Ruan Cheng hesitated for only a brief moment before letting his unease go — why should I be worrying about this? I’ll just tell them the truth and let them squabble among themselves!

He gathered the performance review documents in his hands and, without any attempt to conceal what he was doing, went to find Sheng Ying.

Sheng Ying was not particularly busy on ordinary days. The Court of Diplomatic Reception was a comfortable posting — superiors governed by doing little, and most of the work amounted to matters of appearances. Previously he had kept a guarded eye on Zhù Ying, but lately he had noticed her growing quieter, and though she was somewhat different from the silent, brooding young person he remembered, she was still very calm and caused no trouble.

So Sheng Ying’s thoughts had drifted toward how to elevate his own family’s standing — a difficult matter. Years ago he had been slow off the mark, step after step, and had failed to immediately claim Zhù Ying as his own connection. Afterward, certain family affairs had driven a wedge between himself and his brother-in-law, leaving him without that man’s support, and he had drifted along in mediocrity ever since.

At the moment, however, there was one excellent opportunity on the horizon — the establishment of an heir apparent. Every change of reign saw one group of people rise to prominence and another set ruined. The Shen Family had once suffered a devastating blow over exactly this kind of affair; now the wheel of fortune was turning back.

Tomorrow I’ll go to the temple and draw a divination lot. So Sheng Ying thought.

Ruan Cheng paused outside the door rather than entering immediately. A clerk went in and quietly announced him, and Sheng Ying came back to his senses: “Come in.”

After entering, Ruan Cheng exchanged a few courteous words before saying, “This office’s performance reviews for the year are complete.” With that, he passed the draft over to Sheng Ying.

Sheng Ying received it without opening it immediately, first asking, “Have the Prince Consort and Deputy Director Zhù seen this yet?”

Ruan Cheng replied in a perfectly composed manner: “Deputy Director Zhù was shown it first. Once you have reviewed it, it will be submitted to the Prince Consort.”

There were generally two approaches to the order in which documents were shown to one’s superiors — either from the highest-ranked down, or from the lowest-ranked up. By placing Luo Sheng at the end, this implied that Sheng Ying outranked Zhù Ying. This gave Sheng Ying a small measure of comfort.

But once he opened the document, he could no longer smile.

Sheng Ying slowly turned through the pages. Zhù Ying’s revisions were clearly visible throughout. Compared to Ruan Cheng’s original draft — in which the staff of both offices had been more or less equally rated — Zhù Ying’s amendments were plainly aimed at elevating the entire Dian Ke Cheng office.

Sheng Ying asked Ruan Cheng: “Has the Dian Ke Cheng office accomplished some great feat recently, or distinguished itself in some way? How am I only hearing of this now?”

Ruan Cheng genuinely did not know, so he said, “It’s all written there.”

Sheng Ying said, “She altered it on a whim and you simply accepted it? What exactly is your responsibility here?”

Ruan Cheng replied, “This subordinate drafted the original and submitted it to his superiors for review. When a superior wishes to make changes, this subordinate accepts them. That is this subordinate’s responsibility.”

Sheng Ying studied Ruan Cheng in silence. Ruan Cheng was entirely unperturbed. Sheng Ying drew a long breath and picked up his brush, crossing things out and writing over them throughout the document. Inwardly he was seething, yet he kept a cool head. Had Zhù Ying altered the ratings of only one or two people in the Dian Ke Cheng office he could have swallowed it. But Zhù Ying, with a single stroke of the brush, had collectively raised the ratings of the entire Dian Ke Cheng office — that was going too far.

Sheng Ying raised the evaluation rankings of all the staff in the Dian Yi Shu office as well. Once finished, he pushed the draft forward: “Submit this to the Prince Consort for review.”

Ruan Cheng showed not a flicker of anxiety. He calmly accepted the draft — now bearing Sheng Ying’s revisions as well — and took it to Luo Sheng without even making a clean copy first.

Luo Sheng had always been cordial toward Ruan Cheng on account of his lineage. The Ruan family were descendants of the founding empress’s family, and subsequent generations had inevitably intermarried with the imperial family and the nobility, making Ruan Cheng and Luo Sheng something like distant relations-by-marriage — though the exact connection was rather complicated.

Ruan Cheng handed the document to Luo Sheng and, without waiting to be asked, gave him a full and accurate account of the entire matter: how he had shown it to Zhù Ying first, how Zhù Ying had made her revisions, how he had shown it to Sheng Ying next, and what Sheng Ying had said — finishing with: “I await your decision.”

Luo Sheng was a man who disliked trouble. As he listened to Ruan Cheng’s account he found the whole thing rather amusing: “Sheng Ying is getting on in years — how can he still be so…”

He stopped himself mid-sentence, because just then his eyes landed on the draft, which had been altered into an absolute mess. Ruan Cheng said, “I truly did not know how to explain it to you, my lord — but once you see it yourself, you’ll understand everything.”

Luo Sheng frowned: “How did it come to this? Wasn’t it perfectly fine before?” Zhù Ying and Sheng Ying’s relationship had never been warm, but Zhù Ying had always been courteous toward Sheng Ying, and Sheng Ying had never gone out of his way to make trouble for Zhù Ying. Why had they suddenly come into conflict over personnel matters?

Luo Sheng asked Ruan Cheng, “You haven’t observed them having any sort of dispute, have you?”

“No,” Ruan Cheng said.

Luo Sheng frowned, held the draft back, and said to Ruan Cheng, “Leave it with me for now. I’ll have a talk with both of them.”

Ruan Cheng took his leave with a greatly lightened heart. Luo Sheng sent someone to summon Zhù Ying first, intending to have a conversation with her.

Zhù Ying placed her tabby cat in its basket, picked up the whisk, and brushed the cat fur from the front of her robe. Xiao Huang took the whisk from her and swept off the back. Once she was tidied up, Zhù Ying went to see Luo Sheng alone.

She stepped over the threshold to find Luo Sheng rising from his seat and walking a few steps toward her: “Zi Zhang? Come, sit.”

Zhù Ying sat with him to one side and asked, “Is there something you wish to instruct me on, my lord?”

“Don’t use the word ‘instruct’ again,” Luo Sheng said. “There is indeed something I wanted to ask your counsel on.”

“I wouldn’t presume. Please speak freely, my lord.”

Luo Sheng pushed a cup of tea toward Zhù Ying before saying, “Ruan Cheng came to me just now and showed me this year’s performance reviews.”

“Oh?”

“I’ve been at the Court of Diplomatic Reception for quite a few years, and I never imagined the staff below were so exceptionally talented — to have earned such high praise from someone as capable as yourself.”

Zhù Ying smiled. “My lord is asking for the reasons?”

Luo Sheng nodded. “If you alter them like this, and Sheng Guang Hua does the same, and I then submit this upward — even if the Ministry of Personnel passes it, if the Secretariat-Chancellery takes a second look, they won’t approve it either.”

Seeing that Luo Sheng was no simple good-for-nothing idler, Zhù Ying spoke frankly: “I can’t speak to the Dian Yi Shu office’s affairs — I’ll only speak to the Dian Ke Cheng. They deserve it.”

“I should very much like to hear more.”

Zhù Ying held her two palms at different heights, one above the other: “Every office has its own duties, and the standard by which each person measures ‘competent performance’ differs. Anywhere between the highest mark and the lowest, one cannot be called derelict. But there is still a difference between high and low. Take the Dian Ke Cheng office — managing food and drink adequately would qualify as competent. Taking note of everything else as well would also be competent.”

“Everything else?”

Zhù Ying nodded. “Beyond food and drink, they’ve also attended to certain other matters.”

“Tell me more precisely.”

A look of hesitation crossed Zhù Ying’s face — a look so plainly visible that Luo Sheng naturally said, “What passes from your lips enters only my ears.”

Zhù Ying then spoke of the matter of the foreign merchants and envoys: “Speaking of it lightly, one might say they have been spreading gossip. Speaking of it seriously, one might call it driving wedges within the imperial family. The imperial princes and sons — it would not do for them to be recklessly spoken about. These are merely merchants and visitors of ambiguous standing. And with the New Year approaching, the Dian Ke Cheng office has already made preparations to receive the tributary envoys. It will further fall to the Dian Ke Cheng office to ensure the envoys cause no incidents — surely that warrants some form of recognition?”

Luo Sheng was suddenly enlightened, his mouth falling slightly open: “There’s that consideration as well? I…”

Zhù Ying smiled gently. “Our glorious realm has no fear of the surrounding peoples — even if a small nation acts insolently, it is no more than a minor affliction. But we are the Court of Diplomatic Reception. Even if it does not count as a great matter for the court at large, it is still our business to take it seriously. That is precisely what the Court of Diplomatic Reception exists for. The people below have done their work — it is only right to give them some acknowledgment.”

Luo Sheng said, “I understand. Every time I discuss matters with you, Zi Zhang, I come away the wiser.”

“My lord flatters me.”

“Not at all! Ah…” Luo Sheng had been about to say no one had ever taught him these things, then thought the remark would come out poorly and changed course: “Then let us leave this matter as it stands.”

“Very well.”

Luo Sheng hesitated a moment, then asked, “Regarding the Eastern Palace…”

Zhù Ying shook her head. “It is precisely because the situation there is unclear that the Court of Diplomatic Reception must stay out of it. Consider, my lord — can the idle gossip of foreign peoples shake the resolve of the Emperor and the court? If it cannot, then why allow them to bring trouble down upon us?”

Luo Sheng murmured, “Only — I fear one cannot avoid it.”

Zhù Ying said, “Why try to avoid it? When something comes, deal with it then.”

Luo Sheng shook his head. He had been speaking of his own family, not of the Court of Diplomatic Reception. Zhù Ying’s words made perfect sense, but he felt they couldn’t simply be transplanted to his family’s situation.

Zhù Ying guessed his meaning but said not one word more on the matter, only saying: “Do all that one can, and leave the rest to fate. If you remain uneasy, my lord, we can have the Dian Ke Cheng office keep a closer watch — and be ready to adapt at any moment.”

Luo Sheng said, “I am, after all, merely the head of the Court of Diplomatic Reception — I can only do so much.”

Zhù Ying said, “If you call yourself ‘merely,’ what am I supposed to say in reply? His Majesty has entrusted the Court of Diplomatic Reception to you, my lord.”

Luo Sheng smiled. “Your future is without limits.”

Zhù Ying said, “Everyone who enters the imperial palace has a future. A future is like climbing a mountain — the higher you go, the fewer people manage to remain. I focus only on the present.”

Luo Sheng said, “Let us encourage each other, then. I’ll speak to Sheng Ying. And the outcome?”

“As you see fit.”

“And if the Ministry of Personnel raises objections?”

“Then it will still be up to you to speak on the matter, my lord.”

Luo Sheng said, “Rest easy.”

After speaking with Zhù Ying, and in case Sheng Ying too had some particular reason on his side, Luo Sheng chose not to issue him a direct order but instead summoned Sheng Ying to inquire about the matter.

Sheng Ying said, “The Court of Diplomatic Reception has its vice directors, its chief secretary, and its two offices. One cannot favor one side over the other.”

Luo Sheng said, “I have my own knowledge of the Dian Ke Cheng office’s meritorious work. It is the Dian Yi Shu office you must explain to me.”

Sheng Ying was somewhat surprised. “Is the Prince Consort planning to have the Dian Ke Cheng office undertake some particular task?”

Luo Sheng naturally could not speak to Sheng Ying of the matter of “gauging the Emperor’s intent.” Sheng Ying was no fool, but on this particular score he fell short — he had not seen the final step. He argued with Luo Sheng, and Luo Sheng, certain in his own mind that Zhù Ying was right, nevertheless refused to reveal the full truth to Sheng Ying. The argument came to nothing, and Sheng Ying was left having provided Ruan Cheng with a fine spectacle.

Luo Sheng summoned Ruan Cheng and told him: “As for the Dian Yi Shu office, adjust two or three entries — use your discretion — and bring the revised version to me.”

Ruan Cheng smiled. “Yes, my lord.”

After a few days, Luo Sheng submitted the officers’ performance reviews to the Ministry of Personnel. Once submitted, the Ministry raised no objections. Yao Chen specifically retrieved the Court of Diplomatic Reception’s list; unfamiliar as he was with its affairs, he saw that Luo Sheng had approved it, and passed everything through.

The staff of the Court of Diplomatic Reception took note of this outcome. A quiet rift began to form between the Dian Yi Shu and Dian Ke Cheng offices, and all had their private estimate of which of the two Deputy Directors had come out ahead.

The number of people who drifted toward Zhù Ying’s side grew. The tabby cat’s food and water was kept full at all times.

Luo Sheng, who had been holding his breath in suspense, seeing that the reviews had not been sent back, concluded that Zhù Ying had guessed correctly. He did not know that Yao Chen had approved it in part for his own sake as well.

At the end of the eleventh month, another imperial edict came down from the palace. The Emperor, citing “compassion for elderly officials,” reduced the frequency and scale of early morning court sessions. The daily early court was abolished first. On ordinary days, only a small number of high-ranking officials — the Secretariat-Chancellery, the Six Ministries, the Nine Ministers, and the Jing Zhao — attended before the Emperor to report matters. All others no longer needed to appear before the Emperor. The Emperor would not receive them. Only once every ten days would a full court session be held; officials of Zhù Ying’s rank could appear before the Emperor only once in ten days.

Ordinary officials wanting to see the Emperor had become nearly impossible. In the past they had at least had some small opportunity to speak at the full court session held every ten days. Now they could only appear at major ceremonial gatherings such as the New Year court audience, and at occasions like that, no one with any sense would step forward and ruin the atmosphere.

Speculation circulated in the city that the Emperor was neglecting his duties.

Seeing this, Luo Sheng found himself thinking once more: Zi Zhang was right — His Majesty has no desire to stir up trouble at this moment.

At home, Princess An Ren pressed him and Princess Yongping questioned him, but he steadfastly maintained: “I understand the situation clearly. This is the way it must be for now.”

His refusals so exasperated Princess An Ren that she stopped bothering him altogether and went once more to find Zheng Xi. The last time she had gone, she had asked the princess to pass a message to Zheng Xi. But she had not witnessed for herself that “fresh and impressive showing from the Court of Diplomatic Reception” she had been hoping to see, and so she concluded that Zheng Xi had not listened to his own mother — much like her own son, who had only recently, at over thirty years of age, decided to start making difficulties for his mother.

On a holiday rest day, Princess An Ren paid a call to visit her sister, and within just a few exchanges of pleasantries she announced she wished to see Zheng Xi.

Zheng Xi was bewildered and thought this aunt of his had come to cause some fresh trouble in the capital. After taking charge of Jing Zhao, Zheng Xi had taken care of quite a few lawless individuals. Princess An Ren was a special case — he was not afraid of her, but he was somewhat afraid of her coming to his home and making a scene, because she had done so before.

He thought through it carefully: none of Princess An Ren’s household servants had recently committed any obvious offense, so he had not arrested anyone of hers. Zheng Xi muttered to himself: What is she here for now?

When he came before her, Princess An Ren opened with: “Are you tired?”

Zheng Xi asked warily: “What is it you want to do?” This princess had once asked him to use the power of Jing Zhao to clear commoners from the road for her household’s procession. Zheng Xi had refused her at the time, and Princess An Ren had run to his home and cried a good long while with the princess consort.

Princess An Ren said, “Am I not allowed to feel for you? Busy all day, not knowing what you’re busy with. And the things that need managing, you don’t manage.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Princess An Ren could not hold the words in and pointed directly: “Why is he still sitting perfectly still in the Court of Diplomatic Reception? I’ll only come to you — don’t make me go to him myself!”

Zheng Xi’s face twitched: “He is already applying himself wholeheartedly.”

“To what?”

Zheng Xi said, “Applying himself wholeheartedly to restraining himself from causing trouble, so as not to displease His Majesty.”

Princess An Ren said furiously, “What kind of reasoning is that?”

Zheng Xi said, “His Majesty has even reduced the early court sessions.”

Princess An Ren said, “You’d better not be deceiving me, boy, or I won’t forgive you.”

Zheng Xi smiled helplessly. “How would I dare?”

Princess An Ren said, “Is there anything you don’t dare? Last time you even had my people arrested! I thought now that you were managing Jing Zhao, we’d all have a bit more freedom.”

“And I thought now that I was managing Jing Zhao, you would support me.”

The two of them, aunt and nephew, neither willing to yield to the other — Princess An Ren jabbed a finger at his forehead: “You sharp-tongued little wretch.” She pressed him no further about Zheng Xi’s work, but said instead: “All right, let’s leave it for now. Ah, that son of mine — he doesn’t have as many tricks as you. Keep an eye on him for me.”

Zheng Xi smiled. “He and I have always got along well. That goes without saying. For his sake, I’ll be dutiful toward you as well.”

Princess An Ren threw up her hands: “Needling me again, aren’t you?”

The princess consort and others stepped in to smooth things over, and at last the matter was settled and Princess An Ren was seen on her way.

After this visit from Princess An Ren, Zheng Xi had no intention of letting Zhù Ying know about it.

The princess consort asked him: “Shouldn’t we urge Sanlang along?”

Zheng Xi said, “I spoke with Zhù Ying once before — and Sanlang made a sound point.”

“Oh?”

Zheng Xi simply smiled and offered no further explanation.

At the time, Zheng Xi had asked Zhù Ying about her intentions, and Zhù Ying had told him: “I trust His Majesty’s instincts.”

Zheng Xi had responded then with a light, teasing laugh.

But Zhù Ying had spoken with complete seriousness: “This I say only to you, and once I step out that door I’ll deny it. The flattery in our memorials — all those phrases about the Emperor’s sage and luminous discernment — is hollow. If you want my honest assessment, our present Emperor ranks in the upper-middle tier among the rulers of all ages.”

“Such boldness — daring to pass judgment on the Emperor.”

Zhù Ying smiled. “Between people, how can there be no assessment? Speaking only of the Emperor: among all these people, he alone has been an imperial prince. He has sat the throne for forty years. His instincts are more reliable than our blind guesses.”

The princess consort was still about to ask more, but Zheng Xi said, “Among all the people I have brought forward, he is the only one who seems to amount to anything…”

At that very same moment, the one who “seemed to amount to something” had just received a piece of not entirely welcome news.

Meng Hong was sitting across from Zhù Ying, and said quietly, “The Court of Diplomatic Reception is not quite as removed from worldly affairs as you describe, Deputy Director Zhù — Deputy Director Sheng has paid a visit to the Zhao Wang mansion.”