“Master Zheng need not laugh at me — I harbor no such grand aspirations. All those books I read, I read simply because I loved reading. The family had an extensive enough collection that I could always find what I wanted, and so, day after day and year after year, I read as much as I did. I could not travel ten thousand li, so I sought what consolation I could among books. Nothing more than that.”

Hua Zhi smiled. “I may seem, at this moment, to have broken free of a great many constraints — yet my heart is filled with nothing but distractions. There are too many things weighing on my mind, too many things yet to be done. There is no one above me holding up the sky, so how can I settle my heart enough to pursue scholarship? What I can do now is hold up this sky myself, so that the others in the Hua Family may pursue their learning in peace.”

And besides — she had no ambition to pit herself alone against the entire shape of the world around her. Whatever a person gained, they would lose an equal measure of something else. She had no need for that.

Hua Zhi rose and gave Zheng Zhi a full, proper bow. “Hua Zhi thanks Master Zheng.”

Zheng Zhi waved his hand and gestured for her to sit back down. “I’ve been away from the capital for so many years — I hadn’t expected to find such an unexpected delight on my return. I’ve agreed to the arrangement. But you needn’t entirely set it aside, either. Such a gift — don’t let it go to waste.”

Hua Zhi lowered her eyes. She had never looked on the family school as a burden. There were times she came to teach as a respite — to speak of the things she wanted to speak of, to plant, in a quiet and unforced way, ideas she believed in into these young minds, and to find a kind of joy in watching them absorb it all like sponges soaking in water. But to teach the Four Books and the Thirteen Classics again herself, day after day…

“Then let us add a course in miscellaneous learning — think of it as broadening their horizons.”

Zheng Zhi nodded in approbation. To know what one ought to do, and to understand clearly what one person’s efforts can and cannot accomplish — Hua Zhi held that balance well. It was a pity, truly. If she were willing to devote herself to scholarship, he would have been very glad to take her on as a student. It was rare to meet someone so genuinely congenial to his temperament. What a pity indeed.

“Master Zheng should know that the other teacher here is surnamed Mu — Mu Qing. How to arrange the schedule between you will need to be worked out with him. Does Master Zheng have any thoughts on that?”

“You needn’t trouble yourself with that. Mu Qing and I will work it out.”

“Yes.” Hua Zhi found Zheng Zhi’s directness very agreeable. She had also seen clearly that this Master Zheng was, as her grandfather had said, not one who clung rigidly to convention — otherwise he would never have urged her to write and publish her own works. “The Hua household is not in a position to accommodate outside guests. I’ll have someone lease a residence nearby for you…”

“No need — I have somewhere to stay.”

Hua Zhi glanced at her second uncle. Zhu Haodong gave a small, confirming nod. Hua Zhi left the matter there without saying more. She said nothing about his remuneration either — she would simply prepare the same for Master Zheng as what she gave Master Mu, with perhaps a little something extra, and as for anything else, she imagined her grandfather would have already made his own arrangements.

Zheng Zhi let his gaze drift lightly around the room. What books were here held nothing remarkable for him — yet thinking that all of this had been assembled in the few months since the Hua Family’s possessions had been stripped away, he felt his admiration stir again. A pity that Hua Zhi’s heart did not lie in scholarship. He would truly have been glad to take on a female student.

After another cup of tea, Zheng Zhi rose and went back to the family school. With those seven apertures of his — a mind sharp enough to see through everything — how could he not have noticed that Zhu Haodong had words to say to Hua Zhi in private?

Hua Zhi glanced at Nanny Su. Nanny Su understood at once and withdrew to stand watch at the door.

“Zheng Zhi is a native of the capital — more precisely, he is a posthumous child. His father once served as a private tutor to the Zhu household. The man was handsome and charming, with no shortage of admiring ladies, and he died while Zheng Zhi’s mother was still carrying him. He died, moreover, in a rather undignified fashion, leaving no money at all — only a pregnant widow who was so overcome with grief and shock she very nearly followed him to the grave. Father, out of regard for the bond between master and former servant, had Mother help with the burial and left a little money for Zheng Zhi’s mother. Without that, it is by no means certain that Zheng Zhi would exist in this world today.”

So the debt was as great as that. No wonder Zheng Zhi, though he clearly had no real desire to return, had still come back. Hua Zhi nodded. “So he went back to his old house?”

“After receiving his reply, Father had the old house tidied up and put in order. It is perfectly fit to live in.” Zhu Haodong looked at his niece. “Your grandfather says his talent in the realm of learning matches his father’s. Using him as a family school teacher is rather like deploying a great talent on a minor task. So Father agreed to only three years. His temperament is also that of someone long used to his own freedom, but he knows the proper courtesies — just keep a loose hand with him and don’t impose too many constraints.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“We have nothing but confidence in you.” Zhu Haodong smiled, and moved to the true purpose of his visit. “The soap venture — your grandfather made the decision to bring in a partner. General Zhou Jing — do you know of him?”

“The second-rank Majestic Martial General Zhou Jing, Commander of the Central Camp.” Hua Zhi had made a thorough study of Daqing’s officials in recent times; she was well acquainted with Zhou Jing, who held real power. She simply had not expected her grandfather to bring a military man into the partnership.

“I went to see the old general myself. He personally promised that should the Hua Family ever face difficulties, the Zhou Family will not stand by and do nothing.”

Hua Zhi was taken aback for a moment, and then she understood. This must have been something her grandfather had secured on her behalf — or rather, protection exchanged for the share of profits they had offered. The Zhu Family had no need of it, but the Hua Family was in need of precisely this. Every strand of the web she had been weaving was for the same purpose: to add more weight to the Hua Family’s standing. The Zhou Family carried considerable weight indeed.

“I will go and pay my respects to Grandfather in person another day.”

“We are family — no need for such formality.” Zhu Haodong smiled, his mood thoroughly pleased. Once this venture was up and running in full, even if elder brother rose to any height he liked in future, he would not dare look down on him again. If anything, it was he who ought to be thanking Zhizhi.

The first lesson Zheng Zhi taught, Hua Zhi went to observe. Halfway through, Mu Qing arrived as well, and the two of them listened in the covered corridor, quite absorbed.

This, perhaps, was the difference between reading ten thousand books and walking ten thousand li. When Mu Qing taught, he wove in his own understanding and the conventional wisdom broadly accepted among scholars — and however he said it, the frame of reference never truly left the bounds of the books themselves. Zheng Zhi broke entirely free of that frame, going out from the experience of many years traveling and living in the world to illuminate the texts. It could not be said that one was better than the other, but without question, Zheng Zhi’s teaching was more vivid.

Hua Zhi even began to feel that the extra course she had added might be superfluous.

She turned and caught the shadow of dejection on Mu Qing’s face. She hesitated for a moment, then offered what she could, measured and honest: “Master Mu need not trouble his mind too much. Not every scholar has the means to wander the world without ties, the way Master Zheng has.”

Mu Qing gave a rueful smile and turned to leave.

Hua Zhi had no further comfort to offer. Who could help but envy it? She envied it too — she longed for a day when she might walk ten thousand li herself, to see those extraordinary mountains and peaks in the world beyond, those landscapes that had received the creator’s particular grace and which no words in any book, however beautiful, could capture even a fraction of.

But there were too many things that could not be helped.

Walking out of here, she still had to think about earning more money, about spreading and strengthening her web of connections, about the old and young, great and small of the Hua household, about the family members far away in the northern lands…

With so much to think about, where was there any room left for the small, quiet longings she kept at the bottom of her heart?