On the day Zheng Xi returned to the capital, Zhù Ying was up early, rising when she heard the city drum. She rinsed her teeth, washed her face, and dressed herself neatly.
The entire Jin household was in good cheer. Every person had tidied up carefully; even the dining table had been wiped a little brighter than usual, and the young maidservant who brought out the dishes was smiling.
Zhang Xiangu held a bun out to Zhù Ying: “Third — hurry and eat, and then we’ll go meet Lord Zheng, won’t we?”
Zhù Ying turned and said: “There’s no rush. Lord Zheng will have official business to attend to today. If I go now, I’ll only be in the way.”
Based on previous experience, Zheng Xi would need to report to the Emperor upon his return, and there would be a great many important people he must see — today and tomorrow would not be her turn to go forward. Today at best Jin Liang might come home, pass along a word, and relay some arrangement. She might as well use these few days to move back to the courtyard she was renting and sort things out — sell off the old goods.
The peddler’s load they had brought from home had unfortunately missed the high-price rush before the New Year. The holiday was over now, and people’s desire to buy was not so strong; prices had come down a little.
A pity.
After breakfast Zhù Ying was still in her room carefully copying characters. The copybook she was using was one she had bought in the prefectural city, not expensive and not a copy from any famous calligrapher, but at least the writing was “proper and regular.” The sheaf of papers she had written for Wang Yunhe had been difficult for her to look at herself, and so she had resolved to produce something at least passable.
She had written for half the morning when Zhang Xiangu, unable to bear it, started coming in and out: bringing her water, bringing small snacks, checking the charcoal brazier, checking whether the inkstone had frozen over, checking whether the ink had run out, coming to grind fresh ink… Zhang Xiangu was suppressing something — she desperately wanted to urge Zhù Ying to hurry up and stay close to Lord Zheng, so that no more alley cats and random dogs would look down on her again. But Zhù Ying simply sat there as still as a mountain, and Zhang Xiangu could only fidget uselessly.
Madam Jin also had something on her mind. Zhù Ying had not been the one she and Jin Liang had retrieved from prison; she still felt a twinge of guilt about it, and also longed for her husband to come home soon. She was not hovering around Zhù Ying — she was circling the main hall of her quarters, going round and round, and as she walked she muttered: “You wretch, why aren’t you back yet? Is the Seventh Young Master presenting himself to the Emperor? Are you presenting yourself too?”
When nearly noon arrived, the kitchen began preparing the meal. Madam Jin had lost count of how many pig’s trotters she had bought in the past few days. With Jin Liang coming back today, she expected people would come over to eat — and went in circles giving orders: “Buy ten more trotters!”
A maidservant let out a sigh and said: “Mistress, you’ve already said this three times. If we buy ten more, that’ll be forty trotters altogether — not even ten pigs would be enough for you!”
Madam Jin clapped her forehead: “Look at this memory of mine!”
At noon, Jin Liang came home. He had not lingered elsewhere and had brought no one with him. He was already knocking on the door as he called out: “I’m home! Where is everyone?”
Lai Fu opened the gate; Jin Liang brushed past him and strode in: “Wife!”
Jin Biao was the first to come flying out and throw himself at his father: “Papa!”
Jin Liang tucked his son under his arm and strode forward. The Zhù family of three was lodged in the front courtyard rooms. Zhang Xiangu was in the side room urging Zhù Ying: “Quick! Jin’s brother is back — get out there and greet him! Ask if he has any word for you.”
Zhù Ying put down her brush, washed the ink from her hands, smoothed her sleeves, and walked out: “Elder Brother Jin.”
Jin Liang was carrying his son, and when he spun around and saw her stepping out of the side room, he narrowed his eyes.
He and Zhù Ying had not seen each other for nearly two months. Zhù Ying had grown a little taller — and a good deal thinner. Jin Liang set down his son and walked up to Zhù Ying in a few large strides, gave her a firm clap on the shoulder: “Good lad!” Then his hand settled with its full weight; he gripped her shoulder hard. The boy’s shoulder was thin as a sheet of paper — the jutting bones poked through the winter clothing right into his palm.
He gave two more pats and said again: “Good lad!”
Zhù Ying said: “Sister-in-law has been waiting for you a long time. Go in and have a proper talk with the family.”
“Pah! We’re an old married couple — what’s there to talk about? Come on, we’ll all have a drink together!”
Zhù Ying stepped back two paces with a smile: “I don’t drink.”
Jin Liang carried his son by the collar, and caught sight of his wife coming from the rear courtyard; he coughed awkwardly: “You’re here!”
Madam Jin said: “You’re back?”
“Yes.”
Madam Jin said: “Hot water and fresh clothes are ready. Go wash your face and change — what are you doing walking around the house in full official dress? Showing off to whom? Go on!”
Jin Liang said: “Understood!”
The Jin family of three went to the back. Along the way his son clamored for what gifts he’d brought; his wife told him what had happened during the days he was away — first the usual social calls and New Year courtesies, and second the matter of Zhù Ying. Jin Liang heard it all, dug out a rubber ball for his son and a handful of coins: “Go play!” — and was already pressing his body toward his wife.
Jin Biao ran off with the ball, then spun halfway back to grab the coins. Jin Liang nearly sent him flying with a kick, and cursed: “You little rascal!”
Madam Jin coughed, held her handkerchief to her lips and took two steps to the side, pressed the coins into her son’s hands, and pushed Jin Biao out the door. Without looking at Jin Liang, she said: “Go wash your face! The clothes are on the rack!”
She drifted around behind the clothes rack to watch Jin Liang wash up and change. Jin Liang asked: “How did you say it came about that Elder Brother and Sister-in-law Zhù got beaten by Shen Ying’s servants?”
Madam Jin said: “What can I say — the heart of a parent for their child! The two of them hadn’t managed to see anyone from the Feng or Shen households for all these days, and that day on the street they spotted Shen Ying, and thought they’d follow him and ask him for help. But the Shen household servants said they didn’t know them, took them for beggars trying a scam — how could they not know them?”
Jin Liang said: “How could they not know them? They look down on people, that’s all. We came up all the way together on the road and barely said more than a few words to those people. The Seventh Young Master was eager to cultivate and shape Sanlang — and when we got to the capital, he wanted to take the person for himself. Sanlang also has a bit of pride; she dug in her heels and wouldn’t follow, so they took a dislike to her.”
Madam Jin said: “So what now?”
Jin Liang said: “The Seventh Young Master will be having lunch with the Marquis and the others. He says to bring Sanlang to the manor after the meal to meet him.”
Madam Jin was delighted: “Wonderful! I’ll go check if the food is ready! Oh — and if you’re going to the manor this afternoon, don’t drink at noon. You can drink a whole jar tonight if you like, just don’t mess up the manor’s business.”
Jin Liang said: “Understood.”
——
At noon, the two households ate separately. Zhang Xiangu ate while saying: “Lord Zheng won’t be going away again this time, surely?” And she asked Zhù Ying: “Are you really set on this path to the end?”
Zhù Shenhan said: “Watch what’s in your bowl.”
“What’s to watch?!”
Zhù Shenhan said: “Is there something dry to eat? Is there meat on the table?”
“I’d rather starve to death than see something happen to her.”
Zhù Ying wiped up the grains of rice they had both spat onto the table, and said: “Let’s eat. Whether you starve or overeat, you still die either way.”
This topic had been aired many times before, but Zhang Xiangu always fell back into fretting. The moment Zhù Ying refused to take the bait, she would quiet down again — and then the cycle would repeat.
After the meal, Zhù Shenhan settled in for a nap. Zhang Xiangu, freed from having to wash up, hovered around Zhù Ying; Zhù Ying went on writing her characters steadily.
Sensing Zhang Xiangu growing ever more restless, Zhù Ying set down her brush and asked: “How much money have we got left?”
Zhang Xiangu said: “Still about twenty-odd strings of cash.”
“Is there still goods at home?”
“All sitting there untouched. That mule — I asked Madam Jin to help find someone to sell it; we can’t afford to keep it, and there’s no feed for it. The cart hasn’t gone yet, it’s still at home.”
Zhù Ying calculated: after selling the goods, they’d have about forty strings of cash in hand. She said: “We need to give some to Sister-in-law Jin to cover the costs of these days. Just giving money looks bad — better to bring a gift as well.” Running the numbers in her head, it would come to a dozen or twenty strings.
Zhang Xiangu said: “And when you go to take up your duties, won’t you need to make all sorts of payments up and down the chain?”
Mother and daughter added it up, and it came out tight. Zhang Xiangu said: “We used to manage without any money at all — and now twenty strings of cash doesn’t feel like enough. How do people spend this kind of money?”
Zhù Ying smiled: “Unexpected expenses make it run out fast. Once I have a salary it will be easier.”
“Are you sure there’ll be a salary? How much?”
“A month, there should be at least five strings,” Zhù Ying said. “I asked — a prison guard at the capital prefecture gets five strings.”
Zhang Xiangu thought it over and said: “That’ll do. If we’re careful, we can save two or three strings every month!”
Mother and daughter discussed things a while; Zhang Xiangu was less anxious after that. Zhù Shenhan’s midday nap was still going. Jin Liang had eaten and rested and was ready to take Zhù Ying to the Zheng manor.
He came to the door of Zhù Ying’s room and called: “Sanlang — are you in?”
Zhang Xiangu quickly lifted the curtain: “In, in — Brother Jin, come in and sit down.”
Jin Liang came in, looked around the room, and said: “All right. Get yourself together — I’ll take you to see the Seventh Young Master.”
Zhù Ying was surprised: “Now? Doesn’t he have other things on?”
Jin Liang said: “He heard about you on the road and said the moment he was done presenting himself to the Emperor he wanted to see you. He hasn’t seen anyone else yet.”
Zhang Xiangu was anxious again: “Brother Jin — is this good news or bad? You can’t blame our Third — she was wronged!”
Jin Liang soothed her: “Sister-in-law, Sister-in-law, listen to me — the Seventh Young Master wants to cultivate her, to help her rise! That’s what this is!”
Zhang Xiangu stopped crying.
Jin Liang said: “I have something to say to Sanlang.”
Zhù Ying said: “Mother, go and rest a while — I’ll be fine with Elder Brother Jin here.”
Zhang Xiangu pulled the door shut but was not entirely reassured. She went and woke up Zhù Shenhan: “Still sleeping! You’ll sleep yourself to death! Get up — come hear what Brother Jin is saying to the child.”
Zhù Shenhan rubbed his eyes and sat up: “What are you fussing about?”
“She’s going to see Lord Zheng.”
“That’s good news.”
Zhang Xiangu said: “Third said Lord Zheng would be busy for days and it would be a while before there was any meeting — and now suddenly there is one. Doesn’t that seem odd?”
Zhù Shenhan couldn’t stand her nagging: “All right, all right — let’s go see.”
They managed to arrive just in time: they had barely reached the door before they heard Jin Liang’s roar.
——
As soon as Zhang Xiangu left the room, Jin Liang said to Zhù Ying: “Before you see the Seventh Young Master, there’s one thing — I’m telling you this privately, and you need to have your mind made up before we go. Made up, not dithering. What do you intend to do about your in-laws? I’ve heard from people — you can’t expect to be cultivated by the Seventh Young Master here and still play the dutiful son-in-law to those people over there. Hmph! Shen Ying is no kind of in-law anyway!”
Zhù Ying said: “I understand.”
Jin Liang said: “I need a firm answer.”
“I know.”
Jin Liang’s intentions were entirely good, yet Zhù Ying’s answers were coming out perfunctory. He couldn’t help raising his voice: “This is the biggest matter of your future — are you treating it as a game? Stepping into this world of fame and fortune in the capital, one wrong step and it’s your life! How many people have thought themselves clever enough to play everyone else, only to end up ruined? Get up! Talk properly!”
Zhang Xiangu outside the door was so startled she burst in along with Zhù Shenhan to mediate: “Brother Jin, calm down, don’t be angry — let’s talk this through, we can say whatever needs to be said calmly. I’ll talk to her. Third — what’s this about?”
Zhù Ying said: “Nothing, Mother — go and rest…”
Jin Liang said: “Don’t go! She’s confused, and you as her parents can’t be confused too! What exactly are your thoughts on her marriage? Have you no backbone at all? Hmm?! If the Seventh Young Master goes to the trouble of nurturing her, and then she ends up handing his efforts over to fetch Shen Ying’s shoes — who are you humiliating?!”
Zhang Xiangu immediately said: “We won’t reach above ourselves! It was never a proper marriage arrangement to begin with — just two people who’d been through hard times together, going their separate ways once those times were past. It’s just that… it’s been going on so long… Brother Jin, if only this marriage could be called off right now!”
Zhù Ying said: “Huajie is the one stuck in the middle.”
Jin Liang couldn’t help himself: “You’re still thinking about her! How about thinking about your mother and father?! They got beaten for your sake! You say she’s a good woman — even if she were an immortal, she wouldn’t be worth your parents taking a beating from her family! You…”
Zhù Ying said: “I know. I…”
Jin Liang said: “We’ve gotten this far — what is there you can’t say?”
Zhù Ying said: “I think of her as a sister, as family. I at least need to speak plainly with her first — I can’t let her know nothing about all this and just…”
Jin Liang said: “She’s that wonderful?!”
Zhang Xiangu murmured quietly: “She really is a good person.” Zhù Shenhan dug his elbow into her ribs.
Jin Liang said: “Brother and Sister-in-law, you are her parents — you have authority over her. She herself says she doesn’t want this marriage. Can we get this matter cleaned up properly?”
Zhù Ying gave a wry smile: “You’ve forgotten — my household register and the contract won’t match up. If we want this done cleanly and neatly, either both parties have to agree to cancel it, or we go through the government offices, and my parents will have to appear before the court. Then the household register issue gets dragged back up again.”
Jin Liang said: “So those beatings were just endured for nothing?”
Zhang Xiangu, feeling tender toward her daughter again, defended Zhù Ying: “We are grateful to Huajie — we at least want to see her settled somewhere decent before we let go.”
Jin Liang would not scold Zhang Xiangu; he aimed his words deliberately at Zhù Ying: “Where has your brain gone? Every day you stay married, you’re her husband. Aside from you, who’s going to give her a decent future? I’ve seen men who found new husbands for their wives — men at death’s door on the battlefield who arranged it properly before dying. What is this? You don’t want her, but anyone who looks at a married woman is not an upright man — not worth trusting. And her family is still there, her uncle is still there, her aunt’s husband is the prime minister — do you think they’ll let you just find her a new husband? You — if you want her, fight it through the courts and take her home! If you don’t want her, make a clean break right now! You won’t bring her away, but you won’t let go either — what exactly are you thinking? This is not how you do things!”
A single blow to strike one awake.
Zhang Xiangu, who had been half-convinced by Zhù Ying already, said now: “Third, she needs what we can’t give her. Let go. Whoever good man you arrange for her — we can watch from the side and give a hand if we can. You have to get to shore yourself before you can save someone in the water.”
Zhù Shenhan also said: “You’ve already decided against this marriage — why would she listen to you?”
Yes. Why would Huajie listen to her? She couldn’t even tell Huajie the truth, so how could she ask Huajie to close her eyes and jump into a pit on her word? And besides — had her parents’ beating really been endured for nothing? If she didn’t take this to Shen Ying’s face right now, was she still herself?
The expression on Zhù Ying’s face shifted between cloud and sun. She said: “I understand. I’ll have the marriage dissolved right now.”
Jin Liang said: “Truly? Can you do it?”
Zhù Ying let out a breath and said to Jin Liang: “All right — her uncle’s servants beat my parents, and the marks are still there; an injury inspection would not find nothing. Even if there were nothing to find by now, there’s always the option of claiming fresh injuries, because the beating was real. As for breaking with Shen Ying openly — so be it; we were long past any affection. The only thing holding me back was Huajie. Tomorrow morning I’ll go find Shen Ying. Shen Ying cares about face; the Feng family cares about face — neither will cling to this marriage. No matter whether I am Zhù San or Zhù Ying, he will surely not try to hold on. If they do try to threaten me, I’ll go to the capital prefecture; one stamp of the capital prefect’s seal, and we go our separate ways. Even if our old secrets come out, I was never going to become a regular official anyway — starting from a minor clerking post is already better than anything.”
Jin Liang said: “Now that’s more like it! It’s her misfortune — if she must blame something, let her blame fate. She can’t blame you.”
Zhù Ying gave a wry smile. Truly, she had no way to make this come out well on all sides. She said: “I only fear she will not blame me.”
Jin Liang asked: “Are we ready to go?”
“Yes.”
Jin Liang felt he had done something good. He said: “Come on, then.”
There was no spare horse for Zhù Ying, so Jin Liang did not ride either — both walked side by side out of the Jin house.
Jin Liang took a look at Zhù Ying and noticed something wasn’t quite right. Oh — the young one’s clothes were a little small. He thought: No time to get properly fitting ones made, but she’s decent-looking enough, it’ll do.
Jin Liang was constantly afraid the wind would blow Zhù Ying over; he slowed his pace a little. Walking alongside her, he chatted — and did not bring up the marriage again. He gave Zheng Xi a thorough defense: the letter had been sent to Zhong Yi, but who knew Zhong Yi would turn out to be useless and fail to get it done, and so on.
Zhù Ying listened quietly. She believed what Jin Liang told her was true, and believed Zhong Yi had genuinely tried — it wasn’t that she mattered so much herself; it was that Zhou You, who had stirred up the trouble, mattered plenty.
As for Zhou You — he hadn’t escaped entirely unscathed this time either.
Zhù Ying gave a quiet shrug.
——
When they reached the Zheng Marquis manor, Jin Liang brought Zhù Ying in through the side gate. Jin Liang was well acquainted with the place and exchanged jokes with the servants they passed. The younger manservants called him “Uncle” or “Elder Brother,” and some of the still younger ones called him “Second Uncle.”
All the way through, hardly a single female servant was to be seen.
Zhù Ying took note as she walked. The residence was large — somewhat grander than the Chen family manor in the prefectural city. In the time she had spent wandering the capital, she had not seen many houses finer than this.
At the end of the first month, the trees and flowering plants had not yet put out new leaves, but every branch had been pruned into meticulous order. Two ancient pines stood in deep, dark green, upright and proud.
Jin Liang brought her to a certain building and said: “This is the Seventh Young Master’s outer study. Stand here a moment.” He went in first to announce her. Very shortly, someone inside — it was Lu Chao — came out smiling: “Come in, come in!” He made a face at Zhù Ying, measured her height, and said: “You’ve grown taller!”
Zhù Ying kept a straight face, and deliberately rose onto her tiptoes — a small act of mockery, since Lu Chao was not tall himself — which made Lu Chao’s eyes go wide with fury.
Inside the study, a wall of warmth enveloped her. The charcoal braziers were burning hotter than anything Zhù Ying had ever felt, and her nose gave a twitch — she sneezed. Zheng Xi said: “Caught a chill?” He gestured to offer her a handkerchief to wipe her nose.
Zhù Ying took it, wiped her nose, and said: “It’s just warm in here.” She put the handkerchief aside and stood properly.
Zheng Xi said: “Sit — when have you ever stood on ceremony with me?”
Hearing his tone — nothing like anger, actually warmer than the last time they had met — she thanked him and took a seat. Zheng Xi gestured to Jin Liang as well, who then sat down.
Zheng Xi said: “You’ve grown a little taller.”
Zhù Ying calmly said: “We’ve passed another New Year — I’ve gotten a year older.”
Zheng Xi said nothing of his maneuverings with Zhong Yi, and did not mention Zhou You at all. He only said: “I had intended to make arrangements for you before the New Year, but unexpectedly the matter was delayed and you suffered another ordeal.” And then he changed his plan.
He said: “Go home today, get yourself settled, and starting tomorrow — study!”
Zhù Ying was startled: “What? Weren’t you going to put me to work?”
Zheng Xi said: “Work at what? First you must study. Starting tomorrow, come here to my household school — study alongside the people in my household.”
Jin Liang was very happy on Zhù Ying’s behalf, and said: “Why aren’t you thanking the Seventh Young Master? This is our household’s private school — for anyone who hasn’t yet entered the National Academy or one of the other schools. The teachers here are the best!”
Zhù Ying said: “But I came to work! This isn’t what we agreed on!”
Zheng Xi said: “Studying is your work now. Once you’ve learned well enough, then you enter official service. It won’t be more than a few years — I can afford to wait.”
Zhù Ying said: “My background isn’t clean — going back to my grandfather’s generation there’s nothing on record.”
Zheng Xi gave her a level look. Zhù Ying realized she had been foolish — for someone like Zheng Xi, this was no obstacle at all. She had heard of such things among ordinary people too: attach yourself to a powerful patron, and a posting could be arranged without any examinations. Matters like ancestral records and household registers could be written out fresh — just as her current register had been filled in after the fact.
Zhù Ying boldly asked: “Has your new assignment also fallen through?”
Jin Liang hastily said: “What are you talking about?!”
Zheng Xi said: “I’ll arrange for someone else to handle it.”
“Can they do it better than me?” Zhù Ying asked.
Jin Liang said: “Others would beg for what you’re being offered — why are you…”
Zhù Ying asked Jin Liang: “Have you ever gone truly hungry? Not the kind of hungry where there’s food you can’t reach, or where the meal isn’t ready yet — that’s not real hunger. Real hungry is when there’s nothing to eat.”
“If someone tells you: go hungry for two more meals, and after that you can eat whatever you want. If you’ve been hungry your whole life, you won’t be able to hold out — you’ll put whatever little you have in front of you straight into your mouth, and then worry about the next bite. But if you’ve never known want, you can hold out a couple more meals.
That’s not being small-minded. That’s just being hungry.
I’m a little better than most — I can’t make it through two meals, but I can manage one.”
Jin Liang stared at her, struck speechless. Zhù Ying kept her face perfectly calm. She had thought it through: she needed an official status as quickly as possible. Zhou You was the kind of idiot who grew no wiser with time. Being a commoner was not enough to keep her family safe. Getting an official title would help — even a minor clerking post put her in far better circumstances than an ordinary citizen. Three to five years of study? That was more than enough time for Zhou You and his friends to throw her in prison eight hundred times over. Throwing her in — bad enough. But if they went after her parents again…
Zheng Xi gave a nod: “What kind of hungry are you, then?”
Zhù Ying said: “I’ll sit for the mingfa examination. I’ve already read some of the legal texts; and there’s still the statutes — that won’t take long. After all, it’s a matter of memorization. As for the Classics and the rest, those scholars have gone too deep; I can’t bluff my way through even a brief conversation without giving myself away. Memorization, I can do. Pass the mingfa, and I can do every job in that new posting of yours. There’s still some time before the examination — it’s manageable.”
Zheng Xi pointed toward a certain shelf in the study: “Those are precisely what you’ll need to study. What do you say?”
Zhù Ying said: “Even if I have to swallow them whole, I’ll get them down.”
Zheng Xi considered for a moment and said: “Very well.”
Jin Liang didn’t know whether this was a good arrangement or not — he had never heard of “the mingfa examination” and had no idea what it tested or how it was sat or when it was held. Who in their right mind would pay attention to such a thing? He was about to say something when Gan Ze came rushing in and said from the door: “Seventh Young Master — something has come up!”
Zheng Xi asked: “What is it?”
Gan Ze came inside, glanced at Zhù Ying, and said: “Sanlang’s parents — they’ve been beaten!”
——
After Jin Liang and Zhù Ying had left, Zhang Xiangu and Zhù Shenhan had gotten down to discussion.
Zhang Xiangu’s idea was: “If need be I’ll go to the magistrate’s court myself — I signed the contract, so I’ll take whatever comes!”
Zhù Shenhan said: “What do you know about it! If you go yourself, what happens to the child’s status? We just managed to get a new household register drawn up!”
“Then what do you suggest?”
Zhù Shenhan said: “I’ll throw myself into it! I’ll go back to the Shen house and let them beat me again! You stand to the side and watch — when they hit me, you start screaming. Screaming that they’re beating their in-laws! Ha! Once they’ve hit their in-laws, they can hardly still have the face to want our child as their son-in-law, can they?”
“Son-in-law to the niece, he means!”
“Then go to the Feng house and make a scene there too!”
What everyone had miscalculated was this: Zhang Xiangu and Zhù Shenhan were spirit-callers. A great many in that trade got by on deception and manipulation. Zhù Ying was the exception in this line of work. These two would not have managed to survive long enough to raise a child — and raise that child to adulthood at that — without a certain flexible relationship with straightforwardness.
These two, being who they were, borrowed Lai Fu from Madam Jin and stationed him at the street corner as a lookout: “As long as we’re not being killed, don’t come out. If it looks like they’re about to beat us to death, come and save us.”
They ran to the Shen residence, again claiming to be in-laws. Zhù Shenhan’s approach this time was entirely different: last time he had been politely asking; this time he opened his mouth with remarkable vulgarity, treating the air to remarks such as “Wantons who’ve forgotten their roots!” and the like.
They were beaten as expected.
With their faces nicely marked up, they ran to the Feng house. The Feng household had no idea what to make of any of this — Madam Feng couldn’t even be sure who “the in-laws” were. The doormen, completely at a loss, shooed the two away with brooms.
Two rounds of beatings complete, Zhù Shenhan and Zhang Xiangu felt thoroughly at ease. They sat down at the street corner and wailed and slapped their thighs.
Lai Fu watched with his mouth hanging open. He knew there were scoundrels in the world, and had seen a great many of them — but he had never in his life expected that these two people who were so polite to his mistress and so willing to sweep floors and tend fires would turn out to be scoundrels themselves. How could these two have produced Sanlang?
Truly — he was seeing ghosts in broad daylight.
Lai Fu rushed up and helped them to their feet, one on each side: “Elder, Madam — get up quickly! What is all this?!”
The three of them put on this little performance, and in the back of the Feng household, Huajie caught fragments from a maidservant’s gossip. Her mother was her own mother, but her brothers’ wives were not her own flesh — and the maidservants on her sisters-in-law’s side had no reason to cover things up for her. One of them told her directly: “Two beggars who say they’re your parents-in-law came and were chased away from the gate.”
Huajie was alarmed; she lifted her skirts and ran toward the gate, only to be stopped by servants before she got there — but she could still hear clearly that it was Zhang Xiangu crying and shouting. Granny Wang coaxed her: “Young Mistress, don’t pay those trouble-makers any mind — let’s go back inside.”
Huajie was held in the crook of one arm and blocked by two maidservants; she could neither advance nor retreat, and said urgently through tears: “It’s her! It’s really her! That’s my mother-in-law!”
Granny Wang said: “How could it be? Perhaps you’ve heard wrong?”
“The accent matches too.”
Granny Wang said: “There are plenty of people from the same region.”
Huajie said: “Granny Wang, you don’t know — she used to perform spirit-calling rites to heal people; all the songs she sings have only three melodies…”
Zhang Xiangu’s spirit-calling skills were not very accomplished. She knew a total of three tunes, and Huajie had heard all of them — she still remembered them.
On one side Huajie was trying to get out of the compound; on the other side Zhang Xiangu was outside the lane crying and singing — it was tremendous theater.
Granny Wang, at a loss for what to do, saw Madam Feng being summoned by her daughter-in-law. She hurried over and said: “They claim to be the Young Mistress’s in-laws — but they really don’t look the part. Far too undignified. Even ordinary families wouldn’t want in-laws like this!”
Madam Feng was about to collapse with fury. She absolutely refused to be saddled with in-laws like this — she didn’t even need to consult her brother, let alone the adopted son or the daughter. She kept repeating: “How can such shameless creatures be our in-laws? How can such shameless creatures be our in-laws?”
Granny Wang pressed the point: “You are the head of this family. You speak, and who can say no? You make the decision — cancel this marriage arrangement!”
Madam Feng agreed this was reasonable, and gave the order: “Bring those two to the gatekeeper’s room, and fetch the Young Mistress’s marriage contract.” She had the contract returned, and demanded Zhù Shenhan write out a cancellation deed and seal it with his hand print. Huajie tried to speak, but Madam Feng’s face went cold: “Take the Young Mistress back to her room! She’s not to come out without my word.”
Zhù Shenhan was inwardly overjoyed; even with his face freshly battered, he was trying not to smile — and the strain of holding it back made the muscles of his cheek twitch into a grotesque grin. Granny Wang was furious: “Write quickly!”
Zhù Shenhan’s learning amounted to fewer than three hundred characters — far from sufficient to draft a cancellation deed. Madam Feng said to her steward: “You draft it!”
The steward wrote it out; Madam Feng read it, signed it herself, and had Zhù Shenhan sign his name too.
Zhù Shenhan and Zhang Xiangu had gotten what they came for. They had the original contract back, and in hand was Madam Feng’s written cancellation deed, bearing hand prints all around. The marriage arrangement, with all four parents of both parties genuinely “going their separate ways in mutual delight” — Madam Feng said: “Since we are no longer relatives, I will not ask you to stay. Someone — show our guests out!”
Lai Fu stood to one side, staring blankly. He was escorted out along with Zhù Shenhan and Zhang Xiangu. Having no other option, he spent his own money to hire a cart, stuffed the two into it, and carted them back to the Jin house.
Madam Jin stared at them in shock: “What on earth happened?!”
Lai Fu had made a thorough loss on the day. He was shaking as he told the story: “I don’t know what there is to celebrate about the marriage being canceled — they’ve been beaten half senseless, but they’ve been smiling the whole way back.”
Madam Jin snapped: “Don’t say things like that about our guests!” She had a doctor fetched.
Zhù Shenhan was still grinning crookedly and said: “Don’t worry, Madam — our own affairs are all settled. No need to go to the magistrate’s court either!”
Madam Jin had never imagined they were capable of something like this. While sending for the doctor, she dispatched someone to the Zheng manor with word.
——
Inside the study, the others listened to Gan Ze’s account as though to a storyteller, finding it remarkable. Only Zhù Ying knew — her parents truly were capable of this. She had miscalculated; in the months since coming to the capital, both of them had been earnestly conducting themselves as “the future little official’s parents” — more propriety and restraint than usual. She had let that blind her.
Looking grim, Zhù Ying said: “You made me a promise — you can’t change it now.”
Jin Liang swallowed and said: “You — your hands, don’t let them shake. Don’t go losing your temper — this is the capital, not the countryside; you can’t just go killing people in the streets, and killing an official would be a capital offense! You — you’re not going after Shen Ying — and you absolutely cannot go to the Feng house to settle scores — do you hear?!”
Zhù Ying smiled gently: “Now why would I be angry? My parents went and dissolved the marriage themselves — they’ve saved me the trouble. Why on earth would I be angry?”
Zheng Xi said: “Have someone hitch up a carriage — go quickly. Take some bruise medicine along.”
Jin Liang said: “Yes!”
Zhù Ying said: “You haven’t told me yet — the agreement we just made: does it still hold? I will be sitting the mingfa examination.”
Zheng Xi said: “Of course it holds. But a few months is nothing — I can wait. First go and look after your parents.”
Zhù Ying bowed formally to him, then grabbed Jin Liang by the arm and headed for the door.
Jin Liang walked along quietly for a stretch before saying to her: “The medicine!”
He grabbed the medicine, stuffed Zhù Ying into the carriage, and they raced home.