Zhao Niangzi was riding a fine horse. It startled at the commotion but was quickly brought back under control.

Her attendants rushed forward to stand in front of her. Zhao Niangzi said: “Step aside! What fell down there?”

The attendants cleared a path. Zhao Niangzi looked closely and saw a young woman lying on the ground — from her figure, one could tell she was quite young. She wore an indigo top and a pink skirt, with a large red silk flower tucked at her temple, half falling out. Her whole appearance carried a cheap, gaudy quality. The young woman’s legs curled slightly; the second floor wasn’t very high, and she still had a breath in her.

Zhao Niangzi looked up and saw several heads peering over the edge of the building. Two of them spotted her and immediately pulled back. The sound of hurried footsteps came thumping down from the upper floor.

Zhao Niangzi paid it no mind and said: “Let’s go.”

The party skirted around the young woman and swept away like a whirlwind through snow, heading straight for Zhao Su’s current lodgings.

Zhao Su had sent word home and estimated a reply would come within the next few days. He hadn’t expected his mother to come in person, and he startled: “A’Ma? Why did you come yourself?”

“Am I not allowed?” Zhao Niangzi’s mood had not been dampened in the least by having someone fall from a building right in front of her. She was far more concerned with the contents of her son’s letter and asked: “Did you sit it yourself? Was it blind-graded? Was the county magistrate in charge of it?”

Zhao Su came forward to meet her, signaling a maidservant to bring tea, then instructing the others: “Move my luggage to the side room, and put A’Ma’s luggage in the main room.”

Only after settling his mother did he answer her questions: “The county magistrate presided over it himself — I’ve never heard of an examination like this before.”

Zhao Niangzi nodded: “He really is different from the others. He didn’t treat us like thieves to be guarded against! Are you comfortable here? Do you see the county magistrate often? Is he still—”

Before she could finish her string of questions, another burst of noise came from outside the residence. Before long, the sound of voices reached the gate of the Zhao household, and a gatekeeper attendant came running in: “Mistress! The county magistrate has come himself!”

Zhao Niangzi said: “Goodness! He came fast!”

Zhao Su straightened his clothing and said: “A’Ma, let me go out to receive him.”

Zhao Niangzi said: “I’ll come with you.” She was used to doing things this way at home, and Zhao Su and the others thought nothing of this apparent “impropriety.”

It was only when he caught sight of the group accompanying Zhù Ying that Zhao Su suddenly remembered: here in the county seat, women were not expected to preside at meetings with guests.

Zhù Ying never made an issue of such things. She said to Zhao Su: “No need for formalities. Your mother has arrived?”

Zhao Niangzi stepped forward two paces: “Just now. What prompt timing, Magistrate.”

Zhù Ying opened both hands: “I couldn’t very well not come. I had thought that since you are a guest, I should let you and your son have a chance to reunite first — but there is a matter I must attend to.”

Zhao Niangzi could hear from her tone that this was not a courtesy call to build goodwill. She exchanged a glance with her son, and Zhao Su was equally at a loss. Zhao Su clasped his hands and said: “Please, Magistrate, take the seat of honor.”

Zhù Ying went inside with them to the front hall. Host and guest took their seats: Zhao Niangzi and Zhù Ying faced each other at the head, Zhao Su sat below Zhao Niangzi, and below Zhù Ying sat one of the county’s judicial assistants. Zhù Ying said: “I’ve come without notice and hope you’ll forgive the intrusion — Mistress, when you were passing through the main street earlier, did you encounter someone falling from a building?”

Zhao Niangzi was puzzled. Zhù Ying did not look as though she had come to lay blame, so Zhao Niangzi didn’t take offense. Instead, she turned the question around: “Someone fell on your street. What does that have to do with me?”

Zhù Ying said: “That isn’t what I meant. It’s just that this young woman is gravely injured and speaking words that no one can understand. As it happens, I heard that Mistress was present at the scene, so I came to ask whether you noticed anything at the time.”

Zhao Niangzi thought it over and said: “Nothing out of the ordinary. I was walking along the street when someone fell from the upper floor — it startled my horse.”

Zhao Su stirred involuntarily. Zhao Niangzi glanced at her son: “I’m fine. It probably wasn’t aimed at me either. Why? Is there something more to this?”

Zhù Ying said: “I’m still looking into it and can’t say for certain. But since Mistress was present, perhaps you could do me a favor.”

Zhao Niangzi said: “Oh?”

Zhù Ying politely said: “Among your attendants — are there any who came with you from your natal home? I would like to ask them to come and listen to what this young woman is saying. Perhaps they might be able to understand her.”

Zhao Niangzi frowned slightly.

Zhù Ying said: “There isn’t much time. She’s very seriously injured. I’ve already brought her to the county yamen.”

Zhao Niangzi considered it, then said: “Then I’ll come with you.”

“Excellent.”

——

By this time, the area outside the Zhao residence was ringed three layers deep with onlookers. Some who knew what had happened said the magistrate had probably come to ask questions. Others, knowing nothing of the cause, speculated wildly — had the tribal woman been violent, killing someone the moment she entered the city, and the county magistrate come to arrest her?

Zhù Ying’s hearing was sharp. She spoke first: “Someone fell from a building, and Zhao Niangzi happened upon it. I came to ask her about the circumstances. You’ve all crowded around like this — none of us will be able to leave. Disperse, please. Once the matter is clear, everyone will be informed.”

The townspeople dispersed with much murmuring.

Zhao Niangzi asked: “Is this really such a big matter?”

Zhù Ying said: “Hard to say yet. After you, please.”

The party made their way to the county yamen. Only there did Zhao Niangzi come to understand why Zhù Ying had felt compelled to involve herself.

A person had fallen from a building, but it was none of her affair. Zhao Niangzi had paid no mind and gone on her way. No sooner had she left than the yamen constables on street patrol came by. Seeing a young woman lying on the ground, they naturally went forward to investigate. When they moved her, the woman sprayed blood all over one constable’s hand. At that moment, several people dressed like servants came down from the upstairs, saying the woman was part of their household and had slipped accidentally, and asked the constables to hand her over. The constables thought nothing of it and were about to comply — when the young woman caught sight of the servants and showed unmistakable fear, recoiling and trying to shrink away. Injured as she was, this movement caused her to cough up another mouthful of blood.

The constables brought the young woman back to the yamen and reported to Zhù Ying that something seemed off.

As is the magistrate, so are the constables — Zhù Ying’s concern for the welfare of the people had made the constables willing to involve themselves in what might otherwise have been left alone. One of them also remembered that the servants belonged to a wealthy family surnamed Tang in the county, and someone mentioned having heard that “a tribal woman” had come through. Zhù Ying had the woman kept at the county yamen for Huajie to examine, while simultaneously dispatching people to bring in the Tang household’s servants for questioning.

Huajie said the young woman bore not only the injuries from the fall but also older wounds. When Huajie tried to speak with her, she discovered that the young woman’s speech was completely incomprehensible. Zhù Ying came and likewise could not understand her. She could only judge from the embroidery patterns on the woman’s indigo top that they bore some resemblance to the patterns on Zhao Niangzi’s clothing — suggesting this woman might belong to the same people.

That made this matter something that could be either small or very large. Zhù Ying decided to first go view the scene. The scene of the fall was out on the street, where nothing remained but a pool of blood. The building was a tavern. When Zhù Ying went up, the proprietor was scrubbing the floor with water and, seeing her arrive, wailed: “Magistrate, my luck really has run out this time!”

This hapless proprietor had no idea one was supposed to preserve a scene. He had felt it deeply inauspicious to have someone fall from his building and left behind such a mess — so he had cleaned it up immediately. It looked better that way, and he could receive new customers. The leftover food had been cleared, the tables, chairs, railings, windowsills had all been wiped down, the broken flowerpot had been swept up, and the floor scrubbed with water. By the time Zhù Ying arrived, there was nothing to see — not a footprint, not a trace. The private upper room gleamed as if brand new.

Zhù Ying made a swift decision and had everyone in the tavern taken into custody at the county yamen.

The county seat was not large. Two main roads crossed it in a shape like the character 丄. Much as in the capital, those who lived nearest to the center — the county yamen — tended to be wealthier and more influential. The Tang family was wealthy; the Zhao family was wealthy as well, and with Zhao Niangzi’s background, their residence in the county was not far from the yamen either.

In the time it had taken Zhao Niangzi to go home and talk with her son, the constables Zhù Ying had dispatched had already brought in the Tang household’s servants.

This time the Tang servants did not dare lie. They said: “She’s a woman of the night. The young master was in low spirits and had her brought up to keep him company while he drank at the tavern. Who would have thought she’d suddenly lose her mind and fall out the window. We said she was ours — that was just off the top of our heads. At the time she was indeed hired by the young master.”

The young master of the Tang family stood nearby, sobered by fright, shaking slightly: “That’s — that’s exactly it!”

Zhù Ying could see that the young man’s father had also come. The old man looked familiar. She said to Tang the Elder: “Your son is implicated in this case. I’ll need to keep him here for the time being.”

At that moment, Dà Jiě came running over: “Magistrate, the young woman isn’t doing well!”

Zhù Ying said: “Court adjourned!” and went herself to the Zhao residence.

The young woman’s condition was deteriorating — she had to be questioned while she was still alive. If there was still time, one might catch a few words; if not, all that remained would be the autopsy.

Zhù Ying hurried to find Zhao Niangzi.

Zhao Niangzi’s private thought was: this magistrate is truly tiresome — making such a fuss over something so trivial, as though it were some momentous affair. Or perhaps she wants to go after the Tang family?

She said nothing of this aloud. On the contrary, she cooperated fully and followed Zhù Ying to the county yamen. The young woman had been placed in a small side room at the front of the yamen. Huajie was keeping her company, while Dà Jiě had gone back to decoct medicine. The woman was already unable to swallow anything.

Zhao Niangzi frowned slightly, approached the simple bamboo bed, and spoke a sentence that Zhù Ying and the others could not understand. The young woman said something in reply. Zhao Niangzi turned to Zhù Ying and opened her hands: “She isn’t one of my people.”

Zhù Ying pointed to the embroidery on the young woman’s clothing: “She isn’t?”

Zhao Niangzi said: “Does the Magistrate think ‘tribal people’ are all one thing?” She gave a cold laugh. “One word — ‘tribal’ — and that’s that? There are many different clans.”

Zhù Ying asked: “Then which clan does this young woman belong to? Can you find someone who understands her language?”

Zhao Niangzi shook her head: “Who knows? It’s nothing to do with me, either. Find her people or don’t — just have that man pay some compensation and be done with it.” She looked more carefully at the young woman. The woman was plain-featured, her complexion not very fair, though there was a faint touch of “exotic” quality about her. Zhao Niangzi confirmed: “She doesn’t look like she’s worth much. There’s no need to worry.”

Zhao Su stepped forward and spoke quietly to Zhù Ying: “Magistrate, the tribal peoples are not one group — there are many other clans besides, and within each clan there are further divisions by household. Languages within a clan are similar; languages across clans are mutually unintelligible. Within each clan there are also distinctions of high and low. This young woman does not appear to be the kind who will cause you trouble. Though the clans speak different languages and have different customs, they do share one thing — the price of a life differs according to one’s status. For a woman like this, if no noble family from her clan steps forward to claim her, her worth amounts to about a sack of rice.”

Zhao Niangzi thought well of Zhù Ying and considered that if only she were a little more decisive, she would be close to ideal. She said by way of comfort: “Magistrate, don’t worry. With me here, no one will swindle you!”

Zhao Su quickly offered a more diplomatic gloss on his mother’s words: “The various clans, owing to what happened with the previous prefect, have little trust in the authorities. When people go missing, they may make a show of demanding to search for them. Some cases are genuine — people captured and brought down from the mountains, or lured and trafficked. Others are not, but the clans use them as pretexts to demand payment from the authorities, or else they raid and plunder. My mother’s meaning is that she would be willing to put in a word on your behalf.”

Zhù Ying looked at Zhao Niangzi. Her face showed no sign of resentment — she looked mildly bored, even a little contemptuous, and she covered her mouth to stifle a yawn. Zhù Ying said: “Thank you for making this trip, Mistress. Zhao Su, go and keep your mother company.”

She escorted mother and son out of the county yamen.

——

With the Zhao mother and son gone, Zhù Ying still had a case to try.

The traces at the tavern were gone, but the young woman had fallen from the building — the matter had to be dealt with properly. Zhù Ying first ordered constables to look for this woman’s “home.” Even if she was a woman of the night who couldn’t speak the local language, she surely hadn’t been working alone.

The constables went out and quickly found a brothel-keeper by the surname You.

The brothel-keeper knelt in the hall. Before saying anything else, her first words were: “Magistrate, this sort of ‘loss’ cannot be laid at my door!”

Zhù Ying said: “What do you mean by that?”

The brothel-keeper said: “Several girls were entrusted to me. Now one has fallen and looks unlikely to recover. I’m going to have trouble accounting for her.”

So she was a government-registered courtesan. That made things far worse. Zhù Ying asked: “Explain yourself clearly! How did a woman who can’t speak the local language end up as a registered courtesan? Give her twenty strikes.”

The brothel-keeper hurriedly begged for mercy: “No, no! I’ll confess! I’ll confess! One of my girls died while still young. I couldn’t account for her to the authorities, so I…”

A government-registered courtesan was government property. The brothel-keeper kept a share of the earnings for herself but also had to report accounts to the authorities. When one of her “girls” died young, she didn’t want to pay a penalty, so she bought another “tribal woman” from a passing trader. As long as she could collect the fees and settle the accounts, that was all that mattered. She made a particular point of emphasizing that she had done this for the sake of the government’s property and revenue.

“A trader?” asked Zhù Ying. “Don’t make me drag this out of you word by word!”

The brothel-keeper was truly at the magistrate’s mercy. She kowtowed once and told everything: “They steal from each other. On this side, people capture tribal folk and sell them as slaves. On that side, they often raid villages and travellers to make slaves of them too. Besides outright raiding, there’s also a trade in them — mostly itinerant merchants. You hardly ever see tribal people in the county seat itself, but on the estates of the various great families there are quite a few among the bondservants. And they get sold further on. “

“Which trader?”

“I don’t know — they were passing through! Truly! They don’t stay here. The main business in this county isn’t human trafficking — it’s mostly trade in mountain goods. That Zhao family, for instance, they’re known as middlemen. Transactions between both sides, and people often ask them to act as guarantors. As for this girl — I truly did not know her origins. There was no need to know. You can’t talk to her, she can’t understand you, and we can’t understand what she says. Magistrate…”

From the back, Dà Jiě called out: “Magistrate, the young woman has died!”

The brothel-keeper panicked: “Magistrate, this cannot be put on me!”

Zhù Ying said: “Come with me to identify the body!”

The brothel-keeper followed her to the side room and looked: “Yes, that’s her. So then…”

Zhù Ying asked: “While you’re standing before her — tell me what exactly happened between her and the young man surnamed Tang.”

The brothel-keeper said tearfully: “Young Master Tang placed forty-first in the examination and blamed Zhao Su for it, thinking that a tribal woman’s son had taken his place. He came to us to drown his sorrows. When he heard there was a tribal woman, he had her brought to him…”

“Shameful!” Huajie spat.

Zhù Ying said: “The body stays here — the case isn’t closed. I’ll settle accounts with you later. As for what was just said in this room, not a word to anyone outside. If one more person comes to know of it after you step out that door, I will hold you personally responsible.”

“Understood.” The brothel-keeper walked out in tears, her powder streaked by weeping.

Huajie’s eyes were red. She asked: “What now?”

Zhù Ying said: “She can’t tell us which clan this woman belongs to either — she was bought on a whim, no common language and no known origin. The woman is gone now. Let’s conduct the autopsy first. A life — it deserves some kind of reckoning.”

Huajie said: “What can really be done? Whether as a registered courtesan or as a tribal woman, her status counts for almost nothing under the law.”

Zhù Ying said: “First the autopsy.”

On her own ground, she made the decisions. She and Huajie dismissed everyone else. Those outside assumed Huajie was going to conduct the examination. Dà Jiě protested discontentedly: “Magistrate, wouldn’t it be better to find a midwife? How can we ask Mistress to do this with her own hands?”

Huajie said: “Dà Jiě, leave it to me. Go outside.”

In fact, it was Zhù Ying who did the work. She removed the young woman’s clothing and found her body covered in bruises — aside from the injuries from the fall, she had suffered other violence not long before her death. Zhù Ying thought: that Tang wretch deserves a thorough beating.

When the examination was done, she and Huajie dressed the woman again, washed their hands, and opened the door. Zhù Ying said: “Fill out the autopsy record.”

She called for the county’s coroner, who came with a wooden box on his back. Because it was a female corpse, she did not allow him to look. He asked offhandedly: “Where’s the midwife?”

There was no midwife.

Huajie said with some guilt: “I made the examination.”

The coroner paused, then said: “Well then… perhaps Mistress would fill it out? Those midwives can’t read anyway, and there’s nothing much they’d notice that you wouldn’t.”

Huajie dictated the findings while the coroner filled in the record. After Zhù Ying received the record, she suddenly thought of something and said to Xiao Wu: “Go post a notice — are there any local women willing to serve as coroners?” She held out little hope. Literate men in this county were already fewer than in other places; literate women were those from better-off families, and who among them would be willing? They would need to learn from scratch, and their parents would likely object.

Huajie said: “I could do it!”

“That’s no reason not to have another — and if someone does come forward, you might well end up being asked to be her teacher.” Zhù Ying said.

They had female constables now. Having a female coroner wasn’t far from the natural next step. She wanted to try, one by one, the things she hadn’t been able to do in the capital prefecture — and so far, nothing terrible had come of it.

Huajie said: “A physician and a coroner — can those really be the same thing? Now, about this case…”

“Keep trying it.”

——

Zhù Ying resumed the interrogation of young Master Tang. First, she had his servants beaten in front of him. Each stroke of the board landing on the servants’ bodies made young Master Tang flinch.

When the beating was over, Zhù Ying said: “You neglect your studies and go out carousing — and on top of that, someone died. Give him twenty strikes too.”

Young Master Tang was flogged twenty times, and tears and snot ran down his face. He said: “Magistrate, I was wrong. I will never consort with such women again.”

“Your only wrongdoing is consorting with women? A life was lost!” After reprimanding him, Zhù Ying questioned the servants about what had happened that day.

A servant said: “He just brought her along to drink. There was some commotion downstairs, and somehow it startled the woman, and she fell off the building.”

Zhù Ying had him given another ten strikes, then asked young Master Tang: “You tell me — what happened?”

Young Master Tang said: “I really did just come to take my mind off things! She was a novelty, so I called for her. How was I to know she’d fall from the building?”

Zhù Ying had them bring the autopsy record for him to see: “Where did all these injuries come from?! Beat him!”

Another round of beating.

She asked the servant again: “Talk. What happened?”

“She’s… a tribal woman. The young master had a contempt for tribal people, so he brought her back and… slapped her around a couple of times.”

“Just a couple of slaps? Beat him more!”

Another ten strokes, and Zhù Ying questioned young Master Tang again. He was truly frightened now, and in that state confessed everything — matching what the brothel-keeper had said.

Zhù Ying drew a deep breath and summoned the other women under the brothel-keeper’s care for questioning. Their accounts were largely the same. Some felt sympathy for the dead young woman; others felt no particular warmth toward her, this “tribal woman” who was not amiable or familiar. But none of them could give her true origins, and all confirmed she had indeed been purchased.

Zhù Ying could see that the Tang boy had already been beaten quite severely. Another round might genuinely kill him. She had no objection to such an outcome personally, but she could not afford to disregard the reaction of the local gentry.

Under the law, young Master Tang’s punishment in this case would be extremely light. Whether as a “tribal woman” or a registered courtesan, the woman’s status carried far less weight than an ordinary citizen’s. Her origins were unknown, and there was no one to speak for her. Young Master Tang had not personally killed her — the charges were reduced for unintentional harm, reduced again for status, and when all the reductions were applied, he could not even be exiled, let alone executed. If she handed down a sentence of exile, the Court of Judicial Review would overturn it. Capital punishment was even more out of the question.

Zhù Ying’s mind was filled with the image of Wang Yunhe during the Cao case, years ago.

She summoned Tang the Elder. When he saw the state his son was in, he went cold inside. With a measure of aggrieved indignation, he asked: “Magistrate, what crime has my son committed?”

She beckoned him closer and whispered in his ear: “He placed forty-first in a blind-graded examination and then went to take out his spite on a tribal woman. Despicable. A disgrace.”

Tang the Elder’s face went pale. He understood what lay behind those words. Leaving aside the fact that a particular rather formidable “tribal woman” was at this very moment residing in the county seat — the county magistrate herself was clearly working to repair relations with the tribal peoples.

Zhù Ying said: “You’ve raised this son of yours into a waste. Devote your remaining years to raising your other children properly.”

Tang the Elder drew a deep breath and kept bowing his head: “Magistrate, though he deserves it, no father can bear to see his son die. Please spare the boy’s life. I am willing to pay in copper to redeem the sentence.”

Zhù Ying composed her judgment. First, she gave the dead young woman an identity — “a person from outside the county.” Then she sentenced the brothel-keeper for unlawfully reclassifying a free person as a bondwoman, to be penalized accordingly. Next, she sentenced Tang the Elder’s son for causing death through negligence — normally this warranted exile, but since he had not known the woman’s identity at the time, the sentence was reduced to penal servitude. In addition, monetary compensation was to be paid. Tang the Elder had asked for the sentence to be redeemed with payment; Zhù Ying did not grant this. The money was accepted as a fine; the punishment stood.

Before convicts sentenced to penal servitude were sent away, they were to receive a flogging — but since the interrogation had already involved floggings, that was waived. He was to be sent to hard labor immediately, without delay.

This outcome left Zhù Ying herself dissatisfied. Yet many considered it “utterly impartial” — and some even thought she had been a little “harsh.” After all, the one who died was a “tribal woman,” and at the time of death her status was that of a “registered courtesan,” both of which counted for far less than an ordinary citizen. Some felt that sentencing the son of a gentleman to such a heavy punishment was excessive.

Elder Gu and the others could only speculate: “This must be to appease the tribal people. Our magistrate thinks very broadly.”

They were all watching, waiting to see what arrangement Zhù Ying would reach with Zhao Niangzi.

——

Zhù Ying did not go to Zhao Niangzi. She first summoned Elder Gu and the others.

Elder Gu and the rest assumed she wanted to ask about matters related to Zhao Niangzi. But Zhù Ying’s first question to them was: “Do any of your households keep tribal bondservants?”

The assembled “village elders” exchanged glances and each answered carefully: “They were all properly purchased — with full documentation!”

Zhù Ying said: “I’ve been remiss. I hadn’t heard about this before. Would you do me the favor of explaining what these tribal bondservants actually amount to?”

Elder Gu and the others gave her a half-true account: “We buy a few for the heavy rough work. They can’t understand what we say, but they’re simple and straightforward.”

“Not a single one who understands the language?”

“Oh, there are some of those.”

Zhù Ying said: “Very well. Then please find me a few who speak the language of the Jade Clan — and if you have any from other clans as well, a couple of those too. I’d like to borrow them. I’ll return them before year’s end.”

The assembled men had no idea what she was planning, but finding people who could speak was easy enough, and they said: “There’s no need to speak of ‘borrowing.'”

Zhù Ying then asked about the trading situation. Elder Gu said: “There’s little of it in this county — just Zhao Feng’s family. The tribal people have no written script, and for fear of being cheated in recorded transactions, they only deal with those they trust.”

Zhù Ying committed it all to memory, then asked Elder Gu and the others to find her two tribal bondservants as soon as possible — ones who were fluent in both languages. Elder Gu and company were now certain: the magistrate was genuinely planning to open communications with the tribal peoples. That being so, young Master Tang had simply fired his cannon at the wrong target — being beaten, sentenced to penal servitude, fined, and denied the right to buy his way out of punishment was no injustice at all.

They dared not plead on young Master Tang’s behalf, but they couldn’t help thinking: given the magistrate’s approach, the tribal people’s days of good treatment were coming. They met afterward at Elder Gu’s home to discuss: “Since the county magistrate intends to establish ties with the tribal people, there will certainly be benefits for our county — much like when she brought us all under her watch and yet also remitted the accumulated back rents and commissioned water works. How might we stand to gain from this?” The remission of back rents had not yielded them much. They were somewhat inclined to believe Zhù Ying could manage the tribal affairs — and once it succeeded, the profits would be considerable. They wanted a larger share.

What Zhù Ying was thinking about at that moment, however, was not the tribal people at all — because someone had taken down the notice she had posted.

Fuklu County was not the capital. Not a single midwife in the county seat could read; the coroner’s daughter likewise had no literacy and no interest in learning to dissect corpses. The county seat itself had very few literate women, and while the daughters of local gentry included a few who could read, none had come forward to take down the notice.

After three days of waiting, Xiao Wu came running in with a strange expression: “Magistrate, someone has taken down the notice.”

“Oh? Bring them in.” Zhù Ying said. This was the best news she had heard in days.

Xiao Wu coughed once. Zhù Ying said: “What is it?”

“It’s… that female Daoist.”

Zhù Ying and Xiao Wu looked at each other. She said calmly: “Bring her in.”

The two women both knew Zhù Ying, but the feeling of coming before her now was entirely different from how they’d felt when they encountered her on the pleasure quarter’s back lane. Xiao Jiang was somewhat nervous, and the small dark-skinned girl following behind her was nervous too.

Zhù Ying said: “You two took down the notice?”

Xiao Jiang said: “Yes.”

“To serve as a coroner?”

“Yes!”

“Why?” Zhù Ying asked. Xiao Jiang thought differently from most people. Zhù Ying didn’t dare assume her motivations had entirely to do with her — though there was doubtless some element of that. If Xiao Jiang had come because she wanted to spend time near a young official, then Zhù Ying had no use for a female Daoist like that; it would only get in the way of real work. What she wanted was women who could serve as officials and clerks. She had no interest in acquiring near her side a person of… indeterminate standing.

Xiao Jiang’s throat felt tight. She said: “I can’t articulate it very well. I only want to say — I want to live differently from before. I’ve spent all this time trying to work it out for myself and never quite managed it. I want to go out and see the world on my own, but there’s always something missing inside me. I want to help people, but I end up being a nuisance to you. Staying near you, I always seem to learn something. Even if in the end I still don’t understand, it’s better than stumbling around in the dark by myself. I — I can be useful! Teach me a little. Teach me something I don’t know, let me do something different from before. I’m not stupider than anyone else. The pipa — it’s not difficult. If you don’t learn, you’ll never know how; it’s not because you’re stupid. I…”

Toward the end, she was getting somewhat incoherent, afraid she wasn’t making herself understood.

“Come with me.”

Zhù Ying brought her to the mortuary room. There, the dead young woman lay quietly. Zhù Ying had arranged for the county’s monks to recite several scrolls of scriptures for her, and owing to the delay of two days, she had not yet been buried.

Xiao Jiang said without hesitation: “I’ll prepare her for burial.” Her movements were practiced, as though she had done this more than once. Zhù Ying said: “Being a coroner isn’t about laying out the dead — it’s about dissecting them.” Xiao Jiang’s hands paused briefly, then she said: “I’ll learn.”

Zhù Ying said: “You’re not a coroner yet.”

“I’m willing to learn. Whenever I’ve learned it properly, you can put me to work — that’s fine!”

Zhù Ying said: “Start as an apprentice then. What’s your name?”

Xiao Jiang showed the first relaxed smile she’d had in months: “I don’t have one.”

She hadn’t much of a surname either — it was purely that when she left the pleasure quarter and needed to register a household, she had flipped open a book at random, looked at a line from a love poem, and registered “Jiang” as her surname because it seemed like a proper one compared to the other characters. Women without given names were common enough. “Jiang Daniangzi” would do. Later Zhù Ying had called her “Xiao Jiang,” and she had stopped caring whether she had a name at all.

Zhù Ying said: “You might as well take a name you like. You can register it right now and have it changed.”

Xiao Jiang shook her head: “The greatest truths are simple. I’ve had too many names. I don’t want any more.”

Zhù Ying glanced at the small dark-skinned girl: “An apprentice who brings a personal maid — that’s hardly appropriate.”

The little dark-skinned girl said: “I can be an apprentice too! I love hearing about the cases the magistrate solves! I helped the mistress ask around at that family’s place, and they said the one who died was a tribal woman. What a pity — but you found that out for yourself anyway.”

Zhù Ying looked at her: “You can be a general assistant.”

Watching as “Jiang Daniangzi” was recorded in the register — apprentice wages of one shi of rice and one hundred coins a month — Xiao Jiang suddenly felt that she was no longer the same person she had been. She didn’t ask to move into the county yamen; she’d stay in the rented room she had, and she asked about the yamen’s rules — when to report for duty, how leave was calculated, and so on.

Xiao Wu stood listening and thought: she’s truly a fierce one — willing to dissect corpses just to stay here, and already putting her maidservant to work carrying bodies.

But Xiao Jiang was happy. Zhù Ying set Xiao Wu to explain the yamen’s rules to her, and when she noticed his mind wandering, she gave him a nudge: “Xiao Wu?”

“What? Oh, right! So let me explain to you both…”

The county yamen of Fuklu thus acquired a female apprentice coroner, who spent the next two days peering over a female corpse. When the morning assembly was held, Xiao Jiang and the little dark-skinned girl stood behind the female constables. Her command of the local dialect was so good that the female constables wondered how they had never come across a person like her in the county seat before.

——

That Xiao Jiang had taken down the notice was something Zhù Ying felt somewhat resigned to. Her original intention had been to cultivate a locally trained female coroner for Fuklu County. Xiao Jiang had come from elsewhere; there was no guarantee she would put down roots here. She might come, work as a coroner, and then leave — leaving Fuklu County with nothing to show for it.

That was why she had hesitated, thinking it might prove a wasted effort.

But Fuklu County’s conditions were what they were. If she didn’t take this one, it would be a good while before anyone else came forward voluntarily to serve as a female coroner — and a new person would need to be trained from scratch just the same. What made it worse was that what they lacked wasn’t only knowledge of how to do the coroner’s work: they couldn’t even read, and couldn’t fill in the autopsy records.

In the end Zhù Ying simply moved forward without further deliberation and summoned Xiao Jiang: “The notice stays posted. When in the future there are bold and careful-minded young women who come forward, I’ll take them on too. Those who can’t read — you can help them along, teach them a little.”

And with that she handed the whole thing over to Xiao Jiang. She herself was far too busy to step away and teach anyone personally.

Xiao Jiang agreed happily: “I’ll go out into the streets to look for people right now.”

“There’s no rush. First help cremate the woman in the mortuary. Zhao Niangzi has been staying in the county seat for some days now, and I expect she’ll be heading back soon. Give her the ashes to take with her — even if no one knows whose woman she was, at least let her be buried close to home.”

Xiao Jiang’s eyes shone bright.

Zhù Ying said: “Officials are paid from tax revenues. Every one of us has eaten of her flesh and blood.”

Xiao Jiang’s eyes shone even brighter.

The body was moved outside the city gates, where a wood fire was lit. It burned for a long time before it was done. The remains were placed in a large ceramic jar, a few large unburnt fragments of bone dropping in with a muffled sound. Zhù Ying sealed the mouth of the jar, brought it back to the county yamen, and sent word inviting Zhao Niangzi to come for a visit.

By now Zhao Niangzi had spent several days in the county seat, seen Zhù Ying pass judgment on young Master Tang, and observed the county as a whole being governed in good order. She had formed her own views on the matter. Her son was also due to begin attending the county school, so she intended to head home. Before leaving, she wished to see Zhù Ying once more.

When she arrived at the county yamen, Zhao Niangzi was considerably more courteous this time. She first thanked Zhù Ying for providing her son with some winter provisions. Zhù Ying said: “I made a promise to you both — naturally I intend to keep it.”

Zhao Niangzi said: “That he was able to come and study here at all is thanks to the Magistrate.”

“He performed well on the examination and has genuine ability. Fuklu County needs scholars like him.”

Zhao Niangzi said: “He took an examination? Ha! That would never have happened before. Magistrate, plain speaking between plain people — I’ve had my eye on everything you’ve done.”

Zhù Ying said: “Then may I ask a favor of you, and ask you to carry a message?”

Zhao Niangzi straightened her expression: “Please speak.”

Zhù Ying had the urn of ashes brought out. She first spoke of the unfortunate young woman’s situation and entrusted it to Zhao Niangzi. Zhao Niangzi said, in surprise: “Just this? And what’s the message?”

“Ask your elder brother: is peace possible?”

“What does that mean?”

Zhù Ying said: “I know that certain things happened in the past that have made it difficult for either side to trust the other. But going on like this — guarding against each other, harming each other — is no solution either. Might we restore goodwill and open an exchange? If your people have a register of names, all the better — anyone from your clan who comes to Fuklu County, I will treat as I would any local gentleman or commoner. If you wish to trade, your brother and I will each issue identity tokens to trusted individuals, so they may travel freely between our territories. If there are still reservations, we could start with a mutual agreement not to raid each other for captives? There will always be people who break the law, but if any are found, we help each other pursue them. What do you say?”

Zhao Niangzi listened carefully, then said: “This doesn’t sound like a scheme to trap anyone. I’ll go back and pass the message immediately!”

“I’ll await the good news.”

——

Zhao Niangzi had come to the county seat partly to observe on her brother’s behalf and report back to him. She hurried home and told her husband about their son’s life in the county, and also of the county town itself: “Things there are much more orderly now. I keep feeling the magistrate is too soft, and always thinking too many things at once. Always making a fuss. Some girl from who-knows-which-clan died, and she went to all that trouble to have a young man sent to labor, then handed over the ashes for me to take along. Tsk! I told her I have no particular feeling about another family’s dead.”

Zhao Feng pressed her for details, then said: “She’s telling you that she values you. Are you going to tell your elder brother?”

Zhao Niangzi gave a solemn nod: “Of course!” Some things were beyond what even her husband or son could fully understand. The tribal peoples were not one group — her own clan called themselves the Jade Clan; beyond them were others known for valor, and still others known for swiftness.

They were also at war with each other from time to time.

The very next day Zhao Niangzi set off for her natal home. The weather was bitterly cold, but she did not fear it. Seven days later, she returned to the home she knew well.

Her brother had grown old — his hair gone fully silver. Four nephews and two nieces came out to welcome her. The family gathered around the fire hearth in the great hall. Zhao Niangzi relayed Zhù Ying’s words to her brother.

The cave-lord said: “Let everyone have their say.”

The eldest son said: “He’s only a county magistrate — what can he accomplish? Not like that prefect from a couple of years back. A prefect has far more authority.”

The second son said: “The bigger the official, the more cunning — but also the more he can give.”

The third son said: “Don’t forget — the bigger the official, the darker his hands too.”

The fourth son said: “Eldest brother is right. Those two families on the other side of the mountain are stirring up trouble again. We need allies — what can a county magistrate actually offer?”

Only the youngest daughter spoke: “Father, choose this county magistrate.”

The cave-lord said: “Why?”

“Everything my brothers said is right — a prefect does have more power. But we only have this one settlement and its people. In a prefect’s eyes, we count for almost nothing. In a county magistrate’s eyes, we would count for a great deal. A prefect who doesn’t care about us — how much can he really help? And it’s easier to be outmaneuvered by him. This county magistrate is said to be soft-natured, yet meticulous and capable — exactly the kind of person we want. Father, I want to go and see this person for myself. I’ll go to Auntie’s place.”