When Zhang Zhixu returned to Mingzhu Tower that evening, he found that Chen Baoxiang had an extra person by her side.

A scrawny little girl, dark-skinned, her clothes full of patches — no need to ask to know that this person had gone and indulged her soft heart, picking someone up from outside.

He withdrew his gaze and decided not to ask. After all, he had seen far too many suffering people in his life — if he tried to save them one by one, how could he ever save them all?

“Great Immortal.” Chen Baoxiang spoke first. “I went to Xiaohui Moneylending House today. They really are oppressing the common people — forcibly seizing and reselling farmers’ land, and they told me outright that Lu Shouhuai is backing them.”

“Mm.” Zhang Zhixu sat down and looked up at her. “What evidence did you bring back?”

Chen Baoxiang pointed to the little girl beside her. “She’s an eyewitness.”

“In the Great Sheng, cases are tried on physical evidence, not oral testimony.” He shook his head. “An eyewitness alone won’t do. Everything you’ve described must be substantiated with hard proof — including the relationship between Lu Shouhuai and Xiaohui Moneylending House. You’ll need to find account ledgers or written correspondence before any of it can be proven.”

That was all correct. Going to lodge a complaint without evidence was like picking up a rock only to drop it on one’s own feet.

But it was also so coldly rational and impartial that it left no room for human feeling.

Chen Baoxiang slumped her shoulders and said, aggrieved, “We’re not in a courtroom here. Would it kill you to share in my outrage and curse them out a little with me?”

“It wouldn’t kill me, but it wouldn’t solve anything either.” Zhang Zhixu looked at the person beside her. “If she’s an eyewitness, she should be turned over to the military guard yamen first. Why did you bring her back here?”

Han Xiao instinctively tried to duck behind Chen Baoxiang.

Chen Baoxiang shielded her, thought for a moment, and said, “She sold herself into my service as a maid. We’ve already signed a permanent indenture contract. I’ll send her to the yamen once we find more evidence — it’s not too late.”

Zhang Zhixu patted the seat beside him.

Chen Baoxiang hesitated, then sat down next to him.

“Were you cursing me in your heart just now?” he asked quietly.

Chen Baoxiang’s mouth twitched and she muttered under her breath, “No, really — we’ve been apart and you can still hear what’s in my head?”

He gave a short huff and shook his head. “There are some things I can’t explain to you clearly. You’ll understand once you’ve encountered more of the world. As for this person — I won’t say anything about you keeping her, but don’t lie to me.”

Since when could someone sign a permanent indenture contract in the blink of an eye? That was pure nonsense.

“I’m not lying.” Chen Baoxiang genuinely pulled out the contract for him to see. “Her family owes a mountain of debt. They had no way to repay it, so naturally she had to sell herself to me.”

A fresh contract, the fingerprints still vivid.

Zhang Zhixu scanned it briefly. “Four hundred taels?”

“Is that a lot?” She looked a little anxious. “What’s the going rate for a normal household?”

Zhang Zhixu pointed at the page boy behind him. “Two hundred taels.”

“Two — what?” Chen Baoxiang turned to look at Han Xiao. “You swindled me?”

Han Xiao shook her head rapidly. “I — I’ve never sold myself before. I didn’t know what it should cost. I just thought I’d redeem one mu of land first.”

“One mu of land?” Zhang Zhixu was puzzled. “What land costs that much? Ordinary dry fields are only twenty or thirty taels, and premium paddy fields don’t go over forty.”

Han Xiao glanced at Chen Baoxiang, swallowed hard, and laid out the whole story — every detail of how Xiaohui Moneylending House had seized and resold their land.

Zhang Zhixu’s expression finally shifted. “With oppression this outrageous, why didn’t you go to the yamen to file a complaint?”

“We did.” Han Xiao said. “It was no use. We had no evidence at all, but they had it all in black and white.”

“……”

Zhang Zhixu pressed his fingers to his brow.

Every matter does indeed require evidence — but walking people through due process while they stand with nowhere to lodge their grievances, these destitute commoners with no recourse — what would make him any different from those officials who occupy their posts while doing nothing?

The room fell quiet. Han Xiao grew frightened and quickly said, “I’m quite hardworking. Please don’t turn me away. I wouldn’t survive out there.”

He had no intention of turning her away. That girl was Chen Baoxiang’s four hundred taels of silver — anyone who so much as touched her would probably have that woman ready to fight them to the death.

After a moment’s thought, Zhang Zhixu said, “I have the next two days off from duty. Why not take a trip to An Xian?”

“Yes!” Han Xiao’s eyes lit up brightly. “I can show the official the way.”

Chen Baoxiang looked at the brand-new silk robe on Zhang Zhixu, then at his freshly changed fine lambskin boots, and hesitated greatly. “How about I go in your place?”

“You were the one who said it yourself — what you hear and what you see with your own eyes are two different things.”

Zhang Zhixu waved for Ningsu to take Han Xiao away to wash up and change clothes, then washed his own hands in the copper basin.

Chen Baoxiang circled around him. “But the journey is long. I’m worried you won’t be able to bear it.”

“If you can bear it, why couldn’t I?” He slanted her a look. “Or do you still think I’m sickly and frail?”

At that, Chen Baoxiang shook her head like a rattle-drum, terrified of being hoisted up and paraded around the courtyard in all four directions to prove otherwise again.

“Don’t worry. I know my limits.” He finished washing his hands and, as he was at it, pressed her hands into the basin and wiped them clean as well. “Besides, if I were to serve as an eyewitness, I’d carry far more weight than she does.”

Chen Baoxiang’s lashes fluttered softly.

Perhaps it was because only the Great Immortal remained nearby, but she suddenly felt the bone-deep weariness and sense of peace that comes from returning home after a long, busy day. She let him wash her hands for her without protest, then nestled into the seat beside him.

The Great Immortal still had books to read, and as he read, he shared passages from the text with her.

She couldn’t follow any of it. She just sat cross-legged with a blanket pulled around her, and before long her eyelids were drooping, and she toppled sideways, leaning into him.

Zhang Zhixu had just gotten to the part about amendments to the law and the calibration of sentencing — when his shoulder suddenly felt heavy.

He closed his mouth and looked at her with mild exasperation.

If it were anyone else, this would be a violation of propriety. Who just collapses onto someone like that?

— But this was Chen Baoxiang. He had even bathed in her company.

What was the big deal about letting her lean there? After all, there was nothing sentimental between them.

He talked himself around quickly, and the Second Young Master Zhang withdrew his gaze, bearing the weight on his shoulder as he continued turning pages.

·

Yanglin Village was eighty li from Shangjing. Zhang Zhixu had initially planned to travel by carriage, but after calculating the hours, switched to horseback.

Jiuquan had prepared for him a set of deep-colored brocade riding attire, quite luxurious and fine-looking, but Zhang Zhixu waved it aside. “Change it for something simpler. I’m going on an inspection, not to show off my wealth.”

“How thoughtful of you, Master,” Jiuquan said with repeated admiration.

Chen Baoxiang watched from the side and saw him change into a red-and-white riding outfit with silver trim and a pair of suede boots, while two servants bound hard cowhide over his knees and elbows, then tied a sun-shading bamboo hat in place for him.

— Where exactly was any of this simple?

“Great Immortal,” she couldn’t help but remind him, “An Xian is thick with mud and deep in dust. The roads are rough going.”

“I know.” Zhang Zhixu swung himself onto his horse with clean, practiced ease, then glanced down at her with an air of quiet pride. “I’ve been outside the city before, you know.”

The Zhang Family didn’t raise idle people. He had been helping the family inspect their rural estates since the age of seven — he had seen vast stretches of land, and he had seen rooftops with crumbling tiles.

He was absolutely not some pampered young lord who didn’t know how high the sky was.