Leng Yun craned his neck with curiosity, his interest in the shops entirely forgotten. He said to Zhù Ying, “Shall we go home and have a look?”
Zhù Ying recognized at once, from his familiar tone, that when he said “shall we go home and have a look,” he did not mean “I’ll browse while you head home” — he meant “let us go to your home and see what is there.”
Zhù Ying pointed at the flat box in the shop owner’s hands; Leng Yun said, “I’m buying it, I’m buying it, I’ll definitely buy it.”
Li Yanqing touched his nose. He privately knew that Leng Yun’s behavior was a bit rude, but he had come to “spy” for information, and was also very curious about who had come from “down the mountain” to pay New Year’s respects. So he allowed Leng Yun’s curiosity to pass unchallenged.
In truth, not only were officials prohibited from leaving their jurisdictions without cause — the gentry and commoners even more so could not, as they had no travel permits allowing them to move about freely.
Wuzhou and Jiyuan Prefecture were adjacent, and the court still harbored some wariness toward Zhù Ying. Whoever had come up the mountain to pay New Year’s respects, Li Yanqing wanted to see it for himself.
Zhù Ying said to Zhang Xiangu, “Mother, can you browse on your own today? Note down whatever you like and put it on my account — tomorrow we will come again together.”
Zhang Xiangu said, feigning mild reproach, “We have guests at home now — what is there to keep browsing for? Let us all go back together. The shops are right here, they will not run away. We can come again tomorrow!” She did not care much about the shopping in itself — what she wanted was to “go shopping with her daughter.” Without her daughter, what was the point of browsing? Going home to sit in the sun was just as pleasant.
And so the whole party turned back toward the Zhù residence.
Along the way, Leng Yun and Li Yanqing saw merchants, farmers, and children who looked like students, all continuously greeting Zhù Ying and her mother. Zhang Xiangu from time to time said things to Zhù Ying like: “That’s Old Zhang from the western ward — a different character for the surname, the one for ‘standing early.'” “Her husband’s surname is also Zhù, same as yours — moved here the year before last, originally fled from the Yigan household.”
Zhù Ying responded to all of them with a smile and a nod. When she encountered children, she produced a piece of candy for them; when she encountered adults, she repeated the person’s name back to them and gave them a measuring look.
The party walked at no great pace. Leng Yun grew a little impatient; since he could not understand anything anyone said, he deliberately cut Zhang Xiangu short and asked, “Old Lady, what you are speaking just now — does not quite sound like the local dialect. Have you learned the language of the mountain peoples?”
Zhang Xiangu said, “I only know a little of it myself. We all generally speak the official language in our daily lives. Look there — those character steles at the crossroads. Everyone learns from those.”
Leng Yun thought to himself: the “official language” you are all speaking sounds as though you have nearly been swept along into a different accent altogether.
Li Yanqing had noticed the character steles long ago. And now watching Zhù Ying and her mother with the common people — a scene of complete harmony and warmth — he thought: there are very few people in the world who could manage this. No wonder that, so many years after Zhù Ying left Jiyuan Prefecture, people are still traveling up here to pay their respects.
The party returned to the Zhù residence, and Leng Yun exclaimed in surprise: “How are there so many people?”
Zhang Xiangu was quite accustomed to it by now and explained, “They come every year for the New Year. Around this time we hold a grand fair in the mountains; merchants from outside also come to sell their goods. Traveling together in a group is safer — so of course there are many.”
Many years had passed, and the customs of the mountains and the outside world had each shifted somewhat. In the old days when Zhù Ying was present, she would organize merchant caravans — caravans that entered the mountains to purchase mountain goods and bring in quality merchandise from outside at fair prices. This exchange took place once a month. But after Zhù Ying left and the Suoning family was defeated, the roads became peaceful, and the once-monthly pattern changed.
The estate market remained the largest clearing hub; the various counties had also developed smaller markets, varying in scale, goods, and schedule. Over a dozen or so years, the mountains and the outside world had gradually settled into another set of habits — they tracked the days by chanting mnemonic verses and noting the heavenly stems and earthly branches, and maintained a calendar of trading dates.
But regardless of how it changed, the estate grand market was always the anchor at the beginning and end of every year.
The gentry of Jiyuan Prefecture — especially those from Fulu County — cherished their regard for Zhù Ying, and at every festival would dispatch a representative to go up the mountain to call on Zhù Ying’s parents. As the New Year approached, they would rally themselves even more, and though they could not come on the first day of the New Year, they would certainly come to pay their respects beforehand.
This practice of “advance New Year greetings” combined with trade meant that the trading date for the twelfth month gradually shifted later. Over time, everyone grew accustomed to it — and Zhang Xiangu eventually just remembered it as “they come in the twelfth month to trade and pay their respects along the way.”
“Ah, I see.” Leng Yun said.
As the group entered the residence, they were immediately recognized. Word passed from person to person until it reached the hall: “The Prefect has returned!”
A crowd rushed into the courtyard all at once, voices calling out “Prefect!” rising and falling in chorus. Among them was also a woman’s voice calling out “Little Sibling.”
Zhao Su said to his mother, “Mother, since Grandma is a woman, calling her ‘Little Brother’ is not quite right.”
Zhao Niangzi, without missing a beat, corrected herself: “Little Sister!”
And was just as conspicuous as ever.
Li Yanqing looked at the people in the courtyard — gathered in no particular order, yet all dressed formally. More than half wore official robes of various shades of blue and green, looking unexpectedly fresh and vital in the winter. Among them was also a touch of red: the one who had just rushed forward calling out “Little Sister” was being held back by a man in red clothing, to keep her from charging ahead too eagerly.
Zhao Niangzi’s elder brother had formally sworn brotherhood with Zhù Ying — now “brother” had turned to “sister-in-law,” but the bond was the bond. Zhù Ying smiled and said, “I have been caught up in one thing after another since my return and could not leave Wuzhou — otherwise I should have gone to call on Elder Sister first.”
Zhao Niangzi studied Zhù Ying closely, and finally, from the hands held between mother and daughter, caught a glimpse of something daughterly. She was direct by nature and laughed, “As long as we can see each other, what does it matter who sees whom first?”
Only then did Zhù Ying release the hand and gave a cupped-hands bow to all the assembled gentry: “Thank you all, respected elders, for coming to see me.”
The gentry responded in a clamor: “Of course.”
Zhao Su stepped forward and said, “Prefect, the elders heard that the imperial envoy is here and has not yet returned, that he intends to spend the New Year in Wuzhou, and so they have come especially to pay their respects.”
Gu Weng — the one now addressed as Gu Weng was Gu Tong’s father — came forward and said, “The Pacification Commissioner once visited our Fulu County in his earlier years. Though the Prefect may have forgotten, we certainly cannot.”
Leng Yun felt a warmth in his chest, and was moved: “You still remember? Oh! I did indeed once serve as prefect — ha ha, ha ha, ha ha ha!”
Li Yanqing of course knew he had served as prefect — that was precisely why he had been sent here. But Li Yanqing harbored a doubt: he had just seen how Zhù Ying treated her subjects and the common people. Leng Yun could never have done the same. Comparing the two, anyone who claimed that these local gentry had come to pay New Year’s respects to Leng Yun rather than to Zhù Ying — not even a dog would believe it!
Leng Yun believed it.
He was very pleased. Unfortunate, however — he did not remember a single one of these people. So he went about asking the names of the other gentry, chatting with them. The Fulu County gentry spoke the official language reasonably well, and Leng Yun had at last found people he could converse with.
Zhù Ying said, “Come inside and talk.”
In the hall, a noisy tumult of pleasantries ensued.
Leng Yun did not remember the minor local gentry from years past, but he knew: “Oh! You are Gu Tong’s father?” “Ah! Zhao Zhen’s father?” Then he became acquainted with the fathers of many other people as well, and listened to them speak of their sons. Very quickly, he could no longer keep all the names straight.
Zhang Xiangu heard from Zhao Niangzi that Qi Niangniang had also come with her children, and said joyfully, “Then let us go see her and the little ones.” Zhao Niangzi added, “We old ones are all here in the old home, and we are discussing sending them up to the mountains — a husband and wife should not be apart for so long…”
The two women chattered away and left together.
The gentry also took turns at conversation — Gu Weng, for instance. Zhù Ying asked Gu Weng, “How is your father?”
Gu Weng said, “Resting quietly at home. He had wanted to come up the mountain to pay his respects, but was unable to manage the journey, and has been regretting it deeply.”
“As long as he is well — that matters more than anything.”
Gu Weng also mentioned Gu Tong: “The little rascal has barely come back twice all these years, and now he has gone and stayed in the capital himself, unable to return!”
Zhù Ying said, “He is a court official. How could he leave his post without authorization?”
Gu Weng shook his head. “Reading has made him a fool.”
As they spoke, Gu Weng’s eyes shifted toward Zhao Su. Then he leaned forward and explained in a low voice: Gu Tong had sent New Year gifts from the capital by proxy — not only for the family at home, but a separate parcel for Zhù Ying, his teacher. He had asked the family to bring it up the mountain.
Gu Weng had received his son’s letter home. Gu Tong was clearly tormented inwardly, and the words came out in a jumbled mess — one sentence about Zhù Ying being a woman and thirty years of official career and countless intertwined interests and reputations all ruined in one stroke, then reversing course in the very next sentence: “Without her, those of us like myself would have had no ladder to reach the sky — she has been a true benefactor to us.” These things Gu Weng did not tell Zhù Ying.
In the front hall, Zhao Niangzi’s mouth was running just as busily alongside Zhang Xiangu.
Zhao Niangzi said, “Do not think that all of them have only good intentions toward Little Sister! In the past few months, they have been in quite a panic and frenzy!”
Zhang Xiangu quickly asked, “What do you mean?”
Zhao Niangzi said, “When Little Sister first ran into trouble, they were genuinely worried — and when they heard she was coming back, they were genuinely looking forward to it. The gratitude is genuine too. One by one, warm hearts welcoming her back, escorting her into the mountains, even afraid the prefect might do her harm.
“Once Little Sister was in the mountains, each and every one of them started weighing things up for their own households! Talking about how they should treat Little Sister, how they should deal with the mountains. Every time an envoy from the capital came, they would be startled all over again.”
Zhang Xiangu was taken aback. “What have we done? My child has never wronged them, and since coming back she has not harmed any of them either.”
Zhao Niangzi laughed scornfully. “But they still have children out in the world! Each and every one, rushing about in a tizzy, all afraid their own children might be damaged by what happened to Little Sister. Their children are holding onto official posts — fine posts too, the kind Little Sister put them there to hold. They were happy enough to take the benefit at the time; now they think of where it came from, and they get scared. They simply cannot bear to give up those posts! Shameless! Oh, and by the way — they also brought up the salt.”
Zhang Xiangu felt a pang in her heart, yet still said, “They will not all be like that.”
Zhao Niangzi said, “Mm, that is true — some also said that everything they have today came through Little Sister’s help, and to repay kindness with betrayal would be wrong. So they argued about it — some sought word from their sons out doing officialdom, some dispatched people to ask in person, and the guild halls also sent messages, all deliberating on a unified course of action. Back and forth for months. Before they had made heads or tails of it, Little Sister had become a senior official again! Well that was that — no more deliberating needed, each and every one forgetting they had ever been in a panic, all saying they would of course continue to follow Little Sister’s lead.”
Zhang Xiangu sighed. “Human hearts are like that. No one can be entirely selfless.”
Zhao Niangzi curled her lip: “If you ask me, those people from outside the mountains just cannot do things simply. When they welcomed her back, they were happy about it — so just stay happy! She has never once let them lose out. Why not just keep trusting? Now they turn around and act like perfectly virtuous people!”
Zhang Xiangu said, “Ah, people keep their hearts hidden behind their chests. Let’s not talk about them anymore. Can you truly bear to send those daughters-in-law and grandchildren all the way up into the mountains? What fine plump little grandsons those are!”
Zhao Niangzi was a little reluctant herself, but still said, “Even so, they cannot be separated from their father. When I miss them, I can go down and visit.”
Zhang Xiangu still kept the matter of the down-the-mountain gentry in mind, and made a note to mention it to her daughter later. For now she dealt with Zhao Niangzi and entertained her and her household for the meal. Looking at Zhao Niangzi’s grandchild, her eyes were full of tenderness — yet she made no mention of bringing these two little ones to meet Zhù Da.
In the front hall, Zhù Ying also hosted a banquet for Leng Yun, Li Yanqing, and the gentry.
During the meal, the talk was all of old times. Zhao Su brought up the Clear Breeze Tower, saying it had been built for Leng Yun.
Leng Yun was delighted: “That was twenty years ago, was it not?” Then he told Li Yanqing of many of his own exploits from that time — things like handling the Huang the Twelfth affair.
Li Yanqing swept a glance at the expressions of the others present and knew there was another story beneath the surface. He thought about Zhù Ying’s habitual conduct and reputation, then looked at Leng Yun, and roughly guessed something of the truth.
As Leng Yun went on, he grew pleased with himself, drank too much, and Li Yanqing, fearing he might embarrass himself, had no choice but to make his apologies and drag Leng Yun back to the guest lodge.
Once they had left, those who had been flushed and disheveled with drink all returned to proper form — straightening headwear, adjusting buttons, tightening belts… The gentry rose from the table and stood before Zhù Ying, bowing with deep and respectful bows: “We pay our respects to the Prefect!”
Zhù Ying said, “There is no need for such ceremony, respected elders. Please be seated.”
The gentry did not sit. Gu Weng spoke on behalf of the group: “The Prefect’s return fills us with the greatest joy. We have only been unable to communicate freely, fearing to invite suspicion. It is only now that we have found a pretext, and for that we owe a debt of thanks to the Pacification Commissioner! Our entire families have received great beneficence from the Prefect, and we have come especially to ask for the Prefect’s guidance — how should we conduct ourselves going forward? Our sons and grandsons are now serving as officials outside; how should they comport themselves?”
Zhù Ying said, “Bring it out.”
Xiang Yu carried a box and came to stand at Zhù Ying’s right side — even though his own father was standing in the row below, he kept his gaze straight ahead — left hand supporting the box, right hand lifting the lid to display it to everyone: “The Prefect has long intended to invite all the elders here for a gathering. The invitations have all been prepared. Even had you not come, the Prefect would have made other arrangements.”
The assembled gentry breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Zhù Ying said, “I know — you have all had a fright. The very moment I returned, I should have given everyone an explanation. The invitations were prepared long ago, but when I first arrived, I had only just obtained one county magistrate from the court. Had you come at that time and been asked about it locally, it would have been hard to answer. If I could not protect someone, I would not drag them into trouble. Better simply not to meet — am I not right?”
Xiang Dalang choked up and said, “The Prefect’s concern for others is boundless! We are forever moved and grateful.”
Zhù Ying said, “Your sons and grandsons, your businesses, your guild halls outside — the same principle applies. Now that the dust has settled and I am firmly established, we can finally sit together and talk as we used to. Have you come to a harmonious arrangement among yourselves?”
The gentry let out a chorus of emotional sounds.
Zhù Ying said, “Sit. You are not rushing back, I hope?”
Lei Bao said, “No rush, no rush at all!”
He was old too now — hair and temples gone silver. The beating he had once received from Zhù Ying had dissolved into the air like smoke long since.
Zhù Ying said, “Today there is wine. Tomorrow when it has worn off, let us talk in more detail. Things concerning those of you serving outside are also things you may speak to me about — when it comes to the court, I know it rather better than you do.”
“Yes! We are entirely at the Prefect’s direction.”