Lin Fei was taken aback. “How could that possibly be?”
Indeed — how could any of the women deep in the palace, surrounded by songs and dances and prosperity on every side, have imagined that the mighty Da Zhao dynasty had already been brought so low that it would need to offer its Empress-born legitimate princess in a political marriage?
Or rather — that the Emperor and the central court had been brought so low.
“How could it not be possible?” Xie Yuzhang countered.
“Da Zhao commands six hundred thousand troops…”
“You yourself said today that no one knows the true number of the court’s military force anymore. I would guess that even Father and your grandfather did not know for certain.”
Lin Fei faltered, then argued: “Even so, there are three military governors holding the north. Their armies are no mere decoration. What fear is there of any barbarian state?”
“What if what Father fears…” Xie Yuzhang asked quietly, “is the military governors themselves?”
Lin Fei’s expression changed entirely. She lowered her voice. “Your Highness — just what have you heard?”
In all this world, if there was anyone who had remained by her side from beginning to end, never leaving, it was Lin Shi Fei Niang.
Lin Fei was three years older than Xie Yuzhang, and had been her reading companion — the eldest among all the reading companions. In the old days when everything had been peaceful and serene, Xie Yuzhang had not been particularly close to Lin Fei in particular.
Among all the companions, she had been the quietest one, not the sort to press forward and draw Xie Yuzhang’s attention. Xie Yuzhang’s focus was always drawn away to those who were more spirited and lively.
Then one day, the entire Lin Family was convicted of crimes.
Lin Fei’s grandfather died crashing his head against a pillar in the throne hall. Her father was thrown into prison and dead within days. Her uncle who held an official post in another city, and her elder brother and cousins away on their studies, all received word and immediately went into hiding and fled.
The Lin Family members remaining in the capital bore the brunt of it — the men condemned to execution, the women sentenced to be sent to the frontier armies as camp entertainers.
Chancellor Zhang’s methods, one could not say, were anything less than vicious.
Some people — when they are present, they are too quiet, and you do not notice them. Only when you lose them do you suddenly realize all they were worth.
After Lin Fei disappeared from Xie Yuzhang’s side for a while, Xie Yuzhang only gradually noticed the sense of discomfort and unease — and traced it back to Lin Fei’s departure.
That person was quiet, but meticulous. She did not contend for anything, yet she attended to everything. All those unobtrusive acts of care, all the quiet, invisible guidance — over those years in the palace, she had helped Xie Yuzhang avoid many a mistake without making a show of it.
Xie Yuzhang knew the Lin Family had met with disaster, but had not imagined the Zhang Family would strike so brutally. It was only when she heard Chancellor Zhang’s granddaughter, Zhang Fen, say to someone: “She was always one step ahead of me — let’s see how she enjoys that filthy place she is going to” that Xie Yuzhang learned what had become of Lin Fei.
Zhang Fen was also one of her reading companions, always saccharine-sweet to her face and endlessly calling Lin Fei “Elder Sister” — but behind her back, she wore a face like this. Xie Yuzhang was utterly disgusted.
At the time, Xie Yuzhang had been so furious she had lashed out with the riding crop in her hand at Zhang Fen — though of course she was not truly that cruel; the crop had only come down on Zhang Fen’s arm.
And then she said: “Go home after this. You are no longer my reading companion.”
Later, after her tendon was severed, her ankle would ache whenever it rained. Empress Zhang would always choose days like those to summon her to the palace.
But all of that was for another time.
She dropped the crop and barged into Zichen Hall to beg the Emperor to pardon the Lin Family.
She had been too foolish then, acting without thinking — she barged in and begged for the pardon of “the Lin Family.” The Emperor could never have agreed to that.
She was reprimanded and driven out. She learned from an attendant that the Lin Family’s women were being sent away that very same day. Acting on impulse, she mounted her little horse — White Hooves on a Snow Field — and galloped outside the city walls, pulling Lin Fei out from the column of prisoners.
Lin Fei’s mother knelt on the ground and knocked her head in kowtow before her. “I entrust my daughter to Your Highness!”
Later, Lin Fei’s mother took her own life on the road.
Xie Yuzhang brought Lin Fei back to the palace. The Emperor reprimanded her and confined her to her quarters for half a month, but never again mentioned what should be done with Lin Fei. That was his tacit permission for Lin Fei to remain at her side — though whenever Xie Yuzhang tried to have Lin Fei’s lowly-status mark removed from her name, the Emperor refused.
And so Lin Fei stayed.
She followed Xie Yuzhang all the way — from the deep palace, to the barren desert, to the endless steppe, drifting through the tents of the barbarian khans — and survived to come back to Yunjing with her.
When Xie Yuzhang died, it was Lin Fei who kept vigil at her side, Lin Fei who held her hand to the very last, and never let go.
Now Xie Yuzhang sat up. The two women faced each other in the dimly lit bed canopy.
“Ah-Fei,” Xie Yuzhang said, “do not ask me how I know. I am only asking you this: before long, Father will be sending me to Mobei Khanate in a political marriage. What… should I do?”