Night had fallen, and Wei Zi had already left.
Feng Yan was advanced in years and retired early.
In the main bedroom of the Feng Residence's rear courtyard, candle flames swayed, casting sparse shadows of wintersweet branches across the paper windows, faint and scattered.
Feng Guan reclined against the couch, his robe half undone, his face flushed, the wine still lingering.
His eyes were closed, one hand resting against his forehead, his thumb gently rubbing his temple. He looked languid and thoughtful.
Jiang Shi sat before the dressing table, facing the bronze mirror as she slowly loosened her coiffure.
Her movements were slow and distracted, her eyes watching her half-reclining husband in the mirror.
"My dear, why do you keep looking at me?" Feng Guan suddenly asked.
Hearing her husband speak, Jiang Shi promptly set her hairpin on the table and turned to face him, frowning.
"Husband."
"Mm." Feng Guan answered absently.
"Today, well..." Jiang Shi weighed her words carefully, her voice growing softer.
"What did Wei Zi mean at the banquet today when he said, 'With heaven and earth as witness, and the Ruler-Father to bear testimony'?"
At this, Feng Guan's eyelids stirred slightly, but he said nothing.
"Husband, surely you don't think..."
"Surely what?"
"Surely the Son of Heaven wouldn't descend from his throne to witness their marriage?"
As Jiang Shi's words fell, silence returned to the room.
Feng Guan opened his eyes. Rather than answer, he pushed himself upright and leaned against the bolster at the head of the bed.
Though he had never reached his father Feng Yan's pinnacle of ministerial power, he had once served as Vice Minister of Personnel.
After more than twenty years rising and falling upon the sea of officialdom, he had acquired at least some skill in reading expressions and