(1) As If Seeing the Manor Lord Himself

Guo Huilian had finally decided to return to Chang'an first—she really ought to visit her family's graves more often, tend to them properly. In the three years she'd been away, she'd only returned once a year, on the anniversary of their deaths, and honestly, that had never quite sat right with her. Though her heart felt just as uneasy now as it had three years earlier, setting out toward the unknown at Yueyue Manor, she knew she had to summon her courage and move forward all the same.

Yue Heng gave Guo Huilian a dagger sharp enough to cut through iron like mud—not, of course, meant for her to use to kill anyone, but chiefly because it was small and compact, easy to conceal, and could cut through ropes or metal in a pinch to help her escape danger if the need ever arose. And, of course, more important still, it had originally belonged to Yue Heng himself—the character "Heng" was carved into the scabbard, a gift his own father had once given him with his own hands, one that had stayed with him for decades; even figures of the martial world, upon recognizing it, would show it a measure of respect. This was a father's own way of watching over and caring for his daughter—he hoped that even when she wasn't by his side, this father of hers could still shelter and protect her, just as his own father's love had once sheltered him.

Tian Xu, for his part, went to even greater lengths, arranging two full trunks of exquisite gowns and dresses for Guo Huilian, most of them tailored from Shu brocade, radiant and finely detailed, shimmering with light; he also had a whole chest of hair ornaments and jewelry prepared besides—dangling hairpins, simple hairpins, combs, earrings, arm bracelets... everything one could possibly want, each piece chosen from the very finest materials and styles available. At Yueyue Manor, Guo Huilian had rarely worn such extravagant clothing at all, dressing much like Han Qian and Yueming instead—either simple and plain, or in men's attire entirely—and seeing Tian Xu arrange all this for her left her feeling rather uneasy; she thought it far too extravagant, entirely more than she'd ever have use for. Tian Xu told her that Chang'an was nothing like Yueyue Manor—the wives and daughters of official households loved dressing in fine, luxurious fashion, each one competing to outshine the next, and she naturally couldn't afford to let anyone look down on her. Yueyue Manor itself was her greatest source of confidence and standing. Those hair ornaments and pieces of jewelry, beyond her own personal use, could also serve as gifts for others—upon her return to Chang'an, she would need to reestablish all the necessary social ties and obligations all over again, something entirely unlike the carefree life she'd led at Yueyue Manor, where she'd never needed to concern herself with such things at all.

Though her uncle was already somewhat advanced in years, he insisted on personally leading a party to Yueyue Manor to bring Guo Huilian home, and he was determined, too, to formally thank Tian Xu for having extended a helping hand to Guo Huilian in her moment of dire need, and for so generously taking her in ever since.

Her uncle had prepared what he himself considered a substantial gift—chiefly twenty bolts of fine fabric, five of them Shu brocade, along with a small box of pearls and agate. For a cousin whose official rank had never risen especially high over the years, this already counted as an exceedingly generous gift; how could her uncle possibly have grasped what sort of household Yueyue Manor truly was? Though the sheer scale of buying up an entire hillside outside Chang'an on the spot, just to serve as the Guo family's burial ground, might have given him some rough sense of Yueyue Manor's formidable wealth, he could never have imagined that Yueyue Manor's hands held sway over more than half of the entire empire's finest silks, treasures, jade, and porcelain, handling both domestic and foreign trade alike—and that the very Shu brocade, pearls, and agate he'd purchased in Chang'an had, in all likelihood, come from one of Yueyue Manor's own shops in the first place. Tian Xu, being a generous man by nature, chose not to point any of this out, saying only that he was simply repaying a small fraction of the debt he owed General Guo, and that Yueyue Manor had long since come to regard Guo Huilian as family—there was no need for thanks at all. He returned the entire gift, in full, to Guo Huilian's uncle, and invited her uncle's whole party to stay on and rest at Yueyue Manor a while longer, taking the opportunity to tour the manor properly besides.

On the eve of Guo Huilian's departure back to Chang'an, Tian Xu brought out a bird-and-flower hairpin and, with his own hands, fastened it into Guo Huilian's hair—its body silver plated with gold, worked with flowers and leaves, the pale, bluish-white jade warm and lustrous to the touch, a kingfisher rendered upon it so crystalline and lifelike it might have taken flight at any moment.

"Whatever else you wear, this hairpin should never be missing, not for a single day. Seeing this hairpin is as good as seeing the Manor Lord himself—every hidden guard of Yueyue Manor in Chang'an will look after your safety at all times." As Tian Xu spoke, he also brought out a list, written in his own hand, of every shop Yueyue Manor kept in Chang'an, and handed it to Guo Huilian, telling her that whatever she needed, she had only to mention it to Uncle Jian or Uncle Da, or else go pick it out at the shop herself. And if she ever found herself unable to settle in at her uncle's household, she was welcome to return to Yueyue Manor at any time. The two of them stood facing one another, Guo Huilian's eyes already brimming with warm tears; she truly could not bear to leave Yueyue Manor, and yet her own worries left her no choice but to return to Chang'an all the same. She could no longer quite tell whether it was the hazy moonlight or her own blurred vision, but looking into Tian Xu's eyes, she found that they, too, seemed to have grown misty.

The next morning, after breakfast, Guo Huilian climbed into the carriage and set off for Chang'an together with her uncle's party. She lifted the curtain to look back at her father, Tenth Brother, and everyone at the manor who had come to see her off, only letting the curtain fall and quietly shedding her tears once they had faded entirely from view. Three years earlier, she had wept in secret out of grief for the family she'd lost; now, it was out of a deep, overflowing attachment to Yueyue Manor, and the pain of parting from it. Three years earlier, she had thought the sound of wind through the pines the most heavenly music in all the world; now, it seemed to her nothing but a mournful dirge, steeped in the sorrow of parting. Three years—not especially long, and yet not especially short either—had nonetheless brought about tremendous changes in her life. Over these past three years, even Weibo itself had changed hands: just a few months after her arrival at Yueyue Manor, Tian Xu's kinsman, also named Tian Xu, had, in a fit of near-madness, slaughtered his cousin, Weibo's military governor Tian Yue, along with his entire household, and seized the position for himself. Emperor Dezong of Tang, hoping to win him over, had even married off Princess Jiacheng to him, elevating him overnight to the status of imperial son-in-law. This kinsman of Tian Xu's, unlike Tian Chengsi or Tian Yue before him, was cruel and unrestrained by nature, yet lacked any real appetite for standing up against the imperial court, content instead to accept the court's overtures of goodwill; from then on, Weibo no longer challenged the court at every turn the way it had under its previous two governors, settling instead into a quiet, compliant existence. How swiftly the affairs of this world could shift, always catching one entirely off guard—barely three years had passed, and already she found herself sighing at how the world could turn, like drifting clouds and shifting seas, so utterly unrecognizable from what it once had been.