The foundling home occupied a rather out-of-the-way location, chosen precisely for the quality of “being out of the way” — no one abandoning a child wanted an audience.

Zhù Ying and Huajie brought Xiao Liu and Niu Jin along, plus Hu Shijie, making five people altogether. In the winter season, all five were warmly dressed, and at a glance clearly came from a comfortable household. The closer they walked toward the foundling home, the more out-of-the-way the surroundings became; there were dwellings along the road leading to it.

The residents there were accustomed to seeing well-dressed people heading toward the foundling home. Peering out from their doors, they saw a man and a woman who looked like a husband and wife, with attendants and female servants — and thought: looks like a well-off family. Wonder which little one is about to have good luck.

Zhù Ying passed a small shop fronting the street, where an old man sat on the doorstep sunning himself, the whole area quite peaceful and unhurried.

Drawing close to the foundling home, they heard children’s noisy chatter from within — thin, shrill little voices, sounding lively.

Xiao Liu rushed ahead and peered in: “Strange — why is the door closed in the middle of the day?”

He knocked on the door. An elderly, gravelly voice from within asked: “Who’s there?”

Xiao Liu said: “Someone come to look at the children.”

A hunched old man opened the door, raised his cloudy eyes, and appraised Xiao Liu, then asked: “What kind of person are you looking for? A healthy good-looking boy tends to go fast. If your household wants a few presentable girls — ones old enough to do some work after a year or two of rearing — there’s no shortage of those. If you don’t mind about the mind, and just want someone with the strength for rough work, there are boys too. Whichever one you take, the foundling home has raised them all these years — you’ll have to settle a bit of their room and board.”

Xiao Liu said: “Old sir, why all this? We’ll go inside and look for ourselves.”

The old man said: “Young man, easy now, easy — there’s someone already inside! While someone is looking, you can’t come in. Once they leave, it’s your turn — and we also don’t let different people see each other, so no one knows who came and took whom. Those giving away children and those adopting don’t meet face to face, and adopters are also staggered so no one else knows you came. That’s the rule.”

Xiao Liu curiously asked: “What kind of rule is that?” He was young and had no reason to visit foundling homes on his own; the old man didn’t know him, and he hadn’t known there were such customs here.

The old man said: “Those who are sent here are children no one could raise. Parents who can’t care for them — that is abandoning human bonds. From that point on, life or death is left to fate; they cannot come back and reclaim the child. Otherwise, who would raise a child for free? Raise one for ten or twenty years — rear the child into a proper person — and then the birth parents find out and take the child back. How unjust for the adoptive family? Then who would want to adopt?”

Xiao Liu was quite struck by the old man’s words and didn’t feel right about pushing in. He went back to report to Zhù Ying and Huajie. Huajie said: “Since there is a kind-hearted soul inside — shall we come back in a little while?” Zhù Ying looked at this foundling home: the placard was very old, and though the structure looked solid, it had a worn, dilapidated air. She nodded.

The door of the foundling home closed before them. Xiao Liu, still curious, glanced back once more and thought: what a coincidence — wonder who…

Xiao Jiang had a cold expression.

She and Jiang Zhou had arrived at the foundling home early in the morning — she wanted to adopt a child. The foundling home customarily did not refuse “respectable households” seeking to adopt children. The door was opened for them right away and they were ushered inside. After the customary brief inquiries, upon learning that Xiao Jiang was an official of Wuzhou, the attending woman’s attitude immediately warmed considerably. She was absolutely going to “find a good one.”

The woman drew a boy of five or six forward: “Have a look at this one, Ma’am — the face may not be the most handsome. But he’s a good child! Obedient, well-behaved — the kind who’ll be the head of a household someday!”

Xiao Jiang raised her walking stick and blocked them: “My household doesn’t want males.”

With that one remark, the woman had her measure — and thought: so it’s a young woman on her own; who comes in person? Everyone else sends a reliable go-between. She’s given herself away.

The woman sighed: “We do have girls, Ma’am — since you say you want to raise one, I have to find you a good match; I can’t wrong you. Girls are the warmhearted ones, but as dear as they are to you, they still get married off when they grow up. And even if you don’t marry her off and keep her in to attract a son-in-law, you’d still have to pick the son-in-law carefully — and judge his character. What son-in-law is as reliable as a son? Better from the very start to raise a son of your own — someone you’ve raised yourself, you know inside and out, and you can hand your family affairs over to him with peace of mind. Isn’t that the best?”

Jiang Zhou said: “Our mistress wants to see the girls — just bring the girls. Everything else, our mistress will consider on her own.”

The small boy looked at them and knew these people hadn’t taken a liking to him. He dropped his head and forcefully sniffed back two trails of yellow mucus from his nose.

Xiao Jiang felt a surge of irritation and said: “Let’s go.”

The woman hurried to say: “Ma’am, please don’t go! There are presentable girls! There are also ones just recently brought in who haven’t been weaned — they definitely won’t remember what their birth parents looked like; raise them from infancy and they’re easy to bring up as your own…”

Xiao Jiang glanced at the eyes peering in from outside the door and from beside the wall, and with a composed expression said: “Another time.” She gripped her stick and stood up.

The woman said: “Ah, right this way, Ma’am. Please do think it over — I’m speaking from the bottom of my heart.”

Xiao Jiang walked out of the foundling home; her expression was not good. Jiang Zhou said: “Ma’am, we’re in no rush! Ah — isn’t that —” She pointed ahead.

Hearing the main gate open, Xiao Liu instinctively turned around: “Oh?”

That exclamation caused the other three to turn back as well — and they saw two women coming out from inside, their gait somewhat familiar, one of them with a walking stick in hand.

None of these people ordinarily came to foundling homes, and no one would wander here without reason. Meeting like this, both sides felt the other must be there for something. Xiao Jiang thought Zhù Ying and her group surely hadn’t come to the foundling home specifically to intercept her — that would be too much of a coincidence. So it must be just that: a coincidence. Would the Governor really be here to adopt a foundling home child? Perhaps she was here to recruit servants?

Both groups looked at each other. A stillness settled all around. A cold sliver of wind blew through.

The foundling home door opened again, and the old man called: “Young official person —” He was sending someone off and calling the next one in, only to find the two groups had run straight into each other.

Zhù Ying said: “Shall we go in together?” Then she casually asked Xiao Jiang what she thought of the foundling home.

Xiao Jiang said: “Just as it is — My Lord will see once inside.”

She did not leave right away, but followed Zhù Ying back in, talking as they walked: “All of these children have lost both parents — none of them have it easy. Every one of them hopes someone will come and take them away. They fix you with those eyes, and if your heart softens even slightly, you come out in tears. Even years later, thinking of it again makes you feel bad.”

She had always taken Zhù Ying for a soft-hearted person. She worried that sending such a person into the foundling home would not end well — and with Jiang Zhou at her side, she followed them back.

But the old man said to Xiao Jiang: “This Ma’am, you cannot meet with others.”

Xiao Liu said: “Old sir, your words are many — but can you not see? We know each other — we all came together to have a look.”

Only then did the old man step aside and call inward: “Auntie Zhang — more officials have come!”

Then he said to Zhù Ying: “Official person, please, inside.”

Zhù Ying took in the foundling home around her. Since coming to the southern prefecture, she had never been here, though she had authorized the regular disbursement of funds from the yamen’s daily operating accounts, marking them with her signature and seal and ensuring timely release of money and grain. After the prefecture was elevated to Wuzhou, she had increased the allocation a bit. She had told Xiang An there was no harm in hiring female laborers, and Xiang An had indeed reported selecting a few young women from here. Female workers with families were quite prone to having family members come and make trouble; these girls, with no father, no mother, and no brothers or husbands to demand wages from the sugar workshop on their behalf, were orphans who worked as apprentices earning wages — extremely convenient.

The building style of the foundling home was already rather old. Several places had fallen into disrepair, but overall it still seemed sound — clearly a compassionate soul had put genuine care into building it, and by appearances it could stand for another twenty years. The courtyard walls were tall and solid. One wall had a rectangular opening cut into it, into which a wooden box — with five boards nailed on sides and a removable lid, open only at the top — fit perfectly, like a large drawer. At night, someone abandoning an infant would put the baby in from outside through the “drawer.” Those inside, hearing crying, would pull the “drawer” open from the inside and carry the child in. Both parties never met; once placed in the “drawer,” the child’s life had nothing more to do with the birth parents.

A somewhat more vigorous middle-aged woman came quickly toward them and called out: “Goodness! My Lord? Madam Zhū? Oh? Madam Jiang, you’ve come back too?”

The woman hurried to kneel and receive them. The old man gave a start: “This — who is — “

The woman gestured frantically at him: “This is the Governor! Quick!”

“Bang!” — both children and adults in the foundling home erupted. They pressed forward together to pay their respects.

The children were of all sizes. At first glance, there were about ten or so in view; judging by the sounds, there were more in the back. There were boys and girls, fewer boys and more girls. The girls mostly looked relatively healthy; the boys seemed to have something off about them, one way or another. All the children’s clothes were very old, full of patches.

The woman hurried to shout: “Everyone settle down!” Then she turned back to explain to Zhù Ying that the foundling home was managed by her husband, but men generally didn’t come around much, since women were more suited to looking after children. She herself lived nearby — the commute was convenient. Her husband’s surname was Zhang.

Zhù Ying said: “Zhang Liu?”

“Yes.”

“No need for everyone to kneel — rise and speak.”

The woman got up, brushed the dust off her knees, and approached: “My Lord has come — is it… to hire workers? Or a maidservant? Both are available! Or perhaps to adopt someone to be a companion for My Lord’s future young heir or young mistress?” Seeing Zhù Ying before her, she ruled out the idea of a personal adoption — the best these children could hope for was one of these outcomes.

Zhù Ying took the woman in from head to toe — dressed simply but neatly, with two small patches on her clothing.

Zhù Ying asked: “How many people are here in total?”

Nanny Zhang quickly said: “The count is with my husband. Saner, go home quickly and fetch your father!” A girl with a perfectly ordinary face answered and ran out. Nanny Zhang explained she was her daughter, helping out because they were short-handed.

While explaining, she led Zhù Ying and the others into the main hall, where the floor was scrubbed very clean. The furnishings were also tolerably presentable. A few bright-looking girls came forward to serve tea — all of them around seven or eight years old, all slightly thin, with a yellowish complexion, otherwise with decent features; they said nothing, but their eyes could not resist going to Zhù Ying and the others, faces full of an indescribable hope.

Nanny Zhang explained: “We take good care of all the children here — but no one can eat without giving anything back, can they? Learning to do a bit of work, so when they go out they can support themselves. Who can take care of them for a lifetime? They’ve all been trained to be quick on their feet and neat. If you want to teach them manners, just say a word and they’ll follow — all of them are obedient.”

Huajie asked whether there were still smaller children in the back.

Nanny Zhang said: “Yes — they’re in the back.”

They rose and went to look. In a back-courtyard room, a row of communal bunks held five swaddled babies, of varying quality — some newer, some worn. Some were crying. One started, and a few others followed in a chain. A girl of about seven or eight rushed forward and picked one up to soothe it, then said: “It’s probably wet — we just fed them congee. I’ll change her now.”

Nanny Zhang smiled apologetically at Zhù Ying: “We only have a few people here — right now there are more than ten children eating and living here, so we have the bigger ones look after the smaller ones.” Behind her, a few rough-handed women also wore anxious expressions, afraid of being scolded. The wages for a presentable nursemaid would be high, and the foundling home could never afford one wet nurse per child. They had only these three or four people, and they also had to cook, do laundry, mend clothes. When children quarreled or grabbed things, they also had to intervene.

Zhù Ying tested the window with her hand — a bit drafty. Nanny Zhang hurried to say: “At night it’s all blocked up.”

This place looked somewhat better than the shelter in Sicheng County where Zhù Lian had once been housed.

Before Zhù Ying could ask further, Zhang Liu came rushing over, sweating all over his head, feeling deeply unlucky. He usually allowed himself a small slack — dignitaries generally didn’t come in person to a place like this. Who would have imagined the Governor herself would turn up today? Zhang Liu arrived with steam practically rising from his head.

Zhù Ying kept her composure. Huajie and Jiang Zhou were already moved to pity. Now looking at these children, they were struggling to walk away.

Zhù Ying turned and left. Xiao Jiang, with one hand each, gave both of them a tug by the sleeve, then went tap-tap-tap on her cane to follow. Huajie looked back twice, steeled herself, and followed back to the front hall.

Front hall — Zhang Liu stood with his hands at his sides. He was a plain middle-aged man, and plainly this family of three appeared healthier than the others, suggesting their daily life was somewhat better. Short of Zhù Ying needing to spell it out, even Xiao Liu could guess: no doubt some of the chores were done by the little girls. Zhù Ying was not surprised. If this couple had truly abandoned all conscience, they could have lived quite richly.

Zhù Ying asked how many people the foundling home typically housed, how many left each year, how many new arrivals came, and how many deaths occurred.

Zhang Liu said: “About ten or twenty — never exceeded thirty in all these years. Every year three to five leave; new arrivals can be as many as eight, nine, or ten, or as few as three to five. Deaths — ah, hard to say. Children are difficult to rear!”

Even in an ordinary family with both parents present, not every child could be raised to adulthood. The foundling home lost proportionally more.

Zhang Liu was already thinking about how to extract a bit more money and grain from the Governor…

“What determines the figures?” Zhù Ying asked.

Zhang Liu quickly came back to himself: “Oh! Apart from years of plague, the figures have no connection to whether times are good or bad. In bad times, newborns are drowned and no one bothers to send them here. In good times, newborns are sent to be raised by others. Or there are some left on roadsides, or sold by their parents…”

Indeed — in this era, the buying and selling of human lives was permissible. A parent selling a child was not considered a notable thing. People just handled it themselves, without troubling the foundling home.

Zhù Ying said: “There is also that kind of case? I see this place is full of girls — far outnumbering boys. Why?”

Zhang Liu continued: “Boys with disabilities are sent here. As for healthy boys — someone without a husband is bearing a child out of wedlock; she has to give it away. But boys? Who abandons a perfectly healthy son? The ones brought here are either disabled or have circumstances that aren’t easy to explain, or come from fallen families. Sending a child here is already a sign the parents have some conscience. Girls are different — raising them to grown-up means a dowry, which is a loss. “

Zhù Ying asked a few more questions — about where the older children had gone, whether any had been trafficked, and so on. Then, without saying much, she left. Zhang Liu and his wife were baffled. They thought: the Governor came to the foundling home just to ask whether more children are abandoned in good years or bad?

The children of the foundling home experienced yet another disappointment.

Coming out of the foundling home, both Huajie and Jiang Zhou wanted to say something, but both held back. Truly — one should never visit a place like this without good reason. Come once and you feel bad for many days.

Walking some distance away, Zhù Ying asked Xiao Jiang: “Do you have other things to attend to today?”

Jiang Zhou replied on her behalf: “My Lord, today is a rest day.”

Zhù Ying said: “Hmm — come sit a while in the office then.”

The group returned to the Governor’s Residence and went into the signing room.

Xiao Jiang’s cane made a rhythmic tapping sound all the way. Once indoors, she lifted the cane and no longer let it click against the floor.

They sat down. Niu Jin came to serve tea. Zhù Ying went straight to the point and said to Xiao Jiang: “How many times have you been to the foundling home? What do you make of it?”

The two parties had met unexpectedly at the foundling home and felt slightly awkward. Xiao Jiang, seeing that Zhù Ying did not ask why she had gone there but only asked about the foundling home itself, cautiously said: “My Lord’s meaning is…?”

Zhù Ying didn’t beat around the bush: “This is Wuzhou. The foundling home should be managed properly.”

Xiao Jiang hesitated slightly, then gave a gentle shake of her head: “It is not easy to manage.”

She then laid out a calculation.

Running a foundling home carried real costs. Raising a child from infancy to adulthood — with no thought for schooling, only food and clothing — was no small expense. There were occasional illnesses, and the wages of hired help to look after the children had to be factored in. So economies were made wherever possible. An ordinary county town could not afford a foundling home in every county — even Wuzhou’s was scraping by. On top of that, the managers inevitably skimmed a little off here and there, which left the whole situation rather straitened.

The older children looked after the younger ones; they swept and washed clothes, lit fires and hauled water. By seven or eight they could be sent as apprentice workers or as pageboys and maidservants. By twelve or thirteen, unless they were truly indispensable to the foundling home, there was no extra rice to spare for such a large and hungry person — they had to be told to go. At that age a person’s appetite was enough to feed three to five small children.

If Zhù Ying wanted to manage it, by what standard?

And there was another issue: “If people hear that My Lord intends to manage it, those who come flocking may well eat Wuzhou hollow.”

Xiao Jiang said this very calmly: “People seek advantage. Children who originally couldn’t be raised — born and then drowned — that’s how it was. The moment Your Lord’s foundling home is managed, if it is better than things are now, if it offers a better life than ordinary poor families give their children, then some parents who would not actually have had to kill or sell away their children will find a reason to send them. When that time comes, will you take them or not? How will you raise them? To what age? Children are difficult to rear, and many more will die — and then you will face censure. So many eyes watching.”

She rarely spoke at such length in front of many people — especially with Huajie present. Today she spoke an unusually great deal, and even Xiao Liu found it surprising.

But Zhù Ying listened with full attention. From the moment she had been stopped at the foundling home gate, she had been re-examining her earlier plans and had already noticed some new problems. She had originally intended to cast a wide net with the foundling home’s orphans as the primary pool — since children with parents had other ties and too many people to answer to. But the foundling home had fewer children than she had imagined; with no fish in the water, what use was a net? The net needed to be cast more broadly. And what Xiao Jiang had said now was also quite right.

Xiao Jiang had only spoken of “raising” — she hadn’t yet gotten to “teaching,” or how to arrange things once the fish were caught. With only a handful, there was no real competition. With more, competition would sort itself out on its own.

Zhù Ying listened as Xiao Jiang spoke a while longer, until Xiao Jiang suddenly realized she had said too much. Her face went red and she closed her mouth.

Zhù Ying then said: “I see. I’ll think on it further.”

It would still be managed — but the circumstances required adjustments.

Xiao Jiang, already feeling she had said too much, quickly rose and took her leave.

Her steps were quick, and the cane struck the ground without its earlier rhythm. She walked and thought: I cannot adopt a child from the Wuzhou foundling home!

She came home, and Jiang Zhou, seeing her slightly preoccupied look, went to boil water for tea. Coming back, she found her staring at the official’s robe hanging on the rack. Jiang Zhou said: “There will be a good child.”

Xiao Jiang came back to herself and asked: “Do you ever miss your parents?”

Jiang Zhou hesitated: “Sometimes.”

“Would you ever look for them?”

Jiang Zhou said: “I — I hadn’t thought about it before, and now… If I happened to meet them, I’d want to know. Whether to acknowledge them or not, we’d talk about that later…”

Xiao Jiang said: “Yes. People always want to find where they come from.” She looked again at the official robe on the rack. In the very moment she had the robe tailored, put it on, and looked in the mirror — it struck her suddenly that she wanted a family. She wanted a child. She was an official now; she could give a child a proper, well-cared-for upbringing.

She wanted a girl.

Today’s visit for adoption had not gone very smoothly. For one thing, Nanny Zhang kept recommending boys, saying they were better for securing one’s old age. For another, she had suddenly grown worried: if she adopted a child she would give everything to it, and she feared that after all that wholehearted investment, the child would grow up and walk away to find its birth parents without a second glance. This led her to think of herself — no matter how hard things had been, she had always wanted to find her mother, and then…

Xiao Jiang shook her head hard. She was being indecisive.

Unexpectedly, she thought: My Lord let that Shitou go just like that — will she be in pain?

At this moment, Zhù Ying was in quite good spirits.

The foundling home matter had encountered a few new complications, but the residence had received good news — Xiang An’s nephew had also arrived today.

At the time, Chou Wen was at the residence giving Lang Rui a supplementary lesson. Small children learn language quickly, and Chou Wen had an immense enthusiasm for “bringing education and civilization to his tribal people.” He had taken the character primer and, skipping the first page entirely, was translating the subsequent songs while explaining their interesting content, giving this small child a lively lesson.

Zhù Zhe was playing chess with Huajie. Huajie was an average player, and Zhù Zhe played chaotically — the two were evenly matched. Playing chess with her, Huajie had even learned to take back moves shamelessly, just like a small girl.

Xiang An was always very busy; she was almost never seen at the Governor’s Residence during the day, but today she had come back early — and had brought a small boy with her. The two came to the gate, and asked Hou Wu to send word in.

Hu Shijie came out first. She vaguely remembered the boy’s face and smiled: “So it’s the Young Master.”

The small boy gave a bow: “Greetings, Martial Aunt.”

Hu Shijie said: “Where are you staying?”

Xiang An said: “I’m planning to set up a room for him at the sugar workshop. I’ve brought him to meet My Lord today, so that in future when there’s any errand-running, he can come here. Right now I’m getting him acquainted with the household.”

Hu Shijie said: “My Lord has just come back — if you’d come a bit earlier you’d have had to wait.”

They went to the study, where only Zhù Ying was inside.

The small boy was a bit nervous. Xiang An said quite easily: “My Lord, this is my nephew. Young Master, quick — pay your respects to My Lord.”

The small boy looked up and saw a young, good-looking official — blue-green robe, hair gathered up and pinned with a jade crown, looking quite approachable. The boy relaxed. Following the manners his family had taught him, he kowtowed properly from the cushion.

Zhù Ying beckoned him with a wave. The boy glanced at Xiang An; she nodded, and he stepped forward. Zhù Ying asked: “What is your name?”

“My Lord, my name is Xiang Yu — the ‘yu’ for fisherman.”

Zhù Ying looked into his eyes — those eyes seemed to have something to say. So she asked: “Why that character?”

The boy brightened a little and said: “Better to learn a skill than to inherit wealth. So I would rather suffer a bit and learn to fish than have the fish handed to me.”

“How old are you?”

“My Lord, I’ll be ten after the New Year!”

Zhù Ying took out a red packet for him: “Come — we’re meeting for the first time.”

Xiang Yu received it with both hands and gave proper thanks. Zhù Ying asked Xiang An: “Did he come on his own, or was someone from home sent along? Is he all settled in?”

Xiang An bowed: “Someone from home escorted him — riding with the guild’s caravan; very safe. I’ve also entrusted a message back to Fulu with their returning people, to let the family know he’s arrived. He’ll stay at the sugar workshop first — he came to learn the trade.”

“Does he have a companion?”

“Yes — an apprentice.”

“What about meals? And books? He needs an older person living with him too.”

Xiang An said: “Then I’ll move to the sugar workshop as well.”

Zhù Ying said: “The two of you can come and go together — if you’re going to the workshop, go together; if you’d like to stay here, you can keep each other company. Tonight, if nothing else comes up, stay and have a meal.”

“Yes.” Xiang An answered happily.

Xiang Yu glanced at her. Xiang An said: “Why are you looking at me? I’ll take you to move your things and meet the household’s people.”

Zhù Ying said: “Off you go.”

Xiang An led Xiang Yu out. Zhù Ying had Hu Shijie pass word to Hou Wu and Du Dajie to add Xiang Yu to the guest list.

She herself was mulling over the matter of “casting a wide net.” She very quickly sorted out her thinking — many of the things Xiao Jiang had worried about simply were not problems for her!

She had far less to worry about!

The foundling home could receive money — but this disbursement would not come from the Governor’s Residence’s official accounts. It would be supplemented monthly with the equivalent of what Shitou’s expenses had previously been. Xiang Yu’s presence reminded her that not every person needed to sit in a classroom and do nothing but study for ten years to be considered “cultivated.” She had been too fixated on the idea of “whole-heartedly sitting in a classroom.”

That said, Xiao Jiang’s points were also well-taken: she could contribute money, but if she were the only contributor, she could never afford it. She couldn’t pour all her money into one thing. It had to be an arrangement where one endeavor generated its own returns.

Take in more apprentices.

The foundling home’s children also needed to find their own livelihood — so let the sugar workshop recruit apprentices. And the paper workshop too. Work and learning side by side. In the workshop, doing daily work, with the accountant spending two or three quarter-hours each day teaching basic character recognition and the like. Nothing too elaborate — the clever ones would become apparent in no time.

Take the clever ones and sort them into categories for cultivation; the less clever ones would at least have a trade to fall back on, so they wouldn’t starve.

The more Zhù Ying thought about it, the more workable it seemed.

By the time she had thought through the broad outline of the plan, Xiang An had already brought her nephew back and settled him in Xiang Le’s room. Xiang Le was not back yet; and even once he returned, an uncle and nephew sharing a room would be quite fine.

Zhù Ying said: “They’re all free today — let’s have A’Yu meet the others. Where is A’Lian?” Xiao Liu ran outside and called through the courtyard door for Zhù Lian; Zhù Lian set down his brush and came out.

Zhù Ying said: “Get acquainted — this is San Niang’s nephew, Xiang Yu. A’Yu, this is A’Lian.”

Xiang Yu had heard his aunt mention Zhù Lian. He took a look — couldn’t quite pick out any distinguishing features — but politely cupped his hands; Zhù Lian returned the courtesy.

Zhù Ying said: “You’re close in age — you’ll have plenty of time together. Get to know each other slowly.”

Zhù Lian said: “Yes.”

Xiang Yu also followed with a “Yes,” thinking: My Lord is so easygoing — why does everyone say she has such strict rules?

Zhù Ying casually asked Xiang An about the apprentice situation: “The girls from the foundling home — how are they doing at the sugar workshop?”

“Very hardworking.”

“And what if there were more of them?”

“That would certainly be welcome.”

Zhù Ying asked further: “How many people does the sugar workshop need right now? How many can it accommodate? How many apprentices do you want?”

Xiang An said: “The more the better. Right now I’d want the day to have twenty-four hours. My Lord, I want to build another sugar workshop by the water — expand it there!”

She had already expanded the workshop once, and since raw materials were plentiful, it was running continuously. But other families’ workshops had also opened up, and they were all in a race. At present, Wuzhou’s sugar sold very well to outside buyers — outside merchants frequently came to purchase in bulk. Every operation was frantically expanding, wanting to profit before out-of-towners learned the production method. Even if it didn’t reach the whole country, just the southern prefectures would be more than enough to keep them happy.

Xiang An also had her eye on water-powered mills. She was thinking about building no more new ones, making the waterside workshop the main facility going forward, because water power was cheaper. But finding a good site was difficult, having also to account for irrigation and other needs.

Zhù Ying said: “I’ll think further about the location.” Her original plan had been to shift some of the new workshops to the mountains — partly for her own needs and partly because water power there was more convenient.

Shanque’s father-in-law using Shitou for leverage had given her some doubts. She had originally also been planning to establish a papermaking workshop in Talang County, again making use of water power.

Now, aside from teaching farming, she intended to pause all the other projects and observe things further. Her time was running short: if Shanque’s father-in-law and the others were slow in their progress, she would have no choice but to abandon the approach of “developing all counties together” and shift her efforts toward concentrating on Asu County.

Xiang An, hearing her in deliberation, said: “Yes.”

Zhù Ying asked her: “With more apprentices taken in, can you spot the capable ones among them?”

“They say you can read someone at three years old. Bright or not — one trial and you know. Bright people — everything about them is bright.”

Zhù Ying nodded toward Qi Tai’s courtyard. Xiang An couldn’t help smiling: “That’s a different case.”

The two exchanged a few more words, then Zhù Ying said: “Come along then. Let’s go to the back.”

She led the group to see Zhang Xiangu and Zhù Da. The old couple had given their blessing to Xiang An and Xiang Le beforehand, and came ready with smiles. When they saw Xiang Yu, the prepared smiles became genuine ones. Xiang Yu was somewhat livelier and spoke nicely to people, yet without being overly familiar with the old couple.

Zhù Ying said they would eat together in a while; Zhang Xiangu immediately agreed: “One more dish — what do you like to eat?”

Xiang Yu said: “Anything! Mother doesn’t let me be picky.”

Zhang Xiangu said happily: “What a good child!”

Shortly after, Zhù Zhe and Huajie arrived too. Huajie was actually preoccupied with the foundling home, and her chess game with Zhù Zhe had been muddled from the start. Zhù Zhe could even tell she was distracted. Xiang Yu’s arrival rescued Huajie from that situation. The two of them came arm in arm to Zhang Xiangu’s courtyard.

Zhang Xiangu’s little courtyard filled with bustle again. The old couple forgot some of their troubles. Chou Wen’s lesson ended, and Zhù Ying had him and Lang Rui stay for the meal as well — hosting them all for a casual dinner in the Governor’s Residence. She put Zhù Lian, Xiang Yu, Lang Rui, and Zhù Zhe together at one end, while she talked with Chou Wen and Huajie about the tribal school.

Chou Wen said: “Some students in the tribal school are learning even slower than A’Fa.”

Huajie said: “The older you are, the slower you learn, I think?”

Chou Wen gave a slight shake of his head: “Some people are simply born dull. Shoving simpletons in with everyone else is truly…”

Zhù Ying said: “Relax. Teach everyone the same — no favoritism. You’ve taught; whether they learn or not is on them, and you have no regrets. If you slacken, well — that would be something else entirely.”

Over the casual dinner conversation, Zhù Ying asked Chou Wen how his son was doing. Chou Wen said: “Still studying — I’d like him to sit the county school examinations in future.” Chou Wen was able to serve as a doctor-scholar precisely because it was the tribal school; for his son, he had engaged a private teacher to instruct in the proper classics, planning to have him study hard for a few years before taking the official route.

In former times, this would have been unthinkable. He was a merchant, and his father and grandfather had not even known how to write. Now things were different: even Talang County was an officially recognized county. The obstacles to his child entering school were gone.

Zhù Ying said: “I have some books here — when you’d like to read them, you’re welcome to come and copy them.”

Chou Wen was overjoyed: “Many thanks, My Lord.”

At the other end of the table, the four small children had gathered together. Lang Rui was the youngest, and his language was still a little limited; Xiang Yu was different — he had come recently but already knew some words of both the Qixia and Liji languages, with Qixia being the stronger, which opened up a small bit of communication between them. Zhù Zhe had not gotten into an open quarrel with Lang Rui yet, and even called him “Little Brother.”

For a time, all was harmony and warmth.