Elder Sister Hu’s gaze was fixed firmly on Zhù Ying’s left cheek, where a rather long wound had already formed a scab. The scab was flaking off piece by piece. The newly healed skin stood slightly raised on the surface, smoother than the surrounding skin, and the small patches were conspicuously visible — forming a stark contrast with the dull, still-intact scab.

If the Old Madam and the First Young Mistress were to see this, there was no telling how distressed they would be!

Elder Sister Hu said nothing, and Zhù Ying took the letter. While Elder Sister Hu was examining the scar, Zhù Ying’s mind had already turned over eight hundred thoughts. Rather than opening the letter right away, she said, “You’ve had a hard journey. If there’s anything to discuss, settle in and rest well first.”

Elder Sister Hu said, “I came here to serve at your side — there’s no reason for me to rest on my own first. I’ll put my luggage away and come right back.” Saying so, she beckoned to the several young people standing behind her.

These young people were all from Zhù County — men and women alike — all dressed in practical, capable attire, wearing leg wrappings and head bindings, carrying sabers at their sides, short bows hanging from their waists, and heavy pouches strapped at their hips.

Zhù Ying sighed softly. “All right. Qingye, take them to get settled.”

Zhù Qingye grinned broadly. “Sure thing!” Elder Sister Hu was a veteran of the household, and she had been sent by Zhang Xiangu at that — she was clearly a strong ally. Now they could work together to persuade Grandma to properly rest and tend to her injury!

She cheerfully settled the group in, then greeted the eight men and women Elder Sister Hu had brought: “You’ve all come too — that’s wonderful! We’re shorthanded here right now. So much going on, and people needed everywhere.”

These newcomers recognized her face well enough, and all said, “We’re here to follow Grandma’s orders.”

Zhù Qingye assigned them their rooms and watched them go inside to get situated, then pulled Elder Sister Hu aside for a long talk. She had expected Elder Sister Hu to also be upset that Zhù Ying wasn’t taking care of herself — but to her surprise, Elder Sister Hu wore a perfectly calm expression and showed no inclination to join forces with her.

Zhù Qingye said, “How can you not be worried?”

Elder Sister Hu said, “I have followed the Lord for nearly twenty years. She has always known what she is doing. Even something as major as returning from the capital — she had it all arranged. I know your concern comes from a good place, but don’t be too hasty. Her plans are always more clever than ours.”

Zhù Qingye said, “She may be clever all she likes — I still worry about her.”

Elder Sister Hu gave a small nod, then fell back into silence, leaving Zhù Qingye with nothing to say. The two of them watched in silence as the others finished getting settled, and then Elder Sister Hu said, “Let’s go take up our posts.”

Left with no choice, Zhù Qingye had to cooperate with Elder Sister Hu, and with a sulk she led the group to the place where Zhù Ying was temporarily staying.

Zhù Ying was reading a letter.

Zhang Xiangu’s handwriting was as large as ever, with every character laboriously written to look neat. There were no complaints about Zhù Ying being injured yet still away from home, no reproaches about keeping it secret, no lines about how worried she was. She played it off as if it were nothing, writing “Heard you got hurt,” and then every couple of paragraphs: “Take care of yourself,” and “Now that Nanny Hu has gone over, you’ll have each other for company.” The sentences meandered every which way.

Hua Jie’s letter was somewhat better composed, though it too carried no reproach for Zhù Ying. She mentioned briefly, “Heard you got hurt — is there enough medicine? When Qingye left she took some, but I’m not sure if it’s all been used up. The weather has gotten even hotter, so I’ve mixed some more remedies for heatstroke and warding off miasma. I’m sending Qingye back to collect them — the soldiers at the front need them too.”

Neither letter contained a single word of urgency, a single word of reproach, or a single word of heartfelt feeling — yet reading them, Zhù Ying felt a quiet weight settle over her heart.

She folded both letters neatly and tucked them away, then picked up her brush and began writing replies. They had written to her with painstaking efforts to seem unbothered; Zhù Ying’s reply, for its part, was equally seamless. She wrote briefly of “planning an ambush,” then described a bit of Gan County’s local customs and scenery, mentioned that Qingjun and the others had grown up well and that the campaign was going smoothly — nothing different from any other letter she had ever sent home.

Once the letters were written, she moved on to writing orders for Zhao Su and the others. By the time everything was done, Elder Sister Hu and Zhù Qingye had arrived.

One look at Zhù Qingye’s expression told Zhù Ying the girl had been sulking again. She spoke to her first: “Your teacher sent word — go back to receive a shipment of medicine and supplies.”

Zhù Qingye, hearing that Hua Jie had a message, quickly asked, “What about you?”

Elder Sister Hu said, “I’ll be here.”

Zhù Ying added, “It’s all scabbed over. I’ll stay right here.”

Zhù Qingye looked at her with suspicion, and Zhù Ying said, “You’re so young — where does all that distrust come from?”

“That would only matter if your word were reliable — and is your word very reliable right now?”

Getting bolder by the day! Zhù Ying stopped wasting words. “There’s an errand for you. Take these documents — this one goes to Zhao Su, this one to Xiang An…”

She went through each one, and Zhù Qingye took them, checking the names written on the covers so she wouldn’t mix them up. She quickly fetched a box to put them in, then pressed a memorial on top of the rest, asking, “We had an agreement — you won’t go into danger again.”

Zhù Ying said with a laugh and a scold, “So much fussing! Can I be spared from this place right now?”

That was enough reassurance. Zhù Qingye hugged the box and said, “I’ll get ready to set out right away — I’ll be back very soon!”

The slight threat in that last line was not lost on Zhù Ying, who knocked on the table in reply. Zhù Qingye bolted out of the room with her box.

Elder Sister Hu let out a sigh at that. Zhù Ying said, “I had hoped you could stay home with the others, but here I’ve had to trouble you to come out again.”

“You are everyone’s pillar of support,” Elder Sister Hu said evenly. “Everything falls on your shoulders to carry. Even when you don’t act personally, you’re always ready to step in and clean things up.”

Zhù Ying’s tone was equally calm. “Nothing in this world comes without a price — everything has to be fought for. Even a mother’s love: my mother, in order to love me well, has had to fight tooth and nail against others all her life. I will not let the people who love me be left without someone to rely on.”

Elder Sister Hu quietly gave a small bow, then moved back to stand silently behind Zhù Ying.

Only then did Zhù Ying begin assigning tasks to the people around her. Those attending to her at present were already the third group of attendants. The earliest group had been rotated out once back when she was still in the capital; by now, quite a few of them had taken up official posts. The second group had followed her back from the capital to Wuzhou, and were currently doing practical training and work at various posts — some of them had roles of their own by now. The third group were those who had accompanied her on this “western campaign.”

Everyone in Zhù Ying’s circle knew how to read and could do basic arithmetic. With so many things pressing, Zhù Ying wasted no time: she summoned the attendants from the first and second groups who had not yet taken up roles, added them to those already at her side, and dispatched them one after another along the route Zhù Qingjun was advancing westward.

The group Elder Sister Hu had brought counted as a fourth group, taking the place of those being sent out. Only Zhù Biao was kept behind to guide the new arrivals.

Once the assignments were settled, Elder Sister Hu reminded her, “Time to rest.”

Zhù Ying said, “All right — let’s go take a walk outside.”

Elder Sister Hu said, “Medicine first.” Otherwise, when Zhù Qingye came back and found she hadn’t been looked after properly, she would be the one embarrassed.

……

Zhù Qingye had two things weighing on her mind at once: she needed to go back to the mountain city to handle the errand, yet she also worried about Zhù Ying’s health, and wished she could teleport there and back in an instant.

She also remembered Zhù Ying’s veiled threat and dared not let Hua Jie and the others worry, so she was composing lies in her head — she would have to help Zhù Ying conceal things from Zhang Xiangu and Hua Jie.

Thinking kept the road from feeling long. Changing horses but not riders, Zhù Qingye pushed at an urgent pace and made it back to the mountain city by nightfall. By then the city gates were already closed, and she had to spend some effort verifying her identity before — with the help of Lin Feng, Su Sheng, and others from the army camp outside the walls — she finally entered the city.

This unexpected turn alarmed Zhao Su and the others; even Hou Wu had gathered in the signing room of the manor to wait for her — all of them fearing something dire had occurred.

Zhao Su’s face was set, looking as though he might run someone through without warning. “How exactly is Grandma? Is there trouble at camp?” His gaze swept coldly over Su Sheng and Lu Danqing.

Zhù Qingye hastily said, “I’m here to deliver letters. And to fetch the medicine and supplies Teacher prepared. I set out in a hurry for the first half of the trip — as dusk was falling I checked and saw I was still twenty li away, so I decided not to camp outside overnight.”

Saying so, she handed the box to Zhao Su.

Zhao Su took it with some skepticism and opened it. Seeing Zhù Ying’s handwriting, he relaxed a little. “So Grandma was injured?”

“She was — I treated the wound myself. The rumors about its severity were part of a stratagem. Grandma is now being guarded by Elder Sister Hu, and I personally arranged her quarters right next door to Grandma’s.”

Hou Wu said, “Good — the Old Madam can rest easy then.”

Zhù Qingye exchanged a glance with Lu Danqing and the others. None of them dared say that Zhù Ying’s face had been injured; but Zhù Ying would have to come home eventually, and when they met face to face, the scene that would unfold was something they hardly dared imagine.

Lin Feng was anxious, asking, “Brother, has Grandma told me to go to the front?”

Zhao Su said, “What’s your hurry? Let me read first.”

He pushed Lin Feng’s large head aside and sat at the desk to read through the orders slowly. As he read, a smile spread across his face. “This is exactly what I’d expect from Grandma! This is perfect!”

If he hadn’t heard that Zhù Ying was injured, he would have sent a message to ask her himself — the Sparrow clan’s father-in-law had died, and what was to be done about his son’s imperial enfeoffment? The court was already suspicious of them. Applying on their behalf would be difficult to get approved, and worse, the court might use the “enfeoffment” as a tool to make trouble.

On top of that, there was the matter of grain. They could trade salt and other goods for provisions from the lowlands, but if the quantities were large, not only might they not be able to afford it — the stir it caused would surely be enormous.

And Jiang Zheng was no friendly neighbor.

Now, Zhù Ying had already taken care of it. She had written that this year, taxes would not be remitted to the court.

The court had stopped sending the official gazette to Wuzhou, claiming the routes were impassable. Well, if the routes were impassable, then of course cloth and grain couldn’t make it up to the capital either! Those expenses could be saved and redirected as military funds.

She had also said that neither Zhao Su nor Zhù Lian should go to the capital. Instead, she had devised a roundabout arrangement — a few “couriers” would deliver the message, pretending the routes were genuinely impassable and that they had endured tremendous hardship to finally reach the capital, conveying Wuzhou’s undying loyalty. The message would explain the situation and request that the court repair the roads and resume the gazette; Wuzhou would resume paying tribute when the roads were open and the gazette resumed.

The memorial conveniently included the matter of the Sparrow clan’s enfeoffment, using it as another point: with the roads cut off, even death notices and imperial enfeoffments couldn’t be properly transmitted to the court — wasn’t that also disrupting the connection between the court and Wuzhou?

Finally, Zhù Ying earnestly expressed her absolute loyalty to the court. Given all that had happened, she was still “nestled in a remote corner” yet her heart remained set on recognizing the court’s legitimacy — her county heads needed the court’s imperial seal to be legitimate, and she still wanted to remit taxes!

Didn’t that just mean she wanted to infuriate every lord and minister in that palace in the capital? Zhao Su thought, not without a certain malicious satisfaction.

He smiled. “Grandma has taken care of everything. These are all just administrative matters. And don’t be impatient — our territory is growing larger by the day. To the west there is still vast open land. With just what Qingjun and the others have on hand right now, is it even enough? If you’re truly determined, the best thing you can do now is train your troops harder.”

Lin Feng beamed at that.

But Wu Ren voiced some concern. “Are we continuing to conscript? Will the rear have enough people? It’s quite a strain — there may be grumbling. Right now everyone is grateful, but if this keeps going without regard for the people’s circumstances, that goodwill won’t last.”

Zhao Su said, “That too has been arranged, naturally. Over these past ten-odd years, the population has been growing, and the only way forward has been to keep clearing new land. But why do that, when there is already tilled and cultivated land available?”

“Oh?”

Zhao Su said, “That’s why Grandma is so brilliant. Migrate the population westward.”

“What?”

This was another part of Zhù Ying’s plan. She needed the various clans to live intermingled — especially those who had already been “assimilated” and those newly annexed — mixed and scattered throughout. Fully redistributing everyone was not realistic, but a portion of the people could be moved westward while a portion of the “newly annexed” people could be moved east.

In the recent battle, the Xi Ka and Ji Ma clans had suffered losses in population. Especially now, with their chieftains killed, considerable fields, riverbanks, and grazing grounds had been left vacant. Zhù Ying had taken all of it under her control for redistribution, and she intended to give a portion of it to those who had performed meritoriously in the “western campaign” to cultivate.

Without reward for merit, without a share of the gains — that could never last.

Zhù County had been developed for over a decade; the more accessible land for clearing had already been largely cultivated. With the population growing, clearing new land meant going to places with worse conditions that required far greater effort. This was exactly the right moment to settle the “surplus” population.

In this way, the many impoverished clan members and slaves of the “newly annexed” lands would acquire property, which would naturally reduce the overcrowding. And the “long-established” people and those who had rendered merit would also receive their reward, with no cause to complain of working for nothing.

Zhao Su said, “Grandma wants some artisans — oh, and literate people to go out there as well.”

Wu Ren said, “That will have to wait until tomorrow then.”

Lu Danqing said, “When Grandma calls for people, make sure you don’t forget to notify us! I’m genuinely afraid Qingjun and the others will finish everything before we get a chance.”

……

Zhù Qingjun was advancing remarkably quickly. On the matter of “killing the chieftains” alone — that was enough to make many who faced her in battle stand by with folded arms, going through the motions without truly fighting.

All the more so when she was actually distributing land and handing out grain rations.

On this particular day, she had taken a village and was overseeing a rest period. A dark-skinned young woman from her unit came running up. “Captain! There’s a child here — says she has something to tell you!”

Zhù Qingjun said, “What is it?”

“She says she wants to show us the way!”

“Oh?”

A strange feeling stirred in Zhù Qingjun’s chest. “Let’s go see.”

She walked out of the village in long strides. Outside stood three children — one older, two younger. The older girl looked about eight or nine, the younger one was a boy of five or six, and the older girl was also carrying a small baby in her arms. All three looked disheveled and dirty, but were not thin or gaunt.

Zhù Qingjun asked, “Who wanted to see me?”

The girl said, “You’re the one who killed the chieftains?” In the mouths of the Xi Ka and Ji Ma chieftains, Zhù Ying and Zhù Qingjun had earned a bad reputation, and they were referred to in extremely rude terms. The little girl had left that particular label out. To others, “that person” might sound impolite — but for the little girl, it was already the most diplomatic phrasing she could manage.

Zhù Qingjun gave a small nod. “That’s me. Who are you?”

“Someone with a grudge against the chieftains!” The girl’s eyes were bright and sharp.

“Speak plainly.”

“The chieftain had my father killed on the battlefield in front of everyone. I want revenge.” The girl said it straight out.

Zhù Qingjun let out a soft sigh. “I see.”

The girl said, “I can do a lot of things. And I know the shortcuts — I really do! My father was a warrior too!”

The girl’s father had been a capable man in the village. Even as a slave, his life had been tolerable enough, and these three siblings looked considerably better off than Zhù Qingjun had been at their age — all because they had had a father and mother to care for them.

As misfortune would have it, she was Xi Ka, and the Ji Ma chieftain Pu Sheng had devised the cruel scheme of “battlefield slaughter for intimidation,” drawing mainly on those close at hand. The girl’s father had been killed in front of the battle lines, solely to frighten the Wuzhou forces.

When the strongest man of any household — wherever in the world — is gone, the widows and orphans left behind will not have an easy time. For slaves, it was even more so. Each household had suffered significant losses, and the chieftains’ response, besides stepping up their plundering, was to forcibly pair off slaves to replenish the population.

The girl’s mother was not spared either — she went from being the girl’s mother to someone else’s wife.

The Xi Ka people were not particularly concerned with “reputation and chastity,” but when one’s family is destroyed in an instant, that resentment — no matter what — cannot simply be swallowed.

Zhù Qingjun listened to the end, held her silence for a moment, and then — with the girl watching anxiously — said at last: “Slaves, still living such bitter lives. At least, from now on, no one will be a slave anymore.”

“Is it really true that you’ll free us?”

Zhù Qingjun patted the girl’s head. “Yes. Whatever Grandma has said, she has always been as good as her word.”

“Grandma?”

Zhù Qingjun took the small baby from the girl’s arms, glanced down briefly at the girl’s hands, then said, “Yes. Come with me — we need to find some milk for this one. And you’ll all need a place to stay…”

Once the girl was settled, Zhù Qingjun quietly gave instructions: “Two people — keep an eye on these children. If they check out, send the little ones to the rear and keep the older one here to show us the way.”

“Yes.”

“We’ll move once Fourth Sister arrives.”

“Our medicine is running low.”

“I know. Go ask Grandma — she won’t abandon us.”

“Yes.”

……

Zhù Qingjun advanced confidently, knowing Zhù Ying had her back, and Zhù Ying settled in at Gan County with equal confidence. With her stationed there, Gan County looked entirely different from before — grain and supplies flowed smoothly, and people were continually receiving land. Zhù Ying also kept an eye out for shrewd and capable individuals in Gan County and began cultivating them.

As autumn harvest drew near, Zhù Ying oversaw the harvest arrangements. Zhù Qingjun’s grain and troop supplies were assured and plentiful, so she and Su Zhe and the others paused to rest while Lin Feng and Lu Danqing were sent forward to the front line on alert.

Zhù Ying issued the order: “Patrol and harass only — no attacks. Protect the harvest first! After the harvest, there will be battles to fight.”

Both obeyed without protest, and led their troops forward — only to find that Zhù Qingjun had already pushed the boundary several hundred li to the west, and Zhù Ying had set up four new counties. Jiang Wan and the others simply lacked the title of “county magistrate,” and Zhù Lian likewise lacked the title of “prefect” — but in practice, a rough framework had already been hastily established.

The two of them were burning with envy.

On another front, Zhù Ying received word from Zhao Su — Gu Tong and the others had returned and were at Zhao Su’s home. They were asking to see Zhù Ying.