Zheng Xi’s “glorious past” did not sour Zhù Ying’s mood. Liu Songnian had recounted something of those old events, but Zhù Ying had no intention of taking Liu Songnian’s standards as her own standard for deciding how she felt about things.

She even felt a measure of reassurance. The new bride had Liu Songnian as a senior figure in her corner — whatever might be said of her character and conduct, at least the foremost scholar of the age had this young woman’s back. As a wife’s subordinate to her husband, Zhù Ying could worry a little less.

She held to her original thinking — wait and see. And in the meantime she quietly sketched out several contingency plans in her mind. Worst case, run! This post she held now had been gifted to her out of thin air anyway. She was not greedy. Of course, if running wasn’t necessary, she preferred not to — and she would need to start paying attention to that Duan family!

Walking along, deep in thought, she found herself drifting unconsciously back to the old rented rooms they used to live in. Only when a neighbor called out to her did she come back to herself. She laughed and said, “Yes, we’ve moved — I came back to have a look. I paid a full year’s rent, after all.”

She truly did go in for a look. The interior had been cleared out, and the traces of their daily life had been all but wiped away. The landlord and the rental intermediary had no intention of refunding any rent, so she might as well sublease it — though no suitable next tenant had come along yet. She looked it over, locked the gate again, and this time made it home without incident.

Today she hadn’t brought Cao Chang along — there were things to do at home. Zhù Da wanted to build a kennel himself and had asked Cao Chang to stay and help. Zhù Ying walked home alone on the street. The sixth-month heat was still fierce, but her mind was clear and untroubled — only a small pang of reflection: a stranger entering someone else’s territory could fall into traps far too easily. The Duan family was a trap she’d had no way to foresee. Twenty years of history — you would never think to tell someone about events from twenty years back. Jin Liang and the others had told her things about the Zheng Marquis’s household, but they had never mentioned Zheng Xi once had a great-uncle by marriage like that. Beneath the still surface of this deep pool the capital was — who knew how many more such things lay hidden?

And right now she had no real power of initiative. She could only stay quiet, prepare herself well, and wait for the moment she was needed.

The ward she had moved into also had plenty of food stalls and eateries. Generally a step up from the old area near her first rented rooms, though not quite on a par with the second ward. She had identified a noodle stall that seemed reasonably good, and a sesame-stuffed flatbread shop that did quite well. She had walked past both without buying — the summer heat meant anything bought in quantity would spoil easily before she got home.

Back at the house, a knock at the main gate, and Cao Chang came right away to open it. “Third Young Master, you’re home!”

Zhù Da stood up behind him. “Come on, look, look!”

The two of them had finished building a kennel today. For a puppy of this size, the kennel was practically a mansion. The old materials from the demolition had all been taken away by Old Tian, and Fu Long had measured the new materials precisely enough that only a little was left over, stored in the storage room next to the gatehouse. Zhù Da rummaged through that remnant, just barely enough to build two kennels.

Cao Chang had found some straw, loosely stuffed into the kennel as bedding. Zhang Xiangu had set an old clay pot outside the kennel as a food bowl; it still had a little soup and moisture in it. A leash of braided hemp was tied around the puppy’s neck, fastened beside the kennel. Du Dajie had set a broken bowl of water next to it as well.

So the puppy was settled in.

Zhù Ying saw how they could be so busily satisfied with making a fuss over a puppy and said, “This is all very good.”

Zhang Xiangu called her back inside to change clothes and wipe down her face, and kept talking as she walked her in: “I bought a basketful of sweet melons today. Soaked a few in the well water — they’ll be perfect to eat!”

“Lovely,” Zhù Ying said.

She still wanted to sleep in the study that night, but Zhang Xiangu insisted she wash up and change in the rear bedroom. “You still have to come back here to wash up — the house can’t go without people in it. A house with no life in it isn’t right.”

Zhù Ying didn’t argue. After all, the bedroom had its vanity table and furniture and all her clothing — she changed her clothes and heard a sound. “What’s that?”

Zhang Xiangu said, “What sound? There’s nothing.”

Zhù Ying walked in her wooden clogs to the small courtyard next door where Du Dajie slept, pushed open the door, and found two large cages. She had no idea where Du Dajie had gotten two large geese from! Du Dajie said, “Third Young Master — the market today had geese selling cheap, so I bought some.” She spoke with a slight diffidence, since the grocery money in the new house was not much.

“All right,” Zhù Ying said. “At least it’ll be lively.”

Du Dajie took some melons from the bucket, dried them, cut them up. Zhù Ying said, “Take a couple to Cao Chang as well.” Cao Chang and Zhù Da had both been busy all day, and Zhù Da had already developed a certain fondness for the young man. Thoroughly bored, he had dragged a table out of the gatehouse storage, added two stools, and set up a game of chess with Cao Chang beside the kennel.

They were not playing anything complicated or refined — a very simple five-piece game with a slight gambling flavor, though no stakes. Just passing the time.

When the melon arrived, both of them ate as they played, attracting flies. Zhù Da said, “Dogs get smelly so fast, they draw flies!”

Cao Chang, straightforward as ever, said, “I’ll give it a wash in a bit.”

Zhù Ying didn’t go to the front. She sat with Zhang Xiangu and ate melon and chatted. Zhang Xiangu asked where she had gone today and so on. “I went out to walk around — I haven’t been able to wander freely in a while. Where’s Huajie?”

“She went to the nunnery.”

“Save her a melon then.”

“It’s saved.”

They ate melon and talked of small things. Zhang Xiangu told her not to eat too much — dinner was coming. While the two were talking, Huajie came in through the main gate. Zhang Xiangu stood up. “What’s that?”

Huajie had something in her arms, pulling back her coat to reveal a cat. “A cat. There was a mother cat that appeared at the nunnery some time ago, and before long she had a litter of kittens. I brought one. We have such a large house now — when we get more things, there’ll be all kinds of food in the kitchen. Best to have a cat to catch mice.”

In only a few days of moving into the new house, the Zhù household had assembled dogs, cats, geese, donkeys, horses, and mules — equal in number to the people!

“Fine by me!” Zhù Ying said.

It was just that the dog and cat, having come to the Zhù household, would get no lavish diet of fish and meat either — the people ate whatever was left over, and the animals ate whatever the people left behind. At dinner, when Zhù Da heard, he said, “Then we need to make a cat bed too!”

“No need,” Huajie said. “It’ll stay with me.” Find a basket, line it with old clothes, and the cat was housed considerably better than the dog.

Zhù Da was a little disappointed and said several times, “If you ever want to build a cat bed, tell me! The materials are still there!”

Huajie smiled. “I will.”

Zhù Da also said, “It’s a little lonely for Ah Chang to eat over there by himself.”

Zhang Xiangu agreed but also said, “So what? You go keep him company then? Don’t go making the poor boy uncomfortable.” She had figured it out by now — this honest boy truly thought of himself as a servant, and was constrained in front of the family.

Zhù Da said, “You know, this house is too big and empty. Shouldn’t we have someone for the gatehouse? Otherwise just a Du Dajie and an Ah Chang — you can see it’s too much for them to manage. If there’s someone for the gatehouse, he and Ah Chang can eat together.” Du Dajie handled the rear courtyard, Cao Chang handled the front — and just sweeping and cleaning alone was a full job. Cao Chang also had to accompany Zhù Ying out — he was kept more than busy. This was the predicament of many a junior official’s household. They were officials, so servants were necessary; but there was not much money, so the household had few servants, and one servant was used as several.

“And the expense for another person?” Zhang Xiangu said. “And there’s no one reliable to be had.”

Zhù Ying thought for a moment. It wasn’t a matter of just one person — a gatekeeper and a cook, at the very least two. “Give it two more months,” she said. “Things will ease up.”

“After the autumn harvest too,” Huajie said.

The family talked nothing but household matters and small things. Zhù Ying’s mind was entirely at rest. No one in the family had any idea she had just learned from Liu Songnian about events that suggested something was coming. Everyone in the household, up and down, was immersed in the joy of “a new life beginning.”

Zhù Ying had one good quality: whatever the circumstances, she never let anything disrupt her eating or sleeping. Very few things could disturb her daily rhythms. That night she slept normally, no tossing and turning, and the next morning went to report for duty as usual. Nothing on the surface had changed.

——

The next day at the outer wall of the imperial city, Zheng Xi’s usual attendant servants were still standing in their usual place — they had the habit of not rushing back to the Zheng household immediately. There were plenty of servants in the Zheng household and there was no shortage of people to wait outside. Zhù Ying spotted Lu Chao outside, and said in surprise, “How come Gan Da isn’t here?”

Gan Ze had been showing up on time outside these past days, pulling his cousin aside for some coaching before sending Cao Chang back to the Zhù household; he’d come again in the afternoon to escort Zhù Ying.

Lu Chao laughed. “You don’t know? His wife gave birth last night!” He looked over at Cao Chang and said, “Hey, young man — you have a nephew now.”

Cao Chang was genuinely happy for Gan Ze. “My aunt and uncle can stop fretting at last!”

Zhù Ying filed away a note to herself. The household was practically cleaned out of ready money, but this gift still had to be given. At least it didn’t need to be much — she could scrape it together. She also glanced at Cao Chang, thinking: something should be prepared for him too.

At the Court of Judicial Review, the small troubles of official duties came again.

At first Zhù Ying didn’t know this was a professional matter. Yang Sanlang had been coming to the Court of Judicial Review more frequently lately, and when he appeared, she paid no special attention.

But when Yang Sanlang opened his mouth, she knew he hadn’t come just to chat. He said, “Sanlang, there’s something I absolutely need your help with.”

“From the look of you — you haven’t lost someone again, have you?”

“Don’t tease me! It’s like this — rumor has it the traffickers have all been caught?”

“Oh? Where did you hear that?”

“The Jing Prefecture — how swiftly the Prefect Wang handles things!” Yang Sanlang said. “My uncle heard about it too. Um — are you free tonight? I’d like to come to your door!”

“What do you want?”

Yang Sanlang said, “My uncle has run into a difficulty — as you know, before, for the sake of my cousin, my aunt nearly suffered a great loss! I have to help my aunt. This matter also involves your Court of Judicial Review, so I figured I’d find you first and talk it over. In case the Jing Prefecture sends over any documents related to those traffickers — could you hold off for now, wait until we’ve talked tonight, before making any final decision? Just one night, just one night — it won’t delay anything. Please, please!”

“Their case files haven’t arrived yet,” Zhù Ying said. Wang Yunhe was quick, but the arrests were only made yesterday. After arrests, all the suspects’ confessions had to be reconciled and cross-checked. This wasn’t a particularly large case — it was probably He Jing’s job. With this many people, He Jing was probably still in the middle of interrogations. At the very least it would be a couple more days before all the evidence was matched up and the documents sent over.

Yang Sanlang’s face lit up. “That’s fine then! Tonight I’ll come to your house!”

He came that night not empty-handed — servants drove a carriage that unloaded a full load of gifts. Cao Chang opened the gate and said, “This official looks very familiar.”

“Aren’t you Cao Chang? Sanlang! Sanlang, I’m here!” Yang Sanlang called out.

Yang Sanlang had the servants bring the load inside the gate and said, “Sanlang, I need your advice!”

Zhù Ying gestured for Cao Chang to close the gate, invited Yang Sanlang into the study to sit down, and asked, “What is it? You already know what happened with the case, don’t you?”

Luo Yuan, whatever else could be said about him, had money, and this wasn’t sensitive intelligence — a few guan here and there and it came out that Wang Yunhe had rounded up all the traffickers at the Jing Prefecture.

Yang Sanlang said, “It’s not about the arrests — it’s about the sentencing!” Luo Yuan wanted nothing else but to have all the traffickers sentenced to death!

“Luo Yuan’s temper is really something,” Zhù Ying said. “Why not go and speak to the Jing Prefecture directly? He’s the victim.”

Yang Sanlang said, “Just hear me out, all of it! He consulted several people who know the law, and getting them all sentenced to death is very hard!”

Yang Sanlang knew it well enough — there was no such law as that. The trafficking of human beings was itself a murky matter; the official government kept formal registers for legitimate human trading! It was only something like “forcible sale” that was actually illegal. If it came to selling free people or selling free people as servants, the criminal liability would increase.

In practice, punishing the buying and selling of human beings was extremely difficult. For example: the law had a clear written provision — if an ordinary commoner sold a junior family member, a wife, or a child into slavery, that was illegal. You could expect a sentence of labor in exile. Yet in practice, parents selling children, grandparents selling grandchildren, uncles selling nephews, husbands selling wives was not uncommon, and very few people ever received actual punishment. There were many cases of people swallowing the inheritance of female relatives by selling them off this way.

Even what Luo Yuan had done — buying someone else’s child to raise as his own — was technically improper. It was just dressed up nicely and called “adoption.” “Adopted sons” were common enough everywhere that the authorities had no way to look deeply into it.

For Luo Yuan to demand all the traffickers be sentenced to death? That was practically impossible, unless the presiding official was willing to commit judicial misconduct.

But his newly acquired son had nearly become someone else’s son, and Luo Yuan’s thinking was anything but magnanimous! He wanted them dead!

He’d had a previous confrontation with Wang Yunhe and come away with nothing to show for it, so now he didn’t dare keep making trouble at Wang Yunhe’s door. Yang Sanlang had seized on this and made broad promises in front of his uncle. But Luo Yuan didn’t fully believe in him, thinking: your influence? This isn’t about your face — it’s about mine! And face alone probably won’t be enough for this!

He had Yang Sanlang bring gifts to Zhù Ying, so he wouldn’t be foolishly trading on his own face. In Luo Yuan’s estimation, Zhù Ying was unlikely to take on Wang Yunhe directly, but a dying horse may as well be treated as if it were still alive! If she could manage to quietly find some way to arrange this, the load of gifts would be money well spent. She had a role in running the day-to-day affairs of the Court of Judicial Review, and was capable enough — worth a try.

“Forcible sale as a servant is a strangulation offense,” Zhù Ying said. “You want them all put to death? Isn’t that setting the bar rather high?”

“No, there’s something…” Yang Sanlang said.

“Hear me out,” Zhù Ying said. “There’s a proper road right in front of you — why take the back alley?

In any trade involving buying, selling, and transport, there are losses. What about human beings? Forcible sale of a person into servitude carries strangulation. What if a person died during the trafficking process? Murder, life for life. Even classified as accidental, the minimum sentence is exile.

In something like this, with Prefect Wang’s integrity, he would never let them off easily! The Jing Prefecture is still in the middle of interrogation. Whatever comes out of the interrogation we don’t know yet — but as long as there’s a death involved, these traffickers have no good outcome waiting for them. How does that approach sound to you?”

“That would be wonderful! But… we wouldn’t dare… we wouldn’t dare say it to the Jing Prefecture… the thing is…”

“I’ll go say a word or two to He Jing,” Zhù Ying said, “and see what can be found and what evidence can be obtained. As long as there’s solid proof, it’ll all be easy to handle.”

Yang Sanlang was overjoyed. “Agreed!”

“Take the gifts back with you,” Zhù Ying said. “I can’t be sure this will work, and taking them would give me a guilty conscience. Besides — given the friendship between us, I don’t need to call in favors or spend money to manage something like this. Why such formality? If I ever need something from you in the future, will you take my money too? Charge me interest?”

Yang Sanlang was embarrassed. “Well, the thing is…”

“Go back and tell Eunuch Luo I’ll do my best. Take the gifts back with you — this is your contribution on his behalf. If he wants to reward you for it, you can accept that with a clear conscience.”

“All right, then!”

Zhù Ying didn’t take this load of gifts, and Zhang Xiangu, Zhù Da, and Huajie all breathed easier — all three of them had been worried that Zhù Ying might get entangled with a powerful eunuch, help him do something illegal, and not be able to extricate herself cleanly. Eunuchs’ reputations had never been good, and with Luo Yuan having had that confrontation with Wang Yunhe, all three of them liked him even less. If it weren’t for Yang Sanlang’s face being somewhat agreeable, Zhang Xiangu wouldn’t have wanted Zhù Ying involved with him at all.

The only complication this created was that the gift for Gan Ze’s newborn son became tight. In the end, Huajie pulled some of her own private savings to cover it.

Zhang Xiangu was a little embarrassed. “Flower Sister — look at this. Third is already an official, and you’re still supplementing the household.”

“I’m alone in the world,” Huajie said. “Father and Mother are willing to take me in. I owe you my daily meals and housing.”

“You mustn’t say that! Without you, this household would have fallen into chaos long ago!”

The two kept at their courtesies until Zhù Ying had heard enough. “All right, that’s quite sufficient! Pack up — let’s go to Gan Ze’s house.”

She said to Cao Chang, “Ride the donkey; let Du Dajie bring the bundle for him to carry. Have him go ahead to Gan Ze’s house first. We’ll go separately.”

“Why?” Cao Chang asked.

“Children should be seen and not heard,” Zhang Xiangu said. “When you’re told to go, go!”

Cao Chang went off in bewilderment, bundle in hand and riding the donkey to Gan Ze’s house. His aunt asked him, and he said, “They told me to come first. This is also something the mistress prepared.” His aunt opened the bundle and found lengths of fabric inside — the standard gift for a newborn.

His aunt sighed and said, “Your cousin has good fortune. He found a decent person.”

“Cousin, what’s Aunt saying?” Cao Chang asked.

His uncle said, “How many people are there who — once they have seen someone in difficult circumstances — once they find themselves prosperous and capable, try to silence those ‘old friends from humble days’ so no one knows about their embarrassing past? The kinder ones quietly send you away. A little kinder still, they stop seeing you, move on to wealthy companions, or trade up in spouse and friends. Those who truly don’t forget the friends of difficult times and still manage to be thoughtful about them — they are rare indeed. We have found treasure.”

Cao Chang still couldn’t quite make sense of it.

When Zhù Ying arrived on horseback with Zhù Da personally driving the carriage, the whole Gan household came out to meet them. Zhù Ying looked behind her and said, “I don’t see Zheng Senior Official here either. Who exactly are you coming out to meet?”

Gan Ze’s face was full of both joy and deep feeling. “I just came out to stand here — is that allowed?”

Zhù Ying jumped down from the horse and said, “That sounds like something Lu the Second would say.”

Lu Chao came out from behind and said, “What’s wrong with me? How come every cutting remark gets attributed to me, while he just counts as a plain person saying plain things?”

Wang Yunhe laughed even harder. He was personally leading the horse away to be fed. Cao Chang rushed over to help, and also helped unhitch the mule to give it fodder.

——

The Zhù household was a guest of honor at the Gan household. Back in the Luo household, Luo Yuan was fuming at home.

Yang Sanlang had brought the gifts back!

Getting something done without spending money — that was welcome. But offering money that wasn’t taken, with the outcome still unsure — that sat poorly with him. He no longer dared clash directly with Wang Yunhe and didn’t feel comfortable approaching Zheng Xi either. From the outside, it looked as though Zhù Ying was truly Zheng Xi’s chief steward at the Court of Judicial Review, running the place for Zheng Xi with needle-and-thread precision, and admirably undemanding.

To move Zhù Ying, Luo Yuan would have to anger Zheng Xi — and he knew Zheng Xi was even harder to handle than Wang Yunhe, because Zheng Xi was unreasonable.

He stewed, and waited half a month — and to his surprise, Zhù Ying actually delivered.

Zhù Ying had no particular grudge with the peddler but no fondness for traffickers either, and getting this done cost her no favors and no money. She had a good working relationship with He Jing, and with an indirect word or two, He Jing — an experienced hand in these matters — took the hint immediately. He actually turned up evidence that during the trafficking operations, several children had died on the way, and one young woman who refused to comply had been violated and thrown from the boat and drowned.

With the confessions taken, twenty constables were sent out with the suspects to search the fields, where half a small child’s skeleton was found — the other half had been dragged away and scattered by stray dogs. Other children who had died during transport, farther from the capital and harder to search for, or buried in unmarked graves, remained unaccounted for.

Wang Yunhe, reviewing it all, was furious. The principal offenders were sentenced to either decapitation or strangulation; the accomplices received at minimum exile of three thousand li. Three thousand li — not much different from a death sentence. The only difference was an early death versus a later death. It was now the sixth month. Autumn was not far off. Luo Yuan would see them all dead before long.

Wang Yunhe’s verdict was sent to the Court of Judicial Review. The review was not Zhù Ying’s to perform — she only added her countersignature. Since the case had no ambiguities, the skeleton had been found, and the law was clear, no one in the Court saw anything excessive in the sentencing. Everyone felt this was a just outcome.

With the matter settled, Luo Yuan’s grudge against Zhù Ying faded, but there remained a small knot of irritation in his chest. He cursed inwardly: the old one is hard to deal with, and the young one is hard to deal with! Does this mean I have to actually work through Zheng Xi?

Yang Sanlang still didn’t know why he wasn’t happy, and asked, “Uncle, even if it’s not all death sentences, three thousand li is enough to kill them twice over. What are you still worried about?!”

“Get out,” Luo Yuan said.

Yang Sanlang didn’t dare get out; Luo Yuan was so angry he kicked him out, furiously cursing: “All useless fools!” The gifts weren’t sent back with Yang Sanlang either — a kick for one and a kick for the other, and the load was upended. Luo Yuan snarled, “What is all this rubbish? I don’t believe he’ll stay in the Jing Prefecture forever!”

Luo Yuan’s words actually came true — Wang Yunhe was about to be relieved of the Jing Prefecture!

The Emperor — one might say he was wise, having “relied on treacherous sycophants for twenty years,” and then one might also say he was sagacious and illuminated, “acting with sole authority and clear-eyed handling in removing the treacherous officials.”

Now he was “sagacious” again.

Wang Yunhe was elevated to the position of Chief Minister. By seniority he ranked behind Chen Luan and Shi Kun, but he had been made a Chief Minister. A worthy official beloved by the people — if the Emperor could recognize his merits and promote him to govern the state, then this Emperor was not without wisdom.

When the Emperor issued the edict, Luo Yuan was standing right there. His face turned green.

A Jing Prefect was half a Chief Minister — and now it had become a complete and proper Chief Minister. When Wang Yunhe had been Jing Prefect, the capital’s powerful households had found him deeply troublesome. His becoming Chief Minister meant they could breathe a little easier, since Wang Yunhe would no longer be their direct overseer. But! Now that he was Chief Minister, the scope of his authority grew wider still. His words to the Emperor became more justified and more direct. He would be at the imperial city every day, meeting the Emperor face to face. Those around the Emperor would need to be careful.

Was there any room left for eunuchs to live?!

Those who shared Luo Yuan’s sentiments were not only eunuchs! Setting aside the powerful households of the capital, when others elsewhere heard that Wang Yunhe had been made Chief Minister, half rejoiced for him and half lamented for themselves. Even Zhù Ying was a mixture of joy and worry. The Left Supervisory Official had been sent on an out-of-town assignment by her and hadn’t returned yet, so she and Hu Lian sat together drinking tea and chatting.

Hu Lian let out a stream of sighs. “Our good days are over.”

“I agree,” Zhù Ying said. “No telling who the new Jing Prefect will be, and whoever is even a little worse…”

The capital’s powerful households and the spoiled young men of the nobility would be celebrating the chance to cause trouble at last. They said very little before more edicts came from the palace: the Court of Judicial Review was to unseal the residence of the former traitor Gong and hand it over for renovation, to be granted to Wang Yunhe as his new official residence.

Zhù Ying leapt to her feet. “I’ll handle it!”

No one in the Court quarreled with her over this assignment. She was on good terms with Wang Yunhe — this was clearing out a house for Wang Yunhe. Who else could do it?

Zhù Ying selected several clerks and drew five people from the female constables — exactly Cui Jiacheng’s unit. The group went first to inspect the unsealing of Gong Jue’s former residence, and then handed it over to the relevant craftsmen for renovation.

Zhou Wan, who was in Cui Jiacheng’s unit, thought for a moment and asked, “What are we searching for, Official?”

“This residence was sealed by us in the first place,” Zhù Ying said. “If it were handed to Prefect Wang exactly as we left it, I wouldn’t worry. But we’re handing it to craftsmen for renovation first — and if something we missed before turns up in the process, that would be problematic. Best to go through it once more. If something is still missed, that’s just our misfortune. Remember: from now on, whatever task is in your hands, no matter how thorough you think you’ve been — do a self-check before handing it over.”

“Yes.”

——

Zhù Ying had people strip the sealed strips from the main gate first, then gave her orders: “Close the gate! No one enters without my permission!”

Then she arranged the personnel, and by the same method as searching a house, swept once more through this former powerful minister’s residence, now overgrown with grass. They went one sealed section at a time, room by room.

Zhù Ying had two goals: first, not to leave any overlooked case evidence behind; second, to find in advance any dangers in the residence and alert Wang Yunhe in time.

When the case was being investigated, Zheng Xi had gone through this property with a floor plan, inch by inch. It had been thorough, to say the least. Yet now, going through it again with this group, they actually discovered a cellar that had been added after the original construction, with more gold and silver and gold and silver vessels inside. Everyone was surprised. And among the clerks, each had found something useful — with Zhou Wan having the greatest finds.

Zhù Ying said without expression, “Anything with a mark on it — register it.”

Any marked items the clerks found here and there were all logged as the Court of Judicial Review’s supplementary recovery. Several pages of torn paper she intended to hand to Zheng Xi for his consideration. As for the gold and silver found — same as always: Zheng Xi gets a share, she gets to skim a layer, and then the rest is distributed to those present.

Right now she needed money desperately!

When everything was examined, she drew a rough sketch of the property, marking the locations of several structurally unsafe buildings, and listed other matters worth noting — down to mouse holes and dog holes — to be handed over to the craftsmen. Zhù Ying said, “That’s all. Let’s go back.”

Back at the Court of Judicial Review, the gold and silver vessels were inventoried and handed over; the remaining money was divided on the spot. Zheng Xi received the few pages of “evidence” and laughed. “These aren’t of any use now.” He tore them up and dropped them in a basin of water to soak until destroyed.

“All the same, they couldn’t be left lying around outside,” Zhù Ying said.

Zheng Xi smiled. “Good. Aren’t you going to offer congratulations?”

“It would actually seem more strange if I didn’t go,” Zhù Ying said.

“Go, then,” Zheng Xi said generously.

Looking at his expression — not the kind of happiness one would feel about taking a new wife, and not the gloomy look of someone with something weighing on them — Zhù Ying thought: so the marriage is coming along?

Lately, the reputation of Duan Ying in the capital had been growing more and more substantial. He had the standing and the nerve to come to the capital and establish himself. He was good-looking, from a fine family, and most notably talented across the board — everything there was to know about him was now impossible for Zhù Ying to miss. Unlike Zhù Ying’s reputation as a “head steward,” Duan Ying was a “great talent” — the complete package.

From him, people talked naturally toward his family. The Duan family in their day had also contributed to putting the Emperor on the throne, and Zhù Ying estimated that whatever the Duan family had done wrong at the time fell within what the Emperor could tolerate. What fell outside tolerance was the sort of crime that Feng Vice-Minister had been saddled with and that Gong Jue had committed two years ago.

Duan Ying’s prominent public appearance had not made Zheng Xi any more displeased — which meant Zheng Xi’s good news also couldn’t be far off. Zhù Ying had better review the wedding gift, to be ready to present it at any moment.

There was also no knowing whether she would run into Liu Songnian when she got to the Jing Prefecture — and if she did, she might catch a scolding on Zheng Xi’s behalf!

Zhù Ying, taking into account that she had just benefited from the money angle, was prepared to endure it.

She went back to her desk, drew a quick sketch of the property with the key areas circled, rolled it up into a paper scroll, and took it to the Jing Prefecture.

Leaving the imperial city, Cao Chang asked, “Third Young Master — is it true Prefect Wang will no longer be Jing Prefect and is going to be Chief Minister?”

“That’s right. We’re going to the Jing Prefecture right now to congratulate him.”

Cao Chang’s face fell. “Ah? Then he won’t be looking after the capital anymore? Then… who will?” He asked the last words very softly, with a deep sense of worry and a faint thread of hope.

“I don’t know,” Zhù Ying said.

Cao Chang sucked in a long breath of cool air. “If he doesn’t look after us anymore, what’s going to become of daily life?”

Good Jing Prefects might not always be there, and whoever came next might not be half as good! When the Jing Prefect relaxed even slightly, the powerful households ran wild. Even someone like Zhù Ying, a government official herself, would need to be careful. When the powerful households got arrogant, they could have officials whipped right there in the streets. Ordinary people had it far worse.

Cao Chang followed Zhù Ying in silence, and waited in silence outside the Jing Prefecture gate.

The new Jing Prefect had not yet been appointed, and Wang Yunhe was in no rush to vacate the premises. The household’s own servants were all beaming; the official staff put on faces of forced cheer.

Zhù Ying arrived with her rolled paper scroll to offer congratulations. Wang Yunhe said, “You’re joining in this bustle too? We’ll be seeing each other regularly in the future.”

Zhù Ying didn’t see Liu Songnian. Good — no scolding today. She unrolled the scroll and said, “The residence was originally sealed by the Court of Judicial Review. I went to unseal it today and went through it once more. Here are a few points where in this junior’s humble view there may be some danger — when you move in, have a thorough look, and if the craftsmen haven’t repaired them properly, please take the trouble to have it seen to again.”

“Treading on thin ice,” Wang Yunhe murmured. “Walking on the edge of a precipice.”

And I’m worse off than you, Zhù Ying thought. But aloud she said, “There are also those who are genuinely blind men on blind horses, at midnight at the edge of a precipice.”

Wang Yunhe found the lightness of this funny and gave a small laugh. “Going forward, the times I’ll be able to see you will be fewer. Don’t let yourself slip either! When I think of it and see you’ve fallen behind, I’ll come and spur you personally.”

“I will.”

The two sat quietly for a short while — just a short while — and neither said anything. Then Wang Yunhe said quietly, “Go home. You didn’t come to my housewarming, so I’ll expect you at mine.”

“Yes!” Zhù Ying agreed with great enthusiasm.

But she didn’t go straight home. The Gong Jue case — she had gotten involved midway through and had scraped a great deal of benefit from it, but because she had come in partway, she had missed out on a great deal. Today she had finally plucked the last feather from Gong Jue’s carcass. She felt complete.

She dismounted and said to Cao Chang, “Take the horse home. I have some more business.”

“Then what do I tell the Madam when I get back?”

“Just say I was in a good mood and wanted to wander around.”

“Yes.”

Zhù Ying turned twice and vanished from sight. On the streets, people were discussing the news all around — caught up in their own concerns about the capital, paying no attention to her. Unnoticed, she turned and found herself on the back lane behind the pleasure quarter.

As twilight came, the pleasure quarter was just beginning to light up. In Xiao Jiang’s small courtyard, the “students” had all gone home for the day. Zhù Ying gave two light knocks at the courtyard gate, and the little dark-complexioned maidservant called from inside the crack of the gate, “Who’s there? Oh?!”

She pulled the gate open quickly. “Official — it’s been so long since you came.”

Zhù Ying slipped inside and saw Xiao Jiang in a Daoist robe, standing in the doorway, her expression composed with some effort.

Zhù Ying smiled lightly and said, “I won’t come in. I don’t know how your study of the Daoist canon is coming — have you gotten your certificate of ordination yet?”

Xiao Jiang said nothing; the little maidservant answered for her: “Mistress is studying so well!”

“And the ordination certificate?”

Xiao Jiang wanted to say: where would I get the money for that? But to say it aloud felt like a complaint, like coquetry, like a bid for money — she bit her lip and said nothing.

“You’d better hurry and get it done,” Zhù Ying said. “Take this.”

She had divided today’s gold and silver into two portions — one tucked in her breast, the other in her hand right now.

Xiao Jiang said with rigid firmness, “I don’t want it!”

“Time is tight,” Zhù Ying said. “Prefect Wang has been made Chief Minister. The Jing Prefecture will no longer be under his oversight. The next Jing Prefect is anyone’s guess. The ordination certificate isn’t enormously useful, but having it is better than not. You see these Daoist robes — they can actually offer some protection if you have the proper documentation. Otherwise, wearing the robes without a certificate just means a fine when someone checks.”

Who knew what the next Jing Prefect would be? Those on a par with Wang Yunhe existed in this dynasty — not many. Right now, in Zhù Ying’s limited view, she couldn’t name one.

Xiao Jiang said softly, “That old man too…”

Zhù Ying pressed the small bundle into her hands. “It’s not much. Take it.”

A tiny cloth bundle, but in Xiao Jiang’s hands it was heavy. This was likely gold — the amount probably wasn’t quite enough for an ordination certificate on its own. But she had her own savings; put together, it would about suffice.

She flinched as though burned and let it go. Zhù Ying’s hand darted out and caught the small bundle as it fell through the air. “Real money,” she said. “Not weighted with mercury. Take it. Who knows what things will be like from here on. I may run into trouble of my own before long. We’ve known each other all this time — take care of yourself.”

The little maid called softly: “Mistress.”

Xiao Jiang let out a long breath. “All right.”

“Take care.”

——

By the time Zhù Ying got home, Zhù Da and Zhang Xiangu were dancing — these two, practitioners of folk divination, processed news differently from ordinary citizens of the capital.

“Oh! Third is back! Prefect Wang has been promoted!”

“He has,” Zhù Ying said with a laugh. “I’m home!”

Huajie had a trace of worry in her eyes and came forward. “Ah Chang said you came from the Jing Prefecture. How did it go?”

“How did what go? The edict has been issued — there are preparations to make. The residence will need at least a month of renovation. And then staffing it with servants. For now he still needs to move out temporarily and stay at Liu Songnian’s house for a couple of days, then wait for the residence to be ready before moving in. Housewarming.”

She and Huajie exchanged a glance, and Zhù Ying gave a small shake of her head.

Zhù Ying handed the small bundle of gold and silver to Zhang Xiangu. “There — a small benefit from duty. Finally, money for groceries again.” Zhang Xiangu asked anxiously, “Where did this come from?!”

“It was Gong Jue’s former residence,” Zhù Ying said. “I went to look at it.”

Ah — that, Zhang Xiangu had no concerns about. She took it with full cheer and pulled Huajie off to record it.

Zhù Da was left alone dancing, with no one to join him. He pulled Cao Chang over for a game of chess. Cao Chang was distracted and kept making mistakes. “What’s wrong with you, child?” Zhù Da said.

Cao Chang was worried about what daily life would be like going forward — he had lived through both a good Jing Prefect and a bad one. He looked at Zhù Da and finally said nothing.

“The new Jing Prefect hasn’t even been appointed yet,” Zhù Ying said. “Just wait and see.”

Chapter 115: An Appointment to Chief Minister

Zheng Xi’s “glorious past” did not sour Zhù Ying’s mood. Liu Songnian had recounted something of those old events, but Zhù Ying had no intention of taking Liu Songnian’s standards as her own standard for deciding how she felt about things.

She even felt a measure of reassurance. The new bride had Liu Songnian as a senior figure in her corner — whatever might be said of her character and conduct, at least the foremost scholar of the age had this young woman’s back. As a wife’s subordinate to her husband, Zhù Ying could worry a little less.

She held to her original thinking — wait and see. And in the meantime she quietly sketched out several contingency plans in her mind. Worst case, run! This post she held now had been gifted to her out of thin air anyway. She was not greedy. Of course, if running wasn’t necessary, she preferred not to — and she would need to start paying attention to that Duan family!

Walking along, deep in thought, she found herself drifting unconsciously back to the old rented rooms they used to live in. Only when a neighbor called out to her did she come back to herself. She laughed and said, “Yes, we’ve moved — I came back to have a look. I paid a full year’s rent, after all.”

She truly did go in for a look. The interior had been cleared out, and the traces of their daily life had been all but wiped away. The landlord and the rental intermediary had no intention of refunding any rent, so she might as well sublease it — though no suitable next tenant had come along yet. She looked it over, locked the gate again, and this time made it home without incident.

Today she hadn’t brought Cao Chang along — there were things to do at home. Zhù Da wanted to build a kennel himself and had asked Cao Chang to stay and help. Zhù Ying walked home alone on the street. The sixth-month heat was still fierce, but her mind was clear and untroubled — only a small pang of reflection: a stranger entering someone else’s territory could fall into traps far too easily. The Duan family was a trap she’d had no way to foresee. Twenty years of history — you would never think to tell someone about events from twenty years back. Jin Liang and the others had told her things about the Zheng Marquis’s household, but they had never mentioned Zheng Xi once had a great-uncle by marriage like that. Beneath the still surface of this deep pool the capital was — who knew how many more such things lay hidden?

And right now she had no real power of initiative. She could only stay quiet, prepare herself well, and wait for the moment she was needed.

The ward she had moved into also had plenty of food stalls and eateries. Generally a step up from the old area near her first rented rooms, though not quite on a par with the second ward. She had identified a noodle stall that seemed reasonably good, and a sesame-stuffed flatbread shop that did quite well. She had walked past both without buying — the summer heat meant anything bought in quantity would spoil easily before she got home.

Back at the house, a knock at the main gate, and Cao Chang came right away to open it. “Third Young Master, you’re home!”

Zhù Da stood up behind him. “Come on, look, look!”

The two of them had finished building a kennel today. For a puppy of this size, the kennel was practically a mansion. The old materials from the demolition had all been taken away by Old Tian, and Fu Long had measured the new materials precisely enough that only a little was left over, stored in the storage room next to the gatehouse. Zhù Da rummaged through that remnant, just barely enough to build two kennels.

Cao Chang had found some straw, loosely stuffed into the kennel as bedding. Zhang Xiangu had set an old clay pot outside the kennel as a food bowl; it still had a little soup and moisture in it. A leash of braided hemp was tied around the puppy’s neck, fastened beside the kennel. Du Dajie had set a broken bowl of water next to it as well.

So the puppy was settled in.

Zhù Ying saw how they could be so busily satisfied with making a fuss over a puppy and said, “This is all very good.”

Zhang Xiangu called her back inside to change clothes and wipe down her face, and kept talking as she walked her in: “I bought a basketful of sweet melons today. Soaked a few in the well water — they’ll be perfect to eat!”

“Lovely,” Zhù Ying said.

She still wanted to sleep in the study that night, but Zhang Xiangu insisted she wash up and change in the rear bedroom. “You still have to come back here to wash up — the house can’t go without people in it. A house with no life in it isn’t right.”

Zhù Ying didn’t argue. After all, the bedroom had its vanity table and furniture and all her clothing — she changed her clothes and heard a sound. “What’s that?”

Zhang Xiangu said, “What sound? There’s nothing.”

Zhù Ying walked in her wooden clogs to the small courtyard next door where Du Dajie slept, pushed open the door, and found two large cages. She had no idea where Du Dajie had gotten two large geese from! Du Dajie said, “Third Young Master — the market today had geese selling cheap, so I bought some.” She spoke with a slight diffidence, since the grocery money in the new house was not much.

“All right,” Zhù Ying said. “At least it’ll be lively.”

Du Dajie took some melons from the bucket, dried them, cut them up. Zhù Ying said, “Take a couple to Cao Chang as well.” Cao Chang and Zhù Da had both been busy all day, and Zhù Da had already developed a certain fondness for the young man. Thoroughly bored, he had dragged a table out of the gatehouse storage, added two stools, and set up a game of chess with Cao Chang beside the kennel.

They were not playing anything complicated or refined — a very simple five-piece game with a slight gambling flavor, though no stakes. Just passing the time.

When the melon arrived, both of them ate as they played, attracting flies. Zhù Da said, “Dogs get smelly so fast, they draw flies!”

Cao Chang, straightforward as ever, said, “I’ll give it a wash in a bit.”

Zhù Ying didn’t go to the front. She sat with Zhang Xiangu and ate melon and chatted. Zhang Xiangu asked where she had gone today and so on. “I went out to walk around — I haven’t been able to wander freely in a while. Where’s Huajie?”

“She went to the nunnery.”

“Save her a melon then.”

“It’s saved.”

They ate melon and talked of small things. Zhang Xiangu told her not to eat too much — dinner was coming. While the two were talking, Huajie came in through the main gate. Zhang Xiangu stood up. “What’s that?”

Huajie had something in her arms, pulling back her coat to reveal a cat. “A cat. There was a mother cat that appeared at the nunnery some time ago, and before long she had a litter of kittens. I brought one. We have such a large house now — when we get more things, there’ll be all kinds of food in the kitchen. Best to have a cat to catch mice.”

In only a few days of moving into the new house, the Zhù household had assembled dogs, cats, geese, donkeys, horses, and mules — equal in number to the people!

“Fine by me!” Zhù Ying said.

It was just that the dog and cat, having come to the Zhù household, would get no lavish diet of fish and meat either — the people ate whatever was left over, and the animals ate whatever the people left behind. At dinner, when Zhù Da heard, he said, “Then we need to make a cat bed too!”

“No need,” Huajie said. “It’ll stay with me.” Find a basket, line it with old clothes, and the cat was housed considerably better than the dog.

Zhù Da was a little disappointed and said several times, “If you ever want to build a cat bed, tell me! The materials are still there!”

Huajie smiled. “I will.”

Zhù Da also said, “It’s a little lonely for Ah Chang to eat over there by himself.”

Zhang Xiangu agreed but also said, “So what? You go keep him company then? Don’t go making the poor boy uncomfortable.” She had figured it out by now — this honest boy truly thought of himself as a servant, and was constrained in front of the family.

Zhù Da said, “You know, this house is too big and empty. Shouldn’t we have someone for the gatehouse? Otherwise just a Du Dajie and an Ah Chang — you can see it’s too much for them to manage. If there’s someone for the gatehouse, he and Ah Chang can eat together.” Du Dajie handled the rear courtyard, Cao Chang handled the front — and just sweeping and cleaning alone was a full job. Cao Chang also had to accompany Zhù Ying out — he was kept more than busy. This was the predicament of many a junior official’s household. They were officials, so servants were necessary; but there was not much money, so the household had few servants, and one servant was used as several.

“And the expense for another person?” Zhang Xiangu said. “And there’s no one reliable to be had.”

Zhù Ying thought for a moment. It wasn’t a matter of just one person — a gatekeeper and a cook, at the very least two. “Give it two more months,” she said. “Things will ease up.”

“After the autumn harvest too,” Huajie said.

The family talked nothing but household matters and small things. Zhù Ying’s mind was entirely at rest. No one in the family had any idea she had just learned from Liu Songnian about events that suggested something was coming. Everyone in the household, up and down, was immersed in the joy of “a new life beginning.”

Zhù Ying had one good quality: whatever the circumstances, she never let anything disrupt her eating or sleeping. Very few things could disturb her daily rhythms. That night she slept normally, no tossing and turning, and the next morning went to report for duty as usual. Nothing on the surface had changed.

——

The next day at the outer wall of the imperial city, Zheng Xi’s usual attendant servants were still standing in their usual place — they had the habit of not rushing back to the Zheng household immediately. There were plenty of servants in the Zheng household and there was no shortage of people to wait outside. Zhù Ying spotted Lu Chao outside, and said in surprise, “How come Gan Da isn’t here?”

Gan Ze had been showing up on time outside these past days, pulling his cousin aside for some coaching before sending Cao Chang back to the Zhù household; he’d come again in the afternoon to escort Zhù Ying.

Lu Chao laughed. “You don’t know? His wife gave birth last night!” He looked over at Cao Chang and said, “Hey, young man — you have a nephew now.”

Cao Chang was genuinely happy for Gan Ze. “My aunt and uncle can stop fretting at last!”

Zhù Ying filed away a note to herself. The household was practically cleaned out of ready money, but this gift still had to be given. At least it didn’t need to be much — she could scrape it together. She also glanced at Cao Chang, thinking: something should be prepared for him too.

At the Court of Judicial Review, the small troubles of official duties came again.

At first Zhù Ying didn’t know this was a professional matter. Yang Sanlang had been coming to the Court of Judicial Review more frequently lately, and when he appeared, she paid no special attention.

But when Yang Sanlang opened his mouth, she knew he hadn’t come just to chat. He said, “Sanlang, there’s something I absolutely need your help with.”

“From the look of you — you haven’t lost someone again, have you?”

“Don’t tease me! It’s like this — rumor has it the traffickers have all been caught?”

“Oh? Where did you hear that?”

“The Jing Prefecture — how swiftly the Prefect Wang handles things!” Yang Sanlang said. “My uncle heard about it too. Um — are you free tonight? I’d like to come to your door!”

“What do you want?”

Yang Sanlang said, “My uncle has run into a difficulty — as you know, before, for the sake of my cousin, my aunt nearly suffered a great loss! I have to help my aunt. This matter also involves your Court of Judicial Review, so I figured I’d find you first and talk it over. In case the Jing Prefecture sends over any documents related to those traffickers — could you hold off for now, wait until we’ve talked tonight, before making any final decision? Just one night, just one night — it won’t delay anything. Please, please!”

“Their case files haven’t arrived yet,” Zhù Ying said. Wang Yunhe was quick, but the arrests were only made yesterday. After arrests, all the suspects’ confessions had to be reconciled and cross-checked. This wasn’t a particularly large case — it was probably He Jing’s job. With this many people, He Jing was probably still in the middle of interrogations. At the very least it would be a couple more days before all the evidence was matched up and the documents sent over.

Yang Sanlang’s face lit up. “That’s fine then! Tonight I’ll come to your house!”

He came that night not empty-handed — servants drove a carriage that unloaded a full load of gifts. Cao Chang opened the gate and said, “This official looks very familiar.”

“Aren’t you Cao Chang? Sanlang! Sanlang, I’m here!” Yang Sanlang called out.

Yang Sanlang had the servants bring the load inside the gate and said, “Sanlang, I need your advice!”

Zhù Ying gestured for Cao Chang to close the gate, invited Yang Sanlang into the study to sit down, and asked, “What is it? You already know what happened with the case, don’t you?”

Luo Yuan, whatever else could be said about him, had money, and this wasn’t sensitive intelligence — a few guan here and there and it came out that Wang Yunhe had rounded up all the traffickers at the Jing Prefecture.

Yang Sanlang said, “It’s not about the arrests — it’s about the sentencing!” Luo Yuan wanted nothing else but to have all the traffickers sentenced to death!

“Luo Yuan’s temper is really something,” Zhù Ying said. “Why not go and speak to the Jing Prefecture directly? He’s the victim.”

Yang Sanlang said, “Just hear me out, all of it! He consulted several people who know the law, and getting them all sentenced to death is very hard!”

Yang Sanlang knew it well enough — there was no such law as that. The trafficking of human beings was itself a murky matter; the official government kept formal registers for legitimate human trading! It was only something like “forcible sale” that was actually illegal. If it came to selling free people or selling free people as servants, the criminal liability would increase.

In practice, punishing the buying and selling of human beings was extremely difficult. For example: the law had a clear written provision — if an ordinary commoner sold a junior family member, a wife, or a child into slavery, that was illegal. You could expect a sentence of labor in exile. Yet in practice, parents selling children, grandparents selling grandchildren, uncles selling nephews, husbands selling wives was not uncommon, and very few people ever received actual punishment. There were many cases of people swallowing the inheritance of female relatives by selling them off this way.

Even what Luo Yuan had done — buying someone else’s child to raise as his own — was technically improper. It was just dressed up nicely and called “adoption.” “Adopted sons” were common enough everywhere that the authorities had no way to look deeply into it.

For Luo Yuan to demand all the traffickers be sentenced to death? That was practically impossible, unless the presiding official was willing to commit judicial misconduct.

But his newly acquired son had nearly become someone else’s son, and Luo Yuan’s thinking was anything but magnanimous! He wanted them dead!

He’d had a previous confrontation with Wang Yunhe and come away with nothing to show for it, so now he didn’t dare keep making trouble at Wang Yunhe’s door. Yang Sanlang had seized on this and made broad promises in front of his uncle. But Luo Yuan didn’t fully believe in him, thinking: your influence? This isn’t about your face — it’s about mine! And face alone probably won’t be enough for this!

He had Yang Sanlang bring gifts to Zhù Ying, so he wouldn’t be foolishly trading on his own face. In Luo Yuan’s estimation, Zhù Ying was unlikely to take on Wang Yunhe directly, but a dying horse may as well be treated as if it were still alive! If she could manage to quietly find some way to arrange this, the load of gifts would be money well spent. She had a role in running the day-to-day affairs of the Court of Judicial Review, and was capable enough — worth a try.

“Forcible sale as a servant is a strangulation offense,” Zhù Ying said. “You want them all put to death? Isn’t that setting the bar rather high?”

“No, there’s something…” Yang Sanlang said.

“Hear me out,” Zhù Ying said. “There’s a proper road right in front of you — why take the back alley?

In any trade involving buying, selling, and transport, there are losses. What about human beings? Forcible sale of a person into servitude carries strangulation. What if a person died during the trafficking process? Murder, life for life. Even classified as accidental, the minimum sentence is exile.

In something like this, with Prefect Wang’s integrity, he would never let them off easily! The Jing Prefecture is still in the middle of interrogation. Whatever comes out of the interrogation we don’t know yet — but as long as there’s a death involved, these traffickers have no good outcome waiting for them. How does that approach sound to you?”

“That would be wonderful! But… we wouldn’t dare… we wouldn’t dare say it to the Jing Prefecture… the thing is…”

“I’ll go say a word or two to He Jing,” Zhù Ying said, “and see what can be found and what evidence can be obtained. As long as there’s solid proof, it’ll all be easy to handle.”

Yang Sanlang was overjoyed. “Agreed!”

“Take the gifts back with you,” Zhù Ying said. “I can’t be sure this will work, and taking them would give me a guilty conscience. Besides — given the friendship between us, I don’t need to call in favors or spend money to manage something like this. Why such formality? If I ever need something from you in the future, will you take my money too? Charge me interest?”

Yang Sanlang was embarrassed. “Well, the thing is…”

“Go back and tell Eunuch Luo I’ll do my best. Take the gifts back with you — this is your contribution on his behalf. If he wants to reward you for it, you can accept that with a clear conscience.”

“All right, then!”

Zhù Ying didn’t take this load of gifts, and Zhang Xiangu, Zhù Da, and Huajie all breathed easier — all three of them had been worried that Zhù Ying might get entangled with a powerful eunuch, help him do something illegal, and not be able to extricate herself cleanly. Eunuchs’ reputations had never been good, and with Luo Yuan having had that confrontation with Wang Yunhe, all three of them liked him even less. If it weren’t for Yang Sanlang’s face being somewhat agreeable, Zhang Xiangu wouldn’t have wanted Zhù Ying involved with him at all.

The only complication this created was that the gift for Gan Ze’s newborn son became tight. In the end, Huajie pulled some of her own private savings to cover it.

Zhang Xiangu was a little embarrassed. “Flower Sister — look at this. Third is already an official, and you’re still supplementing the household.”

“I’m alone in the world,” Huajie said. “Father and Mother are willing to take me in. I owe you my daily meals and housing.”

“You mustn’t say that! Without you, this household would have fallen into chaos long ago!”

The two kept at their courtesies until Zhù Ying had heard enough. “All right, that’s quite sufficient! Pack up — let’s go to Gan Ze’s house.”

She said to Cao Chang, “Ride the donkey; let Du Dajie bring the bundle for him to carry. Have him go ahead to Gan Ze’s house first. We’ll go separately.”

“Why?” Cao Chang asked.

“Children should be seen and not heard,” Zhang Xiangu said. “When you’re told to go, go!”

Cao Chang went off in bewilderment, bundle in hand and riding the donkey to Gan Ze’s house. His aunt asked him, and he said, “They told me to come first. This is also something the mistress prepared.” His aunt opened the bundle and found lengths of fabric inside — the standard gift for a newborn.

His aunt sighed and said, “Your cousin has good fortune. He found a decent person.”

“Cousin, what’s Aunt saying?” Cao Chang asked.

His uncle said, “How many people are there who — once they have seen someone in difficult circumstances — once they find themselves prosperous and capable, try to silence those ‘old friends from humble days’ so no one knows about their embarrassing past? The kinder ones quietly send you away. A little kinder still, they stop seeing you, move on to wealthy companions, or trade up in spouse and friends. Those who truly don’t forget the friends of difficult times and still manage to be thoughtful about them — they are rare indeed. We have found treasure.”

Cao Chang still couldn’t quite make sense of it.

When Zhù Ying arrived on horseback with Zhù Da personally driving the carriage, the whole Gan household came out to meet them. Zhù Ying looked behind her and said, “I don’t see Zheng Senior Official here either. Who exactly are you coming out to meet?”

Gan Ze’s face was full of both joy and deep feeling. “I just came out to stand here — is that allowed?”

Zhù Ying jumped down from the horse and said, “That sounds like something Lu the Second would say.”

Lu Chao came out from behind and said, “What’s wrong with me? How come every cutting remark gets attributed to me, while he just counts as a plain person saying plain things?”

Wang Yunhe laughed even harder. He was personally leading the horse away to be fed. Cao Chang rushed over to help, and also helped unhitch the mule to give it fodder.

——

The Zhù household was a guest of honor at the Gan household. Back in the Luo household, Luo Yuan was fuming at home.

Yang Sanlang had brought the gifts back!

Getting something done without spending money — that was welcome. But offering money that wasn’t taken, with the outcome still unsure — that sat poorly with him. He no longer dared clash directly with Wang Yunhe and didn’t feel comfortable approaching Zheng Xi either. From the outside, it looked as though Zhù Ying was truly Zheng Xi’s chief steward at the Court of Judicial Review, running the place for Zheng Xi with needle-and-thread precision, and admirably undemanding.

To move Zhù Ying, Luo Yuan would have to anger Zheng Xi — and he knew Zheng Xi was even harder to handle than Wang Yunhe, because Zheng Xi was unreasonable.

He stewed, and waited half a month — and to his surprise, Zhù Ying actually delivered.

Zhù Ying had no particular grudge with the peddler but no fondness for traffickers either, and getting this done cost her no favors and no money. She had a good working relationship with He Jing, and with an indirect word or two, He Jing — an experienced hand in these matters — took the hint immediately. He actually turned up evidence that during the trafficking operations, several children had died on the way, and one young woman who refused to comply had been violated and thrown from the boat and drowned.

With the confessions taken, twenty constables were sent out with the suspects to search the fields, where half a small child’s skeleton was found — the other half had been dragged away and scattered by stray dogs. Other children who had died during transport, farther from the capital and harder to search for, or buried in unmarked graves, remained unaccounted for.

Wang Yunhe, reviewing it all, was furious. The principal offenders were sentenced to either decapitation or strangulation; the accomplices received at minimum exile of three thousand li. Three thousand li — not much different from a death sentence. The only difference was an early death versus a later death. It was now the sixth month. Autumn was not far off. Luo Yuan would see them all dead before long.

Wang Yunhe’s verdict was sent to the Court of Judicial Review. The review was not Zhù Ying’s to perform — she only added her countersignature. Since the case had no ambiguities, the skeleton had been found, and the law was clear, no one in the Court saw anything excessive in the sentencing. Everyone felt this was a just outcome.

With the matter settled, Luo Yuan’s grudge against Zhù Ying faded, but there remained a small knot of irritation in his chest. He cursed inwardly: the old one is hard to deal with, and the young one is hard to deal with! Does this mean I have to actually work through Zheng Xi?

Yang Sanlang still didn’t know why he wasn’t happy, and asked, “Uncle, even if it’s not all death sentences, three thousand li is enough to kill them twice over. What are you still worried about?!”

“Get out,” Luo Yuan said.

Yang Sanlang didn’t dare get out; Luo Yuan was so angry he kicked him out, furiously cursing: “All useless fools!” The gifts weren’t sent back with Yang Sanlang either — a kick for one and a kick for the other, and the load was upended. Luo Yuan snarled, “What is all this rubbish? I don’t believe he’ll stay in the Jing Prefecture forever!”

Luo Yuan’s words actually came true — Wang Yunhe was about to be relieved of the Jing Prefecture!

The Emperor — one might say he was wise, having “relied on treacherous sycophants for twenty years,” and then one might also say he was sagacious and illuminated, “acting with sole authority and clear-eyed handling in removing the treacherous officials.”

Now he was “sagacious” again.

Wang Yunhe was elevated to the position of Chief Minister. By seniority he ranked behind Chen Luan and Shi Kun, but he had been made a Chief Minister. A worthy official beloved by the people — if the Emperor could recognize his merits and promote him to govern the state, then this Emperor was not without wisdom.

When the Emperor issued the edict, Luo Yuan was standing right there. His face turned green.

A Jing Prefect was half a Chief Minister — and now it had become a complete and proper Chief Minister. When Wang Yunhe had been Jing Prefect, the capital’s powerful households had found him deeply troublesome. His becoming Chief Minister meant they could breathe a little easier, since Wang Yunhe would no longer be their direct overseer. But! Now that he was Chief Minister, the scope of his authority grew wider still. His words to the Emperor became more justified and more direct. He would be at the imperial city every day, meeting the Emperor face to face. Those around the Emperor would need to be careful.

Was there any room left for eunuchs to live?!

Those who shared Luo Yuan’s sentiments were not only eunuchs! Setting aside the powerful households of the capital, when others elsewhere heard that Wang Yunhe had been made Chief Minister, half rejoiced for him and half lamented for themselves. Even Zhù Ying was a mixture of joy and worry. The Left Supervisory Official had been sent on an out-of-town assignment by her and hadn’t returned yet, so she and Hu Lian sat together drinking tea and chatting.

Hu Lian let out a stream of sighs. “Our good days are over.”

“I agree,” Zhù Ying said. “No telling who the new Jing Prefect will be, and whoever is even a little worse…”

The capital’s powerful households and the spoiled young men of the nobility would be celebrating the chance to cause trouble at last. They said very little before more edicts came from the palace: the Court of Judicial Review was to unseal the residence of the former traitor Gong and hand it over for renovation, to be granted to Wang Yunhe as his new official residence.

Zhù Ying leapt to her feet. “I’ll handle it!”

No one in the Court quarreled with her over this assignment. She was on good terms with Wang Yunhe — this was clearing out a house for Wang Yunhe. Who else could do it?

Zhù Ying selected several clerks and drew five people from the female constables — exactly Cui Jiacheng’s unit. The group went first to inspect the unsealing of Gong Jue’s former residence, and then handed it over to the relevant craftsmen for renovation.

Zhou Wan, who was in Cui Jiacheng’s unit, thought for a moment and asked, “What are we searching for, Official?”

“This residence was sealed by us in the first place,” Zhù Ying said. “If it were handed to Prefect Wang exactly as we left it, I wouldn’t worry. But we’re handing it to craftsmen for renovation first — and if something we missed before turns up in the process, that would be problematic. Best to go through it once more. If something is still missed, that’s just our misfortune. Remember: from now on, whatever task is in your hands, no matter how thorough you think you’ve been — do a self-check before handing it over.”

“Yes.”

——

Zhù Ying had people strip the sealed strips from the main gate first, then gave her orders: “Close the gate! No one enters without my permission!”

Then she arranged the personnel, and by the same method as searching a house, swept once more through this former powerful minister’s residence, now overgrown with grass. They went one sealed section at a time, room by room.

Zhù Ying had two goals: first, not to leave any overlooked case evidence behind; second, to find in advance any dangers in the residence and alert Wang Yunhe in time.

When the case was being investigated, Zheng Xi had gone through this property with a floor plan, inch by inch. It had been thorough, to say the least. Yet now, going through it again with this group, they actually discovered a cellar that had been added after the original construction, with more gold and silver and gold and silver vessels inside. Everyone was surprised. And among the clerks, each had found something useful — with Zhou Wan having the greatest finds.

Zhù Ying said without expression, “Anything with a mark on it — register it.”

Any marked items the clerks found here and there were all logged as the Court of Judicial Review’s supplementary recovery. Several pages of torn paper she intended to hand to Zheng Xi for his consideration. As for the gold and silver found — same as always: Zheng Xi gets a share, she gets to skim a layer, and then the rest is distributed to those present.

Right now she needed money desperately!

When everything was examined, she drew a rough sketch of the property, marking the locations of several structurally unsafe buildings, and listed other matters worth noting — down to mouse holes and dog holes — to be handed over to the craftsmen. Zhù Ying said, “That’s all. Let’s go back.”

Back at the Court of Judicial Review, the gold and silver vessels were inventoried and handed over; the remaining money was divided on the spot. Zheng Xi received the few pages of “evidence” and laughed. “These aren’t of any use now.” He tore them up and dropped them in a basin of water to soak until destroyed.

“All the same, they couldn’t be left lying around outside,” Zhù Ying said.

Zheng Xi smiled. “Good. Aren’t you going to offer congratulations?”

“It would actually seem more strange if I didn’t go,” Zhù Ying said.

“Go, then,” Zheng Xi said generously.

Looking at his expression — not the kind of happiness one would feel about taking a new wife, and not the gloomy look of someone with something weighing on them — Zhù Ying thought: so the marriage is coming along?

Lately, the reputation of Duan Ying in the capital had been growing more and more substantial. He had the standing and the nerve to come to the capital and establish himself. He was good-looking, from a fine family, and most notably talented across the board — everything there was to know about him was now impossible for Zhù Ying to miss. Unlike Zhù Ying’s reputation as a “head steward,” Duan Ying was a “great talent” — the complete package.

From him, people talked naturally toward his family. The Duan family in their day had also contributed to putting the Emperor on the throne, and Zhù Ying estimated that whatever the Duan family had done wrong at the time fell within what the Emperor could tolerate. What fell outside tolerance was the sort of crime that Feng Vice-Minister had been saddled with and that Gong Jue had committed two years ago.

Duan Ying’s prominent public appearance had not made Zheng Xi any more displeased — which meant Zheng Xi’s good news also couldn’t be far off. Zhù Ying had better review the wedding gift, to be ready to present it at any moment.

There was also no knowing whether she would run into Liu Songnian when she got to the Jing Prefecture — and if she did, she might catch a scolding on Zheng Xi’s behalf!

Zhù Ying, taking into account that she had just benefited from the money angle, was prepared to endure it.

She went back to her desk, drew a quick sketch of the property with the key areas circled, rolled it up into a paper scroll, and took it to the Jing Prefecture.

Leaving the imperial city, Cao Chang asked, “Third Young Master — is it true Prefect Wang will no longer be Jing Prefect and is going to be Chief Minister?”

“That’s right. We’re going to the Jing Prefecture right now to congratulate him.”

Cao Chang’s face fell. “Ah? Then he won’t be looking after the capital anymore? Then… who will?” He asked the last words very softly, with a deep sense of worry and a faint thread of hope.

“I don’t know,” Zhù Ying said.

Cao Chang sucked in a long breath of cool air. “If he doesn’t look after us anymore, what’s going to become of daily life?”

Good Jing Prefects might not always be there, and whoever came next might not be half as good! When the Jing Prefect relaxed even slightly, the powerful households ran wild. Even someone like Zhù Ying, a government official herself, would need to be careful. When the powerful households got arrogant, they could have officials whipped right there in the streets. Ordinary people had it far worse.

Cao Chang followed Zhù Ying in silence, and waited in silence outside the Jing Prefecture gate.

The new Jing Prefect had not yet been appointed, and Wang Yunhe was in no rush to vacate the premises. The household’s own servants were all beaming; the official staff put on faces of forced cheer.

Zhù Ying arrived with her rolled paper scroll to offer congratulations. Wang Yunhe said, “You’re joining in this bustle too? We’ll be seeing each other regularly in the future.”

Zhù Ying didn’t see Liu Songnian. Good — no scolding today. She unrolled the scroll and said, “The residence was originally sealed by the Court of Judicial Review. I went to unseal it today and went through it once more. Here are a few points where in this junior’s humble view there may be some danger — when you move in, have a thorough look, and if the craftsmen haven’t repaired them properly, please take the trouble to have it seen to again.”

“Treading on thin ice,” Wang Yunhe murmured. “Walking on the edge of a precipice.”

And I’m worse off than you, Zhù Ying thought. But aloud she said, “There are also those who are genuinely blind men on blind horses, at midnight at the edge of a precipice.”

Wang Yunhe found the lightness of this funny and gave a small laugh. “Going forward, the times I’ll be able to see you will be fewer. Don’t let yourself slip either! When I think of it and see you’ve fallen behind, I’ll come and spur you personally.”

“I will.”

The two sat quietly for a short while — just a short while — and neither said anything. Then Wang Yunhe said quietly, “Go home. You didn’t come to my housewarming, so I’ll expect you at mine.”

“Yes!” Zhù Ying agreed with great enthusiasm.

But she didn’t go straight home. The Gong Jue case — she had gotten involved midway through and had scraped a great deal of benefit from it, but because she had come in partway, she had missed out on a great deal. Today she had finally plucked the last feather from Gong Jue’s carcass. She felt complete.

She dismounted and said to Cao Chang, “Take the horse home. I have some more business.”

“Then what do I tell the Madam when I get back?”

“Just say I was in a good mood and wanted to wander around.”

“Yes.”

Zhù Ying turned twice and vanished from sight. On the streets, people were discussing the news all around — caught up in their own concerns about the capital, paying no attention to her. Unnoticed, she turned and found herself on the back lane behind the pleasure quarter.

As twilight came, the pleasure quarter was just beginning to light up. In Xiao Jiang’s small courtyard, the “students” had all gone home for the day. Zhù Ying gave two light knocks at the courtyard gate, and the little dark-complexioned maidservant called from inside the crack of the gate, “Who’s there? Oh?!”

She pulled the gate open quickly. “Official — it’s been so long since you came.”

Zhù Ying slipped inside and saw Xiao Jiang in a Daoist robe, standing in the doorway, her expression composed with some effort.

Zhù Ying smiled lightly and said, “I won’t come in. I don’t know how your study of the Daoist canon is coming — have you gotten your certificate of ordination yet?”

Xiao Jiang said nothing; the little maidservant answered for her: “Mistress is studying so well!”

“And the ordination certificate?”

Xiao Jiang wanted to say: where would I get the money for that? But to say it aloud felt like a complaint, like coquetry, like a bid for money — she bit her lip and said nothing.

“You’d better hurry and get it done,” Zhù Ying said. “Take this.”

She had divided today’s gold and silver into two portions — one tucked in her breast, the other in her hand right now.

Xiao Jiang said with rigid firmness, “I don’t want it!”

“Time is tight,” Zhù Ying said. “Prefect Wang has been made Chief Minister. The Jing Prefecture will no longer be under his oversight. The next Jing Prefect is anyone’s guess. The ordination certificate isn’t enormously useful, but having it is better than not. You see these Daoist robes — they can actually offer some protection if you have the proper documentation. Otherwise, wearing the robes without a certificate just means a fine when someone checks.”

Who knew what the next Jing Prefect would be? Those on a par with Wang Yunhe existed in this dynasty — not many. Right now, in Zhù Ying’s limited view, she couldn’t name one.

Xiao Jiang said softly, “That old man too…”

Zhù Ying pressed the small bundle into her hands. “It’s not much. Take it.”

A tiny cloth bundle, but in Xiao Jiang’s hands it was heavy. This was likely gold — the amount probably wasn’t quite enough for an ordination certificate on its own. But she had her own savings; put together, it would about suffice.

She flinched as though burned and let it go. Zhù Ying’s hand darted out and caught the small bundle as it fell through the air. “Real money,” she said. “Not weighted with mercury. Take it. Who knows what things will be like from here on. I may run into trouble of my own before long. We’ve known each other all this time — take care of yourself.”

The little maid called softly: “Mistress.”

Xiao Jiang let out a long breath. “All right.”

“Take care.”

——

By the time Zhù Ying got home, Zhù Da and Zhang Xiangu were dancing — these two, practitioners of folk divination, processed news differently from ordinary citizens of the capital.

“Oh! Third is back! Prefect Wang has been promoted!”

“He has,” Zhù Ying said with a laugh. “I’m home!”

Huajie had a trace of worry in her eyes and came forward. “Ah Chang said you came from the Jing Prefecture. How did it go?”

“How did what go? The edict has been issued — there are preparations to make. The residence will need at least a month of renovation. And then staffing it with servants. For now he still needs to move out temporarily and stay at Liu Songnian’s house for a couple of days, then wait for the residence to be ready before moving in. Housewarming.”

She and Huajie exchanged a glance, and Zhù Ying gave a small shake of her head.

Zhù Ying handed the small bundle of gold and silver to Zhang Xiangu. “There — a small benefit from duty. Finally, money for groceries again.” Zhang Xiangu asked anxiously, “Where did this come from?!”

“It was Gong Jue’s former residence,” Zhù Ying said. “I went to look at it.”

Ah — that, Zhang Xiangu had no concerns about. She took it with full cheer and pulled Huajie off to record it.

Zhù Da was left alone dancing, with no one to join him. He pulled Cao Chang over for a game of chess. Cao Chang was distracted and kept making mistakes. “What’s wrong with you, child?” Zhù Da said.

Cao Chang was worried about what daily life would be like going forward — he had lived through both a good Jing Prefect and a bad one. He looked at Zhù Da and finally said nothing.

“The new Jing Prefect hasn’t even been appointed yet,” Zhù Ying said. “Just wait and see.”