BUT ANY PLANS we may have originally had to avenge Miss Heng were thrown into the dust, for the week after the death of Miss Heng, the Third Prince was sent off to the north to deal with the droughts that had been plaguing the area with another team of officials, effectively placing him out of our reach for at least the span of a few months, or even a whole year.
The Crown Prince was furious. This meant the Emperor was genuinely considering the Third Prince in the running for the position of heir against him. And all he could help was that the Third Prince butchered it up.
It was a bit uncomfortable to hear that. Because if the Third Prince did mess it up, it was the lives of millions at risk. But if he did mess it up, would that mean the Emperor would see him as incapable and remove him from the equation altogether?
The second interruption came almost two weeks later. Chiqian was the one who informed me, after heading into the Imperial Palace that morning, when he'd come back to have lunch with me.
"The Emperor is going to grant marriage to your cousin and General Feng."
"What?"
Around us, the servants bopped a curtsy before exiting in silence, knowing fairly well that whatever we were going to discuss next was not for their ears. Chiqian waited for a moment before nodding. "That's what I've heard. The Emperor has heard that your second cousin is quite enamoured with General Feng, and he thinks they're a good match. The marriage order might come down... any moment now, actually."
"But... But..."
"I think it's more political than that," he analysed. "Yunjun is the first in your family to properly begin developing in the military rather than the court. Or, well, technically by usual standards she shouldn't be doing either in the first place. But even if she's just a girl, she's still a threat. The Imperial family wouldn't want the Shangguans to grow too powerful."
"Is General Feng...?"
"The old General Feng was rather close to the Emperor," Chiqian murmured. "He trusted him greatly. I wouldn't be surprised if that went down to the current General Feng as well. Marrying them... it makes sure someone keeps an eye on Yunjun and all her military endeavours."
"No way around it?"
"No way around it."
"At least she likes him."
"A bit more than like, I think," he muttered. "But I don't think he particularly feels the same way towards her. His feelings for her don't hold a candle against what she feels for him, and that's always dangerous."
"Yunjun's smart, right?"
"Many smart people have fallen in the name of love throughout history. Zi gu ying xiong nan guo mei ren guan. Throughout history, heroes have always found it difficult to make it through the round of the beauties."
"That is because the heroes are weak," I said, rolling my eyes.
"And is Yunjun strong enough?"
From what I'd seen so far? No.
No matter how she held herself from day to day, at heart, she was still just a sixteen year old girl. A sixteen year old girl who'd fancy herself in love with a dashing general, easily fooled, easily misguided, easily manipulated. And she was stubborn. She always believed she was right, never admitting that she was oftentimes wrong too.
It felt strange to comment upon her like this when I myself was only a year older. But perhaps it was marriage. Marriage that granted me these insights, the ability to watch over these matches not from the perspective of a little girl but as a worldly woman.
At least, I liked to think of myself as such.
It seemed strange that Yunjun was the one who fell like this in the end. If I'd had to choose when I'd first met them all, I'd have thought Yunxuan was the one who fell foolishly into love with someone unsuitable. Yet it was the wildest, most independent Yunjun who fell into that trap. And it seemed very much like a trap to me.
This marriage was advantageous to General Feng in all the right ways, but was merely a way to control the Shangguans. Surely she saw it? Even if she was so blinded by blissful joy?
But there seemed to be no way to convince her otherwise. She was one of the most stubborn people I knew, after all. She managed to somehow convince everyone to let her join the army, travel to the borderlands, even though she was only a young girl. And if she'd made up her mind in marrying General Feng, there was no way to stop it.
We could only hope that it all worked out well for her in the end. Surely, with the Shangguans backing her, General Feng wouldn't do anything extreme?
But then another question popped into my head. "What about the mistress? Will he take her as a concubine?"
"From what I've heard," Chiqian sighed, "yes. He's not going to cast her away, and if he did, she wouldn't make it easy. For your own family's reputation, it might be safer to just let him take her in rather than put up a fight. Yunxuan is still unmarried, after all."
And until Yunxuan was safely married, and perhaps after Tianjin had taken a wife, we had to be careful with our reputations. Not that we didn't have to be afterwards, but we could afford to care slightly less. A few missteps now could ruin Yunxuan's marital prospects.
Like Miss Heng and her older sisters.
Her funeral had been held a few days ago. We'd all gone. Everyone had heard the rumours, and most people had been able to guess what happened, but they all went by the notion that she'd died of sickness. Because no one wanted to accuse the Third Prince of having an affair, and Earl Heng looked ready to murder anyone who suggested his daughter had died in another way.
That, and the fact the Crown Prince had been there, and he'd very firmly said it was due to sickness. And Yunhua attested to it too.
No one here was stupid. They all knew what could be said and what couldn't be. The smartest would have already realised the motivation behind such a scheme from the Third Prince. And the Crown Prince's presence at the funeral was Earl Heng's answer.
I am not siding with the Third Prince. His allegiance was clear now.
An ally on our side, then.
"Yunjun will not be happy," I told him, shaking my head slowly. "She's so in love with him..."
"That she might just think it's alright for him to immediately take a concubine." Chiqian snorted. "I pity girls like her. They have no idea what men are capable of."
I raised one brow. "Are you included in that?"
"I have morals. Some people don't. A lot of people don't." He rubbed his forehead. I believed him so far. All of my dowry remained firmly within my own pockets. He never forced me into doing what he wanted, and I was free to come and go as I pleased.
It didn't feel very different from being unmarried, if I had to be honest.
"Does General Feng have morals?"
He stared at me, really stared at me, and then shrugged. "That's the thing. I have no idea what kind of man he actually is. It always feels like he's hiding something, but is it just because his personality is reserved or something else?"
"Oh dear."
Chiqian's instincts about people were generally to be trusted. He'd grown up in Luoyang, and had known most of these people since he was an infant. He'd talked with them far more and had heard far more than I'd ever had. He was rarely wrong about people so farâall the things he'd told me about people had been true.
"We'll have to see," he sighed. "But again, he won't dare mistreat her. Not with your uncle around. It might be best to just... watch. If things go for the worse, she can always try for a divorce."
There were two ways to break a marriage while both parties were still alive. The most usual one was the xiu qi. The dismissal of the wife. The wife would be forced to live in disgrace, but it only ever happened if the wife committed a heinous crime. The other was the he li. The divorce. Far harder to secure. Like its name, it suggested peace. A mutual departure. Not one-sided, like the xiu qi.
But with her family, if Yunjun did face such a dilemma, a he li would not be difficult to secure. And she wouldn't be affected much later in life over it.
Perhaps it wouldn't all be too bad.
It wasn't as if there was much we could do about it either, since the marriage had been granted by the Emperor. Going against it would be committing treason. Disobeying the Emperor was never an option unless you were ready to go through with an entire rebellion and a coup in the meanwhile.
Neither of which were particularly in any of our to-do lists.
Yunxuan was the next person who shared her distress about the situation. "Yunjun has been dancing around like an idiot," she remarked calmly, sitting beside me as she quietly twirled around her cup of tea. "It is quite embarrassing to watch, thus why I am now here."
"Ah, and I was here thinking you'd visited because you missed me."
She replied to that with one simple arched brow. I let out a little laugh, shaking my head. "There isn't much to do about it, you know."
"We could kill the mistress."
"Yunxuan!"
"General Feng clearly likes her more than Yunjun."
"The mistress is innocent, you know."
"That remains to be seen." She shook her head. "Yunjun will be miserable there. She doesn't quite seem to care though. I never realised she was such an idiot."
Yunxuan had grown bolder in the past few years, especially after both Yunhua and I had left the Shangguan Manor. I wasn't exactly sure why. But she now was more than happy to say things she'd have absolutely refused to when I'd first arrived, and she was occasionally even blunter than Yunhua or Yunjun.
"Let us not discuss Yunjun for a moment. What about you? What have you got planned? Any lords you've set your eyes on?"
"I'm afraid most of them are idiots." Yunxuan winced. "I can't... I can't settle for someone stupid, Cousin."
"I'm sure a few have working brains."
"Not the ones I've met so far. It's quite disappointing. Oh well, I still have plenty of time."
"Keep an eye out, though. You can't stay in Shangguan Manor forever, and a good husband is important."
"Yes, it's quite literally necessary for us to stay alive." She grunted. "Not like getting married doesn't immediately open up a whole new slew of ways to die. Childbirth, for example."
"I..."
"Have you never worried about that? Childbirth? Your mother died in childbirth too, as did my mother. Well, not my biological one. You know what I mean." Yunhua and Yunjun's mother, who, as the main wife, was technically Yunxuan's too. "I worry about it a lot. What if I die in childbirth?"
"You will have the best doctorsâ"
"As did my father's main wife." Yunxuan shook her head. "It seems like such a bet."
"If we never have children, we won't even be able to raise our head as people. You know that's how society works."
"It's unfair."
"You won't believe how many girls and women have said those very words to me in the past while," I slowly mused. "What can we do about it? Yunjun struck out on a path of her own and now she's being tied back by matrimony too. You know, I really thought she could not get married. Make a different path. Set an example for more young women."
"Well, ying xiong nan guo mei ren guan. The heroes always find it difficult to make it past the gauntlet of the beauties. Not that I think General Feng is beautiful, but you get what I mean."
"You know," I muttered, "Chiqian said those exact words to me earlier. Not about General Feng's appearance, mind you..."
"It's the truth," she said with a shrug. "Many men have fallen to it, so perhaps a few women have to as well. Yunjun can manage herself, I think. She can always extract herself if it comes down to it anyways."
"Your father..."
"He'll support her no matter what. General Feng isn't that powerful anyways."
"Then she'll be alright, I think."
"That is the hope," she pointed out, "but we can never be sure in these kinds of situations. Society will judge her, no matter what decision she makes. I can already imagine people laughing, 'ah, what does it matter that she's learnt to fight? She ends up having to marry a man and give birth to a child and be a good wife anyways.' I don't know how I should feel about all this."
"Then just don't think about it for a while. You shouldn't have to anyways."
"I'm a Shangguan, Cousin. I'll always have to think about it."
Unlike the case with me and Yunhua, Yunjun's marriage plans were soon underway. The ceremony was to be held and the marriage completed before they returned back to the borders in two months' time, it was announced, and suddenly we were thrown into a flurry of preparations once more. In a matter of months, the Shangguans were marrying off three girls.
Now, Tianjin and Yunxuan were truly the only ones left.
When I next went to visit the Shangguans, my uncle didn't seem happy. And after having lunch together with all my cousins (though Yunhua was not present), he called me aside. I was led into the gardens, and he motioned for me to sit opposite him as his servant poured us some tea.
"I'm sure you know I'm not quite happy with Yunjun's match, Minxi," he said with a sigh. I hadn't talked with him all that much in my time here. I was grateful, of course, but I'd never been particularly fond of him either. He was always a mystery. And I didn't think he particularly cared much for me past what was necessary either.
"In her situation, it might be the best she could manage. But I didn't think marriage was on the books for her at least for a couple years, not with her station."
He shrugged. "It's hardly surprising. Without a husband, the Emperor considers her unharnessed. She is my daughter. She listens to me. The Emperor sees this as a threat. With a husband, her connection to me will be somewhat severed, and someone will watch over her."
"You think General Feng...?"
"He is certainly loyal to the Emperor."
"Oh."
"It's all for a game of power, Minxi."
"It is too late now, is it not, Uncle?"
"Far too late. And far too dangerous to try anything but quietly obey." He stroked his beard, sighing. "He doesn't trust me as much as before."
"Should he?"
Uncle was silent for a moment before straightening. "Perhaps not. My daughter is married to his heir, after all."
It made perfect sense why there was suspicion upon us now. Yunhua was the Princess Consort. If Uncle and the Crown Prince worked together and decided to throw a coup, no one would know what happened. And I was married to Chiqian, whose father was a Prince as well. The Shangguans now had connections. Connections to people in high places, and that made us dangerous.
It would be best to keep a low cover. Smart. To stay alive.
But I didn't need to tell that to my uncle, who'd done this far longer than I have and far better as well. He knew exactly what he needed to doâhe was either just trying to remind me, or trying to have someone to talk to who wouldn't immediately turn around and report everything he'd uttered to the Emperor.
Because as the Grand Chancellor, Shangguan An was the second most powerful person in this country. And that made him dangerous. The moment he seemed to have an agenda that didn't align with the Emperor's, our entire family's lives could be forfeit.
We were treading on dangerous territory now. We'd seen this coming the moment Yunhua had married the future Emperor.
And then, Uncle said, "Yunxuan cannot marry anyone of high status."
"No," I agreed. "Or it would seem far too dangerous."
"But I will not have her married to someone useless either."
"You want me to find someone for her."
"You don't need to force it on her. It won't work, it will never work. But try to keep an eye out. Yunhua will find it more difficult with all her duties, but I think you have the time. Young men of lower status who have potential and good character. That is what I seek. Yunxuan is the daughter of a concubine, so she would never have as easily made a high-status match anyways, not without a lot of work and convincing."
"I'll keep an eye out, sir," I promised, curtsying. "But I think it's best if we leave it up to her in the end."
"I suppose she's smart enough."
"If I must have to put it this way, I do not think she is like Yunjun."
"Yunjun is infatuated. It's dangerous."
"She's a stubborn, wilful girl. I must admit, despite how shocking the events have been... I am not surprised with Yunjun's reaction."
"She throws himself at him with open arms. If she was another girl, she'd have been publicly humiliated and scorned by now."
"But she is not another girl."
"And good gracious for that." He huffed, shaking his head. "I do not have much time for my daughters now, I'm afraid. Tianjin requires much of my attention. He's growing up fast, and in a few years he'll need to take his court exams. If he cannot be a soldier, he will be a courtier and chancellor just like me. He'll require my undivided attention and guidance."
"Grandmotherâ"
"Your Grandmother's health grows weaker with each passing day. She can help lead Yunjun and Yunxuan, but not always. And with Yunhua so busy... I'm hoping I can rely on you to watch over them sometimes."
"I'll guide them at events. Don't you worry about it, Uncle."
He nodded. "I'm very glad we summoned you back to Luoyang, you know. It would have been a great pity to waste you in the countryside."
"And I am forever grateful you invited me here, Uncle. I owe you my life."
He waved his hand in the air. "We are family, after all. Go back to your cousins now, do whatever you younger people do. I have much work to do. Send me a message before you return homeâthere is no need to come visit me again."