Liu Kun set out accompanied by her maidservant, her old nurse, and two male servants. The postal road from Xizhou to Pu’an Prefecture was well maintained — the journey was not too exhausting — and the old nurse, despite being the eldest among them, still had enough attention to spare to think about what to do once they arrived in Pu’an Prefecture. She had no idea what the government office there would look like, or how large a residence might be allocated to her young mistress. Upon arrival, the first priority would be to arrange a sleeping chamber and a study for her — everything else could wait…

Liu Kun currently held only the rank of an academician. The salary and treatment tied to that title were not particularly high, but the aunt and nieces were a special case — the work they actually performed was far more significant than their titles suggested, so their treatment had been approved to be supplemented. This had already been established during their time in the administration, and old Nurse Zhou had factored that into her calculations as well.

Her train of thought was interrupted just outside the city — the officials of the prefecture had come out to welcome them. Jiang Wan led the group, and counting both men and women, there were some twenty people.

Zhù Qingjun introduced Liu Kun to the assembled crowd, and then introduced everyone to Liu Kun in turn. Liu Kun, seeing Jiang Wan among Pu’an Prefecture’s officials, felt reassured — it appeared that female officials in Nan’an were not solely an exception limited to the central administration. She helped old Nurse Zhou dismount and gave a bow to the assembled crowd. At the mention of the surname “Liu,” everyone felt a degree of goodwill toward her from the outset. Jiang Wan, being better informed than most, knew her background in more detail, and was so nervous that she had to wipe the sweat from her palms before returning the bow.

This was a granddaughter of Liu Songnian’s household!

Zhù Qingjun said, “Let us speak further once we are back at the residence. Now that the fighting is over, we have plenty of work ahead of us. The Academician has come this time because our superior wished her to gain practical experience — in the future, you will all have ample opportunity to get to know one another well.”

Jiang Wan was naturally pleased. Her husband also smiled: “What a relief. We have always worried that the prefectural school’s teaching is too crude and might mislead the students. Now that a great teacher has come, we can put our minds at ease.”

Liu Kun’s mouth twitched slightly. Schools again… Well, she would look at the school first. If the situation was truly dire, she would not have the heart to turn away from it. Besides, starting with the school was indeed a more straightforward path to showing results. Once she had something to show, it would be easier to ask Zhù Qingjun about taking on other work.

Each person harboring their own thoughts, the group entered the prefectural city.

It came as no surprise that Pu’an Prefecture’s city was not as grand and free-spirited as Xizhou’s. Yet Pu’an’s city had also been almost entirely replanned — its layout was orderly and its walls were tall and thick. It shared the same spirit of solid confidence as Xizhou, though Xizhou was more prosperous, with many buildings decorated more beautifully.

The passersby on the streets were of all kinds, speaking a mixture of several languages and dressed in a variety of clothing. A few barefoot children came running down the street, shouting at the top of their lungs, “The General is back! The General is back!”

Some of them noticed Liu Kun, and stared curiously at her clothing and appearance, hollering, “A fine woman has come!”

Liu Kun could already understand some of the locally-accented official speech, though she was still not very familiar with the various local languages — there were too many to learn in time. She did not understand what the children were shouting, but guessed they were gawking at a stranger. She lifted her chin slightly and showed not the slightest trace of intimidation.

Zhù Qingjun reined in her horse and jumped down in front of one of the small children, catching him before he could react. “You have no shoes? Where is your family?”

After a few calls passed between bystanders, a woman came running out from the side: upon reaching the horse, she grabbed the child. “What trouble have you gotten into now?”

Zhù Qingjun said, “It is not his fault — I saw he had no shoes and wanted to know what was going on.” And his clothes were also quite thin, with two inconspicuous patches. If he could not even afford shoes, that meant he was too poor — and that would raise the question of whether Pu’an Prefecture had become so poor that children were walking barefoot.

The woman looked down at the child’s feet, and the roar that followed could not be suppressed: “Where are your shoes?”

“Huh? Where are my shoes? They… they must have run off somewhere?”

The woman’s face went green. “We will deal with this at home. General, he is a naughty child…”

Zhù Qingjun said, “No matter. Never mind.” She pulled out a few copper coins and gave them to the woman to buy the child a new pair of shoes. Whether the child got a scolding when he got home was his own business.

Only then did Jiang Wan offer an explanation: “These past two years, even though we have been levying conscripts and grain, we have always made sure the local ward leaders keep an eye out for anyone suffering from cold or hunger. Almost everyone can get enough to eat and have clothes to wear.”

Zhù Qingjun said, “I should think so. Still, this child is going to get two slaps when he gets home.” Everyone laughed.

Liu Kun was slightly startled, and made a note of it to herself. She knew perfectly well that poor people could not afford shoes — it was so common that she had not thought to take notice. She thought to herself: Indeed, one must never think oneself so superior for having read a few more books. No wonder so many learned scholars in the circles of her father’s and brothers’ acquaintances made such poor officials!

She quietly kept this in mind, and resolved to write a letter to her aunt and younger cousin at the administration when she had a place to settle — to remind them to pay attention to such things as well.

The prefect’s residence was also built with some regularity — offices in the front, living quarters in the rear. Zhù Qingjun invited Liu Kun to live there together: “I have no family with me, and you are here alone too. Why not stay together? It will be easier for me to ask your guidance when matters arise.”

Liu Kun had lived in the administration when she was in Xizhou, and had no objection to living in the prefect’s residence. She agreed readily. Then she stayed and listened as Zhù Qingjun spoke with her subordinates, and gradually noticed a faint echo of Zhù Ying’s manner in it. Though Zhù Ying seemed softer somehow — she had almost never been seen to lose her temper — while Zhù Qingjun, perhaps owing to her military background, spoke more directly.

The task Liu Kun had been assigned was to first guide the prefectural school of Pu’an Prefecture. Zhù Qingjun said, “The texts you brought have already been sent to the printers, but every place wants a copy and I cannot fight them all for theirs. I only ask that you prepare a list indicating which are most important, so I can first request those few and yield the rest…”

Liu Kun smiled: “That is easily done. As for the other volumes — if I cannot get them, I can write them out from memory, and have the students copy them.”

Zhù Qingjun and Jiang Wan and the others were all delighted: “That would be wonderful!”

Pu’an Prefecture had been the last to achieve stability. With military settlements, years of conscription, and several years of warfare, a new survey of land and population was imminent. Capable people were still the most useful — and so the school’s education was very important.

After that, there was nothing more for Liu Kun to do for the time being, as Jiang Wan gave a summary of the situation. Liu Kun took the opportunity to look around, and soon noticed something was not quite right — that young man called Bai Ling, the way he looked at Zhù Qingjun bore a rather suspicious resemblance to the way Jiang Wan’s husband looked at Jiang Wan. He could barely conceal it!

Interesting!

The look with which Liu Kun regarded Bai Ling carried a touch of hostility. Young man, do not let this distract the Deputy Governor from great matters. But her acquaintance with Zhù Qingjun was not yet deep enough to speak for her — she could not “sow discord between those close and those distant.” This would need to be observed for a couple of days before being written into a letter. The Deputy Military Governor’s marriage was no trivial matter!

When the meeting at Zhù Qingjun’s end was over, she personally led Liu Kun to the rear quarters to get settled. The male servants remained outside as usual, leaving mistress and servants — three of them — to occupy a single courtyard. Zhù Qingjun stood in the courtyard and said, “Whatever you need, just tell my personal guards.”

Liu Kun said, “This is already quite good. I did not come here to live in luxury. There is only one matter I must discuss with you.”

Zhù Qingjun noticed that Liu Kun’s maidservant Xiao Yu seemed a little nervous. She asked, “What matter?”

Liu Kun said, “This maidservant of mine has attended to my brushes and ink since childhood. She has read a few books and can recognize a few characters. Going forward, when I am carrying out my work, may I bring her along? I know Nan’an’s rules — anyone who wishes to hold a position must first be examined. She can manage the work of an ordinary clerk. You are welcome to test her however you see fit.”

Zhù Qingjun said cheerfully, “Of course — as long as she abides by the rules and regulations.”

This was a very common practice. Zhù Ying herself had brought along Xiao Wu and others in exactly the same way. Not to mention the servants from the Zheng household — Jin Liang had long since obtained official status by that route.

Liu Kun had already been scheming about her maidservant long before this. On the road, she had asked her: “I will give you a document of emancipation and bring you into the government office. You will continue to work for me — how does that sound?”

The maidservant had also been privately worried about her situation since coming to Nan’an. She was a household servant, and following her mistress was obligatory. But the current circumstances were utterly different from anything in the heartland. All her previous experience and all the expected paths of her life had been turned completely upside down. The maidservant was at a loss.

The path Liu Kun laid out for her — once the maidservant heard it, she found it entirely feasible, and agreed on the spot. She could never have imagined that even a waiting maid could chart a “career path.”

The very next day, mistress and servant registered at the Pu’an Prefect’s residence, and Liu Kun brought Xiao Yu to the prefectural school. At the large crossroads just outside the school gate stood a row of stone steles. Liu Kun stood before the steles for quite some time, then said, “There are literacy steles here too.” She counted them and noticed one inscription was missing, so she asked Jiang Wan’s husband, who had come to accompany her: “I recall the number being different from this.”

“Ah — there is an old saying in Wuzhou: the first piece of the literacy hymn is useless.”

Liu Kun smiled. “That one was not of great practical use to ordinary people. When ministers submit memorials, no one needs to be taught how to extol the emperor’s virtue — everyone has written it so often it comes naturally. So yes, truly useless.”

“Please, teacher, this way.”

Liu Kun visited the school first and went over the textbooks and curriculum, finding the same problem as in Xizhou — the ritual codes and regulations were incomplete. She understood why: the most complete set of such codes came from the court, but Nan’an could not simply copy them wholesale. Fortunately, the three of them had already worked out a general outline of revised versions while in the administration. Now was the perfect time to bring them forward and explain them.

In the end, she had the students organize and write up their notes and lecture summaries, so that Pu’an Prefecture had thus been introduced to the new ritual codes and regulations.

The students at the prefectural school had been selected from the lower levels and were none of them dull. What pleased Liu Kun even more was that a good number of the students were girls. She reminded herself daily to treat all students equally, yet invariably found herself paying more attention to the girls and assigning them extra work. This had one pleasant side effect: a dozen or so hand-copied manuscripts were produced, and she accepted them all with a cheerful lack of ceremony.

She then took the manuscripts to Zhù Qingjun and proposed distributing them to each county and each village settlement. Woodblock printing was time-consuming, and the carvers in Xizhou were already overwhelmed — Xizhou too had been relying on hand-copying, which was also slow. Pu’an Prefecture had previously lost out to Wuzhou and Bozhou in competing for printed materials; now at last it had its own copies.

Zhù Qingjun said, “Please review them once more yourself — these are foundational. As our superior always says, the Duke of Zhou and Confucius were the most formidable of all. Since these are to be issued and studied by all, there absolutely must not be any errors or discrepancies.”

Liu Kun silently repeated “the Duke of Zhou and Confucius were the most formidable of all” a few times, and let out a sigh: “The Military Governor sees clearly.”

After spending some time at the prefectural school, Zhù Qingjun called upon the school’s students to help her with official work — surveying land, conducting population censuses, and filing and archiving the results, all of which required literate people. Liu Kun had come to Pu’an Prefecture for exactly this purpose, and yet at this very moment she changed her mind and proactively asked Zhù Qingjun if she could travel to the county schools and give some lectures.

Zhù Qingjun said, “I will assign you an interpreter.”

That was as good as a yes.

——

With her decision made, Xiao Yu and old Nurse Zhou naturally followed, with the two male servants serving as grooms and bodyguards, and Zhù Qingjun dispatched a squad of troops to escort her into the countryside.

Liu Kun returned to her room to pack her luggage and said to old Nurse Zhou, “We will be going to a good number of places — make sure to pack plenty of incense. Once we arrive, we can fumigate the rooms.”

Old Nurse Zhou rummaged through her things and produced another box: “This is all that’s left. Shall I buy more? The Deputy Governor surely cannot keep providing for us every time…”

While they were still deliberating, a girl in an official uniform came running: “Academician, the General requests your presence.”

Liu Kun told old Nurse Zhou to continue packing and went to see Zhù Qingjun. Zhù Qingjun got straight to the point: “You cannot leave tomorrow. There is an urgent matter right now — some people from the north have been luring and abducting our subjects for sale as slaves. Cross the northern border iron bridge and you are in Prefect Chen’s territory. I need to negotiate with him. I ask for your assistance in this matter.”

Liu Kun’s background was appropriate, as was her scholarship — her official correspondence could communicate with Chen Fang in a more civil and amicable tone.

Liu Kun could not well refuse, and inquired about the details and requirements. Nan’an was poorer than the heartland, but it was difficult to say whose people lived better. The people of Nan’an had their basic needs met — they were poor, but they could survive. Beyond Nan’an’s borders, it was a matter of luck. Some fared better, some could barely survive.

But beyond mere survival, Nan’an’s people also wanted to live a little better, and so from time to time people ventured out of the mountains to do labor work or trade goods, hoping to improve their lives. As time went on, many unlawful activities arose, and even smuggling had become one of the less objectionable ones. Some people had taken to trafficking human beings.

This sort of thing had been rare before, because the roads were impassable and the languages were mutually unintelligible. Zhù Ying had since addressed both of those obstacles to a considerable degree. Previously there had been mutual abductions for slaves; now there were traffickers luring people by deception.

There were also people who genuinely went out to do labor and trade and earned money — which was why no one had noticed anything unusual at first. More recently, someone who had escaped from the north had filed a complaint with the authorities: he had been deceived and sold into captivity, subjected to cruel treatment, and some of his companions had already been resold elsewhere, while others who had tried to escape had been beaten to death. Zhù Qingjun was already conducting a population census, and from this had confirmed several such cases. The total number was still unknown, as the census was incomplete. She had already written to Zhù Ying, and on her own end she also needed to negotiate with Chen Fang.

Upon hearing all this, Liu Kun said without hesitation, “This is a serious crime.” Nan’an had abolished slavery, but the heartland still maintained distinctions between the freeborn and the servile — forcing a free person into servile status was a criminal offense.

Zhù Qingjun said, “Precisely.”

“I know what to write.”

She composed a rather courteous official letter. Liu Kun explained: “Let us see how he replies. If he ignores it, or if he is impolite, then there will be time to be more explicit. In the worst case, we can take the dispute all the way to the court. We cannot simply let this slide in silence. Even if they cannot really do all that much, we must leave a record — so that if something comes up again in the future, we have grounds to raise it. It is a case of showing courtesy first, then resorting to force — laying a fuse for later.”

“Very well — I defer to your judgment.”

As it turned out, Chen Fang’s reply was very slow in coming, and the letter was not even written by Chen Fang himself — he had merely scrawled his name on it, saying, “We will inspect those passing through. But all travelers coming through have documents issued by Nan’an, so it is difficult to tell who is good and who is bad.”

That was not an entirely unreasonable point.

Liu Kun said, “Shall we set a trap, capture the traffickers, and extract the names of their accomplices under interrogation? Then hand the list to Chen Fang to make the arrests.”

Zhù Qingjun sensed something was not right: “Chen Dalang has always been warm and enthusiastic. The way he is acting now carries a somewhat perfunctory, official air. In the old days, he would have thought of this plan himself and come to discuss it with us. Let me write him a personal letter and ask whether something has happened. As for the trap, we can start setting it up at the same time.”

“Agreed.”

Soon afterward, Zhù Qingjun received Chen Fang’s reply — handwritten this time. He began with an apology, saying he had been too busy recently and had been inattentive in many ways. He then explained the reason: Chen Meng was gravely ill. Chen Meng was past seventy, and had been working to dismantle the influence of the Xian and Zheng factions — not because he was unwilling to suppress the Xian faction, but because the emperor was shielding them. First there had been a foolish Crown Prince installed, and then even that foolish Crown Prince had died. Then came the labors of state and the aftermath of recent warfare. That he had held on this long was a testament to Chen Meng’s robust constitution.

How could Chen Fang be at ease?

The letter also said that he was now aware of the trafficking matter, and would have it investigated immediately. As long as Zhù Qingjun had leads, he would make the arrests. The messenger also carried a separate letter for Zhù Ying. Zhù Qingjun dispatched someone to accompany the messenger back to Xizhou.

The messenger had barely left when Zhù Ying’s reply arrived, brief and to the point: first coordinate with Chen Fang; if he was indifferent to it, tell him that if he would not manage it, Nan’an would send its own people north to arrest the criminals.

Zhù Qingjun handed the document to Liu Kun: “Fortunately, Chen Dalang has good sense.”

“The Military Governor handles things this… directly?” Liu Kun was a little worried. Having spent these days in Nan’an, she knew Nan’an was doing well — but compared to the heartland it was still weaker. She worried that speaking too boldly might create problems. Fortunately, Prefect Chen had good sense and they did not need to issue him a hard warning.

“She has always been like that,” Zhù Qingjun said.

Liu Kun murmured, “Well, that is true — it is precisely what she would say. Let us hope that Prefect Chen’s letter contains nothing offensive that might irritate the old lady.”

——

Zhù Ying was not easily angered.

Even when Zhù Chonghua came to ask for books and then stayed on after getting them, chatting with her about her son and Su Mingluan’s situation, Zhù Ying was not annoyed. Liu Kun had gone with Zhù Qingjun, and while Zhù Qingjun’s position was now different from before, they were both governing a single prefecture — Zhù Qingjun had one female teacher, so Zhù Chonghua thought she would try and secure one for herself. But Liu Ao and Liu Yan each had their own tasks, and Zhù Ying refused to let either of them go. Undeterred, Zhù Chonghua retreated one step and asked for more books instead — and that Zhù Ying had to agree to.

Then Zhù Chonghua expressed a wish to have her son recalled home: “He has studied books for all these years — it is time to go home and teach. My son — I sent him to the big city to study and enjoy himself. How is that supposed to shape him into a proper person? And as for his wife… I do not even know if she counts as my family’s anymore. As for the child, I certainly will not be given custody. These past few years, he has accomplished nothing — he might as well go home and teach or farm. At least that is a respectable livelihood.”

Zhù Ying asked, “What does he himself want?”

At the mention of this, Zhù Chonghua could not help but complain about Su Mingluan: “Keeping him hanging, never giving a clear answer — what exactly is she planning? She has a large household and a great enterprise, and perhaps has no intention of marrying, but my family still wants to find a wife for my son. If it is not a good fit, better to end it early! I will not force anything. This cannot be left to that foolish boy to decide!”

“Su Mingluan, ah…”

Zhù Chonghua said, “I cannot say another woman’s daughter is a terrible person. The fault is my own son’s lack of spirit! He chose to keep pursuing her — I cannot say the girl is more at fault. But my family still wants this son of mine to marry and have children. If that young woman were not entangled with my son, I would be glad to see her live freely and boldly. But when it comes to my own son, I have to look out for him…”

Zhù Ying said, “I understand. Here is what we will do — Shiqi Niang, go and quietly drop a hint to the two of them: say that there is talk of transferring him away. Test their reactions. Whether they stay together or part ways, it would be best not to bring it out into the open. If there is no response, you can draft an official transfer document and send him home.”

Liu Ao inclined her body slightly: “Understood.” In her heart she was also recalling Liu Kun’s letter, which had described Bai Ling as a scoundrel — she could not suppress a smile. Given the Military Governor’s broad-mindedness and Zhù Qingjun’s style, why worry about a Bai Ling? It would all depend on whether Zhù Qingjun herself was willing. Ah, if only that day, Shier Niang had…

She shook out her sleeve and went out.

Zhù Ying said, “Does that put your mind at ease?”

Zhù Chonghua said, “Thank you for seeing to it. I have had no other recourse. I have scolded and beaten that boy, and he still will not learn — if he does anything else outrageous, I can only act as if I never had him.”

Zhù Ying smiled, and Zhù Chonghua smiled too: “Truly. I have more than one child, and I have lost more than one. I have learned to accept it.”

Zhù Ying nodded. “My little sister has only this one child, and she has had that stubborn streak since she was small. It is not a question of who is better or worse — they just were not a good match from the start.”

“If only he could learn something useful from that young woman — let me tell you. He deserves a wife who is not quite so brilliant and not quite so beautiful, someone who could keep him settled while he earns money and provides for a family. But he had to aim for the best — and the best is not someone who can be held in place by him. I told him he was a fool!” Zhù Chonghua went on complaining about her son, evidently nursing quite deep resentment.

Zhù Ying did not speak of the son, but instead said, “You have daughters too. Other people’s daughters stay with their sons — you keep your daughters with you. It is the same kind of thing.”

Zhù Chonghua laughed briefly: “My daughter is affectionate, but not very clever. Among all my children, not one takes after me. My grandsons are passable, though.”

“What ‘inside’ or ‘outside’ — whoever is raised in the family is one’s own family.”

“Indeed.” Zhù Chonghua glanced around, noticed Zhù Qingxue approaching with an urgent report, hesitated briefly, then bid farewell and left. She had vaguely caught a word — “the other shore” — and chose not to pay further attention.

Zhù Ying opened Chen Fang’s letter and asked, “The messenger — where is he?”

“Outside.”

“Have him carry a reply back.”

“Yes.”

Zhù Ying’s reply to Chen Fang was simple: Let your father retire. Do not work him to death. And you — if you cannot hold on, go back home. But the central government is not very stable right now, so your family’s brothers and children should not all be concentrated in the capital. Send a few to see your father back to your home village, or to some safe and peaceful place outside the capital where he can recuperate. Also — the traffickers: bind them and send them over. If they are too difficult to take alive, their heads will do.

She then wrote a separate letter to Chen Meng: In his time, your late father chose the right moment to retire from office — yet even after retirement, the state still consulted him on major matters. Rather than trying to manage every detail, you might instead focus on the bigger picture. You are no longer capable of handling the small things, so conserve your energy and keep your mind on a few matters of great importance — such as the question of imperial succession. You have not fallen short of what the world expected of you.

Having sent the letters off, Zhù Ying extended her index finger and tapped the table, speculating about the situation in the capital. She said to Zhù Qingxue, “Tell Qingtian to come.”

“Yes.”

Zhù Qingxue had barely left when Zhù Yan came stumbling and running: “Grandmother! Teacher — Teacher fainted and fell at the school!”

Zhù Ying stood up with a swift motion, sending the chair behind her clattering to the ground.