Leaving Fourth Aunt to soothe and settle the others, Hua Zhi personally accompanied her maternal grandmother home — but not before first seeing Nanny Li off, as they had arrived together.
She had received Nanny Li’s goodwill, and for the entire journey Hua Zhi maintained her best manner of conversation. When they arrived at Nanny Li’s door, she even descended from the carriage herself to help her down.
Nanny Li accepted this gesture of goodwill with a smile. She and the Empress Dowager had served together as mistress and maid for many years, and the Hua Family had long been under the Empress Dowager’s protection — in that sense, there was already a kind of connection between them.
Once the carriage resumed its gentle journey and there were no outsiders present, Hua Zhi dropped all pretense, shoulders sagging, and leaned her head against her maternal grandmother’s shoulder.
The elder Madam Zhu patted her arm with a heart full of tenderness, holding her hand and letting out a long breath. “How is your father? Is he well?”
“He’s fine. He’s even taken up teaching over there — all things considered, he hasn’t had to endure too much hardship.”
“That’s a relief. That’s a relief.” The Zhu Family had always been fond of that son-in-law. With their daughter’s temperament, if her husband hadn’t looked after her so well, how could she possibly still be this carefree at her age? “The way you handled Hua Yan today — it seemed like you held back.”
“There was no way to be truly ruthless about it. We can’t write the character for ‘Hua’ without the same brush strokes — I could make my position clear, but if I pushed her into a corner she couldn’t escape, the Hua Family’s own reputation would suffer just as much. Doing it this way leaves no one with anything to criticize. Besides, do you really think Hua Yan can have a good life in the Feng household just because I said those words about ‘genuine feeling’? Feng Changyü’s legitimate wife will be the first one who won’t stand for it. When wife and concubine fight, how many concubines have ever laughed last? Feng Changyü, whatever his other failings, knows better than to touch his legal wife. I don’t believe he’d truly favor Hua Yan — and beyond that, the Hua Family and the Feng Family have always been at odds. With someone delivered right to their doorstep, why wouldn’t they use her to make things difficult?”
The elder Madam Zhu understood all of this perfectly well, but she hadn’t expected her granddaughter to have calculated even these particulars. “So you simply cut off Hua Yan’s retreat and washed your hands of her mess entirely.”
“Every matter I have to deal with is more important than hers.” Hua Zhi had no wish to dwell on it any further. She tilted her head back up. “Today’s a rest day, isn’t it? I’ve been away so long I’ve lost track.”
“It should be a day off, but the flooding in the south has been severe of late. The court is preparing disaster relief, and your grandfather, as Minister of Revenue, has been run ragged for days — rest is out of the question for him.”
“Grandfather was promoted?” Hua Zhi was momentarily surprised, then it came back to her — of course. Zeng Xian’s case had implicated the previous Minister of Revenue, Fang Hongzhi. With Zeng Xian’s case being revisited, it was only natural that Fang Hongzhi would fall.
“Yes, promoted not long ago.” The elder Madam Zhu’s expression was all smiles at the mention of it. Rising from Senior Second Rank to Full Second Rank — some men spent an entire lifetime unable to bridge that single step. Her husband had done well.
But Hua Zhi’s mind was not at ease. In her view, this was not a good time to be elevated. The aging Emperor’s suspicion of those around him grew heavier with each passing year; being close to the throne was no easy thing. The Ministry of Revenue controlled the purse strings of the entire Daqing dynasty, and along with the Ministry of Personnel — which controlled official appointments — they were the two ministries that saw the most frequent turnover at the top. And right now, with a disaster relief effort underway…
Hua Zhi felt she needed to go to Yan Xi and find out what the Emperor was thinking. Whatever happened, she could not allow her grandfather to end up with wet shoes in this affair. She had had her fill of fear — the Hua Family, a great and powerful clan, had collapsed in an instant. The Zhu Family stood a step lower than the Hua Family had; if they fell, there would not even be a place left to cry out injustice.
It wasn’t anything else she feared — her grandfather had been in government service for decades and understood the workings of the court far better than she did. What she feared was princes getting their fingers into things again. The Emperor was lenient with his own sons, but when it came to officials, his hand was heavy.
“Zhi’er, what are you thinking about?”
“Nothing. Since I’m sending you home today, I won’t come inside — I’m afraid that once we start talking I’ll simply fall asleep on you.”
The elder Madam Zhu cupped her face in her hands. She knew perfectly well how exhausting the journey home must have been — she had come all this way only yesterday. “Rest well. Don’t wear yourself down. So many people are depending on you.”
“Yes.”
By the time she arrived home, the meal hour had already passed. Hua Zhi had no appetite to speak of. She ate a little, then instructed, “Nanny Su, choose a selection of the fresh mushrooms that came in today and take them to Nanny Li’s home with my thanks for her help today.”
Nanny Su agreed at once and went to see to it immediately.
Yingchun made to say something; Hua Zhi raised a hand to stop her. “Let me rest first. The business can wait.”
“Yes.” Yingchun hastily helped her back to her room, privately glad — she had been hoping the young miss would put all of that aside for a while and rest properly before anything else.
Hua Zhi slept deeply, so deeply that she didn’t know that Shaoyao had come during that time, taken her pulse, and — once it was clear she had simply overtaxed herself — the whole household relaxed. The eldest young miss had never once fallen into a deep sleep in the middle of the day before; of course they had been worried.
When she woke, it was already dark. Hua Zhi opened her eyes, momentarily unable to place where she was or what time it might be, until a voice reached her: “You’re awake?”
She turned toward the sound. Sitting at the table was none other than Gu Yanxi. This was still the inner courtyard — how had he gotten in?
“I slipped past your people.”
“My maids would have agreed to that?” Hua Zhi propped herself upright and leaned back against the headboard, studying the man. “Why do you look so exhausted? You’ve been busy since the moment you got back?”
“Shaoyao drew them away.” He offered no answer to the second question. “You made quite a name for yourself today.”
“The business with Hua Yan? Everyone has too much free time, paying such attention to a small matter within my household.”
Gu Yanxi smiled to himself. It was hardly a matter of people having nothing better to do — what she had done was simply too brilliantly executed. In the span of a breath, she had turned a losing position around and restored the Hua Family’s standing. The Feng Family was now stuck acknowledging this concubine whether they liked it or not. In aristocratic circles, family interest always came before sentiment — everyone knew this — yet no one wanted to be the one openly exposed as heartless, and Hua Zhi had struck directly at that vulnerability.
Hua Zhi shifted upright a little more. “I was actually hoping to ask you about something. What is the Emperor’s plan regarding the flooding in the south?”
Gu Yanxi’s mind turned quickly and he understood at once what she was worried about. “This matter will not pass through the hands of the regular officials. The Ministry of Revenue need only provide the funds. The people executing the relief effort are ones selected by the Seven Lodges, and the Emperor will not permit anyone to reach into that money. I’ve also had the Seven Lodges keep a close watch on proceedings.”
“Good. If it ends up like it always has — each layer skimming from the one below — by the time the relief reaches ordinary people, who knows how much will actually be left. Any other time might be one thing, but this year is different. The scale of the disaster is vast. If popular resentment is stirred up, my grandfather will not be able to extricate himself from it.”
“You don’t need to worry. Administrator Zhu is not so easily pushed around.”
Hua Zhi gave him a look that was somewhere between a smile and not. “Was my grandfather easy to push around? And yet he’s still stuck in Yinshan Pass with no way to come home.”
Gu Yanxi cleared his throat softly. He could hardly tell her outright about the Emperor’s wariness toward the Hua Family.
Fortunately, Hua Zhi had no heart to make things difficult for him, and she shifted the subject immediately. “Is it time to reverse the verdict on Zeng Xian?”
Gu Yanxi’s expression softened. He answered her carefully and fully. “Yes. I had originally intended to have someone draft an appeal on Zeng Han’s behalf, but he refused — he insisted on having someone write it out so he could copy it himself, then submitted it personally to the Ministry of Justice. The Seven Lodges also presented the evidence. It won’t be much longer before Zeng Xian’s name is cleared. When that time comes, everything that belonged to the Zeng Family will be returned to Zeng Han.”
“Once Zeng Han no longer needs to be out front on this, send him to me as quickly as you can. If the Zeng Family hadn’t been left with just him alone, I wouldn’t want him near any of this at all. I’ve watched him long enough now to see clearly — Zeng Han has no real sense of right and wrong, no clear distinction between good and bad. It’s as if something is simply missing in him in that regard.”
“Understood. I’ll press them to move more quickly.”