Early spring in the second year of the Tianqi era. The snow in Yongning City had yet to melt.
When Princess Yuzhen pushed open a side door of the Zichen Hall, the soles of her boots crushed the newly laid Western Regions carpet with a faint rustle. Candles blazed inside the hall. She saw Xie Yunshang bent over her desk, her purple-bristled brush hovering a few inches above a memorial, the ink poised to fall.
“Still reviewing memorials at this hour?” Yuzhen took off her fox-fur cloak and handed it to the maid behind her.
Xie Yunshang did not look up. At last, the tip of her brush touched down. “His Majesty will need to read these tomorrow. But what brings you to the palace so late, Princess? Is something the matter?”
Yuzhen walked closer and glanced at the memorial, its pages densely filled with neat, elegant script in vermilion. She suddenly laughed, took a scroll of silk from her sleeve, and gently pushed it across the desk.
“Yesterday, the Zhou clan proposed to my imperial brother that a regional administration be established in Dongdu to oversee grain transport along the Henan Circuit.”
Xie Yunshang’s brush paused. A drop of vermilion bled beside the character for “approved,” like blood.
Outside the hall, the water clock marked the third watch. The candlelight flickered, casting the shadows of the two women onto a screen painted with scenes from the Classic of Mountains and Seas. Their shadows intertwined, like the inseparable fate that awaited them.
