The wound on his neck healed in two days enough that he was not afraid of it bleeding again, and the salve given to him by the physician was closing it up without a scar. It was good that he would not need to go to the concubine parlours with an ugly mark on his neck. He didn’t have the energy to explain it. Nor do I have the energy to go in the first place, he thought to himself with a sigh, as he pushed his hair through his xiao guan and slid the pin through to secure it. Well, there could be news.

He picked out the blue robe Xiuying had told him that she liked best and headed out of his quarters— it was a walk through the central gardens, past the open pavilion where he often drank tea and played Go with his father. Although he was happy not to see his brother anywhere in the vicinity of the parlours, since he was always too eager to ask Zhisen ‘how things are going,’ he was equally relieved that some court officials were around to witness him ‘making an effort.’

Junsai’s wife, Shengtong, hadn’t yet borne him any children, but he had three sons and four daughters with his concubines. Meanwhile, Zhisen had no children yet, and his father was always asking him about it, ‘after all, you’re only three years from your fourth decade.’ It was not exactly a small issue.

At the end of the bridge across the pond, he passed beneath two blossoming almond trees, and then pushed aside the sheer red curtains covering the archway-like corridor where there were three doors on each side. The six doors were arranged in order. 

On the left, the first was the Emperor’s, the second was Junsai's, and the third had belonged to Zhisen before Ziying's death. On the right, the first had belonged to Ziying but now belonged to Zhisen— it had a better view of the garden— the second for any court officials who were permitted their manhood, and the third for any distinguished guests. 

The parlours for court officials and guests were more like ‘entertainment’ parlours than ‘concubine’ parlours, since the women strictly did not engage in any sexual activities with them. They did what other concubines otherwise did— massage, music, serving food and drink, joking, dancing, and other trivial things like playing games.

The archway opened on the other side into a much more flowery garden where some of the concubines were chatting amongst themselves and drinking tea. He spotted Shengtong among them but opened the door into his parlour before she could notice and call out to him. As soon as he opened the door in his haste and shut it rather noisily, the talking and laughing that had been going on before quieted.

Through various conquests and political alliances with lords of territories under the Jirandai, twelve women had become his official concubines. Unlike his father and Junsai, he did not appoint any of them to higher positions. They were all intelligent and noble women— he did not see himself as having any right to compare them to each other. Zhisen inclined his head to them all with a smile. “Apologies, I didn’t mean to startle you, but I saw Shengtong outside.”

Xiuying laughed. “If only I could terrify you so much— I would do unspeakable things to you.”

Shaking his head, he removed his shoes and entered properly. “I could do without knowing that.”

“Oh, let me flirt with you every now and then, won’t you?” she asked, and her friend, Liling, laughed behind her paper fan. Leaning against one of the columns around the central area, surrounded by a square of three descending steps, Zhisen smiled. Xiuying poked Liling’s cheek while holding his gaze, and said, “See, look at this blush." The pinkness was clearly from cosmetics. "I’m not the only one who thinks you look ravishing today.”

On the other side of the room, in the window-seat playing checkers with Daiyu, Mei waved a hand at her and rolled her eyes. “Come up with a better thing to call him every time he visits, or he’ll get bored.”

Liling interjected, “Shush, let him talk, can’t you see him smirking at you?”

Zhisen couldn’t resist laughing at that, but said, “I’m going to take a bath, no need to wait on me.”

A couple of them clicked their tongues at him, likely having expected a joke, but he turned and walked away from the central area toward the separated room where there was a large, heated pool. Flower petals floated on its surface, and steam billowed up, weaving through the incense-sweetened air toward the singular half-open window. Zhisen paused by the bench against the rightmost wall and unfastened his hair, then with his back turned to the entrance reached into the sleeve of his robe. He extracted the small vial, uncorked it, and drank its too-sweet contents.

Xiuying’s voice drifted in. “Headaches again?”

He had them all believe that it was medicine for headaches, but the truth was far from it.

It was more like poison.

Looking over his shoulder at her, he said, “Don’t dote on me after revealing your sadistic desires.”

She chuckled and walked across the room to stand behind him. “Isn’t it my right to dote on you, A-sen?” she asked, and kissed the side of his neck while untying his sash. Once she had opened his robe, she slid her hands up his chest until she found the highest fastening of his vest. “Hmm?”

He let her unfasten his vest knot by knot, slowly. “Do you think you’re tempting me?”

“A little?” she said with a smile in her voice. “Will you turn around to make it easier?”

“And let you do unspeakable things to me?”

Xiuying laughed, her brow hitting his nape. “Seducing you is a battle.”

“You like a challenge, don’t you?” he asked, and she kissed his neck again, biting lightly this time, but he could feel her smiling. Zhisen waited until she had opened his vest to ask, “Any news?”

She sighed heavily. “Can’t you just relax? Let me wash your hair and pamper you, and then we can talk about politics.” He laughed and turned around in her arms to push a finger against her forehead until she stepped away from him, looking ruffled. “You… really. Why have a handsome face when all you can think about is scheming?” Zhisen shook his head and walked past her toward the pool, taking off his remaining clothes as he went. She did not bother picking them up— after all, she was not a servant. “Zhisen.”

“Yes, darling?” he asked, trying not to laugh as he stepped into the steaming water.

Xiuying clicked her tongue. “So childish.” Zhisen ignored her and sat down on one of the submerged benches, leaning against the wall and letting his head rest against the tiled floor. “Look, I talked to the girls and none of us have heard anything new since the last time. Gentry Donghai is tight-lipped.”

“And young Lord Xiangshi?”

“You’d have a better chance getting something out of him than me. All he does with women is sex.”

Zhisen considered it, rubbing out the stiffness in his left shoulder. “I could talk to him, I suppose… but then he might work out that I’m paying attention to him. We still need to be subtle.”

“Liling and I went into the guest parlour when he came, but he left with another lady. I’m not sure if we didn’t impress him, or if he knows that we’re your concubines.”

Zhisen shook his head. “He doesn’t have a way of knowing. No man is allowed in here but me, and what reason do the other concubines have to reveal you in truth? They could attempt to get in my favour by implying you’ve lain with another man, but your word is weightier, and they wouldn’t risk their necks just to try to get in bed with me. I’m not first in line, after all.”

Xiuying sighed as she removed her outermost robes, to avoid wetting them. “True. Perhaps we’re not his type. That girl was a little more on the round-faced side. Maybe Daiyu will go next time.”

“Just tell her to be careful,” Zhisen said, and watched her walk toward him.

“Oh? What a sweet thing to say. Should I call her here instead of attending to you myself?”

Zhisen raised an eyebrow. “Will you really forfeit your chance, or do you think I will offer sympathy in return for your feigning jealousy?” Xiuying’s was an irked smile. “You are so beautiful when you pout.”

“Then you are lucky to be the most irritating man in the world,” she said, and disappeared from his view, sitting down behind him. She scooted forward until his head was in her lap, combing her fingers through his hair, every nail manicured to a shine and painted with miniscule floral designs.

After a moment, Zhisen answered, “At least I take first place for something in your heart.”

She smiled a little and leaned over, the unbound strand of her hair tickling his brow. “I know you don’t mean that,” she said and, with a hand on his cheek, kissed him softly. Closing his eyes, he lifted a hand to her nape, pulling her closer. Her lips tasted of cherries, as if she’d rubbed the fruit on them until they were red with juice. Her perfume was subtle and almond-like, matched perfectly with the incense.

He did wish that he could permit himself to love.

In the morning, he saw a swallow perching under the eaves, through the open window. Someone was humming a sweet melody that he soon recognized as his mother’s favourite. Its lyrics detailed a story about a young woman who had become the concubine of a nobleman, and who every morning sang to a sparrow in the garden about her homesickness. She loved the sparrow so much that she caged it, but when she realized that she had caged the sparrow like her master had caged her, she set it free. 

He knew that whoever was humming it, distantly in the garden, only did so because his mother always used to sing it, and she had been a concubine long enough that some of the servants had known her well. He smiled a bit, remembering the way she used to make shadows on the wall with paper puppets while she sang to him. 

Zhisen opened his eyes at the sheer drapes of the canopy around the bed, and a mid-morning sunlight. He sat upright, realizing that Xiuying was gone, and his clothes, too. With a sigh, he wiped his face, then called out, “Where are my clothes?” The humming stopped, and laughter exploded through the parlour from beyond the corridor, in the central room. Getting out of bed and bringing the blanket with him, around his waist, Zhisen said with as much sweetness as he could muster, “Xiuying, I will hang you from the cherry tree by your ankles, so you should run now if you plan to run.”

The giggling only got worse, until he emerged into the parlour to find Xiuying wearing his robes and pulling an over-serious face while pretending to read a scroll. She even wore a topknot. Liling and Mei were rolling on their sides with gasping laughter, and the rest of the girls were trying to avoid looking at her. After a moment, in which Zhisen thought very vividly about how he would tie her to the tree upside-down, Xiuying slowly looked up. With an imperious voice, totally exaggerated, she said, “Ah, young man, how can you emerge so improperly from your quarters? Why, you are so tousled! Do not tell me… you were dallying all night?”

Zhisen said, “Give my clothes back to me or I will make good on my threat, Your Highness.”

“Pah! You could not possibly hang a prince by his ankles,” she said, and looked away from him with her nose turned up. Mei started to wheeze, clawing at the corner of his robe with some desperate sounds that resembled, Please and Stop. “Unhand me, foolish wench,” Xiuying said, and shook her off.

Liling finally managed to say, “Xiuying, enough!”

Zhisen finally crossed the room, blanket dragging behind him heavily, and stopped directly in front of her. Xiuying looked up at him from the corner of her eye, her mouth showing disdain but her eyes sparkling with amusement. Zhisen smiled at her until his eyes squinted, then bent over and slung her over his shoulder. The blanket fell off, but they’d all seen him naked before. Xiuying let out a high-pitched noise of surprise and squirmed, but he held fast and kept walking in the direction of the bedroom.

Daiyu called after him, “Go easy, Zhisen!”

Everyone laughed some more, but Xiuying thumped his back as if that might stop him and said, “Hey! Let me down, I was only joking! Don’t hang me upside-down, at least not naked—”

He deposited her on the bed and crossed his arms while she bounced, fabric flying up. “Undress.”

Spitting out strands of her hair and pushing the rest from her face, she gasped at him. “Scoundrel!”

“There’s a court meeting I must attend at noon, so give my clothes back to me,” he said, and went over to the vanity desk, picking up a comb. While he tried to untangle his hair, he added, “Next time, though, I’ll introduce you to my favourite cherry tree in the central garden. I know you’ll get along.”

While she took off his robes, she sighed. “You’re a real spoilsport, you know that?”

He glanced over his shoulder to meet her eyes. “I prefer spending time here where none of you have motive or desire to stab me in the back, but as you know, we are on the brink of war.”

There was a brief silence, before Xiuying told him, “One of Junsai’s women is with child.”

“Good for him,” Zhisen said mildly, taking his inner clothes from her and donning them.

“Zhisen—” She cut off. Then: “That I haven't been able… I’m truly sorry.”

It’s not your fault.  “Don’t apologize for that,” he said, and met her eyes in the mirror with a smile.

“But I—”

He interrupted her as he slid the pin through his xiao guan. “I told you already not to apologize.”

She fell silent at that, and her sadness seemed to diffuse through the air. “Maybe this time.”

“That’s a better attitude,” he said, as he put on his outer robe and tied his sash. On the way out of the room, he pinched her cheek and tugged. “A-ying, you’re ugly when you’re not smiling.”

Xiuying’s eyes were as if she wanted to shake his shoulders and shout at him to be serious, but she forced a smile, saying, “Better than always being ugly, like Shengtong.”

He laughed. “It explains why she hasn’t borne Junsai a child. Her face can’t salvage her attitude.”

She smiled a little more genuinely at that, and he was about to bid her farewell for now when she suddenly hugged him. It was too brief for him to return, but as she stepped back, she said, “Take care.”

“You, too,” he said, and left the room. On the way out, he bid the others goodbye, too.

The empty vial in his sleeve felt heavier than when it had been full.