Zhao Su had finished packing the last of his belongings. A clerical officer approached cautiously. Zhao Su glanced at him, and the clerk said, “Deputy Minister Yao requests your presence.”

Zhao Su tossed everything remaining in his hands into a bamboo hamper. The clerk stepped forward and said, “Allow me.”

Zhao Su waved him off. “No need.”

He walked at an unhurried pace to Yao Chenying’s office — the space that had originally been Zhù Ying’s, still furnished in large part with things she had acquired. Half a month ago, he had visited this place as though coming home. Times had changed. He still stood before the desk with the same courtesy, though his inner bearing was entirely different from before.

Yao Chenying said, “Sit. Let us talk.”

Zhao Su found a seat with careful deliberateness and sat down. Yao Chenying asked, “You truly intend to leave?”

Zhao Su nodded. “I have finished packing. Once the handover is complete in a day or two, I can set out.”

Yao Chenying said, “I have known of you for a long time. During the pacification of the salt region’s rebellion, the grain transport logistics also bore your mark. If it is that matter that sits uneasily with you, there is no need for it. You may remain at the Ministry of Finance exactly as before.”

Zhao Su gave a brief, dry laugh. “My father and mother are of an advanced age, and my wife and children have never visited the ancestral shrine. The ancestral home is far across mountains and passes, and if not for this opportunity I would not have found it in myself to return. It is not solely a matter of unease. Su Zhe is a junior relation on my mother’s side, and I also cannot feel easy about a young girl traveling alone.”

Yao Chenying sighed. “It seems I cannot persuade you to stay.”

Zhao Su said, “The foundations of the Ministry of Finance are still sound. Deputy Minister, there is no need to worry. As for myself — the fact that I am not being held jointly liable is already a grace beyond what the law requires.”

Yao Chenying said, “It won’t come to that, it won’t come to that.”

Zhao Su said, “I take my leave.”

He was not taking a leave of absence — he was resigning his post and returning home, stating as his reason that he wished to return to his ancestral home to offer sacrifice to his forebears. Rumor outside had it that his backer had fallen and he was fleeing before the disaster could engulf him. He could not be bothered to pay these idle whispers any heed. His sole concern right now was to leave the capital as quickly as possible. Until Zhù Ying had returned safely to Wuzhou, he would not be at ease.

At this moment, Zhù Ying was outside the city, living together with Zhao Su’s wife and children. Zhao Su had steeled his heart and not gone to visit; for the past half-month he had been carrying out Zhù Ying’s instructions, remaining in the capital to handle the aftermath.

The affairs Zhù Ying had left behind were considerable. First, there was the official residence the Emperor had bestowed — that would in all likelihood be reclaimed by the court. Almost nothing inside had been taken away by Zhù Ying. She cared nothing for the furnishings and valuables; she had only had Su Zhe bring out some maps and registers beforehand. As for gold, silk, and other goods, she had allowed the servants to take what they could carry on their persons but had arranged no carts for removal.

A clever hare has three burrows. Her wealth was not all kept in the residence. Substantial amounts were stored separately in guild halls, certain shops, and warehouses. There were also properties — houses and storefronts — given to her as gifts, as well as the enterprises that Zhù Qingtian, Xiang An, and others had developed and expanded over the years.

When Zhù Ying instructed Zhao Su to give a great portion of it all away, Zhao Su had not raised a single word of objection and carried out her instructions with decisiveness.

Measured against the person of Zhù Ying herself, such a vast fortune was no more than a worldly possession, and not worth quarreling over.

Zhao Su, hamper under his arm, walked and mentally tallied the matters he had already seen to:

The fellow southerners in the capital had nearly all been visited. He could not tell them about Zhù Ying’s hiding place or her route south, but each had received a sum of money to settle their nerves.

Some had raised objections at the time. After all, a horse sprouting horns has no effect on a person, but if one’s mentor changes her identity and flees in disgrace, the trouble is considerable. Some explanation had to be given, some reassurance offered.

Zhao Su had said, “Pay no heed to the petty gossip outside. She is a woman — and yet she brought us out of the provinces and into officialdom. Under the governance of the assembled great lords, we are nothing but barbarians, backwater people from malarial swamps who have never seen the world — unfit to sit and deliberate alongside the lords, or to govern the people. Our adoptive father is unharmed; only if she is can we be well. She is the foundation on which all of us stand.”

The fellow southerners had been steadied.

The female officials and guards of the Court of Judicial Review had each received a modest financial gift.

Minor officials who had served under Zhù Ying, people such as Niu Jin, had also received something.

The farmland that Wen Yue had managed on Zhù Ying’s behalf while she was posted away had been formally given to Wen Yue.

Wang Shuliang had refused to accept the house, so it was entrusted to Yue Huan to manage, and lent to Wang Shuliang as a residence.

There was also the Jin family — Jin Biao had received two horses from Zhù Ying as a gift.

These were small sums. The larger ones came after: Zhù Ying divided her assets into several portions, with shares going to Chen Meng, Zheng Xi, Dou Peng, and others, even Lan De and certain others receiving something.

Chen Meng had refused to accept his, and asked that it be returned or passed on to Huajie and Xiao Jiang. Zhao Su saw that his stance was firm, and so the items were left temporarily in storage at the guild hall for them to handle the transfer.

That was roughly it, Zhao Su thought — only the residence remained to be sealed. Oh, and his own home. The place where he currently lived had been given to him by Zhù Ying, and he had no intention of passing it on to anyone else. A voice inside him said: keep it. If anyone came back to the capital in the future, it would serve as a place to stay.

But someone would need to look after the house…

“Stop right there.” A voice jolted Zhao Su back to the present. He had reached the palace gates. He turned to take one last look at the towering palace, then turned away and gestured for the Imperial Guards to inspect his waist token.

Cavalry Commander Li said with a touch of regret, “You’re leaving just like that?”

Zhao Su said, “I haven’t been home in twenty years. My mother misses me.”

Cavalry Commander Li said, “Good that you’re leaving, good that you’re leaving. Go quickly — don’t wait for one of them to think of a reason to charge you with a crime.”

Zhao Su nodded his thanks, stepped through the palace gates, and found his own servant waiting for him. He handed over the bamboo hamper. The servant strapped it to the horse. Master and servant intended first to return to Zhao Su’s residence to drop off his things and change clothes, then go to the Zhù residence. Today it would be sealed; after that, there would be no further need to go there.

Approaching his own home, he discovered visitors. Zhao Su’s hand moved instinctively to the knife at his waist, and grew even more guarded when he spotted the two imposing figures standing outside his front gate — they were men from the Zheng household.

The two wore stern expressions and said, “The Prime Minister requests your presence.”

Zhao Su asked, “May I ask what the matter is?”

They refused to say more. “How should we know? This way, please, sir.”

Zhao Su glanced at the house next door. The slightly older of the two men on his left said, “Prime Minister Xian is staying in residence today.”

Zhao Su considered briefly, then told his servant, “Take the things inside.”

Then he accompanied the two men to the Zheng residence. The entire Zheng household had a look of unhappiness about them, masters and servants alike. When Zhao Su reached the study, Zheng Xi’s expression was also one that could find no pleasure in anything. Zhao Su acted as though he had not noticed, and greeted him first with a bow.

Zheng Xi said, “You are heading south to seek out your ‘adoptive father?'”

Zhao Su said, “I am homesick.”

Zheng Xi let out a contemptuous sound. “Everyone finds themselves homesick when trouble arrives. If the court truly intended to charge you with a crime, do you think you would have remained at liberty to this day simply because they couldn’t catch her?”

Zhao Su said, “This student is dull-witted and would not presume to speculate.”

Zheng Xi pointed to a list on the table. “She has brought this calamity down on all of us, and now she thinks she can buy her way out of trouble with money? Since you are heading south anyway, take all of this back to her. After going south, she will no longer be able to enjoy any of these things. You two were acquainted after all — take it all to her.”

“This…”

Zheng Xi said, “Her memorial has been approved. An envoy will go south to proclaim the imperial edict. This crisis — let her see it through.”

Zhao Su could not suppress the smile that broke across his face.

Zheng Xi looked at him coldly. Seizing the moment, Zhao Su asked, “Have you been reinstated, Prime Minister? A windfall in the midst of all this — she will surely be glad for you when she hears.”

Zheng Xi’s tone did not warm in the least. “What is there to be glad about? It’s not as though she has never sat in the Council of State! When you see her, tell her to stay quietly in Wuzhou and stop making trouble! The court has no wish to publicize this matter. She has exiled herself to a frontier wilderness, and His Majesty is willing to endure it. But if she causes any further commotion — hmph!”

Zhù Ying’s disappearance had caught everyone off guard.

The Council of State quickly regained its composure, and Zheng Xi was summoned temporarily to the palace by the Emperor to discuss countermeasures. Zheng Xi believed the best approach for now, with regard to Zhù Ying, was to act as though she did not exist. Even Xian Jing knew “public execution was not an option,” and anyone who wished to act against her would have to wait for matters to cool down.

So: quiet, as though nothing had happened — that was the best policy. The court did not need to explain everything to the common people, and ordinary local gentry were best off knowing as little as possible about things that were not their concern.

Zhao Su’s smile did not diminish. “Yes. As you know, she has always known where the line is.”

Zheng Xi’s expression grew even more sour. “Knowing where the line is? She is using it to control me — and the court?”

Zhao Su said, with his mouth: “I would not dare suggest it. How could anyone presume to control the court?”

In his heart, however, he felt more settled than ever.

Zhù Ying had told him on the very night of her escape: she had to disappear quickly. Only that way could the court be unable to take any immediate action against her.

The escape had been planned long in advance. She had gone to court alone, not a single attendant, because escaping alone was far easier than bringing several people along. That the women of the prison section had then chosen to help of their own accord had made the escape even simpler still.

She had needed to make the palace believe in the shortest possible time that she had already reached Wuzhou and held a corresponding power base there. Only in that way, before the rest of the world had time to react, could she complete the exchange of identities.

This new identity had to be recognized by the court — she had to remain formally part of the court’s structure, not an “enemy state.” That way, the attacks against her would be fewer, the intensity would be lower, and the form they took would be more tolerable.

The court was not what it had been twenty years ago, but it was not truly incapable of dispatching a single soldier. However, the repeated campaigns had taken an enormous toll on the court’s resources. The Council of State — including Wang Shuliang, Minister Lu, and others — after their initial shock, were certain to see the root of the problem. The court had been thrown into confusion, but it would not remain confused indefinitely; once it recovered its senses, it would in all likelihood employ other means to restrain her.

But so long as it did not involve the court’s great armies directly “quelling a rebellion,” her students, fellow southerners, and others who were unable or unwilling or unsuited to travel south would be spared from being openly targeted.

As long as she did not die, there would be room to maneuver. What came next was a game of stratagems between two sides. Three thousand li — truly a fine, fine distance.

And there you had it — a firm grip on the situation.

Zheng Xi looked at him, head bowed and seeming perfectly compliant, and felt thoroughly exhausted in his heart. He waved a hand. “Go.”

“Prime Minister, this parting today — who knows when we shall meet again. Please take good care of yourself.”

“Take it.” Zheng Xi said.

Zhao Su helped himself without ceremony, took the list, and left the study. The Zheng household’s steward had everything ready, and also returned to him a separate inventory: “Please inspect carefully, sir. None of the items have been touched. Everything is still in the warehouse.”

When gifts were sent in this manner, the goods were stored in a warehouse and the receipt sent to the recipient; whoever received the receipt would dispatch someone to collect the goods. Zhao Su’s gifts had been delivered the same way; now the receipts were returned to him in full.

Zhao Su took the receipts, offered a word of thanks, and went home.

That day, he would clearly have no chance to attend to his own domestic affairs — for Gu Tong had arrived.

When the two men met again, Gu Tong seemed a little awkward. The house was already in the process of being packed up. Gu Tong first asked, “You — you truly intend to go?”

“Yes.”

Gu Tong said, “Then — wait two days for me. I’ll go south with you.”

“There’s no need,” Zhao Su said. “I have my mother’s family in the south. What would you be going south for? To open a private school and teach students? Or has someone arranged a new official post for you?”

“Of course not!”

“Then what would you go south for?”

Gu Tong said with a slightly stubborn edge, “Obviously to follow my teacher—”

“You are not willing, not truly. There is still a part of you that feels she was wrong to conceal her identity while rising to become Prime Minister — that it was a mistake. Why torment yourself? Stay. Minister Lu is a decent person. The fellow southerners here also need someone to look out for them. You dream of the governance of the Three Dynasties, of the family and the realm. You are not reconciled to letting it go. The Sages’ words, and among them — women and small-minded men are alike difficult to manage. You haven’t sorted yourself out yet; do not force this. These are our adoptive father’s words.”

Gu Tong’s eyes went wide. “She…”

“Of course she thinks ahead for the people around her.”

“I…”

“You did not inform on her.” Zhao Su said.

Gu Tong said, face rigid and pale, “I would not stoop to betraying my benefactor.” The words “my benefactor” came out sounding strangely awkward.

Zhao Su smiled and instructed his servant to bring out a letter. “This is a letter our adoptive father has written to Minister Lu. When you are in difficulty, show this to him.”

Gu Tong hesitated. Zhao Su pressed the letter into his hands. “Keep it safe. I am about to leave. I will not say formal farewells to everyone — that would only draw unwanted attention. You speak for me.”

“Very well.”

Only then did Zhao Su have a moment to deal with his own affairs.

The next day, he did not go to court. He went first to the warehouse and collected several large cartloads of goods. The warehouse keeper then pointed to several other chests and said, “These were put aside on orders from the residence. When you came to collect those, you were to receive these as well.”

Zhao Su opened and inspected them first. Inside were clothing, ornamental objects, and the like — all in the latest fashion of the capital. One of the chests contained paintings and calligraphy. Zheng Xi seemed to have genuinely intended that Zhù Ying should live in Wuzhou as comfortably as she had in the capital. Zhao Su brought everything along.

When he returned home for his midday meal, another visitor had arrived — Madam Jin and her son, Jin Biao.

Zhao Su received the mother and son courteously and asked, “May I ask what brings you here?”

Jin Biao had come to accompany his mother; he kept his eyes on Madam Jin. Madam Jin hesitated. “It’s just — we heard you were leaving, and we wanted to come and see you. Come to see you, and through you, as though we were seeing Sanlang. Ah — as though we were seeing her. You won’t hold it against her, will you?”

“Of course not!”

Madam Jin relaxed. “She’s sent all her things away, and going back south with nothing — how will she make her way? Her older brother and sister-in-law at home are getting on in years too. Please take this to her.”

She had Jin Biao bring over a small box of gold. “It’s not a great deal, but enough to get by on. A person like her — she can make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear as long as she has a bit of starting capital. Please take it to her. She’ll definitely manage. And you’ll have done a good deed.”

Zhao Su said, “We have money.”

Madam Jin said, “Life is hard for small capital officials. They all say things are better when you’re posted to the provinces — but it depends on where. And now she’s going south again to serve as county magistrate. Last time, the capital had to send her clothes and shoes just so she could look presentable. Take it — call it my way of repaying the cost of that horse.”

Zhao Su considered, then accepted. Madam Jin’s expression softened into contentment, and she rose to take her leave.

Zhao Su sighed softly, put the box away, and added it to the luggage. By nightfall, just as he was preparing to rest, another visitor came — and this one he barely recognized: Zhou Na.

Zhou Na had come completely alone, carrying a small pack on her back, and knocked on the door!

Zhao Su saw a middle-aged woman with a bundle on her back showing up at his door and very nearly took her for some kind of swindler. It was only because Vice President Wu and Cui Jiacheng had served as Su Zhe’s instructors, which made the female guards and Su Zhe passing acquaintances, and Zhao Su paid enough attention to his niece to have recognized them — that he did not have the woman turned away.

Zhou Na came in and immediately said, “It was the official herself who said I could follow!”

Zhao Su’s brow furrowed. Zhou Na hurriedly explained to him what had happened inside the prison, then said, “Today the official gazette announced that she has been granted the post of county magistrate. I knew then — that was what she meant when she said I’d know where to find her. But I don’t know the road, and you are heading home — surely the way is in the same direction. I am not a burden; I can wash clothes and cook, and I can also…”

“All right.”

“What?”

Zhao Su said, “She has already told me about you. Now that you’ve come, settle in for now. I still have matters to attend to tomorrow. We’ll travel together the day after.”

Zhou Na smiled. “Agreed!” Then after a pause, “Thank you.”

The next day Zhao Su was busy from morning until night. On the third day, at the first crack of the city gates, he set out with his household servants and Zhou Na in tow, and left the capital. No one came to see him off; Zhao Su did not mind. He went first to collect Zhù Ying and the others outside the city.

Zhou Na was uneasy at heart. The official gazette had said Zhù Ying had already reached Wuzhou, and she was about to travel an entire road in the company of strangers — she had no idea what to expect. All her misgivings dissolved the moment she stepped through the gate of the courtyard. Her heart began to race. Her legs began to go numb.

Zhù Ying was sitting beneath a tree in Daoist robes, a fat cat beside her, watching at her ease as Lin Feng and Lang Rui sparred.

Zhou Na’s throat felt as though it were stuffed with cotton. She called out softly, “Official!”

Zhù Ying looked over and nodded at her. Zhou Na ran up to the low couch where Zhù Ying sat, pack still on her back. “I — I’ve come.”

Zhù Ying saw Zhao Su nod to her and said, “Then we are ready to move out. This road ahead is not going to be easy.”

“I can walk it.”

“Good. All right, you two — hands down. We’re getting ready to go home.”

Lang Rui let out a strange whoop. Su Zhe said, “Shh—”

It was still not safe for anyone to discover that Zhù Ying had not yet left the capital’s immediate region.

The group quietly finished their preparations, loaded the carts, and set out. Zhù Ying had a horse but could not ride it openly; she rode in the carriage with Qi Niangzi and the others. Zhao Su had resigned his post rather than been dismissed, so his official rank still stood, and he could use postal relay stations along the way — but Zhù Ying needed to travel in concealment.

They planned to travel by waterway for the first leg — it could carry more people and more cargo, and once aboard, Zhù Ying could also move more freely.

Zhou Na felt deeply content. Along the way, there was little required of her, and she spent most of her time sitting at Zhù Ying’s side. In idle moments she would simply look at Zhù Ying and smile. Zhù Ying asked, “What is it?”

Zhou Na laughed and said, “I could never tell before. Even now it’s not that easy to see…”

She had so many things she wanted to say to Zhù Ying, yet did not know where to begin, so she simply remarked on whatever she noticed. Every remark was a compliment. “That cat is so fat.” “They all listen to you — you govern well.” “Su Niangzi is very capable…” and so on.

Zhù Ying let her go on. Qi Niangzi had come over again with her sewing. The clothes Zheng Xi’s household had sent were far too luxurious for Zhù Ying’s current situation; she was still wearing Daoist robes, posing as a Daoist priest. The farther south they traveled, the hotter the weather grew, and Qi Niangzi was already at work sewing two thinner garments for her, holding them up to measure against Zhù Ying’s proportions.

Zhou Na was once again overcome with curiosity: “You have been at the official’s side since early on. Why didn’t you enter government service?”

Qi Niangzi laughed and said, “I am not suited for it, not suited at all. The official said so too — she said I would not be able to manage it.”

Zhou Na was about to argue further, but Zhù Ying shook her head at her. Zhou Na swallowed her next words and felt an almost irresistible urge to jump to her feet. She decided to step out of the cabin for some air. She pushed open the door and sent it straight into Lin Feng’s face. Lin Feng clapped a hand over his nose. “Who’s there?”

Zhou Na was also startled. “Are you all right? Are you all right?”

After a brief commotion, a crowd of people had squeezed into Zhù Ying’s cabin.

Qi Niangzi saw that Zhao Su had come in as well, and quite naturally said, “Then I’ll step outside.”

“No need,” Zhao Su said.

Zhù Ying asked, “What has happened?”

Su Zhe’s eyes shone brightly: “The envoy heading to Wuzhou to proclaim your appointment has already set out — and it’s Chen Meng’s second son! Isn’t this perfect? We thought — at the next stop, we could send two people back first to rally the five counties together and collectively petition for you to be appointed as Governor of Wuzhou! By the time Chen the Second arrives, we’ll be ready, and he can carry our five counties’ joint petition back to the capital!”

As they said this, the young people grinned with mischievous glee: “Let the court grant the appointment one more time. If you become Governor, everyone will be delighted.”

Lin Feng said, “Let me and Danqing go back. My dad is the most cunning of all — I’ve got to go and talk him around.”

Of course, the mountain sparrow chieftain-father-in-law was far too cunning to agree to something of this magnitude just because a son he hadn’t seen in ten years came and wheedled him. But Zhù Ying agreed regardless. She said, “Go on then.”

The sparrow chieftain-father-in-law might not listen to his son, but he would certainly be on guard against the court. As long as Zhù Ying was not in league with the court, he would be glad to see things unfold this way.

Zhao Su looked at Lin Feng grinning foolishly to himself and shook his head, choosing not to puncture the boy’s heroic fantasy.

At the next stop, Lin Feng and Lu Danqing disembarked and switched to fast horses to race back to Wuzhou.

By the time Zhù Ying and her group had changed boats and continued overland by carriage and horse, and had entered the borders of Jiyuan Prefecture, a great many people were already waiting for them at the relay station.

The people were dressed in a riot of colors. Among the crowd, Zhù Ying spotted Huajie in blue, Su Mingluan in bright red, and Zhang Xiangu standing at the very center of the crowd in purple with black trim.

The moment she saw her mother, it felt like home.