“This… you’re leaving just like that…” Old Man Yan’s voice was filled with reluctance.

Chen Meng and Zhù Ying rose to their feet.

The Crown Prince’s expression flickered with subtle displeasure. He concealed it well, but both Chen and Zhù noticed something was off — though they chose to pretend otherwise. A glance at the two eunuchs confirmed they had likely figured it out as well, having spent their days reading the Crown Prince’s every mood.

One of the eunuchs hurried to the back to summon Yan Gui out. Yan Gui read his expression and asked, “What is it?”

The eunuch smiled slightly. “Elder Sister, your family’s… His Highness is ready to return to the palace.”

Yan Gui straightened her collar and followed to the front. Her mother, sister-in-law, and the others trailed eagerly behind her. When she reached the front hall and saw the Crown Prince’s bland expression, Yan Gui obediently took her place behind him.

The eunuch turned to Zhù Ying. “My lord, shall we… depart?”

Their party had come with only a few people; the escort outside belonged to Zhù Ying. Zhù Ying and Chen Meng stepped forward to lead the way, with the Crown Prince following behind.

Yan Gui glanced back to see her father and brothers still wearing looks of excited delight. A flash of vexation passed through her heart, yet she felt no regret. She could not stop worrying about her family. They had all endured so much hardship together in the past — she could not simply forget them now that she had food to eat in the palace and a palace maid to attend to her, now that she had given birth to a son. So she had found a way to petition the Crown Prince, who had granted her family a modest income to live on, sparing them from having to scrape favors from their aunt’s household again.

She knew her family’s nature all too well — she feared they might become arrogant and embarrass her son. This visit had been unavoidable.

But once she returned to the Eastern Palace, she would have to tread carefully and coax the Crown Prince back into good spirits. Still, things were not so bad. She was still young, and she had her son.

Her thoughts had not yet run their course when a spirited female attendant stepped forward. “Please board the carriage.”

The attendant’s skin was slightly tanned, her stature slight, yet she carried herself with remarkable energy. Yan Gui looked at her curiously — even for trips outside the palace, Minister Zhù kept female attendants in her retinue. A person of true distinction, indeed. The noble always had their peculiarities.

She looked ahead once more and saw the eunuch helping the Crown Prince into the first carriage. With no way to speak to him on the road, she had lost a good opportunity, and this left Yan Gui somewhat displeased.

Zhù Ying and Chen Meng swung up into their saddles. Chen Meng surveyed the two carriages with approval. “Masterfully arranged.”

Zhù Ying replied, “As it should be.”

The eunuchs following behind the carriages paid no attention to what the two of them had said. The Crown Prince, confined inside the carriage, felt a growing irritability. He had come out today hoping to build a closer rapport with Zhù Ying — bringing Yan Gui along had served as both an excuse and a curiosity, for he had wondered how such a bold and capable woman could have come to be. Perhaps in time he would return to favoring gentle, docile beauties, but for now, within the Eastern Palace, Yan Gui’s temperament was something he found refreshing.

As it turned out, both purposes had ended in disappointment.

The Crown Prince lifted a corner of the curtain and saw Chen and Zhù seated upright on their horses, faces grave, the very picture of solemn ministers — they were practically ready to remonstrate him to his face. He could only sigh and let the curtain fall: clearly, Chen Meng had no desire to be associated with the Yan family.

Only now did a measure of regret begin to stir in him. Today’s outing had been rash. He should not have brought Yan Gui along at all.

Chen Meng and Zhù Ying escorted the Crown Prince’s party to the palace gates and watched as he and Yan Gui descended from the carriages. Zhù Ying went to verify the Imperial Guards’ records. The Crown Prince was certainly permitted to leave the palace — comings and goings only needed to be logged.

The guard captain laughed softly. “Why is it the Minister who came along?”

Zhù Ying said, “I should have known better than to wander the streets on a day off.”

The guard’s grin widened further. “Well, after midday like this — by the time you get back home, the day will be just about done.”

Meanwhile, Chen Meng was admonishing the Crown Prince. “You brought far too few guards. Now more than ever, you must take care of yourself.”

The Crown Prince accepted this with good grace. “I’ll bear that in mind.”

The palace had prepared a sedan chair for him, and as he boarded it, he looked back to see Zhù Ying and Chen Meng standing in place, seeing him off. His heart settled. He gave them a small wave. These two — he trusted they would not make a grand affair of today’s matter. That was simply the confidence he had in them.

——

Once the Crown Prince’s party had passed from sight, without waiting for the guards’ dismissal, Zhù Ying and Chen Meng turned and left.

Having seen the Crown Prince back to the palace, the better half of the day was truly gone, yet neither Zhù Ying nor Chen Meng felt hungry.

Zhù Ying turned to Zhù Wen and the others. “Head back. Li Daniang has likely kept dinner waiting. Take the horses with you — I want to walk around the city a bit on my own.”

Chen Meng, his mood dampened by the Crown Prince’s behavior, nonetheless said to Zhù Ying, “I’ll walk with you.”

“You’re not hungry?” It was already well into the afternoon — she had assumed Chen Meng would want to head back.

“I promised to show you around the capital.” Chen Meng said with a sigh. What a pity this imperial city was outside the jurisdiction of the capital prefecture — otherwise, hmph!

The two of them were, in their own peculiar way, companions in poverty of a kind — like-minded, they walked away from the imperial palace together.

Chen Meng wanted to give Zhù Ying a tour of the capital prefecture, but when he turned to look at her, he caught a trace of weariness beneath her placid expression. He could not help but speak. “His Highness is still young. Occasionally overstepping is… how can he be so lacking in awareness? What moment does he think this is? Still running around everywhere! And running to the Yan family, of all places — what kind of respectable household is that?”

Chen Meng murmured his grievances under his breath — these were words he dared not say to anyone else. For one thing, others might not keep them confidential; for another, they had no solutions to offer. Speaking to Zhù Ying, at least perhaps the two of them could work something out together.

Zhù Ying offered a flat response. “They’re your in-laws by some remove, after all. As for persuading the Eastern Palace, you can always feign ignorance…”

“I wouldn’t bother even if I weren’t trying to counsel him. Why do people have the five degrees of mourning and nine ranks of kinship? Because family begets family, endlessly. The Yan family’s ancestor was a convicted official to begin with, and they bought their way into the palace through bribery — by no measure is that a proper path. The palace consort has her schemes, but her family outside is too foolish, and that can ruin everything. You never know where a fool will poke a hole for you. Even if nothing comes of it, I want no part of it.” Chen Meng said with conviction.

“You truly won’t get involved?”

“I only want to know how she enticed the Crown Prince into leaving the palace.”

“You’re quite attentive to the affairs of the Eastern Palace.”

“That is the Crown Prince — how could I not be?” Chen Meng lowered his voice, and seeing no strangers around, he added, “The realm’s fortunes are not yet spent. The Eastern Palace cannot afford to go wrong. This is a matter of the gravest importance.”

Yet Zhù Ying remained listless, and she turned the question back on him. “If that is a matter of grave importance — then what is the realm itself?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Just now, watching them return to the palace, I realized I have already served two generations of emperors and witnessed three Crown Princes.”

“Indeed. We are both veterans of two reigns.”

“It never ends,” said Zhù Ying. “That palace consort, Yan Gui — she has a son already, a child not yet one year old. Are we to spend our futures worrying over him too? Can you afford to overlook someone like that when conducting affairs of state? Whether he turns out wise or foolish, you still have to provide for him, bow before him.

Court ministers — all their grand ambitions and aspirations must hinge on whoever happens to occupy that seat. Ministers? The way we orbit the emperor and the Crown Prince — we look rather like eunuchs who simply haven’t been castrated.”

Chen Meng was taken aback. “Those words must never be spoken aloud — and why have you lumped yourself in with the criticism? How can it be the same? When ministers concern themselves with the Son of Heaven, they are concerning themselves with the great matters of ritual and order. And once a relationship grows close, one inevitably becomes entangled in family affairs — that is simply human nature. What is called a familial bond of friendship arises precisely from such closeness. Is that not so?”

He glanced around uneasily, then spoke in defense of the Crown Prince. “His Highness does understand the essentials — he knows what ought to be done, he simply does not know how to do it properly. Look at His Majesty — he used to know very little of practical governance himself, yet these past two years he has learned to grasp what is urgent and what is not. Give them some time, with proper guidance, and things will improve. Speaking of which, when the Crown Prince was still a commandery prince’s heir, though young, he seemed quite promising — I cannot think why, once he became Crown Prince, he has proven somewhat disappointing.”

As he spoke, he sensed something slightly off about his own words — as though he had, without meaning to, confirmed exactly what Zhù Ying had said before.

Zhù Ying let him off with a remark. “As you said yourself, he was young then. Brilliant in childhood.” The Crown Prince had a measure of cleverness — but only a measure. Not that it needed saying: wise rulers were hardly something one stumbled upon easily.

“Come now, come now — I only said his father is not as good as his grandfather, not that you should—” hold him to such an elevated standard before calling him lacking?

“Don’t be so on edge. The nearest person is a full ten paces away. Let’s keep walking — don’t stand here inviting an audience. No one can hear the whole of what we’re saying.” Zhù Ying smiled.

She walked at an unhurried pace. “When people are young, expectations are naturally lower. At one year old, if a child can call for its parents, we say it’s bright enough. At three, eating on one’s own is sufficient. But this is no longer age three.

The great scholars teach him benevolence, gentleness, courtesy, frugality, and yielding. But set against reality — what does he actually see? His brothers are growing up, and perhaps some have begun to harbor thoughts they shouldn’t. His father has young beauties to attend to. What is he to do?

Who dares teach him how to manage his brothers? How to navigate his own father? Teach him, and they say you are sowing discord between flesh and blood. Leave him untaught, and he feels you don’t care for him. If he learns, he risks becoming calculating — easily led astray.”

Chen Meng was startled into silence. He thought of himself. His mother had died young; then a stepmother arrived, then a younger brother, and that brother had even tried to pressure him. What had he done then? At that time…

“Everyone passes through youth. It would be well if he were a discerning person, and if he is not, then you must help him become one. He is only missing this one thing,” said Chen Meng, who had a fairly clear-eyed view of the Crown Prince. “If you don’t guide him and let him run wild, the trouble will be far greater. If you don’t tend to the Eastern Palace, Xian Jing will. If you don’t manage His Majesty, Mu Chengzhou will latch on.”

Zhù Ying said, “Let us be plain. What he lacks is the art of authority — the means to manage his ministers. Would you teach him that? Teach him to turn it against you? Against your children and grandchildren? You would have to calibrate it precisely — tip too far, and it curdles into cruelty. And if something goes wrong and he recalls the methods you taught him, he won’t even fear you — you’ll be the first one he suspects of scheming. You have a wife and children at home. Don’t entertain foolish ideas. Simply walk the righteous path and conduct yourself as a gentleman.”

Chen Meng started. “You’re right — this way suits him best. But why all these lamentations today? Is it all because of one palace consort?”

“The Ministry of Revenue is drawing up next year’s budget. Exemptions and relief for floods and droughts — is that not a matter of national importance? Years of continuous warfare, provisions and military expenditures — is that not important? Then there is the new army. And river works, road construction. And then — His Majesty wishes to establish formal residences for the imperial princes and princesses — money must be squeezed out for that too. And that one — he said he wanted to witness the lives of the poor? What did he actually see?”

Chen Meng felt he understood. “You are simply exhausted from everything these days. His Majesty… perhaps he is making arrangements — not feeling at ease about his children.” He chose his words carefully.

Zhù Ying stood at a crossroads. The afternoon sun, tipping westward, fell across her face. She closed her eyes. “I finally had one day off.”

She had no desire to play old servant to this family through father, son, and grandson. But if she changed to another family — would it really be any different? Yao and Shun and Yu and Tang, the wise kings of antiquity — even their descendants had the unworthy among them: Danzhu, Jie, Zhou the Tyrant. And you cannot demand that ordinary parents not love their children, not make provisions for their future. As with the late Marquis Leng and Leng Yun.

What a pity. A nation this large truly needed a powerful center — without it, the lives of the common people would be even harder. The winter wheat in Wuzhou: without the court’s coordination, relying on one’s own strength alone, it might not succeed even in twenty years. To say nothing of flood and drought relief, coordinating responses to foreign incursions and organizing defense.

It was a knot that could not be undone.

Yet Chen Meng felt a weight lift from his chest. He laughed. “All the more reason to cherish it! There’s still half a day left! Want to walk by night? I’ll keep you company — I’ll risk life and limb to match a gentleman! Come on!”

The two walked on, and the people around them seemed peaceable enough, going about their lives on the street with unhurried expressions.

Chen Meng asked, “What do you think?”

Zhù Ying said, “Not bad.”

Chen Meng cheered up as well. “I always think — if I could be a third of Minister Wang, that would be enough.”

“You’re more than a third.”

Chen Meng grew even more pleased and began pointing out the sights along the way — a certain spot that had once been seized by a troublemaker, which he had investigated and returned to its rightful owner, and the like. Then, suddenly, he fell into low spirits. “And yet, we are not like Minister Wang and his peers — we cannot bring talented men forward for the realm, nor can we quell unrest.”

“Those who want to do more will always feel helpless. It is because of ambition that one suffers.”

Chen Meng said, “So this is what it means to have aspirations exceeding one’s abilities?”

Zhù Ying said, “Then we are all in the same boat. Acceptance is the answer. And it is not that we fall short of Minister Wang — we simply never had an emperor like his to serve under. Even Minister Wang himself — what were the last years of his life like? With someone to anchor things, you could do real work. Without that anchor, you first had to fight to hold your own position. You and I both wish for the middle path — but can we truly stand apart from it all?”

To protect the common people, one first had to please the emperor and the Crown Prince. How absurd. And to abandon the common people entirely — then one could simply play games of power and manipulation with the emperor, unconstrained.

She was doing worse than a charlatan. A charlatan flattered a client well enough, concluded the transaction, took the money, and left. A clean parting, until the next time the charlatan needed money and came back to deceive again.

But she was the Minister of Revenue — she understood better than anyone that official salaries were rendered up by the common people, a peck at a time, a bolt of cloth at a time.

Chen Meng looked left and right again, and then fell silent. Yes — a good emperor mattered enormously.

He said, “Even so, we must do what we can as human beings. We cannot abandon the people! And there may yet be a ruler who revives the realm in the future — how can you and I give up so easily? Sanlang — you and I may still be one step from the Council of State, but we cannot be without ambition. I am already old, but you are still young. You must strive to bring order to all under Heaven and speak for the people!”

Yet to Zhù Ying, it felt as though most emperors were rather like kidnappers — holding hundreds of millions of the people hostage, while those who wished to do any good were left in the wretched position of families being extorted for ransom.

“What? I never said I was giving up!” Zhù Ying looked at him in surprise. “When did I say I was going to abandon the people?”

Chen Meng was stunned. “Then what—?!”

“How can one handle affairs well without knowing how many dangers lie ahead? Do you want to know why I feel so weary? If he had been lying — if he had been pretending — that would almost be preferable. But if he genuinely believes the Yan family represents ‘poverty’ — if he truly thinks no one else in this world could be poorer than the Yan family — he will misjudge every situation he faces. It becomes the next ‘Why not eat meat broth?’ Emperor Hui was a fool, but that question should not be blamed on him — the blame belongs to those who kept him from ever knowing how the truly poor actually lived.”

Chen Meng asked, “So… are we still going to guide him?”

Zhù Ying said, “Of course we cannot do nothing. But we need a different approach.”

Chen Meng said, “You had me frightened just now! I thought you were… Well, this is good then, this is good. What do you have in mind? Working around Minister Zheng, or—?”

Zhù Ying smiled. “I’m not working around anyone. We do it openly, in full view — we put on the face of propriety! We walk the straight path!”

“Tell me more.”

“Over the next few days, find some truly poor households in the capital — whether laborers or farmers — and let him see for himself. Get his feet on the ground. As you said: we cannot abandon the people. The excuse he gave himself is one he now has to swallow. With enough time, enough of what he sees — perhaps something will take root.”

Chen Meng said, “Agreed.”

“Do not teach him any scheming whatsoever.”

“Don’t worry,” said Chen Meng. “I don’t think anyone will be teaching him that.”

Zhù Ying thought to herself: you are the very person most likely to teach him exactly that — and you haven’t even realized it yet.

——

The sun was slanting low in the west. The two stood beside a bridge.

Zhù Ying said, “I miss home. I miss A’Niang and A’Ye, and Huajie.”

Ahem. At the mention of Huajie, Chen Meng shifted with slight discomfort and lowered his voice. “Then bring them here. The longer you delay, the worse the elders’ health will get — and at their age, the road is full of risks.”

“Once she comes, Huajie loses her official post.”

“She is a woman, after all, and getting on toward fifty, I’d imagine? With you here, she could live as a woman of comfort and leisure — is that not more pleasant than holding some minor post?” Chen Meng gradually composed himself.

Zhù Ying glanced at him. “Then she would have difficulty going about freely outside. She rather likes having her own appointment — it gives her something to do.”

“For a woman to hold office, to appear in public — it is, after all, somewhat unseemly,” Chen Meng said with delicacy. “That is only because you indulge them. Men and women have their distinctions; yin and yang have their proper order; superior and inferior have their degrees. Female officials are a necessary exception. Otherwise… a noble consort’s rank title…”

Zhù Ying waved a hand. “She has her own wishes.”

Chen Meng assumed Huajie was observing a vow of chastity and let out a lengthy sigh. As an official, he would not have minded having a virtuous widow within his jurisdiction; as an elder brother figure, he would never want a sister to suffer needlessly. It had never occurred to him that Zhù Ying had remained unmarried all this time because Huajie herself had no desire to remarry.

He looked toward Zhù Ying.

Zhù Ying found it somewhat absurd.

The setting sun was too beautiful — she had almost let herself be absorbed into the atmosphere of being one among the “court ministers.”

Women are best kept from official office — yet she was expected to have the aspiration of “bringing order to all under Heaven,” to strive to assist a sage ruler and usher in a golden age.

But she was a woman.

To claim a morsel of the scraps left over, she first had to stuff the others to the point of bursting. They ate till oil ran from their lips, full and satisfied — with her contributions counted among their nourishment. What was even more absurd was that they took her contributions as her natural obligation, with no intention whatsoever of leaving her even a mouthful of what remained. Those who did offer anything were already considered great benefactors.

What an outrage.

Ask why, and the answer is always: yin and yang have their order — she was simply not entitled.

Zhù Ying narrowed her eyes and looked into the setting sun.

Fortunately, she had long since abandoned any illusions. She had never planned to spend her life grinding away within the circle others had drawn and labeled “gentleman ministers.” Nor did she intend to first complete someone else’s grand design on the way to fulfilling her own modest purpose — their grand design offered nothing toward her own goal.

Playing the role of a “man” to hold this office was insufferable. Everything others said seemed to remind her: your life is borrowed. Today — the Crown Prince, the palace consort who had borne his child — they reminded her too: their family, too, would go on through sons and grandsons without end. To go on enduring and attending to them indefinitely was no way to live. There was no end to that waiting — it would only consume her, until all her oil burned away and she was nothing but the spent remains.

Zhù Ying knew it with more clarity than ever before —

She wanted to bring order to all under Heaven. But she wanted, even more, to live with her head held high in her own life. She, Zhù Ying, had planted the wheat. A farmer who plants grain and wants to eat a bowl of rice from her own harvest — that is not theft. And it is not anyone’s charity, either.

One day, she would tell everyone: yes — I am a woman.

Not only would she herself stand upright and unashamed — she would see to it that Huajie, Xiao Jiang, and all the others could also hold their heads high, free from attack.

And if anyone chose to attack — let them come for her.

“It’s time to head back,” said Zhù Ying. “Home for dinner.”

She sat at the head of the table.