Prefect Lu was just making conversation.

He and Zhù Ying regarded each other with mutual antipathy. The point of particular contention was the matter of the “Lao people.” He had once entertained thoughts of pacifying the Lao tribes — and then, to his dismay, the Lao people had given him the cold shoulder while turning around and throwing in their lot with Zhù Ying!

By comparison, Zhù Ying’s dislike of Prefect Lu was not nearly as intense as his dislike of her. He was a Prefect of considerable standing, yet he had not made a sustained effort to make life difficult for someone as lowly as a county magistrate. He had simply treated her as though she did not exist — which was already enough to make many unfortunate subordinates weep with gratitude. A superior who didn’t go out of his way to cause trouble — how rare that was!

With a superior who knew how to conduct himself, Zhù Ying had long since decided not to deliberately cause him aggravation. But the question Prefect Lu had just raised put her in a genuinely difficult position.

She had absolutely no knowledge of this personnel change in the capital!

How would I know who the new Director of the Court of Judicial Review is?!

Zhù Ying had no choice but to assume an air of dutiful honesty and say, “The Nine Ministers are esteemed senior officials of the state. This subordinate would not dare to discuss superiors in a way that oversteps her station.”

These words were perfectly reasonable, but they landed with different meanings in different ears. Prefect Lu had merely asked on a whim, and would have been satisfied with any vague answer Zhù Ying offered — he had not actually expected to hear any inside information from her. But to have his question batted back in this manner was to be denied face. Although Prefect Lu’s expression did not actually fall, in his heart he became even more convinced that this person Zhù Ying was genuinely insufferable!

You have never stood on such ceremony with me before!

Old grudges and new grievances combined: Prefect Lu recalled that on the matter of the “Lao people,” Zhù Ying had moved first without reporting to him, and he — her superior — had only learned of it through the official gazette and communications from the Secretariat! And yet the Emperor had praised it and the Secretariat had commended it, so it was difficult to censure her or claim she was incompetent. Prefect Lu genuinely wished he could pinch his nose, give Zhù Ying a “distinguished” performance rating, and kick her out of his jurisdiction. Whether she went somewhere prosperous or was promoted, the main thing was to get rid of her!

Prefect Lu said, “You are as cautious as ever!”

Zhù Ying continued to perform dutiful honesty. Seeing that not a single one of the assembled prefects and county magistrates would step in to redirect the conversation, Prefect Lu felt all the more that Zhù Ying was a fly in the ointment. If she remained under his authority much longer, she would spoil the whole pot. He swiftly declared: “Overall, all of you have done quite well in the first half of the year. The final verdict depends on the autumn harvest. Each of you return to your posts and attend to the welfare of your people.”

“Yes.”

Prefect Lu dismissed everyone, but many did not leave immediately. It was rare to come to the prefectural seat, and many had come to cultivate connections, pave paths for advancement, and ingratiate themselves with the superior official. Prefect Lu also took this opportunity to now and then organize a poetry gathering or invite a few people at a time for an outing — groups of three or five, never the full assembly of prefects and county magistrates at once. Those paying attention noticed that over the course of several gatherings, Zhù Ying was the only one never summoned by Prefect Lu even once.

And yet she had not left.

Coming to the prefectural seat to deal with Prefect Lu was purely a formality for Zhù Ying. She had more definite purposes: to find a master tea-maker, and to buy some pearls, gemstones, and maritime rarities.

Having left the Prefect’s office, she should have set about attending to these two matters. Instead, she went flying back to the travelers’ inn and first found the recent official gazettes to read. The appointment of a Director of the Court of Judicial Review was a major event worthy of a notice in the gazette. After a brief search, she found it — and the new Director of the Court of Judicial Review turned out to be someone she knew.

Zhù Ying pressed a finger on the name Dou Peng in the gazette. She and this Prefect Dou — who should now be addressed as Director Dou — had no particularly close relationship. Better than a stranger, yet not close enough to be called intimate. The likelihood of squeezing any more advantages out of the Court of Judicial Review was now quite slim. In the future, if anything arose, it would be best to handle it herself rather than counting on the Court of Judicial Review as a fallback.

After finishing this entry, she carefully went through the rest of the gazette. She did not find any news of Pei Qing or Leng Yun being transferred elsewhere.

Xiao Wu brought over some tea and stepped quietly to one side to stand in attendance. Zhù Ying read to the end of the gazette and found no other news about her acquaintances. The news of Chen Yuan’s retirement had appeared in the gazette a few days earlier, and ever since that day Zhù Ying had read each gazette with special attention. To this day, she had not seen any transfer for Chen Meng.

These past few days there had been no news at all about Zheng Xi either, nor about many of her other acquaintances. Chen Yuan had retired, and no new Chancellor had been appointed. Dou Peng had been promoted, but his vacancy had not yet been filled by anyone new.

Zhù Ying set down the gazette and asked Xiao Wu, “Did you go out and look around?”

Xiao Wu’s face showed a trace of shame: “I did not find anyone. This subordinate went to the tea shops and browsed around, but their tea-making masters are not the sort who sit in the shop.”

Zhù Ying wanted to find a tea-making master for the A-Su clan — nothing extraordinary, just someone better than what the A-Su clan could manage on their own. Skilled tea-makers were mostly found near the tea mountains. As a county magistrate, she could not leave Fuluo County without authorization, so she thought that the prefectural seat, with its variety of shops and constant flow of merchants from north and south, might offer better intelligence, and that some asking around might at least give her a direction to work toward.

Zhù Ying said, “Very well. Let us go out and take a look. We’ll check out the pearls and gemstones first.”

The prefectural seat, though Fuluo County was poor and lacked distinctive products, still offered quite a number of fine things.

Xiao Wu was thoroughly excited. One of the prefectural seat’s specialties was trade in pearls: pearls purchased here, especially those sold directly by pearl divers, were priced extremely favorably. Moreover, exotic maritime rarities and various gemstones were considerably less expensive here than they would be in the capital.

A hundredfold profit in pearls and jade.

Xiao Wu had not read such books, but he knew well enough that jewelry carried enormous profit margins. If he were to buy here, would that not mean he could…

Zhù Ying noticed he was no longer walking in ordinary steps but practically bounding forward, and asked, “Do you like them?”

“Very much! Who wouldn’t love fine things? This subordinate would like to buy a few.”

Zhù Ying asked, “How much capital do you have? How much do you plan to buy?”

Xiao Wu choked on his words and did a quick reckoning. He had followed Zhù Ying through the hardships of the pestilential backwater region at first, and life had been reasonably comfortable since then. Zhù Ying was someone who paid little attention to her own comforts but attended carefully to those around her. Xiao Wu was also a senior runner in the county office, with some occasional extra income. Even so, as someone relatively new to the area, he was moderately comfortable at best — certainly not enough to deal in precious stones and gems.

He slowed his pace and thought: I’ll just find some pearl divers and buy a few pearls. They’d make a respectable gift to take back to Mother and Sister in the capital.

He knew little about jewelry, but pearls were not difficult to assess: large, round, and lustrous meant good quality. And even if he did not know, Zhù Ying surely did. He would not dream of asking Zhù Ying to help him uncover bargains; he would simply follow in her wake and pick up whatever she had filtered through — that would be more than enough.

Xiao Wu settled back composedly behind Zhù Ying and said, “Just a few — I’m really just looking. What is my lord looking for?”

Zhù Ying said, “Just browsing.”

Her own funds far exceeded Xiao Wu’s, yet they were still not enough to deal in gems. Uncovering a bargain was something she no longer wished to pursue — no matter how sharp an eye you had, you still needed something worth finding. Anything that had been transported as far as the prefectural seat had already been picked over at least once, if not several times. Finding a genuine treasure among the discards was exceedingly rare. Better to trust to chance. In any case, prices here were already far more reasonable than in the capital. As long as she chose correctly and was not deceived, simply buying at going prices was already a gain.

The two of them went first to look at gemstones. Here the small stones were laid out by the pouch and by the pile — some as small as grains of rice, some as big as mung beans, all catching the light in a dazzling array of colors that was quite overwhelming to the eye.

Zhù Ying browsed several stalls. Merchants tended to put out their lesser goods on display, with the undersized or poorly shaped pieces, keeping one or two of the better specimens out front as draw pieces.

The merchants offered small bamboo skewers — handling with hands was not permitted, but one could use the skewer to turn the stones and inspect them. Xiao Wu picked up a skewer and poked around, then said to a merchant, “This whole pouch is the same price? I want to pick out the larger ones — you still have to sell them to me at this price.” The pouch in question contained lower-priced gemstones.

Zhù Ying flicked him on the forehead and said to the merchant, “Bring out the larger ones for me to have a look.”

What the merchant then produced was displayed in a small lacquered box, lined with dark cloth, with the gemstones arranged one by one on top. Most were not perfectly regular in shape. Xiao Wu had poked through every small stone and not managed to extract a single one as large as a soybean — he was thoroughly deflated, and retreated to stand behind Zhù Ying again, saying, “My lord, shall we try another stall?”

Xiao Wu pursed his lips; the merchant smiled with knowing significance, then casually produced two walnut-sized gemstones and said quietly, “Ten strings of cash — want them?”

Xiao Wu’s eyes lit up — ten strings of cash was something he actually had!

His hand was already halfway extended when Zhù Ying said, “Do not touch them.”

Fake, she thought. Obviously fake. This foolish boy actually thought them treasures.

A single glance was enough: none of the larger gemstones at this stall were genuine; it was the smaller pieces that were real. If buying was the goal, one needed to go to a proper shop, not the kind where “picking up a large gem for a single coin” was possible.

The merchant, seeing Zhù Ying had seen through them, casually tossed those two “gemstones” aside and said with a laugh, “Every stall is the same. Let me tell this young gentleman: this is how we make our living. We pay to acquire the goods and then transport them over thousands of miles. If we let one large one slip through here and another there, giving them all to you — what would we eat?”

Zhù Ying said, “The prices here are already far more reasonable than in the capital.”

The merchant said, “As my lord says. This place is nearly three thousand li from the capital, the road is long and not without danger, which is why goods cost more once they arrive there.”

Zhù Ying chatted with the merchant for a bit and in the end bought nothing at his stall — none of this was what she was looking for.

They browsed several more stalls. Along the way there were pieces that looked reasonably promising, and Xiao Wu nearly surged forward several times. Each time Zhù Ying called him back.

Finally, Zhù Ying asked for the right price at one shop and bought a small box containing well over a dozen stones. She had not brought enough money, so she had the merchant draw up a contract and settled the bill afterward. The dozen-odd gemstones were not for her own use — her household had no need of such things. They were all intended as gifts to send to the capital. She could not wait until the twelfth month to rush to the prefectural seat to buy gifts; better to buy some now, then buy a few more in autumn once money from the harvest was in hand, when she would be going to the prefectural seat with the tribute grain shipment. Gathering everything together and sending it to the capital would arrive just in time for the New Year celebrations.

She could not go year after year without sending substantial gifts to the capital!

The merchant asked, “We have some very skilled craftsmen — would my lord like them to do some work for you?”

Zhù Ying said, “No need.” No matter how skilled the craftsmen here were, they could not surpass the craftsmen in the capital. Fine craftsmen? Most of the truly talented ones had been conscripted to serve in the capital. Rare were those who slipped through the net.

Then it was time to look at the pearls.

They had gone quite a distance when Xiao Wu suddenly slapped his forehead and said, “Goodness, how did I lose my head just now?! My lord, was I nearly swindled?”

Zhù Ying glanced sideways at him, noticing that the flush of color on his cheeks had receded somewhat, and he was once again the sharp and clever runner he normally was.

Xiao Wu patted his chest, still rattled: “That was absolutely outrageous!” He then went on to flatter Zhù Ying: “If it weren’t for my lord’s steady nerves, a fool like me would have been swindled right down to my breeches.”

Zhù Ying said, “Let’s go, let’s look at the pearls. Didn’t you want to bring some home?”

“Heh heh.”

“Move along.”

The two of them headed to the pearl market. Zhù Ying looked at the pearls first. The finest large pearls were beyond what she could currently afford. She picked out some moderately decent ones for Xiao Wu, then selected a careful assortment for herself, and finally weighed out a quantity of the oddly shaped ones that could not possibly be strung into jewelry by the catty — these were earmarked for grinding into powder.

With these two purchases complete and still a bit of money to spare, she also bought some hawksbill turtle shell and similar materials. None of it was the finest quality, but she would have to make up for it with clever craftsmanship when she got home.

Shopping done, Zhù Ying brought Xiao Wu and the others back to Fuluo County, leaving Prefect Lu a retreating figure she had departed without ceremony. Without meaning to cause any offense, this inadvertent act nearly provoked the Prefect into a fit of apoplexy.

The party returned to Fuluo County, and Deputy Magistrate Guan and the others felt a great weight lift from their chests when they saw her return safe and sound.

Deputy Magistrate Guan had been dealt with by Zhù Ying over his embezzlement of farmland, and the outcome was not something he could feel pleased about. But he feared being caught in the crossfire if Zhù Ying and Prefect Lu came into open conflict — in that case, small figures like themselves would suffer far worse consequences. Zhù Ying returning in good health delighted Guan from the bottom of his heart.

He scurried to her side, reporting: “Two granaries were completed while you were at the prefectural seat, and the project to widen the small road to the prefectural seat is nearly finished as well…”

Zhù Ying listened as he ran through everything, then said, “Good work.”

“Not at all, not at all,” Deputy Magistrate Guan quickly replied.

As long as there was not a crush of affairs all at once, after subordinates had worked hard for a stretch Zhù Ying would generally give them a moderate amount of time off — either ending work early or granting a full day’s leave. This time was no different: she declared then and there that after noon, everyone except those on duty could go home and rest.

Inside and outside the office, another round of cheering broke out.

Zhù Ying first dealt with correspondence rather than going to see her parents. She sent a letter to the chapter leaders of fellow-provincial clubs she had dispatched earlier, asking them to seek out a tea-making master in their respective areas. The Court of Judicial Review could no longer be counted on for assistance, and even if it could, the odds of finding a skilled tea-maker who happened to have been exiled three thousand li were not in her favor. She would have to find her own way.

She then reviewed the official correspondence again — it matched what Deputy Magistrate Guan had just reported. Only then did Zhù Ying return home.

In the back quarters, Xiao Wu was holding forth with great animation. Unlike Hou Wu, who was prone to speaking ill of the superior behind her back, Xiao Wu was not boasting about himself — he was singing Zhù Ying’s praises. His voice was not quiet, and it drew in Zhang Xiangu and Zhù Da to listen as well.

Xiao Wu was describing how Zhù Ying had selected the gems and pearls: “My lord’s eye is sharp, and her nerves are steady as a rock. With my eye, I’d have gone bankrupt! “

Zhang Xiangu and Zhù Da, hearing their daughter praised, were immensely pleased, and with Xiao Wu they did not bother to be modest. Zhù Da said, “She has always had a mind of her own.” Zhang Xiangu said, “That she has!”

They were chatting and laughing among themselves. Huajie was outside turning over the drying herbs, then leaving them in the sun to continue drying. Starting in the seventh month, Fuluo County’s rainy weather gave way to more frequent clear days. Huajie turned the herbs once, looked up, and saw Zhù Ying — she lifted her skirts and came running over: “You’re back?”

“Yes.”

“Xiao Wu has been singing your praises.”

Zhù Ying said, “I simply have a steadier head than he does.”

Huajie said, “A steady head is a real skill in itself — more valuable than a sharp eye.”

Zhù Ying said unapologetically, “True.”

Huajie was amused into laughter, and the laughter drew Zhang Xiangu and Zhù Da away from Xiao Wu’s “storytelling.” Zhù Ying noticed Xiao Wu had come out as well and said, “You too get a half-day off. Go put your things away properly.”

Xiao Wu drew a small cloth bundle from his breast pocket, which held the pearls he had bought, and said, “My lord, would you hold onto these for me? I’m afraid I’ll misplace them. Heh heh.”

Zhù Ying said, “A’Jie, take these for him — these are what he bought for his family at home.”

Huajie accepted them. Xiao Wu heaped on compliments. Huajie laughed, “Don’t worry.”

Hou Wu watched with great envy, thinking: when will I ever have his luck — managing to say flattering things at just the right moment when the young mistress and the others can hear, and then having my lord come back in time to hear it too.

Zhang Xiangu, catching sight of her daughter, had no more interest in listening to flattery. She took Zhù Ying by the arm and said, “Come, let’s talk inside.”

Zhang Xiangu and Zhù Da no longer worried when Zhù Ying went to a bustling place. Women enjoyed beautiful things, and jewelry was among them. Zhang Xiangu looked at a few of the gemstones with some reluctance to put them down. Zhù Ying said, “If you like them, pick out two.”

Zhang Xiangu set the gemstones back in the box, let out a sigh, and said, “Oh my, what business do we have with those? As long as you are safe and well, that is all we need. Don’t you have to pay tribute to your superiors? We have enough to eat and drink, new clothes, a fine house, and we have Du A’Jie. I have gold and silver too. There is no need to chase after pretty things.”

Living alongside her daughter as an official’s household had given her some awareness of how these things worked — one had to pay court to one’s superiors. Offending the Prefect meant one needed to cultivate those above the Prefect. Officials of higher rank were not easy to satisfy. Wang Yunhe was a good man, but what of the others? Just from what she had vaguely overheard, when Zhù Ying was at the Court of Judicial Review, she had used the bureau’s name on more than one occasion to channel benefits to Zheng Xi. Including Zheng Xi’s relatives — when the Zheng Yi family had a fire, Zhù Ying had even been censured for it!

Zhang Xiangu remembered it all clearly. Now that Zhù Ying was on an external posting, could such things be any less necessary? And then there were the people at the Court of Judicial Review — without some tangible substance to maintain it, goodwill could easily fade.

She said, “All of it put away safely.”

Zhù Ying said, “I understand.”

Huajie asked, “Are these pearls to be made into powder again? Let me do it.”

Zhù Ying said, “Good.”

Huajie reached over and scooped up a handful of oddly shaped pearls, then suddenly laughed, “This one looks exactly like a persimmon. I’m keeping it to play with.”

Zhù Ying suddenly said, “Wait — let me have a look.”

She took that pearl from Huajie and examined it carefully. It was about the size of a little finger’s tip, shaped like a flat persimmon. Zhù Ying said, “Set this one aside for now, and don’t grind the rest yet either. Let me look through them all first.”

Huajie did not know what she had in mind, but simply said, “All right,” and handed the whole large packet of pearls back to Zhù Ying.

Zhù Ying took the pearls back to the study, fetched a large lacquered tray, spread cloth over it, poured out a handful of pearls, and began picking through them one by one. Those selected went into a bowl beside her; those not selected went into a large box. She picked through handful after handful, stopping only when the sky had grown dark.

Early the next morning, Zhù Ying got up and first went to the front office to assign duties for the day. The rice was not yet ripe, the fields were not yet busy, and Zhù Ying could steal some free time. After assigning duties, she went back to sorting pearls.

On the third day, Su Mingluan returned from the mountain. Zhù Ying handed her off to Xiao Jiang and continued sorting pearls herself.

She had purchased several catties of pearls and spent a full five days picking through them, then filtered the rejects once more. In the end she set aside a small box of selected ones and handed everything else to Huajie, saying, “These can be ground into powder now.”

Huajie asked, “What about those?”

“I have a use for them,” Zhù Ying said.

Huajie said, “You’ve been locked in a wrestling match with pearls for days now, neglecting real business!”

Zhù Ying said, “I need to cultivate some composure.”

“What do you mean?”

Zhù Ying showed her several official gazettes and said quietly, “Look — the capital has seen changes. Chancellor Chen has retired…”

“Oh goodness.”

“Yes. The Court of Judicial Review has a new director, while Pei Qing and Leng Yun still have no news yet. I was commended, but I am far from the capital and there is nothing I can do. The only thing is to remain calm and do the work at hand well, without anxiety. What use am I as a mere county magistrate?”

Huajie pointed to the pearls, “And these?”

“I am tempering my patience and incidentally learning a craft,” Zhù Ying said.

Huajie tenderly touched her face and said, “Other than telling you not to tire yourself, there is really nothing else I can say.” Zhù Ying’s face did not have the soft dewy plumpness of an ordinary young woman — it was firm and slightly taut, elastic to the touch. Acting on a sudden impulse, Huajie gave her cheek a pinch and shook it back and forth, bursting into laughter.

Zhù Ying, covering her face, hopped backward a step, “What are you doing?!”

Huajie said, “The cooling herbal tea I have been brewing is working very well — it clears heat. Everyone who drinks it says it is good. Let me pour you a cup.”

Half a cup of cooling tea down the hatch, Zhù Ying felt no ill effects from it, and said, “It is quite good.”

Huajie asked, “How do you plan to temper your patience?”

Zhù Ying said, “First I’ll have Master Wan the blacksmith come and make me a set of tools.”

By the time Master Wan the blacksmith had the pearl-drilling tools ready, the official gazette still had no new news, and the people she had contacted had not written back either. But Fuluo County’s autumn harvest had begun.

Zhù Ying was not troubled or anxious. She put away the tools and pearls, and first arranged the affairs of the autumn harvest. The harvest was a race against time. When cutting the grain, clear weather was needed; once the rice was cut and brought in, it needed sunshine to dry. If a heavy rain caught the drying grain, the harvest would be ruined.

A season’s worth of rice, ruined at this final stage, was more heartbreaking than failing to plant at all in spring.

Zhù Ying ordered all corvee labor throughout the county suspended, with everyone focused on bringing in the harvest as quickly as possible. She personally went to the public fields to supervise, watching with her own eyes until all the rice was stored — and not a drop of rain fell. A smile spread across her face. All that remained was three or five more days of drying in the sun, and then the grain could be stored or husked and dehulled.

Storage was generally done with the grain un-husked; it kept longer that way. At this point Zhù Ying could be said to have fully learned the complete process of rice cultivation, harvest, and storage. Her spirits had improved considerably.

Unexpectedly, a new difficulty had arisen — there were not enough granaries.

The two granary supervisors came running over in a sweat to report to Zhù Ying: “The harvest from the public fields has been stored in the granary, and the yield was substantially more than previous years. We have looked into the output figures, and though we cannot quite account for why, this year’s climate in Fuluo County was no better than usual — yet the results are as if it were a bumper year, with a yield twenty percent greater than last year. At present the granaries are still adequate, but after the rent and taxes are brought in, there is likely to be no room.”

The higher yield was one factor; the hidden population and farmland that Zhù Ying had tracked down were a second; and the fields she had pried away from Deputy Magistrate Guan and others who had privately appropriated them were a third. Added all together, Fuluo County’s regular granaries were no longer sufficient.

Zhù Ying felt deeply reassured. With grain in hand, there was nothing to fear. And she still had plenty of expenditures to make! There were tea-making masters to be engaged, but Fuluo County was too remote, and those with genuine skill asked for high wages.

The gifts to send to the capital still needed to continue to be prepared.

This was not something to be done carelessly. Just like buying gemstones — chasing after bargains and windfalls was something one might go a whole lifetime without successfully achieving even once. Doing proper business and earning one’s keep still required honest buying and selling, step by step. At most, one’s eye and luck might yield slightly better returns than others, but the required effort still had to be put in.

Zhù Ying said, “Didn’t we have some granaries built? The oranges haven’t come in yet, so let us store some grain there first. Once I have sent this year’s rent and taxes to the prefectural seat, the granaries will have been cleared out.”

The granary supervisors had been thinking along the same lines. One always reported to the superior first, and if the superior came up with a fitting solution, the response was: “My lord’s wisdom is boundless! If my lord had not built the granaries in advance, we would have had no idea what to do when the rains came!”

If the superior could not think of a solution, the subordinates could provide one and demonstrate that they were thorough and resourceful.

With Zhù Ying’s authorization, the two men took a written order from her and first commandeered a few storage spaces for temporary use. And then the tax collection season began! This year’s collection was unlike previous years: with a good harvest, the common people paid their taxes without reluctance, and those tasked with collecting taxes spent far less effort.

Zhù Ying ordered people to go through the villages announcing the amounts — for each household, how much grain and how much cloth according to the number of people, all precisely specified, to prevent anyone from skimming off the top.

While Zhù Ying was busy collecting taxes with great energy, the mountain folk had also begun harvesting their rice.

Su Mingluan, knowing that the harvest below the mountain had been good this year, calculated the mountain’s harvest and thought to herself: Our yield is not as good as below the mountain, but it should be somewhat more than previous years. This winter we will not need to buy rice from below the mountain again.

The thought turned, and she realized that with the good harvest below the mountain, rice prices would fall — it might be better to take advantage of the low prices and stockpile some.

She had thought it all through quite well. That same day she took her leave of Zhù Ying. Zhù Ying said, “Please give Elder Brother my regards.”

Su Mingluan said, “Even without me saying so, Aba will know Uncle is thinking of him.” She then obtained a few packets of prepared cooling tea from Huajie, and headed up the mountain with her study companions.

Arriving on the mountain, the harvest there had also begun. For several days running, Su Mingluan cheerfully ran to the edge of the terraced fields to watch the cutting.

Those laboring in the mountain fields included both commoners of the village and the slaves of the wealthy families, as well as the poor clanspeople who worked for the wealthy. Some worked fast and some slowly. “Tree Brother,” thinking she had come to personally supervise, offered her the whip he held.

Su Mingluan said, “I don’t need that. I am just watching.”

She watched for several days. No rain fell on the mountain either. Su Mingluan said, “It seems our weather is not so bad after all!”

She had always managed household affairs, yet something felt slightly off to her this year. She said quietly, “Did we not harvest any extra grain this year?”

“Tree Brother” was bewildered: “What? Extra grain? Where would that come from?”

Su Mingluan frowned, “Something does not add up…it should not be this way. The harvest below the mountain was good — it ought to be similarly good up here. I need to go and ask about this.”

She waited patiently for the grain to dry, then had it weighed again. The yield was slightly more than previous years — just slightly, nowhere near enough to overflow the granaries.

Su Mingluan could no longer sit still. Before the half month was out, she was already preparing to head back down the mountain. Her eldest brother said, “The harvest this year is decent. Instead of staying home to drink and dance, why are you going back down? If you want Uncle to come, just send someone down. Don’t you know how to write those ‘visiting cards’ now?”

Su Mingluan said, “You do not understand — I need to go and ask.”

She ran down the mountain herself, wanting to understand why, if all were farming the same way, and she could accept being more modest in yield than below the mountain, her household had not seen an increase when those below the mountain had managed to increase theirs. It was not as though farming below the mountain looked any different!

She squeezed through the last narrow gap as the county seat’s gates were closing for the night, so startling the soldier closing the gate that he jumped on the spot. Recognizing who it was, the soldier said, “Little Master Su, you were running so fast — is there a wolf chasing you?”

Su Mingluan said, “Indeed, a big gray wolf.”

“Goodness!” The soldier believed her and hastily shut and secured the gate. He pressed his ear against it, but not a single wolf howl could be heard. Not quite convinced, he ran up to the gate tower and looked down from above — let alone a wolf, there was not even a dog outside!

This was simply bizarre!

“Little Master Su…” he said, turning around — and Su Mingluan was nowhere to be seen.

Su Mingluan had first gone to her own lodgings to leave her horse, then turned straight around and went to the county office to request an audience with Zhù Ying. At this hour the Zhù household had finished their evening meal, and Zhù Ying was in the habit of accompanying Zhang Xiangu and the others in conversation for a while before going to the study to read and handle official business.

Tonight Zhù Ying had not opened a book. She was drawing.

Two days earlier, she had borrowed from Huajie the persimmon-shaped pearl and drilled a small hole through it. She had found a silver-smith and had some fine silver wire drawn, along with small beaten silver leaves, strung together with the wire and attached to the head of a hairpin — making a dangling ornament hairpin. This hairpin was now already inserted in Huajie’s hair; Huajie loved it, and Zhù Ying thought it looked quite fine as well.

Which proved that her ideas were workable.

She carefully sketched the shapes of various irregular pearls, then added a few more strokes. The persimmon-shaped one got a leaf added to it; the gourd-shaped one got a small figure of a person lifting it. Following the natural shapes of the pearls, letting her mind wander, adding materials and settings, turning each into a one-of-a-kind ornament.

For the ones that vaguely resembled fan shapes, she would set them together into the likeness of a pine tree: the trunk fashioned from hammered silver worked into overlapping pine bark texture. Whether Liu Songnian hung it at his waist as an accessory or held it in his hands as a plaything, neither would be in poor taste.

She had deliberately selected one long triangular piece. She would give it a gilded border, a full lotus pedestal beneath it — fashioned as a miniature Guanyin to serve as a hairpin finial, something Zhang Xiangu could wear for the New Year.

Then there were ones shaped like auspicious clouds, ones shaped like gourds — each individually arranged. The silversmith would only be responsible for fabricating the fittings; the drilling, stringing, and setting she would do herself.

After all, when she had purchased these pearls, they had been sold by the catty. The most expensive outlay had actually been the craftwork and the silver material. Come the New Year, she would send them off to the capital — they would be quite eye-catching.

Her hands grew steadier, her spirit grew calmer.

Su Mingluan’s arrival did not cause her to draw a single line astray. Setting down her brush, she said, “Come in.”

Su Mingluan entered the study and felt she had been rather impetuous. She called out softly, “Uncle.”

Zhù Ying said, “Something urgent?”

Su Mingluan said, “A little.”

“Oh?”

Su Mingluan said, “I do not understand — why has Uncle’s harvest here increased while mine has not changed? I looked, and there really did not seem to be anything different from before.”

“What did you see?”

Su Mingluan furrowed her brow.

Zhù Ying said quietly, “I have looked as well. You need to make people willing to work. The same land — a couple extra passes with the hoe to clear weeds, a bit more compost, a few extra turns of the soil with the spade, and in the end the harvest improves. It is the accumulation of small things that builds to something great.”

Su Mingluan sat in a chair and slowly turned the words over in her mind, then said, “Uncle’s method is not very easy to learn. Or rather — it is quite difficult.”

Zhù Ying said, “No need to rush. Take your time thinking about it. There are many more challenges ahead of you. Oh, and the tea-making masters have been found. When the autumn tea comes in, two people will come.”

Su Mingluan’s face lit up with delight: “Uncle keeps every promise!”

“There is one promise I have not kept,” Zhù Ying said. “I promised to find your father a fine blade like the one he favors, but I have not yet managed it.”

Su Mingluan said with a grin, “That — tell Aba yourself, Uncle. Uncle, the tea-making masters will want wages, yes? How much?”

Zhù Ying said, “No need to rush. Let us see how they do first.”

“It is fine! Even if their skills are not up to much, I will still pay them! Pay them in silver! Generously!”

Zhù Ying said, “Your father ought to be passing the household on to you.”

“Heh heh.”

“You have been on the road for a whole day?”

“Yes!”

Zhù Ying said, “Go rest well. You are supposed to be on the mountain at this time.”

“I did come down a few days early, didn’t I.”

“Dates are fixed, but events are fluid. You are not here for the harvest, but how is the harvest to be divided? What comes next? What lessons can be drawn from this year’s yield — do you not need to be there for all of that?”

“Oh! Oh! Then I will go rest — and head back first thing tomorrow!” Seeing Zhù Ying had nothing more to say, Su Mingluan rushed off in a flurry back to her own lodgings.

Zhù Ying shook her head and returned to her drawings, planning to string together several long, slender pieces into a bamboo grove to send as a gift to Pei Qing.

By the time she had worked out the designs for what she had on hand, it was time again to escort the grain shipment to the prefectural seat. Zhù Ying intended to take the opportunity to purchase a few more things — more of the oddly-shaped pearls for starters, though these could only be a supplementary purchase. She still needed to find properly round pearls of decent quality, gemstones of good appearance, and rarities from the sea.

It was a pity she could not get dragon’s ambergris: that was the Prefect Lu’s domain, and after he purchased it, he would present it as tribute.

This year she again first went to the prefect’s yamen alongside her superior official; the superior official had essentially ridden along for the convenience and managed to submit his grain quota to the granary smoothly. Zhù Ying understood her superior’s situation perfectly well but chose not to expose it. She did not travel back with the superior official but made a circuit through the city herself, purchased what she needed, then returned on her own to Fuluo County.

The year’s greatest undertaking in Fuluo County had now been concluded. The matter of the oranges was of greater interest to the local gentry; ordinary people — most of whom did not own orange trees, or owned very few — paid it little mind. What ordinary people cared more about was how this year’s corvee labor would be served.

Zhù Ying kept her word and, following the model of the canal-digging project from the previous year, pushed forward works that had been planned but not yet completed. The quality of conscripted labor for such projects was naturally lower, so Zhù Ying drew on funds she had prepared in advance to hire workers. She did not distinguish by sex or hours, but paid wages based solely on the amount of work completed.

For canal digging, for instance, payment was calculated by volume of earth moved — so much per carrying load of earth, and so many loads constituted a day’s work. Regardless of whether one was male or female, old or young, once enough was done, one received a day’s wages. For the court to “conscript women” was the sort of thing that could be recorded in history books as callously draining every last drop — but Zhù Ying was “hiring,” which neatly sidestepped that objection.

As for the convicts in the settlement, they would ordinarily have been compelled to take on unlimited corvee labor; instead, Zhù Ying assigned Shan Ba and the others a specific task: “You said winter wheat does best when planted when it turns cold, yes? Plant it — use the public fields. Get the timing right. You need not do anything else. Plant it. As much as can be planted.”

Shan Ba was deeply alarmed: “What if by next spring’s planting time the wheat has not yet been harvested and we run behind on the rice planting?”

The public fields were virtually the best farmland in the entire county. If he let it be ruined, Shan Ba was very much afraid Zhù Ying would fly into a rage and have him beaten to death.

Zhù Ying said, puzzled, “Of course the rice takes priority. Just plough the wheat under as green fertilizer.”

Shan Ba’s legs buckled, and his face was a portrait of heartache: “That would be such a waste of good grain! My lord, let this humble man use a different plot to plant the winter wheat, and do it again the following year — there are not enough seeds to plant all of the public fields anyway. Please do not plough it under.”

Zhù Ying said, “Stop dithering! Plant where I tell you to plant. If you care about the land, then tend it well!”

Shan Ba took a deep breath, his voice carrying a trace of resignation: “Yes.”