Her underclothes were thin; those feet carried the chill of having been frozen, yet also the softness of a woman’s delicate body.
As though, in her dream, she had found this warmth and was satisfied by it, the slight furrow between Jiang He’s brows smoothed out, and a comfortable smile appeared on her face. She mumbled something, too indistinct to hear clearly; it sounded only like faint humming and whimpering, inexplicably enough to make one lose all drowsiness.
Last night, at this same hour, Zhao Zheng had woken to hear Jiang He talking in her sleep.
“Momo, don’t worry… soft moans…”
Her voice twisted and turned, lingering in a thousand bends.
Zhao Zheng knew everything that had happened to the princess of Qi in the embassy, but he had not expected that what the instructing momo taught, Jiang He had actually learned quite well.
And tonight was even more outrageous—she actually dared to stick her feet into his quilt.
Zhao Zheng threw back the brocade quilt and sat up.
Jiang He’s bound arms shifted unconsciously, and her right foot nudged even farther into Zhao Zheng’s embrace.
In pain and irritation, Zhao Zheng reached out and caught Jiang He by the ankle, then, without thinking, tossed her foot back.
With a muffled thud, her leg fell from midair onto the bedboard.
Still asleep, Jiang He shouted, “The earth is shaking!”
Before Zhao Zheng could explain, Jiang He had already shot upright. Because she moved too quickly, the ropes bit painfully into her arms. She bent over and shook her arms, now fully awake.
Jiang He looked left and right. The bed curtains hung low, incense smoke curled upward; there was no sign of heaven collapsing or earth splitting apart.
She realized she had been dreaming and immediately let out a breath of relief. Then, discovering that her arms hurt terribly, she turned her head and glared fiercely at Zhao Zheng.
Zhao Zheng had already spread the thin quilt back over himself. As if to conceal something, he no longer lay flat, but turned over onto his side.
“Untie me. I’m not sleeping anymore.” Jiang He simply held out her arms, wanting Zhao Zheng to help her undo the fine rope.
“As long as I sleep, you must sleep.” Zhao Zheng’s voice sounded from deep within the bed curtains, calm and without a ripple.
“I need to get up in the night to relieve myself. That should be allowed, right?”
“Call a maid to bring in a chamber pot. I don’t mind.” After Zhao Zheng finished speaking, he lay flat again, closed his eyes, and ignored Jiang He completely.
Jiang He cursed him thoroughly in her heart, then stretched out her foot to hook the brocade quilt and pulled it over herself haphazardly.
Before turning over and falling asleep, she said to Zhao Zheng, “Find that spy sooner. Don’t sit around idle.”
Zhao Zheng did not answer.
He really ought to find the spy sooner, so he could drive this woman of no further use out.
When Jiang He woke, Zhao Zheng was already gone.
Her arms had been untied, and the thin brocade quilt was wrapped around only one leg. Because of the cold, she had curled up like a sea shrimp.
Hearing Jiang He rise, maids outside the hall came in softly and knelt to offer greetings.
“His Majesty went to morning court at the mao hour. We servants have been waiting to attend upon Your Highness the Queen.”
Jiang He looked at them. These palace maids had not been replaced; they were still the same ones who had attended her bath and change of clothes yesterday. Compared to meeting unfamiliar faces every day, she felt familiar ones were better.
After bathing, she used a fine cloth dipped in green salt to clean her teeth, then the palace maids dressed her hair, applied her makeup, and selected her clothes according to the day’s arrangements.
Jiang He still wore formal robes. The female official of rites explained that, according to custom, the new queen would receive the homage of titled ladies in the Queen Dowager’s palace today. Jiang He silently noted down those titled ladies’ birth families, and what posts their husbands held.
She confirmed that none of these titled ladies had ever been to Qi, nor had any appeared at the embassy.
This was thanks to the fact that, back then, no matter who requested an audience, the princess of Qi had disdained to meet them.
The princess had said that she was to become the queen of Great Yong, and if she grew close to people from the very beginning, it would be difficult to command respect with her dignity later on.
Thus, Jiang He did not need to worry about her identity being exposed, and could go to meet them at ease.
“Will rewards be needed?” she asked.
The female official bent her knees in salute and explained that the queen’s dowry had already been arranged in the storeroom. It was the queen’s private storehouse, and could be used.
“What about His Majesty’s private storehouse?” Jiang He glanced at the high, arched brows that had been painted on her face in the bronze mirror and asked.
The female official hesitated somewhat. After thinking for a moment, she answered, “His Majesty’s things are generally not permitted to be used.”
“Then surely this palace may at least take a look at what is in His Majesty’s private storehouse?” Jiang He’s expression held a smile as she slowly rose.
The princess of Qi’s dowry occupied only a storeroom of about five zhang in width, while Great Yong Emperor Zhao Zheng’s storerooms were more than ten times the size of the princess of Qi’s.
The one in charge of the storeroom keys was the eunuch who had explained the Shu-style tripod-scalded fish to Jiang He during the meal yesterday.
Jiang He asked him, “What is your name?”
“Zong Jun,” the eunuch answered with his head lowered.
He was around thirty, slightly plump, with a face that looked amiable and cautious. His eyes were not very large, but they revealed a cleverness that saw through worldly affairs.
“Zong Jun,” Jiang He looked at him and smiled, “do you think you should hand the storeroom registers to this palace now, or go to Xuande Hall to confirm first?”
Zhao Zheng was currently in Xuande Hall discussing important affairs with the officials. Even if Zong Jun made the trip, he absolutely would not be able to see Zhao Zheng.
Clearly, Zong Jun knew this as well. With a respectful smile, he presented one scroll from the storeroom register into Jiang He’s hands.
“Your Highness the Queen, please use them as you wish.”
Jiang He’s gaze swept over the densely packed names of objects.
“Jade Flagon Drunken Spring Fan, Eight-Treasure Liuli Goblet, Bronze Three-Panel Desk Screen, pearl-inlaid sable-fur cloak…”
Zong Jun explained at Jiang He’s side, “Although His Majesty often bestows treasures upon civil and military officials, he has never been willing to touch the things in this storeroom.”
“I understand.” Jiang He said with comprehension.
An hour later, in the Queen Dowager’s bedchamber, Jiang He smiled as she faced the titled ladies who had come to pay homage. She accepted their offerings, and also gave out rewards befitting her position as queen.
“Bestow upon Lady Meng the Jade Flagon Drunken Spring Fan; upon Lady Li the Eight-Treasure Liuli Goblet; upon Lady Chen the Bronze Three-Panel Desk Screen… upon Lady Wei the pearl-inlaid sable-fur cloak.”
Because the rewards were generous, even those noble ladies, though widely experienced, could not help exchanging smiles. From the voices that grew a little brighter as they thanked her, Jiang He heard joy and excitement.
A queen who was generous and benevolent—this was what they had hoped to see.
In truth, Jiang He’s way of doing things was very simple: if you wanted to snatch crisp cartilage from a hungry wolf’s jaws or stick chicken feathers atop a flagpole for a duster, you had to be bold—the bolder, the better!
Taking advantage of Zhao Zheng being at court, she would fleece him to show off her own generosity!
As for the dowry sent from Qi, considering that she was braving danger and hardship to work for Qi’s interests, Jiang He intended to find a reliable person to sell it all off and exchange it for the gold cakes used by nobles of the seven states, making early preparations for fleeing in the future.
Only, from behind Lady Wei, the wife of the chancellor, a voice suddenly sounded.
“This humble girl also has an object to present to the Queen, but feared the Queen would disdain it, and so has delayed taking it out.”
The voice was soft and fine, like a startled fawn in the forest, filled with a tender innocence that made one want to cherish her.
Who was that?
Jiang He looked toward Lady Wei, who sat in the seat of honor among the titled ladies. From behind her, a young woman stepped out.
“Oh! Nanxu has come? Why did you not come sit by Aijia’s side earlier?”
The Queen Dowager, who had not spoken much all this time, suddenly opened her mouth. Her voice was intimate and warm, like a grandmother who had finally seen her granddaughter.
Wei Nanxu, the only daughter of Chancellor Wei, the legitimate daughter of the chancellor’s estate.
She was fifteen years old, and it was said that she was accomplished in zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting alike, a foremost talent among the nobles of Yong.
Aside from her much-admired learning, Wei Nanxu’s good looks were also one in ten thousand.
A tall, graceful figure, a slender waist, shoulders as if carved down, a long, delicate neck, and skin as white as snow. Her phoenix eyes seemed to hold affection when they gazed upon others, her small nose bridge was charming and lovely, her red lips and pearly teeth accompanied outstanding talent and bearing—one glance made her unforgettable, yet no one dared profane her.
Queen Dowager Ji Man was on good terms with the Wei family, and could be considered to have watched Wei Nanxu grow up.
Hearing the Queen Dowager say this, Lady Wei smiled and answered on her daughter’s behalf, “Nanxu began preparing the gift for the Queen as soon as Yong and Qi decided on the marriage alliance. But after preparing for so long, she was still too shy to take it out. That is why she hid behind this subject wife, like an insensible child.”
The Queen Dowager smiled and waved her hand. “What has Nanxu prepared? Your royal sister-in-law the Queen will certainly like it.”
Only then did Wei Nanxu salute respectfully. From a bronze tray held high by a kneeling maid behind her, she took out a wooden box about the size of two palms.
Following the natural grain of the clear-lacquered wooden box, patterns of mountains, rivers, clouds, and mist had been carved into it. The workmanship was exquisite, already enough to count as a treasure one in ten thousand. Yet Wei Nanxu opened the wooden box and took out something wrapped in red silk, spreading it out before her knees.
They were Go stones, each black and white clearly distinct.
Kneeling on the ground, Wei Nanxu said softly, “Nanxu heard that the Queen’s name holds profound meaning. Only after consulting the classics did I learn what it was. In admiration and awe, I used two kinds of jade, black and white, to carve three hundred and sixty-one Go stones. I hope the Queen will not disdain them.”
So she was gifting stones for a game of Go.
Jiang He looked at her and smiled faintly, thinking that the Go stones were a pretense; drawing out something else was the truth.
Sure enough, after hearing Wei Nanxu’s words, a woman among the seated ladies asked, “This concubine is ignorant and ill-informed. I did not know the Queen’s name held such profound meaning.”
The gazes of the titled ladies and the Queen Dowager gathered upon Jiang He.
Jiang Yuheng’s name?
Yuheng, the Lianzhen Star, the brightest of the seven stars of the Northern Dipper.
To be named “Yuheng” meant a jade instrument that measured heaven and earth, symbolizing the Great Qi royal family’s ambition to unite all under heaven.
How coincidental—just like your state of Yong.
Even if Yong and Qi had formed a marriage alliance, in the hearts of Great Yong’s nobles, the only ones qualified to rule the world were themselves, were they not? Wei Nanxu had drawn attention to her name in order to make others guard against Qi and maintain wariness toward the new queen.
Everyone in the hall was waiting for Jiang He’s answer. Even those who knew her name and knew its meaning wanted to see how she would explain it.
No matter how silver-tongued you are, can you conceal Qi’s intentions?
Jiang He smiled slightly, nodded to the woman who had asked, and answered in a clear voice, “The two characters ‘Yuheng’ mean to measure heaven and earth. This is precisely the sincerity with which my mother’s clan formed a marriage alliance with Yong: to present an instrument that measures heaven and earth, and to hope that Yong will guard its lands and expand its borders, measuring all nine provinces!”
The hall froze for an instant. Then came the sound of the Queen Dowager clapping her hands.
“Good! Aijia ought to present a gift in thanks!”
Only then did the titled ladies beam with joy, stepping forward one after another to salute and offer congratulations. After this bout of liveliness passed, Wei Nanxu, whose expression had grown somewhat unnatural, bowed again to Jiang He and said warmly, “Nanxu has heard that the princess of Qi is skilled at Go. Might the Queen grant instruction today?”
Was the princess of Qi skilled at Go?
Jiang He remembered. Back then, in order to bring glory to the Qi royal family, the marriage document sent to Yong had praised Jiang Yuheng as peerless in both talent and beauty.
Why had they not thought of it then? If you wrote down such talents, perhaps someone would come to test them.
The Go board stretched nineteen lines across and down, modeled after the measures of the heavens. A board three chi wide was like the fertile soil of the nine provinces; the black and white stones were like thousands upon thousands of troops clashing in battle. Whoever won, all under heaven belonged to them.
Wei Nanxu’s eyes, clear as ice and snow, looked toward Jiang He.
Do you dare?
…