chapter 4

I struck his hand away. “Get your filthy paw off me!”

Gu Nianwu held his temper in check and ground out each word. “Do not test my patience. Take the letter and get out.”

Du Yiyi covered her mouth with a little laugh. “Not a trace of femininity in you. No wonder dear Gu never wanted to touch you.”

“He no longer wants you. What good will shamelessly clinging to him do?”

“But I don’t want your dear Gu!” I mimicked her tone, every bit as cutting. “I only want the money. Return my dowry, give me half the family property, and turn that letter of repudiation into a deed of mutual divorce. I’ll leave at once.”

Du Yiyi sprang from her chair, her face flushed with anger.

“Taking your dowry is one thing. What gives you the right to half the Gu family property?”

Gu Nianwu hurried to steady her. “Sit down. Do not upset yourself and harm your health.”

Patiently, I began to reason with them.

“Look at you. You cannot bear to part with even a little treasure, yet you claim your love is true.”

“Gu Nianwu, which matters more: your money, or giving her a proper status?”

“Is this great love of yours, enough to move heaven and earth, unable to survive a mere trial of gold and silver?”

Having delivered the reason, it was time for a stronger dose.

“My father was Yang Zhao, the Southern Pacification General appointed by the late emperor. My mother came from the great Xuanyuan clan. Though my parents are gone, my father’s former advisers still show me a measure of respect, and I have inherited the position of head of the Xuanyuan clan.”

“If I slink home in disgrace and tell them what you did, I fear their spit alone would be enough to drown you.”

Gu Nianwu began to hesitate.

I crossed one leg over the other and tapped the table.

“They say one day as husband and wife earns a hundred days of grace. Let us do this: allow me one more day as Madam Gu. I will hand the account books and valuables over to Du Yiyi, and we will settle everything properly. I will take only a quarter of the household property. Then we sign the deed of mutual divorce and part without further rancor.”

After some hesitation, Gu Nianwu said, “Agreed.”

“Splendid!”

Du Yiyi slapped the table and surged to her feet. The blow hurt, and she flapped her hand several times before praising me. “I admire a woman who knows how to be decisive.”

I left them with an inscrutable smile.

Then I rose and walked back to my courtyard without looking behind me.

As if even a ghost would care to remain Madam Gu for one more day.

All I wanted was to retain the household seal—and the authority it represented—for one more night.

Xiaocui ground the ink. I lifted my sleeve, took up my brush, and wrote a few words.

That night, the moon was full and bright.

Xiaocui stood guard outside the courtyard gate.

I extinguished every candle in my room and sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion.

My fingers formed the shape of an orchid as an incantation flowed from my lips.

Before long, skeins of white mist rose around me and quickly spread through the room, billowing until I seemed to stand in another realm.

A dark shadow gathered within the mist and slowly assumed the shape of a man.

He knelt on one knee. “What are your orders, Mistress?”

I pointed to the stack of papers on my desk. “Take those and paste them all over the capital.”

“Yes, Mistress.”

He vanished. The white mist dispersed with him.

Everything returned to normal, as though nothing had happened.