The Second Prince, Yang Zhen, sprang up from his chair, strode a few steps to Meng Dichen, and asked, his expression showing a rare flicker of panic, “What did Uncle-Master say? Who died?”

Meng Dichen, though he now wielded the executioner’s blade, still murmured a Buddhist invocation before answering flatly, “Who died? And what business is that of Young Master’s?”

After a long pause, Yang Zhen looked somewhat abashed, coughed dryly, sat back down, and said with a sheepish laugh, “Yes, yes, indeed, what business would it be of anyone else’s?” Then he looked up again at Meng Dichen and said, “I wonder how far the Ministry of Justice has gotten with the investigation—perhaps I should go ask?”

Meng Dichen’s own mood was far from good. That day he’d exhausted every last ounce of effort to secretly apprehend, in private, the remnants of the Baishi Mountain faction tied to the case of forbidden affection. Those Baishi Mountain people were strange by nature, and though weak in martial skill, they still possessed a certain hard-headed backbone as people of the martial world.

Subduing them had cost him no small effort as well, and only after great difficulty had he managed to launder their identities clean and settle them into new lives. Who could have imagined that the very first time they were put to use, that vigilance of Baishi Mountain’s would prove so sharp—they had wiped out, without a trace, all six people Jinzhong Temple had planted among them, and not one had been killed by mistake. To pull that off silently, without a single wrong kill, was a level of skill that was rather frightening.

He wiped a hand over his face, looking somewhat defeated, “What would you go to the Ministry of Justice for? You should be hiding from them, if anything. Better not to ask—asking only invites suspicion. Do you think those old foxes at the Ministry of Justice eat for free? Say what you will, this whole business is my fault. Thinking it over, Baishi Mountain existed in this world before Huguo Temple ever did—I underestimated the people of this world… Fortunately, let’s just leave the matter here for now.”

Yang Zhen understood well enough what Meng Dichen meant by fortunate—fortunate that from beginning to end their identities had never been exposed; fortunate that when dealing with those people, they had used the private strength of the southern Huguo Temple and never involved Jiu Si Tang at all. In the past he’d thought his uncle-master fussy and long-winded, but thinking on it now, a cold sweat broke over him—everything had looked airtight, yet the deeper he thought about it, the more loopholes seemed to show everywhere.

Thinking of this, he asked worriedly, “I only fear the Ministry of Justice men might dig too seriously. Uncle-master should still make arrangements early, just in case.”

Meng Dichen sighed, “Arrange what? That Zhang Guanneng who’s connected to the former dynasty has already died—he couldn’t withstand the interrogation and started babbling nonsense. Tomorrow I’ll send someone to question him further, see if we can pin it on the former dynasty somehow. You needn’t think so much on it. In the end, it’s no great matter.”

Yang Zhen let out a slow breath, “It’s only that I’m troubling Uncle-master with worry and toil over me again.”

Meng Dichen shook his head instead, his manner taking on a note of genuine warmth, and instructed Yang Zhen, “As it should be. You just focus on being a filial son. The Ministry of Justice has had their hands full these days with the Baiquan Mountain murder case, their heads spinning three ways at once—what business is it of theirs that a few monks died at some little wilderness temple on Little South Mountain?

That’s simply how things work in these offices—the less trouble one takes on, the better, everyone would rather seal their own mouths shut than get involved. Rather than fretting over this, you’d do better to spend more time visiting Qingque Convent—that’s the true path to take. Same flesh and blood, grandson all the same, how are you any less than that other one?”

Meng Dichen made a gesture of six with his fingers, lifted his teacup from the table and took a few sips, laughing lightly, “What’s more, others going wouldn’t have the advantage you have. You did grow up in a temple, after all—I recall your studies were quite good back then too, and you must have read no small number of scriptures. It would be a shame not to use that natural advantage. Go visit often and you’re bound to find plenty to talk about with the old lady—she’s your elder, and even if she doesn’t dote on you especially, can you really hold that against an elder? Just coax her along, the old lady won’t overthink it—she treats the back of her hand the same as the palm.”

His Majesty, meanwhile, feels both guilt and longing where the old lady is concerned. Never mind that she lives out there away from the palace—these days, who else besides that Ling who minds no one else’s business, She Qingling, can still move His Majesty’s heart and carry any real weight when they speak? Only that old lady, really. Showing filial devotion to an elder is never wrong, wouldn’t you say?

Watching the Second Prince turn his words over, Meng Dichen could tell he’d taken them to heart, and pressed on more earnestly, “You resent that your father shows you no favor, but the affairs between father and son in an imperial household can hardly be compared to those among commoners—and besides, even parents among common folk each have their own favorites. I’ve thought it over these past few days—His Majesty is still in his prime, and perhaps we’ve all been moving too quickly. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Yang Zhen thought it over a while, then finally looked up and smiled, “Ah, I’ll do as Uncle-master says. As it happens I’ve copied out a few scrolls of scripture these past days—I’ll go sit with the old lady soon.”

Meng Dichen nodded, gratified, “Mm, you should go often, and be sure to ask the staff below how they’re getting along with Grandmother too. Don’t put on airs once you’re there either—who in this realm today commands more honor than that old lady? If you can set aside those petty airs of yours, you’ll truly have grown up.”

Watching the Second Prince walk off with a spring in his step, Meng Dichen shook his head all the same. This whole matter was truly his own fault—having grown up in a temple himself, most of the ways of the secular world he’d only slowly picked up after returning to lay life, learning them at home bit by bit.

In the past he’d meddled in everything, and had raised this boy into someone who expected things handed to him—affectionate enough, certainly, but nowhere near as sharp-minded as his father. He recalled how he himself never slept easy, living every day tangled up in worry and effort like a knotted ball of thread—when it came down to it, he’d been shortsighted.

As the saying goes, time reveals character—that She Qingling had long ago mixed himself in among small, humble households, and now who looked down on him? Probably no one disliked him at all.

To carry the art of not striving to its very utmost—that man was surely first among his generation for it.

Thinking of this, Meng Dichen laughed at himself ruefully. Ah, and what background did that man even have—even as a eunuch, he came from a family that had served as officials for over a dozen generations. And himself, what sort of seed was he really—tracing back to the root, nothing more than a poor farmer’s son sent off to a temple to find a way to survive. Certain methods simply had to be practiced slowly, watched slowly.

Just as this recent purge of Baishi Mountain had given him a hard knock to the head.

He’d only heard that some traveling scholar had spread a mat at the temple gate, drunk a cup of hot tea, and burned a length of incense—and these people had simply died, just like that? For a method alone to accomplish that was frightening to think about. Fortunately, the trail of clues he’d laid all pointed toward the Tan family—otherwise, if someone came to spread a stick of incense at his own gate one day, there’d be no guarding against it.

Baishi Mountain! He slowly closed his eyes, rubbed his temples a few times with his hand, and let out another soft sigh.

Past the autumn equinox, the Fifth Prince’s young uncle Liu Zhen’s funeral rites began. Having died an unnatural death, he could not be brought home—his body lay instead at the Guolao Temple outside Yandu city.

That Guolao Temple had originally been built by a charitable man of the former dynasty who, pitying the many who died unnatural deaths in the capital and could not be brought home, had donated funds and labor to build that place of merit outside the city walls, and engaged monks to run it, mainly for laying out and housing the bodies of those who had died unnatural deaths.

After the new dynasty rose, such deaths grew even more numerous, so new nobility donated funds to expand Guolao Temple and engaged new dharma masters to preside over it, and in these recent years its incense offerings had grown ever more flourishing.

Early this morning, Chen Dasheng rose early, changed into plain-colored clothes, and went out, where he heard the steward from Jintai’s father-in-law’s household speaking out front. Seeing him come in, the steward smiled and took his leave.

Chen Dasheng tugged at his collar a few times and asked, “What did he come for?”

Qiqian’er came over and straightened his collar, tugging it once or twice until it hung neatly, then said with a smile, “The Zhang household wants to share a mourning canopy with our Qinwei Alley today, so he was sent to let us know.”

Chen Dasheng laughed at this, “Such a small matter, worth mentioning? He is, after all, Jintai’s proper father-in-law—what’s wrong with sharing a canopy?”

Qiqian’er shot him a look, “That’s not fair reasoning at all. Our canopy is up front—are you going to lump yourself in with Father’s group and not bother with any of this? Our alley may not amount to much, but even our nominal marquis title is still a marquis title, and we have our own honor guard too. This is a seven-household canopy, seven marquis households’ canopy—that’s the sort that lets the other side hold their mourning vigil and bow in thanks right there. It’s a matter of face, after all!”

There was clearly more behind his wife’s words, so Chen Dasheng asked with a smile, “Who is it?”

Qiqian’er pursed her lips, “Who else—the Second Branch of the Tang family, shameless as ever. However you look at it they’ve got nothing to do with our alley—how dare their carriage line up with ours?”

Chen Dasheng was taken aback, “The Tang family’s Second Branch? The ones who bought old Madam Tao’s place?”

Qiqian’er nodded, “That’s them.”

Chen Dasheng laughed despite himself, “Then let them go find the Grand Tutor’s family’s canopy, go find Li Jinggui, find Tang Jiuyuan—what business do they have stepping into a place for us rough sorts?”

Having said that, he seemed to remember something and instructed a servant, “Go to Qingfeng City and fetch your young master. Then go to the back alley and find Madam Mu of the Tao family, bring along the two sons of Jizong… tell them to wait at Grandfather’s canopy.”

Qiqian’er, in the middle of checking over the offerings, paused and looked up at Chen Dasheng, “Old Tao the Fourth’s sons are still so young—what good would it do dragging them into funeral affairs?”

Chen Dasheng took the salted water rinse handed to him, spat it out, and then said with a smile, “Their father isn’t home, so we can’t just treat them as children anymore. At the very least people should get a look at what they look like, put a familiar face out there—otherwise, if they get bullied out there someday, how would I explain that to their father when I get to Zuoliang Pass? Right, also have someone find two smaller sets of mourning clothes and send them along. I’m off—going over to Qingguan’s place to see him, have him bring his son-in-law along too. No harm in it, whatever the case, we ought to look after our own people, shouldn’t we?”

The man was forever fretting over everyone—having rattled off this string of instructions, he hurried off again.

A line of maidservants escorted the two young masters into the room. An’er, seeing his father’s retreating back, realized he’d left without taking him along and grew rather cross, shouting a few times in that direction before coming back inside, red-eyed and sulking. He looked at his mother, who said nothing, and gritted his little baby teeth in silent protest at her.

This boy, thanks to his father’s discipline, rarely cried so easily.

Qiqian’er, seeing him thwarted, was thoroughly delighted, and pinched her son’s nose teasingly, “Ha! Little white-eyed wolf, now you know who’s good to you, don’t you—go on and curry favor with him, go flatter him! See there, he went off to have fun and didn’t take you along, and in the end who do you come running back to—your mother, that’s who…”

Before she’d even finished, a voice called out cheerfully from the doorway, “There’s no one else in this world quite like you, little sister-in-law. Other mothers can’t wait for their sons to be close to their fathers, and here you are, scheming to stir things up day after day, what for?”

Qiqian’er laughed at the sound of the voice and called out loudly into the courtyard, “Sister, how do you have the time to come to this shabby little place of mine today?”

“Listen to you—if this is your shabby little place, then what would you call the place we live in, a straw hut?”

Someone outside laughed teasingly, and as the words finished, Qiqian’er looked through the window and saw four people standing smiling in the courtyard—eldest sister-in-law Madam Li, second sister-in-law Madam Kou, third sister-in-law Madam Luo, and Dingxiang had come along too.

She scooped up An’er at once and, leading Gennu’er, went out to greet them. Once outside she saw that these women had set down at their feet a basket of copper coins, the coins a jumbled assortment—some strung in full strings, some tied in loose bundles of ten-odd coins with hemp rope.

All mothers doted on children, and the moment An’er and Gennu’er appeared, the sisters-in-law snatched them up into their arms. After teasing the boys a bit, Madam Li finally spoke to Qiqian’er with a smile, “It was just last night—Madam Tie from the Ministry of Revenue’s alley came by to say that with several people having died so violently up on the mountain, though it’s not right at our own doorstep, it isn’t far off either, and it does feel unsettling going in and out with that hanging over us. As it happens, Elder Master Jing of the Ministry of Justice’s alley often goes to sit in meditation and recite scriptures with the great masters at Huguo Temple, and he has quite a bit of standing, so he was willing to take the lead. Our people on Quanhou Street elected him as head sponsor, and now we’re pooling money together to hold over ten days of great rites to dispel the ill fortune. This is it—I’m helping gather the contributions from our street.”

Siyue led a line of blue-clad maidservants who carried over chairs and a small table and set them up beneath the osmanthus tree, deftly rigging up a sun-shade as well, and laid out fruit and light tea. The sisters-in-law settled in, though the children still refused to be handed back to Qiqian’er.

Whatever their family backgrounds or origins had once been, the Chen family now had a princedom relation, and privately the old lady’s protection besides, along with Chen Dasheng’s public standing—these cousins were all respected figures out in society, each with duties well performed, and the family fortunes had flourished as a result.

From Madam Li to Dingxiang, what adorned their heads, what they wore, what the household used, what passed their lips, whom they associated with, what they saw—all of it was different from before. Even without deliberately trying to learn it, each of them had naturally become an imposing matron of an official household, seated properly in the main hall.

Only A’Nai, ever unchanged in her own crude, down-to-earth manner about bodily functions and such, remained just as she’d always been—the others no longer even mentioned it.

Madam Kou fanned herself with quite a flourish and said, “Eldest sister-in-law is always so easy to get along with. Those people over there, well, they’re their own affair—if they favor Huguo Temple, feeling that temple grand and dignified, fine. But our own family has always followed Qingque Convent. If it’s not going to be that grand an occasion, only inviting monks won’t do—I’d say, once the great masters leave tomorrow, no matter what, our alley ought to have Nun Jingguo of Qingque Convent come by as well, otherwise both our ancestors would surely have complaints.”

Qiqian’er asked Madam Li how much she’d contributed. Madam Li said ten strings of coin, so Qiqian’er had someone fetch five strings to add to the pool. Once that was settled, she said to her sisters-in-law with a smile, “Whoever comes, it makes no difference in the end—aren’t we all bowing to the same Buddha? Actually, if you ask me, the Tie family taking the lead on this feels a bit off, somehow.”

Dingxiang, cradling An’er and kissing him, heard the fourth sister-in-law say the Tie family wasn’t quite right, and looked up with a smile, “I know what sister means to say—my husband said much the same thing last night.”

Everyone looked at her curiously, and Dingxiang said, a little smugly, “Last night my husband said the Tie family doesn’t do things properly. That Elder Master Jing may not think anything of it now, but he’ll surely come to regret it later…”

She trailed off there deliberately, letting everyone anticipate what came next.

Madam Kou couldn’t help herself and swatted her a few times with her fan, “Out with it, out with it—how can such a normally sharp-tongued woman suddenly leave her sentences half-finished, you’ll be the death of us with the suspense.”

The women all burst into laughter again for no particular reason, and once it died down Dingxiang went on, “My husband said, for such a major undertaking, what right does their family have to take the lead like this? If they’re going to shoulder the responsibility of leading, they ought to have gone through the local ward chief first—only once the ward chief agreed would it be proper to proceed. Hmph, this is clearly looking down on our elder brother Meng because his official post is too small and he has no prospects.”

Hearing this, Madam Li and the others all suddenly understood.

Consider this: because Qiqian’er and the others had settled here early, back when Qingfeng Mansion was first laying out household registrations for these Six Ministries alleys, there had hardly been anyone else living there yet.

As it happened, the men hadn’t been home at the time, and it was Meng Wanquan who ended up handling all the dealings with the government offices, and so he’d incidentally taken on the role of local ward chief—a position formally registered with the yamen, which even came with an extra government stipend.

A hundred households made a ward, five wards made a district—Meng Wanquan’s post as ward chief sat in a rather awkward spot, since the Six Ministries Alley was full of officials on every side, and naturally no one paid much mind to this disabled minor official.

But once you stepped outside the Six Ministries Alley and beyond Quanhou Street, the ward chief was actually someone of real consequence.

Qiqian’er nodded, “Exactly, what is this—going door to door collecting money with absolutely no proper order to it, and anyone gets to take charge? The Tie family just went ahead and arranged it all themselves? This is quite improper.”

Madam Li finally caught on to this point, and her face showed some embarrassment. She looked at Qiqian’er and said, somewhat apologetically, “Ah, look at that, look at that! I, I really hadn’t thought of it that way! And it’s true—how did that outsider woman end up at my door out of nowhere? But, well, we’ve already collected the money from our street, and you’ve collected a share from your alley too—everyone, quickly, give me some advice, how, how should I handle this now? I’ve always gotten along well with Sister Lu when we’re out and about—wouldn’t this offend her for nothing?”

Dingxiang pursed her lips. In truth, each of the sisters-in-law was good-hearted enough, and to her they were all much the same, but living together day to day, each inevitably harbored her own small concerns.

Madam Li, as the wife of the eldest branch, had always wanted to be seen as the leading figure of the household, only to find herself somewhat put out by having such a remarkably capable fourth sister-in-law who could get anything done, who overshadowed her at every turn. At first it hadn’t been obvious, but ever since moving out of Qinwei Alley to the back street, she’d taken to visiting the old family compound almost exclusively.

If there wasn’t some knot of feeling in her heart over this, Dingxiang wouldn’t have believed it for a moment.

Qiqian’er, seeing Madam Li’s expression sour, had no wish to spar with her over such things—what was there to fight over in these household matters, after all? When it came down to it, it was all just petty, trivial stuff, pillow talk and kitchen-stove trifles, and these days she had no patience left to bother with such things.

Seeing her sisters-in-law looking somewhat awkward, she smiled generously and said, “Everyone out there has eight different intentions in their hearts—no matter how dignified each household looks coming and going, who really knows what’s underneath? This isn’t your fault, sister, and there’s no need to overthink it. You and I are family, there’s nothing improper about it at all, don’t worry.”

Madam Li was briefly taken aback, looking at Qiqian’er without a word.

Qiqian’er then went on, laying out the reasoning plainly for her, “Think about it—once you step outside our alley and into the wider streets, they’re all outsiders. We, though, are one Chen family, all people of Qinwei Alley. You have to keep that measuring stick in your heart no matter what. Outsiders may not recognize our elder brother Meng as ward chief, but the Chen family and the Ding family here on the back street certainly ought to. Don’t you think that’s the right of it, sister?”

Everyone thought this over, and indeed, that was exactly the principle of it. If Madam Li went along with the Tie family, they’d hardly thank her for it anyway, while the Meng family was naturally allied with their own household—there was no sense in undermining one’s own foundation.

Once Madam Li understood, she slapped the table with her hand and laughed, “Well, I’m well and truly convinced today. Fourth sister-in-law, you really do have a heart of crystal. Never mind, I’ll have them carry all this straight over to the Meng family right now. If the Tie family wants contributions, let them go to the Meng family for it—I’d like to see how they’ll have the face to argue, after all is said and done, we’re all part of Elder Brother Meng’s own circle, no sense letting outsiders profit for nothing. Whatever anyone else does with their money is none of my business, but the money from our back street, I intend to hand over to our own people myself.”

Having said this, she directed the servant women to carry off the baskets of coin and made to leave, but after a few steps she stopped, bent down, and personally counted out five strings of coin to set on the table, gave Qiqian’er a wink, and strode off cheerfully with a spring in her step.

Once she’d walked off into the distance, the remaining women in the courtyard could no longer hold back and all bent their heads, laughing quietly together.