Chapter 8: Scheme Eight

When two young women of the two families stood together, everyone tended to compare—Qin Xiang included.

Lin Yao was young, her features still carrying a childish air, but her eyes were sharp. She couldn’t match Yun Qian’s bright, gentle brightness.

Anyone with eyes could see the difference at once.

Lin Yao was seventeen, a year older than Qin Xiang. Her bearing was strong, yet laced with a touch of willfulness—clearly a child spoiled by her family.

“Qin Mo, do you know who I am?” Lin Yao stared at Qin Xiang, her brows sharpening inch by inch. “Short as you are, your heart is mighty.”

The insult flushed Qin Xiang’s cheeks. Beside her, Yun Qian said, “Miss Lin is short too, and her heart is wild. If I’m not mistaken, the Lin family has sent your portrait into the palace.”

The fact that Lin Yao had come in such a fury meant she knew she was betrothed. Learning that the Qin family had cast her aside and married another, she’d rushed over to demand an accounting.

The legitimate daughter of the Lin family, jilted—a total loss of face.

Lin Yao’s fair face glazed with frost, she stared at Qin Xiang. “If anyone annuls, it’s the Lins who do the annulling! What are you, to dare insult me?”

See—she was angry. Yun Qian glanced at the silent girl and answered deliberately, “He is my husband now. If you insult him, does your father know?”

Where official matters were concerned, the young lady understood nothing. But Yun Qian had climbed this road all the way and knew best: Lin Zhiting would not dare come to her door and make a scene.

The Prime Minister’s Residence was not something the Lin family could afford to offend.

“Prime Minister Yun, I ask that you hand this person over to me.” Lin Yao sidestepped Yun Qian’s words and squared her chest. “He schemes against you. He’s unworthy of you.”

“Miss Lin, annul the engagement.” Yun Qian smiled, her gaze mild, with none of her usual authority—only the goodwill of settling a matter. If the Lins annulled first, the Qin parents couldn’t blame Qin Xiang.

Lin Yao glared. Seeing “Qin Mo” thrown into another woman’s arms, she was furious past sense and declared, “Qin Mo, I won’t let this go! I’ll go to the authorities! I’ll charge you with breaching the betrothal and marrying another!”

“He hasn’t breached anything. Why not marry him too—twin blooms on one stalk? How about it?” Yun Qian raised a brow, her voice cooling by two degrees. The old engagement wasn’t even something she’d cared about; why was this girl being so aggressive?

“Marry him?” Lin Yao bristled like a hedgehog. “He’s not worthy! The Qin family is nothing but merchants now. My father has won glorious military honors—how dare a son of the Qins covet me? A toad lusting after swan meat!”

“Then annul it.” Yun Qian stood with her hands behind her back, expression unchanged, her cold, clear words enough to chill the bones.

Lin Yao, reckless in her youth, met the Prime Minister’s thin, detached gaze and said, “The Qin boy abandoned me first. This score, I must settle. Otherwise, how can I show my face?”

Yun Qian nodded. “Very true. Then don’t leave the house and show your face.”

Another improper remark—it coaxed a laugh from Qin Xiang, who couldn’t help it.

“Qin Mo, you shameless swine! If you annul the engagement with the Prime Minister’s Residence, I won’t sue. If you don’t, I’ll make sure you die in the capital!” Lin Yao was beside herself. In all her years, she had never suffered such humiliation.

Qin Mo must die.

Qin Xiang stopped laughing. Out of guilt, she hadn’t dared speak, but this Lin Yao was unreasonable. Such a sister-in-law would actually match Qin Mo quite well.

For some inexplicable reason, she wanted to annul the Prime Minister’s engagement and marry this unreasonable sister-in-law back to Zhenjiang.

How wonderful.

But Yun Qian stepped into her line of sight, the Huasheng hair ornament at her bun swaying gently. “Either the Lins annul the betrothal, or we go to the authorities. Choose one. As for trespassing into the Prime Minister’s Residence—I’ll inform your father of that too, and make sure you have a very bad time of it.”

The eyes, shimmering with sky light, lent the high-placed woman a cold, indifferent edge. Her stare made Lin Yao’s heart knock. But a glance at “Qin Mo” made her seethe.

Could a Prime Minister just steal someone’s husband?

Bitter to the core, she shouted at the two of them, “I’ll go before the Empress Dowager and accuse you both!”

Dog and bitch.

A girl of sixteen or seventeen couldn’t hold her anger. Having shouted, she ran out of the residence weeping, leaving a stunned Qin Xiang behind.

The matter had blown up. Who was the Empress Dowager? She ruled the court, held the jade seal of the realm—she was the sovereign.

“She’s going to the palace to see the Empress Dowager.”

“Let her.” Yun Qian didn’t care. Lin Yao had no brains. If this blew up, she’d lose her chance to enter the palace. Swallow this, and all was well.

Refuse to swallow it, make a scene, and the whole capital would learn she had a betrothed and still dreamed of the harem. The Emperor and the Empress Dowager would never allow it. She’d be lifting a rock to drop on her own feet.

Utterly stupid.

Yun Qian said, “I’m going to the palace first. Think carefully—which engagement to annul.”

Qin Xiang was mute, her mouth opening and closing uselessly. Yun Qian was already striding away, her figure distant.

What was she to do?

She had come to fetch the Lin girl for her brother. Now what?

She had made a great error with no way to undo it. At a loss, she returned to the bridal chamber. The festive decorations were still up: red silk, red carpet, and last night’s candles still burning, nearly consumed.

The Lin engagement couldn’t be annulled. That was Qin Mo’s wife-to-be; she had no right.

But if she annulled the Prime Minister’s engagement, her sister would suffer.

Caught in the middle, Qin Xiang agonized. She had known plenty of troubles in her life, and usually a beating solved them. But this time, there would be no beating—and yet it was so hard.

She sighed, lower lashes hanging, heart unquiet.

Meanwhile, Yun Qian reached the palace first and went to see the Empress Dowager.

The Empress Dowager was speaking with the Empress when she saw the woman who had wed yesterday, and teased, “I thought you’d gone home to enjoy yourself. You still have time to come find me?”

The Empress glanced at Yun Qian and smiled too. “I think A-Qian looks rather troubled.”

“There is a thorny matter.” Yun Qian offered the Empress her courtesies, straightened, and continued, “Your subject has been rude. I have snatched away the Lin family’s betrothal.”

“Which Lin family?” The Empress Dowager was taken aback. Yun Qian was pure and restrained, never one to speak with men. A few days ago she’d declared she liked women, and now she’d snatched away… “Did you snatch away some girl?”

Yun Qian smiled wryly. “The fiancé of Lin Yao, daughter of the Marquis of Chengxin.”

“Lin Yao has no betrothal.” The Empress spoke up. “Her portrait was sent into the palace. I saw it myself. If she had a betrothal, why would it have been sent?”

“Lin Yao stormed into my residence, saying she’d kill my husband.” Yun Qian deliberately laid it out. “The Lin and Qin families do have a contract. I have it here.”

The Empress Dowager narrowed her eyes and grasped the general picture. “The Qin boy abandoned Lin Yao and turned around to marry you?”

A boy climbing upward with crooked thoughts—not upright of heart.

As her words fell, a voice sounded from outside. “Mother! Mother!”

It was Grand Princess Yongning. The Empress Dowager had one daughter and three sons, and coddled her youngest, Grand Princess Yongning.

Yongning entered with a light step, then stopped short. “Oh, Prime Minister Yun is here too.”

Behind Grand Princess Yongning came Lin Yao. Lin Yao had once been the princess’s companion, and the two were close.

The Empress Dowager took one look and understood. She turned to Yun Qian. “Summon the Qin boy. I’ll have a look. One family’s daughter attracts a hundred suitors—but the two of you fighting over one man is beyond comprehension.”

An inner attendant went to summon him. Lin Yao in the hall could no longer stand still and cut in: “Empress Dowager, the betrothal between my family and the Qins is too old and long severed. I cannot throw away my life over him. But now that he’s come and abandoned me for wealth to marry another, it is a great humiliation for me.”

Yun Qian turned her head. “If you lay yourself at the Emperor’s feet and become his woman, that, for him, would also be a great humiliation.”

Lin Yao choked, her eyes wide with fury. “Why does Prime Minister Yun shield this ambitious, faithless man?”

“I like ambitious, faithless people. Of course, you’re also an ambitious, faithless person—so now I don’t like you.” Yun Qian replied airily.

The Empress Dowager narrowed her eyes. “Prime Minister Yun, how did you come to know the Qin boy?”

“He came to my door with the Lin marriage contract. I thought Miss Lin had found a high branch and wouldn’t want it, so I passed myself off as Lin Yao and performed the ceremony.”

Yun Qian narrowed her eyes again and swept a glance at Lin Yao. “We’ve already consummated.”

Lin Yao: “…” Shameless.

Grand Princess Yongning laughed bewitchingly. She looked at the Prime Minister, who had at last shown a hint of human feeling, and winked. “Is he handsome?”

Yun Qian smiled. “The capital’s young men pale by three parts in his presence. Will Your Highness snatch him too?”

“So handsome?” Grand Princess Yongning was surprised Yun Qian would boast so boldly. Unlike Lin Yao’s wild rage, Yun Qian sat at ease, deep as a lake without a ripple.

Yongning didn’t want to offend this great Buddha. It was only a man. She wouldn’t be as short-sighted as Lin Yao—turning up her nose yet refusing to let others look.

“I’ll take one glance. If he’s truly handsome and I’m moved, I’ll find another of similar looks.”

Yun Qian smiled faintly and said nothing.

Lin Yao seethed. “Prime Minister Yun can’t stop coveting other people’s husbands.”

“So what if you have a contract? We’ve already bowed. The rice is cooked. Even if you come now, it’s too late.” Yun Qian bowed her head, tracing the patterns on her sleeve. Her voice was clear and elegant, ordinary to the ear, but on closer listening, it held a woman’s charm—as if she had truly spent last night in blissful tangle.

Lin Yao, a girl of sixteen or seventeen, flushed at the implication and cried out without thinking, “My betrothal with the Qin family comes first! I won’t annul! You’ll always be improper!”

She wanted to say: there’s only one rightful wife, and she was the wife, Yun Qian the concubine. But with the Empress Dowager present, she held it in.

After her outburst, no one answered. Even Yun Qian couldn’t be bothered. She kept glancing toward the door.

They waited and waited, until at last the person was brought. Qin Xiang, led by an eunuch, still in that crimson robe.

The youth had rosy lips and white teeth. Red and vivid, she was no immortal descended to earth—yet there was a breathtaking beauty about her.

All eyes fixed on her. The Empress Dowager narrowed her own. The Qin boy did indeed have a face that could ruin a nation.

Leave aside character—with such a face, it was already a disaster.

One glance, and killing intent stirred in the Empress Dowager.

Yun Qian stepped to Qin Xiang’s side and murmured in her ear, “You’re marrying for yourself now, not Qin Mo. Do you want to marry a shrew?”

Qin Xiang trembled.