Winning at Chess, Another Year Gone By

He Xiao's gaze swept past Xie Yuan. It suddenly stopped on a young woman behind Xie Guan.

She was sixteen, graceful in bearing. Gold-trimmed red lambskin boots patterned with clouds covered her feet, and she wore a crimson gauze cloak lined with white fox fur, fastened with a blue-and-gold cord that flashed green.

She had a face like a flower, skin like congealed cream, and lips red without rouge. Her bright smile showed white teeth; her features were exquisite, and her long brows swept toward her temples, lending her a heroic air.

Yet a thread of sorrow lingered in those picturesque eyes.

Xie Yuan patted He Xiao's shoulder. "Old He, what are you looking at?"

He Xiao snapped back to himself and hurriedly lowered his head, turning the matter over in his mind.

This woman walked beside Xie Yuan and carried herself with distinction. She could not be a servant. He asked respectfully, "And this young lady is?"

Xie Yuan smiled. "My fourth cousin. You haven't met her, Old He. Mother specially invited her to spend the New Year at Xie Manor."

He Xiao's heart jolted. Xie Yuan's cousin on his mother's side—did that not make her a daughter of the Zhuge Clan, one of the Nine Great Surnames?

The empress dowager herself bore the compound surname Zhuge. A woman born into that clan was a daughter of a truly exalted house.

Fourth Miss. Both men immediately realized who she was.

Zhang Yuzhi. Her mother came from the Zhuge Clan, and her father from the Yan Capital Zhang Clan.

At the thought, Zhang Yuanlai and He Xiao hurried forward to pay their respects.

Both held the rank of Cultivated Scholar and enjoyed the privilege of not kneeling before officials. Before a daughter of the Zhuge Clan, however, they bowed with