In the rear courtyard of the Pei residence in Luoyang, servant girls swept fallen leaves while their tongues could not stay still.
“Have you heard? They say our young madam didn’t really die.”
“I’ve heard, I’ve heard! Just the other day I went out to buy thread, passed by a teahouse— even the storyteller was talking about it!”
“I knew it! With young madam’s gentle and kind nature, how could Heaven be so blind? All the concubine wives were brought back, yet the principal wife of the main branch alone was missing.”
“As the saying goes, ‘what does not kill you brings later fortune.’ Now she is Consort Xian’s goddaughter—isn’t that nearly the same as a princess?”
“Not as exalted as a princess, of course, but still of great dignity. Consort Xian is the foremost lady of the harem nowadays.”
“You lot—have you finished your work, to be gossiping here?”
A sharp, imperious rebuke cut in, silencing their chatter.
Lifting their heads, they saw, appearing at some point under the eaves, Third Pei Niangzi, dressed in a pomegranate-red skirt embroidered with gold. The servant girls all shivered and hastily bent their knees: “G-greetings to Third Niangzi.”
“With lazy creatures like you being kept here, how could there be ‘greetings’?”
Just now, at a banquet in Zhongwu General’s residence, Pei Tong had been surrounded by Luoyang noblewomen, peppering her with questions about her sister-in-law who had “risen from the dead.” She was already seething inside. To return home and find the servants gossiping about the same thing—
Truly like a malicious ghost, lingering and haunting, intolerably vexing!
“Come! Give these idle sl*ts ten slaps each, so they’ll never dare wag their tongues again!”
“Third Niangzi, spare us!”
The servant girls dropped their brooms and fell to their knees, begging for mercy.
Pei Tong grew even more impatient, glaring fiercely at her own attendants. “What are you staring for? Hurry and do it!”
The attendants exchanged uneasy looks and were just rolling up their sleeves when a Momo hurried through the moon-gate. “Oh heavens, there you are, ancestor! I’ve been looking everywhere! Second Madam is summoning you.”
Glancing at the kneeling servants, the Momo, having asked the reason, knew her mistress only sought to vent her temper, and these maids had simply been unlucky. She quickly stepped to Pei Tong’s side to persuade: “These are outer-courtyard sweepers, not your own attendants. It would not do to mar their faces. These are troubled times, Third Niangzi—better to let matters rest.”
Pei Tong bristled: “So now I cannot even deal with a few servants in my own house?”
The Momo fell silent, thinking to herself that this was the old residence of the main branch, not the Wenxi estate—strictly speaking, not truly her household.
But not daring to add fuel to the fire, she half-coaxed, half-pulled Pei Tong away toward the Songtao Courtyard, where the second branch was temporarily residing.
The sweeping girls, once their mistress had gone, let out sighs of relief as though spared from death. One muttered under her breath: “If only she’d hurry up and marry out!”
Had the great floods not disrupted the auspicious date, that hard-to-please Third Niangzi would already have left the house, sparing them all this torment.
Songtao Courtyard, side chamber.
Pei Tong sat by the couch, her pretty face dark. “That Sun fellow actually dared to feign obedience while secretly defying, and released that sl*t!”
“Lower your voice, lower your voice!”
Madam Cui anxiously closed the doors and windows, her face filled with unease. “I hear Shouzhen and she are already on their way back. What are we to do now?”
Pei Tong’s brows knit tight, her heart pounding fiercely.
When she had first heard the news from Chang’an yesterday, she thought her ears deceived her. Only after sending people to inquire did she realize the matter had already been the talk of the city there, only now reaching Luoyang.
“That Sun and Qiu Man, under Madam’s arrangements, were married off to Wenxi countryside last month…” Pei Tong clutched her handkerchief tightly. In her mind, better to go all the way—kill both Sun Ming and Qiu Man, then claim Sun Ming, lusting after beauty, had plotted against the mistress of the house.
It was just unclear whether, before letting Shen Yujiao go, Sun Ming might have leaked something to her.
The more Pei Tong thought about it, the more she felt that silencing them would be the most secure.
Madam Cui was so shocked her face went pale. How could her own daughter, at such a young age, speak of killing and silencing people at every turn? Where was the slightest trace of the gentleness and virtue befitting a noble daughter of a great house?
“No, absolutely not. The household deeds of both Sun Ming and Qiu Man were already transferred under Madam’s name. How could we dare touch Madam’s people?”
“Then what do you say we should do?” What Pei Tong worried about most right now was that fool Sun Ming—defying orders, releasing Shen Yujiao—and worse, before doing so, perhaps spilling that it was all on her instructions.
If that were really the case, then once Shen Yujiao and Pei Xia returned, what good days would be left for her?
At this thought, she slammed the table heavily, her expression twisted: “She truly has heaven’s luck. Abandoned alone in the wilderness, and yet she was actually rescued by the people of Consort Xian!”
And more coincidentally, she had been taken to Jinling, and in Jinling reunited with Pei Xia, triumphant from victory! Just like those romance storybooks sold on the street, so perfectly rounded it was absurd!
Yet it was precisely this kind of twist-filled, peril-to-reunion happy ending that the common people loved most. Right now in every teahouse and restaurant in Luoyang, who wasn’t animatedly discussing the legendary experiences of the Pei clan’s Madam?
On her way back to the mansion, Pei Tong had even paused before a teahouse, hearing the storyteller’s thin lips flipping up and down, describing how those bandits were savage as demons, how the Pei clan’s Madam smashed her head against stone to prove her resolve—his words vivid and impassioned, as if one were there in person.
The tea drinkers around listened with rapt attention. At the exciting parts, some cheered, some clapped, some shouted praise, and some even tossed coins in reward…
Pei Tong had hated so much in that moment that she nearly went up to tear the storyteller’s mouth apart.
“For now, the only way is to beg Aunt.”
Pei Tong drew a deep breath, her gaze dark. “One way or another, she was involved in this too. Right now we’re all in the same boat. If she thinks she can shake me off, impossible!”
—
In the main hall of the eldest branch, Madam Wang, who held the reins of the household and missed nothing, had naturally also heard about that heartrending, dramatic tale spreading outside.
On ordinary days, when she watched the stage plays, she would clap her hands and praise: “This play is good—well written, well performed.”
But when the protagonist of the story turned out to be her own son and daughter-in-law, Madam Wang’s face carried no such delight.
“To think he could come up with such a trick—good, very good, truly excellent.”
Her mouth spoke the word “good,” but that “good” was bitten out through clenched teeth.
Gao Momo presented fragrant tea and soothed her back: “Madam, mind your health, don’t let yourself get worked up.”
“I never knew my bookish, virtuous son could also possess such talent for spinning storybooks.”
Madam Wang mocked, her heart all the more restless. She was angry that Pei Xia, blessed with talents to secure the nation, instead stooped so low as to ape third-rate literati, weaving such tales and even dragging his own name into the muck, compromising a scholar’s integrity. Yet she could not help but worry—what benefit had that mule-headed boy promised Consort Xian and her son, that she would be willing to acknowledge the daughter of a disgraced minister as godkin?
Madam Wang’s mind was clear: this tale of Consort Xian’s Momo conveniently rescuing Shen Yujiao was sheer fabrication.
But that the couple might have truly encountered each other in Jinling—this was not impossible. Otherwise, Pei Xia would not have made such a stir, shaking the realm with the news.
“Madam, the young master has sent word—they should reach home within four or five days.”
Gao Momo paused, then added: “Together with the young madam. Do you think we should prepare a courtyard?”
Madam Wang’s gaze grew heavy. After a long silence, she said, “Her luck is indeed remarkable. I just wonder how a weak woman managed to escape all the way to Jinling…”
And how was it she happened to run into Shouzhen?
Gao Momo massaged her shoulder: “Madam, by now the young lord’s intentions are plain. He still acknowledges the young madam as his wife. You know his temperament better than anyone—once he decides a thing, not even eight oxen can drag him back. He is a grown man now, you mustn’t treat him as a child still. Don’t let this matter of a daughter-in-law come between you and your son.”
“A rift between mother and son? He likely already suspects me.” Madam Wang’s lips pulled coldly.
Gao Momo hesitated, then said: “But it was never you who acted in the first place. You merely went along with the current. The real culprit lies elsewhere. If you ask me, you’d best take care of that hidden danger in the second branch ahead of time. Then when the young lord and young madam return, you’ll have an account ready to give.”
A flicker of hesitation passed through Madam Wang’s eyes: “But Pei Tong’s marriage to Dayuan has already been set for next spring—just a few months away.”
Already the scandal of the clan Madam had shaken the whole city. If another incident occurred, the Pei family’s reputation would be chewed to pieces by the world.
Hearing this, Gao Momo felt Madam Wang was mistaken in her priorities. Whatever the Wang family’s marriage meant, she was now the Pei family’s Madam. Between her own son and a nephew, which weighed heavier? How could Madam be so muddle-headed?
Just as she was about to risk overstepping with a word of persuasion, she saw Madam Wang rub her temples and sigh: “Enough. Let’s wait until they return and see what Shouzhen intends.”
In the end, she was his birth mother. Filial piety outweighed everything. Even if he resented her, he could not truly cast her off.
—
Everyone in the Pei household nursed their own schemes.
And three days later, peering out through the carved carriage window, Shen Yujiao caught sight of the towering, majestic gates of Luoyang City.
Her chest surged with a tangle of unspeakable emotions.
The calligraphy on the city walls—“Wei Calligraphy, Luoyang,” bold and vigorous, dragons flying and phoenixes dancing.
And clear before her eyes was the scene of midsummer, when she and the other refugees were barred before these very gates, refused entry.
At that time, she truly was as lowly as an ant, her life as frail as grass, drifting and lost, not knowing the vastness of heaven and earth, nor where she ought to go.
Fortunately, the Tao family were kindhearted, willing to take her along as they fled for their lives.
Thinking of the Tao family, Shen Yujiao seemed to see before her eyes Old Madam Tao, holding a flatbread, her face reddened by the smoke of the campfire, smiling as she said to her: “Eat, eat more.”
And Eldest Brother Tao, biting into a flatbread, smiled at her: “If we find a place to settle down, and have some to spare, we’ll prepare more dry rations and clean water for you…”
He had also said: “The road after that, you’ll have to walk on your own!”
At that time she had thanked him full of gratitude, never expecting that his words would prove prophetic.
The road after that truly did become hers alone, and she walked it through, with Ping’an, alive.
“Yuniang, why are you drifting off again?”
Pei Xia pinched her cool fingertips, and without waiting for her answer, as if already knowing: “That time, did you ever make it into Luoyang?”
Shen Yujiao’s lips curved faintly: “No relatives or friends in the city to claim us—the refugees were not allowed entry.”
His grip on her fingers tightened. Seeing the guilt in his eyes, she smiled lightly: “It’s fine, it’s all in the past.”
These words were meant to comfort him, but also to remind herself.
No matter how bitter, it was already behind her. Even if she were thrown into such peril again, she would no longer be afraid.
Doesn’t the book say? When Heaven is about to entrust a great mission to someone, it must first distress their heart and mind, weary their sinews and bones… so as to strengthen their resolve, and increase what they could not before.
She might only be a woman of the inner chambers, Heaven would not lay any great mission on her—but this ordeal had allowed her to see much she never could have within the boudoir, to travel so many places, to meet all sorts of people. Most importantly, she had not only survived, but kept both children alive as well…
If her father, mother, elder brother, and sister-in-law knew, surely they would think her capable now. She was no longer the delicate flower who could only grow, pampered under their shelter.
Even parted from anyone, so long as she had her two hands and one breath of air, she could survive, and strive to live well—live like a person should.
On Shen Yujiao’s gentle face, Pei Xia too saw a different kind of light.
Though her features remained as clear and lovely as ever, within her eyes flashed an unyielding strength. She was no longer a soft vine twining around another’s support, but had struggled to put forth her own branches, and grown into a tree.
He rejoiced at this radiance of her rebirth, yet also knew well what suffering had brought it forth.
“Yuniang, once we’ve settled the petty matters at the manor, we’ll go to Chang’an.”
He held her hand, gaze falling to her waist and belly, no longer concealed even by the thin padded jacket, his voice softening: “And our child.”
Shen Yujiao of course understood his meaning, but she was not optimistic. After all, what exactly awaited them in the household was still unknown.
Her own heart was also torn—hoping the hidden hand behind it all was not Madam Wang, so that Pei Xia would not have to stand against his elder, and things would be easier to resolve. Yet also hoping it was Madam Wang, so that mother-in-law and daughter-in-law could tear off all pretense, and she would no longer have to feign courtesy with her.
But such hidden thoughts—unkind, unvirtuous—could only be buried deep in her heart.
Only, after this journey out into the world, those virtuous, meek, “fine” qualities of hers truly did seem to have slipped away.
As her thoughts tangled, the carriage convoy entered Luoyang City.
As the auxiliary capital, Luoyang was not as splendid as Chang’an, but still its houses stood in neat rows, merchants crowded together, the main streets filled with traffic and throngs of people. On both sides, shops of every kind displayed dazzling goods—silk, porcelain, jewels, medicine—all in abundance. From time to time one could even see high-nosed, deep-eyed Western traders leading camels through.
In Jinling, such sights were rare indeed.
Shen Yujiao couldn’t help comparing the two places. Suddenly a shop sign by the road caught her eye.
The signboard read in large characters: Jinling Roast Duck.
She paused, a thought leaping up—if that rascal Xie Wuling saw this sign, he would surely curse and rant: “What kind of nonsense dares call itself our Jinling roast duck? In Jinling, not a single duck leaves the city alive!”
“See something amusing?”
Pei Xia, noticing the sudden sparkle in her gaze, turned to look outside as well.
His eyes fell on the characters “Jinling,” and a flicker passed through them. Dropping his gaze, he asked softly: “Do you want roast duck? I’ll have someone buy it.”
“No.”
Shen Yujiao shook her head. Seeing him still watching her, she gently explained: “I already had plenty in Jinling. However good it may be here, it can’t be as authentic as the local fare there.”
Pei Xia said: “You haven’t even tried—how do you know it’s not authentic?”
Shen Yujiao choked for words, then frowned and looked at him.
“Why look at me like that?” Pei Xia asked.
“Langjun, I feel you’re…”
She pressed her lips, the words “growing ever more clingy” on the tip of her tongue, yet swallowed them back.
“Never mind, it’s nothing.”
Shen Yujiao let down the carriage curtain. Seeing him still lost in thought, she gently drew him back to the matter at hand: “We’ll be at the manor soon. Langjun will always protect me, won’t you?”
Meeting her timid, worried gaze, Pei Xia suddenly felt the impulse to draw her into his arms.
His long fingers tightened, but in the end he restrained himself—only clasping her snow-white delicate hand firmly: “I will.”
Having nearly lost her once, how could he ever let her be placed in danger again?
The vermilion carriage wheels rumbled forward for about a quarter of an hour before slowly halting.
Outside the carriage came Jinglin’s voice, unable to suppress his delight: “Master, Young Madam, we’ve arrived! Second Master, Third Master, and the young lords of the other two branches are all waiting at the gate!”
“Understood.”
The man’s cool, detached voice carried through the carriage door.
Inside, with faint fragrance lingering, Pei Xia took out a veiled hat and handed it to Shen Yujiao. “Mother and the others should be inside at the second gate.”
Shen Yujiao gave a faint hum, put on the veil, then asked again through the gauze: “Will Langjun accompany me?”
She truly regarded the Pei household as a den of wolves and tigers.
Pei Xia’s throat tightened. After a long look at her, he answered all the more solemnly: “I will.”
Receiving his firm reply, Shen Yujiao smiled gently. “Thank you, Langjun.”
Pei Xia said no more, stepped out first.
Shen Yujiao lifted the curtain and followed, descending slowly with his supporting hand.
The instant her feet touched the ground, countless gazes turned their way.
Even with the veil to conceal her, she could feel the surprise, speculation, and complexity in the Pei clan men’s eyes—most of all, their stares fell on her belly.
After five months it had already swelled like a blown bladder. Nourished with stabilizing medicines and tonics, now at nearly seven months, her thin silk jacket could not conceal the round curve of her abdomen.
Fortunately those at the main gate were all men, who would not speak to her. After formal greetings, Second Master and Third Master Pei welcomed Pei Xia warmly inside, praising his service in quelling the Huainan rebellion and the honor he had brought to the clan.
Pei Xia’s expression remained calm, neither warm nor cold, chatting as he walked, yet his hand never once released Shen Yujiao’s.
When they reached the second gate, the household’s women were all gathered in the flower hall. At their head sat Madam Wang, splendid in rich dress and towering coiffure, dignified and stately.
“Young Master! Sixth Young Master! Sixth Brother has returned!”
“Thousand Blessings, Sixth Brother.”
The sisters-in-law, younger sisters, and maiden aunts of the second and third branches all offered salutations. Then their eyes fell on the veiled woman by his side—clad in a pale-blue gown, over it a moon-white jacket embroidered with folded magnolias, slender neck and delicate shoulders, yet with an unmistakably rounded belly.
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
The Shen woman not only lived—she returned with child!
Not only the ladies of the second and third branches, even Madam Wang’s carefully maintained dignified face flashed with astonishment. Madam Shen was pregnant?
And her belly looked at least five or six months along. Whose child was it?
A beautiful young woman, alone and displaced when rebels roamed wild—it was hard not to imagine the worst.
If this child were a b*stard, she could never be allowed into the Pei household!
As Madam Wang scrutinized Shen Yujiao, Shen Yujiao also looked quietly back through the gauze at the noble Momo, resplendent and imposing, surrounded like a queen.
Seeing those sharp eyes fixed straight on her belly, instinctive motherly protectiveness made Shen Yujiao lift her hand to cover it.
Pei Xia caught the gesture, followed her gaze, and pressed his lips together. Then, instead of holding her hand, he drew her into the circle of his arm.
Feeling the warmth from his chest, her lashes trembled, and she raised her eyes.
The hat brim let her see only his jawline—pale as jade, sharply defined.
Her heart stirred. The hand shielding her belly loosened.
He had promised her, and he would keep his word—she did not doubt it.
“Unfilial son Pei Xia greets Mother. For these months I have not been at your side to serve, I beg Mother’s pardon.”
With Shen Yujiao in his arm, he stood before Madam Wang, composed, neither joyful nor resentful.
Madam Wang’s heart sank at such poise, but her face showed nothing. Smiling, she played her part in this scene of filial harmony. “What need for such words? That you quelled the rebellion and returned safe is already the greatest filiality.”
Pei Xia assented, then turned to Shen Yujiao: “Yuniang, we are home now. You may remove the veil.”
Shen Yujiao knew that since she had returned, she must face all this.
She closed her eyes briefly. No fear, no need to fear anymore.
Then, under countless stares of varying intent, she raised her hand and lifted the veil.
All along the road she had eaten, slept, and grown rounder. Her face, plumped with pregnancy, had regained its fairness after being tanned, glowing like the pearls in her ears—radiant, soft, luminous.
Black hair, snowy skin, fine texture, with a natural rosy flush; and in her brows, a calm composure. She looked even more enchanting than before, arresting all eyes.
Amid the strange silence, Shen Yujiao bowed gracefully to Madam Wang. “Daughter-in-law Shen greets Mother. Wishing Mother ten thousand blessings.”
It was impeccably proper—every curve of the bow flawless, just as in the past.
And yet everyone present sensed it was different.
This was no longer the timid, submissive Madam Shen of before. When she raised her eyes to meet Madam Wang’s, her gaze was direct, sharp, without the least respect.
Brazen. Even insolent.
Madam Wang’s eyes narrowed. The corner of her lips nearly curled into a cold smile—yet the old Momo at her side nudged her elbow, and she restrained herself.
This daughter-in-law’s resentment and hatred—she could bear it. But not before the eyes of the second and third branches, not at the cost of the main branch’s dignity.
“Rise.”
Just an indifferent word, nothing more.
Shen Yujiao was a little surprised, but after weighing it in her heart, she understood.
So be it.
What was one matter should stay one matter. Now that she was Pei Xia’s wife, the face of the main branch was also her own.
Neither mother-in-law nor daughter-in-law would slap themselves in front of others.
Sensing the atmosphere was off, Second Master Pei gave a discreet cough, stepped forward and said to Madam Wang and Pei Xia: “Elder Sister-in-law, why don’t you take Sixth Brother’s wife back to the rear courtyard to rest first. Sixth Brother, come, let’s go to the study to talk.”
Third Master Pei quickly chimed in: “Yes, indeed. We haven’t seen each other for more than half a year. Nephew, we must catch up properly.”
Pei Xia tightened his hold on the soft hand in his palm, his face calm, voice unhurried: “Two uncles’ kindness, I should not decline. Yet after so many days of travel, I am weary. And I have not seen Mother in so long, my heart is concerned. I wish to go first with Yuniang to pay respects in Mother’s courtyard. I beg my uncles’ understanding.”
Since a son wished to be close with his own mother, how could two uncles of collateral birth insist on blocking him?
They exchanged a glance, then both nodded with understanding. “Yes, yes. A mother worries for her son a thousand miles away. These days you were absent, it was your mother who missed you most. We can drink tea and reminisce tomorrow all the same.”
After another round of polite words, Second and Third Master Pei withdrew with their households.
The reception hall, crowded a moment before, suddenly fell cool and quiet, leaving only Madam Wang, Pei Xia, and Shen Yujiao—the true principals.
Madam Wang lowered her eyes, glanced askance at the couple’s joined hands, emotions flickering in her gaze.
Looking again at her son’s upright and unyielding bearing, what was there she did not understand?
Not only did he doubt her—he was even prepared to sacrifice family ties for righteousness.
After a long breath, Madam Wang swept her eyes over the two of them. “Weren’t you set on reminiscing?”
Turning, her back straight, posture regal and proud: “Follow me.”
Want to show your support? Go donate at Paypal or Ko-fi to show your appreciation! Want to read 5 extra chapters in advance? Go to my Patreon to join now! :)
