9. Xu Guiyi Receives the Imperial Edict to Enter the Palace

"Keep your voice down!" Xu Min was at her wit's end with her.

"Can't you think of a way to keep that wild girl from appearing before us again? Just like when she was a child—send her back to that nunnery in the countryside, out of sight, out of mind."

Xu Min looked at his wife and suddenly gave a cold laugh. "You truly have no sense. Who is the third girl? She is my second brother's eldest legitimate daughter. By status, the fifth and seventh girls may also be legitimate, but they are daughters of the second wife, and so their standing is inevitably lower. You think you can just send the third girl off to a convent at your whim?"

Madam Jiang rarely saw her husband reproach her so directly and was momentarily at a loss for words. "You..."

"I must have been blinded by lard to marry you. Now, our daughter and I are being bullied, and you don't even dare to utter a word in our defense." Madam Jiang's ability to burst into tears on cue was second to none.

"My lady!" Xu Min instantly lost all the harshness from moments before.

"I don't care, you must do something about what Hua'er suffered today. She is your eldest daughter! Xu Min, your brother can forsake his niece for his daughter's sake—what about you? What have you done? Xu Min, you are utterly unworthy of being a father!" Madam Jiang spat her venom and swept out of the courtyard with a flick of her sleeve.

"Ah, my lady! My lady!" She walked so quickly that Xu Min could not catch up to her.

Because of what happened to Xu Zhuhua, Xu Luwei was sent to stay for a time with her maternal grandparents in Jingzhou. Xu Guiyi specially went to see her off. That girl was deeply attached and clung to her two elder sisters, glum and reluctant for a long while.

"There now, after a while, I’ll come to Jingzhou myself to bring you home, all right?" Xu Guiyi patted Xu Luwei's head, gently smoothing the stray hairs at her temple.

Xu Luwei still looked unwilling. "Why can't both of you come with me? Hmph, so vexing!"

Xu Xiwei coaxed her in a gentle voice, "If all the young ladies of our branch go to Jingzhou, what would the servants and relatives in the manor think? They’d believe we were fleeing out of guilt. We are the wronged party here—if we left all together, we’d lose our case in the eyes of others. Wouldn’t that be a loss for nothing?"

Xu Luwei tilted her head and paused a moment. "I suppose that makes sense. Fine, I’ll go by myself, but you must promise to fetch me home soon." And with that, her clouds lifted and her face brightened again.

Xu Guiyi laughed lightly. "Got it, got it. But perhaps you’ll have so much fun in Jingzhou you won’t want to come back!"

Xu Luwei giggled. "All right, all right, I’m off now. You’d better go back; no need to see me off any further." With that, she climbed into the carriage with her maid’s help and waved goodbye.

Xu Guiyi and Xu Xiwei exchanged a helpless smile.

The April breeze was gentle and mild. Xu Guiyi watched the carriage draw away, her gaze soft. All she thought of was how soon she could go to the Hua family in Jingzhou to bring her little sister home.

Yet she could never have imagined that this farewell would span many years, with mountains and rivers and snow and ice between them before they would meet again.

"Third Sister, let’s go back," Xu Xiwei said softly.

"Very well," Xu Guiyi nodded.

"I heard Father returned early today and called Mother to the study; they’ve been inside for hours now and haven’t come out. I wonder what they’re discussing," Xu Xiwei said as they walked.

Xu Guiyi glanced at the sky, puzzled. "It’s only a little past the hour of Si—Father has already returned from the yamen?" As governor of Luan Prefecture, Xu Yan was always busy; it was common for him to be tied up at the office all day. For him to return so early was certainly unusual.

"I thought it odd as well. Father and Mother have been in the study all this time—even when Seventh Sister left for Jingzhou, they didn’t come to see her off." Xu Xiwei, being close to her mother, paid special attention to her every move.

Suddenly, Xu Xiwei stopped, leaned close to Xu Guiyi, and whispered in her ear, "Third Sister, I heard from Mother that Father’s been busy with some matter at the palace. It seems a painter of extraordinary skill has arrived."

"A painter?" Xu Guiyi stopped in her tracks, startled. "Fifth Sister, did you say—a painter from the palace?"

"Yes, yes. Apparently, he’s here for an important commission. I only heard Mother mention it yesterday," Xu Xiwei confided everything she knew.

After carefully listening to all the news, Xu Guiyi quietly returned to her own study and soon summoned Xiyue inside.

"Xiyue, did you find out what I asked you to?" Xu Guiyi asked as she sipped her cooled tea.

"Miss, what Fifth Miss said seems to be true. The painter is from the palace. He often goes to Spring Rain Pavilion to listen to opera, and... he likes to inquire about beauties..." Xiyue reported cautiously.

"The painter... what is his surname?" Xu Guiyi set down her teacup, her delicate brows knitting tightly, her expression shadowed with unease.

"I heard his surname is Hai," Xiyue replied, not knowing why her mistress was suddenly so interested in the painter.

"Miss?" she prompted again, clutching her embroidered handkerchief.

Xu Guiyi looked at her faithful maid of many years, her tone grave. "Xiyue, I need you to do something for me. Will you?"

Though unsure of the task, Xiyue was ready to obey without hesitation. "I am willing."

Half a month later, Xu Guiyi returned with Grandmother Xu from Hongye Temple, only to find Madam Jiang, just as ingratiating as ever, hurrying forward with a smile as sweet as honey. "Grandmother, Third Miss, you’re back! Was your journey smooth?"

Grandmother Xu gave her a faint glance and a slight nod before, supported by the crowd, entering the manor.

But seeing Madam Jiang so cheerful, Xu Guiyi’s intuition was instantly on alert. She glanced at Xu Xiwei behind her, whose evasive eyes only confirmed her suspicions.

After settling Grandmother in Rui’an Hall, Xu Guiyi ignored Madam Jiang’s pleasantries and drew Xu Xiwei aside to her own rooms.

"Aunt has been acting so strangely today—what happened?" Xu Guiyi caught her sister’s wrist the moment they entered and pressed her anxiously.

Xu Xiwei looked at her elder sister, her voice low and troubled. "Sister, someone from the palace arrived with an edict from Her Majesty the Empress, summoning you to the palace as the companion reader to the Princess."

"Companion reader to the Princess?" The current Emperor had no daughters, only a few nieces holding the title of Princess. Though they lived far away in Jiangnan, word had it they were all grown women, well past the age for a companion.

"Mother says, on the surface it’s to be a companion, but in truth, it’s to select a consort for the Crown Prince. Somehow, the painter got hold of your portrait, and after Her Majesty saw it, she was quite satisfied and insisted that you must enter the palace."

Xu Guiyi thought back, and realized why her mother had been so insistent on her accompanying Grandmother to Hongye Temple—it had been a ploy to avoid the painter.

"But don’t worry, sister. Father is still trying to find a way; you may not have to go," Xu Xiwei quickly tried to reassure her.

Xu Guiyi’s gaze shimmered. "Fifth Sister..." She paused, as if searching for the right words.

"Third Sister?" Xu Xiwei looked worried.

"Did you know about this long ago?"

Xu Xiwei hesitated. "Mother forbade me to say, for fear you’d worry. That’s why she sent you with Grandmother—to avoid the painter."

"Father and Mother meant well, but... Fifth Sister, do you know, while I was at Hongye Temple, I drew a fortune stick."

"What sort of fortune?" Xu Xiwei, though skeptical, gripped her sister’s hand, concern etched on her face.

But Xu Guiyi released her hand, taking a few steps back to gaze at the riotous azaleas outside the window. "The mulberry and elm hasten sunset, the waning moon is hard to round. Only when you meet the man with knife and awl, will you know what true joy is."

"Such nonsense! Sister, you are in your prime—how can it be sunset for you? One cannot put faith in soothsayers," Xu Xiwei frowned.

"Not to be fully believed, but neither to be dismissed. Perhaps that is a place I cannot escape," Xu Guiyi murmured, her gaze drifting beyond the azalea tree to the distant mountains, ineffably poignant.

Three days later, Xu Yan finally came to her study. After all these days, Xu Guiyi knew he had done all he could.

"Father, thank you," Xu Guiyi gave a graceful bow.

"Yier..." Xu Yan sighed deeply. It was his inability—he could not protect this child’s peace.

Her father, Xu Yan, second son of the Xu family, was famed in Jiangdong for his poetry, a dashing youth in his day. Now, at forty-seven, he was in his seventh year as governor of Luan Prefecture.

Back then, to be a prefectural governor at only forty was a rare feat even in three generations of the Da Yi dynasty.

Among the scholars of the nation, who did not envy Xu’s second son? Born to an old, distinguished family, blessed with talent, his official career smooth from the first exams, rising swiftly and outpacing all rivals.

How could such a father be called incapable?

He had too many ambitions yet to realize—it would be wrong for her to stand in his way.

"Father, I am willing to enter the palace," Xu Guiyi swept her robe aside and knelt resolutely before him.

"Yier!" At her formal bow, Xu Yan could not help but weep.

"Father, Her Majesty has already decreed it. There is no need to sacrifice the entire Xu family’s prospects for me alone," Xu Guiyi choked out, unwilling to leave her family.

Xu Yan wiped away his tears and crouched to look at his cherished daughter, his expression stricken. "Yier, it is my fault. If I had not delayed your marriage, at nineteen you would already be a wife. If you had married, none of this would be happening."

At these words, the tears Xu Guiyi had just managed to hold back came flooding out, and she wept and laughed all at once. "It isn’t Father’s fault. I’ve had a good life in the Xu household. Your love, I will never forget. Besides, marrying into the imperial family is a glory most women can only dream of."

Xu Yan sighed heavily. "Your father has always been ambitious and has held you all to high standards, but never did I wish for you to be a wife of the royal clan. The struggles within the palace are perilous—one misstep and you could be destroyed..."

He paused. "Yier, have you not suffered enough from past lessons?"

Xu Guiyi’s lashes trembled, tears falling onto the back of her hand. Her voice was icy. "Having learned enough from the past, I will be all the more cautious from now on, and never repeat old mistakes."

Xu Yan’s eyes widened in shock, but before he could speak, Xu Guiyi interrupted him. "Father, I too wish to stay by your side and live a quiet life, but fate will not allow it. I am destined to enter the palace. Do not worry—my status as the third young lady of the Xu family is well-known in Jiangdong, and the Empress must have investigated me already. So, you need not be concerned." She forced a smile.

Tears streamed down Xu Yan’s face. Supporting himself, he personally helped his beloved daughter to her feet.

"Yier, rise. What must be, must be left to fate."