something had suddenly become clear, he studied me closely. His fury ebbed away, and a sly smile tugged at his mouth, as if victory were already his.

“Who told you the woman I brought home was a courtesan?”

He called out.

A familiar figure walked gracefully in from outside.