An entirely unexpected visitor.

Zhù Ying looked up at the sky — it was dark, and curfew had already fallen.

What had brought her here?

Zhù Ying darted back into the room and slipped into the bedroom to dress quickly.

Hua Jie, surprised, leaned her head out toward the door but could not make out who it was. She went back into the bedroom and asked Zhù Ying, “Who is it?”

“Zhou — Mei —” Zhù Ying mouthed the words silently.

Hua Jie: …Speak of the devil!

Zhù Ying threw on her clothes in a few moments. Nanny Du had already lit a lamp and was escorting Zhou Mei to the door of the west wing. From the main hall, Zhang Xiangu was also pulling Zhù Da up from bed. The two of them, wrapped in their robes, came to the doorway to ask, “What is going on?”

Hua Jie stepped out and said, “Someone from the Court of Judicial Review. Do go back and rest.” Zhang Xiangu and Zhù Da gave it no further thought and returned to their room to discuss New Year preparations.

Hua Jie had been kept in the dark for some time. It was only a couple of days ago that Fu Xiao Niangzi, reflecting on how much more properly the female ward was being run than it had been at the start, had said in a moment of thoughtless sincerity that even Zhou Mei had grown more well-behaved. Hua Jie now looked at Zhou Mei with a trace of lingering irritation — but in the lamplight, she saw just a young girl. She found she was not quite sure how to be angry with her.

What she did not expect was for Zhou Mei to see her standing at the door — not going in, not stepping back — and to misread the situation entirely. “Madam,” she said, “I have not come to entangle myself with your Chief.”

Hua Jie: …As if you could.

“Come in,” Zhù Ying said from inside — she was ready.

The room now held three people, and with four in total it felt rather lively. Zhù Ying sat at the head of the room and asked, “This late in the night — how did you get here? Does your family not wonder where you are? Has something happened?”

Zhou Mei said quietly, “I told my family the case was closed but the ward still needed its night watch. They did not question it. I live not far from here. I was careful — no patrol caught me. I fell twice, though.”

Hua Jie put a hand on the water pitcher on the table and said to Nanny Du, “Go check the stove — heat more water.”

Zhou Mei hastily said, “There is no need.”

Zhù Ying noted the ill-fitting clothing, the shoes with their traces of mud, the scraped hem, the earth smeared at the elbows and knees — and understood that “being careful” had evidently included scaling walls or climbing trees, with at least two stumbles. She said nothing of it. “Sit down and speak slowly,” she said.

Zhou Mei glanced at Hua Jie and Nanny Du. Hua Jie remained standing, not moving. Zhou Mei made to assert herself once more. “Madam, I truly have come on important business — not to pursue anything improper with Chief Zhù.”

Hua Jie pressed her lips together. Zhù Ying said, “These are the rules I set. Court of Judicial Review men and women, even as colleagues, are not permitted alone together in the same room. Unless they are like Xiao Tao and Xiao Wu. Whatever you have to say, say it — A’Jie is not an outsider.”

Zhou Mei hesitated a moment, then opened her mouth. “I know — the day Madam Bi arrived, I saw your… Madam.” She unconsciously bit her lower lip, a little awkward. She was not close to Zhù Ying, and even she herself found her own behavior peculiar. She did not know exactly why — but today when she heard the words “walking the straight road is a luxury,” something in her chest simply loosened. She had thought it over for half the afternoon, and finally decided she needed to seize this chance.

So that evening she had given her family a reason, and come to find Zhù Ying. She had heard Zhù Ying’s address not by making inquiries but in passing during colleagues’ idle conversation; she had never been here, and had had to feel her way in the dark. By the time she arrived, night had fallen, and she had stumbled twice along the way.

Hua Jie said nothing. Zhou Mei thought: I am truly here on decent business — think what you like.

“You still remember her,” Zhù Ying said.

“Yes.”

“And what brings you here?”

The moment Zhù Ying finished speaking, Hua Jie knew she was about to coax something out of this girl. Zhou Mei had come with her mind made up, needing no coaxing at all. She reached up to the cord at her neck and removed a small pouch — the kind most people would hang from their belt. From inside she took out an oil-paper parcel, and inside that, another smaller paper parcel. The pouch itself she already seemed not to care about.

Zhou Mei, seeing the inner packet was undamaged, set it on the table. “Someone sent this to me with instructions to add it to Madam Bi’s food and drink when the opportunity arose.”

Hua Jie was startled, and then thought: but Bi Qing is already dead — it was commanded self-execution. So this…

“What is it?” Zhù Ying asked.

“I do not know.”

“You tested it, did you not? Nothing came of the test?” The paper had been refolded, the crease marks showing a change from more to less — indicating the contents had diminished. It could hardly have been Zhou Mei’s own use.

Zhou Mei stared. “How did you know? I suspected it was poison, but had no intention of acting — yet I tested it on the chickens and dogs at home. Neither the chickens nor the dogs showed any reaction whatsoever — not the slightest sign of anything. It cannot be a matter of insufficient quantity, can it? Chickens and dogs are far smaller than a person — they should not need as much…”

“And how did you respond? Did the person come back to find you?”

Zhou Mei had feared that Zhù Ying would ask her about the person who had given her the drug — that was a matter she found difficult to bring up. But Zhù Ying did not ask, which made her feel uncomfortable in a different way. She could not stop herself glancing at Hua Jie once more, and said, frowning slightly, “It was from that household, passed through my father to me.”

A small sound escaped Hua Jie’s throat. Zhou Mei glanced at her again. “The Chi household?” Zhù Ying said.

She remembered now. The Chi household was Zhou Mei’s former employer. Zhou Mei was a freed bondservant from the Chi family, and this had been noted in her application file from the very beginning. Yet strain as she might, she could not conjure any connection between the Chi household and Bi Qing or the Li family. For the purposes of the investigation, she had also skimmed through Li Zang’s and his sons’ files, and going carefully through her memory, she could find no overlap with the Chi household.

Zhou Mei’s throat tightened. She swallowed before she could speak. “Yes.”

Having admitted her old identity as a bondswoman, she seemed even more distressed. Her words came out in fragments. “The Chi — the Chi family was my old master. I was freed from them. Not long after I was selected for the Court of Judicial Review, word came through from the household — they wanted to know if Madam Bi arrived at the capital.”

Zhù Ying thought it through: nothing in the old files nor in Bi Qing’s own account mentioned anyone named Chi. “Did they have any grievance against Bi Qing?” she asked.

Zhou Mei shook her head. “None. Truly none. I looked into it — I know the household very well. I spent fifteen years in the Chi residence before I was freed! The Court would not have taken me two years earlier — I would not have been of age.”

She bit her lower lip again. This was the look of someone plainly sensitive about their own origins.

“The New Year Lantern Festival is still far off,” Zhù Ying said. “Since you came all this way, you clearly did not come to offer me a riddle. You had better tell me more.”

“There was no further instruction — oh! But the household did send me some gifts as a reward,” Zhou Mei said. The word “reward” came out between her teeth.

Nanny Du thought: What manner of logic is this — rewarded, and yet she resents the giver? She had come in purely to keep Hua Jie company, and now felt even less inclined to leave.

“Valuable things?” Zhù Ying asked.

“Two bolts of brocade, two hairpins, a pair of bracelets, and a box of rouge powder,” Zhou Mei said.

“When was this given to you?”

“After I… had supposedly administered the drug — I did not administer it. I saw that neither the chickens nor the dogs died, so I hid the drug away and reported that it had been done.”

Zhù Ying picked up the small packet and opened it in the lamplight. A small quantity of gleaming white powder. She gave it a light sniff. Hua Jie became very alarmed: “Let me — I know medicine better than you!”

She moved forward to take it. But Zhù Ying had already brought out a tea bowl, tipped a small amount in, added water, and dissolved it. The water showed no change. She tapped a drop onto the table surface — no reaction. She tapped it onto paper — no reaction. She dipped a little on her fingertip and put it to her lips.

Hua Jie leaped up. “What are you doing?! Let me —”

“It is salty,” Zhù Ying said. She looked at Zhou Mei with a somewhat peculiar expression. “Superior fine salt. What made them think of sending you in as an assassin?”

Zhou Mei had been carrying the anxiety of this matter for a month, and hearing this conclusion, she was also shaken. “Are you certain, Chief?”

Zhù Ying thought: I may not be certain of much else — but I did spend time around a kitchen cook.

She blinked. “When you were in the Chi household, you were very obedient?”

Hua Jie and Nanny Du both looked at Zhou Mei. This girl certainly did not look like any sort of compliant, docile type.

Zhou Mei’s expression worsened further. “Hah!” she said.

“It is late. If you try to go home now it will cause complications. Since you told your family you were on duty — A’Jie, let her stay in your room tonight. Zhou Mei — we will have time. Tell me the full story from the beginning. If you were not obedient, why would the Chi household want to test your loyalty by having you do something like this?”

Quite plainly, this had been a test — first, have her relay a message; then have her carry out a command. Furthermore, without telling her that it was only salt and carried no toxicity. The purpose was not murder — it was to gauge whether Zhou Mei was compliant. Going further: to see whether the Court of Judicial Review could be infiltrated and a crack found in its operations. If Zhou Mei obeyed, all the better. Even if Zhou Mei exposed the matter, or reported it, it was only salt — no harm done. The Chi household bore no risk whatsoever.

But why would the Chi household do such a thing? This particular Chi family was neither especially large nor small. Their most senior official was a fourth-rank officer presently serving away from the capital.

“Hah! In their minds, a servant had to give heart and soul to them! Let alone a little manipulation like this — even if they had truly ordered me to kill and then used me as the scapegoat, they would consider that my rightful duty!”

Hua Jie found herself caught between continuing to be angry and wanting to comfort Zhou Mei. In the end, she thought of Nanny Xia, and said quietly, “Nothing is rightful duty.”

Zhou Mei glanced at her, and found a small renewed courage. “I was not called Zhou Mei before,” she said. “My name was Burnt Tail. My sister was called Green Lute. When the young mistress wanted to learn the zither, she renamed us. I hated the name — as though we were objects. Later, the young mistress fell ill. My sister nursed her without rest, day and night — afraid the young maids would not take proper care, afraid of what would happen if the young mistress did not recover. In the end the young mistress recovered. My sister fell ill instead. In the dead of winter — she died of it.

She died at sixteen. She was only one year older than me. She raised me from childhood. When I was small, she carried me around; when I was older, she trained me to serve the mistress — whenever I made a mistake, she would cover for me. What a fine person she was. She died.

My own father, once we were freed, kept going back to the household to curry favor for scraps of food, and took himself a mistress and started raising a bastard son. My sister — her life was surrendered for this. And he would have that life’s worth go to feeding an outside woman’s child!”

Both Hua Jie and Nanny Du let out soft sighs. Zhou Mei’s character had its reasons. And one could not say that her father’s wanting a son was wrong in itself — the world generally valued many children, and having no son was genuinely difficult. But it still felt wrong.

“What made you think of applying for the Court of Judicial Review?” Zhù Ying asked. “Was it your own idea, or did someone arrange it?”

“My own idea,” Zhou Mei said. “At the very least it is a minor post — well, clerk rank — there is a salary, and you are an official’s employee. I would not always have to go hat in hand to my father.”

“Where did you get your reference letter?”

Zhou Mei said, “I… I told my father and the household that… oh! No wonder — they wanted me to do these things.”

Even Nanny Du was wondering what she had said. Zhù Ying had already guessed — Zhou Mei must have made promises she could not keep. She said, “Did you not think, if you could not do what they wanted, how you would handle the consequences?”

“Never mind the future — if you were starving today, you would grab today’s meal and worry about tomorrow when it came! But I do not want to think only of today anymore! If I do things for them, who knows what will come next? Chief — even if you are a man, you are not like the rest. I do not want to walk the crooked path anymore! If I want to walk the straight road — will you give me another chance?”

“As long as I am here, and you work earnestly.”

Zhou Mei said, “Good! If I keep my post I will work for you! If you can get me promoted to warden, I will work my hardest!”

“I do not need you to work your hardest,” Zhù Ying said with a smile. “Just do your own work well.”

Zhou Mei, no longer contrary, went to the center of the room and bowed deeply and properly.

She had always had her sister looking after her in the past, and then in the Court of Judicial Review, Zhù Ying had been shielding the entire female ward. She had never truly faced a crisis head-on by herself. But when Zhù Ying went on assignment, she and the whole female ward had genuinely experienced a round of cold treatment and suppression firsthand. The “reward” from the Chi household had only deepened her unease. She had just barely found her footing on the court’s ship after climbing off the Chi household’s boat — and going back? Absolutely not.

She had thought carefully about her own situation, and looked around at the people she knew, and finally decided she had to come find Zhù Ying. Whether Zhù Ying was a good person or not, she could not say — but Zhù Ying was the most reliable person she could actually talk to right now.

Zhou Mei thought: The house is not even as big as mine. And yet it does not look like false modesty. She seems fine. A desperate gamble — and if worst came to worst, I could just go home and keep quarreling with my father and stepmother.

“A’Jie,” Zhù Ying said, “let her stay with you tonight. Tomorrow morning, make sure she gets an early start — she has to make it to roll call. Zhou Mei — do you have your clothes?”

Zhou Mei said with a touch of satisfaction, “I left a set in the prison.”

Zhù Ying nodded. “Well thought out.”

Zhou Mei smiled. “So — when that household sends me things again, or wants me to do something, how do I pass word to you? You won’t let anyone talk alone, and I cannot keep showing up at your house.”

Hua Jie’s feelings toward Zhou Mei had shifted considerably. She asked Zhù Ying, “What if I act as the go-between?” Zhù Ying said, “Fine.”

Zhou Mei looked at Hua Jie. Hua Jie asked, “Do you know Cihui Temple?”

“Yes — Fu Niangzi rents a room there.”

“I go there to help whenever I have a free moment.”

Zhou Mei thought it over and said, “All right. I am not especially close to Fu Niangzi, but we are on decent enough terms.”

Hua Jie, knowing Zhù Ying had not had a proper rest in quite some time, said, “Then let us go to my room and talk.” She led Zhou Mei toward the east wing.

Zhou Mei, stepping inside, was met with the smell of incense smoke. Following it to its source, she found a row of memorial tablets — and was thoroughly startled.

Hua Jie went to close the other door. “Were you frightened?”

“Why are there so many memorial tablets in a… bedroom?”

“Just these few. All the family I have is here.”

“Oh?”

Hua Jie brought out a fresh towel. “This one has never been used — use this to wash up.” She also found a quilt for Zhou Mei, saying it had barely been used twice.

“So long as there is something to sleep under,” Zhou Mei said. She was quite curious about Hua Jie, and thought she might use this opportunity to get a sense of the woman — to understand her superior better through Hua Jie’s perspective.

“Can you sleep sharing a bed?” Hua Jie asked.

“When my sister was still alive, we slept like this,” Zhou Mei said.

The two of them lay head to head. It was Hua Jie who spoke first — she also wanted to probe Zhou Mei a little further on Zhù Ying’s behalf. “I practice medicine at Cihui Temple. If you ever have something that troubles you but that you would rather not say to a male physician, come and find me.”

Zhou Mei brightened at that. “Exactly what I say — women are just as capable as men.”

Hua Jie expressed agreement. “That is right!”

Zhou Mei quickly added, “I am not saying Chief Zhù is unfit.”

Hua Jie smiled. “Then tell me one genuine fault of hers. Can you think of one?”

Zhou Mei thought: Your words sound exactly like a mother-in-law speaking of her daughter-in-law. Aloud she said, “A’Jie — why are you so considerate toward Chief Zhù?”

“Because she is also very good to me.”

“Are you really Chief Zhù’s sister?”

“Yes.”

“Oh! Madam, I did not know…”

Hua Jie heard the change in Zhou Mei’s tone and understood she had misunderstood something. Zhou Mei had grown up in a grand household, and knew that there were differences in standing between a subordinate and a superior’s family member. “Do not fret,” Hua Jie said. “You will come to understand in time. But let me say — you might want to have a little more foresight sometimes. Like that matter with the drug — that household told you to administer it to the woman in custody…”

“Whether the woman with the Bi surname lived or died meant nothing to me,” Zhou Mei said carelessly. “If the household pressed me, I would just insist I had administered it — and if she did not die, why would I know the reason?”

“Bi Qing — she was a person deserving of pity.”

“There are more pitiable people than her!” Zhou Mei could not help saying. “Everyone knows she had maids and servants attending her. She was never beaten, never scolded — yet someone died for her! A maid’s life is worth nothing? Everything good goes to the mistress; everything foul goes to the maid. The mistress suffers something, and the maid bears the punishment. The mistress takes her pleasures, and the maids are left to whatever comes of it.”

Hua Jie let out a quiet sigh, and reached out to pat her on the back. “Sleep now.”

Zhou Mei thought: Did I say something wrong again? But Hua Jie did not look angry. She resolved: she would get up early tomorrow morning and tidy the room for Hua Jie to make amends.

The next day, however, she woke to find Hua Jie’s hands were swift and sure — not the least bit in need of anyone to wait on her, and not expecting anyone to tidy up for her either. Zhou Mei turned over to fold the quilt and found that Hua Jie had already prepared the wash water. She tidied herself up quickly. Zhù Da came back from outside having bought breakfast, while Zhù Ying — on leave, with no reason to be idle — had dressed in a sheepskin robe and was personally drawing water from the well.

Zhou Mei was startled. “Chief Zhù?”

Zhù Ying, tipping the water into the cistern, said, “Go eat. In a moment, you and A’Jie leave together. Just say you are a new friend A’Jie met at Cihui Temple, and that today you are going to the temple together. A’Jie, see her on her way.”

“But I know the way,” Zhou Mei protested.

“I need to go out anyway,” Hua Jie said.

Zhang Xiangu let out a sigh, looking at Zhou Mei’s hairstyle. “Who knows what you are all up to — a young girl spending the night away from home at a stranger’s house — idle tongues are filthier than backsides!”

“Oh… oh…”

Zhou Mei bent over her food, and once finished, said to Zhang Xiangu, “Madam, I will be going.”

Zhang Xiangu said, “Go on, go on. It is not easy, is it. But being able to support yourself — that is the best thing of all!”

“Yes!” Zhou Mei felt an unexpectedly strong rapport with this Madam; she said, “Madam, when will you come to Cihui Temple? I will take you on a tour of the capital!”

Zhang Xiangu could not fathom the connection between Cihui Temple and touring the capital. “Oh?”

Zhou Mei smiled, stacked the used bowls neatly, and left with Hua Jie.

——

Zhang Xiangu, worried about her daughter, urged Zhù Ying after breakfast: “Go back to your room and rest! And really, what is going on at that office? Having a young girl come running here like that… all this…”

If she did not know perfectly well that what she had given birth to was a daughter, she would have assumed Zhù Ying was conducting herself improperly with women. As things stood, it was just the Court of Judicial Review being unreasonable — working people this hard, following officials home to report things. Was this going to exhaust everyone to death?

“I won’t need to go rushing around anymore, so that counts as resting,” Zhù Ying said. “Come and sit — let us talk over the New Year supplies.”

Zhang Xiangu said, “Everything you ordered before you left — some of it has already arrived. Rice, flour, and oil are all fully delivered, enough to last until the second month. The salted meats are all there too, hung in the kitchen. Your father wants to put up a shed in the courtyard to store more firewood and coal…”

Zhù Ying dragged a rocking chair into the sunlight, settled in and closed her eyes, and listened to her mother chatter through the list. These were things Zhù Ying had arranged in advance; Zhang Xiangu only needed to receive them. She had also already arranged with merchants to deliver all the holiday gifts to colleagues’ homes.

Seeing Zhù Ying lying in the chair without moving, Zhang Xiangu went inside to fetch a quilt and draped it over her. Zhù Ying opened one eye to a slit. “I am not asleep.”

Zhang Xiangu tucked the quilt snugly around her and said, “Back to bed or stay in the sun?”

Zhù Da was crouching at the side of the rocking chair, arms tucked into his sleeves, and said, “Sunning yourself is also nice. Old Three — the shed — I was thinking, just put it behind your room; I can manage it myself. We are going to have one more mouth to feed this year, so we need to stock more…”

“Fine — keep it simple. And do not put too much effort into this place anyway.”

Zhang Xiangu was startled. “Why?”

“We will only rent here another year,” Zhù Ying said. “Next year we need to get our own house.”

Husband and wife both brightened. “Truly?!” Even Nanny Du poked her head out from the kitchen. “You two — what has happened?”

Zhang Xiangu laughed. “Nothing, nothing — go about your business. You finish what you are doing, then take a rest. Work is never all done.”

Nanny Du said, “I will get the pig skin simmering first — the aspic is nearly all eaten.”

Zhù Da said loudly, “Make plenty! That goes best with drinking!” He tucked his sleeve-tubes even tighter together, grinning from ear to ear, and asked Zhù Ying, “How shall we do it? What kind of place do you want?”

Zhang Xiangu was pleased too, but still managed to take a jab at her husband. “Look at that graceless display!”

“You don’t understand! Having your own house is everything!”

Zhù Ying let the sunshine warm her. “Something a bit further out — the two-courtyard residences in this ward are too expensive. Further away, we buy land and build it ourselves.”

“What?” Zhù Da said. “We don’t have any help — just the two of us. I don’t think we can manage that.”

Zhù Ying gave a light laugh. “You would not have to do any of the work. The labor and materials — I have it figured out… I want two courtyards. One for living, one for receiving guests. Except for the gatehouse, I want two-story buildings throughout. Ground floor for living, upper floor for storage. On the side of the compound, there should also be a side yard — one part for the stable, the carriage shed, and the male servants; one part for the female servants, who would also keep watch over the storage.”

Zhù Da said, “Right! Let the servants live separately from us! Wonderful — it is still better to live in a big house!” His mind was already mapping out how to arrange such a house. But the more he thought about it, the less he could figure out a satisfying arrangement, and he thought: I need to have a look at Brother Jin’s place — he also has a two-courtyard residence!

Zhang Xiangu was also delighted. “I have seen big households with their second floors too — I am going to live in one! And how would the servants be arranged?”

“We will take it one step at a time. First, let us hire a cook,” Zhù Ying said.

The money in her hands was not much at present, but the New Year was approaching — and where others spent money over the New Year, for her it was actually a time of income. The goods procured by the Court of Judicial Review — though shared among everyone — naturally, as the person handling the arrangements, her own household’s basic necessities and some of the holiday gifts were covered without any personal expense. That was not embezzlement; it was simply proper consideration.

Merchants hoping to establish relations with the Court of Judicial Review also sent gifts — another source of income that required no reciprocation. Good money, freely received.

She owed gifts to her superiors, but first among them, Zheng Xi, did not press her for anything lavish — only that she manage affairs well first. From Zheng Xi, she would also receive return gifts. This year, however, she had several additional people to give to — the “Five Heroes of Dragon Boat Festival.”

Zheng Xi had her managing the Court of Judicial Review not only to train her and make convenient use of her — in all honesty, it also provided her with a source of income. Even if she had no desire to embezzle, she could still save money.

Her mind ran through the rough price of land somewhat further from the center — ideally a haunted house or an inauspicious one. Best of all, combined with the materials for construction, she had favorable connections.

Zhang Xiangu and Zhù Da were already chattering away. Zhang Xiangu said, “With a second floor — Old Three should take the main hall, of course!” She had been spending time with Wu Xiang’s mother for some time and had absorbed a bit of “proper order.” Upon reflection, it did make sense that her daughter should live in the main quarters.

Zhù Ying opened her eyes fully. “I am perfectly happy in the west wing!”

Zhang Xiangu said, “That will not do! A household must have proper order — in grand houses, even the in-laws live separately in the western quarters. Guests will think it peculiar.”

“Then let them think it peculiar!”

Zhù Da said, “Then we should take the west room. That way it is safer.” He enjoyed showing off — yet when it came to keeping his life, he was very clear-headed. He also stopped pushing Zhù Ying to buy servants — with his daughter gone for over a month with no rest, he felt a twinge of guilt himself.

Zhang Xiangu then said, “Hire a little boy to run errands for your father! He has been craving that forever!”

“You terrible woman — there you go again!”

The two of them began bickering. Zhù Ying listened to them quarrel, almost drifting off to sleep, when she heard a sound outside. She threw back the quilt and got to her feet. “What are you doing?” Zhang Xiangu said. Zhù Da also rose, supporting himself on the rocking chair. “What is it?”

Zhù Ying went and opened the front gate. As she expected, someone was there.

——

Chen Meng stood outside the gate, neither going in nor going away.

His last attempt at playing intermediary — bringing Li Ze to Zhù Ying — had produced a result rather like Zhāng Fēi on the other end of a bridge. The bridge was quite uncrossable. The favor to Li Ze had come to nothing, and the Li family had come out of the whole affair in disgrace. And then Zhù Ying had vanished.

His father, Chancellor Chen, had somehow gotten word of all this. He had beaten his son first, then put him under house arrest with a reported “illness” and locked him in a small dark room — only now releasing him, with instructions to go to the Zhù household and make an apology.

Chen Meng was bewildered. “What did I do wrong?”

Chancellor Chen beat his son again before explaining: “What kind of person are you? To walk right into a case officer’s home with some stranger to make a request of them? And what grounds did you have to trust him to do it? And pay you back for it? Favors are debts — what were you going to pay him back with? A pack of flattering hangers-on who just praise you? What good are flatterers? Having him help you out again? Get out!”

So Chen Meng “got out” — straight to Zhù Ying’s house.

Chancellor Chen’s reasoning was sound, and Chen Meng also wanted to explain himself to Zhù Ying. Seeing her again, Zhù Ying showed no anger — she even courteously invited him in. Chen Meng had a servant following him with gifts. He said to Zhù Ying, “I have come to apologize.”

“Come in,” she said.

“The gifts must come in too — please, do not make me get beaten again.”

The two of them went into the west wing. Chen Meng explained in earnest: “Li Ze and I grew up together. When I was small, my birth mother was still alive…”

Chen Meng’s maternal family had been in comfortable circumstances at the time, and Chancellor Chen was still Li Zang’s subordinate then — their ranks not far apart. Li Ze was a little older than Chen Meng and used to take him around to play. Later, Chen Meng’s maternal family ran into serious trouble, and Li Ze did not change his manner overnight — at least on the surface, he maintained appearances.

Li Zang had once said to Chancellor Chen: “A son is your own. You should treat him well.”

Chen Meng had always felt grateful for that.

Zhù Ying thought: Your affairs are between you and your father — I am not getting involved.

She said, “Young Master Chen — if you truly wish good for your friend, pass him a message.”

“What message?”

“Know when to stop.”

“What do you mean?”

“Neither Governor Dou, the Court of Judicial Review, nor the Ministry of Justice mentioned a single word in their documents connecting Bi Qing to her father Bi Luo, the convicted official from the Gong case.”

“This…”

“Covering it all over with a quilt? The quilt must be large enough to cover. Otherwise it only draws attention — inviting precisely the scrutiny one hoped to avoid. Better to be candid, and deny any audience a reason to speculate further.”

Chen Meng nodded. “Makes sense.”

At that moment, Hua Jie returned from outside. She had seen Zhou Mei off through the ward gate, walked a further stretch, then stopped at a familiar herbal medicine shop to pick up wolfberries, red dates, longan, and gelatin — intending to make a restorative supplement for Zhù Ying. There was also ginseng at home; she would have Nanny Du braise it with a fat hen…

Passing a small shop inside the ward, she also bought a packet of ginger candy on a whim.

Carrying her paper-wrapped parcels, Hua Jie came home and ran into Chen Meng. He stood up. “You are back.”

“Young Master Chen.”

“What is all this?”

“Something to nourish Xiao Zhù — she has really been wearing herself thin lately,” Hua Jie said.

Chen Meng said, “How timely — I also brought some. You are both busy; I will take my leave.” Hua Jie bent slightly in courtesy and saw him back out, then returned to Zhù Ying and said first, “Xiao Zhou says that from now on, if anything happens in the female ward, she will let me know.”

“Good,” Zhù Ying said. “Straightforward, blunt — how much she can actually get people to let her in on is another question.”

Hua Jie commented about Chen Meng: “What on earth is wrong with that young master? How can he be so without forethought! Does Chancellor Chen just let him wander around doing whatever he pleases? Someone really should give him two acres to farm — that would cut down on his antics considerably!”

“When he is away from Chancellor Chen, his head does work noticeably better,” Zhù Ying said.

Hua Jie said, “And why accept his things? His gifts do not come without strings attached.”

“It is not him — it has to be Chancellor Chen’s meaning. A Chancellor of this realm goes to the trouble of giving instructions about me specifically — I had better not refuse the wine only to be forced to drink the penalty later. Accept it. I will send a card of thanks in a little while.”

“Are there no other matters being concealed from me? If they fail to get what they want, they will not turn on you in anger, will they?”

“I could not very well have accepted that business without looking into it properly,” Zhù Ying said. “Whatever anger they feel — let them feel it. Ah — how is Xiao Fu’s little boy?”

“Since winter set in, his hands and feet have been ice-cold. That is not normal for a small boy his age.”

“The ginseng Old Zuo sent back still has a little left — send him a piece. That is all I have.”

“You…”

“Our household is not short of such things. Give it to him.”

“Let me find a box — I will go this afternoon!”

“There is no hurry.”

Hua Jie thought: The only time she will accept the sentiment is if you bring it while she is home to thank you for it. Otherwise the goodwill goes to me, and what purpose does that serve?

She set Nanny Du to braise the ginseng with the chicken, then began to pit the red dates for Zhù Ying while Zhù Ying told her about the plan to build a house. Hua Jie said, “Then there will be no money left over to buy more farmland.” She had a habit of liking to purchase fields and land.

“We will take it step by step. The house, the servants — the Zheng household has been hinting at it, one way and another, for some time now,” Zhù Ying said. Zheng Xi, good and bad aside, had treated her with genuine consideration. And Zheng Xi was a man of refinement — she could not be too casual in her own presentation.

Hua Jie said, “Truly — it is better for master and servants to live separately. A larger house is better too — even if further away, you could then keep a horse, which would compensate for the distance. It is a pity that this current house still has a year left on the lease — a house like the one you describe could be ready in a few months in spring. Half a year’s rent wasted.”

“Then just leave this place as is, or sublet it to someone else. Neither is a problem.”

“Yes!”

Zhù Ying had already made her calculations, and did not want to delay further. She even had the source of builders in mind — Wang Yunhe or Wan Nian County’s Magistrate Liu. Officials from all regions sent skilled workers to the capital in rotation; those workers, when off rotation, could take private commissions to earn supplemental income. To build a house, one needed a variety of craftsmen; this was not the same as hiring a single carpenter to make a piece of furniture. Her plan was to simply look through the official registry of skilled workers and assemble a full crew.

That very afternoon, she changed her clothes, wrapped up a piece of tiger bone, and went to call on Wang Yunhe.

Wang Yunhe knew that the Court of Judicial Review had just closed a case. “You have been given leave?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“What is this?”

“Old Zuo managed to get hold of some tiger bone. My father says it soaks very well in wine…”

Wang Yunhe, at the word “wine,” sucked in a breath. “You have not been drinking it, have you?”

“I drink mine behind closed doors at New Year.”

She handed the tiger bone to a waiting page, who accepted it with a smile. He said, “Sanlang — in the days you were away from the capital, our master kept mentioning you.”

“I am back now,” she said.

Wang Yunhe asked, “How was the trip outside the capital?”

“I was glad to do the work, and I was glad to handle the case. It was just that the whole Li Zang affair was such a thoroughly unpleasant business.”

Wang Yunhe, who knew the full depth of it, said, “Where there is light, there will always be shadow. Seeing filth does not mean the world has no brightness.”

“Indeed.”

Wang Yunhe returned to an old subject. “At your age, while young, you should serve as an appointed county official — a magistrate in direct service to the people.”

Zhù Ying laughed. “As though it were my choice to make. A county magistrate has so much to manage! At the Court of Judicial Review, if I manage the routine affairs poorly, at worst my colleagues eat a little worse. A county magistrate who manages poorly — people die of starvation.”

Wang Yunhe said, “Has there ever been a year without people dying of starvation? That you know this already is very good!”

“I have not even properly learned the ways of farming yet — and there are other things too: collecting rents and taxes, water management, and so on. Better to observe a while longer than to practice on the people.”

She genuinely had no desire to be posted away at the moment. She was just thinking about building a house! She did not raise the subject of the builders yet, and stayed chatting with Wang Yunhe about this and that before taking her leave. On the way out, she asked the page how the household’s New Year preparations were coming along. The page laughed. “Our master manages these things very carefully too!” Zhù Ying clapped him on the shoulder. “What is there to fear? I am hardly here to bribe anyone! If anything, I would rather squeeze money out of Wang Yunhe.” The page laughed out loud.

Zhù Ying made another stop at Jin Liang’s house. She had sent him ginseng and tiger bone as well; Jin Da Niangzi had received many things from her over the past two years, including some rather valuable items. Reflecting on it, she felt she ought not to keep paying her off with pig’s trotters — this year she had deliberately prepared a generous gift, sent early, which included some very fine brocade.

Zhù Ying used her three days of leave very far from idly.

When she returned to duty, she was immediately surrounded by colleagues in near-tearful gratitude: “You are finally back!!!”

From the day of Zhù Ying’s departure, Hu Lian had been waiting for the chance to hand things back. One person compared to another — Hu Lian had no choice but to accept the comparison, whether he liked it or not. Even if he chose not to accept it, he still wanted to have a comfortable New Year. But Zhù Ying had returned, and then gone back to dealing with the case. Now that the case was finished, Zheng Xi had given her a short leave — and now, at last, she was back!

Zhù Ying laughed helplessly. “It is not me you have missed — it is the food!”

“You know perfectly well, so hurry up and get to work!” they said.

Everyone laughed.

The commotion attracted a bystander — Yang Sixth.

The Left Rectifier said, “Sixth Yang, you have fresh news!”

Yang Sixth laughed. “That I do!”

“Oh?”

“Chancellor Chen is preparing to have the Young Master posted to a position outside the capital. Since it is now the twelfth month, His Majesty has granted the Young Master leave to stay through the New Year before departing.”

Zhù Ying said, “Chancellor Chen is truly good to his son.”

“Good to him? He is being sent out as a county magistrate! What rank is Chen Young Master, anyway? That is lower than the rank of Wan Nian County’s magistrate, and they are sending him to be an ordinary county magistrate! Is that really a father?”

Zhù Ying said, “That is certainly a father. If he were made to plow two acres a day, that would be even more of a father.”

The seasoned officials at the Court all nodded. “Quite right, quite right. It is a pity he is being posted out a little late. Ah — Sanlang, the Young Master’s posting can wait, but our provisions cannot!”

Zhù Ying had no choice but to bury herself again in administrative affairs. This work genuinely benefited her, and she did it as well as she could. Now that the twelfth month had come, everyone’s most pressing concern was drafting official documents — and Zhù Ying had one extra task: settling the accounts. She worked without pause until the end of the twelfth month, when the New Year had finally arrived.

As usual, Zhù Ying arranged to take the New Year’s Eve night duty shift.