It was fate that Si A’Weng should run headlong into disaster: the Zhu family village was so cut off from news that he had gone and walked straight into a wall.

Si A’Weng wept. “Why do they have no guilt? This is not right! I won’t accept it!”

Gan Ze was laughed into anger by this old farmer: “His Excellency is sharp-eyed and thorough — he would never beat a false confession out of anyone! What case do you know anything about?! If you weren’t so old, just for this business of yours — bullying widows and devouring a family’s inheritance — I’d privately give you a thorough beating myself!”

His voice wasn’t soft either; the onlookers around them heard “widow” and “inheritance,” and every face broke into a knowing expression. This sort of thing was far too common. Ten-odd hulking men, out in the street yanking and grabbing at two women — tsk, tsk.

Gan Ze, having become something of an acquaintance with Zhù Ying, was willing to say a couple more words on her behalf, and felt satisfied that he’d done a good deed.

He genuinely had done a good deed — Jin Liang even praised him for it on the way back.

Jin Liang had a frantically busy day but was busy with his whole heart, and when he returned to the lodging house he made a show of complaining to Zheng Xi: “That Sanlang — what a complete lack of consideration! Went home just like that without even coming to bow to you. Just sent me along to pass on thanks, said the family can’t be left right now. So now I’m his message-carrier!”

Zheng Xi laughed. “Not coming is exactly right — what would be the point of coming here? Only drawing unwanted attention. As for thanks — when can’t thanks be expressed? Fine — as for his business, consider it settled. I hadn’t expected him to have a wife either. My, my!”

Jin Liang also said, “Right — if only we’d known, we could have arranged a match for him.” If the person had proven useful, whether among Zheng Xi’s subordinates or the Zheng household’s women staff — find a good one and give her to Zhù Ying as a wife; that would be a sure way to tie the person firmly to you.

Zheng Xi’s smile faded and he asked, “Our matters here are more or less settled, and the memorial has already been sent. Who the new prefect will be is none of our concern. Sheng the Fifth’s niece — that search needs to press ahead. You handle that these next two days.”

“Understood. I mentioned to Zhù Ying a couple of days ago about helping to look — now, looking at things, she has no mind for it at all.”

“Oh? Did she have any clever ideas?”

“Nothing — just said the person was either dead or gone and it would be hard to find.”

Zheng Xi said, “Fair enough. Off you go.” He rose and went to find Sheng Ying.

As it happened, Sheng Ying had brought his nephew Chen Meng along and was also coming to find Zheng Xi. Sheng Ying understood clearly that Zheng Xi’s stated reason for the delay — that the prisoners’ injuries were too severe for travel and they needed to heal — was actually to leave him time to find his niece. But this couldn’t drag on indefinitely. In a few more days, if there was still no news, even if Zheng Xi said nothing, Sheng Ying would have to be the one to propose returning to the capital.

He was coming to find Zheng Xi now precisely to raise this matter, and to ask for two more days of grace. Just two days — if she still couldn’t be found, they would head back.

Zheng Xi was quite accommodating, agreeing immediately: “Very well.”

This left Sheng Ying feeling rather awkward: “I have been so distracted by my family affairs these past few days that I have neglected my public duties — truly I have failed the Emperor’s trust. Just now I heard sounds of commotion — was there something happening? Do you need anything from me?”

Zheng Xi said, “Nothing of consequence. A minor dispute — some people brought it to me; I passed it along to the yamen.”

Sheng Ying used the occasion to teach Chen Meng a small lesson, while gently offering Zheng Xi some oblique praise: “Take note. Though we are imperial envoys dispatched by the Emperor to be his eyes and ears, and we must not shrink from confronting things directly or push others aside, neither can we involve ourselves in everything or intervene too heavily in local affairs. That is the proper work of the locally appointed officials the court has designated. Overreaching — extending one’s hands too far — leads to the kind of trouble that certain other party has caused, and makes one widely disliked.”

Zheng Xi smiled.

The life and death of ordinary country people was beneath the notice of the grand personages of the capital. Sheng Ying did not ask what case Zheng Xi had transferred over, and hurried off again to do what he could about finding his niece. There were still people of the Xu clan’s relatives in the area; someone had gone to the countryside to collect an elderly member of the family.

Zheng Xi gave the order through Jin Liang to prepare for the return journey. He also had to bring local gifts back with him, as well as completing the final compilation and summation of the full case dossier, arranging for the prisoner carts and the personnel to escort the convicts, and the like. Two days might already be cutting it uncomfortably close.

Jin Liang headed to the yamen but found Master Huang — the one who actually ran things — nowhere to be found. The gate runner was quite flustered: “Please, sir, it’s past the end of the work shift — Master Huang has already left for the day. But he said he was going to that Zhù Ying’s place to offer congratulations — he should be there. Shall this humble one go fetch him?”

Jin Liang said, “No need. I’ll go myself.” It would also be a good chance to look in on Zhù Ying.

——

At that moment Zhù Ying was also at home.

By the standards of this prefecture’s history, the lawsuit had gone remarkably smoothly. An ordinary case could drag on for three to five days, and even the summons and hearings going quickly was still considered fast. This case of hers, from start to finish, had been done before dark. And — apart from her being a false son-in-law — not a single thing in the whole proceeding had been done improperly.

The case was done, but the aftermath was more troublesome than the case itself. The favor owed to Zheng Xi could be repaid slowly over time, but Yu Miaomiao and her daughter-in-law needed to be settled immediately — it was nearly dark.

Zhù Ying wanted to bring both women back to the place she was renting. Zhang Xiangu said, “That’s nonsense again. It’s one room over there; even if we could squeeze everyone in, it’s dark and has no furniture — not even a spare bed. You’re sleeping on a door plank yourself. How could we put the lady there?”

Yu Miaomiao felt uneasy and was about to speak, when Zhang Xiangu added, “We have a little money to spare now — what’s wrong with staying at an inn for a few days?” She had never thought twice about renting a cramped room for herself, but the moment Yu Miaomiao arrived, she suddenly realized — ah, right, having the lady and Huajie in such poor conditions doesn’t sit quite right. And wait — if we can afford to have them stay somewhere decent, why don’t we all move somewhere nicer too?

Zhù Ying said, “Inns are busy and noisy. If you think the room is small, just ask Xu Jia to let us rent the next room for a few days as well.”

She turned to Yu Miaomiao: “I’m afraid Si A’Weng and his people haven’t left yet — there may be more trouble. Better for us to stay close and look out for each other.”

Yu Miaomiao had no desire to part from her “son-in-law” either and said, “What does crowding matter? Staying together is just fine.”

Once the women’s lodgings were settled, Zhù Ying still had other things to do. She grabbed hold of the young thief-girl who had been watching the excitement in the crowd and said, “Come with me.” She brought the girl who had passed along the message back to her room, and first invited Yu Miaomiao and the others, “Foster-mother, big sister — please sit.”

Then she turned to her bundle and pulled out several strings of coins, untied them, and tipped them all into a flat basket, then handed the girl several pieces of broken silver separately: “The coins are a thank-you for the others. The silver is just for you. Also please convey my thanks to your master, and give him this bottle of wine.” The wine was from what Zheng Xi had brought that day; Zhū Shenhan was on medicine and couldn’t drink, and Zhù Ying didn’t touch wine herself, so it was just right to send to the old master.

The girl pocketed the silver, picked up the wine, balanced the basket on her head, and went off at a bounce: “Time to share out the money!”

Zhù Ying was caught between laughing and exasperation. She slipped out right behind her to find Xu Jia.

This time Xu Jia didn’t haggle at all; he took out the key and opened the lock, saying, “No one’s lived there for some time. Please wait a moment — let me sweep and tidy it up for you, and I’ll have my wife bring over a fresh set of bedding! Ladies are staying here, after all!”

Zhù Ying said, “All right.” She let Xu Jia and his wife handle the tidying and brought Yu Miaomiao and Huajie back to her own room. Zhū Shenhan came out leaning on his stick; this was the moment he truly grasped what it meant that his own daughter had become someone’s son-in-law, and he was at a temporary loss for words, managing only, “Old woman, come in here with me.” He needed to talk this over with Zhang Xiangu — how on earth was all this going to stay hidden?

In the inner room, husband and wife whispered together. Out in the outer room, Zhù Ying asked Yu Miaomiao, “What brought you to the prefecture city?”

Yu Miaomiao and Huajie only then truly relaxed and began to weep. Huajie asked, “And you? Is your case settled?”

It turned out that Yu Miaomiao and Huajie hadn’t known either that Zhū Shenhan’s case was already closed. Fortunately some of the neighbors still had some feeling for them and warned them the moment the Zhu village people showed up.

Yu Miaomiao was nobody’s fool. They didn’t even collect their bedding — just what they wore on their backs, plus the small, valuable gold, silver, and jewelry they had at hand, and without even locking the door they fled straight to the prefecture city. They had nearly been caught, but for Zhù Ying’s earlier act of kindness, and the timely helping hand of the prefecture city’s young thieves and ruffians.

Yu Miaomiao said, “Heaven took pity on us! I thought I’d never see the sun again.”

In the inner room, Zhang Xiangu had already come to a settled agreement with Zhū Shenhan. The two of them were of one mind: their child was a daughter. Passing herself off as a man to go to the capital and serve as an official might possibly work, but deceiving the person who shared your pillow was something that simply could not hold. Keeping Huajie waiting like this wasn’t fair to the girl either — Huajie was perfectly wonderful, and what a pity. It would be better to give some of the money Zheng Xi had provided to the mother and daughter-in-law, hand over the rented room to them as well, and let everyone go their separate ways.

Zhang Xiangu came out and said, “You are well now, and you needn’t say such despairing things. You’ve come through so many obstacles.” She poured water and brought it to Yu Miaomiao to drink, then said slowly, “The imperial envoy has summoned Sanlang to go to the capital with him. Our family has nothing left here — we’re going when we go. What are your plans, my lady?”

Yu Miaomiao was silent for a moment, then said quickly, “Then let’s go together! I still have some private savings — we’ll build a life again in the capital.”

Zhang Xiangu was troubled: “What about home? Your son’s grave is still there.”

Huajie heard the tone in Zhang Xiangu’s voice and tears rolled down her face like beads.

Zhù Ying said, “There’s no use talking like this. How would the foster-mother and big sister get by if they stayed here?” When she had agreed to go with Zheng Xi, she had genuinely not thought of Yu’s household at all; at the time they had already parted ways and she hadn’t even been able to look after her own father. Now that the two women were standing before her, and they had done her the favor of passing on vital warnings, she couldn’t ignore them.

“If I were a fool and thought the case being closed was the end of it — if I could leave the foster-mother and big sister here and they could manage just fine — then so be it. But I’m not quite that foolish yet. Two widows on their own here, no one to lean on — how would they live?”

Yu Miaomiao’s sobs grew louder.

It was just then that Master Huang arrived, with a servant behind him carrying two loads — one with food containers and the like, the other with bedding and several sets of clothing and a dressing case. Nominally it was prepared for Yu Miaomiao and her daughter-in-law: “My wife at home doesn’t have good judgment — she threw this together at random. Please don’t think poorly of it.”

He had come to make an early connection with Zhù Ying. Whatever standing Zhù Ying might ultimately reach under Zheng Xi, at least he, Huang, had never once trampled on her. Best to make a good impression now.

Yu Miaomiao and Huajie, both shrewd women, stood and looked not at Master Huang first, but at Zhù Ying.

Zhù Ying found she couldn’t very well refuse, and nodded.

Only then did Master Huang smile. He also mentioned he had brought food and passed over medicine for Zhū Shenhan’s injuries as well: “I apologize for having you spend all that time in prison. This is some small compensation.” Zhū Shenhan actually had a decent impression of him, since during the period of imprisonment the local charlatans had been treated comparatively well next to the “demon Daoists” from the capital.

Master Huang then produced his gift for Zhù Ying: travel money, two new sets of clothing, and the words: “It was put together hastily and is not complete, but I hope it helps. Sanlang has recovered his father and found his wife — double happiness.” He added, “They all wanted to come too, but I said the couple hasn’t seen each other in so long — they’re busy. I held everyone back. They’ll come to see you off when you depart.”

Zhù Ying said with sincerity, “Big sister hasn’t come out of mourning yet.”

Master Huang paused, looked at both Huajie and Yu Miaomiao — both wearing plain clothes and white flowers in their hair — and thought of the day’s lawsuit, and nodded.

Over by the next room, Xu Jia and his wife, seeing that Master Huang had also arrived, worked with even more energy; the room had already been swept. There was in truth little to tidy, since the room itself had almost nothing in it. Xu Jia came over to say, “Young sir, shall we go back and fetch the bedding for the ladies?”

Master Huang said, “No need to bother — it’s already here.” He even considered buying a maidservant to send along to wait on Zhù Ying.

The room was already cramped, and with so many people now crowding in, Master Huang chased Xu Jia away and had the servant set out the food and wine. Yu Miaomiao and her daughter-in-law quietly carried their bedding to the next room to settle in; Zhù Ying handed them a candle, which Huajie took with quiet, light footsteps, and they withdrew. In the inner room, Zhang Xiangu also stilled Zhū Shenhan, and the couple too fell quiet.

Zhù Ying sat with Master Huang, thanking him first. Master Huang said, “It was nothing. When I first saw you, I could tell you were a cut above the rest — otherwise I wouldn’t have said what I said to you then.”

Zhù Ying said, “I owe the guidance you gave me at the time.”

The two exchanged several mutual compliments, and Master Huang said, “The waves behind push the waves ahead on the river of time. I only hope that if we happen to meet again in the future, Sanlang won’t have forgotten me.”

Zhù Ying said, “How could I? I still have things I want to ask you.”

Master Huang set down his chopsticks. “Consult is too grand a word — whatever Sanlang wants to ask, just say it, and I’ll say everything I know.”

Zhù Ying said, “Today — why did Censor Zheng transfer the case to the yamen?”

Master Huang smiled, with a small touch of restrained satisfaction: “Sanlang is a sharp person. You only ask this because you haven’t yet seen enough of official dealings. Once you’ve seen more, you’ll figure it out yourself — there’s nothing mysterious to it. It’s just that sometimes one doesn’t want to dirty one’s own hands, or one can’t conveniently do something oneself, or it would look like favoritism. Or perhaps — one doesn’t want any connection to it, so there’s someone available to take the blame if needed later. For those beneath — the trick is knowing whose blame is worth taking, and whose isn’t. And if you serve someone who isn’t worth taking the fall for, you must learn to play ignorant and let it pass.”

He offered a string of advice drawn from long experience, then paused to drink his wine, and was about to say something more when Zhù Ying refilled his cup. Master Huang said, “Why aren’t you drinking? You’ll need to know how to drink!”

From outside came a heavy footstep accompanied by a booming voice: “Exactly! You must know how to drink!”

Jin Liang had arrived! Behind him was Lu Chao.

Master Huang had been mildly flushed from the wine, but the sound cleared his head in an instant. He scrambled to his feet to bow in greeting; Jin Liang was Zheng Xi’s attendant, but he held an official military rank.

He then noticed how Zhù Ying addressed Jin Liang — not particularly deferential. “What brings you here?”

Jin Liang said without ceremony, “Why wouldn’t I come?” and dropped himself into a seat, knocking on the table, and jerked his chin in a meaningful direction. Master Huang, with great presence of mind, was already reaching into the food carrier to find wine cups and pour. Jin Liang said, “Call him in too! I’ve worn my feet nearly clean off today on his account!”

Zhù Ying gave a sideways smile: “Fine — my thanks.” She poured a cup for Lu Chao as well.

Jin Liang drank one cup and no more, and used his chopsticks to pick up a slice of pig’s ear and put it in his mouth: “You’ve got it easy! Eating and drinking in comfort! I had no idea you already had a wife at home! Now you’re going to be pleased as can be! Tsk! If it weren’t for this lawsuit, were you just going to leave your wife in the countryside and go off to the capital to enjoy yourself?”

Zhù Ying smiled a small smile: “Mind your own affairs.”

“Fine, not minding! Not minding!” Jin Liang was only saying it in passing anyway; the world was full of men who went out to make their fortune while leaving the wife behind in the countryside. He had come to find Master Huang; the two of them spoke a few words together on the spot. Master Huang quickly said, “I’ll see to it at once.”

Jin Liang said, “No hurry — you eat first. I’m going back to report. I said no hurry, so there’s no hurry — don’t make it look as if Censor Zheng, while serving as imperial envoy, was rushing his subordinates on personal business to the point of letting no one sleep. You eat and drink as you should.”

He put it plainly, and Master Huang could only give a strained smile and retreat two steps: “I haven’t finished talking with Sanlang.”

Jin Liang said, “That’s exactly right. Sanlang — keep him here. Drink him till he passes out, and don’t let him go running off uselessly.”

Zhù Ying said, “Understood.”

Jin Liang and Lu Chao went out, one after the other. Just before leaving, Lu Chao turned and made an exaggerated gesture at Zhù Ying with an admiring grin: “You did well tonight, young one. You deserve some happiness!”

Zhù Ying said again, “Big sister is still in mourning. She and the foster-mother are staying in the next room. I’m sleeping here.”

Lu Chao raised a thumb: “Now that’s a real man, Sanlang!”

Jin Liang also backed up two steps and returned to say, “Hey — Sanlang. Our master and I — neither of us read you wrong. Do good work!” Master Huang saw them off most respectfully at the door, then turned back in to drink. This time he didn’t urge Zhù Ying to drink; instead he started asking her: “That old coffin of a Zhu Si — would you like your elder brother here to handle him and be done with him, root and all?”

Zhù Ying said, “Never mind the rest — the foster-mother’s husband and son have their graves back in the home village. Please arrange to have them tended. I don’t think Yu Ping has energy to spare for that now.”

Master Huang made a sweeping promise to handle it, then asked, “And your brother’s ancestral property?”

Zhù Ying let out a contemptuous sound: “They’ll never find it.” The Zhu family would never be buried in the same ground as her family — she had seen with her own eyes: her older brother who had died young was buried in the mountains somewhere, and without someone to lead the way, no villager could find the spot.

Master Huang said, “Don’t worry! Your old brother here will handle it all perfectly! And that old coffin — he squeezed your foster-mother’s fields out of her, didn’t he? How much? Where are they? Tell me everything — you just go to the capital and leave it all to me!”

His voice was loud enough that Yu Miaomiao in the next room could hear, and her heart stirred. She made a sound of derision: “He’s drunk and boasting!” He could indeed manage it — but doing so would require real effort. Once Zhù Ying left, Master Huang would lose his motivation.

Zhù Ying watched with fascination as this side of Master Huang — so different from the impression she had formed of him — gradually came out; she studied his manner and words with interest. Yet Master Huang seemed to have become genuinely earnest: “Truly — I’ll have people there to tend the graves! Get the fields back, and with the harvest, there’ll be something to make offerings with. Rainy seasons, when the grave mounds wash away — every family has people filling the earth back up year after year, don’t they?”

Put like this, Zhù Ying’s family of three had no particular feeling one way or another, but in the next room Yu Miaomiao was moved. Her nephew Yu Ping was clearly not to be relied upon anymore, yet her own son’s grave — she truly could not put it from her mind. That night, Yu Miaomiao lay awake tossing and turning until dawn.

——

Early the next morning, Zhù Ying went out and bought breakfast to treat Yu Miaomiao and her daughter-in-law. Yu Miaomiao raised the subject with Zhù Ying in a roundabout way: “Using your good name as a favor, I’d like to ask him to handle this. My fields are not few; I won’t let him go unrewarded, and I won’t make you lose face standing between us. This is the arrangement: as long as he has someone look after my husband’s and son’s graves, the cost can come out of the rent from the fields — and whatever is left over goes to him as his compensation for the trouble. Year after year, as much as he can collect, it’s all his.”

Beside them, Zhang Xiangu said, “If the fields can be gotten back and that old beast gets what’s coming to him, then you and Huajie won’t need to go to the capital at all — with those properties and no one to bother you, why travel all that way? My lady — what we originally agreed was that Sanlang would be your son-in-law just to see you through. Huajie is a wonderful girl and I’d truly like to have her — but it’s Sanlang who doesn’t deserve her. She’s still young. A woman can’t afford to wait. Once the lawsuit is settled and the arrangement dissolved, everyone can go their own way freely. Don’t you think?”

Yu Miaomiao flushed with embarrassment and anger. Zhù Ying said, “Mother! Let me think about it.”

“Sanlang!”

Zhù Ying shook her head. She knew why Zhang Xiangu was pushing so hard to dissolve this match — but the moment she withdrew, Master Huang would likely stop taking such pains to look after Yu Miaomiao and her daughter-in-law.

Zhù Ying said, “Foster-mother, Master Huang sent those things to us, and we ought to go and call on him to offer our thanks in person.”

Zhang Xiangu said anxiously, “Have you lost your senses?”

Zhù Ying said, “Mother — go and check on Father.” Done speaking, she pulled Yu Miaomiao and the daughter-in-law toward the door. Yu Miaomiao twisted back into her own room, and Huajie followed her in to persuade her.

Zhù Ying followed too, and saw Yu Miaomiao facing the wall — weeping, it appeared. Zhù Ying said, “Foster-mother, my mother has never had bad intentions. Some things are genuinely difficult to say outright. My father’s case was still pending, and the imperial envoy wants me to work for him, so I’m going to the capital. Most of what you see here was given by him; what he can give, he can make me give back double. What will happen once we reach the capital is truly hard to say. If you had the slightest other path to take, I would not want to drag you into muddy water with me. If you truly have no other way, then we struggle on together.”

Yu Miaomiao wiped her eyes, turned around, and said, “Good child. I know you are a good person. I don’t blame your mother — everyone looks out for their own. I’m a mother too! I have no other way. I’m alive or dead now depending entirely on your good heart. You’re the only thing standing between me and nothing. If you don’t look after me, I have all the strength in the world and nowhere to use it; I can only die.”

Zhù Ying said, “Then I say again what I said before: big sister hasn’t come out of mourning yet; if you need me to be useful to you, I won’t refuse. You’ve helped me and I remember it. In the future, if big sister finds a good match, don’t let concern for me hold you back. Right now we’re all just trying to find a way to live. If you ever come to resent me later, think back to the moment when we signed the document, and then think of today — and let the resentment go. Can you agree to that?”

Yu Miaomiao burst into tears: “My child!” It was impossible to tell whether she was weeping for her own dead son or lamenting Zhù Ying’s situation.

When she had cried it out, Zhù Ying said, “Let’s go and see Master Huang.”

Yu Miaomiao said, “Yes.” She found the pouch holding the documents.

The two of them went to the yamen; Zhù Ying went in first, and Yu Miaomiao and her daughter-in-law waited outside.

Master Huang was at the yamen, running from one thing to the next until the back of his head nearly met his heels, getting done everything Zheng Xi needed done. He had drunk half the night, and his head was still ringing. When told that Zhù Ying had come looking for him, he couldn’t very well refuse to see her; he showed her into his working room, poured tea, and asked what the matter was.

Zhù Ying said, “The things you said last night — do they still stand?”

Master Huang couldn’t even remember half of what he’d said last night; after doing his utmost to sort through it, he genuinely couldn’t recall which matter Zhù Ying was referring to, so he said, “Sanlang, whatever I said last night naturally still stands. Which part do you want me to make good on?”

Zhù Ying said, “The fields.” She explained Yu Miaomiao’s proposal.

Master Huang said, “How could I take a payment for this?”

Zhù Ying said, “If you don’t take it, she will actually feel more unsettled. The way things work in this world: what comes for free is always the most expensive.”

Master Huang then said, “Well, all right then. And the deeds?”

Only then did Zhù Ying invite Yu Miaomiao and her daughter-in-law inside. Master Huang scolded lightly: “Sanlang — how could you leave the lady waiting outside? All these people coming and going — it’s simply improper.”

Yu Miaomiao bowed formally and opened the pouch, laying each document out before Master Huang to inspect. Master Huang quietly calculated the sum of it; this was a very satisfactory arrangement. Yu Miaomiao’s heart was bleeding, but thinking of her husband’s and son’s resting place, she could only steel herself.

Master Huang picked up one of the deeds and asked, “Xu surname?” He had been looking for someone named Xu until his head was fit to burst these past few days; earlier he had seen the character for “Xu” in an official document and his eyes had lit up — only to read on and find it was “permitted to return home.”

Yu Miaomiao said, “Yes — my daughter-in-law’s family name is Xu.” Huajie bowed her head in greeting.

Master Huang asked casually, “Is she a native of this area? Does she know the Xu family in this prefecture?”

Huajie said, “I am from this prefecture. But there are some relatives in the area — we haven’t been in contact for years and don’t live near each other.”

“Do you know of someone named Xu Youfang?”

“That was my late father.”

Master Huang toppled off his stool and sat with a thud on the floor: “Good heavens!” They’d found her! They could finally be rid of the imperial envoys! Please, let this be the niece Censor Sheng is looking for — please, in recognition of the fact that I found her, take Censor Zhong away at the same time! Zhù Ying was just as astonished — Huajie! The child-bride of a well-off family in Zhu Family Village — and she was the deputy envoy’s niece?

Yu Miaomiao and her daughter-in-law had no idea what was happening. Huajie asked, “What’s the matter?”

Master Huang said, “Come with me — all of you. Sanlang — you come too!” Zhù Ying said, “Master Huang — I’d suggest being more careful.” Master Huang said, “That’s precisely why I’m asking everyone to come and see whether or not it’s actually her. Come along!” Zhù Ying was reluctant: “Let me be clear — these are my family. They are not your reward money.”

Master Huang said, “Of course I’m going to report this formally — why must you make me go back and do it all over again? By the time you’ve had your say, the imperial envoy will send a summons, or they’ll crowd into that room of yours. At that point, which would you prefer?”

Yu Miaomiao asked, “Sanlang? What’s happening…”

Master Huang said, “Don’t speak about it — not a word! Whether it’s her or not will be clear the moment anyone sees her. If you tell her on the way and she forms some other ideas — changes her account — then nothing can be certain anymore. Trust me: the things I’ve promised you, I will absolutely deliver. But don’t say anything now.”

Zhù Ying frowned, then said softly to Yu Miaomiao and Huajie, “It’s all right.”

Master Huang clutched the deeds and led all three of them to the lodging house — so excited he could barely walk in a straight line. He himself wasn’t certain Huajie was the person they were looking for, but with Zhù Ying here, he could push her to the front if anything came up! He was simply the messenger!

Entering the lodging house, Master Huang could barely keep his voice from shaking as he announced: “Xu Youfang’s daughter has been found!”

Zheng Xi’s attendants had been expecting Zhù Ying to come and pay her thanks — not this news — and were all startled. Lu Chao turned to Zhù Ying and said, “Well done, you — Old Jin just mentioned it once and you actually went and found her?”

Zhù Ying said, “It wasn’t me —”

Lu Chao had already joined the others in pushing them all before Zheng Xi.

Zheng Xi looked at Zhù Ying and said, “What is this? Did you know I was looking for someone and now you’ve fashioned one for me? That’s not how capability works.”

Zhù Ying said, “If I’d known it would come to this, I’d never have stepped into this mess. Please ask Master Huang — I know nothing of any of it.”

Master Huang, carefully and eagerly, held up the deed. Zheng Xi looked at it: it stated that a certain person was handing over a niece of the Xu family to the Zhu household as a daughter-in-law, and the father’s name was indeed written as Xu Youfang. He immediately sent for Sheng Ying.

Sheng Ying was in the same lodging house and had already caught wind of it; without even changing his clothes, he came running over.

Zhù Ying quietly told Yu Miaomiao about Sheng Ying’s background. Yu Miaomiao went completely numb. When she had wept to Zhù Ying, she was not without anything — at least she still had her daughter-in-law Huajie at her side. But if Huajie turned out to be Sheng Ying’s niece, then Yu Miaomiao would truly have nothing left at all.

Huajie was equally stunned. For as long as she could remember, her parents had loved her dearly; when they died, her uncle had done his utmost to care for her. When her uncle lay dying, he had still found her a mother-in-law in Yu Miaomiao — severe, but reliable. And then, in an instant, her parents were not her parents, and her uncle was not her uncle?

She felt a little frightened, and tugged at Zhù Ying’s sleeve. “Sanlang — what’s happening?”

Sheng Ying had already run to stand before her, studying her face intently. He had no idea what his niece looked like grown, so he stared for a while, then reached for the deed to examine. The name matched, and the age matched. He asked, “Child — what is your name?”

Huajie glanced at Zhù Ying, then at her mother-in-law. Yu Miaomiao said nothing; Zhù Ying gave a small nod. Huajie said, “The name my father gave me: Guanqun.”

Sheng Ying’s tears began to fall. The name was correct — a name he had shared with no one outside, kept as the first proof of identity. He wept and spoke at the same time: “Go to the Chen household — bring the eldest young master and his wife here. Ask the lady to assist with something.”

When the child had been entrusted to another, of course identifying marks had been left — not a birthmark, but something Sheng Ying’s third sister had done: she had used a stick of incense to burn three small marks on her daughter’s left foot. The eldest nephew’s wife would need to help verify this.

The moment those words about three incense burn marks were spoken, Huajie’s face changed color. And Yu Miaomiao’s heart too sank with dread. With a resounding sound, Yu Miaomiao crumpled to the ground in a faint.