To have strength in one’s hands, one cannot be idle.

Huajie, being in the closest proximity, was the first official in the prefectural residence to seek out Zhù Ying alone before the evening banquet. The two of them spoke first of some personal matters, then Zhù Ying asked carefully about the recent details of Wuzhou’s affairs.

Huajie had kept watch on developments from all sides on Zhù Ying’s behalf, even while residing at the academy. At Zhang Xiangu’s quarters they had only managed a few words on proper business before being pulled off course by other things; now the two could speak thoroughly.

Zhù Ying asked about the estate, the sugar workshop, the academy, and various matters within Wuzhou city, as well as how the people around her had performed during these past months. Beyond that, given Huajie’s scope of movement, she could not be expected to know in finer detail.

Huajie answered each question in turn, and added: “Xiang Le has not been able to return home for quite some time at the estate. He could not even go home for the New Year — that really is not right.”

Zhù Ying said: “I have been thinking of that. With spring planting finished, I need to go spend about half a month at the estate. I will also arrange to relieve him and give him a proper holiday — his family has missed him.”

Huajie said: “But then who will manage the estate?”

Zhù Ying said: “We are still short of people — that is the truth of it. I will go there first and then see.” For an enterprise like the estate, having someone from one’s own circle manage it was the most reassuring arrangement. Right now she only had these three people she could rely on. So her thinking was to gradually move her parents to reside at the mountain estate, and then to get the school there in order. The medical students had a specific duty: if a locality had need of them, the head physician was required to take the students out to treat patients in the area.

The mountain was also part of Wuzhou — Huajie should go there regularly as well. That would mean one more person she could trust to be there and look after things.

As for Xiang Le and Xiang An — they said they had come to her side out of gratitude. But gratitude is something that wears down over time. One cannot work people to death. Keeping them on the mountain indefinitely was not suitable either. She would relieve him first, let him sort out his family affairs, and then they could speak of “the future.”

Huajie said: “That is true. You have not gone into the mountain for quite some time — those matters do need to be picked up again. But speaking of yourself — the manuscript, is it finished?”

Zhù Ying said: “Do not laugh at me. I have a draft together. And all thanks to Wu Ren’s help.”

“You have mentioned her twice now — is she truly that capable?”

“She truly is,” Huajie said with a laugh. “Look at Niang Zi — a woman like that, so strong-willed, who chose that girl as the daughter-in-law for her only son. Do you think it was just because she was friends with the girl’s mother?”

Zhù Ying grew curious: “Then what was it for?”

Huajie said quietly: “A strong, capable widow who is also clever will not choose a weak and biddable daughter-in-law for the purpose of control. Even if she seems gentle on the surface, her inner character must be capable.”

Zhù Ying said nothing, and listened as Huajie described Wu Ren.

Wu Ren, this young woman, had no faults other than seeming to rub fortune-tellers the wrong way — not a single other flaw. Every teacher in the world shares one habit: to pull a few capable students in to help with work. The more capable the student, the more tasks the teacher assigns. Huajie was a teacher at the academy, and she was no exception — she had drawn in Wu Ren.

It began with managing various student affairs at the academy, so that Huajie could free her hands to prepare her manuscript. From the very first assignment, Huajie gauged Wu Ren’s weight and measure. Since she had Wu Ren, things ran far more smoothly. Good use was followed by more use, and Huajie gradually handed over other matters at the academy to her as well.

In the course of handling miscellaneous duties, Huajie also discovered that Wu Ren had a remarkable gift for coordination, planning, budgeting, and managing income and expenditure. The medical department of the academy thus gained a “student administrator.” By the year’s end, even the draft ledgers for the settlement with Chou Wen were prepared by Wu Ren, with Huajie only reviewing them.

The budget distribution for the academy’s New Year period, and all the needs of the medical department, were also first drafted by Wu Ren for Huajie to look over.

“She is better than I am,” Huajie said.

Zhù Ying said: “How could that be?”

Huajie said: “She simply is. And she is young — she learns quickly. When I was her age, I was nowhere near as swift and clean-handed with accounting and managing tasks. If there is one single criticism to be made, it is that she is too timid. In public, when there are too many people around, she cannot get a word out — her face goes red. But she is capable!”

“Good, good — you have already praised her, so she must be fine. In a day or two I will meet her. Is that all right?”

“Of course.”

Zhù Ying said: “Then bring that manuscript over for me to look at. We will go over it together, then hand it to the printing house and have a batch printed first for use at your academy.”

“Wonderful!”

Huajie left in good spirits. Outside the study she saw Xiang Yu’s small head dart back out of sight, and she smiled with indulgence. Xiang Yu was a somewhat mischievous child, but he knew the bounds of propriety. Why be severe with him?

What she did not know was that Xiang Yu, marking her departure from the study, immediately ran to report to his aunt, Xiang An: “The study is empty now — Aunt, if you have business to report, go quickly!”

Xiang An gave a light thwack to the top of his head: “Good boy.” She walked two steps and turned back to say to him: “You — when there is nothing pressing, do not go craning your neck and peering toward the lord’s quarters. It is not a good look.”

Xiang Yu said: “I was doing it for you!”

Xiang An said: “Thank you~” She planned to come back and explain to the boy later that no one likes being deliberately watched.

——

Xiang An was the second to arrive at the study.

Zhù Ying said: “Sit.”

Xiang An first placed the account book on Zhù Ying’s table, then sat down carefully. What she had to report was far less than what Huajie had said — she was mainly updating Zhù Ying on the sugar workshop’s affairs. Beyond the workshop, there were two additional items that could be considered connected: first, land reclamation; second, the young female apprentices.

Zhù Ying said: “Tell me in detail.”

Xiang An said: “The sugar workshop keeps growing, and it needs more and more workers. But we cannot encroach on farmland, so we have no choice but to reclaim some wasteland. We need to move quickly — in Wuzhou flat ground is scarce, and opening new fields on hillsides is far too laborious and not cost-effective. So I thought: recruit some people to begin the clearing.”

Wuzhou’s climate is hot and humid. Weeds and trees grow fast; even clearing wasteland on flat ground is quite troublesome, and the territory has many mountains besides. If one moves too slowly, the remaining flat wasteland will all be snatched up by others, which would be a real problem.

“If we do not have enough sugarcane fields of our own, we will have to source from outside. Sugarcane is heavy — transport costs are not low. The cost goes up, and the profit comes down.” Xiang An was clear-eyed about the numbers. The only solution in this situation was to clear wasteland locally and bring it under cultivation.

Zhù Ying wanted to protect agricultural fields — but if Xiang An opened newly reclaimed land, what was grown there would not be a concern, would it?

Zhù Ying laughed: “Very good. What else?”

The second matter was the young female apprentices. Xiang An had a certain private aim: as a female manager, she needed “her own people.” She wanted to cultivate more female apprentices. Tilting recruitment more heavily toward women might draw some opposition — and for that she needed the prefect to issue an endorsement. Then she could use Zhù Ying’s name to get the matter done.

But the reasons she offered aloud were: “There are a few more girls from the foundling home who have turned twelve now. And on the streets I also see daughters of poor families — capable, willing to endure hardship, quick-witted. They work a full day and cannot earn even two coins. We are short of workers, and they are obedient and hardworking…”

She gave many reasons, and then hoisted the banner of “caring for the poor and showing compassion for orphans.” Xiang An was confident Zhù Ying would agree. To show she had no private motives, she also proposed that not only the Xiang family workshop, but the official workshop as well, could take on apprentices from the foundling home.

Zhù Ying first asked her: “Among these apprentices, have you spotted any capable ones?”

“Yes.”

“If they go to the official workshop, what status do they hold?” Zhù Ying asked with a smile.

Workers in the official workshop held the status of artisans — like the old craftsman Tang and the others from before, their names listed in a register under the authority of the official in charge. When Zhù Ying had needed him, Leng Yun handed Tang craftsman over just like that. Once foundling home children entered the official workshop, what came next would be uncertain.

Xiang An quickly said: “I was thinking too narrowly — let the official workshop remain as it was? But then the profit would again…”

Zhù Ying already understood her meaning. She said: “Are there any apprentices currently performing well?”

“Yes — it is precisely because they are performing well that I want to continue recruiting this way.”

“Then keep doing it.”

“Yes.”

Zhù Ying asked her: “How much do you know about the other workshops and industries in Wuzhou?”

Xiang An said: “I only know a little — I am most familiar with the sugar workshop. I know a bit about the paper workshop as well. Beyond that, only fragments I heard while trading goods back home — I would not dare say I understand them.”

Zhù Ying said: “I see. Apart from the sugar workshop, do you have any other ideas?”

“Pardon?”

Zhù Ying said: “You handle matters with care and thoroughness, and you are willing to use your mind. The sugar workshop is what I entrusted to you to manage. But what about you yourself? If there were no sugar workshop — what would you want to do?”

Xiang An was startled for a moment and immediately feared Zhù Ying was going to take the sugar workshop away from her and hand it to someone else. She steadied herself quickly. The official sugar workshop belonged to the government, and the Xiang family workshop had her share in it too. Being handed to someone else to manage would be a genuine loss — but also… Then what had that just-stated request to recruit female workers meant?

Xiang An said softly: “Whatever you direct me to do, I will do. If you ask me to think up something on my own, I am afraid I cannot manage it.” When her father was still alive, her ambition had been to become a great merchant, then to buy land and property. Now that achievement had been reached. Beyond it, there was nothing.

Zhù Ying said: “You can think it over. All of you are capable people — there ought to be other things you can do.”

Xiang An’s lips moved. The faint expressions on her face shifted through several changes, and she looked a little pained. Something else? What else? She was a girl from a merchant family. Getting to where she was now was already remarkable. Surely she could not serve as an official? Setting herself aside — even Xiang Le could not. Their family was in trade.

She mustered the courage to ask: “My lord — are you trying to send me away? Or has my mother… said something?”

“What has your mother to do with anything?” Zhù Ying asked.

Disaster — she had spoken carelessly. Xiang An was filled with regret. During the New Year, her mother and sister-in-law had come to Wuzhou city to pay their respects to Old Madam, and had briefly touched on the subject of her marriage prospects. She had assumed that Old Madam had already just now passed this on to Zhù Ying. But looking at it now, it seemed she had not mentioned it yet?

Xiang An drew a deep breath and said: “I… I do not yet want to get married.”

Xiang’s mother’s most maddening concerns right now were the marriages of her son and daughter. The eldest son was taken care of. The second son and second daughter were in that awkward state of too high for some prospects and too low for others — the two thorns in Xiang’s mother’s heart. Xiang Le was easier to deal with: someone passing a message along was enough, and he had replied: “Whatever the family arranges — as long as she is a virtuous woman, that is fine.”

Xiang An was more troublesome. Those who knew the situation said she was repaying a kindness. Those who did not might look at how hard she worked and think she was like those capable concubines in other households — kept around because of a skill the master could not do without, and so taken in as a concubine to keep her close. The way she was now working for Zhù Ying carried a hint of that impression.

If it were truly that — the Xiang family would have accepted it. This was a prefect, not some country landowner. Xiang’s mother had even specifically asked a man in the county who had studied books to look into the regulations. The Wuzhou prefect was of the fourth rank lower grade. According to official rules, the prefect was allowed four “medial consorts,” each ranked at the eighth rank lower grade — a position higher than some of the prefectural office’s own officials.

So it would be a fine thing!

That was Xiang’s mother’s thinking, and she had said so to her daughter. But Xiang An had no such intention whatsoever. After spending all these years around Zhù Ying, there had not been the faintest flicker of any such feeling! She had been throwing herself wholeheartedly into the sugar workshop, and here was her own mother who had already gone and looked into the official rank. Xiang An, upon hearing it, turned crimson from head to foot — with fury.

She used the sugar workshop as an excuse, pleading that she could not leave it unattended, and fled back to Wuzhou city. Her mother followed right on her heels. Not daring to cause a scene, she came under the guise of paying New Year respects and carefully probed the situation with Zhang Xiangu, remarking that her daughter was not getting any younger and they should begin looking into a suitable match.

Zhang Xiangu, who had a daughter of her own “who was not getting any younger,” understood Xiang’s mother completely and said: “If you find a good son-in-law, by all means let her be married. I will even send a gift.” Xiang’s mother came away having discovered nothing, and had to go home and question her daughter again at length. Xiang An could only deflect with: “I will never leave my parents’ home in this life.” Xiang’s mother went home with a furrowed brow.

Xiang An was genuinely afraid her mother might do something embarrassing on this matter.

Zhù Ying listened, then said: “Oh — then that is just right. Go back to your work. While you are at it, survey all the existing workshops and industries in Wuzhou and sound out their situation. Also look into what businesses the merchants of Wuzhou are engaged in. I will have Zhao Zhen and the others assist you — they will take their direction from you.”

“Will they… actually listen to me?”

“They will whether they want to or not.”

“Yes!”

“Do you know what to investigate?”

“Please instruct me, my lord.”

Zhù Ying said: “Every workshop there is — how many in total, what each one does, not a single one to be missed. Workforce, raw materials, scale, cost, finished product. What the traveling merchants carry, where they source their goods, what routes the traders who move goods back and forth usually run…” Zhù Ying listed it out. She wanted to carry out a thorough and complete survey of all of Wuzhou’s “artisan” and “merchant” sectors.

Xiang An saw that she showed no sign of stopping. She quickly undid a small pouch from her waist and took out paper and brush to write things down. This habit had originally been formed by Jiang Zhou and others back in Fulu County, and later Xiang An and the others had all taken it up. Especially in front of Zhù Ying — she might casually say something that opened a new horizon of understanding or share knowledge that no one else would teach. They would rush to take notes.

Everything noted down, Xiang An thought to herself: the lord does not look down on merchants or artisans. Truly a good person.

獠 people, poor people, women, merchants, artisans, slaves… all of these people that others mentioned with a touch of contempt — Zhù Ying had never once looked down upon a single one. On the contrary, she treated all of them well.

Xiang An felt both warmth and a faint, bittersweet ache in her heart.

She swiftly recorded the key points, and once finished, asked whether Zhù Ying had any further instructions — if not, she would get started immediately.

Zhù Ying said: “Begin the day after tomorrow — give Zhao Zhen and the others a little time to rest.”

Xiang An said: “There is no need to send them running for every single thing. I will first arrange for a few quick-witted boys and girls to make the rounds. There are things in this business that only insiders know — if those men go asking, people are not familiar with them and will not tell them anything. I will have my people gather what they can first, then report to the few of them so they can organize it and present it to you.”

Zhù Ying said: “Fine. Go make the arrangements.”

“Yes!”

——

After Xiang An came Hou Wu.

Zhù Ying saw that it was him and laughed: “I was actually planning to speak with you this evening.”

Hou Wu said: “I only have a few things to say — better now before I have too much wine in me and cannot speak clearly.”

What he needed to report was certain matters at the residence during this period. He had also followed the group into the mountain. Before this, Zhù Ying had not often brought him to the estate — his old injury to his leg was increasingly limiting his movement as he aged. So when he went into the mountain this time and saw “Zhù Family Manor,” he was well and truly startled.

When had there been such a large “estate” in the mountain?

“This one came up in the ranks of the army. When I laid eyes on the estate, I noticed a few things… shall I just say it?” Hou Wu was candid and direct when speaking behind people’s backs; to their face, he was more measured.

Zhù Ying said: “Go ahead.”

Hou Wu said: “A few matters: you have built the estate very well, but the roads there are somewhat lacking. This time going in we used the Talang route — all the supplies along the way came from the villages. If they were to block the road, your estate would be cut off in the mountain with no way in or out. And that mountain valley — what a magnificent location! Easy to defend and difficult to attack. Put up a gate and a mountain pass, close the door — and this whole stretch is secured.”

The way he spoke of it was as if he were advising her to build a city that could withstand a siege, surrounded on all sides by hostile territory. He also criticized the road through Talang as inadequate, and found the road through Xijin’s territory even worse.

But he did praise the small “post stations” — the little supply shelters along the route — saying they were an excellent idea and convenient for managing the range of the estate.

Zhù Ying said: “This is just a country estate. I enclosed a piece of land for their market and trade, and moved to higher ground to avoid flood water.”

Hou Wu paused, embarrassed: “Old habits — I see terrain like this and, well — enough! What I want to say is, you might as well just have an estate here, nothing wrong with that. Who does not keep a bit of property? You have been busy all these years — it is time to think of yourself a little. You do not exploit the people, and you do not bleed the military for gains! If you built a manor on the plain, no one could say a thing. As it is, with it in the mountain, things are a little awkward on both ends. Even collecting rent from them is a hassle. And should you be promoted and return to the capital one day, it would be hard to sell.”

Hou Wu saw himself, as the head of the male servants, as comparable to the head steward of another great household rather than simply the chief guard. For matters of accounting and correspondence he was hopeless, but his age gave him experience. He felt the property Zhù Ying had here was somewhat of a burden — neither fish nor fowl.

Mountain land is not especially fertile, the traffic is inconvenient, and there is the risk of being surrounded by the tribal peoples. From the eye of an old soldier, this location was less than ideal.

He was troubled.

A property this large, if it were on the plain outside the mountain, would truly be a legacy one could pass down to children and grandchildren!

Hou Wu clicked his tongue in regret.

Zhù Ying laughed: “Back when I was in the capital, someone once taught me: do not buy first-class fertile land. Do you know why? First-class land — everyone wants it, and it invites people to fight over it.”

Hou Wu said: “Who would dare fight you for it now? Ah — I am not suggesting you do anything like that…”

Zhù Ying smiled: “I know. I have already had someone buy land in the capital.”

Hou Wu also smiled: “That is wonderful!”

He then spoke of the guards. In addition to the guards on duty at the prefectural residence below the mountain, he had also inspected the guards at the estate during his visit there.

He also said: “This one ventures to speak out of turn — I said a few things to young Xiang. What he had arranged up there was not up to scratch at all. That is no way to keep watch or defend a place! The way those men were handled — loose as sand, the sticks and poles in their hands all different lengths, like a pack of beggars. Back in front of the old Marquis, that would have earned three rounds of the military rod in a day!”

Zhù Ying said: “Wherever you see things that fall short, you are welcome to point them out. If you worry he will take offense, tell me first.”

“Understood!” Hou Wu was quite pleased with himself.

After that, he had nothing more to say and left in good spirits.

Next came Deputy Administrator Zhang and the others.

Deputy Administrator Zhang was a capable man. He was actually only administering three of the counties — Fulu, Nanping, and Sicheng — and so was not overstretched. The two met, and Zhù Ying said: “You have worked hard.”

“It is you, my lord, who has worked hard.”

After the pleasantries, Deputy Administrator Zhang began to give a detailed account of events during this period. For instance, people continued to pour into Wuzhou, and management needed to be careful. Once population flows, not all the arrivals are law-abiding citizens — in fact, the proportion of criminals can be higher than elsewhere. Deputy Administrator Zhang requested: “Traveling merchants and laborers for hire — we need to check them rigorously. They also cannot lodge just anywhere — it needs to be controlled and easy to search, to prevent criminal acts. These past two years, as our lives have improved a little, we have also caught far more criminals, most of them arrivals from outside.”

Zhù Ying said: “That is sound reasoning.” It was true — no one willingly uproots themselves from home unless driven to it. Those drifting populations — what kind of people were they? Those who had been ground down to the point where they could no longer survive — yes, certainly. Those wanting to earn a bit more — also quite a few. And then there were those who had caught the scent of opportunity and come to take advantage.

Deputy Administrator Zhang said: “After your two years of rectification, my lord, serious crimes in Wuzhou have dropped sharply — one might go a whole year without a single case. But since more outside arrivals came, we have already seen cases of assault causing serious injury, and attempted killings.”

“Were they caught?”

“Yes. The case files are with Judicial Commissioner Li.”

Zhù Ying said: “I see.” As long as no major cases were brought before her in person, she almost never handled cases herself anymore — she oversaw the review of cases in the prefecture.

Deputy Administrator Zhang went on to mention other matters, all connected to the problems arising from Wuzhou’s recent flourishing of the sugar-making industry. One was people; the other was wealth.

“There are also people who, seeing others grow wealthy by setting up sugar workshops, are burning with envy and want to do the same — only to exhaust their family savings and end up destitute.” Deputy Administrator Zhang shook his head as he spoke. He recommended that the prefectural office issue an order to stop the incompetent from meddling. Let them go back to farming their land honestly.

Zhù Ying thought it over and said: “We can issue the order. Whoever wants to abandon their field and go into trade or set up a workshop — give them a change in household registration. If they want to make money, then register them directly as artisans. I actually have high regard for artisans.”

Deputy Administrator Zhang also smiled at this: “What you say is correct, my lord.”

Artisans and farmers were both overworked and hard-pressed, but farmers had a slightly higher social standing — when people spoke of “the common folk” they generally meant farmers; artisans were left out of the reckoning. Zhù Ying was genuinely an official who treated artisans well — others were different. Once one became an artisan, it was hard for one’s children and grandchildren to escape that status.

Zhù Ying sighed: “Sugar is a lucrative business, and farming is genuinely hard work — yet the fields cannot go unfarmed! Their land cannot be sold off carelessly either! If they keep selling it off like this, is it not simply consolidation all over again?”

Once consolidation takes hold, it is finished. No dynasty had ever managed to keep consolidation in check.

Zhù Ying said: “It is a good thing I have you!”

“You flatter me, my lord.”

The two spoke further. Deputy Administrator Zhang asked, now that Xiao Wu had gone, what was to be done about the granary supervisorship. Zhù Ying said: “Let the deputy granary supervisors hold the structure together for now. We will see how things develop. Do you have any suitable candidates in mind? We can put in a word with the Ministry of Personnel.”

Deputy Administrator Zhang ran into the same problem as Zhù Ying — his family had been in official service for generations, and his close relatives and old acquaintances were all northerners. Short of a court assignment, few northerners were willing to come to a place like this.

“In another year or two, when the reputation of Wuzhou sugar spreads further, it will be easier,” Deputy Administrator Zhang said without evasion. Sugar was a high-profit commodity. Once the name spread, if nothing else, people willing to come for the money alone would appear.

Zhù Ying said: “A thousand li away and serving as an official — all for food and clothing. Hah!” That was the impression she had of officials when she was small. Later, when she went to the capital, Zheng Xi had not been shy about taking tribute from her either — the confiscated assets that had been privately pocketed gave Zheng Xi the largest share. It was only in these recent years, as her own rank grew and she met more officials, that she encountered a few with genuinely benevolent hearts toward the people, and that impression began to improve a little.

Deputy Administrator Zhang said: “Indeed…”

The two exchanged a few more thoughts. Deputy Administrator Zhang took his leave.

After him, other members of the prefectural office came one by one — each wanting to report their own affairs to Zhù Ying before the morning assembly the following day.

The evening banquet was ready before they had all finished reporting. Among them, Judicial Commissioner Li reported several more violent cases than before — two fugitives from outside the region had also been caught. Not even deliberately — they had fled to Wuzhou, failed to keep themselves in check, and offended again. It was Jiang Zhou who arrested them. Discovering something was wrong, she realized this person was no first-time offender.

Zhù Ying said: “No wonder the commissioner recorded another merit for her.”

——

After the banquet, the night passed without incident.

The next day, Zhù Ying resumed official duties in earnest.

She first had several of the deputy granary supervisors take over Xiao Wu’s duties, reporting directly to her or Deputy Administrator Zhang as needed. She also issued a document to Fulu County instructing them to prepare to receive the new county magistrate and deputy magistrate.

After the morning assembly, she separately dispatched someone to Fulu County to summon Lin Balang to come.