Yan Zhi’an felt as if a mountain were pressing down on her chest—too heavy, too oppressive, squeezing the breath from her lungs.
She paused to compose herself, then looked up to meet the girl’s worried gaze. A wry smile tugged at her lips. “I’m fine.”
“Oh, then I’ll have them bring you something to eat.” Xunqi quickly broke into a brilliant smile, as if she hadn’t a care in the world. With her mother here, she had no worries.
Xunqi said this and walked out. Yan Zhi’an’s gaze lingered on the girl’s slender back, and for a long while, she didn’t move.
The Left Prime Minister had been injured last night, and Her Majesty had personally come to visit. Many court officials had also come to pay their respects. Chen Qingrong received them on her behalf, exchanging a few pleasantries before seeing the guests out of the mansion.
The night was thick with darkness when Right Prime Minister Shangguan Li arrived silently, startling Chen Qingrong. She assumed the Right Prime Minister wasn’t here to see her—she must be here for Zhi’an.
She sent someone to ask, and Wushuang hurried over to lead the visitor to the bedroom.
Shangguan Li followed Wushuang into the bedroom. The moment she entered, she spotted the Night-Illuminating Pearl in the corner. Even without lamplight, it illuminated the room clearly. The extravagance of the Yan family was already the stuff of street legend.
“You’ve come, so you must want to ask about Princess Zhaohui?” Yan Zhi’an cut straight to the point, her expression indifferent. Only her face was too pale, making her look extremely fragile.
Shangguan Li paused briefly, then raised her eyes to look at her. “Is the Left Prime Minister willing to tell me?”
Yan Zhi’an: “No.”
Shangguan Li glanced at the gauze wrapped around her neck. Under the lamplight, the woman before her was soft and graceful—yet she had inexplicably taken in a child, damaging her own reputation. And from the look of it, she seemed rather content with the arrangement.
The two had served at court together for years. Shangguan Li knew Yan Zhi’an’s nature better than anyone. A woman like her would never engage in a union without proper matchmaking, let alone secretly conceive a child.
She said frankly, “When you left, I looked into Xunqi’s origins. I suddenly realized this person appeared out of thin air—no matter how I investigated, I couldn’t find anything. Do you know what they say? ‘When something is abnormal, there must be a demon behind it.’ So, who is Xunqi? I think I’m not the only one who’s wondered. Prince Ji has also looked into Xunqi’s past.”
Yan Zhi’an smiled faintly. “Why are you so concerned about my daughter?”
“She’s fourteen. Princess Zhaohui is fourteen.” Shangguan Li answered immediately. “Last night, when Xunqi tried to follow you, Her Majesty repeatedly scolded her. That made me suspicious. I’ve heard that Princess Zhaohui has a red mole behind her ear. I suspect Xunqi herself doesn’t know she has a red mole behind her ear—am I right?”
Xunqi’s past had been wiped clean by the Female Emperor. No one could trace it. And precisely because it couldn’t be traced, it seemed abnormal. How could a perfectly ordinary person have no traceable history at all? Even someone without household registration could be investigated to some degree.
Shangguan Li had spent many years at court, and she quickly pieced it together. She couldn’t help but admire the Left Prime Minister’s righteousness—willing to bear such a disgraceful reputation for the sake of an Imperial Clan daughter.
Yan Zhi’an was silent, her expression calm, as if Shangguan Li’s words didn’t matter to her at all.
“I know you are Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince and your heart lies with the Crown Prince, but you can’t slander me like this.”
Hearing her rebuttal, Shangguan Li laughed in exasperation. “I came to warn you. Since you’ve acknowledged her as your daughter, keep Xunqi from wandering around too much. That birthmark behind her ear is evidence.”
If she could notice it, so would Prince Ji. And if he discovered it and used it as an excuse to kill her, wouldn’t all their efforts be for nothing?
“Left Prime Minister, I came only to remind you. Whether you listen is your own affair.” Shangguan Li rose and raised her sleeves in a salute. “It’s late. Please rest.”
With that, Shangguan Li left without pressing the matter further.
The birthmark behind her ear couldn’t be removed—it was her proof of return to the Imperial Clan. But leaving it exposed invited danger from those with sharp eyes.
Yan Zhi’an began to think seriously about how to conceal the mark. Keeping Xunqi from going out or seeing people was impossible. In a few days, Xunqi would be attending the Imperial Academy, making friends. It was common for girls to roughhouse with one another. If someone saw the mark and word reached Prince Ji—and Prince Ji was hardly a kind man, one who would rather kill a thousand by mistake than let one escape—Xunqi’s situation would become very precarious.
The night deepened, and the candlelight grew dim. Yan Zhi’an, oddly, felt more awake. She summoned a maidservant and instructed, “Go tell the Young Mistress that she needn’t attend the Imperial Academy for the time being.”
The maidservant immediately went to inform Xunqi.
Xunqi was curled up in bed reading a book. Upon hearing this, she nodded. “I understand.”
She didn’t take it to heart at all—reading was reading, wherever it happened. But Yan Zhi’an took it seriously. The next day, she summoned a physician and asked, “Is there any way to conceal a birthmark?”
The old physician was experienced and recommended several prescriptions for removing scars, but Yan Zhi’an wasn’t satisfied. “I want to conceal it, not remove it.”
This time, the old physician had no solution.
Yan Zhi’an refused to give up and sent people out to search for a method.
Since Xunqi wasn’t going to the Imperial Academy, Chen Qingrong dragged her into playing Go. It turned out that Chen Qingrong had only ever had her daughter at home, and her daughter was always busy. Now that Xunqi was in the mansion, she had someone to entertain her. Especially since Xunqi was terrible at Go—she took delight in watching the younger generation lose miserably.
Xunqi felt like she’d fallen into a bookshop—all she did was lose, lose, lose. After losing three days in a row, when Chen Qingrong left the mansion to watch opera, Xunqi immediately hugged her. “Madam, good Madam, I want to go too.”
“Your mother is injured. Instead of attending to her, you want to follow me?” Chen Qingrong refused coldly, then led her maidservants away with a swagger, leaving Xunqi stamping her feet in frustration.
Xunqi charged straight into Yan Zhi’an’s room. “I want to go watch opera!”
Yan Zhi’an was reading documents. Hearing this, she couldn’t help but smile. “Just have Madam take you, then.”
“She won’t take me—she left on her own. Mother, I bet she’s going to do something she shouldn’t. Mother, let’s follow her.” Xunqi came forward to egg her mother on. “Mother, Mother, Mother…”
“Stop calling.” Yan Zhi’an clutched her head, ears ringing. “Little Ancestor, stop calling.” With Xunqi calling her like that, she suddenly felt like she was seventy or eighty, one foot in the coffin.
“If you want to go, go. Have Wushuang accompany you. Don’t show your face—wear a face veil and a veiled hat. Understood?”
“Great, I’m off.”
Xunqi turned and ran, clearly a restless soul. Yan Zhi’an stole a rare half-day of peace, let out a sigh, and returned to her documents.
Several letters had arrived from Jinling, sent by the Old Master, inquiring about Seventeenth Miss’s marriage. Seventeenth Miss’s birth father was Sixth Master, but all marriage decisions for the clan’s children were made by the Head of the Family, so the Old Master was asking for her opinion.
This time, the Old Master didn’t want to form a marriage alliance with the Wang and Xie Families. He wanted to marry Seventeenth Miss into the Capital City.
Yan Zhi’an pressed her hand on the letter, running through all the eligible young men in her mind. Seventeenth Miss had a lively, unrestrained nature. She wouldn’t suit the role of a matriarch, and it would constrain her spirit. Like Chen Qingrong—free-spirited, married to her father, and never bothered with household affairs.
Yan Zhi’an rose, picked up her brush, and wrote a reply to the Old Master. She first expressed her own opinion, then asked for his.
After the letter was written, she ordered someone to deliver it to Jinling with all speed.
Meanwhile, Xunqi had slipped out and was secretly following Chen Qingrong’s carriage. Halfway through the journey, Wushuang noticed something amiss—Chen Qingrong was heading into a residential neighborhood, not toward any opera house. Who had an opera house in a residential area?
She wanted to turn back, but the Young Mistress refused. “Let’s go see.”
They followed all the way until Chen Qingrong’s carriage stopped at the mouth of an alley, where Xunqi’s carriage couldn’t pass. Xunqi quietly crept over, startling the coachman. She nimbly climbed onto the carriage, scaring Chen Qingrong so badly she clutched her chest. “What are you doing here?”
“Watching the show.” Xunqi grinned. “What are you here to watch?”
“Catching a cheat.” Chen Qingrong said with irritation.
Xunqi’s brow arched. “Where?”
“Go home.” Chen Qingrong’s head ached. “If your mother finds out, she’ll scold me too.”
Xunqi ignored her. Just then, voices came from outside. Chen Qingrong lifted the carriage curtain and saw a group of people holding clubs, charging inside with menace. Chen Qingrong immediately sent someone to follow and see what was happening.
The group kicked open the door and rushed straight into the inner room. But inside were only two young women. The group exchanged bewildered glances and were promptly chased out.
Chen Qingrong listened to her subordinate’s report, her expression turning peculiar. Xunqi was disappointed. “Were you scammed by someone?”
“Xunqi, you’re too young.” Chen Qingrong said meaningfully. “Go home.”
Xunqi was confused and pressed for answers, but Chen Qingrong kept her lips sealed. When they returned to the mansion, Xunqi went to find her mother and repeated Madam’s words.
When she finished, an unnatural flush spread across Yan Zhi’an’s pale face. She pretended to look down, avoiding Xunqi’s clear, innocent gaze.
“Mother, why is your face red?” Xunqi was puzzled. “Madam got scammed, so why aren’t you saying anything?”
Yan Zhi’an remained silent, at a loss for words. Her mother had probably gone there deliberately to see—she hadn’t been scammed at all. But in front of Xunqi, she couldn’t explain.
“Enough. Why do you care what she does? If you want to watch a show, I’ll have someone summon a troupe and you can watch all day.” She compromised, hoping this little thing would stop asking questions.
Xunqi sat there without moving, her dark, clear eyes staring into space as if deep in thought.
“Xunqi?” Yan Zhi’an urged, her head throbbing. Her Majesty had only asked her to teach the girl the ways of governance—nothing about matters of the heart.
“Ah, I’m listening.” Xunqi snapped back to attention. For some reason, she thought of Headmaster Yuan. She looked up, noting her mother’s expression, and understood. “Those two… are they…”
How to put it?
Yan Zhi’an was utterly defeated. She’d figured it out… Yan Zhi’an inwardly blamed her mother, then blamed her own indulgence. She had no choice but to say, “Whether they are or aren’t—what does it have to do with you?”
“That’s true.” Xunqi was convinced and giggled. “But Mother, isn’t that sort of thing not permitted by the world?”
Yan Zhi’an: “…” Trouble. Utterly troublesome.
“Indeed.”
“So that’s why Headmaster Yuan chose never to marry, right?”
“No.”
Xunqi’s eyes lit up, recalling Headmaster Yuan’s gentleness. “Then why hasn’t she…”
“Because the person she loved didn’t love her back. Xunqi, since you asked, I’ll tell you.” Yan Zhi’an had to address this head-on, afraid Xunqi might go down the wrong path. “Love between men and women isn’t something where loving alone brings fulfillment. People stand in this world for their families, for their livelihoods—there are always things that must be sacrificed. When the Yan family forms alliances with the Wang and Xie families, very few of the clan’s young people marry for love. Love between men and women, which the world acknowledges, is already like this—so how much harder for love between two women?”
