The Chen household was not a small compound. Inside there should currently be two young masters and the servants attending to them — certainly more people than in the back courtyard of the government compound. There were most likely night patrol guards as well, so Zhù Ying was very cautious. She chose to enter from the left section of the front courtyard wall, as the owners rested in the rear courtyard, while the front courtyard was both quieter and less populated.

She flattened herself against the top of the wall and waited a while. Detecting nothing unusual, she nimbly leapt down from the wall, landing with almost no sound, and stayed still another moment before moving along the shadows at the base of the wall toward the rooms where lamplight glowed.

Night watchmen were generally stationed in a small room near a gate.

In a large household like the Chen family, there would certainly be night watchmen arranged; whether the servants could be diligent in their duties depended on their master’s management abilities. Even the most capable master couldn’t have servants patrolling the courtyard throughout the entire night without rest.

Sure enough — the men in the small room hadn’t gone to sleep and were chatting away to keep themselves alert. Several male voices, none carrying any hint of liquor, talking casually in turns. First they discussed some household gossip among the servants — things like how the second household’s youngster was still too naive and had dared to try claiming something ahead of them. Then they said that, according to the constables posted to “guard the compound,” the new imperial envoy investigating the witchcraft case was expected to arrive within the next few days.

Another voice asked: “They’ve been saying he’d be here any day for the past few days — why hasn’t he arrived yet?”

“Why concern yourself with all that? As long as our young master doesn’t get a raw deal, that’s what matters!”

“Still getting a raw deal! Since our late mistress passed away and the master took that new wife, young master has been sent back to the old home — like he was exiled! And she wouldn’t even find him a decent wife!”

“Spit spit spit! Stop talking nonsense! Madam was a good woman who was willing to share her husband’s hardships! The imperial envoy who’s coming also has a deputy — do you know who it is?”

“Who?”

“They say it’s someone from our late mistress’s maternal family!”

“Oh! That’s wonderful!”

The group was chattering happily when Second Young Master Chen’s eerie howling came drifting from the rear courtyard. The voice that had offered the most information said: “Bah! What bad luck! I was just thinking there was good news today, and I was going to let him off for tonight — and then he starts up again! Right — who’s going to go give him a good scare?”

“Young master’s given us this job already and some of us have been scared half to death by him. Go in there again?” Someone was unwilling. “He’s howling — that means he’s still unhinged and hasn’t recovered!”

The first voice said: “What do you know? Young master said, to prevent him from faking the madness, we cannot relax our guard! The more he fakes it, the more real it will become!”

Zhù Ying hadn’t expected these servants to tell her the truth about the witchcraft case; she only hoped to learn from their chatter where in the compound the two main figures — the Chen family’s two young masters — were staying, so she might listen in from their vicinity and possibly overhear something. She had never anticipated this kind of hidden family secret from a grand household!

She thought to herself: The prefect is no decent person, and this chief minister’s household has few upright souls in it either.

People had a certain misunderstanding: that once someone had money and power, they had everything. In reality, having money only meant having money; having power only meant having power. At the very least, neither implied having morality, and in many cases neither implied having wisdom. Many people were perhaps just like Second Young Master Chen — they simply had a father.

Zhù Ying had seen the petty resentments of wealthy county families, had seen the faces of the prefect and Zhou You, and had no particular expectations for Second Young Master Chen — but she had never imagined that Elder Young Master Chen, the victim, would also be…

Well, was there a single upright person in this household? When the new imperial envoy’s deputy arrived, there would surely be another scene worth watching! But she had to hurry and extricate her own father before they arrived!

Zhù Ying pressed herself behind a pillar and held her breath as a man carrying a lantern passed. She waited while the small room’s occupants exchanged a few more words — “Young master was placed here at age seven; it’s been nearly twenty years, and he’s finally turning his fortunes around!” and “That woman from later on still tried to threaten young master. Fortunately young master was clever and feigned being shattered by his mistress’s death, and that’s how he survived until now…”

They had barely said a few more words when the most talkative one said: “Everyone stay awake — go do a round of patrol. Don’t end up like the government compound, having a fire and giving villains an opportunity!”

Zhù Ying’s ears twitched; she shifted toward the window and pressed closer. The door creaked, and she immediately pulled herself into the shadows. She watched as several men in long robes filed out, each carrying a lantern, almost illuminating her. She dared not move — at that moment, moving would only betray her; staying still gave no cause for attention, and she had a chance to avoid detection.

Sure enough, the men swept their lanterns haphazardly around the courtyard and then split into two groups to patrol. As they walked, they continued the previous conversation: “Oh, too bad — the government compound lost a few servants.” “What do you mean ‘lost them’? Ten to one some villain took advantage of the fire to abduct them! The main bedroom caught fire, sure, but the back kitchen woodshed must have been set deliberately! Whose kitchen woodshed ever caught fire by accident? The maids’ bedding was left behind — that shows it wasn’t a planned escape…”

They said a few more things, but as they moved farther away, it was harder to make out. Zhù Ying caught only something about Madam having been frightened by the fire and falling ill. The prefect, fleeing his bedroom, had unfortunately tripped over an embroidered stool at just the wrong moment — not only twisting his aging back but also breaking his leg! Now both were bedridden. And so Imperial Envoy Zhong had temporarily not yet departed, and moreover wished to take over the group of shamans from the jail!

This was something Zhù Ying hadn’t known! Her heart gave a small jolt. She quietly followed after them.

She quickened her pace for a few steps, only to hear them stop speaking of the government compound’s affairs and instead turn to imagining how Elder Young Master Chen would finally turn his fortunes around after this, and what he would accomplish once he returned to the capital.

Zhù Ying thought for a moment and chose to follow the more talkative of the two groups. This man walked through the central corridor, through the second gate — and that wretched person had closed the second gate! Zhù Ying gritted her teeth in frustration. She could only climb over the wall again. From the top, she saw him head off toward a courtyard on the left, and after a while the lamplight wound farther and farther away.

At that moment, Second Young Master Chen’s weeping and pleading came drifting over from the west side. Zhù Ying estimated that the east side must then be Elder Young Master Chen’s quarters. She did not go east to look for Elder Young Master Chen, but instead jumped down from the wall and went to the west side — again crouching on the wall first to survey the situation.

Second Young Master Chen’s courtyard was not small. His room’s window was open. Zhù Ying saw a young man in pale-colored clothing prostrated on the floor: “I truly had no intention of disturbing the ancestors! Ahhhh… please have mercy!” Two or three young women in brightly colored clothes were huddled together, equally terrified.

Outside the window, suspended at a height that touched neither the sky nor the ground, was a shape in a long robe, its mouth spewing curses: “Unworthy descendant! You disturb my peace!”

Zhù Ying recognized it at once as a trickery stunt — a person suspended on a rope, playing a ghost! There was also another method: stilts. In the dark of night, it truly looked as though one were floating in midair.

The ghost-actor was still cursing, threatening that tomorrow Second Young Master’s food would all turn to maggots, declaring this was the punishment for disrespecting one’s ancestors, and saying Second Young Master would go to the hungry ghost realm after death.

Second Young Master sobbed even harder: “I had no desire to disturb the ancestors! I only wanted to curse my ill-fated elder brother to death! It was they — it was they who said that coming back to the ancestral graveyard to perform the ritual was the only way it would be effective!”

Zhù Ying’s temples throbbed as she listened. She watched the hanging “ghost” produce no new tricks, then quietly left the west courtyard. She did not retrace her exact steps but instead climbed up onto the rooftop and ran in one breath to the wall facing the street. She looked warily all around, saw no one had noticed her, and with a bound and a leap crossed to the rooftop of the building on the opposite side of the street, and from there she slipped away.

Zhang Xiangu was at the lamplight doing needlework. Zhù Ying was at an age of rapid growth; when it came to clothing, that was one thing — poor people’s clothes not fitting quite right was perfectly normal — but Zhù Ying ran about outdoors every day, and ill-fitting shoes and stockings would cause too much inconvenience.

Zhang Xiangu intended to make her a new pair of stockings.

The door was knocked twice. Zhang Xiangu, hearing the familiar knock, put down the black cloth she had been reaching for and hurried to open the back door: “Coming.”

It was Zhù Ying.

Zhang Xiangu immediately looked her up and down: “How was it? Were you hurt?”

Zhù Ying said with a somewhat grim expression: “I’m fine. But I need to go out again tomorrow.”

Zhang Xiangu ushered her onto the bed and said: “Wash your face and soak your feet first, then we’ll talk!” She reached up to take down the wok to go outside and start a fire. The outdoor stove was open-air; Zhù Ying had jury-rigged a rough shelter over it, but it had neither door nor lock, so the wok was taken inside after every meal.

Zhù Ying said: “Cold water is fine.” She went to the outer room to ladle some water, and while washing said: “There’s something to go on.”

“Is it difficult?”

Zhù Ying said: “We need to move quickly!”

“Hmm?”

Zhù Ying said: “Father has never been to the capital, has he? Not this time either.”

“How would he even know which direction the capital’s gates face?! Why does the capital come up again?”

Zhù Ying said: “Today, I went there and listened — they said Second Young Master Chen heard something in the capital that drove him to come back home to perform a ritual at the ancestral graves in order for his curse to be effective…”

“Then your father isn’t the mastermind!” Zhang Xiangu’s mind was sharp now. “At most he was an accessory. He was never close with anyone in the capital; most likely he was a half-chance tag-along picked up along the way! That won’t be so bad then — whatever the verdict, it’d only be a beating, maybe banishment or exile at most, but his life would be spared. Alright — you rest. Don’t run around aimlessly tomorrow.”

Zhù Ying shook her head: “There are still a few things I need to figure out. Don’t worry — I won’t go back to the Chen compound. Tomorrow I’ll go for a look around. I may not be back at noon.”

“What are you planning to do now? Don’t even think about scouting out the prison in broad daylight!”

“I won’t. Oh, by the way — at the government compound, the prefect and Madam are both injured or ill. They’ve decided that Nanny Xu and the rest of us were carried off by villains who took advantage of the fire.”

“Hmpf! They’re the ones who deserve to be carried off by villains and sold into hard labor — beaten three times a day!” Even so, Zhang Xiangu was relieved. “Be careful on the streets tomorrow — don’t let anyone recognize you at this moment.”

Zhù Ying smiled to herself. She thought: I’m not going out on the streets — tomorrow I need to go look at the Chen family ancestral graves. Something isn’t right about all of this. What kind of ritual requires going to someone’s ancestral graves to perform?

As far as she knew, affairs touching on ancestral graves did have a tremendous bearing on descendants. But performing a ritual at the ancestral burial ground specifically designed to harm only one descendant — that was something truly unheard of. One’s own family simply would not do such a thing; who wouldn’t fear accidentally claiming themselves in the process?

But those graves — they were important. She had to go look.

Early the next morning, Zhù Ying packed up the carrying pole, left behind the two boxes, took only the two baskets, and was about to head out.

Zhang Xiangu asked: “Going to do business?”

Zhù Ying said: “Going to the countryside outside the city to pick up a few things to sell, and take a look at the Chen family graves while I’m at it.”

“You…”

“It’s fine.” She patted the two half-worn baskets. “I have a legitimate trade.”

She didn’t know where the Chen family graves were, but she didn’t panic. She carried her pole out and, upon hearing people in the street mention the Chen family’s affairs, interjected: “Maybe it’s because the ancestral graves are badly situated!” Successfully stirring the conversation, she led people to say a few more words, and by piecing it together, determined the location.

The Chen family ancestral graves were no secret — only they were more than ten li outside the city, and she had to cover the distance on foot.

Zhù Ying had no other option. She shouldered the pole and ran the entire way to the site before setting it down to catch her breath, pulling a gourd from one of the baskets for a drink of cold water. She took off her bamboo hat and fanned herself. The weather had cooled, yet she had run herself into a full sweat.

Zhù Ying set down the pole and could not help but frown — the ritual had taken place nearly two months ago, and rain had fallen in between; many traces had already vanished!

But having come all this way!

She took out incense, candles, and paper money from the basket, burned a nominal offering, and began walking around the area. She saw several traces of burning, and also some sacrificial offerings that had not yet fully decomposed. She brushed her feet as she walked — the Chen family burial ground, being a family of officials, had grander grave mounds than ordinary families. It was tiring to cover on foot.

She walked on slowly, when suddenly her pupils contracted. She walked toward one of the grave mounds. The Chen family’s official lineage meant their mounds were all larger than the average person’s! But this particular mound was different. She kept walking, kept looking, and the sense of unease in her heart grew heavier and heavier.

Until she pushed aside a clump of grass, and her expression went cold.

Bending down, she picked up a bronze bell and two broken jade hairpins. Zhù Ying wrapped them in a handkerchief from her chest pocket, and was preparing to head back when she heard the sound of hoofbeats. She looked up: several riders seemed to be passing by. She paid them no mind and went to retrieve her carrying pole to leave, when she suddenly froze — this group was heading in her direction!

She was just about to hide behind a grave mound when a loud shout rang out: “Hey — you there! Stop — I have something to ask you!”

Zhù Ying cursed silently.