My Fair Concubine - By Jeannie Lin Page 0,104
out into a grin. ‘Ah, yes. Have a safe journey, my dear Pearl.’
The minister let the curtain drop back in place and turned to Fei Long, who was prepared to have the imperial guards sent after him at any moment.
‘You.’ Minister Cao wagged a finger at him, smiling broadly. ‘You might have the potential to be a good politician after all.’
‘No, sir.’
The carriers took their positions and lifted the sedan up to return to the palace. From there, the caravan would be meeting up with an entourage of bodyguards and emissaries from Khitan and then Dao would be on her way as an imperial princess.
‘I should accompany her Highness as she goes to meet the Khitan ambassadors,’ Minister Cao offered. ‘Make sure our girl is sent off safely.’
The procession departed in the same way it had come, in a blaze of ceremony and trumpets. Yan Ling returned to stand beside him as the cymbals faded.
‘You did know about Dao, didn’t you?’ she said.
‘We…we don’t speak of such things so openly,’ he stammered.
But he’d always suspected. He supposed Minister Cao had known as well. Dao had lived her entire life keeping a secret that everyone had known, but no one openly accepted. His other Little Sister.
‘Now that your sister will be auspiciously wed, you should think of starting a family of your own,’ Yan Ling suggested innocently.
‘Perhaps I should consult a matchmaker.’
She snorted. ‘If you see fit.’
He took her hand. Her fingers were cool and calming beneath the summer sun. ‘I need a woman, you know. And only one woman will do.’
They looked at one another for a long, contented moment before heading back into the house together.
* * *
The neighbourhood gossips chirped louder than the cicadas that summer and indeed they had much to talk about. Chang Fei Long, the favoured son of a government official, fell in love with a humble servant girl. By the end of the summer, news of the wedding spread to every teahouse and tavern.
It was said that Fei Long wore a red scarf on the day of the wedding, much like the red scarf worn by a mysterious bowman in an illicit archery tournament a month earlier. He also wore a pair of felt shoes embroidered with tigers. As malnourished as said tigers were supposed to be, it was rumoured that Fei Long wore them proudly wherever he went. His new wife set about completing a new pair to exonerate herself.
For all her faults, the tea girl Yan Ling, now Chang Tai-tai, or Madame Chang, was praised as the embodiment of industriousness and determination; truly a carp who had jumped through the dragon’s gate.
The match must have been an auspicious one for the Chang family. A month after the wedding, the Emperor invited Fei Long to the palace at the north end of the city. Several targets were set up and Fei Long instructed the crown prince himself. An appointment as archery master of the city guard quickly followed.
* * *
Many, many months later, a letter came from Khitan. It was the last one before the winter season made the grasslands difficult to pass. The khagan noted the grace, charm and unnaturally sharp tongue that their Tang princess possessed.
It might be quite a while before the Khitans asked for another princess.
* * * * *
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ISBN: 9781459230569
Copyright © 2012 by Chi Nguyen-Rettig
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
BPA