The “Water Sprite” docked, and Miss Ordessi disembarked to a hero’s welcome.

“Thank heavens,” Bishop Lang Huairen said, his arm in a sling as he limped forward to bow to Miss Ordessi. “Beloved sister, you have saved the Shanghai Church from a conflict that could have escalated at any moment. If I hadn’t been injured, I might have gone to Beijing myself to protest, but God made you swift, and you achieved this first merit in resolving our troubles—ah, look, children have come to welcome you!”

Miss Ordessi had brought fresh orders from the Zongli Yamen. Under pressure from higher authorities, the Shanghai Daotai finally compromised and posted an announcement declaring that the orphanage homicide case was purely caused by epidemic disease, and that claims of killing children to harvest corpses and gathering organs for medicine were mere rumors. Although the nuns and nursemaids had been negligent in their care, having suffered in prison for over a month, they had already paid for their crimes and were thus released to return home and resume their former duties. Furthermore, the damaged orphanage could begin repairs, and both the school and factory within could reopen on a chosen date.

As for funding the orphanage reconstruction, although Cixi had personally stated that the Qing government would pay, this was merely pleasant words—the money would still have to be raised locally.

This wasn’t difficult either; following usual practice, they could simply impose additional taxes and donations on merchants and compradors.

The pale-faced children and their nuns and nursemaids reunited, weeping together.

After dragging on for so many days, the public’s anger had mostly been exhausted. Only a few gentry protested briefly; everyone else accepted the official explanation.

When the British and French consulates learned that the situation had been swiftly quelled, they could only make a show of sending people to offer condolences. Their brewing extortion plans had to be abandoned.

Miss Ordessi beamed with joy, shaking hands excitedly with fellow believers, embracing child representatives from the orphanage, and speaking a few words to reporters who had rushed over.

Around the bustling crowd, several other people waited quietly.

Aunt Hong looked left and right, impatiently muttering: “Why haven’t they disembarked yet? I called for a carriage, and the driver’s getting anxious…”

Little Huang Hu struggled to hold an even smaller Feilun, warily eyeing the pile of unfamiliar adults and asking quietly: “Where is Sister Lin?”

Su Minguan stuffed a package of pastries into her hands and squeezed directly into the celebrating crowd.

Miss Ordessi suddenly spotted a familiar face: “Ah, this young man, what was your name? Wangcai?”

“Minguan,” Su Minguan politely corrected. “You’ve worked hard. Where is Miss Lin?”

Miss Ordessi smiled easily and said, “She’ll probably need to wait a few more days. She’s in business, and having finally made this trip, she naturally wants to take the opportunity to build some connections.”

On the morning Lin Yuchan entered the palace, the Zongli Yamen’s response regarding the orphanage had been delivered to Xuanwu Gate’s South Church. Miss Ordessi, concerned about the orphanage children and fearing complications if they delayed, immediately decided to depart for Shanghai to implement the orphanage solution first.

Before leaving, she had left Lin Yuchan a heartfelt note, apologizing for her departure without farewell and wishing her success in her audience with the Empress Dowager.

Seeing Su Minguan still looked somewhat worried, Miss Ordessi laughed and reassured him: “She’s well-connected in the capital and will naturally need to spend more time socializing. I’ve already entrusted Bishop Meng Zhensheng, who will arrange for someone to escort her to the ship. Everything’s arranged.”

Su Minguan’s eyes crinkled at the corners, and that faint unease in his heart dissipated somewhat.

It seemed the young lady wasn’t such a workaholic after all—she still enjoyed herself.

He wondered if Beijing was cold now.

In a small room, Lin Yuchan shivered under a thick quilt.

The iron fist of feudal despotism struck her body, blow after blow, and hurt like hell.

And this damned room was drafty too!

At least it wasn’t a prison cell. At least not the kind from TV dramas with vertical iron bars and various perverted torture devices in the “women’s prison.”

Qing dynasty prison regulations, considering women’s low status, rarely held them to the same criminal responsibility as men. To protect women’s reputation, except for female criminals facing death sentences or crimes involving adultery who had to be imprisoned, other criminal women—usually implicated by their menfolk’s crimes—were mostly handed over to relatives for supervision while awaiting summons.

Female prisoners were generally guarded by official matchmakers, and after trial, if convicted, they were directly taken out and sold—very convenient.

Lin Yuchan had no husband or relatives, no residence in Beijing, and her alleged crimes involved high court officials, so she couldn’t just be thrown into an ordinary prison. Fortunately, behind the Ministry of Justice’s kitchen were a row of government empty rooms used to detain family members of guilty officials, so they temporarily threw her there.

Lin Yuchan saw that across several empty rooms, there seemed to be other neighbors. One was an old woman, another was a woman of indeterminate age with two disheveled servant girls. There was even a pregnant woman, her eyes set far apart, clearly mentally disabled.

The guarding official matchmaker said disdainfully, “She was a virgin when she came in, even tried to kill herself by hitting the wall. Look at her now, hahaha! Something… these young unmarried girls nowadays, we really can’t control them…”

These were women forgotten in the corners of the imperial judicial system. During the day, official matchmakers would assign them tasks like washing and mending clothes, though who knows where the earned money went. At night, they each returned to their rooms to sleep, so quiet it seemed no one existed.

Just one wall away was the Ministry of Justice, from which faint screams and shouts often emerged, like ghostly wails and wolf howls in the deep night.

Fortunately, no one had tortured Lin Yuchan yet. On the night she was thrown into the cell, Wenxiang’s old servant hurried over, bribing his way through obstacles to reach her door and whisper a few words.

“My master is also under suspicion now, dismissed from office, and must protect himself first. He cannot openly work for you, or it would invite more suspicion. He can only try to care for you as much as possible, so you won’t suffer too much physical torment. Don’t lose heart—there’s time ahead. First, get through this winter…”

Lin Yuchan thanked the old servant, not knowing whether to cry or laugh.

Qing government offices moved at a snail’s pace. Yang Naiwu and Xiao Baicai were completely innocent, yet still rolled on nail boards, enduring years of torture before being exonerated.

For an orphaned girl like her with no power or influence, once entangled in a lawsuit, the time needed for resolution would probably be measured in years.

The old servant was urged away by others. She suddenly remembered something and got up to pursue him.

“Wait!” she called. “Could you please…”

Several official matchmakers seized her and dragged her back, saying mockingly: “Trying to run? In your dreams!”

Bang! The door slammed shut, separating her from the bustling capital into two worlds.

For several consecutive days, Lin Yuchan remained in a state of stress-induced excitement, barely able to sleep. When she closed her eyes, she saw Cixi’s glittering golden armor suit. Countless seemingly plausible strategies surged left and right before her eyes, then exploded one by one into earth-yellow fragments.

Occasionally, a few supervising officials would come in to register Lin Yuchan’s name, place of origin, case details and such. The information they inquired about often overlapped, apparently not from the same department.

Lin Yuchan naturally protested her innocence, but they just made perfunctory threats and didn’t listen to her explanations at all.

Such was Qing officialdom’s efficiency. Cases couldn’t progress too quickly—they had to advance inch by inch, slowly, to show the Ministry of Justice had work to do.

Twice, the questioning officials stared at her lecherously and tried to grope her, but were stopped by the official matchmakers’ meaningful glances.

Lin Yuchan thought this was probably Wenxiang helping her.

But Wenxiang could only help her this much. For her case to see light at the end of the tunnel, she’d probably have to wait for Yusheng to die of old age.

Besides receiving interrogations, the rest of her time couldn’t be idle. The guarding women wanted her to do needlework, but found her clumsy—others made three pieces while she made one. They wanted her to wash clothes, but thought her too weak, so finally they brought out several large baskets and threw them at her.

“Can you paste lanterns? Fifty a day—don’t eat if you can’t finish!”

Lin Yuchan looked and saw that the baskets were full of bamboo strips and exquisite colored paper decorated with competing “longevity” character patterns.

She had heard people say that at the Empress Dowager’s longevity celebration, thousands of lanterns would be arranged in longevity character formations to make the old lady laugh.

Lin Yuchan had no choice but to slowly begin pasting lanterns.

Without realizing it, she fell asleep and had nightmarish dreams like a revolving lantern, dreaming she had become a prisoner in a coolie barracks. She struggled desperately to dig through the wall and escape, only to find herself back in the pigeon cage with hemp rope still around her hands. Finally, she woke from exhaustion, her head splitting.

Then she fell into a second dream where she was confined in a rear courtyard resembling the Qi mansion. Outside was mournful music like a funeral procession. Heaven and earth changed, stars and rivers shifted, electric wires were erected outside the walls, trains passed by, and the beautiful silk clothes on her body rotted to pieces.

Su Minguan, wearing a Western suit, hurried over, nodded to her across the wall, then hurried away again.

Lin Yuchan became extremely irritated and suddenly slapped the bed board, shouting: “I don’t believe it!”

The bed board responded by spraying out a layer of dust, and several bedbugs scurried away.

She had the passionate spirit of youth and felt that although ancient times were dangerous, she at least had two centuries more historical experience than her contemporaries. Even encountering deep ravines and high obstacles, she could step on these two centuries of predecessors’ experience like stilts and cross over with thrills but no real danger.

But as if overnight, she discovered that one person’s abilities were ultimately limited. She was trapped in a swamp called “feudal society,” where turbid, sticky, muddy water surged up, slowly rising past her chin.

The official matchmaker outside bit on a rust-stained water pipe, muttering curses through the door: “Only you make noise! Can’t you let people rest!”

Lin Yuchan called loudly: “Are there any more quilts? A brazier would work too. It’s getting cold in autumn—show some mercy.”

No one answered. Lin Yuchan simply crawled out of the ice-cold quilt, found a tree branch that had fallen into the corner, and slowly cleared the spider webs from the bed board.

No matter how heavy and merciless feudalism’s iron fist, she had to find a way to counter it.

She mechanically picked at the spider threads one by one, reviewing the entire incident from the beginning.

First, accompanying Miss Ordessi to Beijing to petition for the orphanage.

The orphanage’s epidemic, public riots, brewing crisis—the cause was a natural disaster, not human manipulation. Her decision to go to Beijing wasn’t instigated by anyone either. If someone were targeting her, it wouldn’t be at this step.

She cast those few days’ events from her mind.

Then, relying on Feng Yikan’s help to solve Wenxiang’s wife’s family matter, thereby visiting Wenxiang—this step was also normal, entirely her own subjective initiative and improvised actions. No outside interference.

The Western goods she gave Wenxiang were seen by the Empress Dowager, who became interested in the gift-giver and proposed an audience—from this step onward, events escaped her control.

Initially, Cixi’s attitude was normal, teasing and praising her to express her open-minded attitude toward foreign affairs.

She recalled how at Yuanming Yuan, she repeatedly performed exceptionally, and because they were both women, let Cixi elaborate on the sensitive topic of women managing households…

If she had made any mistake, it was performing too well.

She had made Cixi sing and harmonize with her, bestowing gifts and rewards until she couldn’t stop herself, to the point that Yusheng couldn’t bear it anymore and walked out from behind the screen to openly contradict the Empress Dowager.

Thinking about it now, Yusheng’s previous frustration was all an act. Yusheng had deliberately let her show off because he had already sent people to search her lodgings, preparing to frame her with underhanded tactics.

That ambiguously worded letter from the foreign merchant was probably something Yusheng had prepared long ago, just waiting for an opportunity to slip it into someone’s pocket and ambush Wenxiang.

Then Cixi immediately realized that the balance between conservatives and the foreign affairs faction had tilted too far. She had to go with the flow and “correct the disorder,” turning around to falsely accuse and punish Wenxiang, then “magnanimously” give him light punishment while selling Yusheng a favor, making both factions of ministers owe her and submit to her completely.

Thirty-year-old Cixi, gradually mastering political power, was learning to manipulate tactics and control hearts. Her enlightened attitude wasn’t fake, and her ambition to reform the country wasn’t false either, but what she cared about most from beginning to end was her subjects’ loyalty.

And Lin Yuchan, this tool and instrument, could be rewarded or killed—Cixi never cared about her life or death from start to finish.

Or rather, from the moment Cixi decided to summon her, her fate was no longer in her own hands.

Or perhaps, all subjects of the Qing dynasty, from birth to death, had their fates never in their own hands. Their entire lives were like existing in a disintegrating universe where meteors could fall at any time, and whoever they hit wouldn’t be wronged.

And she was just one very inconspicuous piece of foxtail grass among hundreds of millions of “arranged” common people.

Was it possible to reverse fate?

Lin Yuchan knew nothing about how officialdom operated. Now no one would give her crash course either. Her money and luggage had probably been confiscated long ago, and she couldn’t spend a single penny now.

But… wait!

Halfway through her review, Lin Yuchan suddenly spotted the key point.

How did Yusheng know where she lived?

That he saw her visiting Wenxiang through his spies wasn’t strange, but the Outer City was a Han residential area. Only the local priests and nuns knew she was staying at Xuanwu Gate’s South Church with Miss Ordessi. They couldn’t possibly have spread this news all over Beijing. Yusheng also couldn’t possibly have sent people to follow her there.

She hadn’t noticed anyone tailing her while shopping either. Otherwise, Feng Yikan would have notified her…

Could it be Feng Yikan?

This plastic brother, who had “nodding acquaintance” with the Heaven and Earth Society of Guangdong and Guangxi, had actively offered to carry her luggage for wages when they first met in Tianjin.

Doesn’t seem like a long-term plot…

He said he owed a favor to an older Hongmen brother, which was why he’d been waiting at Tianjin port to repay the debt.

Incidentally, taking her high commission to subsidize his shabby tea house.

He couldn’t have predicted Lin Yuchan’s visit, couldn’t have been waiting like a hunter…

Suddenly, the courtyard gate opened, and the women enthusiastically welcomed in a visitor.

Lin Yuchan saw someone she never expected.

She said in surprise: “How is it you?”

Young Master Baoliang, dressed in a lustrous silk crinkled gauze spring shirt, rushed in. Seeing Lin Yuchan in thin clothes with a wilted face like frost-bitten eggplant, his heart ached so much his eyebrows twitched and tears nearly came.

“Miss Lin, you’ve suffered… Are you cold? Come inside quickly.”

He turned and ordered: “Why haven’t you prepared a charcoal brazier yet?”

Being an official’s son still carried weight. Within a minute, a brazier was brought to her room. The air finally wasn’t so bone-chillingly cold.

Lin Yuchan was somewhat bewildered but still felt slightly moved—after all, he was the first to come “visit her in prison.”

“Please sit inside.”

Baoliang pinched his nose and walked around the room, despising every corner, then threw a silver ingot to the guarding official matchmakers.

“How can this be fit for human habitation! My family’s dogs would despise this filth! Change her room! One with a heated brick bed! Don’t make her work anymore! You, come sweep the floor! You, wipe the doors and windows! Stop dawdling—if Miss Lin isn’t comfortable, no one will be spared punishment! And you, quickly go get new bedding, new clothes, wash basins… hmm, also face powder and incense—how can a young lady do without these things… Also, Miss Lin, take this pocket money for now. Send someone out to buy whatever you want to eat. I’ve instructed them…”

Lin Yuchan’s ears couldn’t keep up and quickly said: “No need…”

Baoliang still put the loose silver on her bed, his face showing a bitter smile.

“Miss Lin, you should have told me earlier that the Empress Dowager wanted to see you… I… I originally wanted to use money to pull strings to save you, but the Ministry of Justice won’t release you… Sigh! I never thought they’d treat you so badly, actually throwing you in such a place. They’re just bullying you for having no power or backing, making you suffer… By the way, what do they feed you? Is there meat? Are there mice in the room? Should I have them put a cat…”

Lin Yuchan listened to his attentive chattering noncommittally.

Baoliang grabbed her hand and pleaded, “Miss Lin, could you please give me a kind expression? I came here secretly behind my family’s back and can’t stay long…”

Lin Yuchan suddenly jerked her hand away and said coldly: “Wait, Young Master Bao, you just said you never thought they’d treat me so badly—what do you mean by that?”

Baoliang: “Just, just that meaning. The conditions here are too harsh. You haven’t committed any serious crime—paying money to redeem you should work…”

“You weren’t at Yuanming Yuan that day. How do you know what crime I committed?”

Baoliang’s face flushed red.

Lin Yuchan suddenly raised her voice: “Did you give out my address? Did you tell Yusheng my identity? Is your mysterious first-rank official father him?”

Only now did she remember that chatty Feng Yikan, when meeting Baoliang, didn’t dare offend a Beijing official’s son and politely told Baoliang the address “Xuanwu Gate South Church”!

No wonder Yusheng searched her lodgings and framed her so smoothly without taking a single wrong turn!

Baoliang, caught in his lie, his features scrambled for a moment. After being stunned briefly, he simply stopped hiding and bowed low to her, saying quietly: “Yes, my father has always been at odds with Wenxiang… Miss Lin, don’t blame me. He’s my father—I can’t disobey him. That I brought a few pieces of foreign trading house letterhead from Shanghai was pure coincidence. When he asked for them, I could only give them—even if I hadn’t given them to him, he would have found other charges against Wenxiang! He told me you’d be detained for two days, just to scare you, then released! But the Empress Dowager was too angry that day! When officials fight each other, innocent people get hurt—they shouldn’t have made things difficult for you! I never thought he’d drag you down with Wenxiang. That wasn’t my intention—you can’t blame me! Miss Lin, I’m sorry. I’ll persuade my father to release you quickly… Please bear with it. I didn’t mean it…”

Slap!

Lin Yuchan threw caution to the wind and delivered a full-force slap. Five delicate finger marks appeared on Baoliang’s pale, pampered face.

These past days of fear and frustration were like an inflated balloon that Baoliang’s words had just burst.

“Bear with your ass! I thought you were an honorable gentleman and treated you with proper courtesy, but you turned around and sold me out! Just because I wouldn’t agree to go to the opera with you, you wanted me dead! You’re something! I wish your whole family prosperity!”

Baoliang had never suffered such grievance in his life, and immediately his eyes reddened. Though he couldn’t understand half of what Miss Lin said, he was angry enough to turn pale, covering his face and defending himself: “How could I harm you? If I had any intention to harm you, may heaven strike me down! I just wanted… sigh, it’s all because you’re too aloof. In Shanghai, you pushed me away, and in Beijing, you still ignored me! I thought more than once that your business was too smooth, you didn’t know human suffering. If only you weren’t so capable! If only you were bullied, got in trouble, suffered hardship—then if I helped you, you’d treasure it and know my worth…”

As he spoke, he felt wronged and sniffled.

“Miss Lin! You don’t know how hard it is for me! You only care about yourself! You don’t know how many times my father beat me for liking modern women; you don’t ask how much effort it took for me to sneak out to see you today; all my cousins laugh at me for liking a southern barbarian girl, but I never told you. From childhood until now, I, Baoliang, have never had anyone go against me, and when have I ever cared about a commoner woman? With you, I willingly endure your cold face, and I even find it shameful! People say sincerity can move metal and stone, but if you had even slightly pitied me, I wouldn’t have been so pig-headedly stupid as to do this to you! Now I’ve done this much for you—do you think I feel good about it? Look, look, here are the bruises from my beating…”

“Go to hell!”

Thud!

Lin Yuchan wasn’t satisfied with just slapping and threw a left punch straight at his chest.

Baoliang stood stunned, staggering from her punch without knowing how to dodge. Lin Yuchan immediately followed with her right fist, hitting his chin hard.

Having watched enough of the big brothers’ moves, the short-range power came up, making him bite his tongue.

“Ow! Miss Lin!” he cried incoherently. “I already said I didn’t mean it, I apologized too. Every grievance has its source, every debt its owner—why are you still hitting me!”

“I owe you so much! Should I kowtow and thank you instead!”

Several official matchmakers returned with newly bought bedding, opened the door to see the young gentleman getting beaten, stood stunned for quite a while, then, with seven hands and eight feet, pulled and grabbed to restrain this mad little woman.

“Are you sick? No hurting people!”

Lin Yuchan broke free from those grabbing hands like a madwoman, angrily swinging her fists at Baoliang.

The final link in the frame-up plot was finally clear. These past days of grievance, despair, pain, and misery all transformed into explosive force, pounding on that lustrous skull.