A sharp slap rang out. Chen Shi’ba-niang turned her face aside, the beads hanging from her hairpin swaying and casting a bright gleam in the morning light. The maids in the corridor below were startled, hastily retreating in a fluster.
“Shi’ba-niang! How dare you say that again?” Madam Chen’s voice trembled with fury.
The slap had been heavy; a faint crimson bloomed on Chen Shi’ba-niang’s fair cheek. Yet her expression remained as calm as still water. She turned back to face Madam Chen’s furious gaze, her own eyes unwavering, without a trace of fear.
“It was I who recommended Dan-niang to the Empress Dowager,” she stated.
Madam Chen raised her hand again, but Chen Shao’s voice cut her short.
“Enough,” he said. “What use is hitting her now?”
Madam Chen’s hand still came down. Another sharp slap echoed, and then she herself collapsed onto her seat.
“Why would you do this?” she cried out, torn between rage and sorrow. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
The red mark on Chen Shi’ba-niang’s face deepened, but her expression remained unchanged.
Since entering the room, she had been utterly composed, and now, amid Chen Shao’s astonishment and Madam Chen’s fury, she only seemed more still and steady, like undisturbed water.
“I know what I am doing,” she said.
“Then what are you doing?” Chen Shao asked, watching Chen Shi’ba-niang closely. “Shi’ba-niang, when you held your sister’s hand and entered the palace yesterday, did you feel even a hint of sorrow in your heart?”
Hearing this, Madam Chen recalled how happily Chen Dan-niang had taken Chen Shi’ba-niang’s hand and bid her farewell the day before – who could have known that moment would send her daughter into such peril?
Self-blame, regret, and grief welled up together in her heart. Madam Chen could bear it no longer. She lifted her hands to cover her face and wept aloud.
Chen Shi’ba-niang’s eyes reddened. She leaned forward and touched her forehead to the floor in a deep, formal bow.
“Father, Mother,” she said, her voice choked with emotion, “I acted without seeking your permission first. It was unfilial of me, and I am ashamed.”
“You have nothing to be ashamed of,” Chen Shao shook his head. “How could you be ashamed? The reason you acted without telling us is precisely because you knew that if you had, we would have never agreed, isn’t that so?”
Chen Shi’ba-niang remained bowed, her shoulders trembling slightly.
“Who made you do this?” Chen Shao suddenly asked.
Though the thought seemed unbelievable, he could find no more reasonable explanation. No matter how he tried, he simply couldn’t fathom that his own daughter could have done such a thing on her own.
“Shi’ba-niang, do you realize what this act of yours means?” Chen Shao said, sorrow etched unmistakably across his face. “What you’ve done… is cut off my path of retreat.”
This imperial marriage arrangement placed the Chen family in a deeply unfavorable position. Since the Empress Dowager issued the decree only after meeting Chen Dan-niang, outsiders would assume the Chen family had expressed interest first. Yet that remained mere speculation – without proof, the Chen family could still, with clear conscience, defy the decree. The uproar would eventually settle.
But now, with Chen Shi’ba-niang’s admission, that speculation was no longer speculation – it had become fact. This transformed the matter from simple defiance of an imperial decree into deception of the sovereign.
To go back on one’s word, to make a mockery of the royal family – all of this would become the Chen family’s fault. It would be the Chen family that was faithless and dishonorable, turning the royal house into a laughingstock and themselves into a joke as well.
A man without integrity and honor is no gentleman. How could such a person be entrusted with the vital task of supporting the Crown Prince and stabilizing the realm? How could he serve as a model for all officials?
For Chen Shao, anger was overshadowed by a deeper, more profound grief.
He had guarded against everything, calculated every possibility, yet never imagined that the most devastating blow would come from his own daughter.
Chen Shi’ba-niang straightened up.
“Father, is it not true that you yourself wished to act this way?” she asked, avoiding a direct answer with a question of her own.
“Shi’ba-niang, from where do you conclude that I wished to act this way?” Chen Shao took a deep breath and asked slowly.
“Then one must ask why you do not wish to act this way,” Chen Shi’ba-niang replied.
“Shi’ba-niang!” Madam Chen cried out angrily. “How can you not know why he does not wish to act this way?”
Chen Shi’ba-niang turned her gaze to her mother.
“Mother, as an elder sister, I know why one would not wish to act this way,” she said, tears welling in her eyes. “I also know, as a father and a mother, why you would not wish to. But–” Her eyes shifted back to Chen Shao.
“I do not know why, as a chief minister deeply entrusted by His Majesty, bearing the weight of imperial favor and duty, you cannot act this way.”
…
“Grandfather, Shi’ba-niang is here. I’ll go and see her.”
Upon hearing the old servant’s whispered words, Chen Dan-niang carefully picked up the longbow she was holding and stood up.
“Let her see the gift that Lady Cheng sent me in return, too.”
Old Master Chen smiled and reached out to gently stop her.
“Wait a little while. Your sister is speaking with your father and mother,” he said.
Chen Dan-niang responded with an “Oh.”
“Dan-niang, I had them set up a straw target for you in the back courtyard,” Old Master Chen added, remembering something. “I’ll find someone to teach you archery these next few days. Why don’t you go try it out first?”
Chen Dan-niang immediately nodded with delight.
“Great, great!” she said repeatedly.
Old Master Chen smiled and instructed the maids to take her.
“Be careful, don’t hurt your hands,” he reminded her.
“Grandfather, you remember to take your medicine too,” Chen Dan-niang urged in return.
Old Master Chen nodded with a smile, watching the maids escort Chen Dan-niang away. He stood on the veranda until their figures disappeared from sight, and then the smile faded from his face.
“Truly… never imagined,” he said slowly, his expression grief-stricken and indignant. “I truly never imagined… my Shi’ba-niang, how could she have become like this? How could she do such a thing?”
“Old Master, perhaps the Eighteenth Young Lady was… misled by someone,” the old servant suggested quietly.
Old Master Chen gave a laugh, tinged with self-mockery.
“Misled?” he said. “There is no such thing in this world as being ‘misled’ by others. The only one who can mislead you is yourself. If one’s own heart holds no such intention, how could the thought ever take root?”
The old servant lowered his eyes and sighed.
“Even so… she is just herself. She is not the Master,” he said.
Old Master Chen smiled faintly again but remained silent for a moment.
“I have some regrets,” he said slowly, his gaze lifting to the sky where the summer heat was receding, giving way to the clear, expansive heights of autumn. “If only I hadn’t brought Dan-niang to the capital back then…”
Regret?
Only when the outcome of a matter is already settled do people feel regret and begin to dwell on what might have been.
The old servant looked up, startled.
“Old Master! This matter won’t end up like that… ” he said urgently.
But Old Master Chen turned around and cut him off.
“Go and pack our things,” he said.
The old servant faltered, a sorrowful expression crossing his face.
“Old Master!” he called out once more.
Old Master Chen had already turned and stepped into the main hall.
…
Madam Chen’s face turned pale as she stared at Chen Shi’ba-niang before her. For a moment, she felt dazed and disoriented.
Who was this young woman before her?
Why did she seem like a complete stranger?
“…Do you refuse to act this way because the Crown Prince is a fool?”
Without waiting for Chen Shao to answer, Chen Shi’ba-niang shook her head herself.
“No, I believe that is not your reason.”
Her expression was solemn, her demeanor calm.
“Because he is the Crown Prince. If you scorned him for being a fool, there would be no Crown Prince as he is today. It was you who agreed to establish Prince Qing as Crown Prince; it was you who agreed that once the Crown Prince has a son of his own, he may ascend the throne. In your eyes, the Crown Prince is not a fool – he is the sovereign. A sovereign to whom one owes loyalty and reverence.”
Chen Shao’s face paled slightly.
These words sounded so familiar, Madam Chen thought. It was as if she had just heard them yesterday.
“What is meant by a ‘calamity falling from the sky’? Is arranging a marriage for the Crown Prince considered a calamity?”
Madam Chen’s ears echoed with Chen Shao’s voice from the day before, which was now followed by Chen Shi’ba-niang’s own words.
“…If you scorn forming a marriage alliance because the Crown Prince is a fool, wouldn’t that make him duplicitous? If even you look down on it, then what does it mean when others are willing to marry into the Crown Prince’s family? Who would dare to marry him then? You would absolutely never do something that turns the Crown Prince into a laughingstock.”
“What others seek by agreeing to the marriage, they know in their own hearts,” Madam Chen interrupted Chen Shi’ba-niang sharply, her heart burning with anger. “That is not what your father seeks, nor would he mock what others pursue.”
“Then what Father seeks… is a spotless reputation, isn’t it?” Chen Shi’ba-niang said, her voice rising slightly. “Is it because he does not wish to become a member of the imperial in-laws that he refuses to let Dan-niang become the Crown Princess?”
“Shi’ba-niang, are you truly confused, or are you pretending to be?” Madam Chen’s voice also rose sharply. “Your father used the charge of ‘imperial in-law overreach’ to drive out Gao Lingjun, yet you want your father to become an imperial in-law himself. Isn’t that a contradiction?”
Chen Shi’ba-niang’s voice now grew calm again. She did not look at her mother but kept her gaze fixed on Chen Shao.
“Oh,” she said. “So that’s it. This is why Father is unwilling to become an imperial in-law.”
Madam Chen froze. Unwilling for what?
Chen Shao, however, stared at Chen Shi’ba-niang, his expression shifting rapidly within a single breath.
“Gao Lingjun sought to manipulate power, so he aimed to become an imperial in-law,” Chen Shi’ba-niang said, her gaze steady and solemn as she met her father’s eyes, enunciating each word deliberately. “Then, Father is refusing to become an imperial in-law… in order to manipulate power.”
Manipulate power!
As soon as these words were spoken, Chen Shao’s face underwent a drastic change. Madam Chen, without a second thought, swung her hand and struck Chen Shi’ba-niang across the face.
“You unfilial child!” she cried out, her voice filled with disbelief. “How dare you speak of your father like that!”
This slap was far heavier than the previous one, and it came completely without warning. Chen Shi’ba-niang was knocked sideways to the floor, a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of her mouth.
Chen Shi’ba-niang, however, smiled.
“Mother,” she said, not wiping the blood from her lip as she steadied herself on the floor, “people are spoken of because of what they have done.”
She smiled again at this point, tears falling.
“The imperial in-laws – of course I know what becoming an imperial in-law entails.”
“The scholarly class most detests eunuchs and imperial in-laws. Once an in-law gains power, they are accused of disrupting governance. The censors and remonstrance officials keep a close watch. They cannot be promoted, cannot be entrusted with important duties. The slightest misstep brings a swarm of impeachments.”
“Even so, I know many people still want to become imperial in-laws. They seek power and influence like Gao Lingjun did, for immense wealth and status. To them, being an imperial in-law is simply a means, an identity to pursue profit. They care nothing for the state of the nation or the court.”
“Yes, His Highness the Crown Prince will not lack for a Crown Princess. It is not that Dan-niang is indispensable.”
“But since anyone could serve, why cannot Dan-niang?”
“Those who want to become imperial in-laws have their own motives. And Father, precisely because he doesn’t want to become one, has no ulterior motive. For the Crown Prince, for the court, at this very moment, having no hidden agenda is a great blessing.”
“Father often says, ‘How dare one spare oneself when serving the state?’ But now, for the sake of so-called ‘untainted reputation,’ for the sake of remaining in court, for fear of being implicated by the status of an imperial in-law, he is unwilling to resolve the Crown Prince’s predicament.”
“So it turns out Father’s talk of ‘not sparing oneself for the state’ was merely words. It was I who was foolish, who took them seriously. It was I who was wrong.”
Chen Shi’ba-niang straightened up, then bowed once more to Chen Shao, touching her forehead to the floor in a deep kowtow.
“I will go before the Empress Dowager to confess my crime. Since this matter originated with me, I will certainly ensure your name is cleared.”
With that, she kowtowed three times and rose to her feet.
“Shi’ba-niang, you only think of the greater principles. Have you completely forgotten human decency?” Madam Chen said, looking at Chen Shi’ba-niang with a heart that felt utterly chilled. “You want your sister to marry a fool – it’s for a lifetime.”
Chen Shi’ba-niang knelt down once more.
“Mother, he may be a fool, but he is still the Crown Prince,” she replied. “To marry the Crown Prince is to become the Crown Princess – a royal noblewoman, the future mother of the nation. How can you judge this by the standards of an ordinary marriage?”
“The Crown Princess does not marry just the Crown Prince; she marries the future emperor, the state itself. The Crown Prince and the Crown Princess are husband and wife, but it is not an ordinary marriage. The Crown Prince protects not a small family, but the nation. The Crown Princess assists her husband, the Crown Prince, and raises her son – a prince, a future ruler of the state.”
Having said this, Chen Shi’ba-niang looked at her father and mother before her, took a deep breath, and with a solemn, unwavering expression, spoke each word with forceful clarity:
“How dare one spare oneself when serving the state? How can we speak of petty affections and personal comforts?”
