Steel stitched the air, as breath measured it.
Shen Liang moved through the practice set as the sun laid a thin blade of light along his sword. He did not look like a man "past thirty summers" as the capital gossips loved to recite. He looked like a man the years had tried to catch and failed to pin. A thin white crescent scar curved under the stubble at his jaw; only finely adding to his charm.
He ended his sword practice with an exhale, the swords tip a single point that knew exactly where to stop.
Yin Qiao emerged from shadow to sight, bearing a leather tube with a ribbon dyed palace-red.
"From the inner Office, " Yin Qiao said, bowing.
Shen Liang unrolled the message.
The throne praises the suppression of the Cinder Banner along Huai. A marriage to "a noble daughter of the Su family " is bestowed. The ledger -writer returns at dusk for the marriage registry; the ceremony is to be simple, by imperial preference.
"How many noble daughters are there in the Su Family?" He asked.
"One counting the legitimate one, but who counting together with the concubine born daughter. " answered Yin Qiao.
"Huh! A noble daughter," he noted. "Not a name included, the Emperor really did his calculations well, guess which daughter will I end up getting married to?"
"As intended, " Yin Qiao answered.
Sliding the blade back onto its sheath, He set the sword on the rack. ", Prepare to ride. We present respect to my in-laws before the sun sets."
He handed back the paper. Yin Qiao did not move.
"There is more?" Shen Liang asked.
Yin Qiao cleared his throat. "Also from the barracks quartermaster, news from Huai Valley. Final pockets of the Cinder Banner have broken and run east. Your choice to flood the low pass..."
"...was the river's work," the general said. "We only removed the stones."
He washed his hands in the basin. Hands filled with calluses, especially on the are between his thumb.
"We ride," he said.
"Now, General?"
"His Majesty has mad either clear that he prefers swiftness by hinting the ledger should be filled by night, hasn't he?" Shen Liang said. " We must not ruin his plans".
He took his dark blue outer robe hang on the rack, shrugged into it, and tied it at the waist. He did not have any medals to show his rank as a general. He never wore them in the city. People easily recognised him by them, because only the troop he commands wore those.
As he turned, a stable boy who had come to bring the horses peeking from the behind a fence post dropped his jaw I'm worship and thought, with solemn twelve-year-old certainty, If I look that steady someday, girls will fall onto my shoulders on purpose!
The general noticed the stare but didn't even twitch. Men who learned to be mountains seldom saw the weather they caused.
.....
By midmorning, the Su residence sounded like a market square. Servants gathered at the gate with the Su Martriach and Patriarch at the door. Outside the residence, people had gathered for the gossip.
A palace eunuch in apricot robs stood at the outer gate with nose tilted to the angle of a man who believed himself to be superior. Two guards by his side, bearing the imperial guard emblem on theri chests, their spears shinning brightly in the morning sun.
The eunuch rolled out the edict. "By his majesty's divine pleasure," he recited, his voice thin and penetrating. "The empire commends General Shen Liang for quelling the Cinder Banner uprising along the Huai routes. For the sake of ancestral harmony and to settle the general's household, the throne bestows a marriage upon a noble daughter if the Su family. "
"Shen Liang ? The iron Wolf?"
The murmurs from the people around him did not escape the eunuchs ears.
The enuch's thin mouth curved. He added, almost lazily, "His Majesty desires simplicity. Pomp is discouraged as the general cannot be away from his barrack for long for the security of the nation, the marriage shall be arranged without delay."
He rolled up the scroll. Two characters I'm red lacquer sealed it.
Minister Su; tall, graying at the temples, with eyes that had learned to see the arithmetic in politics stepped forward to receive the decree.
"His Majesty's will is the Su family's duty," he said warmly receiving the rolled decree with a bow. "We thank the Son of Heaven for his grace."
The eunuch hummed. " The palace official will return this evening to record the household's assent. Do not keep the ledger waiting."
The decree at the Su gate became the topic of discussion at every tea house.
"The General?"
"They say he sleeps with his sword in bed."
"I heard he doesn't sleep at all, once an assassina attacked him in the middle of the night, only for the assassin to loose his head."
"I fear for who will marry him."
...
Somewhere behind the palace walls, the Emperor accepted congratulations for his generosity. His minister's who had also been afraid of the General's growing fame praised him for his decision.
Immensely satisfied with himself, the Emperor was more than happy receiving the praises.
A leash looks like a red silk sash if you tie it with ceremony.
Meanwhile, in the East Courtyard.
Su Lin learned of the decree when Chun Tao sprinted into her Courtyard so fast a chicken she has been raising, squawked and fled for its small life.
"Miss! It came! The Emperor's decree! But not for Second Miss by name, just for .." She gulped air. "For a noble daughter of the Su family. "
Su Lin who was sunbathing, blinked once."How convenient."
Chun Tao flung her hands. "Everyone assumes its Second Miss."
"Oh," Su Lin reacted changing positions to make herself more comfortable.
Meanwhile at Madam Su Courtyard. She and the minister had already heard of their beloveds daughter refusal to the marriage, adding to the fact that the Emperor did not specify which daughter, the minister being as cunning as any minister, use that to throw in his lazy, untalented daughter for the marriage. He could not bring himself to give the apple of his eye to search a fearsome man. Especially since from the Emperor's actions he was sure the General will knew kf these days face a calamity.
...
So, being that it was decided that Su Mei was the youngest and thus could not marry before her elder sister and that she was of weak health, that hot potatoe as Su Mei had wanted landed on Su Lin's hands.
Word traveled faster in þhe kitchen as there were many women there, and soon enough Chun Tao learned of it when she had gone to take food for her Miss.
Chun Tao paced Su Lin's tiles to near extinction. "Miss, do you hear me? They'll hand you to the General today itself! The palace official returns at sunset to record your name in the general's registry.."
Su Lin offered the cat laying lazily at her legs a strip of fish skin. The cat lazily started munching on it. "Good," Su Lin said.
"Miss! don't be playful! You'll be married to a man who..who.." She lowered her voice to a scandalised whisper. "..executes people before breakfast."
"So he is an early riser," Su Lin said. "How virtuous unlike me."
"Miss!"
Su Lin sighed and rose, brushing a peatl from her sleeve. "Which robe will look like I respect this matrimony enough to actually put in the effort to look good?"
Chun Tao blinked, "The blue one?"
"Bring it."