Ning Chen glanced into the room. “There shouldn’t be any more trouble, should there?”

Zisu said quietly, “The mother is out of danger. She is only very weak. I’ve left a prescription, and if she takes the medicine as written she’ll be back on her feet in a few days.”

Ning Chen nodded slightly. “Good. Let’s go.”

Ning Chen took Zisu’s hand as though it were the most natural thing in the world and walked out with her.

Liang Jingwu held Beilin Pass with a hundred thousand men, and he was a fierce fighter and a bold commander. Ning Chen thought highly of him.

They already had the fellowship of men who had fought on the same field.

And this time he had preserved the Liang line. Whatever happened from now on, he believed Liang Jingwu would stand on his side without a moment’s hesitation.

Still not enough, though. He would have to stage a piece of self-inflicted suffering and bind Liang Jingwu to him for good… and clear away Ren Qifeng, that stone in the path, while he was at it.

He remembered the day the State Preceptor of Nanyue stood up at court with a first line meant to shame the Great Xuan, and this Ren Qifeng had capered higher than anyone.

Capering clown. Your good days are over. Ning Chen laughed coldly to himself.

“The little young master is so sweet.”

“Eh? What was that?”

Ning Chen had been thinking and had not caught what Zisu said.

Zisu said with a light smile, “I said the Liang family’s newborn boy is so sweet.”

“You’re joking, right? Can a newborn be good-looking? Aren’t they all wrinkled and blotchy…” Ning Chen stopped short. “You like children?”

Zisu nodded and made a small sound of assent.

“Er… If you want children, I feel this is something I could help with.”

Zisu’s small face went red. She gave Ning Chen a look. “You wish.”

“How can you call that wishing? The point is that I’m a man who likes to help. I do good deeds and leave no name behind — a surname is more than enough.”

Zisu burst out laughing and said, with a pretty show of temper, “We’ll see. I might think about it.”

“Then you think about it properly, and ‘come’ to a decision soon.”

An ill-timed cough came from behind them.

Ning Chen turned to look. “Doctor Chen, you’re still here?”

Doctor Chen’s expression froze.

His face twitched a few times. He bowed and said, “Marquis Ning, Miss Zisu, I’ll take my leave. You are both welcome at the Tong’an Hall whenever you have the time.”

Ning Chen said with a smile, “I’ve troubled Doctor Chen today. I’ll call and thank you properly one of these days.”

Doctor Chen gave a nod and quickened his step as he left.

Zisu turned her head to look at Ning Chen. “When were you made a marquis?”

“At the morning court today. His Majesty made me Idle Marquis.”

Zisu said with a smile, “Congratulations! You must be the youngest marquis in the whole history of the Great Xuan.”

Ning Chen laughed lightly. “It was all fought for with my life.”

Zisu’s face was full of admiration.

“But I don’t think Idle Marquis suits you at all… You campaign south and north, and you’re penned in at court. There’s nothing idle about you.”

Ning Chen looked at her and said, smiling, “A horse goes weak on the road only because it is thin; a man is no rake only because he is poor. I’m not idle because I’m not strong enough yet. The time for being idle hasn’t come.”

Zisu was taken aback. “You’ve been made a marquis and you’re still not strong enough?”

Ning Chen shook his head.

The marquisate was given to him by the Xuan Emperor, and the Xuan Emperor could take it back whenever he liked.

What he had to reach was a place where not even the Xuan Emperor could take anything from him easily.

Real idleness was not doing whatever you wanted. It was not having to do anything you did not want to do, with no one in a position to make you.

As they walked out of the Liang house, Zisu’s small face darkened a little.

“Should I be going back to the Ministry of Justice prison now?”

Ning Chen gave a calm smile, helped her up onto the horse and mounted behind her.

“Hyah!!!”

Diaochan carried the two of them and went like the wind.

After a good while, Zisu lifted her delicate little face and looked up at the clean lines of Ning Chen’s. “This isn’t the way back to the Ministry of Justice prison, is it?”

Ning Chen laughed lightly. “This is the way to the courtesans’ quarter.”

Zisu’s clear eyes went round. “You — you’re taking me to see Zhirou at the courtesans’ quarter? But I’m still under sentence. Won’t this drag you in?”

“It will. But that doesn’t matter. I can carry it. Yudie misses you badly, and you miss her, don’t you?”

“After you were imprisoned, Yudie sold everything of value she had and borrowed a great deal on top of it, trying to buy your way out… and she was cheated out of all of it.”

Zisu’s small mouth fell open. Then she shook her head. “The silly girl. I told her that if anything happened to me she was to leave me alone.”

Ning Chen sighed. “She looks on you as her own elder sister. How could she leave you alone? I’m taking you to her now.”

Something moved hard behind Zisu’s eyes. “Why are you so good to me?”

Ning Chen said with a smile, “Because I’m a lecher… I remember Mangzhou very fondly, when you were treating me.”

In an instant Zisu was red to the lobes of her ears.

They rode at a gallop to the back gate of the courtesans’ quarter.

Ning Chen wrapped Zisu up in his cloak and took her in by the back way, familiar ground to him, and reached the third floor without trouble.

“Ning—” Xiaoxing was busy in the outer room. Seeing Ning Chen come in, she was about to make her bow, but the python robe made her big eyes go wide. Her small face changed and she dropped hurriedly to her knees. “This servant greets Marquis Ning!”

“Get up.”

Xiaoxing stood and called excitedly toward the inner room, “Miss, Marquis Ning is here!”

“Marquis Ning?”

Yudie came out with a puzzled face. Seeing Ning Chen, her big liquid eyes went wider still. “Ning, dear? You…”

Ning Chen smiled. “Yes. I’ve been made a marquis. His Majesty named me Idle Marquis himself.”

Yudie’s eyes were shining, her whole face full of worship. “Ning, dear, is so splendid. Ning, dear, must be the youngest marquis in the history of the Great Xuan!”

Ning Chen was about to nod when he saw Yudie’s gaze fall on Zisu beside him.

Zisu was wrapped in the cloak with the hood up, and Yudie had not recognized her at all.

Ning Chen went over and shut the door, came back and said with a smile, “Let me introduce you. This is Miss Zisu.”

Yudie’s lovely eyes flew wide.

Xiaoxing’s mouth fell open.

Zisu took the hood off her head, showing the face that could topple a kingdom with her beauty, and looked at Yudie with feeling.

“Sister Zisu…”

Yudie’s nature was a quiet one, but she could not hold the feeling down now. She walked quickly over.

The two sisters held each other.

“Zhirou…”

“Sister Zisu, I’ve seen you at last. I’m not dreaming, am I?”

The two sisters held each other and cried and laughed together.

It was a good while before the two of them grew calm again.

“Sister Zisu, has His Majesty pardoned you?”

Zisu shook her head. “Not yet. Ning Chen brought me to see you without leave.”

Yudie’s pretty face changed. She looked at Ning Chen. “Ning, dear, this will drag you in…”

Ning Chen smiled and waved a hand. “Don’t worry. A charge this size I can carry… The two of you being happy is what matters most.”

“It all rests on tomorrow. If it goes well, Zisu will be completely free… If things don’t go the way I’ve planned, then Zisu will have to stay in prison a while longer.”

“You two talk. I’ll be going.”

Yudie’s whole face said she did not want him to go. “Ning, dear, only got here and he’s leaving already?”

“I still have things to do. On top of that, you only have the one bed here… If I stay, where am I sleeping tonight?”

Yudie said, without thinking, “This girl’s bed will sleep three.”

Ning Chen’s eyes lit up at once.

Zisu’s face was all embarrassment. “What nonsense are you talking?”

(End of Chapter 329)