The County Deputy and the County Secretary had not been having easy days lately!

No matter who it was, switching to a new direct superior was never a comfortable affair — especially when the previous superior had been a completely hands-off administrator. What they said behind his back was the truth of their hearts: an invisible superior was a good superior. A superior who showed up in front of them yet could not strive to advance their careers was worse than having none at all!

And so, with the arrival of the new superior, their troubles arrived as well!

By the regulations of the court, a local official could not serve in his home district. Neither man was from this particular county, though both were natives of this prefecture — not so far from home, yet not exactly close either. The geographical distance mirrored their social position exactly: neither too near nor too far, a slightly awkward middle ground. Caught between the Prefectural Governor and the County Magistrate, each had his own small calculations to make, yet neither could afford to ignore either of these two figures.

When the two men had encountered Zhù Ying at the relay station, they had sensed vaguely that she was somehow different from the ordinary — but lacking any concrete evidence, they had not dared say as much to Governor Lu. Without a single trace of proof to act on, if they spoke up and Governor Lu went charging off to make trouble only to come away empty-handed, wouldn’t the two of them end up roasting over the fire?

The two of them had been subjected to a thorough interrogation by Governor Lu at the prefectural capital, all of it centered on Zhù Ying’s conduct in Fulu County.

When they had left Fulu County, Zhù Ying hadn’t yet begun to do a single thing. If they set aside the unverifiable matter of the relay station encounter and reported only what they could honestly attest to, all they could tell Governor Lu was: “Our County Magistrate has done nothing at all — she has simply made herself at home in the yamen. She bought some furniture, all cheap goods. Her eating habits are different from ours, though she is not finicky. The Old Master is content with two liang of spirits, and the Old Mistress requires no delicacies or rare dishes.”

Pressed further, the most they could add was: “The County Magistrate does not speak the local dialect, nor does she know the local gentry, and spends her days riding on horseback with a flute, wandering through the hills and countryside.” Squeezed harder still, they might manage one more sentence: “Her lifestyle is frugal, and the Old Master and Old Mistress, also unable to speak the language, pass their days in quiet uneventfulness.”

At the time, Zhù Ying had not so much as asked about a single case or inquired into a single tax matter. Even the anticipated moves of “visiting the Three Elders and Five Sages” and “seizing power” had shown not the slightest trace. “The County Magistrate and the local residents cannot communicate due to the language barrier, and there is no sign of her forming alliances.”

The two men had kept their faint suspicions about Zhù Ying to themselves and said nothing to Governor Lu — and so they received a thorough tongue-lashing from him in return: “What use are you?” He had also hinted that Zhù County Magistrate was newly arrived and young, unfamiliar with administrative affairs, and that they should keep a close watch over county matters.

They were not stupid. The two of them played the obedient grandson at the Governor’s residence for three full days, simply refusing to pick up what Governor Lu was putting down.

It was not that they were too dull-witted to read the Governor’s meaning — rather, they had gradually come to sense that something about the whole situation did not smell right. Would an ordinary young County Magistrate really warrant the Governor going to such lengths? Since Governor Lu could not handle Zhù County Magistrate himself and still wanted them to lead the charge, it was plain enough that Zhù County Magistrate was no easy lamp to snuff out either. The County Deputy and County Secretary grew wary. Zhù County Magistrate was their direct superior, and it was becoming clear she was no pushover. If they simply threw in with Governor Lu just to sing against the County Magistrate, what would they get out of it? Unless Governor Lu offered them something concrete, neither the County Deputy nor the County Secretary had any desire to absorb the fallout on his behalf.

A Governor couldn’t possibly keep his eye fixed on Fulu County forever — but a County Magistrate had only one county, and would have no choice but to demand deference from her subordinates. That could turn genuinely troublesome.

The two men held firm and emerged from the Governor’s residence, now wanting to kowtow to themselves — they had been truly wise!

This new County Magistrate was a genuine scoundrel!

“She’s outrageously cunning! Both of them are as slippery as ghosts!” The County Secretary said to the County Deputy.

The County Deputy replied: “The Governor never promised us anything either. If something really goes wrong in Fulu County, the County Magistrate can’t escape responsibility — but can you or I, as County Deputy and County Secretary, escape it any better? The County Magistrate has powerful people in the capital backing her up; we have no one. Fortunately, we never gave the Governor our full loyalty, and we never made ourselves enemies of this County Magistrate.”

The two returned from the prefectural capital to the county and took the situation squarely on the chin — yet quickly found their footing: first, wait and see.

The two deliberated privately for a time, and the County Secretary said: “Did you notice?”

The County Deputy laughed: “Indeed I did.”

Two old foxes who had spent nearly ten years in Fulu County, they quickly identified the crux of the matter — Zhù Ying had spent ten days touring the countryside, mediating countless disputes, yet every single one of them was utterly trivial. With thirteen townships across the entire county, she had covered a third of them without turning up a single major case? Who were they trying to fool?

It was plain that the county’s “commoners” were also maintaining a wait-and-see attitude.

The County Secretary said: “Let them fight it out amongst themselves. If they cancel each other out, so much the better — they’ll leave us a perfectly good Fulu County, and we’ll enjoy our ease.”

Let the immortals battle it out — what does it have to do with us, the County Deputy and the County Secretary?

Zhù County Magistrate is no good thing either! And she’s younger than Governor Lu! Fine, let the two of you butt heads!

The County Deputy said: “How can you be so reckless? What do you mean, ‘cancel each other out’? Won’t the court simply send someone new?”

The County Secretary said: “Old friend, since they’re both our superiors, what need do we have to worry? Let’s sit back and watch their spectacle!”

The County Deputy said: “From this day forward, we say as little as possible!”

“Then just watch?”

“If the County Magistrate turns out to be sensible, we help the County Magistrate. There are plenty of others more anxious about this than we are! Whatever the County Magistrate wants to accomplish, doesn’t she have to start from within the county itself? She’ll need us sooner or later. And how often does the Governor actually come to our county?”

The two reached their understanding and settled in to watch what Zhù Ying would do next.

——

They little expected that Zhù Ying would simply rotate in a fresh set of constables and continue her inspection tours of the neighboring townships, making no trouble for them at all.

In due course she succeeded in making the entire Fulu County aware that they had a County Magistrate in residence — and a County Magistrate who was willing to attend to matters. Zhù Ying herself had also learned things that no document had previously recorded.

Fulu County was a fascinating place, its jurisdiction having an exceedingly flexible boundary. The thirteen townships on the books were officially within the yamen’s purview, but in reality there was a vast territory beyond those thirteen townships — larger than all thirteen combined — that was loosely folded into them yet entirely beyond the county’s actual control. This was the ancestral home of countless獠 people. “Countless” was not an approximation but a literal truth: the獠 people had long since ceased reporting their numbers to the court.

The獠 people dwelling here were not counted as belonging to Fulu County in any case — they also held influence in neighboring counties, neighboring prefectures, neighboring prefectures, and even territories not yet drawn onto any map.

Zhù Ying was in no hurry. She continued her way through one trifling matter after another. She also formed a rough understanding of the great clans of the county and the powerful households of each township, corrected several of her earlier impressions, and arrived at a more concrete plan for governing Fulu County.

Zhù Da and Zhang Xiangu, meanwhile, were gradually showing signs of discomfort.

A county seat was necessarily the most inhabitable place in a county, and the two had been living fairly comfortably since they settled into the yamen. During the first inspection tour, Zhù Ying had not traveled too far, and they had simply eaten and slept a little worse than usual — their spirits remained good. During the second inspection tour, she had ventured farther, into deep mountains and dense forests, where miasma and venomous insects abounded, and both began to show symptoms of illness.

On the second inspection tour, the two elders began to feel physically unwell. Fortunately, Huajie was there to take their pulses and prepare some medicinal powder for them to brew and drink. Both gradually developed itching rashes all over their bodies and suffered some digestive discomfort, but managed to hold on.

The third tour was to cover even more distant territory. Not daring to be careless, Zhù Ying left the two of them behind at the yamen. Zhang Xiangu was worried sick: “But what will you do on your own?”

Zhù Ying said: “It’ll be fine, I know what I’m doing — it’s only ten days! Elder Sister will stay behind and keep you company. Wait for me — I’ll be back in exactly ten days.”

Zhang Xiangu had no choice but to see Zhù Ying off with an anxious heart, cursing her own weak constitution for not being able to accompany her daughter. What made her even more furious was that after returning to the yamen, her little red rash and her vomiting and diarrhea miraculously cleared up entirely! Huajie thus concluded that Zhang Xiangu was suffering from the effects of unfamiliar local conditions and was unsuited to traveling into the countryside. Zhù Da still wanted to accompany his daughter on the inspection tour, but Huajie took his pulse and said: “Adoptive Father, you should also stay.”

Huajie herself could still endure the journey and volunteered to accompany Zhù Ying. The matter of touring the entire county could not be delayed, and both Zhù Da and Zhang Xiangu swore solemnly: “We shall absolutely rest and recuperate properly right here in the yamen.” Only then did Zhù Ying take Huajie and leave the yamen for the third time.

As expected, this stretch of ten-odd days also passed in a succession of trivial matters.

Even the most guileless among them, Cao Chang, could tell something was off. He said to Zhù Ying: “Sanlang, isn’t something not quite right down here?”

Zhù Ying asked: “How do you mean?”

Cao Chang deliberately steered away from the affairs of his own elder sister and brother-in-law and spoke only from his personal experience of daily life. Apart from brothers fighting over property, two neighboring households could come to blows over something as petty as the construction of a building. The new house Zhù Ying had purchased in the capital had been sold cheaply precisely because a neighboring brawl had produced a fatality.

Such things were not uncommon throughout every prefecture, county, and township of the realm. If one were to compile statistics, it would emerge that this ranked among the leading causes of conflict in the countryside. A provocation, and then came the fighting.

With not a single person lodging this sort of complaint with Zhù Ying, Cao Chang said: “You’ve worked this hard for them — are they looking down on you?”

They all wanted Zhù Ying to demonstrate her authority sooner rather than later.

Zhù Ying said: “Never mind. We take it slowly.”

Her concern was not with the size of cases but with the people who were demanding she adjudicate them. After nearly a month of visiting, the first several days had passed normally enough. From the twelfth day onward, she began to encounter problems — the people of this particular settlement had no record in the household registers she knew!

Concealed households.

Rather than following the routes and positions indicated on maps and household registers, she simply walked down whatever road presented itself. When she came across a village not on the official records, she feigned ignorance — she did not let Qi Tai immediately check the household and land registers on the spot, kept up the pretense of noticing nothing unusual, and continued adjudicating the same trivial disputes within that village. A sum of private savings that had been stolen from an elderly widow by a village rogue was recovered from his home — mostly gambled away already, though the pottery jar itself was still there.

This rogue had crept out in the middle of the night, gouged a hole through the wall of the widow’s thatched cottage, and rolled the pottery jar out of the house, then rolled it all the way home.

To tell the truth, this godforsaken place truly did have “simple folk” — the rogue had rolled the pottery jar home all the way without even troubling to clear the tracks it pressed into the path! The sheer guilelessness of it embarrassed even Zhù Ying; she simply followed the compressed trail straight to the rogue’s home without any difficulty at all.

She also came across a murder case in which the killer had not even disposed of the weapon, which she dug up from behind the house.

Zhù Ying showed no reaction. Whenever she came across a village connected to concealed households, she pretended not to know, continuing to adjudicate cases as before while quietly drawing people out in conversation, saying things like: “Your livelihoods are truly difficult. A widow with no income, your taxes ought to be remitted — who has been collecting taxes from you?”

The numbers for Fulu County’s household registers and land parcels were all held in her mind, and she had a clear picture of the distribution of settlements, from which she made rough estimates of the number of concealed households.

After a month had passed, Zhù Ying set off for home and posted an announcement outside the yamen: Fulu County now has a County Magistrate, and the County Magistrate has begun attending to matters! Anyone with business must come to the yamen to have it handled — the County Magistrate will personally uphold justice on your behalf.

With the announcement posted, Zhù Ying did not wait at the yamen but went instead to the county school.

——

As a county that nominally ranked among the higher tier, Fulu County had one Erudite, one Assistant Instructor, and forty students. All of these received salaries or stipends from the county yamen. However, the yamen’s official lands had not been under the County Magistrate’s management for quite some years.

While Zhù Ying had been inspecting the thirteen townships, the County Deputy, County Secretary, and others had remained at the yamen attending to routine business — Fulu County had always operated with minimal governance and had very little routine business to attend to. They also attempted to strike up a rapport with Zhù Da and Zhang Xiangu, though the language barrier proved insurmountable. Both officials fancied their Mandarin to be perfectly passable, while Zhù Da’s couple could not understand a word of it — after some mutual gesticulating, both sides gave up.

The County Deputy also discovered something interesting — a Daoist nun had come to the county, apparently connected in some way to the County Magistrate’s household.

Unfortunately, this Daoist nun, though rather attractive, had a physical disability, and Fulu County had no convent for a female practitioner to reside in. The mistress and her maid had rented a small house diagonally across from the yamen. When anyone asked them anything they gave no answer, and if the disturbance grew too large, Zhang Xiangu would come out to defend the pair of them.

The County Deputy felt that nothing was going according to plan.

When Zhù Ying returned to the yamen, the County Deputy came to pay his respects, but Zhù Ying had nothing particular to instruct him to do. The County Deputy remained uneasy and came to report for duty every day, until at last he managed to intercept Zhù Ying on her way to the county school and hastily followed along.

The academic standard at Fulu County’s school was, to put it mildly, entirely ordinary.

Zhù Ying had not placed any great hopes in the school’s academic level to begin with. Before coming to Fulu County she had done her research: across the entirety of Fulu County, not a single properly credentialed official had emerged in decades! Never mind the jinshi examination — even in subsidiary subjects such as legal studies, there was essentially no one who had managed to pass through the school system and become an official.

The school’s Erudite flushed crimson: “It is entirely this official’s incompetence.”

Zhù Ying, listening to his speech — which Cao Chang would certainly not have understood — said: “We can’t blame it all on you.” When even the teacher couldn’t speak Mandarin well, how was he to teach students properly? Though the written script was shared, and the characters were the same characters, if Fulu County’s students arrived in the capital speaking words that no one could understand, how many opportunities could they realistically have to be appointed to any office?

Zhù Ying made a note of this.

She then swept her gaze over the school. Of the forty allotted places that should have been filled, only twenty-odd people were in the schoolroom. She asked: “Where are the rest?”

The Assistant Instructor stepped forward: “They have requested leave to go home. The agricultural season, you understand!”

Zhù Ying did not believe a single word of it! What agricultural season? On the road during her inspections she had come across several students from well-off families, all of them county school students, none of whose families actually needed them to work the fields — and still they didn’t come! Of the forty county school students, it would be generous to say that five of them had to go home to work the land. The rest had no farm labor to return to.

Zhù Ying showed no reaction and said simply: “Oh.”

The County Deputy, seeing the situation, promptly berated the school: “Outrageous! The county gives them grain so they can study in peace — and they dare to absent themselves! Go at once! Have them summoned back!”

He knew perfectly well the situation: some of these county school students were the sons and grandsons of local wealthy families. Many of them lived in the county seat, occupied a slot on the register, and achieved nothing academically — the majority spent their days eating, drinking, and amusing themselves. Two or three were even living out in the prefectural capital for their leisure.

Zhù Ying gave him a glance. The County Deputy thought to himself: Do whatever you like against the Governor — the day one of you two admits defeat, we’ll all have our peace!

But Zhù Ying showed no further intention of confronting Governor Lu, and instead — the great drum at the front of the yamen rang out!

……

The great drum before the yamen had not sounded in a very long time, and when it finally rumbled out its dull, heavy sound it gave the County Deputy quite a fright!

He and the County Secretary had been at the front hall going through the motions of auditing the accounts, while the County Magistrate was doing who knows what in the rear courtyard. Ever since the County Magistrate had startled them by suddenly speaking in the local dialect, apart from uncovering two murderers, she had done nothing further to astonish anyone. The County Deputy and County Secretary had gradually let their guard down.

Now this drumbeat jolted them both back to alertness.

Zhù Ying, hearing the drum from the rear courtyard, was immediately flanked by an excited Zhang Xiangu and Zhù Da, who both pressed in from either side asking: “Is there a case to be tried?”

Zhù Ying said: “There is.”

Both of them wanted to see with their own eyes. Zhang Xiangu said: “We’ll just stand behind the screen — not a peep from us, just watching.”

Zhù Ying looked at her parents’ expressions and said: “Not a peep?”

“Not a peep!” Both nodded vigorously.

“All right.”

Zhù Ying dressed properly and proceeded to the front hall. The constables had not held a formal court session in a very long time — without a proper County Magistrate presiding, how could there be a court session?

They arranged themselves in orderly wings as Zhù Ying noticed an odd expression on their faces. Looking down into the hall, she saw a woman of about thirty kneeling there, both hands holding up a written complaint.

Zhù Ying asked: “Who kneels before this court? What is your complaint?”

The County Deputy and County Secretary both came hurrying in. One glance at the figure kneeling below was enough to give the County Deputy a fair idea, and he stepped forward to say quietly: “Your Honor, this official knows of this matter.”

“Oh?” Zhù Ying gestured for Xiao Wu to bring the complaint to her.

The County Deputy said: “It is a dispute between two families who have been feuding and entangled in litigation for many years now.”

The complaint, when she read it, confirmed what the County Deputy had said. The woman was surnamed Fang and had married into the Chang family — she was known as Widow Fang, or alternatively Widow Chang. The Chang and Lei families were neighboring villages who indeed harbored old grievances against each other. Widow Chang’s complaint was directed at a powerful household in the Lei family’s village.

The County Deputy said: “The Chang family has been losing to the Lei family in these fights, and that is why she has come here…”

Zhù Ying issued a warrant for arrest: “Bring Lei Bao in for detention!”

Widow Chang kowtowed once: “Thank you, Your Honor, for upholding justice for this humble woman.”

The Lei Bao household was not without influence, and Widow Chang had some resources of her own. Zhù Ying designated some of Widow Chang’s fellow villagers to carry out the apprehension of Lei Bao.

The County Deputy said quietly: “Village feuds are inherently difficult to adjudicate. I wonder how Your Honor intends to pass judgment?”

Zhù Ying said: “Lei Bao led men and killed someone. A life must be answered with a life.”

“But the Chang family village has also killed and wounded members of the Lei family village, and this widow is no simple creature either. Your Honor, a widow who has come this far has scheming behind her. She is using your blade to kill her enemy. Lei Bao may not be as utterly vicious as she describes.” The County Deputy spoke in a lowered voice.

Zhù Ying looked at the County Deputy expressionlessly and asked: “I’ve been making my rounds for an entire month — why didn’t a single living soul breathe a word of this to me?”

The County Deputy felt his heart lurch. The feeling from the chance encounter at the relay station, from coming back from the Governor’s residence — that feeling returned!

That’s right — this County Magistrate was an absolute scoundrel! She’s establishing her authority right here and now!

The County Deputy raised his sleeve to wipe the sweat from his face: “That — that was their failure to observe propriety.”

“Mm.” Zhù Ying told Widow Chang to rest in the county seat while they waited for Lei Bao to be brought in.

Zhù Ying adjourned the session. Zhù Da and Zhang Xiangu both felt they hadn’t gotten their fill, and Zhù Da asked: “That’s the end of it?”

Zhù Ying said: “That’s it.”

“But how will the verdict be pronounced?”

Zhù Ying said: “The defendant isn’t even in custody yet — what is there to pronounce? Let’s eat.”

Zhù Da and Zhang Xiangu both said this wasn’t at all what they had imagined court proceedings to be like — even watching trials outside their hometown’s county yamen, didn’t they always beat the suspect first?

Zhù Ying asked: “You want to see someone beaten?”

“Yes!”

Zhù Ying said: “In a few days then. I’ll let you watch to your hearts’ content.”

Zhù Da and Zhang Xiangu exchanged glances and didn’t take up that thread. Seeing someone beaten — they were willing enough. But “watch to your hearts’ content” — the more they thought about it, the more slightly frightening it seemed. Zhang Xiangu said: “Old Third, you’d better not…”

Zhù Ying said: “Understood.”

What exactly do you understand? Zhang Xiangu was beside herself with worry.

……

Zhang Xiangu was worried, but two people were even more worried than she was — the County Deputy and the County Secretary.

These two men had spent years in Fulu County and had cultivated connections with the county’s wealthy families. Neither could quite figure out what Zhù Ying had up her sleeve, so they first sent word for the powerful households to keep a low profile. Yet, as luck would have it, the Chang and Lei families still could not help themselves from causing trouble.

Widow Chang, a widow who had been badly wronged by Lei Bao, steeled her heart and brought her grievance to the yamen.

The two officials urgently notified the Lei family and the other powerful households of the county — everyone should quickly come to the county seat and pay a collective call on the new County Magistrate, mediate between the two families, and prevent the matter from escalating to a point that could not be managed. The two of them also wanted to continue serving uneventfully in their minor positions and had no wish to be caught up in all this.

Two days later, Lei Bao arrived first. He was still attempting to call upon the County Deputy when he was recognized at the very gate of the county seat by Widow Chang’s people, who raised the alarm with a shout.

Several constables surged forward and bound Lei Bao tightly, then escorted him to the yamen. Lei Bao was pressed down by the head, straining to twist his neck left and right to peer around. The constables holding him down turned out to be fellow villagers of Widow Chang!

He shouted: “You’ve bribed the government officials!”

It would have been better if he hadn’t said that. The moment the words left his mouth, Zhù Ying up above was displeased: “What do you mean, ‘bribed the government officials’? Come — twenty strokes of the rod first.”

Zhù Ying, afraid that Widow Chang’s fellow villagers might beat Lei Bao to death, had specifically dispatched Hou Wu and Xiao Wu to administer the punishment. Hou Wu and Xiao Wu stepped down, stripped the man of his clothing, and flung him over a long bench outside the yamen entrance, his pale bare body exposed in broad daylight before the eyes of the county residents who had gathered to watch.

One stroke, two strokes — the twenty strokes were completed. Lei Bao still wanted to curse, and his clansmen who had come with him still wanted to press forward. Zhù Ying showed no mercy: she added another ten strokes for Lei Bao and apprehended four of the young Lei family men who had attempted to rush forward, lining them up in a row before the yamen gate — twenty strokes each. The constables might have hesitated to strike Lei Bao, but none hesitated to strike his lackeys.

A feudal brawl that had produced a fatality — twenty strokes per person was not unjust.

Zhù Ying now understood why He Jing from years past had been so fond of giving the defendant a beating first.

Over here the beating had just finished, and over there the County Deputy had just assembled a whole gathering of “village elders,” who upon hearing the news all came hurrying over to find that Zhù Ying had just staged a major spectacle!

Everyone rushed over in a great crowd, calling out: “Your Honor, please allow us to speak.”

Then they heard Lei Bao say: “I’m going to lodge a complaint against you!”

Zhù Ying pointed at Lei Bao and asked the County Deputy: “What is it you wanted to speak on his behalf about?”

The County Deputy’s face went a pale greenish color: “He — this — the two families are not beyond reconciliation. Is that not so, Widow Chang?”

Widow Chang, seeing that a considerable number of powerful men had arrived, didn’t quite dare to hold firm. The “elders” all clasped their hands and pleaded for leniency.

Zhù Ying asked the County Deputy: “Who are all these people?”

The “elders” all lowered their heads. The County Deputy spoke on their behalf: “They are all local village elders. Your Honor, when governing a region, one cannot ignore the wishes of the people!”

“I seem to know nothing of this,” Zhù Ying said. “Does Fulu County have village elders? I’ve been cooling my heels here for nearly two months, and this yamen has never once seen so-called village elders! Continue the beating.”

The bystanders burst into laughter first. Zhù Ying spoke in the local dialect, perfectly intelligible to everyone present. People love to watch a spectacle, and seeing those figures who normally strutted about with such imposing airs now on the receiving end of a dressing-down gave the crowd no small satisfaction. Some onlookers even remarked that this was “burning incense only after the crisis hits and then scrambling to find a temple.”

The elders all looked rather mortified.

At this moment, a young man came galloping up on horseback, dismounted before the yamen, pulled off his outer robe and draped it over Lei Bao: “Father! Your Honor, what crime has my father committed? How can Your Honor so humiliate a gentleman of standing?”

Well now — that was quite a weighty charge to lay.

Zhù Ying looked at this young man and said quietly: “Lei Guang? A county school student?”

“Yes!”

“As of this moment, you are no longer one.” Zhù Ying said.

The County Deputy drew in a sharp breath: “Your Honor!”

Zhù Ying said: “A county school student who fails to attend for half of every month? You eat grain supplied by me, and yet you raise your voice at me — feeling quite pleased with yourself, are you? Who enrolled him as a county school student?”

“He passed the examination!” said one of the “elders” in a small voice.

“Nonsense!” Zhù Ying said. “A family of government clerks — what business do they have enrolling in the county school?”

The County Deputy’s sweat began to trickle down.

The previous magistrate, County Magistrate Wang, had stopped attending to matters long ago — when he stopped attending, naturally others stepped in. These powerful county households not only held extensive lands but also monopolized all manner of quotas: the names registered as county school students, as well as the positions within the yamen staff. But the status of “yamen staff” was itself a rather delicate matter.

The Lei family was not a small clan. Lei Bao’s son served as a county school student while another member of the family clan held a yamen position. No wonder Widow Chang’s family couldn’t compete with them.

Clan lineage was a marvelous thing — it allowed families to dwell together, and also to share in collective punishment across nine degrees of kinship!

Though Zhù Ying had issued her words, she did not immediately move to formally strip Lei Guang of his county school student status. Instead she gave an order: “A fish and a bear’s paw cannot be had at the same time.” Those who wished to enjoy the privileges of gentry status could not simultaneously hold a share of the county yamen’s authority — everyone had better think this through clearly!

She summoned every clerk and constable under the yamen’s jurisdiction and ordered them to make their choice: stay or return home — she would recruit new people to fill their places.

The constables who had accompanied her on a month of inspection tours were all taken aback. Tong Bo stepped forward and asked: “Your Honor, you no longer want us?”

Zhù Ying said: “I have business to conduct and need reliable people.”

Constables and yamen clerks, though not court officials themselves, could exercise authority on behalf of the court. They were not court-appointed officials, and the Ministry of Personnel normally had no time to manage them — that was left entirely to the head official of each yamen. The particularly capable among them could be recommended by their superiors for appointment as minor officials.

The County Deputy and County Secretary exchanged a glance and thought to themselves: This move to cut off the water supply at the source is truly ruthless.

The “elders” below were also shaken. The new County Magistrate had arrived, and aside from going out to meet her at the very beginning, they had made no further gesture since. This was because Zhù Ying’s appearance had suggested she would be even easier to manipulate than County Magistrate Wang — County Magistrate Wang had at least brought along several sets of household staff and even purchased property in the prefectural capital. Zhù Ying’s family were a motley lot of odd sorts, and they couldn’t even communicate in the local language. Why bother paying respects to someone like that?

Zhù Ying had been living in the county yamen for quite some time now, never asking about any matters — and when she went out to inspect the countryside, all she dealt with were trifling affairs.

Everyone had simply treated her the same as they had treated County Magistrate Wang: keep her at arm’s length, so both sides could coexist peacefully.

Those trifling affairs she attended to had also partly been those people’s way of snubbing the new County Magistrate.

The “elders” hurriedly knelt down, pleading on Lei Bao’s behalf on the one hand, and thinking on the other: I’m going to the prefectural capital to file a complaint! I’ll report this to the Governor!

Zhù Ying asked the County Deputy: “Are they genuinely ‘village elders’?”

“They are.”

Zhù Ying said: “They are only elders because I say they are.”

The “elders” harbored deep resentment but none dared confront her directly to her face. Zhù Ying’s move against them had been so sudden that none of them had come prepared. Among them, the more quick-witted stepped forward and said: “Your Honor, we live in a remote and out-of-the-way place, and are ignorant of the court’s regulations — we humbly request Your Honor’s guidance.”

“I am not the kind of person who kills without first instructing,” Zhù Ying said. “Everyone rise. Tonight, right here in the yamen, I will treat everyone to a meal.”

The one who had spoken said: “We could not desire anything more!”

Zhù Ying said: “Very good.”

The County Secretary cautiously stepped forward and said: “Then this matter of Lei Bao…”

Zhù Ying said: “As I said, this evening’s meal is on me.”

Lei Bao and Lei Guang, too, were required to come!

Zhù Ying gestured to Cao Chang, who brought out a stack of invitation cards — not too many and not too few, one for every person present, including both Widow Chang and Lei Bao. Every name on the cards had been filled in already, and this did not look at all like something improvised on the spot.

Without waiting to see if every invitation card had been distributed, Zhù Ying adjourned and left the front hall.

……

By evening, torches had been set up in the front hall and tables laid out one by one, with cold appetizers already served. The guests took their seats. The County Deputy and others were preparing to sit at the head table together with Zhù Ying — but Zhù Ying had not yet appeared.

Lei Bao and his son, in plain dark clothing, dared not sit and stood waiting at the side. Widow Chang saw this and felt a great deal of satisfaction. Other “elders” began to feel a mixture of fear, bewilderment, and the melancholy of watching a kindred creature suffer.

More time passed, and Zhù Ying still had not appeared. Outside, everyone held their breath and dared not make a sound.

By the time the mosquitoes were swarming, Zhù Ying finally emerged, and everyone rose to welcome her. Zhù Ying settled into the head seat and asked: “Why haven’t any of you touched your chopsticks?”

The County Secretary said with a conciliatory smile: “When you haven’t moved yours, who would dare?”

Zhù Ying said: “A single mouthful of food, and you show this much respect? You’ve eaten Fulu County down to the bone, yet I’ve never seen any of you treat me with such courtesy.”

Everyone’s faces went ashen.

Zhù Ying said: “What misunderstanding do you have about the dignity of the court? Well?!”

Right there at the dining table, she summoned all the yamen’s clerks and constables and told them to choose then and there: either continue in their posts, or return to their home villages to farm. “Fulu County has grown so unruly out of long custom, with no one to instruct you — a fish and a bear’s paw cannot both be had. You have rendered me considerable service, so I leave the choice to you. If you choose to remain in your post here, they will not be eligible for examination or official appointment in the future.”

Working as a yamen clerk or constable was a hard and bitter post, but one that also came with no small number of advantages. Asking them to give it up would mean their clan families would need to compensate them, and how much compensation could actually be offered was far from certain.

And Zhù Ying was standing right there, waiting. However many people left, she would post an announcement and recruit that many replacements — selecting upstanding people with established households from near the county seat to serve.

Then she announced: the county school would be holding examinations, and she would personally select the county school students.

“In all of Fulu County, there is apparently not a single native-born official of any standing — the county records show that the highest official this county has ever produced was only a sixth-rank official, and he moved away, and has been dead for thirty years! It’s a disgrace!” Zhù Ying declared. “Study properly, all of you — I intend to cultivate several people who can be presented with credit and who will be of use to the court!”

For a moment, no one could tell whether they hoped she would go away or wished she would stay.

For Lei Bao and his son, there was no ambiguity whatsoever — they would have rejoiced to see this wretched official drop dead on the spot!

Zhù Ying still didn’t let them off, saying: “You two also rise! I said past offenses would not be pursued — and past offenses shall not be pursued. Go home, turn over the concealed households to me, and this matter will be settled. I say what I mean and always keep my word. If you cannot produce the people, I will settle accounts with you personally. Come — take your seats.”

The elders’ stomachs were growling, and they managed to eat a few hasty bites before losing any appetite to continue. One person said: “This old one has a household where the population has grown, with some who haven’t been registered — I’ll go home and tally them up immediately…”

“There’s no rush,” Zhù Ying said. “Take your time — just have it sorted out before the autumn harvest.”

The County Deputy said: “Indeed, the court’s taxes are still in arrears… if we can produce the population and land records, it will help fill the gap…”

“You need not concern yourself with that. As for the matter of overdue rent — I will smooth that over myself.”

The elders were genuinely astonished: “Is that true?” This matter had been giving them headaches for a long time as well. They themselves had no intention of paying, which meant it had to be spread among the common people — and how much oil could be wrung from the poor? So year after year the arrears accumulated, and every year this caused a fresh headache. They also had to guard against some official suddenly taking it into his head to come and settle accounts with them.

Governor Lu over in the prefectural capital had harbored exactly such a notion and had actually made one attempt at it. But then the Governor had gotten caught up in other matters and let the thing drop.

Zhù Ying said: “I told you — past offenses shall not be pursued. You had better not listen to only half of what I say.”

The elders said: “Yes.”

Then they thought to themselves: even Governor Lu couldn’t manage what you’re promising. If you truly can, we’ll accept our fate and stop going to the Governor to file complaints against you.

——

Filing a complaint would do no good anyway — the Governor himself didn’t know where to go to file his own.

The Governor wrote to Shi Kun in the capital, and by the time the exchange had gone back and forth, he now received a letter from Shi Kun — a hastily dispatched one, at that — scolding him: Why are you fighting with him? Stop trying to make your subordinates obey you like household servants! They are all court-appointed officials! Do not conduct yourself in such a domineering fashion!

Shi Kun himself also preferred subordinates who knew how to read the room, but Governor Lu’s behavior had gone too far toward “domineering.” There was no cause for it — yet he insisted on making people wag their tails, which was a thoroughly baffling disposition!

After receiving this rebuke, Governor Lu temporarily gave up on seeking Shi Kun’s patronage as a way of making trouble for Zhù Ying. Instead he turned his gaze toward Lan Xing.

But then, within a few days, Lan Xing sent some people over who came and bound up those same household servants and took them away, while courteously explaining to Governor Lu: “This dog servant falsely conveyed Chief Eunuch Lan’s instructions. The Chief Eunuch has ordered him brought back for a flogging. We have disturbed your peace!”

Governor Lu stood dumbfounded, then issued an order: “From this day forward, whatever happens, Fulu County is no longer our concern.”