When Xie Rutang returned to Green Parasol Courtyard, she learned that Pei Zhiheng had not come home that night. His Majesty had personally assigned another case to him.
It was a difficult case, and the investigation had led to the Old Prince.
The Old Prince had won countless military honors, yet for years he had been embezzling and taking bribes. Even the Empress Dowager could not keep him in check.
It was a hot potato. The entire court was desperate to avoid it, but Pei Zhiheng alone accepted the case.
He could not abide even a grain of sand in his eye. When investigating a case, he acted swiftly and decisively, unwilling to waste a moment.
The powerful nobles at court had long regarded Pei Zhiheng as a grave threat. They would have given anything to be rid of him.
At daybreak the next morning, Xie Rutang heard that he had already obtained evidence the night before. The Old Prince’s entire household and several officials implicated in the case had been stripped of their offices and arrested on the spot. Their property had been confiscated, and they were taken to Dali Temple to await trial.
When the news spread, the whole city was in an uproar.
That morning, she saw Pei Zhiheng returning to Pei Residence in triumph from Shen Residence, the imperial edict in his hands. He was as radiant and unblemished as a man in the moonlight, yet so cold he seemed beyond human feeling.
As a woman of the Shen household, Xie Rutang only glanced at him from afar before lowering her eyes, frail and subdued.
His figure, striking and immaculate in the sunlight, was worlds apart from her. Whatever beauty she possessed, his status was so exalted that she could never bargain with him and ask him to save her older brother.
The following day, she heard that Pei Zhiheng was going boating on the lake with Su Yao.
He sat upright in the grand hall, radiant and immaculate. As long as she said nothing, no one would know what he had done to her in the study—and he would get his wish and marry Miss Su.
Xie Rutang knew she had suffered in silence.
But she had already given up on him.
They belonged to entirely different worlds.
…
That day, with an imperial eunuch in yellow robes there to bestow honors, the Pei family held a banquet and invited their longtime family friends, the Shen household, to celebrate with them.
Xie Rutang changed into a silk dress and went to Pei Residence with Old Madam Shen.
After Pei Zhiheng had risen to become one of His Majesty’s most trusted officials, Pei Residence had undergone several renovations and expansions. It was now far grander and more imposing.
The stone lions before the gate were massive and fearsome. Beneath the eaves hung an imperial plaque, its deep vermilion lacquer gleaming in the sunlight.
Inside, courtyard after courtyard opened into the next, linked by covered walkways, with rockeries and flowing water, carved beams and painted rafters.
She took her place in the garden among the other women.
Feeling ill at ease, Xie Rutang kept her head bowed, not daring to look toward the distant, stern figure. Pei Zhiheng had not even noticed the widow’s presence.
The table was laden with rare delicacies, the sort of exquisite dishes only the palace ladies could eat. An hour later, all that remained were scraps and cold leftovers.
After bidding the other women farewell, Xie Rutang finally rode back to Shen Residence.
Only after returning did she draw her sleeves around herself against the wind and turn toward her mother-in-law’s courtyard.
“What? A hundred taels to keep quiet?!”
Old Madam Shen set down the bird’s nest soup with a heavy thud. Everyone in the room fell so silent they scarcely dared breathe. “Xie, who gave you the nerve? You dare blackmail me now?”
The matter of dual-family heirship was never something that could be brought into the open. Even if it were reported to the court, there was no telling whether His Majesty would approve.
Most importantly, her mother-in-law had even drugged her with an aphrodisiac to force her and Pei Zhiheng together.
Xie Rutang lowered her eyes, concealing the chill in them. “If this gets out, it will damage your reputation and that of both families. Second Master is in His Majesty’s favor now. You’ve finally been able to hold your head high among the noblewomen—even Madam Li has been put in her place by you. If they found out…”
At that, the bird’s nest soup in Old Madam Shen’s hand lost all its appeal.
Zhiheng had just finished investigating the case, and she, too, had basked in the glory.
The noblewomen were finding all sorts of ways to send her invitations. Even several madams who had never given her a second glance before were sending people to pay their respects.
Last time, Madam Li had sneered that she was “relying on her godson to keep up appearances.” Then she was promptly kicked out of the poetry gathering, and for the past few days she had been making a fuss and refusing to leave her home.
Old Madam Shen had enjoyed her newfound prestige for only a few days.
No, no. This would never do.
Old Madam Shen steeled herself. “Fine. I’ll give you a hundred taels.”
“But you will keep your mouth shut about what happened with Zhiheng. Otherwise, I’ll tear that face of yours to shreds!”
A little while later, Old Madam Shen clutched her chest and began cursing furiously. “Yuan’er, you died too young! Open your eyes and see how your wife is bullying your poor mother! I always said she was a jinx, but you wouldn’t listen. You just had to marry her…”
Xie Rutang had achieved what she came for. She left with the purse, feeling pleased.
No matter how much Old Madam Shen insulted her inside, she remained unmoved.
Her sister-in-law and her nieces and nephew had already settled on Changchun Street.
That day, Xie Rutang went to visit them with a piece of meat wrapped in oiled paper—and was startled to find a new figure in the courtyard.
She took a closer look. It was Zhang Dasha, the fool from their county, who had later become Scholar Zhang.
Xie Rutang froze for a moment, then blurted out, “Zhang Dasha?!”
The man paused, then turned around, revealing a refined face.
He did not take offense. “I’m not called Dasha anymore. I passed the scholar examination last year, so now you should call me Scholar Zhang.”
Xie Rutang’s face flushed. Realizing how thoughtless she had been, she silently berated herself.
He had changed so much that she hadn’t even recognized him.
Lin Shuangqiu heard the commotion from the kitchen and came out to greet her, wiping the sweat from her face with her sleeve. “Rutang, you’re here. I’m new around here and don’t know my way around, so I asked Scholar Zhang to help arrange for Young Master Cheng to attend school.”
“Do you remember him? Scholar Zhang is now known far and wide in our home county as a devoted son. He has only his elderly mother left. She scrimped and saved to send him to the capital for the examinations, and our county magistrate even arranged to provide the two of them with rice and flour every month.”
Lin Shuangqiu dusted the flour from her hands, then drew Xie Rutang over to the stove and lowered her voice.
“Scholar Zhang liked you even before you were married. Who would have thought his teacher would take him under his wing and he’d move to the capital, too? He still isn’t married. If you ask me, there’s a good chance he still has you on his mind.”
“I only asked him for help yesterday, and he showed up first thing this morning. He says it’s because we’re from the same hometown, but I don’t believe him.”
Xie Rutang frowned without thinking.
“If you married into the Zhang family, there’d be few people in the household. Mother Zhang is a simple, kind woman, too. You could live a quiet, peaceful life without having to deal with all that scheming.”
Before leaving, Lin Shuangqiu gave her another knowing look. “You two talk. I’ll go make you something to eat.”
With that, she turned and went back to the kitchen, leaving the two of them alone in the courtyard.
Xie Rutang couldn’t help blaming her sister-in-law for taking it upon herself to meddle. Zhang Qingci had come to the capital to serve as an official and had a bright future ahead of him. He was no longer the poor, down-on-his-luck young man he had once been. How could he possibly be interested in a widow like her?
Zhang Qingci scratched the back of his head and gave a dry cough. “You brought this meat to stew, right? I’ll chop some kindling to get the fire going.”
…
At dusk, at Dali Temple.
The case files on the desk had been neatly gathered. Pei Zhiheng rubbed his brow and came out of the office.
As soon as he stepped through the main gate, he saw Yan Wenzhao, a Judicial Officer at Dali Temple, standing with his hands behind his back at the foot of the steps. He seemed to have been waiting for a while.
When Yan Wenzhao saw him, he turned his head slightly and said in a low voice, “A new batch of death-row prisoners was brought in today. It’s a major case, connected to that old case in the north.”
Pei Zhiheng did not slow his pace or turn his gaze. “Let’s discuss it at a teahouse.”
Yan Wenzhao glanced at him. He certainly knew how to keep his composure.
Pei Zhiheng had placed third in the palace examinations two years ago. That year’s candidates had been exceptionally talented, yet he had still come out on top, becoming the youngest Minister of the Dali Temple in nearly a hundred years. His Majesty had even made an exception to appoint him to a position many men worked themselves gray trying to reach.
Yan Wenzhao had entered officialdom in the same year as Pei Zhiheng, and even he couldn’t help envying Pei Zhiheng’s talent.
But after Pei Zhiheng took on the Dali Temple’s accumulated backlog of messes, working day and night, Yan Wenzhao no longer envied him. If he were Pei Zhiheng, he might not have been able to remain so unswervingly impartial.
After the Old Prince’s case, the households that had secretly bribed powerful officials fell silent at once, terrified that Pei Zhiheng would follow the clues and expose them.
The two were just about to get into the carriage when Yan Wenzhao let out a surprised “Huh?”
“Isn’t that the widow from your household?”
The official boot that had been stepping across the flagstones suddenly came to a halt.
For the past few days, he had almost forgotten that there was such a person at Shen Residence.
Pei Zhiheng followed the direction Yan Wenzhao was pointing and looked over.
A woman stood at the entrance to a courtyard in an alley, dressed in a pale pink blouse and skirt embroidered with white magnolias in Suzhou style. A single jade hairpin adorned her temple. Her black hair was piled like clouds; the graceful bearing of a married woman suited her beautifully, and her eyes were tender and captivating.
At a glance, he noticed her amid the crowd.
Pei Zhiheng had nearly forgotten Xie Rutang, but the sight of her alluring figure brought back the memory of a few days earlier.
Xie Rutang was speaking to an unfamiliar man.
He had been so busy these past few days that he had almost forgotten Old Madam Shen’s demand that he carry on both family lines.
He considered himself no lecher.
But he could not deny that Xie Rutang was alluringly beautiful.
When he closed his eyes, he saw her pinned beneath him, and seemed to smell again the cloying, seductive fragrance on her.
His busy days had finally driven the thought from his mind.
But seeing that slender figure now brought it rushing back.