(2) Breaking Off the Betrothal

"How dare you do this—everyone in Chang'an will look down on her, and she'll have no place to stand in this city ever again." Yang Chong's face had already flushed the color of raw liver. A young noble like him, raised in comfort and pampered since childhood, with little hardship to toughen him, was simply no match at all for Tian Xu—all that was left to him now was to bluster and cling stubbornly to his position. Yueyue Manor's business reached across the whole of the Tang empire; its caravans even pushed through the Longyou region, though it had fallen into Tibetan hands, to continue trading with the various regions of the Western Territories along what remained of the nearly severed overland Silk Road, and had become the foremost merchant house controlling nearly seventy percent of all Khotan jade in circulation. A man who ran such an enterprise—in strategy, in vision, in bearing and skill—could rival even the most seasoned pillars of the imperial court itself, let alone a green young man like Yang Chong.

"Is that so?" Tian Xu gave Guo Huilian a gentle smile, then turned back around at ease, answering Yang Chong's outburst with a teasing question of his own.

"Is Third Son Yang certain it's Fourth Sister who would have no place to stand in Chang'an, and not the Yang family instead? Even so, I intend to take her back to Yueyue Manor with me—no one in all of Weibo would dare point a finger at her there. Yaya can hold her head high wherever she goes—why should she need to endure the gossip of Chang'an at all?"

"Weibo? Yueyue Manor is in Weibo?" Something seemed to dawn on Yang Chong, and he asked, "You bear the surname Tian—could you be of the Tian clan of Weibo?"

"The military governor of Weibo is my own elder brother." Tian Xu spoke the words firmly, each syllable clear and deliberate, his brow and eyes radiating nothing but calm composure and confidence.

The moment Yang Chong heard this, his expression collapsed into dismay. In years past, when the military governor of Weibo had repeatedly defied the central court, one might still have called him a "rebel." But ever since Tian Xu had succeeded to the governorship of Weibo, he had devoted himself wholeheartedly to submitting to the imperial court, and the Emperor himself had even married off Princess Jiacheng to him, both to win him over and to reward him. Now that this Tian Xu had become, in every respect, an imperial son-in-law, the Tian family had become bona fide imperial in-laws—and given the Tian clan's influence throughout Weibo, how could a minor figure like himself, or his father, a mere Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, possibly afford to provoke them?

At last, someone in the surrounding crowd spoke up to offer some counsel: "Third Son Yang! You'd best stop talking now. Whatever this business of annulling the betrothal or not, don't get further tangled up in it. Lady Yang's conduct here wasn't proper, and there's no avoiding that people will talk about it. Right now they've come to have your godfather step forward to handle it—if you don't know when to let well enough alone, and they end up bringing in the military governor of Weibo, or even the princess herself, to formally annul the betrothal, your whole Yang family will lose every shred of face in Chang'an. If you ask me, everyone here has heard it all today and can bear witness—let the old verbal betrothal simply end here and now, and let each of you go your separate ways in marriage from here on. That settles it."

The one who spoke was none other than Lady Wang, wife of Minister Li. She had come to the Zhenbao Pavilion today with a few of her close friends to look at jade and porcelain. Her own Fifth Daughter was soon to be married, and the Zhenbao Pavilion carried fine Khotan jade along with porcelain of every color, so she had come to select items for her daughter's dowry. She hadn't expected that the moment she stepped through the door, she'd stumble upon such a fine spectacle—it left her utterly transfixed.

Her husband held the rank of First Grade at court, and she herself came from a distinguished family; the Emperor was, in fact, currently drafting an edict to bestow upon her the title of Lady of Merit. At the height of her influence just now, her words naturally carried considerable weight. Seeing this young man Tian Xu, so bright and spirited, so composed and eloquent in his speech, and clearly of excellent family besides, she found herself thinking rather well of him, and decided to lend her voice to settle the dispute fairly.

"Lady Li speaks with good sense." The several ladies who had accompanied Lady Wang here today were all married to men of wealth or rank, well-regarded figures within Chang'an's noble circles in their own right, and hearing Lady Wang speak up, they all voiced their agreement at once, and in an instant the whole tide of the confrontation seemed to turn entirely in Tian Xu's favor.

"I'll have my husband have a word with Vice Minister Yang later. Things have already come to this point—there's no use being stubborn about it, and it's best for everyone to take a step back. Since Lady Yang already intends to find Third Son a better match, and the old verbal betrothal has caused nothing but trouble time and again, then with Lady Li and the rest of us here today as witnesses, let the betrothal simply be voided. When Third Son secures himself a fine position someday, what kind of young lady could he not have his pick of? Why sour relations between everyone and stir up such open hostility over this?" The wife of the Chief Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, Lady Wei, stepped in soon after to smooth things over as well. Yang Nian was, after all, a subordinate of her own husband, and even setting personal feelings aside, Yang Nian would have to grant her husband this much face, at the very least.

With these noble ladies of the capital chiming in one after another, Yang Chong found himself drawing a sharp breath of cold air. Every one of them was someone even his own father dared not offend—what room was left for him to argue his case here? Seeing that events had unfolded exactly as he'd calculated, and that the outcome of this contest was now settled beyond doubt, Tian Xu bowed respectfully to all the ladies present and said, "Since that is so, Huilian and I shall gladly defer to your wishes."

Seeing Tian Xu bow, and hearing his words mention her as well, Guo Huilian likewise bowed to the assembled ladies and said, "My thanks to all of you."

"Not at all, not at all..."

"We'll take our leave now, then..." Amid the ladies' murmured replies, Tian Xu took Guo Huilian's hand and led her toward the carriage waiting outside the door, not forgetting to instruct the shopkeeper as they went: "Please have everything wrapped and sent to the inn as quickly as possible, if it isn't too much trouble."

"Understood... understood... young master, my lady, safe travels." Seeing so many people present, the shopkeeper wisely refrained from using the word "proprietor." He had, after all, been personally promoted by Wang Qiugui herself, and he knew well how to read the moment. He bowed and scraped with clasped hands as he saw them off, leaving everyone with the distinct impression that the Zhenbao Pavilion truly made its guests feel welcome. The assembled ladies were thoroughly satisfied by the whole display—only Yang Chong felt a suffocating knot in his chest, as though he'd swallowed a fly that he could neither force down nor spit back out.

In the carriage, Guo Huilian could no longer hold back and tugged at Tian Xu's sleeve, asking, "Did you already know how this would turn out?"

Tian Xu smiled and said, "So it's not just that your nerve is unusually bold—your mind works quickly too. Of course I had no idea Yang Chong would show up at the Zhenbao Pavilion, but the moment I saw Lady Wang and the other noble ladies with her, I knew this battle would have to be fought today, and that I held a winning hand—it would also spare us from having Yang Chong keep clinging to that old verbal betrothal in the future. Yang Chong isn't a bad person, just a bit thickheaded. I once thought he simply lacked seasoning—bold and eager but short on judgment—and that he might improve with age, and that marrying him wouldn't have been such a terrible fate for you. But he has a mother who bows to the powerful and tramples the weak, and she'd surely have shown you nothing but cold contempt—I couldn't set my mind at ease over that..." As he said this, Tian Xu couldn't help but grow a little bashful, and deliberately shifted the subject, adding, "I was afraid that if Father saw Lady Yang treating you with disdain, he'd give her a proper beating on the spot. You know Father's temper—he'd never show restraint just because his opponent happens to be a woman. If that had happened, it wouldn't just be the Yang household thrown into chaos—I daresay the whole of Chang'an might have been turned upside down..."

At the sound of Tian Xu's bashful laughter, Guo Huilian laughed too. She understood well enough how sincerely, how thoughtfully, Tian Xu considered her in everything he did—and yet just a moment ago, he'd been the one teasing her! Why was he suddenly the embarrassed one now, too shy to speak of himself, and dragging Father into the conversation instead?

"Tell me honestly... how is it you even knew about something as small as Lady Yang sending a matchmaker to arrange a match for Third Son Yang?" Guo Huilian had a whole heart full of questions she hadn't dared voice, and the matter had been weighing on her, troubling her deeply. "And another thing... how is it you know so precisely who all those ladies were, and their family backgrounds besides? I couldn't even place half of them! And that Physician Liu who guided my cousin through his troubles before—I'd wager he was one of your people too, wasn't he? I suppose you probably even know exactly who was behind my abduction, don't you? Is there truly anything happening in all of Chang'an that you don't already know? Could it be that you've inherited your father's old role as well—that 'foremost figure holding sway over intelligence across the entire Tang empire'?"

"Is Yaya conducting an interrogation now?" Tian Xu flicked her lightly on the forehead with a laugh. "You really are far sharper than Magistrate Cao..."

"Ow... why'd you flick my forehead for that?" Guo Huilian rubbed her faintly aching brow, pouting in complaint. "I knew it—you just love picking on me..." Then her eyes suddenly lit up. "Wait... did I... did I guess right?"

"Not entirely right, but not entirely wrong either." Tian Xu crossed his arms over his chest and glanced sideways at Guo Huilian. This girl's mind had always worked so quickly—she grasped things the instant she thought them through, and just now at the Zhenbao Pavilion, faced with a sudden crisis, she'd been able to fall right into step with him, matching his every word without missing a beat. It seemed clear enough that no one but her could ever truly fill the role of Manor Lord's wife of Yueyue Manor.

"What do you mean by that? Well, that's true enough—Yueyue Manor is a merchant house, while your father held a place at court—those aren't entirely the same thing." Guo Huilian murmured half to herself.

"Why don't you just tell me everything plainly, all at once? Could it be you've done something you're ashamed of, and don't dare let me know?" Suddenly, Guo Huilian fixed Tian Xu with a sharp stare. She felt there was something mysterious, something evasive about him—how many more things was he still keeping from her? In the past it hadn't mattered so much, but now that Tian Xu had already asked for her hand, surely there was some real necessity in being open and honest with each other—otherwise, what sincerity could there possibly be in any of it?

"What could I possibly have done to be ashamed of?" Tian Xu shook his head, though a flicker of strange emotion crossed his face. "It isn't that I'm unwilling to explain everything at once—it's that this whole matter might take three days and three nights to explain fully, and even then it mightn't all make sense. And besides, you have to go back to the Cao household first, don't you? Why don't we wait until we're on the road back to the manor, and I'll explain it all to you carefully then?"

At that moment, a memory suddenly flashed through Tian Xu's mind—of the time, years ago, when he had schemed against Guo Huilian, deliberately, almost as if guided by some unseen hand, knocking her down from a tree, all so he could buy himself more time lingering at General Guo's residence to quietly maneuver his plans from the shadows. Wasn't that, too, something to be ashamed of? To this very day, he had never confessed it to her. Though Guo Huilian had suffered no injury from the fall, to Tian Xu's mind, scheming against a ten-year-old girl was hardly anything to be proud of. Could he confess it now? He had no idea how Guo Huilian might react if she learned of it—what if she grew so angry she refused to marry him after all? This small worry churned in his mind, and it was this that had brought the strange expression to his face.

"That's not it..." Guo Huilian tugged at Tian Xu's sleeve, studying his expression with careful scrutiny.

"There's definitely something you're hiding from me... and it's not the matter of following in your father's footsteps." Noticing just how strange Tian Xu's expression truly was, Guo Huilian pressed him with certainty.

It was, in the end, a case of being undone by her own strength—clever and quick-witted as Guo Huilian was, able to grasp anything with the slightest hint, she was, by the same token, no one to be easily fooled either. She caught the shift in his expression at once, and instantly transformed into a formidable interrogator...

"Truly, there's nothing..."

"Your face is written all over with guilt..." Guo Huilian pointed straight at Tian Xu's face.

"I was thinking about how Magistrate Cao intends to summon Yu Shurong to appear in court for questioning... Madame Cao has testified that she saw Yu Shurong at the secret chamber of Yun Xiang Garden, and Magistrate Cao, ignoring the advice of those beneath him, is determined to go through with it. Worried that the women's testimony alone might not be enough to shake Yu Shurong's position, he's also summoned me to the yamen to serve as a witness." Tian Xu hastily deployed a diversion, hoping to shift Guo Huilian's attention elsewhere—he could barely keep pace with that clever little mind of hers any longer.

"Is that so?" Tian Xu's gambit worked exactly as intended; Guo Huilian's attention was successfully diverted, and she murmured, half to herself, "Is that Young Master Yu really such a difficult person to deal with? The people at the Wannian yamen all seem thoroughly afraid of him..."

Tian Xu let out a quiet, private sigh of relief. Guo Huilian called others difficult to deal with, but she herself was no easier a match. Here she was, the future Manor Lord's wife of Yueyue Manor, yet somehow she'd ended up sounding every bit like some fierce, cunning bandit queen ruling over a mountain stronghold.

"His temperament is strange, and he throws his weight around shamelessly—anyone who tries to confront him head-on comes off worse for it. He doesn't hold a single minister at court in any regard whatsoever, let alone some minor Magistrate of Wannian. I daresay there'll be quite a show to watch in that courtroom..."