Su Sheng raised his arm, but Chen Fang pressed it back down. He looked at Chen Fang, puzzled: “What’s the matter?”

Chen Fang said, “She’s gone back to report the news. What’s the point of stopping her midway? Let’s return to the guest lodge now and stop by the headquarters to pay our respects in a little while.”

Zhù Qingye swept past the two of them like a gust of wind and charged straight to the headquarters in one breath: “They’re back! They’re back!”

The residence immediately erupted into bustling activity. Hou Wu leaned on his walking stick and shuffled slowly to the gate, watching the “little rascals” scurrying up and down. A small girl passed by him and, with a casual sweep of her hand, snatched up a chair and set it to one side: “Fifth Grandpa, sit here.” She grabbed him, pressed him down into the chair. A flurry of “little rascals” rushed past like a gust of wind, hands and mouths never stopping. One moment it was “Fifth Grandpa, hello,” and the next, not even waiting for Hou Wu’s reply: “Hurry up, that room over there hasn’t been swept yet.”

When Zhù Ying returned, all those who had accompanied her returned as well, and many rooms needed cleaning. There was also a great deal of food to be prepared. The keeper of the study rushed to take stock of writing supplies, found there was not much paper left, and hurried off to collect more. The various departments likewise conducted their final check of their own duties, preparing for the queries Zhù Ying would have when she arrived.

Wu Ren and Xiang An were especially busy. The autumn harvest, storehouse intake, and collection of rents and taxes were the most pressing matters at hand. They tallied the figures one more time, and Xiang An said, “Don’t panic — now that Master is back, Xiao Shuang and the others will be back too, and we’ll have some help.”

Wu Ren’s voice came out muffled: “And Chonghua will be here soon too — she’s so hard to manage.”

Zhù Chonghua was the person who gave them headaches. Zhao Su and Zhù Lian were also difficult to deal with, but they both had a certain “restraint” to them. Zhù Chonghua was different — she was always very direct.

Xiang An said in exasperation, “Zhù Ming is learning too slowly. Otherwise, he ought to be brought here to help — let him deal with his own mother.”

Zhù Ming was Zhù Chonghua’s son. Zhù Chonghua had in total given birth to six children; three had survived — two sons and a daughter. Zhù Ming was the younger of the two sons. The eldest brother and older sister were ahead of him, and of the three children, he alone had come to Xizhou for schooling. The eldest brother was staying at home because, as the firstborn son, he was already married and had to look after the family. The older sister had been left somewhat neglected as a child while her parents were occupied with labor, and had nearly been gnawed and maimed by a rat, barely surviving the ordeal.

Zhù Chonghua’s husband had worn himself out laboring for a chieftain and now carried a body full of ailments. With Zhù Chonghua away attending to official duties, the eldest son looked after the household.

Of all the children, only the youngest son was suitable to come to Xizhou.

Wu Ren remarked judiciously: “He’s not as clever as his mother.”

Xiang An said: “So many children don’t take after their father… or mother.”

The two of them murmured to each other for a few more moments, then bent their heads back to their work. Their hands flew as they quickly reviewed the autumn harvest plan and the recent progress on the household census, counted the number of ledger books, and then Zhù Ying’s party had arrived at the headquarters.

Hearing the commotion outside, the two of them set the ledgers aside and went out together to receive them. Su Zhe and Zhù Qingye came out of the nearby signing room at the same time, and the several of them exchanged nods, then strode quickly outside. They then ran into Zhù Qingjun and exchanged greetings: “Did things go smoothly?”

Zhù Qingjun said: “Reasonably well — the ‘bandits’ are nearly all suppressed. Master heard that Lord Chen had arrived.”

Su Zhe said, “Yes, A’Sheng is keeping him company.”

Zhù Qingjun said, “Where is he staying?”

“The relay lodge. This isn’t the capital — if he comes here as a guest to visit, that’s one thing, but he’s here now as an envoy, and he has quite a few attendants with him. People from all walks of life mixed together, not all of them necessarily trustworthy. Better to keep him at the guest lodge where we can keep an eye on things.”

Zhù Qingjun nodded: “That makes sense. Let’s go.”

The group moved quickly to the gate. Outside, Zhù Ying had just helped Zhang Xiangu down from the carriage. Zhang Xiangu stepped down from the footboard, and Jiang Guafu took hold of her. Su Zhe came running up with a smile, calling out “A’Niang,” and took hold of Zhang Xiangu’s other arm. She turned to see Zhù Ying helping Huajie out of the carriage, and quickly called out “Auntie” as well.

She was about to call to Zhù Ying next, when she saw Zhù Ying reach back into the carriage and pull out a third person. The woman kept waving her hands as she emerged, the two silver bracelets on her wrists catching the light and flashing: “My lord, I can manage on my own, on my own.”

Beside her, Wu Ren heard the voice and gave a visible start: “Mother?”

Zhù Ying hauled Wang Furong out of the carriage and handed her to Wu Ren: “You two haven’t seen each other in quite some time.”

Su Zhe looked carefully and only just managed to recall Wang Furong’s face: “Oh! Madam Wang! Master’s student, yes?”

Wang Furong was a little flustered: “Yes, yes, that’s right.”

Flustered or not, she was still more at ease than Wu Ren, and before long she had struck up a lively conversation with Xiang An and the others nearby. Wu Ren was seized in her grip, unable to get a word in edgewise — not that she particularly wanted to.

Ever since Wu Ren had fled to Wuzhou, she had rarely returned home, and in the beginning had even concealed the news from relatives and friends. The Wu family were not a great household in Jiyuan Prefecture, though they had modest means, and could not bring themselves to settle in Wuzhou permanently. Later things became even more uncertain, until An’nan was established as a garrison command and both Wu Ren and Wu Shuang found firm footing in An’nan. Wu Ren tended to keep things bottled up, but Wu Shuang was a straightforward and open girl — she had written home, asking whether her family would be willing to come and have a look.

They hadn’t held out much hope, but to their surprise, Wang Furong, upon receiving the letter, dreamed of her daughter several nights in a row and could not resist the pull. She actually came — and partway through her journey she had run into Zhù Ying and Zhang Xiangu’s traveling party, who had conveniently brought her along back to Xizhou.

She said to Wu Ren: “Your Aunt Meng has passed on, and I was afraid that if I didn’t come for a look now, I might close my eyes one day without ever having seen you again…”

“Spit that out! Spit it out!” Su Zhe said. “Oh? Where is Xiao Shuang?”

Wang Furong said hastily: “She’s in the back — she had proper business to attend to.”

Su Zhe, seeing her anxiety, gave her a reassuring smile, nodded, and said: “That’s wonderful then — the three of you can have a proper reunion. The people here are always busy; even blood relatives don’t often get to be together. Come now, let’s all get settled.”

From above, Zhù Ying’s fist came down on Su Zhe’s head: “Is that aimed at me?”

Su Zhe let go of Zhang Xiangu and dashed away with a laugh: “That’s your own words, not mine! Everyone, hurry up and get settled. Shall someone be sent to inform the guest lodge?”

“Go ahead — he’s not an outsider.”

……

Chen Fang bore the title of “envoy,” but this mission was entirely unlike his previous visit for the official bestowal of titles. And so he adopted a different manner altogether. He changed into his formal official robes, but carried himself without any stiffness or ceremony. He brought the official document, but also submitted a calling card. When he arrived at the headquarters and the formalities were completed, his first words were: “Auntie, I hope you are well.”

After the greetings he presented the gift list prepared by Chen Meng and his wife: “It’s a pity we ran into the summer heat on the road — for fear of the damp and mold, we couldn’t bring much polygonum multiflorum. But the sentiment is there, and I know you understand that. Your journey on this mission has been genuinely difficult. If the road were built, this trip would not be nearly so troublesome. How did it go?”

The details were too intricate to be worked out in a single conversation. Chen Fang gave a general account of what he had seen and thought along the way, and at the end asked: “What is your intention?”

Zhù Ying said, “Jiang Zheng spoke sensibly. Serving a term as prefectural governor, or overseeing a major construction project, is good experience — and when you eventually return to the capital, such experience will be of value.”

The new road’s routing involved candidate options on both sides that were fairly complex, and was not something to be laid out all at once. Chen Fang only touched on it briefly, and Zhù Ying said, “Once the autumn harvest is done and I have more time, we can go over it in detail. You’ve had a difficult journey — rest well for a few days first. I certainly won’t keep you from getting home for the New Year.”

Chen Fang smiled: “What a shame — I was hoping to spend the New Year keeping the Elder Lady company.” He said nothing whatsoever about his thoughts regarding Su Zhe’s marriage.

Zhù Ying said, “Really a shame? Then I’ll keep you here.”

Chen Fang smiled: “All right.”

It was banter between the two of them. Zhù Ying rose and brought him to see Zhang Xiangu — they reminisced, a banquet was arranged, and the occasion served also as a welcoming feast for Wang Furong. The “customs” of An’nan quite opened Chen Fang’s eyes. Perhaps because Wuzhou had been the “weaker” side in the past, the banquets Zhù Ying had held there — though attended by both men and women — had mostly featured women who held some official position. A lady like Madam Qi with a noble title generally did not appear in public settings.

At the An’nan headquarters, however, not only did a “revered elder” like Zhang Xiangu appear, but an “official family member” like Wang Furong was present as well — and the two groups were not seated separately. They sat mingled together and conversed freely with warmth and laughter.

Wang Furong was a little uneasy at first, but as she sat and saw her daughter and granddaughter right beside her, along with the mothers of her granddaughter’s “little friends” all present in the same room — everyone speaking openly, laughing without covering their mouths — it felt even more relaxed than it had back in Jiyuan Prefecture. Gradually she let herself go, and said to Wu Ren, “It’s good here.”

Wu Ren, still a woman of few words, only nodded, a smile forming on her face without her quite noticing. Wang Furong watched Wu Shuang and Jiang Zhen and Jiang Bao laughing together in a heap, entirely indifferent to anyone else’s gaze, and began to worry faintly that girls like these would have a hard time finding husbands. Not marrying was of course quite fine — no need to wait on anyone then — and yet something felt vaguely not quite right, though she couldn’t put her finger on what, and on reflection it seemed all right too.

A small thread of wistfulness rose in her heart, quickly scattered by the girls’ bright, cheerful voices, and she was happy again. When she had come, she had still harbored a little hope of calling her daughter and granddaughter back home. By now, all of that had melted away — the girls were at ease here. There was no need to go back. Even she herself had set various things aside for the moment, and settled in contentedly. She had come with a thought of bringing her daughter and granddaughter home; now she thought — why go back at all?

Wang Furong moved in with her daughter and granddaughter, and the two of them formed their own little household, much like the Jiang mother and daughters — a small dwelling had been allocated for them near the headquarters. It was not grand, but not small either: a three-courtyard residence, with a few servants to help. Wang Furong saw that the house was bigger than her own back home and the servants more numerous, and felt all the more at ease.

She only found the way the servants did things not quite to her liking, and from the second day was too restless to sit still, so she took charge of the servants and set about arranging the house for her daughter. She was a woman who had run a household for many years, and under her hands, when Wu Ren and Wu Shuang came home that evening, they found the house transformed. Not a single thing had been added or removed, yet everything was cleaner and neater, and the arrangement was more comfortable. They sat down in the hall, and dinner was served.

Back in their rooms, they lay down to find the bedding aired and soft.

Wang Furong also laundered and aired their clothes for them, attending to every detail. The two women, aunt and niece, were busy at the headquarters during the day and came home at night to find nothing requiring thought — life was wonderfully comfortable.

After a few days of this, the Elder Lady of the household also invited her to come to the residence for a visit, saying that with everyone busy during the harvest season, she worried Wang Furong might feel lonely sitting at home alone.

Not only was Zhang Xiangu there, but Huajie, Xiao Jiang, and a few others were all at the headquarters as well — during the autumn harvest, school was on holiday, and even the number of cases brought to the courts dwindled. These few found themselves at leisure for once. They sat together chatting — no needlework, no tasks in hand — settled in the rear garden of the headquarters. A little bridge arched over a stream, flowers and trees all around; they sat in the pavilion, and a cool breeze drifted through, the weather neither cold nor hot.

Wang Furong rarely had such a leisurely autumn harvest season, and found herself thinking: how wonderful it would be to move the whole household here.

The others did not know what she was thinking, and they did not urge her to move — they simply shared the news from An’nan. The biggest news at the moment was, first, the harvest, and second, the “new post road.”

Jiang Zhou sounded wistful: “Once the road is built, going back to the capital won’t take a month — I can’t even remember what the capital looks like anymore.”

Zhang Xiangu also said: “It’s been years since I’ve been back. I wonder how Jin Dajia and the others are getting on.”

Wang Furong had no familiarity with the capital at all, and only listened attentively, taking notes in her mind of everything they said about the capital — material for conversation after she returned home. In the pauses where Zhang Xiangu stopped, she would ask the right question at the right moment: “And then what happened?”

And so she could collect the next installment of the account of “the legendary Chancellor” presiding over a court case.

Zhang Xiangu also took a liking to Wang Furong. Zhang Xiangu always felt it was her duty to cultivate good relations with the families of her daughter’s subordinates, and so she was particularly warm toward Wang Furong. She invited her over regularly for conversation, and also asked her along for strolls through the streets. Within Xizhou’s walls there were two large markets, and unlike the capital — where the markets did not open until the afternoon — these were lively from morning to night.

Even during the harvest season, merchants and travelers came and went in a steady stream. The Asu County establishment kept a large shop here year-round, selling tea, with Western Tribes merchants as its main customers. The Western Tribes traders also liked to sell cattle, sheep, and horses here, and to buy tea and cloth in return, occasionally smuggling iron goods out — An’nan’s salt and iron were under official management, and the Western Tribes’ purchases were subject to quota.

Wang Furong’s eyes were dazzled by it all, and she frequently forgot about home. Every evening when she lay in bed, she would think of her husband and children and grandchildren, and a pang of guilt would come over her. But her daughter was always busy, and she could not bring herself to raise the subject of sending her home at such a time. She passed her days in a pattern of happiness during daylight hours and guilt in the evenings.

By the time Wu Ren’s busy period was over and mother and daughter finally had leisure time to spend together, she was even less willing to leave. It was not until Zhao Su, Zhù Lian, and the others had finished their business in Xizhou, and even Chen Fang was about to set out on the return journey, that Wang Furong reluctantly decided she would travel back together with “Lord Zhao,” so as to have some company and protection along the road.

Wu Ren was naturally reluctant to see her go, but she was a woman of few words. Wu Shuang, on the other hand, had no qualms about clinging to her grandmother: “Stay a bit longer! We’ve only just had some free time — there are so many places we haven’t seen yet!”

Wang Furong cupped her granddaughter’s face in her hands and said, “But I have two children, you know! I have to go back.”

The other child was Wu Shuang’s own father. Wu Shuang muttered, “My dad is getting on in years…” Did he still need his mother to look after him?

Wang Furong decided it was best to go home sooner rather than later.

……

The Chen, Zhao, and Zhù parties had no objection to taking along one more traveler. Wang Furong had a young maidservant and a young manservant of her own, so she required no looking after from anyone else.

The party set out from Xizhou. Chen Fang was tremendously curious about Wang Furong. Seizing a quiet moment, he sought her out for a conversation. Wang Furong could not imagine what a Chancellor’s son would have to say to her — her noble title was a consequence of her daughter’s position, a rather hollow title at that, only recently come to light, and hardly worth coveting.

Chen Fang, for his part, was extremely curious about how a woman like this had been able to let her daughter travel hundreds of li away to “serve as an official.” He asked with great tact: “Madam, do you not miss your daughter?”

“Of course I miss her. But I always prefer to want what is better for her rather than what I prefer for myself.”

“Well, ah — finding a good husband, supporting him and raising children, surrounded by grandchildren in her old age — isn’t that a good life?”

“That sort of life means I’d be begging others to treat her well, worrying she might starve without someone to provide for her. Now, she can take good care of herself — she doesn’t have to beg anyone for anything.” Wang Furong said. Noticing that Chen Fang’s expression looked a little strange, she regretted having said too much, and from then on gave only vague, evasive answers to whatever Chen Fang asked, and would not let anything slip.

The moment they arrived in Wuzhou, Zhao Su still had goodbyes to exchange with Chen Fang; Wang Furong wasted not a moment, took her people, and headed straight home.

Back at home, she found that with a daughter-in-law managing the household, nothing was out of order, and her heart at last settled. Her husband, son, and daughter-in-law all asked about what she had seen and heard in Xizhou; her daughter-in-law also wanted to know whether Wu Shuang was getting on well.

Wang Furong told them: “Very well — don’t think about calling them back. I’ve seen for myself that they’re living more freely there than we are here. Why would they come back?”

Wu Yi said, “Mother, that’s not what you were saying when you left. You used to talk about it — now that the family has gotten a little better off, calling them back home, the whole family together…”

“That was then,” Wang Furong cut him off firmly. She spoke quickly and sharply, as though arguing: “Take Shuang alone — I can see she’s happy. Whatever she wants to eat, she eats; whatever she wants to wear, she wears; she sleeps when she wants and rises when she wants; she doesn’t wait on anyone. That’s a good life.”

The Wu men stared at each other. Wu Yi thought for a moment and said: “All right, then.”

Wang Furong felt a quiet rush of relief in her chest. She had been quite afraid her husband and son would object when she said it, which was why she had spoken so fiercely; now that they did not object, she felt a little sheepish, and said to her daughter-in-law: “I brought some things back — there’s something here for you.” She took her daughter-in-law by the arm and went into the inner rooms.