Hou Wu and the others came running at the sound.

Hou Wu ran the fastest. He dashed into the courtyard, saw Zhù Ying standing alone in the doorway, and immediately drew his blade, stepping forward to shield her. He glanced into the room and said quietly, “Dead?”

Xiao Wu, Cao Chang, and the rest came rushing over as well. Gao Shan arrived even before Xiao Jiang and Xiao Ya. By the time Xiao Jiang came limping up, Scribe Zhang was already standing at the doorway.

Scribe Zhang turned to Xiao Jiang. “This is your business now. It’s your first time examining a corpse, so be thorough. If there’s anything you can’t see clearly, say so.”

Xiao Jiang’s heart sank. She walked forward slowly, and the others parted to make way for her. Zhù Ying suddenly reached out and blocked her. “Don’t go forward yet. She moved just now — I don’t think she’s dead.”

The old earthen house in the countryside let in poor light. It was even shorter and smaller than the houses Chang Ming’s family had newly built, with windows and doors that didn’t let in as much light. In the dim interior, no one had been able to make out much on first glance. It was only just now that Zhù Ying had caught a faint movement from the figure lying on the ground.

Everyone grew more cautious. Xiao Jiang took a deep breath, lifted her feet gently, set them down gently, and stepped forward two more paces. Hou Wu said, “My lord, why don’t we drag the person out first, then let Jiang Niangzi have a look?”

Zhù Ying nodded.

Hou Wu stepped forward and kicked the woodcutting blade aside with one foot. The blade struck the wall with a dull thud, and the woman on the dry grass suddenly stirred again. Then she slowly began to draw in her limbs. Every one of her movements was slow — she curled herself up, then gathered her strength, and pressing against the ground, she gradually pushed herself upright. She even rubbed her eyes.

Xiao Wu rubbed his own eyes too.

The case had been assigned to Gao Shan. He’d failed to turn up anything and had gone running back to the county yamen, and now, eager to make a showing, he called out, “Hey, are you Chang Ming’s wife?”

The woman sat on the ground. She didn’t look like the twenty-five she supposedly was — she looked more like thirty-five. Her disheveled hair had bits of dry grass clinging to it, her face was dirty, and there were spatters of blood on her body and face, with smear marks where the blood had been wiped. When she heard “Chang Ming,” her whole body gave a little shudder. She said nothing.

Hou Wu stepped forward, bent down, and retrieved the woodcutting blade, bringing it back to show Zhù Ying. “My lord, the notch on this looks like it was damaged by chopping.”

Gao Shan stepped forward and lowered his voice to ask, “Who brought you here? Did you get a clear look at the culprit’s face? Did he… do anything to you?”

The woman still sat dazed on the dry grass. Xiao Jiang stepped slowly forward, crouched in front of her, and said, “It’s all right now.”

The woman nodded.

Zhù Ying said, “Let’s step away and give them a moment to talk.”

Gao Shan made an eager show of flattery. “My lord, it was brilliant of you to bring a female officer along — she’s perfectly suited for offering comfort.” He followed Zhù Ying out of the courtyard and launched into several more rounds of flattery. Things like, “My lord is truly perceptive — you found this place, just like that.” And, “I’ve long heard that my lord’s skill in solving cases borders on the miraculous — no clue, however slight, escapes your discerning eye, not even something as small as a peach branch.”

Then he deployed that very common official-circles tactic — the “humbly seeking guidance” approach. “What does my lord think — where might the culprit have fled?”

From what Gao Shan was saying, Zhù Ying gathered he believed the culprit was someone else. She asked, “In your view, who might the culprit be?”

Gao Shan very much wanted to say “it’s the mountain peoples” — but the county magistrate’s intentions were plain for anyone to see. The lord wanted to pacify the mountain peoples in order to build up her achievements, so he didn’t dare speak his private suspicions and risk ruining the county magistrate’s plans. He said, “It’s probably a passing bandit! We should issue a wanted bulletin.”

Zhù Ying thought: You really are something.

Gao Shan, seeing what looked like a smile on her face, thought: I’ve guessed right this time.

At this point, the village head and the others could no longer hold the villagers back. Old Man Zhang and the rest came to join the spectacle too. Not quite daring to come inside, fearing they might find another corpse like Chang Ming’s, they all stood outside the gate of the old house, craning their necks, equally curious and frightened. Pressed by the other villagers, the village head was urged to serve as their representative and go in to assess the situation.

Gao Shan straightened his back at the sight of the village head, and said with a hint of impatience, “The person is not dead — she’s alive. She’s had a shock. Find a couple of women to come and comfort her properly. Get her a clean set of clothes to change into and get her cleaned up so she can be questioned — just look at the state she’s in.”

He fancied this was another resounding piece of flattery, because the county magistrate was a very easygoing person when there was nothing going on, and he saw the woman covered in blood with dirty, disheveled clothes, and by getting in ahead of what the county magistrate would have said, he was demonstrating that he, too, was a fine official.

The village head hurried to comply and called to his wife and daughter-in-law. “Get on with it! Didn’t you hear what the lord said?”

He came back into the courtyard to explain, “This Chang Ming, he had a bit of a quick temper and his hands were heavy when he beat his wife. But he didn’t have bad intentions — he wasn’t deliberately tormenting her.”

Gao Shan said, “Who asked you about their marriage? This young woman was beaten by a culprit!”

The village head’s wife and daughter-in-law also came inside, trembling with anxiety. Even though they’d been told the person wasn’t dead, being asked to look after someone connected to a murder case made them nervous all the same. They walked a few steps into the room and said, “Come now, get up. Let’s go and get you changed.”

Xiao Jiang said, “Wait.”

The two women jumped in fright and stammered, “My — my — my lady official?”

Xiao Jiang said, “My lord, I’ll go with them. While she’s being cleaned up and changed, I can look over her injuries at the same time, so we don’t have to conduct a second examination later.”

Zhù Ying said, “Fine.”

But as it turned out, the woman sat on the ground and refused to go anywhere. She gave a yawn and said, “I’m fine.”

Xiao Wu said under his breath, “You don’t think she’s been frightened witless, do you?”

Zhù Ying said, “Have we forgotten something? Village head — come here and take a look. Is this woman Chang Ming’s wife?”

The village head looked at her. “Yes.” Inside, his wife and daughter-in-law also said, “Yes, that’s her.”

Hou Wu said, “You’re sure? You can tell with her nose and face all swollen like that?”

The village head said, “If it weren’t for the swollen nose and face, I’d have had a harder time recognizing her that fast. Those aren’t a bandit’s doing — that’s her husband and mother-in-law who did that to her.”

Gao Shan was startled. He’d assumed the woman was a victim precisely because of her appearance — gaunt and small, her face covered in wounds, her movements sluggish. It had seemed obvious to him that she’d been beaten by a culprit and was too injured to cry out. How could these wounds possibly have been inflicted by a husband? A mortal enemy, perhaps.

Inside, the village head’s wife and daughter-in-law were coaxing Chang Ming’s wife. “Chang Ming’s wife, come with me to my house and change your clothes. In a little while the lord will have questions for you. Your husband is dead, and he…”

Chang Ming’s wife said, “I killed him.”

Gao Shan heard this and went blank. He stared at the woman, then at the village head, and finally fixed his gaze squarely on Zhù Ying. “My — my — my lord? How can that be?”

Gao Shan’s ability to investigate cases was mediocre, but he still had basic common sense. How could a husband beat his wife like this and then have the wife cut the husband up like that?

Zhù Ying said, “Take her along too.”

To the local people, things had taken an odd turn. But Xiao Jiang ran up to Zhù Ying. “My lord, something doesn’t add up here. I want to re-examine the body and properly question this woman. I asked around the village, and everyone says Li Niangzi was an impossibly docile woman — docile to the point of death.”

Zhù Ying said, “We’ll take everyone back to the county yamen first.”

Chang Ming’s mother was unwilling to give up her son’s body. She wanted to hold a funeral and have him decently buried. Meanwhile, word had already spread through the villagers that Chang Ming’s wife had confessed to killing him, and the village erupted in a clamor of opinions. Some said “no wonder,” others said “she struck too cruelly — this woman is truly vicious, no wonder Chang Ming used to beat her,” and still others said “is it really her? Maybe the yamen couldn’t find the real culprit and just pinned it on her.”

But Chang Ming’s mother believed it. She screamed, “You filthy Li woman — I’ll have your life in exchange for my son’s!”

“Li?” Zhù Ying asked.

The village head quickly replied, “That’s this daughter-in-law’s maiden name — Li.”

Zhù Ying told Gao Shan and the others, “Maintain order.”

That was a task Gao Shan, Xiao Wu, and the rest knew how to handle. A bout of shouting, then raising leather boots and wooden sticks in a show of force, and the scene quieted down.

Chang Ming’s mother was restrained and held back by the village head’s wife and daughter-in-law. Zhù Ying made another search of the Chang family house and found no signs of forced entry from outside — at least none in the bedroom. The courtyard was harder to say, given how many people had come through. Aside from her initial confession of “I killed him,” Chang Ming’s wife said nothing more. Her face held no expression whatsoever — a blank, numbed vacancy. Yet it wasn’t the typical “daze” one would describe. If one had to find a word for it, it would be “indifference.”

As if nothing in the world mattered anymore.

The village head produced a donkey cart, got people to lift the body onto the flat bed, and covered it with a tattered door curtain. The bloodstained quilted bedding was taken along as evidence. The woodcutting blade and other items were also placed on the cart carrying the body. It was an open flat cart, and the body and evidence lay exposed to the open air.

Chang Ming’s elderly mother was still making a scene and insisted on accompanying the party to the county yamen. Zhù Ying asked the village head, “Does she have any other children?”

“No.”

“So there’s no one to support her?”

The village head looked pained. “That’s right.”

Zhù Ying said, “You must take good care of her. With a house like that, there must be some income — I assume there’s farmland? I know how hard it is for widows in a village, especially one who’s lost her son. Looking at her now, she can still walk and make a fuss. If she dies very suddenly, I’ll be suspicious that someone did something to her.”

The village head didn’t dare argue with Zhù Ying. Bitterly aggrieved inwardly, he said, “That won’t happen! We’re all family!”

Then he turned and slapped himself across the face. “Damn your blabbermouth — damn you for going and reporting this case! Now you’ve got yourself a widow for a mother!” Slanted Willow Village wasn’t the poorest or most wretched of places, but it wasn’t prosperous either. Even if it were, a village head feeding a widow of the same clan — and having to keep her well-fed and comfortable too — was something he’d never live down.

Taking advantage of the moment, Xiao Jiang made a quick round of visits to several villagers’ homes and confirmed that during his lifetime Chang Ming had frequently beaten his wife, and that she had never resisted. She also learned that the people of Slanted Willow Village were planning another confrontation with Li Shi’s natal family.

She hurried back and caught the tail end of Zhù Ying’s words to the village head: “I once met a pair of widows — a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law — who were able to support each other.”

Xiao Jiang stopped in her tracks. Zhù Ying said, “You’re back? We should be heading out too. If this woman wants to go to the county seat, she can come along. Village head — you’re all family. You arrange it. Find someone to accompany her. She says she wants to file a complaint against Li Shi — you can help her draw up a petition. You’re all family…”

The village head was worn down by all the “you’re all family” this and “you’re all family” that until he seemed to wilt entirely. He heaved a sigh. “Yes. I’ll see to it.”

Zhù Ying then led the party, along with the body and the suspect, back to the county seat.

Behind them, the village head assembled all the villagers and declared, “Whatever his faults, Chang Ming was one of our Chang family. We can’t stand by and do nothing. Food and lodging in the county seat costs money, and the yamen will need to be looked after — each family put up one hundred coins for his sister-in-law to use as travel expenses.”

At this, one person burst out angrily, “One hundred coins? Are you inviting her back to chop us up too? One hundred coins per family — that’s several strings of cash for the whole village combined. Even a lawsuit doesn’t cost that much, let alone the trip up to the county seat! Why so much?”

The village head put on a stern face. “We’re family — how can you be so petty? There’s also Chang Ming’s funeral to think about. Each family should contribute two dou of rice…”

One sharp-tongued person shouted at the village head, “You’re just trying to skim off the top, aren’t you?”

Even if the village head had such a plan, he couldn’t admit it. He snapped, “That’s your problem, not mine! Look at this — just look at this. And they call themselves the same surname! Here’s a widow who’s also lost her son, and you’ve got this much to say about it?”

Slanted Willow Village descended into chaos.

The whole party was very quiet on the way back.

Gao Shan in particular was at a complete loss. Li Shi, Chang Ming’s wife, had been placed on a donkey requisitioned from the village. Her hands were bound, and she sat quietly, neither crying, nor making a scene, nor protesting her innocence. Gao Shan spurred his mule up beside her and demanded, “What were you thinking? Hmm?”

Li Shi glanced at him and ignored him, which infuriated Gao Shan thoroughly. He thought: Once we’re back at the county seat and she’s up before the court, she’ll still have to pass through my hands — and then I’ll see what I do to her.

Thinking of “twenty strokes of the heavy rod,” he glanced at Li Shi’s body again, then looked away — that dead scoundrel Chang Ming hadn’t left a single unmarked spot on this woman where he could strike her. Gao Shan deflated.

When Zhù Ying and her party entered the city, the county seat’s residents crowded along both sides of the road to watch, pointing and whispering. The body was covered, so there was nothing to frighten them. But Li Shi, sitting astride the donkey, was particularly striking. People looked at this thin, slight woman — her wounds, her worn and patched clothing, her hair still threaded with dry grass — and whispered among themselves that she was “pitiful.”

At the county yamen, Zhù Ying said, “Take her to the women’s cell first, and let them clean her up.”

Xiao Jiang stepped forward again. “My lord, I’d like to go along and have a look. I haven’t examined her yet. Also, I asked around the village — everyone says Li Niangzi was an impossibly docile woman, docile to the point of death.”

Zhù Ying looked at her. Xiao Jiang’s eyes were full of pleading. The cleaning-up in Slanted Willow Village had been left undone because Li Shi had suddenly confessed to killing Chang Ming. Zhù Ying said, “Go around the back and tell my mother to take out that set of clothes she made a couple of days ago for her to wear.”

Xiao Jiang said, “I have some of my own — there’s no need to use the elder madam’s things. It wouldn’t be auspicious.”

And she was off running. She first went to fetch a set of her own old clothes, then ran to the women’s cell. The cell was opening in an official capacity for the first time. The people who’d been held there before were convicts being transported into exile and shouldn’t properly have been kept there. Li Shi was the first officially admitted prisoner since the women’s cell had been established.

The staff were curious. When they saw Xiao Jiang, they asked, “Oh, Jiang Niangzi — you went along to see. What has this one done?”

Xiao Jiang managed a weak smile. “You’ll find out soon enough. Bring a basin of water and some porridge for her.” Only then did she remember she herself hadn’t eaten anything all day, and her stomach chose that moment to growl traitorously. The young maid laughed. “Sounds like you’re the hungry one! All right, I’ll go fetch some.”

A large basin of water was brought in, and they first stripped Li Shi of her bloodied clothing, which Xiao Jiang also gathered as evidence. When they looked at Li Shi’s body, they all shuddered. They had all been beaten, and all had seen men beat their wives, but it was not often one saw someone beaten like this — you couldn’t have guessed where on her body the next wound would appear.

Not only were there marks from fists and kicks, but Xiao Jiang also found the traces of sharp-edged wounds, and burn marks. Xiao Jiang noted all of these down, then poured out the porridge and sat and ate with Li Shi. Li Shi didn’t refuse; she ate slowly, and when she was done, she looked at Xiao Jiang and said, “That was good.”

Xiao Jiang said, “Was it really you who did it? Or are you taking the blame for someone?”

Li Shi said, “It was me.”

Xiao Jiang was so frustrated that she downed a full bowl of porridge, then handed the bowl and chopsticks back to the young maid. “Wait here for me. Oh — and get her a sleeping pallet.”

She ran out, and went first to Scribe Zhang. “Shifu, can I borrow the woodcutting blade for a look?”

Scribe Zhang said, “What for?”

“I want to verify something. What if this woman is taking the blame for someone? I want to see whether the blade could really be the murder weapon and could really have been used to do what was done.”

Scribe Zhang said, “Evidence cannot be handled carelessly. If the higher-ups investigate and find out, that’s trouble. No.”

Xiao Jiang went then to Gao Shan. Gao Shan was already quite disgruntled about the case, but when Xiao Jiang said she wanted to verify something, he said, “Fair enough. But you can’t take it away — you can look at it here.”

Xiao Jiang went and examined the woodcutting blade. It was a somewhat old blade. She felt it over and said, “I’m going to go find one similar to this.”

By now it was already dark and time for the curfew. The curfew in a small county seat wasn’t as strictly enforced as in the capital, and people who’d labored all day weren’t out in the streets anyway. Xiao Jiang had no choice but to go home. Early the next morning, she rose before dawn, reported for duty, and then went to the market to search.

The county seat was small with a sparse population, and all manner of goods were scarce — including woodcutting blades. She wanted an older one too, and after asking around for a long time, she found that a woodcutting blade at the county’s inn kitchen seemed close to what she needed. She tried to buy it from them, but the kitchen hand who used it for splitting wood said, “I’m using this just fine. Why should I give it to you? Go on, get out of here — the only reason I’m not hitting you is because you’re a woman!”

Xiao Jiang said, “I’ll pay you.”

“I’m used to this one.”

“I’ll buy you a new one.” A voice cut in.

Xiao Jiang and the kitchen hand looked over. The speaker was someone they both recognized — Huajie.

The kitchen hand knew who Huajie was and said, “Oh my, madam, you really needn’t go to the expense. I’m right in the middle of using this one — wait just a moment and I’ll send it over once I’ve finished today’s firewood.”

Xiao Jiang bit her lower lip. Huajie said, “It’s not terribly urgent. But if the blacksmith’s shop has one in stock, go and get it now. Put it on my account.”

“I wouldn’t dare do anything else.”

“Off you go then. Older Sister Du, go along with him.”

“Right~”

The kitchen hand left his woodcutting blade behind and ran off to the blacksmith’s shop to fetch one. Xiao Jiang stood with a stiff expression looking at Huajie, not quite knowing how to greet her.

Huajie gave her a nod and handed over the woodcutting blade. “Here. Ah — about this case. She also finds it very difficult. If you find a flaw in the evidence, she’ll certainly be delighted.”

Xiao Jiang hesitated a moment, then took the blade. Huajie bowed to her, and Xiao Jiang asked in surprise, “Why are you bowing to me?”

“I don’t believe it either, and I don’t want to see that young woman receive punishment and be sentenced to death. That household would have just the two of them — the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law…” She gave Xiao Jiang a nod and hurried off.

Xiao Jiang thought: That was strange.

But she had things to do and couldn’t dwell on her grievances. She took the woodcutting blade, then went to the market to buy a pig’s leg — one with the bone still in, a trotter. Once she had everything, she brought it to the county yamen’s corpse chamber and began hacking away at the trotter bone, thwack after thwack. She chopped for a good long while, and when the little dark-skinned maidservant came to help, she refused. “I’ll do it myself.”

This drew quite a crowd of onlookers. Scribe Zhang had been examining Chang Ming’s body for a long time and was thoroughly disgusted; seeing yet another commotion, he clasped his hands behind his back and walked over, scolding, “Has everyone lost their jobs? You — Xiao Jiang, what are you doing?”

Xiao Jiang held the woodcutting blade up against the sunlight and looked at it, then brought her hand down. The blade plunged into the dirt. Her shoulders dropped; her back curved. She murmured, “It’s the woodcutting blade.”

She had clung to a thread of hope — hoping that the woodcutting blade was not the murder weapon, hoping to verify through her test that the notch on the evidence didn’t match the notch from hacking bone, and that she could then argue the real killer was someone else and Li Shi had been so frightened she’d lost her mind.

“I did it” could be interpreted in so many ways. “I didn’t kill Boren, yet Boren died because of me” was one interpretation — an overly literal-minded person blaming themselves for being the indirect cause was entirely possible. She’d already thought through her counterarguments. But as it turned out…

Xiao Jiang turned, went inside, and shut the door. Tears came streaming down. I’ve nailed her to her fate with my own two hands.

A few days later, the murder case went to trial.

Horrific as the death was, the case was actually fairly straightforward. The perpetrator had confessed of her own accord, and there was a plausible explanation — “years of abuse by her husband, with deep-seated resentment.” The perpetrator had no one behind her pulling strings, and the murder weapon, the woodcutting blade, had been right there in the perpetrator’s hand. The blade had one notch in it, and Xiao Jiang’s experiment had confirmed that such a notch would only result from chopping into a cylindrical object.

People said “pitiful” and “what a shame,” but everyone knew the judgment would be death for Li Shi.

Old Man Zhang and the others talked privately amongst themselves. “Ten years of beatings — this woman truly led a bitter life. What a pity she had to go and do it.”

Hou Wu and the others talked among themselves, and Hou Wu said, “Her defiant spirit was wasted on the wrong moment. She should have shown him that knife the very first time he hit her — then he’d have behaved himself afterward. What was the point of waiting until now.”

Xiao Wu said, “Even if you’re beaten, you can’t go killing someone.”

Only Cao Chang was utterly heartbroken. He lay awake for half the night, and the next morning rose before dawn and went to wait at the inner gate. The moment Zhù Ying came out, he fell to his knees, giving Xiao Wu, who was walking alongside, a terrible fright. “What are you doing?”

Cao Chang raised his head, his eyes full of pleading. “My lord — is there truly no way out for this woman?”

Xiao Wu grew even more alarmed. “Are you out of your mind? Did she put a spell on you? You only saw her once… You… Oh my — that’s a capital offense! A great crime! My lord, he didn’t sleep well last night and his head isn’t clear this morning.” He moved to drag Cao Chang away.

Zhù Ying said, “Let him go. I know what’s on his mind.” She told Cao Chang, “It depends on what the aggrieved party says.” Cao Chang quickly asked, “What does that mean, my lord? I’m slow — can you explain more clearly?”

Zhù Ying said, “What? Do you want to interfere with the law? Go do your job.”

On this day, the biggest case before the court was Chang Ming’s. And Chang Ming’s mother had also arrived at the county yamen that day, accompanied by villagers — and, to everyone’s surprise, Li Shi’s natal family had also come. They were there to plead her innocence. Chang Ming’s mother lunged to attack Li Shi, and the Slanted Willow villagers tried to beat Li Shi’s family. Li Shi’s father said, “I had a perfectly fine daughter, and now after going to their household she’s become a murderer? This must be a false charge!”

The villagers from Slanted Willow retorted, “The last time your daughter ran home to you, you personally sent her back. You said, as long as she wasn’t sent home, anything went. You even praised Chang Ming as a generous and magnanimous man who wouldn’t hold your daughter’s behavior against her.”

Both sides came to blows.

Zhù Ying slapped the gavel, and the two rows of court officers rattled their long rods against the ground over and over, shouting out. The two sides finally quieted down, and Zhù Ying declared, “Disrupting the court: twenty strokes of the heavy rod.” She seized one ringleader from each side and had them flogged twenty strokes outside the yamen gates. Both families seethed, but held themselves in check.

Zhù Ying first ordered the physical evidence to be presented, then summoned Scribe Zhang and Xiao Jiang to explain. Xiao Jiang stepped back, unwilling to speak directly. Scribe Zhang assumed his apprentice was showing proper deference and spoke on his own. He also brought out the notched woodcutting blade for comparison.

The Changs listened and erupted in furious cursing, though they didn’t dare make another move. The Lis insisted, “She’s a frail woman — how could she have killed her husband?” Chang Ming’s mother retorted, “Your precious daughter confessed herself!”

Zhù Ying slapped the gavel again and ordered Li Shi to be brought forward.

Li Shi’s face still bore injuries, but she had been given a set of clean cotton clothes. The clothes were ones Huajie had made to wear around the house herself — homespun cloth, but carefully sewn. Her hair had been neatly done, she’d been thoroughly washed, and only her face held its cold indifference.

She knelt where she stood and said, “My lord, I killed him.”

Chang Ming’s mother tried to lunge at her and demand she pay with her life. Li Shi’s father cried out beside them, “Is it because they frightened you? Plenty of women get beaten — my lord, she endured those beatings for so many years and never did anything. Why would she kill him now, of all times?”

Li Shi cast them both a cold glance, then kowtowed again to Zhù Ying and said, “Judge me as you see fit — I accept it. That night, he drank too much and beat me again. When he was done, he went to sleep. I couldn’t endure it any longer. I took the woodcutting blade. He was sleeping facing the wall. I meant to hack off his head with one blow, but I swung and struck his shoulder instead. He woke up, and I struck again…”

The pain jolted Chang Ming awake, but the drink had dulled him, and having already taken one blow, he’d started bleeding, which made his movements even more sluggish. His left shoulder was injured, so he raised his right hand to grab at the blade, and Li Shi, startled, slashed his right arm too. With both arms injured, when he tried to cry out, Li Shi sliced open his abdomen, and the pain was so great he couldn’t make a sound.

When Li Shi saw his blood, when she saw him in helpless, agonized weakness, her fear left her. She raised the blade and brought it down again and again. Hands, feet, head — she was a woman after all, and her strength was limited, and the woodcutting blade was old and somewhat dull; she hacked for a long time without severing cleanly, but Chang Ming had already gone silent. She checked his breathing and found no breath remaining. She wiped her face, cleaned her hands on the quilted bedding, and, carrying the woodcutting blade, left the bedroom.

She didn’t want to stay in that room anymore. In a daze she walked outside, but she was so exhausted that she pushed open the door of the old house next door and went inside to sleep. No one came looking for her. It had been so very long since she’d been able to sleep this peacefully, without worrying that she’d have to be up before dawn, and that if she wasn’t up she’d be called lazy and idle and hit awake, or kicked out of bed.

She was content.

Until Zhù Ying came and found her.

Because the case had caused some stir, Zhù Ying did not close the trial to the public, and allowed some observers to watch. The watching townspeople sighed as well. Some said “a woman’s heart is the most venomous,” others agreed with Xiao Wu that Li Shi had only suffered ten years of beatings and shouldn’t have killed her husband, and certainly not so brutally. Others said “that man brought it on himself,” and others said Li Shi “should have run after killing him,” while still others muttered “why use a blade? If it had been…”

Li Shi finished her account calmly. But her father refused to let his daughter be convicted just like that, and kowtowed, saying, “My lord, just a few days ago my daughter came home and said her life was getting better. How could she have struck at this moment? Now that her husband is dead, the whole village will bully her. I beg you to release her back to me — otherwise she will only die. The village will not let her live.”

Chang Ming’s mother also kowtowed. “My lord! I only want this vile woman to pay for my son’s life! She deserved to die long ago. The village bullying her? The village is telling me I should complain that my son was unfilial, saying it was because I couldn’t get along with my son that this vile woman killed him! If a woman like this doesn’t need to die, she can support me in my old age? My son is already dead — I cannot let them heap filth upon his name after death. I would rather starve to death right now than let my son die without closing his eyes.”

Zhù Ying looked toward the people of Slanted Willow Village. They quickly knelt. “We wouldn’t dare! She’s lost her son and gone mad. We also want the murderer to pay with her life!”

Li Shi said, “My lord, when Chang Ming used to beat me, they would advise me. They’d say that poor couples quarrel more, that I should work harder, that if the household had money and life improved, the beatings would stop. My lord, since you came, life has improved considerably in just this one year — but he still beat me. An animal is an animal. Whether a beast has enough to eat or not has nothing to do with whether it is humane or beats its wife. I would rather die.”

Zhù Ying said, “If you have confessed, then you face the death penalty.”

“Then I will never have to be beaten again. Wonderful.” Li Shi said.

Xiao Jiang’s tears fell.

Li Shi’s father cried out, “You! My lord, she’s lost her mind…”

Li Shi said, “If I don’t die, and you get me back, will you sell me off again?”

She rose, and made a bow toward Zhù Ying — she was a village woman, and her bow was neither graceful nor proper, but it was very sincere. “The peaceful days I’ve had these past two days — you gave me those.” The people who were about to step forward and restrain her all stopped. But she suddenly turned and threw herself headfirst into the wall.

A cry of alarm erupted inside and outside the court.

Li Shi’s body crumpled softly to the ground. Xiao Jiang rushed forward and gathered her into her arms, tested her breathing, and shook her head at Zhù Ying.

Zhù Ying then announced the verdict: Li Shi had confessed to the crime but had taken her own life in open court, so no further punishment would be applied. Li Shi’s father was ordered to return the bride price to Chang Ming’s mother. Chang Ming’s mother was permitted to retrieve the body and take it home for burial.

Having concluded the judgment, she did not allow Li Shi’s father to take the body for burial. She knew full well that there was a chance the body would be sold again. She ordered the body cremated and the ashes buried in the mass grave where condemned criminals were interred — and that was that.

On the surface, the case had been resolved very quickly and without any disgrace to the yamen. The wife had killed the husband, then confessed and taken her own life — it could even be said she had known some measure of propriety. Administrator Guan had already drafted the official report in his mind.

Xiao Jiang, however, was thoroughly despondent. This was the first real case she had participated in since taking up her post. She had played some role in it, but the outcome was utterly at odds with what she had hoped for.

All the spirit she’d carried out of the capital, all the determination that had sustained her on the southward journey alongside Zhù Ying, all the bravado she’d felt while training as a coroner — all of it fell silent.

The anguish in her heart was real. She hurled the woodcutting blade into the evidence storage room beside the corpse chamber, then sat alone inside the room in a stupor for a good while. After some thought, she went home to get money, then headed to the inner quarters to find Huajie.

She and Huajie had somewhat the feel of the Weaver Girl and the Herd Boy — forever on opposite sides of something. Huajie heard she’d come to call and said in surprise, “For me?”

Older Sister Du said, “That’s right.”

“Quick, quick, bring her in!”

Huajie didn’t know why Xiao Jiang had come looking for her, but she began fussing over tea as usual. Xiao Jiang said, “Don’t bother. I came to return something. I’m leaving right away.”

“Return something?”

Xiao Jiang put the money on the table. “The woodcutting blade.”

Huajie looked uncertain. Xiao Jiang said, “Take it. You spent the money for nothing.”

“What happened?”

“The person is dead. She confessed in open court and died by running into the wall.” Xiao Jiang briefly recounted Li Shi’s story.

Huajie said, “It actually came to that…”

“We used to envy women of proper households the most,” Xiao Jiang said slowly. “How wonderful it seemed — no need to receive a stream of guests, just serving one man. No need to endure so many strange demands, no need to swallow your unhappiness and keep smiling. You could have your own children, and in old age have a whole family of your own people. When you died, there would be someone at your bedside watching over you, someone to weep for you. If I could have a home and a husband, I’d gladly put up with beatings. But she was born into a proper household, and she was still beaten to this point. She fought back — and it was still death. No one could save her.”

She felt a tightness in her heart and didn’t dare go on, afraid that if she kept talking, she’d cry out loud in front of Huajie. But Huajie was the one who cried first. “No beatings doesn’t mean life goes well. It’s fate. Back then, when my first husband died, my mother-in-law treated me like her own daughter — but I still had to stay in the house to invite a new husband in, still had to fight for survival. I know I shouldn’t complain — my luck has already been better than most. But why — why should we have to suffer all of this?”

The two of them talked and talked and then wept in each other’s arms.

When Xiao Jiang had cried herself out, she felt embarrassed and pulled away from Huajie, wiped her eyes, and made as if nothing had happened at all. She said, “Zhù Daren once said — the poor and the wealthy, men and women — ‘when granaries are full, people know propriety.’ She wants to try. The people in the capital seem much more enlightened than those in Fulü County.”

Huajie said softly, “Then she must be very sad today. She did all she could to let Fulü County live a little better — nothing like those local officials who pile on extra taxes and levies. When she arrived, everyone mocked her for it, saying she’d have a hard time enriching herself. I always knew she hadn’t come here to fleece the people. But someone still abuses his wife — nothing remotely humane about it.”

Xiao Jiang’s spirits lifted a little. “She said — even knowing she’d still have to carry that stone stele on her back for eight hundred or a thousand more years, she would never call wrong right. Even giving that wretched stele a single kick makes the trip worthwhile. Someday that stele will be smashed to pieces.”

Huajie broke into a tearful laugh. “Yes. That’s something she would say. I want to give it a kick too.”

Xiao Jiang said, “Mmm!” She’d cried a round and said her piece and felt considerably better, but now felt as if she’d said too much to Huajie, and stood to leave.

Huajie said, “Wash your face before you go.” When she told Older Sister Du to bring water, it was Zhù Ying who appeared carrying it and handed it to her.

Huajie said, “What brought you here?”

Zhù Ying had come looking for Xiao Jiang. She lived a rough-and-ready sort of life. Once the verdict in Li Shi’s case was passed, she hadn’t gone to anyone to weep with her head in their arms; she had gone straight back to the county’s affairs. The stone carvers — Elder Pang the mason and his son — were moving much faster now that they had extra hands, and the literacy stele placed in the county seat had been completed. Zhù Ying had just gone to inspect it. She had then ordered people to erect the literacy stele outside the market — she’d just taken a look at it, and it looked very good.

A literacy stele didn’t need to be imposing or tall. On the contrary, it needed to be at a height where a person standing before it could open their eyes and read it clearly — about the height of a person was just right. A simple shelter was built over the top to protect it from sun and rain so it could last several hundred years. Zhù Ying had also ordered people to take paper rubbings of all the inscriptions, and had bundled them together along with her essay praising Liu Songnian, ready to piggyback on the courier route being used to send the official documents about the Li Shi case up to the capital.

With the first literacy stele in place, she came looking for Xiao Jiang to ask about the music notation for the songs that would go with it. Xiao Wu came back to report that Xiao Jiang had gone to the inner quarters, so Zhù Ying came in person.

Huajie was genuinely happy for Xiao Jiang deep in her heart. She knew Xiao Jiang had some feelings for her, but their situation was even more complicated than ordinary domestic troubles. She never didn’t wish that Xiao Jiang could live well; if Xiao Jiang found happiness, she would be better able to move past the old things, and that would ease Huajie’s own lingering worry.

Xiao Jiang said, “The notation has been ready for a while — can we start spreading the songs now?”

“Yes. Let’s get it going.” Zhù Ying said.

Xiao Jiang glanced at Huajie and said, “If not for just now… I might have misjudged my lord as hardhearted, and wondered how anyone could carry that wretched stele for a thousand years. I’ll go right now.”

And she went bounding off to find the young maids and the others to teach them the songs.

Zhù Ying said, “You two…” She drew two vertical lines down her cheeks with her finger.

Huajie said, “Oh! The money!”

“What money?”

Huajie told her everything from beginning to end. “She’s a proud one too.”

Zhù Ying said, “Mm. Good.”

“Don’t take that case too much to heart.”

“I never take things to heart,” Zhù Ying said. “I’m going.”

Xiao Jiang had gone to teach people the songs. Elder Pang the mason was still leading the county’s stone carvers in cutting the literacy steles. Zhù Ying summoned the county town’s craftsmen to work with her on replanning the abandoned encampment — it was all very well to have the exiled convicts staying in the main jail for the time being, but it was not a permanent arrangement. With the quarry currently using conscript laborers, she had them cut extra stone and pile it up at the old camp. Then she levied another round of labor conscription to build a proper encampment for the exiles.

When all of this had been sorted out, the weather was growing hot. Zhù Ying called Gao Shan in.

Gao Shan’s scalp prickled the moment he heard she was summoning him. He crept into the signing room and asked, “My lord, what do you need of me? Is it… a case?”

Zhù Ying said, “I have a different assignment for you.”

Gao Shan’s spirits immediately lifted. “I will not fail!”

Zhù Ying said, “When you have nothing else to do, wander around the county for me. If you see anyone beating his wife, bring him to the yamen gate, strip off his clothing, and give him twenty strokes of the heavy rod.”

“Yes!”

“All right, go.”

“Yes.”

From then on, howling could be heard at the county yamen gate every few days.

When Xiao Jiang and Huajie found out, they both laughed until they were out of breath. Xiao Jiang found it deeply satisfying; Huajie laughed and then felt a little worried. That evening after dinner, Huajie went to find Zhù Ying. “You ordered the judicial officer to beat people?”

“I let them eat their fill — not so they’d have more strength to beat their wives. Anyone who beats his wife, I’ll beat him. His wife can’t beat him, but I can.”

Huajie said, “Don’t act out of anger. This feels gratifying in the moment — but what will you tell the people once it’s done?”

“Why do I need to explain? Once it’s done, someone will naturally find a fine and upstanding reason for it.” Zhù Ying was entirely unconcerned. “I can’t stand the sight of men who beat their wives. I’m actually saving their lives.”

Huajie was thoroughly at ease after that, and couldn’t stop laughing.