Chapter 3

Before dawn, Fang Yuan rises after barely two hours of sleep, unbothered by the exhaustion thanks to five hundred years of discipline. His servant Shen Cui brings water to wash and helps him dress. She lingers with more familiarity than the task needs. He remembers her from his previous life as his aunt and uncle’s watcher, who turned cold on him the moment his status fell. He now treats her plainly, without the affection he once felt. Fang Zheng, waiting nearby with only an old servant of his own, watches with a flicker of jealousy and privately wonders what it would be like to be waited on the way his brother is. ^{ch. 3}

Walking to the ceremony, the two brothers pass clusters of youths who whisper about Fang Yuan, the boy known for composing poems, and about his flat, indifferent manner. Fang Yuan reflects that outstanding talent draws envy, and reads his aunt and uncle’s gifts, a watchful maid for him and a plain nurse for his brother, as a deliberate strategy to breed resentment between the two of them. In his previous life that resentment took root because he understood too little and his brother too little else. This time, knowing the scheme, he weighs how easily he could suppress his brother, take Shen Cui as a concubine, or move against his aunt, uncle, and the clan elders, and finds he has no interest in doing so. He settles instead on indifference: whoever does not stand in his way can be left alone. ^{ch. 3}