chapter 1
Gu Nianwu returned in triumph with a woman in tow.
I had expected some simpering little schemer who would burst into delicate sobs and fling herself into a man’s arms the moment I frightened her.
Instead, she had a spine. Right there in front of Gu Nianwu, she met me head-on.
“Madam needn’t look at me that way, much less call me a ‘kept woman’ with every breath.”
“I come from a respectable family. In terms of lineage, I fear no one’s could be more honorable.”
“Oh?” My interest was piqued. I raised a brow. “Do introduce yourself.”
She thrust out her slightly rounded belly with great confidence.
“My name is Du Yiyi. My father was Du Shouyi, commander of Yu City. He and my elder brothers all died defending its people.”
“Rather than be captured and dishonored, I meant to throw myself from the city wall and die with my honor intact. Fortunately, dear Gu arrived in time and saved me.”
Gu Nianwu’s face shone with admiration.
“The Du family was loyal unto death. Even a frail woman like Yiyi held her own life so lightly. Such courage commands respect.”
Sunlight slanted through the front hall and struck the armor he had yet to remove, lending him an even more imposing air.
For a moment, he looked just like the young general I remembered—straight as a pine, upright and unyielding.
A breeze stirred.
I smoothed a stray lock at my temple, fixed my gaze on Du Yiyi’s belly, and scoffed. “Commands respect, does it? Enough respect to land her in your bed?”
Gu Nianwu’s face hardened. “Xuanyuan Xiang, mind your tongue!”
Seated squarely in a pearwood chair in the main hall, I let my gaze travel over the pair standing before me.
How delightful. It felt rather like interrogating two criminals.
“Then what am I supposed to say? Am I to show all the magnanimity expected of a lawful wife, take her hand and sweetly call her my little sister, persuade you to give her a proper status, then choose an auspicious day for her to enter the household as your concubine?”
I thought that was a respectable scolding. I accepted the tea Xiaocui handed me and took an unhurried sip.
To my surprise, Du Yiyi lifted her chin and declared, “A daughter of the Du family could never become another man’s concubine!”
I pressed my lips to the rim of the cup and gave a contemptuous smile. “In your dreams.”
No matter how generous or weak I might be, and no matter how much Gu Nianwu doted on her, surely he would not expect me to surrender my place as his wife.
After all, I was the woman he had pursued for years and married with every proper rite and ceremony.
Gu Nianwu stood tall and elegant, commanding even without anger.
He cleared his throat.
“I have already promised Yiyi that she will be my one and only wife.”
My teacup tilted.
The tea that spilled over the rim nearly scalded my hand.
I wondered if my ears had failed me and, for a moment, forgot to set down the burning cup.
Gu Nianwu stepped forward, snatched it from my hand, and slammed it onto the table.
“His Majesty has already granted Yiyi a noble title, and she carries my child. Am I supposed to make a titled lady my concubine?”
I stared at the husband before me. He seemed an entirely different man, with a face that positively begged to be punched.
My temper flared. I swept my sleeve across the table.
The cup shattered on the floor. A most satisfying sound.
“Gu Nianwu, you were the one who put that child in her. What has it to do with me? You made this mess. You bear it.”
“If His Majesty takes offense, simply confess that you failed to control that sinful root of yours and got a respectable maiden with child. One cut down there should serve nicely as your apology.”
I put special emphasis on “respectable maiden” and shot Du Yiyi a glare.
Gu Nianwu grew anxious when he heard me insult his beloved.
“I thought you were sensible. It turns out you are no different from any other common shrew!”
“Just as spiteful, just as sharp-tongued, and utterly incapable of tolerance!”
“Her family died protecting the people. Can you not make even this small concession? How can you face the spirits of the dead?”
Once, he could not bear to speak so much as a harsh word to me.
Now he was pointing at my nose and hurling accusation after accusation without the slightest restraint.
Tired of standing, Du Yiyi supported her waist and made her slow way to a chair.
She sat as though she were already mistress of the household.
Her eyes curved in a smile as she began to reason with me, one solemn point at a time.
“The general bathes in blood on the battlefield to defend our country and our homes.”
“My father and brothers all died with their city.”
“And you? Have you ever seen the smoke of war? Heard a battle horn sound the charge? Seen a land laid waste, its earth littered with bones?”
She answered her own questions, shaking her head with a smile. “Of course you haven’t.”
“A woman like you, shut away in a grand residence and able to think of nothing beyond your place as lawful wife—this is the full measure of your vision.”