The Wang family’s account sounded pitiable; Li’s words grated on the ears, and several of the more refined men in the hall grimaced at his phrasing. They glanced at the implicated Yang Workshop Owner — his silk robes, jade pendants, and expression of complete bewilderment — and their sympathies had already quietly shifted.
Zhù Ying was thorough, however, and ordered the Wang family’s neighbor, who had brought the father’s corpse to file the complaint, to be called forward again for questioning.
The Wang family’s son and daughter-in-law both wore mourning garments. They had left in such haste that the mourning clothes had not been properly sewn — a length of white cloth with a slit cut down the middle, pulled over the head and cinched at the waist with a grass rope, and a mourning robe was made. They both bore minor injuries. The woman wept the moment she stepped before the court; the man wailed and cried out for his father between sobs.
Zhù Ying struck the gavel once more, and the court attendants bellowed. The weeping stopped at once. Zhù Ying asked, “How are you connected to this case? Speak plainly.”
The man, a strip of white cloth bound around his head, pointed to the red, swollen wound on his cheek and said: “Your Honor, my family has farmed the land for generations, law-abiding and honest. In past years we struggled bitterly, but these last two years, with a clear and just official like Your Honor, life has grown a little easier. Just this year we renovated our home, thinking to celebrate a proper New Year — who could have known they would set fire to it? The house burned down, and Your Honor can see this injury of mine was caused by a burning beam falling from the roof as it caught fire! It is only lucky I moved quickly, otherwise my family would have been sending out two coffins in the first month of the new year — wuwu…”
His wife stood beside him, quietly sobbing the whole time, providing a soft accompaniment to his lament. The effect was utterly desolate.
Outside the court a great crowd of townspeople had gathered — was this not better entertainment than a temple fair? One by one they stretched their necks and peered inside.
Zhù Ying then summoned the medical officer and the coroner. The medical officer reported: “Upon examination, burn injuries have been confirmed.” He pointed to several others standing to the side — they too had burns and scalds. He further indicated that two of the deceased Wang woman’s brothers bore knife wounds, and one neighbor had been beaten. The coroner stated: “The male body shows a wound to the head; soot is present in the mouth, nose, and throat throughout — death was by asphyxiation.”
The inference was that this victim, when the fire broke out, had been unable to escape in time — had struck his head or fallen somewhere — had been unable to rise, and had then been choked to death by the smoke.
Huajie and Xiao Jiang both came forward into the hall; neither looked well. Meng Shi, Wang Shi, Jiang Zhou, and the others stood outside at the foot of the steps. Huajie reported: “Four female victims: one with a knife wound to the arm, one with a facial wound, two with burns from fire.”
Xiao Jiang’s report was considerably more concise: “Seven cuts — every one of them lethal.”
Magistrate Guo went pale: “Seven dead?!”
This was ruinous —
Zhù Ying and the Wang and Li parties all looked at him. Before Magistrate Guo had quite recovered his wits, Xiao Jiang calmly clarified: “Seven cuts. Each one could have killed her.”
Magistrate Guo started to speak again, then suddenly noticed Zhù Ying watching him. He gave a shudder and all at once had a flash of clarity — he understood. He pulled out his handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his face, only then realizing how tense he had been, how completely he had lost his composure. He covered it with two forced coughs and said, “Continue.”
Judicial Officer Li wanted to grab Magistrate Guo and shake him: the cause of death has already been fully established — what else is there left for her to say?
Xiao Jiang continued: “In addition to the knife wounds, there are bruises on the body — the injuries are quite fresh, and were likely sustained recently. There are also older injuries on her body: a small one near the temple, and others on her back and hands, all scarred and healed over. The time and cause of those are uncertain. These remain in question. The autopsy record is here.”
Judicial Officer Li asked Li naturally: “Did you habitually beat your wife?”
Li replied, “A person is like a worm — if you don’t beat them, they won’t behave.”
Judicial Officer Li was speechless.
Zhù Ying, however, turned to the aggrieved party in the hall — the man whose father had died: “Are you certain of what you saw? Were there others among last night’s assailants besides Li?”
The aggrieved party said loudly: “There were!”
Zhù Ying then asked Li: “Did you have others with you when you went to Wang Family Village to commit violence?”
Li did not try to hide it: “Your Honor, I went to apprehend that worthless creature who had abandoned her home. Knowing her family might try to block me, I naturally brought some of my own people.”
“Who were they?”
“My brothers.”
“Who specifically? Names?”
Only then did Li realize something was wrong. He said: “I’ve forgotten.”
Forgotten? Then this would be easy enough. Zhù Ying dropped a marker: “Twenty!”
The word “twenty” reached the court attendants like the face of an old friend. The superior had not had anyone beaten for quite a few days now — how long it had been since they’d heard that familiar “twenty”!
With pleasure!
The court attendants threw Li down, dragged him outside the hall, laid a bench across, stripped his clothing, and counted out the twenty strokes of the board one by one. Then they dragged him back into the hall. The people of Wang Family Village watched, and each one felt gratified, dropping to their knees and calling out praise to the clear-eyed official.
Li, seeing that Zhù Ying would genuinely have people beaten and seeing that she was about to continue, hastily said: “I’ll confess — I’ll confess!” But he groaned and moaned and could not speak clearly.
The people of Wang Family Village quickly spoke up: “Your Honor! A life demands a life — and they burned down our homes too! If he won’t confess, we can identify the men he brought!”
Zhù Ying asked: “You can truly identify them?”
The people of Wang Family Village, kowtowing as they spoke, said: “We truly can! Are they not his own kinsmen and brothers?” Since the two families had been united in marriage, the wedding parties had come into contact with one another — they could not say they knew every face, but the few familiar ones they saw often, they could certainly recognize.
Zhù Ying then ordered Yang Workshop Owner to produce the staff register of the Yang family sugar workshop, and used it to locate workers, questioning them about the deceased’s and Li’s time at the workshop together. With the New Year holiday, many of the workers had gone home — most of those who lived in the rural areas outside the city. Only five people lived within the city: three men and two women. Zhù Ying had all five detained and brought before her.
Zhù Ying first asked: “What were each of your duties at the workshop?”
Among the three men, two were minor supervisors; the third was in charge of caring for the workshop’s animals. Both women, like Wang Shi, wrapped sugar in paper, weighed and packaged loose sugar, and handled miscellaneous tasks around the workshop. One supervisor was around forty, the other around twenty; the groom was in his thirties. Both women were around forty, and appeared somewhat older than Meng Shi and Wang Shi.
Zhù Ying asked: “Do you recognize this person?”
The five of them had already heard about the matter before being brought to court. They looked at Li’s face and immediately said: “Of course — is that not Wang Niangzi’s husband?”
Zhù Ying said: “You have only seen him a few times, and his face bears injuries now — you can still identify him at a glance?”
One of the women was quick-tongued: “There are not so many men who cannot support their own wife and still come making trouble at their employer’s establishment! A worthless wretch who does not even carry himself like a worthless wretch — that is someone you remember.”
A wave of laughter rippled through the hall inside and out. A court hearing was indeed better entertainment than a temple fair.
Zhù Ying also asked whether they still remembered the circumstances of first encountering Li. The elder of the two supervisors spoke to this: “I remember it perfectly! There is no shortage of people who come to collect wages, but he made a scene in a manner that was particularly loathsome! Like a great blowfly in a jar of mung beans — how could one forget?”
Li stopped moaning and said: “They are all in league with each other, of course they will speak in her favor! Carrying on with another man, refusing to come home — what kind of decent person does that? Their words are worth believing?”
The elder supervisor was furious!
His whiskers trembled with rage as he said to Zhù Ying: “Your Honor, there are no small number of women working in Wuzhou city! They are doing honest work, and they are honest people!”
Li said: “Taking money and gallivanting around outside — what kind of decent person is that?”
Finding his constant interruptions tiresome, Zhù Ying had him given another twenty strokes of the board. Li finally fell silent and lay to one side, whimpering softly.
The supervisor turned to address the court with a cupped-fist salute: “Your Honor’s discernment is requested. It is not only female workers whose families come to the door demanding wages — male workers do as well. Some men earn money and then spend it on food, drink, and gambling. They also have parents, wives, and children to support, and cases of family members blocking the gate to demand wages are not uncommon. People must survive — it is no easy thing. All such cases have been easy enough to settle: we established a precedent early on — by prior arrangement, half or all of a male worker’s wages are given directly to his family at home.
Female workers almost never squander their money carelessly. However, their families worry, and they are women with masters at home — our workshop cannot simply dispose of the matter lightly. In each case we negotiate according to the circumstances — sometimes the full amount, sometimes a portion. Only this man was impossible — he came to our workshop and made a scene, knocked over an entire vat of premium sugar syrup, delayed our delivery, and we ended up compensating a customer out of pocket. Was he not obligated to repay that? So it was agreed that the amount would be deducted from wages.”
Female workers employed in the city were not uncommon, though most took short-term work or went into domestic service — washing clothes, cooking, and the like. Women employed full-time at a single workshop were relatively rare, and where they existed, they typically worked at needlework. Wuzhou’s sugar workshops all followed the model of the Xiang Family Sugar Workshop — which was, in truth, the model Zhù Ying had established — with the Xiang family pioneering the way. Zhù Ying had told Xiang An that she could hire female workers. Xiang An was herself a woman, and having more women around suited her as well. Those who came later followed the same example.
Over time, all the workshops found that female workers were genuinely more convenient for certain tasks: they were easier to manage, more meticulous, and less expensive to employ. Some women workers would sweep the floor on the side without being asked; for kitchen duties, two women workers could be pulled to handle them between other tasks. Female workers also earned less than male workers — the ostensible reason being insufficient physical strength for heavy labor, though in truth the workshops simply wanted to save on wages. While men did complete heavy work more quickly, women actually performed some other tasks better than men — but no one was going to raise women’s wages on that account.
Female wages were already twenty coins per month less than male wages: men earned one hundred twenty coins, women only one hundred, with thirty coins deducted monthly on top of that. Li, therefore, was simply being a scoundrel.
The supervisor finished speaking and produced the promissory note Li had signed.
Zhù Ying immediately issued orders, dispatching the court attendants in two groups. One group went to Li Family Village to apprehend suspects — not only those identified by the Wang Family Village witnesses as accomplices, but also the neighbors of Li’s household. The other group, led by Jiang Zhou, went to Wang Family Village to inspect the scene: first to assess the losses, and second to see whether anything of evidentiary value might be found.
Those under orders departed. Zhù Ying had the suspects taken into custody, the bodies placed in the mortuary for the time being, and the aggrieved parties temporarily accommodated within the city.
Everyone else returned home.
“Court is adjourned!” said Zhù Ying.
——
After the court adjourned and the gates were closed, the townspeople outside had ample material for conversation over the New Year. They exchanged whispers amongst themselves. Some who knew of the Yang Family Sugar Workshop wondered aloud whether Yang Workshop Owner was truly that sort of man. Others speculated that perhaps the workshop owner had no interest in a village woman, but what about his supervisors? What about the other male workers at the workshop?
A good many people also reviled Li as a thorough waste: he could not support his wife and children, and when his wife went out to earn money, he had to go and make trouble — truly beyond saving.
Some said admiringly: “That takes a skill of its own — sitting still while your wife supports the household.” Someone nearby replied: “You’d like that, would you? The way he carried on, chances are his wife found someone better and stopped wanting to live with him.”
Others felt sorry for the children — now that their mother was dead, what would become of them? You really had to choose a son-in-law with clear eyes; one wrong choice and three generations suffer.
In short, there was something for everyone to say.
In the Prefectural Office, after the hearing adjourned, Zhù Ying and the others could not rest — they still had to hold a briefing meeting.
The group headed toward the signing room. Meng Shi and Wang Shi were both still standing outside the gate waiting — they had no experience with any of this, had earlier helped Huajie treat the injuries, and now found themselves inside the Prefectural Office with no idea where to go, so they had pressed themselves against the base of the wall. Huajie came out and saw them, saying: “Go that way, head to the rear, find Elder Sister Du, and ask her to see you out…”
Zhù Ying spotted them and asked: “Are these your students?”
Huajie replied: “They are. Meng Niangzi, Wang Niangzi.”
Zhù Ying gave a nod: “You two have also worked hard today. Niangzi Hu, would you trouble yourself to see them out? Take that route over there — if the people outside see them they will crowd around asking for information about the new case. The case is not yet settled; once you are outside, say nothing.”
The two women quickly agreed.
Judicial Officer Wang thought to himself: our prefect is truly meticulous to the last grain of dust.
The group filed into the signing room. Every face fell, only Zhù Ying’s expression remained unchanged. She asked: “Let everyone speak — how do you each see this case?”
Judicial Officer Li said: “It must be dealt with severely. From all appearances Li is no decent man — arson born of misplaced anger cannot be tolerated.” Setting fires on the first day of the New Year, with more than one life lost, and arson on top of it all — the nature of the offense was grievous.
Zhù Ying then looked at Judicial Officer Wang, who said: “Human life is paramount — deal with it severely!”
Magistrate Guo said: “This official shares that view. How — however…”
“Speak up — don’t mumble. If you have something to say, say it.”
Magistrate Guo had been turning the matter over rapidly in his mind for most of the day. The case had been taken over by the prefect, so it was no longer anyone else’s affair — there was likely no sharper investigator and adjudicator in the entire prefecture. But he could not simply do nothing; he had also thought of another angle: “Your Honor, the timing of this case is unfortunate, and its nature — this kind of matter — I fear it could be exploited by others to make trouble.”
“Explain in detail.”
“The question of moral instruction… and so forth. Your Honor, the timing of this case is most inopportune, and it touches on human relations in ways that make it inadvisable to let it grow into a major affair. Your Honor is young and talented, your career is advancing well, and the establishment of Wuzhou as a new prefecture is truly Your Honor’s achievement. It must inevitably be drawing envious eyes. “
Judicial Officer Wang glanced at Magistrate Guo and thought: you have grown.
Zhù Ying gave a nod and continued around the room asking for opinions. Everyone shook their heads — the dispatched attendants had not yet returned, and based on the current situation this was all that could be said.
Huajie and Xiao Jiang had followed the others in as well. On account of Huajie’s connection to Zhù Ying, they had been placed in a side seat somewhat toward the front rather than at the very back of the queue. Neither of them spoke either.
Zhù Ying said: “Very well, let us leave it there for now. This New Year…”
The officials of Wang, Li, and Guo all considered themselves unlucky. The facts of the case were actually quite clear — in their estimation, unless the court attendants returned with some earth-shaking reversal of evidence, the outcome was plain to see. From Li’s comportment, he was obviously an idle, dissolute man who beat his wife, drove her in anger back to her parents’ home, and then went to his in-laws’ village to make trouble. And things had gotten out of hand. A case this clear did not need special adjudication — it could perfectly well be set aside until after the holiday, at least until after the fifteenth. But in Wuzhou, under this prefect, that was not quite how things were done. Because their prefect was Zhù Ying, who did not let legitimate work lie idle.
As expected, Zhù Ying instructed each of them to go out and reassure the townspeople — the case would be handled, and the townspeople would be allowed to enjoy a proper New Year.
The three officials bowed and departed. Once outside, they began instructing their subordinates: “There is nothing of great consequence — all will be managed! There is no cause for alarm…”
They finished speaking only to discover that there was not a trace of alarm on anyone’s faces in the street at all.
People were discussing the case, exchanging New Year’s greetings, and sharing what they each had heard of the “inside story,” and then going on their way.
The three exchanged glances and stood looking at one another for a moment. Judicial Officer Wang said: “Well then… let us each go and pay our own New Year’s calls.”
The three took their leave of one another. Magistrate Guo returned quickly to the nearby South Peace County Office and the more he thought, the more aggrieved he felt — he had not actually done anything wrong! On the contrary, he had been diligent and conscientious the entire year; even for the better part of last year when the prefect had not been in the city he had not allowed himself to relax! He had worked hard! Taxes were not in arrears, the people were at peace in their livelihoods, South Peace County’s sugar workshops had earned him a considerable profit, and year by year things were looking better. With only two years remaining in his term, he had been on the verge of taking the opportunity of those two years to fill his own purse a little more — and now this had to happen!
A capital offense occurring in his jurisdiction made him responsible, so he had no particular objection to Zhù Ying taking over the case. Because Zhù Ying could handle it well, and if it was handled well, his own culpability would be reduced. But it truly was inadvisable for this to become a major affair — if it did, it would still reflect poorly on him.
Moreover, the matter had occurred involving a sugar workshop female worker. Given the kind of husband she had found, it did not matter what other workshop she might have worked in, or whether she had been a domestic servant in someone’s inner chambers — the same thing would still have happened. But since the sugar workshops were involved, Magistrate Guo felt deeply uneasy.
The sugar workshops were the cash tree of his South Peace County.
He was apprehensive — and there were others even more apprehensive than he!
He had not yet even changed his clothes when visitors came to request an audience. The visitors were none other than Elder Patriarch Jing leading the way, accompanied by two sugar workshop owners. Yang Workshop Owner was Elder Patriarch Jing’s relation by marriage; the other, Zhang Workshop Owner, was also a prominent figure in South Peace County. The moment Yang Workshop Owner left the Prefectural Office, his first act was to find Elder Patriarch Jing and the other fellow workshop owner, urging them to accompany him to Magistrate Guo’s office to plead his case.
Fellow traders are rivals, and yet in Wuzhou’s sugar industry the rivalry had not grown so fierce as all that — there were customers enough for everyone, more than any one of them could handle. Above them was a prefect who had convened them to “consult” on matters such as sugar pricing and sugarcane purchase prices. After trying this approach a few times they found it had its uses; the habit of communication among fellow traders had been maintained. Following several instances of reasonably productive cooperation on sugarcane purchasing, publicly agreed sugar prices, and agreed wage standards, the other workshop owner agreed to come along.
In Magistrate Guo’s presence Zhù Ying had been invariably respectful, but before these men, apart from treating Elder Patriarch Jing with considerable courtesy, he showed no such deference to the other two. He said to Yang Workshop Owner without warmth: “Why are you here instead of staying home and waiting to be summoned for questioning? What brings you to my door?”
Yang Workshop Owner had lost all his former swagger, and cautiously sidled forward: “There is a matter I must beg of you.”
Elder Patriarch Jing said: “Running into this business today has put us all in a disagreeable mood.”
With his smoothing-over of the matter, Magistrate Guo accepted the next exchange: “What matter?”
Yang Workshop Owner said: “I must ask you to put in a good word with the Prefect to bring this case to a close quickly! My sugar workshop is due to reopen after the Festival of People’s Day. But now the staff register has been taken, the account books have been requisitioned for review, supervisors and workers alike are unable to do anything else but wait for the case to be decided — I truly cannot afford such delays.”
Magistrate Guo said: “And now you are giving me orders? Do you take yourself for the Grand Council to be urging the Prefect to speed up a case?”
“I would never dare — I would never dare!”
Elder Patriarch Jing smoothed things over again: “You and I both know the Prefect always handles cases swiftly and thoroughly. However, since this falls over the New Year, the subordinates handling the work may not be altogether willing. Should things drag on, that would not be good either.”
They had all sent generous gifts to Magistrate Guo for the New Year. Magistrate Guo put on a show of reluctance, venting some of the agitation that had seized him, and then thought of his own affairs and scolded them: “What were you thinking? Taking on such a troublesome person as an employee — could you not find anyone else? It had better not be that you truly had an affair with her. Just look at yourself — what is wrong with you!”
Yang Workshop Owner was dying of indignation: “I don’t even know what she looks like! I am never hiring women again! No — what I mean is, I will never hire this kind of woman again. I should have taken a page from Xiang Third Niangzi’s book — if someone came to make trouble at the door, simply don’t hire them. Send the whole family packing!”
This line of talk was straying far afield. The other workshop owner said: “Your Honor, we never fall behind on our taxes. We also repair bridges, pave roads, serve gruel, and distribute medicine. Employing the poor is giving them a bowl of rice — we cannot claim it as charity, but it is at least something we can do with a clear conscience. If we are to be dragged into other people’s lawsuits, there will be no way to carry on in the future. To be called as a witness is an obligation we cannot refuse — to be implicated in the matter would be a gross injustice!”
Magistrate Guo said: “No one is charging you with a crime! And you — your sugar workshop was not even sealed off, so how exactly has it interfered with your business? What are you two trying to do here — constrain the authority of the court? What nerve!” He then turned his expression around and addressed Elder Patriarch Jing: “And you, Elder — why go to this trouble? I will speak to the Prefect myself.”
Elder Patriarch Jing was given sufficient face, and was in turn quite courteous to Magistrate Guo: “Quite right. We shall simply wait for your good news.”
Magistrate Guo was very deferential to Elder Patriarch Jing, personally seeing him to the door; toward the two workshop owners he was perfunctory, dismissing them with a wave. The two workshop owners left the county office and again bowed to Elder Patriarch Jing with cupped fists. Elder Patriarch Jing said: “We are all kin — no need for such ceremony.” The two accompanied him with apologetic courtesy back to his residence. Elder Patriarch Jing invited them in to sit a while, and the two spent some time keeping him company. Elder Patriarch Jing asked Yang Workshop Owner once more: “You truly have no connection to that woman?”
Sweat had broken out on Yang Workshop Owner’s forehead: “Do you still not believe me? I — I have someone at home!”
Elder Patriarch Jing, seeing that his manner did not appear to be dissembling, said: “Although the Prefect does take the side of the poor to some extent, she is also a reasonable person. If you genuinely have done nothing of the sort, you have nothing to worry about — just go home and wait. It will not take long.” On this point Elder Patriarch Jing was fairly confident: Zhù Ying’s reputation was excellent, and one almost never saw her deliberately make things difficult for anyone without cause.
Yang Workshop Owner said: “Very well. That magistrate…” He was not especially worried about the Prefectural Office — what he actually feared was others.
Elder Patriarch Jing smiled: “With the Prefect here, there is no need to fear others.”
Yang Workshop Owner then bade farewell to the other Zhang Workshop Owner and took his leave of the Jing household. Outside the gate, Yang Workshop Owner cupped his hands to Zhang Workshop Owner: “Brother Zhang, my thanks.”
“Not at all — Brother, this has been a wholly undeserved disaster for you.”
“Come by my place for a chat?”
Zhang Workshop Owner raised an eyebrow: “Gladly.”
——
The Yang residence was within Wuzhou city, and the two arrived quickly. The Yang residence had had a prosperous year and had been decorated lavishly for the New Year — flowers in bloom everywhere. It should have been filled with laughter and cheer, but now every face wore a strained expression. Servants and masters alike were mostly cursing. Yang Workshop Owner’s mother and wife sat in the main room and had been cursing Li for half a day already: “A petty and vile character! Slandering others! May he come to no good end!”
The Yang household servants also cursed: “May he be cut into a thousand pieces — making us spend the New Year like this.”
The New Year was a season when servants could hope for bonuses. Now, the way things looked, who dared ask for one?
The master was home. Aside from those who ran to the back to carry the news, everyone else dared not breathe too loudly. Tea was offered, braziers were carried in and set at the master’s feet, and then they withdrew, closing the doors — the whole sequence executed in one smooth flow. Then they ran to the back to tell the mistress of the house what had happened.
Zhang Workshop Owner noticed that Yang Workshop Owner had dismissed even the servants, and asked: “Brother, what are you doing?”
Yang Workshop Owner said: “There is a matter I must discuss with you.”
“Please speak.”
“Prompted by this case — I would not dare to hire such a person, and I intend going forward, when hiring female workers, to require not only a guarantor but also a signed and sealed mark from the father or brothers.”
“Excellent idea!”
Yang Workshop Owner said: “Were it not that female workers are genuinely cheaper and more capable, I would not want to hire women at all! It is truly vexing — with more women comes more trouble!”
Zhang Workshop Owner laughed: “You can put the word out now that you are no longer taking them, and then use that to push the wages down further.”
“That would be a bit too… ahem. It will not do with just our two workshops! If we do this and the others do not hold to the same standard, we will be the ones at a disadvantage. My thought is to invite the other workshops, take advantage of the time before we reopen, and form a mutual agreement — just as we did with the sugarcane purchase price…”
“Excellent idea!”
The two continued to deliberate in detail, and by the end had agreed to each contact acquaintances separately, convene a small meeting, and establish conditions for hiring workers. No more taking in just anyone! If any workshop discovered that a worker had a problem — a woman like Wang Shi, with a disorderly, troublesome husband at home — the word should go out to the other workshops at once so that no one in the trade would hire such a person.
Yang Workshop Owner said: “This is a sugar workshop! Food that goes into people’s mouths — if one person with a grievance gets in, the consequences are unthinkable.”
Zhang Workshop Owner said: “Brother makes a very sound point.”
Yang Workshop Owner had another idea: “Right now there are only a few of us. It is plain to see that merchants are coming from everywhere to purchase goods — our volume cannot keep up, and we will need to expand. I am worried the Prefect may open things up and allow others to build sugar workshops. I am afraid that latecomers will not observe proper rules — anyone who joins in the future must comply with our covenant as well!”
“Absolutely!” Zhang Workshop Owner had responded to everything else in a somewhat distracted manner, but to these words his agreement was entirely heartfelt.
The two finished their discussion only when the sky had gone dark. Yang Workshop Owner invited Zhang Workshop Owner to stay for dinner, but Zhang Workshop Owner said: “I have not been home all day — my family is still waiting.” And so he took his leave.
——
Zhù Ying had no idea that, while her own covenant up in the mountains had not yet been finalized, Yang Workshop Owner had already been scheming about a covenant with his fellow traders — and was making faster progress than she was.
After dismissing everyone, she went again to the mortuary for a look. The female body was covered with a white cloth, laid out on a table. Xiao Jiang personally lifted the cloth back, revealing a young face. The woman was not particularly beautiful — ordinary, somewhat thin, wearing simple cotton clothing that was a little on the spare side.
Zhù Ying used a ruler to lift the woman’s arm and examine her hands. These too were the hands of someone who had worked hard all her life.
She let out a breath and said: “Cover her up.”
Xiao Jiang drew the cloth back over the body and said quietly: “Leaving her here indefinitely is not a solution. Wuzhou is far warmer than the capital — the body cannot be kept for very long.”
Zhù Ying said: “A matter of a few days — once the case is resolved…”
Huajie noticed her stop mid-sentence and asked: “What is it?”
Zhù Ying said: “She still belongs to the Li family.”
Would the Li family take her in for burial? And if not — what of the Wang family? There was no reason for them to bury her either.
The three fell silent.
Zhù Ying said: “No use thinking about it. Come on — let us get back to celebrating the New Year.”
The three went to Zhang Xiangu’s quarters. In the rear of the residence, the case they had just seen was already being discussed. Everyone agreed it was no good thing, and they all had strong opinions about it. Zhù Ying pushed open Zhang Xiangu’s door and made a sound of surprise.
Meng Shi and Wang Shi had not yet left.
The two women saw Zhù Ying and the others return and quickly stood up. Meng Shi said: “Doctor, we — we — we just wanted to ask — there seem to be quite a lot of patients, and we were wondering if we might come back tomorrow to help? We cannot have you doing all the rough work yourself — and it would be practice for us too.”
Huajie said: “You should be celebrating the New Year.”
Meng Shi said: “I am a widow — I can just let my son and daughter-in-law go visiting relatives.” She had made up her mind to keep as close to the Prefectural Office as possible, and had drawn Wang Shi along with her into this shared resolution.
Zhù Ying said to Huajie: “It is your own decision.”
Huajie said: “All right then.”
The two women were pleased and took their leave, with Elder Sister Du following to see them partway out.
Zhang Xiangu asked Zhù Ying: “How is the case?”
Zhù Ying asked: “You did not manage to find out? Did Xiao Wu and Ding Gui not tell you anything?”
While the hearing took place in the front of the court building, those in the back were in the habit of listening in. Zhang Xiangu and Zhù Da found idleness oppressive and were both quite fond of hearing such stories — the kind of things one could never imagine on one’s own, just like the case at hand, for example. Who could have anticipated it?
Zhang Xiangu said: “They could not explain it clearly. You tell me — what kind of brain does this man have? A perfectly good wife who bore him a son and knew how to earn money — and he went and carried on like that! The woman from the Jing family said it is because poor people lose their wits, but I think to myself — we were poor people too, and we were never like that! Were we not?”
Zhang Xiangu was completely at a loss to understand it. If you cannot earn money but your wife can, you simply sit down obediently and stay out of the way. The Zhù family in the past had been as poor as church mice. Zhang Xiangu had also earned money as a fortune teller — working her trade separately from Zhù Da, the two often acting independently — and Zhù Da had never behaved like this!
Zhù Da had even managed to bring money home, unlike this man, who had relied on his wife’s earnings entirely and sent his own children off to be raised by his wife’s family.
Even Zhù Da was taken aback: “What kind of man does that make him?” He freely acknowledged that he had never been able to give his wife and children fine food and comfortable living. When his daughter had scraped together some money through questionable means, he had not taken it all — his daughter had turned it over voluntarily, and he had still held some back for her spending money.
Nanny Jiang, the widow, said: “The more useless a man is, the more like this he becomes — terrified his wife will run away.”
Zhang Xiangu asked Zhù Ying: “He… he will not get away without paying with his life, will he?”
Zhù Ying smiled: “I cannot say anything about that just yet.”
Zhang Xiangu said: “Oh… it makes me think of Cao Chang’s sister.”
Zhù Ying said: “That was a different matter.”
“And this one…”
Zhù Ying only smiled and said nothing.
Zhang Xiangu pressed her with questions; Zhù Ying simply would not answer. Zhang Xiangu said: “All right, I will not ask — but you had better not give people reason to point fingers at you behind your back!”
Zhù Ying walked out of Zhang Xiangu’s quarters and returned to her study. Zhù Lian followed her in, busily lighting the lamps and spreading paper. Zhù Ying said: “Go and play with Elder Sister Du and the others. There is no class for these few days of the New Year — you do not have to hold yourself so tightly.”
Zhù Lian said: “I am grown now — it is not fitting to mix in a group of women.” Seeing that Zhù Ying was about to write, he helped by grinding the ink.
Zhù Ying said: “Fair enough.”
She sat quietly for a while in thought, then lifted her brush and wrote four characters: “division of property and separate residence.”
There was nothing to worry about with the case. Whatever news the court attendants brought back, it would not affect what she was writing now.
“Unable to support the family” was not a legally recognized ground for divorce. Even in the case of “consensual separation,” the form it took was still the husband writing a letter releasing the wife. If he simply refused to write one, the vast majority of women had no recourse whatsoever. What she could do now was to create as much distance between the two parties as possible — that is, even if the “marriage” could not be dissolved, the “persons” could be separated to some degree, providing at least a measure of protection.
If she were to simply say “divorce should be freely permitted,” such a memorial would not even receive discussion — it would be sent back from the Grand Council before it could be considered. This had to be framed in terms of “order.” This matter could not be argued on grounds of “human feeling and reason” — it had to be positioned as maintaining a certain “order.” And yet, paradoxically, one had to write in a way that never explicitly mentioned “order.” Zhù Ying understood: framed this way, the court would consider it. Essentially: you wish to preserve the outward form of a family? Very well — I will give you an outward form. But when writing it, one could not write that this was a hollow arrangement or an attempt to undermine the institution — one had to write that the purpose was to promote harmony.
She had no choice but to provide “division of property and separate residence” with a set of antecedents, consequences, and circumscribed conditions. The premise was that some men are genuinely useless — incapable of supporting the family, yet insisting on keeping the wife locked inside the home so that everyone starves. In such circumstances the wife will run away, and whether she dies or runs, neither outcome is good. It would be better to let the two each seek their own livelihood separately. A woman like Wang Shi could still raise her son independently — relieving the husband of pressure while leaving his family line with an heir. Surely that was acceptable? A son was not an outsider. And no one could be expected to accept the humiliation of having the wife support the husband, could they? That would amount to… well, something rather improper. The principle that “men have their occupation and women have their place to return to” meant that when a man was useless, and a woman was merely clinging to the nominal status of “wife,” one had to find a way to give people a path to live.
There was a second scenario as well: the two had turned utterly against each other, and continuing to live together meant someone would die. In that case too, let them separate. Why not just get divorced, one might ask? Do you agree that proof of broken affection should be sufficient grounds for divorce?
“Division of property” would also carry conditions. If the woman brought a dowry, she could take it with her and live independently. If she brought no dowry but can support herself, was that not equally convenient? If the husband’s family had property and the wife had none, a portion should reasonably be set aside for her support.
When she finished writing, she laughed at herself. This case had forced her to recall a case from long ago — the Cao Shi case. Back then, Cao Chang’s sister had been killed by her husband’s family. Wang Yunhe had ruled according to the law and did not sentence the killer to death, but as a follow-up he submitted a memorial requesting that a supplement be added to the code: only if a daughter-in-law had previously been formally reported for disobedience, and only after that, could killing her carry mitigated punishment.
What she was doing now bore a resemblance to that, in certain ways.
She had once felt dissatisfied with Wang Yunhe’s judgment in that case, and now here she was doing something very similar to what Wang Yunhe had done.
Zhù Lian heard his teacher let out a self-mocking laugh. He glanced over, could not make it out, and thought to himself: what is that for?
——
The next day the court attendants had still not returned. Magistrate Guo also did not, as he had promised Yang Workshop Owner, come rushing to the Prefectural Office to press for speed.
Zhù Ying carried on as if nothing were the matter, continuing her New Year celebrations. She also sent Xiao Wu with a gift to Commandant Mei’s household: “Do you know what to say?”
Xiao Wu smiled: “I understand. The Prefect had originally intended to call on the Commandant in person, but unexpectedly a case arose requiring her to remain at the Prefectural Office. In truth, it was the Commandant who ought to have come to pay respects to the Prefect.” Commandant Mei’s official rank was below Zhù Ying’s.
Zhù Ying said: “Go.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Jiang Zhou did not return until the third day. The court attendants sent to Li Family Village arrived on the fourth. Jiang Zhou’s report was: “The fire burned three courtyards and singed five more. The whole village is in mourning.”
This was to be expected — if the villagers of a village shared the same surname, they were all somewhat related.
The court attendants returning from Li Family Village reported: “On New Year’s Eve, the husband and wife had an argument. The husband accused the wife of not keeping her wifely duties; the wife threw back that she was the one supporting the family. It came to blows, and the husband told the wife to get out. Afterward the husband called on several brothers to accompany him — five men it appears — but we were only able to apprehend four.”
Zhù Ying had the four brought forward. Every face bore some injury — some old, from being beaten during the altercation with the Wang family village; some new, from the fists of the court attendants during the arrest.
Zhù Ying questioned them and learned that they had not thought about consequences at the time. When they saw how large the fire had grown and the people of Wang Family Village came charging out to beat them, they panicked and scattered in all directions, which was why none of them knew where the last one had gone.
Zhù Ying had the men taken into custody and ordered the court attendants to stake out Li Family Village, watching to see whether the fugitive returned. During the New Year season, he would likely not stay in hiding for very long.
By the time it reached the seventh day of the first month and the court reopened its official seal, the missing criminal had still not been captured.
Zhù Ying did not wait for him — she proceeded to adjudicate the case.
Li could not be sentenced to death solely for killing his wife, but arson and “gathering a band of criminals” constituted additional serious offenses. Two people had been killed — and one of the deceased was not his wife. Deliberately setting fire to a place resulting in death was treated as intentional homicide, and accordingly he was sentenced to death.
The remaining five were accessories and would not face death, but the houses and property they had burned down far exceeded the legally defined thresholds. According to the code, arson causing property loss exceeding five bolts of cloth was punishable by exile two thousand li; exceeding ten bolts, by strangulation. Wang Family Village was not wealthy, but three homes had been destroyed and five others damaged, and the total value was considerable.
The fugitive was sought by official dispatch; of the four apprehended, the two older men were sentenced to strangulation, the two younger men to exile two thousand li.
Additionally, the arsonists’ families were required to pay the Wang Family Village bereaved families funeral and burial money.
The case was resolved cleanly. Li had never imagined he would be sentenced to death. When the verdict came, he wept until his tears and mucus ran together: “Your Honor — I did not mean to burn him to death! I never meant it!”
Zhù Ying paid him no notice. She bundled the case verdict together with the memorial she had written earlier, and sent them by fast horse to the capital.