And daring was something Ling Xin had in abundance.
*
It did notgo off as planned, but it was close.
They were caught by the porters carrying the palanquin. It took nearly all of their money to buy the porters’ silence. Worse,the bearers refused to wait outside the Forbidden City with Li Fei because they would not give generosity to loose women. They left Li Fei in the line of contestant palanquins to suffer in the coming heat.
Li Fei swore she didn’t mind. And then after a quick hug, she bid Ling Xin away to find her own fortune with the man she loved.
All that was left was to get to the inn where he rested.
On the opposite side of Peking.
Chapter Twenty
Zhi Hao saton his narrow bed, his head pounding while his heart felt like a leaden weight inside his chest.
He had tried to forget Ling Xin. That had been especially difficult while spending hours every day inside her house. It had been worse when she had instructed him in Manchu.
And every day, he told himself it would get better. She was destined to be the empress. His future depended on him pleasing Earl Song and accepting Li Fei as his wife.
He did his best not to look at Ling Xin. He would not think of her, he would not want her.
It didn’t work.
And so in the last days before he headed to the imperial exam and she to the Feast of Fertility, he racked his brain for a solution. He’d planned all sorts of raids where he grabbed her and ran off to the farthest corners of China. He’d thrown himself before Lady Song and begged for a boon. He’d even burned joss sticks to the fox spirit who haunted him, all to no avail.
He found no solution. Especially since he couldn’t seem to get past the fact that she’d chosen to be an empress over being with him. He knew she’d done it to save his life, but still, it hurt.
Yet what man took away a woman’s chance to be empress? A woman who had spent her life and likely a great deal of her father’s fortune in pursuit of that goal.
Except he knew that was her father’s goal. He knew Ling Xin loved him. She’d said as much. And yet what could he do?
Nothing.
Perhaps if he passed the imperial exam, he would eventually have enough gold to buy her out of the harem. Assuming, of course, that she did not make it to empress.
So many questions, so few solutions.
None, to be exact. His only hope was to pass the imperial exam and pray some twist of fortune appeared in the future. Something—anything—that might turn things in their favor.
He was burning his last candle in study when someone knocked on his door. It couldn’t be Master Gao. The man was almost as nervous as Zhi Hao and had gone to bed early with a bottle of plum wine.
But when the knock persisted, he grumbled as he hauled open the door. He didn’t hide his rancor when he growled, “What?”
The person in front of him recoiled at his sharp tone, taking a step back before exhaling in obvious relief.
“Thank heaven I’ve found you!”
It took a moment for Zhi Hao to focus. The person in front of him wore coarse clothing and a heavy scarf about her face and shoulders. It was a woman, that much he could tell. And then he saw her eyes.
It couldn’t be.
“Ling Xin?” he whispered.
“Let me in!” she said, abruptly shoving him aside to enter his room. Once there, she pulled off her scarf and used it to wipe her face. “You have no idea what I’ve been through today!” Then she turned to him, her smile radiant. “But it’s all over now. I’ve finally found you.” She wrinkled her nose as the singing from the taproom grew louder. “Could you not stay in a less rowdy inn?”
“It is the night before the imperial exam. The masters are celebrating.”