Treason. Treasonous ambitions. Both were the gravest of crimes, punishable by the extermination of entire family lines — yet the garrison troops had only surrounded the estate and made no move to enter. Did this mean…

Zeng Xinyu rose to his feet and cupped his hands in a bow. “My eldest son’s crimes are unforgivable. This old man and his wife are willing to accept the same punishment for having failed in his upbringing. But my younger son has never been involved in any of the family’s affairs. I ask the eldest daughter to show him a way to preserve his life.”

“Father…”

“Be quiet.”

Zeng Xiangyan bit down on his lower lip. For the first time, he truly despised his own uselessness. He could do nothing — he did not even know how to argue for his family’s reprieve.

The Zeng Family’s conduct, at its root, had been proper. Hua Zhi felt the pang of waste once more. She rose as well. “The eldest son of the Zeng Family made a transaction with me in his final moments — he exchanged the private silver he had accumulated over the years for his family’s safety. The chief of the Seven Lodges Bureau consented. But Master Zeng should also understand that once a family becomes entangled with treason and treasonous rebellion, extricating themselves is no simple matter.”

Zeng Xinyu’s heart steadied. He could no longer hold himself upright, and sank back into his chair with trembling arms, gripping the armrests for support. Even if the bones were broken, even if everything were lost — as long as people survived, there was a chance to begin again.

“Whatever you require of the Zeng Family, eldest daughter, you need only say it.”

“I would not presume to issue commands. Zeng Xianglin had dealings with the Chaoli tribe for many years. I wish to search his study, his sleeping quarters, and any other places he frequented. Even a small finding would be of benefit to the Great Qing. I hope Master Zeng will understand any intrusion on our part.”

“This old man understands. Where the Chaoli tribe is concerned, no precaution is excessive.”

This was precisely the effect Hua Zhi had been aiming for. Land the first blow to leave them stunned, and the arrangements that follow would naturally proceed on her terms.

“I would also ask the two of you to think carefully — has Zeng Xianglin ever said anything to you that was out of the ordinary? Any of it could be a clue.” Hua Zhi turned to look at the steward waiting to one side. “Has the First Madam arrived yet?”

“She has.” The steward stepped aside, and a woman in white, her features clean and composed, was just stepping in through the door. But Hua Zhi had already risen from her seat. “Would Master Zeng please have someone show me to a quiet room? I wish to speak with the First Madam alone.”

Master Zeng glanced at his daughter-in-law, and finding no reaction on her face whatsoever, said, “Steward, take the eldest daughter to the small flower reception hall.”

“Understood.”

The First Madam was silent the entire way. Even once only the two of them remained in the room, she did not open her mouth.

Hua Zhi was not surprised. As the woman who had shared his bed, she might know things that Zeng Xinyu and Zeng Xiangyan did not. She was in no hurry. She quietly sorted through everything that had happened in Jinyang, working through it methodically in her mind. After quite some time, she finally heard the woman across from her ask softly, “Is he dead?”

“He is.”

The woman’s expression was, against all expectation, utterly calm — as though she had known all along this was how it would end.

“He didn’t sleep at all last night. I sat with him. He talked a great deal — more, perhaps, than he would normally say in a year. Some things I can no longer remember. But he remembered what I was wearing the first time he saw me — remembered that I had on a pair of green jade earrings, remembered every word I had ever said to him, remembered how I gripped his neck in my nervousness when he carried me on his back during our wedding ceremony. He remembered all of it.”

The First Madam even smiled — a smile edged with happiness and a girlish shyness that still carried the trace of something young and soft. It was beautiful. Hua Zhi thought Zeng Xianglin must have loved seeing it very much.

“Three years after I came to his household, I still could not give him a child. His mother tried to place several maids in his rooms — beautiful girls, every one of them. I had made my peace with accepting that he would take a concubine. But he sent them all away. He said the room was too small; there was only space enough for one wife. I was so happy when he said that — I thought there could not be a single woman in all the world more fortunate than I was.”

Hua Zhi listened quietly and did not interrupt.

“He was not content to remain confined to Jinyang. He wanted to go to the capital. He said that a small capital could only ever be a small capital — it could never become a true one. He set out for the capital full of fire and ambition. Who could have imagined what awaited him there was hell? We thought only that something had delayed him — that was why he was late returning. When he came back and fell gravely ill, we thought only that he had exhausted himself. Only I knew he was covered in wounds — there was not a patch of unblemished skin on his body, not a single place, except his face. Even… that place had been torn apart and left as raw flesh. From that time onward we never again shared a marriage bed. He had been damaged at the root.”

The First Madam lowered her head and unhurriedly straightened her sleeve. “After that, whatever he was doing out in the world, I did not know. He never told me. I never asked. I simply continued to be his wife as I had before — loving him, respecting him. Holding him when he was tired. Placing food in his bowl when he was drinking. Leaning against him when he was sad. This was all I could do. The affairs of the outside world were beyond my power to help.”

The First Madam looked across at her. “The reason I am telling you this is that early this morning, when he left, he told me — if he did not come back, and the one who came to the door was a young woman called Hua Zhi, then I could say whatever I wished to say, and answer whatever you wished to ask, as long as I knew the answer. And then there is this — he asked me to give it to you. I had been waiting in the yard where the maids do their washing and sweeping. The account books were tied to a stone. If you had not been the one to come, I would have sunk them in the well.”

Hua Zhi took the two booklets the First Madam offered and leafed through them. The one on top was an account book recording all the officials he had bribed over the years, along with the amounts. With this, convictions could be secured.

As for the other one… the more Hua Zhi read, the more her breath caught. This was an account book covering the whole of Jinyang — how much silver Jinyang produced each year, how much found its way into officials’ pockets, how much he had taken, how much the noble families had divided among themselves, how much the Chaoli tribe had received from him — all of it laid out with clarity.

Holding the account book that still carried the warmth of a human hand, Hua Zhi looked at the First Madam. “Did he have any request?”

The First Madam shook her head. “He only said that everything of his was at the horse ranch — useful things and useless ones alike, all there.”

“I understand.” Hua Zhi looked down at the account book. Zeng Xianglin had perhaps genuinely been driven, over time, into ambition. And it was true he had genuinely hoped the Great Qing and the Chaoli tribe would tear each other apart. Yet the very preparation of this account book revealed that he had never been entirely certain of what this day would bring — and that he still, somewhere within him, harbored a thread of hope for the Great Qing.

“I made a transaction with him. I promised him the Zeng Family would be kept safe. First Madam, please accept my condolences.”

“I will abide by his arrangements.”

Since he had said everything was at the horse ranch, there was nothing more to be gained from the Zeng Family. Hua Zhi rose to leave. Looking at the First Madam, who now seemed to have lost three of her six souls, she found herself unable to be entirely unmoved, and said at last, “I will have someone bring the eldest son home.”

The First Madam looked up. Life gradually returned to her eyes. She rose and bowed to Hua Zhi with great depth.

Hua Zhi accepted her bow, and said gently, “What is the Zeng Family’s ancestral county?”

“Chengping County.”

“There is no longer a foothold for the Zeng Family in Jinyang. Once matters here are settled, the entire family should relocate back to Chengping. Whether to keep vigil at his grave, or to attend to those at home who need care — all of it requires someone alive to do it.”

The First Madam looked up in a daze. She had not planned on living. There were no children to bind her here. Her parents at home had her elder brother and sister-in-law to look after them. She had no reason to go on. The Zeng Family would not spare a thought for her — yet an outsider had seen through her.

Live on for her husband’s sake?

Yes. She had to live on for her husband’s sake. His parents were frail and aging. The younger brother had yet to marry. If she left, who would manage all that needed managing in this household?

She needed to live a while longer. She would wait until the younger brother had married and settled — then she would let her husband wait for her a few more years.

The First Madam bowed again, and smiled as she lifted her head. “Thank you for the reminder, Miss.”

Hua Zhi returned the bow and turned to leave the room.