Chapter 5

The sun was already high, its warm rays gently bathing her body. Lingyue Shen hugged her quilt and turned over, her face peaceful in deep sleep.

Since the cold war with Lan Zhao began, she had boldly skipped her steward training classes, waking naturally each day with blissful ease.

Suddenly, she felt something light brush against her cheek, tickling and tingling, then something creeping into her nostrils...

“Achoo!”

Lingyue Shen sneezed, still groggy. The next moment, she felt a weight pressing down on her, followed by the clear, tinkling laughter of a little girl in her ear.

“Auntie, you’re so shy! The sun’s shining on your bottom, why won’t you get up—”

She blinked sleepily and saw a lively, adorable little girl with her hair in twin buns, dressed in a bright red brocade jacket embroidered with butterflies, paired with a pale yellow skirt embroidered with flowing clouds. The child was grinning as she lay atop her, waving a long peacock feather teasingly across her face.

“You’re… Heng?”

Lingyue Shen’s memories of her original self were fragmented; she had to meet people to piece them together.

This lively little bundle was none other than her eldest sister Yuanjia Shen’s daughter, four years old this year.

Heng was plump and rosy, her cheeks round and soft like little steamed buns. It took Lingyue quite some effort to lift the little cannonball into a sitting position, and she couldn’t resist pinching her chubby cheeks—they felt wonderful.

“Did Heng come back with Mother?”

“Mm-hmm.” Heng nodded, clinging to her aunt’s neck like a koala, her voice clear and bright. “Father and Mother had another fight, so Mother brought Heng to see Grandmother!”

Another fight?

Lingyue’s brow furrowed lightly, about to speak when the door opened. Yuanjia Shen entered with a teasing smile.

“I heard the little sister’s temper has grown; no outsiders allowed in the room. I wonder if I count as one?”

She saw Heng like a mischievous monkey sprawled in Lingyue’s arms and smiled in resignation. “Get down quickly, don’t squash your aunt.”

“I’m not that fragile,” Lingyue said, now fully awake. She lifted Heng playfully, causing the girl to giggle so loudly it startled the birds outside.

Eventually, Yuanjia coaxed her daughter down, and Lingyue went behind the screen to change and freshen up. A short while later, the two sisters sat at the table, talking.

Yuanjia looked at her with concern. “I heard you were very ill before. I wanted to come sooner, but the household is busy with so many people; I couldn’t find the time.”

“That’s not true.” Heng, munching on snacks, suddenly spoke up. “Grandmother wanted Mother to pay for her birthday herself, so she stopped Mother from leaving.”

“Heng!” Yuanjia quickly interrupted, embarrassed and lowering her voice to scold her. “Children shouldn’t blabber nonsense outside.”

“But this is Grandmother’s house, Mother’s family home, not outside. Auntie is Mother’s real sister, not an outsider.”

Yuanjia sighed, rubbing her forehead. “This girl is getting harder to manage as she grows.”

“Big sister is wrong. I think Heng is just fine like this. Otherwise, everyone would just report good news and hide the bad, like you.”

Lingyue wrapped her arms around her niece, acting as her protector. “Heng, don’t be afraid. Tell Auntie if you’re wronged; Auntie will stand up for you.”

Seeing the two bonded so closely, their faces resembling each other with matching almond-shaped eyes, Yuanjia couldn’t help but smile, both amused and touched.

In front of the child, she held back her true feelings, blinking her long lashes and looking away softly. “It’s nothing, just some trivial steward matters. Every daughter-in-law goes through this.”

Lingyue studied her sister carefully. Yuanjia resembled Lan Zhao, both having broad and open features softened by gentle beauty. She was tall and well-proportioned, wearing an elaborately embroidered gown. The hairpins in her hair shimmered brilliantly in the sunlight, making her appear like a celestial fairy, dignified and graceful.

As the eldest daughter of the Shen family, Yuanjia married the heir of the Pingxi Earl’s mansion six years ago, back when Hang Shen had not yet been promoted to Minister of Rites. This marriage was considered a leap upward for the Shen family.

Lan Zhao, fearing her eldest daughter would suffer, prepared a generous dowry that helped Yuanjia establish herself firmly in the Earl’s household and taught her how to gradually take control of the household affairs. Only a wife holding the steward’s authority could truly claim a seat at the capital’s noblewomen’s table.

However, Yuanjia’s greatest weakness was that after six years of marriage, she had only given birth to Heng, a daughter.

In recent years, Yuanjia had consulted many renowned doctors in the capital. Lan Zhao also sought various prescriptions and visited temples, but no good news came.

Heng had been taken by Qingchan to play in the courtyard. Yuanjia watched her carefree daughter with a faint sorrow gathering between her brows.

“Little sister, don’t be angry with Mother. She’s only trying to do what’s best for you.”

Yuanjia smiled bitterly. Because she had no son, her mother-in-law had been subtly and openly hostile toward her for years, even demanding she use her dowry to support the Earl’s household.

If not for Hang Shen’s promotion and Lan Zhao’s father’s rise to Left Censor-in-Chief of the Metropolitan Censorate, overseeing officials, she might have lost patience and tried to pressure her son into having heirs.

Lingyue finally understood Yuanjia had come as a mediator. She rubbed her face irritably. “I know her intentions are for my good… but could she just not act on them for now?”

Yuanjia looked puzzled.

Lingyue took a deep breath. “Anyway, I don’t want any concubines, at least I’m not going to prepare for him.”

Yuanjia’s eyes flickered. “What if your husband… wants to take a concubine himself?”

“Hmph…” Lingyue smiled grimly, holding up two fingers and making a slicing gesture.

“Then I’ll make sure he never has a son in this lifetime!”

*

Heng was small but cunning. She knew her parents had fought and that her mother took her home in anger, but she didn’t know why.

Qingchan had gone to inquire in the main courtyard.

“…The Han family is dissatisfied because your eldest sister can’t produce a son, so they want to take a concubine?”

Lingyue slammed the table in anger. “Ridiculous! Why do they need a son so badly? Do they have a throne to inherit?”

Qingchan quietly reminded her, “No throne, but a noble title.”

Lingyue: …

“Does the title have to be inherited by a son? Why not pass it to Heng? If that’s not possible, they could adopt someone from the clan. Why must it be their own child?”

Lingyue muttered resentfully, “Maybe he’s the one who can’t perform. Having a daughter already must be a blessing.”

Qingchan knew her mistress was sensitive lately to words like “concubine” and “having sons” and quickly patted her chest to soothe her.

“There is precedent.”

Shuangxu, who had been silently standing nearby, suddenly spoke.

Lingyue blinked, “What precedent?”

Shuangxu said solemnly, “During the reign of the Great Ancestor, there were five female generals and three female marquises, all of whom fought alongside Empress Zhaohui.”

Qingchan remembered and clapped her hands. “Yes! It’s said Empress Zhaohui personally led a female army that achieved many military feats. Had she not become empress, she might have been titled a female duke!”

Lingyue sighed deeply. She truly had come in the wrong era. If only she had arrived a hundred years earlier.

But then again, a hundred years ago was a chaotic time of warring states. She was just a weak, helpless, but hearty college student—perhaps only fit to play the role of a refugee fleeing famine...

After her brief lament about being born in the wrong time, Lingyue asked Shuangxu, “So what happened later? Why were there no more women generals or titled female warriors?”

Shuangxu recalled the storytellers’ tales. “Because ministers in the court protested, saying women attending court upset the natural order—female chickens crowing at dawn…”

“Meddling hens,” Lingyue snorted.

Shuangxu nodded. “Exactly. They were unwilling, but the Great Ancestor insisted on granting ranks and even reprimanded many officials. Eventually, a compromise was reached. Women who fought alongside Empress Zhaohui were allowed to be granted military rank, but their titles could only be inherited for three generations and only passed through male descendants, not females.”

Lingyue rolled her eyes dramatically.

She waved her hand helplessly. “Enough of that. Since your husband wants to take a concubine, what do Mother and your elder sister intend to do?”

Qingchan scratched her head. “It seems Madam wants the eldest daughter to take back the maids who recently entered the household…”

Lingyue: …

Wait, those concubine candidates were going to her eldest sister’s home?

Qingchan saw her about to lose it and hurriedly calmed her. “Miss, stay calm. Since the eldest son-in-law wants a concubine himself, it’s better we prepare them in advance than have him go outside for one.”

Lingyue sighed deeply and sneered, “Maybe he doesn’t like the ones his wife arranged and insists on finding his true love himself.”

Everyone knew that when a child says they want to go, the real accident has probably already happened.

She pointed at Qingchan. “Go to the main courtyard, investigate, and report back.”

Qingchan hurried off.

Lingyue then looked at Shuangxu. “I remember you have two older brothers working in the outer courtyard?”

Shuangxu nodded. “The eldest follows the eldest young master at the academy; the second brother hasn’t been officially employed yet and usually runs errands for the steward in the outer courtyard.”

“Perfect.” Lingyue’s eyes brightened. “Go home later and ask your second brother if he has reliable friends. Find several and take turns following my eldest brother-in-law. See where he usually goes.”

Shuangxu and Qingchan were all born within the household, living in the row of residences behind the Shen mansion.

Lingyue opened her money box, grabbed a handful of silver coins, and handed them over. “This is your operating fund. Don’t try to save money for me. I only want results.”

Full of resolve, Lingyue was determined to prove to her mother that if a man wanted to stray, he could not be stopped.

By evening, Yuanjia personally came to call Lingyue to dine in the main courtyard.

Linking arms with her little sister, she spoke gently, “You rarely come home; consider this as spending more time with me.”

Lingyue thought about how troubled her eldest sister’s household already was, and how she had to worry about the mother-daughter relationship between herself and Lan Zhao, so she didn’t resist much and went with her.

After several days away, entering the flower hall and facing Lan Zhao’s calm, unruffled expression, Lingyue felt a pang of guilt and quietly took the seat diagonally opposite her, as far away as possible.

She shrank back timidly like a little mouse, making Lan Zhao chuckle and tease, “What’s there to be afraid of? I called you to eat, not to eat you.”

Lingyue bit her lip, blinking in an attempt to appear innocent. “Mother…”

Lan Zhao’s voice was cool. “Eat. The food will get cold otherwise.”

Lingyue glanced over the dishes—everything was her favorite—and silently breathed a sigh of relief.

After the meal, Madam Liu, beaming with joy, presented a visiting card like a prized treasure.

“Third Miss, look who’s come to see you.”

“Who’s looking for me?” Lingyue opened it, her pupils contracting slightly.

The card read: Visit Third Miss Shen tomorrow morning.

The signature was—

Yan Yi.