After hearing the warm greeting, the Crown Prince smiled and asked, “I’m not late, am I?”
“No, Your Highness arrived just in time,” Shang Ji replied with a steady nod.
While most ministers had already arrived, the imperial relatives usually insisted on arriving late to preserve their royal dignity. The Crown Prince, however, glanced at the carriages parked neatly at the entrance and smiled with a shrewd glint in his eyes.
“Let’s go. Now that we’re here, I must pay my respects to Old Madam Gu [The Matriarch of the Gu family]. The Empress repeatedly instructed me to convey that once she’s feeling better, she must come to the palace for a gathering.”
His words were laced with warmth, signaling to everyone that the Empress and the Crown Prince stood firmly behind the Gu family.
“Grandmother knew Her Majesty was concerned, so she recovered exceptionally quickly,” Shang Ji said respectfully. “Once she is fully restored, she will naturally go to the palace to pay her respects.”
Comforted by the response, the Crown Prince stepped through the gates. As he and the Crown Princess looked around the grounds, they remarked, “The renovations are quite nice; care was taken, but it doesn’t look like the work of a soldier like the Sixth brother.”
“Your Highness, it was my wife, Lady Du [Du Jingyi, the General’s wife], who oversaw the renovations. She spent years in Jinling City [A southern cultural hub] in her youth and has a great fondness for gardens.”
“No wonder,” the Crown Prince noted. “It has a distinctly Jiangnan style [A graceful, water-centric architectural style from southern China].”
As the royal party approached the front hall, the herald’s voice rang out: “His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived! Her Highness the Crown Princess has arrived! Prime Minister Guo has arrived!”
Inside, Old Madam Gu, her face calm and composed, stood up and spoke to Old Madam Guo [The Prime Minister’s wife] beside her. “It is kind of the Crown Prince and the Prime Minister to remember us.”
“What are you saying, Elder Sister?” Old Madam Guo replied. “Our families share a long friendship; this is only natural.”
The Crown Prince’s arrival was a profound gesture of “face” [social prestige] for the widows of the Gu family. To many onlookers, a family with no male heirs to succeed the title was merely a fading glory, yet the presence of the Prime Minister and the future Emperor shifted the entire atmosphere of the banquet.
As the royals entered, the gathered guests knelt in a wave of silk and embroidery.
“Your subjects greet the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess!”
Prime Minister Guo and Shang Ji quickly stepped aside, as such formal kneeling was a heavy honor for them to receive as subjects.
“Everyone, please rise,” the Crown Prince announced. “Today the General’s Mansion is our host; there is no need for such formalities.”
The General’s Mansion had broken tradition today by not separating the men and women into different halls; instead, everyone gathered in the massive main hall.
As officials crowded around the Crown Prince, seeking a moment of his favor, Shang Zhiping felt a bead of sweat on his brow. Beside him, He Shilin nervously swallowed. The two young men exchanged a glance, finding a strange comfort in their shared anxiety. This was their home turf, and they could not retreat.
Behind Zhiping, his mother, Lady Liu [The Duke’s sister-in-law/Zhiping’s mother], stood firm. She no longer tried to shield him with her body but instead offered him strength through her steady presence.
The Crown Prince approached Old Madam Gu with sincere concern. “I see that Old Madam is still quite healthy. It seems the General’s Mansion is a treasure trove, taking excellent care of you.”
Old Madam Gu, ever shrewd, spoke with warmth. “Your Highness is right. Shao Yu [Shang Ji’s childhood name] and his wife are very filial to me, so naturally my health is good.”
Her meaning was clear to those who knew the recent scandal: she was healthy because of Shang Ji and Du Jingyi, implying she had only fallen ill because of the trouble caused by the Duke and Madam Wei.
The Crown Prince understood the subtext immediately. He said meaningfully to the room, “Our Great Xing Dynasty upholds filial piety. It is only right that the Sixth brother and his wife are so devoted. If anyone ever makes you uncomfortable, Old Madam, simply send word to the Eastern Palace. I wish to see who dares to disrespect the Gu family!”
With that decree, Old Madam Gu’s status in Sui’an City was cemented. The Crown Prince had been acting as regent for years; he was the future of the empire.
The social atmosphere shifted instantly. The noble ladies began to look upon the Gu family widows with newfound reverence. While Madam Xing was already surrounded by admirers due to her family’s power, even the previously ignored Third Aunt and the young Xue Niang [A junior female relative] suddenly found themselves the center of polite attention.
Gu Xiaolang [The Matriarch’s granddaughter], standing by her grandmother’s side, felt the weight of these shifting gazes, realizing that her family’s glory was once again being restored, not through a title, but through royal favor.In this reagard Du Jingyi and her mother, Madam Du, were both exceptionally perceptive; they saw the sudden shift in the room as clearly as a mountain spring. As the noble ladies of Sui’an began to swarm their relatives with artificial smiles, mother and daughter exchanged a silent, weary glance. They felt a mutual disdain for this hollow sycophancy—the way these people pivoted toward power and wealth—yet they knew that in the capital, one was often forced to compromise for the sake of decorum.
Madam Du sighed inwardly. She was grateful her two daughters had found stable lives, but as a mother, her heart went out to the Third Aunt and Sister-in-law Liu. While the attention from illustrious families was flattering, she knew it was a poisoned chalice. If the Gu family or Shang Ji [The General] ever faced a storm, these same opportunistic in-laws would likely be the first to trample them.
Old Madam Gu [The Matriarch], seeing the sharks begin to circle, understood the danger. She beckoned Gu Xiaolang [Her granddaughter] and Xue Niang [Her granddaughter-in-law] forward. She loved them both and was determined to shield them with the highest possible prestige.
Turning to Old Madam Guo [The Prime Minister’s wife], the Matriarch spoke clearly: “Xue Niang has not yet reached her marriageable age, but I am shamelessly asking if you would be the honored guest for her coming-of-age ceremony?”
Old Madam Guo caught the signal and beamed. “I would be delighted! Even if you hadn’t asked, I would have forced my way in. This child looks so much like Yun He [The late Madam Gu, Shang Ji’s mother]. Seeing her reminds me of Yun He’s own ceremony—such a spirited, beautiful girl she was.”
“It is a pity,” Old Madam Gu added, her voice dropping to a cold, razor-sharp edge, “that such beauty is often envied. Someone else has taken advantage of her absence. Now that person has usurped the position; one might almost forget she wasn’t the original wife.”
The room went still. Old Madam Guo rarely attended banquets, but when she did, she was a force of nature. By openly mourning the late Madam Gu and highlighting the “usurpation” by the successor wife, the two Matriarchs were effectively blacklisting Madam Wei [The Successor Duchess]. Any lady in Sui’an would now have to think twice before visiting the Duke’s Mansion if it meant offending the Prime Minister’s residence and the Gu family.
The Crown Prince and Crown Princess watched from their seats, silently sipping their tea. Their lack of intervention was a loud, royal endorsement of the old ladies’ stance.
The atmosphere in the hall was still thick with this silent war when Steward He hurried to Shang Ji’s side. “General, the Princes and Princesses have arrived.”
The party consisted of Prince Fu, Prince Bin, Prince Min, Prince De, and the influential Princess Yuehua. While Min and De were the Emperor’s uncles and Bin was a quiet half-brother, Prince Fu and Princess Yuehua were the Emperor’s full siblings, holding immense sway.
Shang Ji led his makeshift “honor guard”—Shang Zhiping, Xing Zhao, and He Shilin—to the gates. His expression, already stern, turned glacial when he saw the group. Standing prominently beside Princess Consort Fu was Shang Qilang [The Duke’s seventh son, born of Madam Wei].
Bringing a member of the Wei branch so brazenly into the General’s Mansion was a direct provocation. Shang Ji stepped forward, his gaze bypassing his half-brother entirely.
“I recall the invitation was sent to the residence of Prince Fu,” Shang Ji said, his voice dropping to a dangerous low. “How is it that an unrelated person has appeared at our door?”
The word “unrelated” hit Princess Consort Fu [Madam Wei’s eldest daughter] like a slap. Shang Qilang flushed with embarrassment. Princess Fu, never one to back down, bristled with indignation.
“Sixth Brother, has your power made you blind?” she snapped. “Is Seventh Brother not our own blood? How can you call him ‘unrelated’?”
“Princess Consort, choose your words with care,” Shang Ji replied, his posture as rigid as a spear. “My mother’s surname was Gu. She gave birth to my eldest brother, my sister, and me. I have never heard of a ‘Seventh Brother’ in our lineage. Only days ago, your mother, Madam Wei, came to this house and harassed my maternal grandmother until she collapsed. Do you intend to repeat that performance?”
“You! Do you truly wish to make this so ugly?” she hissed.
Shang Ji did not answer. He simply planted himself in the center of the doorway, his massive frame blocking the entrance. His silence was more aggressive than any shout.
Princess Fu, feeling the eyes of the gathered crowds and the gossip beginning to swirl, took a deep breath. “Since the invitation was sent to the Prince’s residence, it is our right to decide who accompanies us. My brother is visiting; it is only natural he comes along. If General Shang is unwilling to host, perhaps you shouldn’t have sent the invitation at all.”
Princess Yuehua, seeing the situation spiraling into a public scandal, stepped forward to play the mediator. “Calm yourselves. We are here as guests, not to provide the city with a comedy. We are all of the Shang family; why be so confrontational?”
Princess Fu seized the opening to twist the knife. “The Princess is right. Sixth Brother has only just returned from the wars; perhaps he has forgotten that swords are meant for enemies, not for his own brothers and sisters.”
It was a masterful stroke of character assassination—depicting Shang Ji as a bloodthirsty brute who couldn’t tell a battlefield from a family home. Prince Min and Prince De quickly moved in, adding their voices to the “persuasion,” putting immense pressure on Shang Ji to yield.