Both Pei Qing and Leng Yun arrived before Zheng Xi with cold expressions. Zheng Xi’s expression remained unchanged as he said, “Sit.”

Today, their Court of Judicial Review had been impeached.

Not all censors were idle people with nothing better to do than mind others’ business at mealtimes — quite a few of them were doing proper work. Today was not a grand court assembly, but rather the Chancellor, the principal and deputy officials of the various ministries, the Jingzhao Prefect, and others gathered before the Emperor to report on various matters.

Unexpectedly, the Emperor tossed down an impeachment memorial and asked Zheng Xi, “Is this how your Court of Judicial Review conducts its affairs? I ordered you to review old cases, and you kept saying there was progress — is this the progress you meant?”

Zheng Xi bent down to pick it up and read it. A censor had used him to practice his skills.

Ever since the Court of Judicial Review had suffered together with the Ministry of Justice the year before, it had become a place many people wanted to step on. Even with Zheng Xi now in charge, the Court of Judicial Review was still that same Court of Judicial Review “with flaws in its old cases.” Going back ten or eight years — might there not be other problematic cases?

This impeachment memorial was substantive in its allegations. It concerned two similar cases of bribery and favoritism: one person who received a hundred bolts of cloth had been given the maximum sentence of exile to two thousand five hundred li. Another who received two hundred bolts — why had he only been sentenced to one thousand li? Neither had any special circumstances warranting clemency. Why had the Court of Judicial Review judged them so?

The censor also understood that Zheng Xi and the other two had been newly transferred in, and that the Court of Judicial Review still had a large number of cases under review. But — why had they not discovered this themselves, leaving it for him to find? Since he now knew, he could not remain silent. Let them offer an explanation.

Zheng Xi had not argued at the time. He first asked the censor, “Do you have grounds for these claims? Have you obtained the case files from our Court?”

The censor replied, “The son of one of the parties filed a grievance and stated the facts himself.”

Zheng Xi said calmly, “Your Majesty, please allow me to return and review the old records before providing a response.”

Only then had he bought some time.

All three had taken their seats. Zheng Xi said, “I’ve pulled both files. You two should look them over.” Each took one and then exchanged with the other. Zheng Xi asked, “Well?”

Pei Qing’s expression remained difficult. He said, “It was indeed a misjudgment — it should be corrected.”

Leng Yun said, “But we still can’t admit it!”

When they had been before the Emperor, none of the three had known the details of either case, and none of them had admitted anything on the spot. Those who had been at court long enough knew that when impeached, bowing one’s head and apologizing was merely a ceremonial gesture unrelated to admission of guilt. Having not admitted it then, Leng Yun had even less reason to admit this error now.

Even if one sifted through every case from the past ten years, it would not fall to these three to have memorized every single one. And this bribery case — a mere two hundred bolts — truly could not be counted as a major case by today’s standards, hardly worthy of Zheng Xi’s memory. What was Zheng Xi currently handling? The thorough prosecution of Gong Jie’s associates! Throughout the realm, death sentences alone amounted to over a dozen in light years and dozens or even a hundred or more in heavy years — several hundred death sentences over ten years. A paltry bribery case truly amounted to nothing.

Their impeachment was truly unjust.

All the fault of their subordinates for not doing their work properly!

And it was precisely for this reason that Pei Qing had been particularly angry today, giving Zhù Ying a thorough dressing-down. Any other fourteen-year-old child would likely have been frightened to tears.

Pei Qing’s expression was still unpleasant, yet he insisted, “The censor has already presented this before the Emperor — how can we not admit it? The Court of Judicial Review is in the process of reviewing old cases, and if our hands were a little slow, what of it?”

Leng Yun said, “Slow hands? And let the Censorate come inspect the Court of Judicial Review again? Have we no face left? When people first called me to the Court of Judicial Review, the very mention of it was ‘that Court of Judicial Review that got ransacked by the Censorate!’ Shameful or not?”

Pei Qing came back with a comment that was neither sharp nor conciliatory: “You still came, didn’t you?”

“I — I came because…” Leng Yun closed his mouth. Whether he served as junior minister was not his decision to make! Looking at his age compared to Zheng Xi’s — both had become junior ministers at roughly the same point — it was clear he too had someone backing him. Having a backer often meant having to listen to that backer.

Zheng Xi said, “Er’lang is right — how can we simply admit to it?”

Pei Qing called out gravely, “My lord!”

Zheng Xi made a gesture and said slowly, “Look carefully. The one who received two hundred bolts was reported by the person who had bribed him, who claimed he had taken the goods but failed to follow through on the favor. The one who received a hundred bolts was reported by someone else, and both the briber and the recipient were sentenced together.”

Pei Qing said, “Your meaning is?”

Leng Yun grasped it first: “Exactly! What if it was someone setting a trap to frame him? For instance, say you give me a set of porcelain — I don’t need it, so I toss it in the storeroom. Later you report me, claiming there’s gold and silver hidden inside the porcelain…”

Zheng Xi said, “But he did accept the goods, so he must still be sentenced. The sentence simply needs to be reduced in light of the circumstances.”

Leng Yun said, “Exactly, exactly! This wretched creature — bribing someone is itself a violation of the law, and yet he dares open his mouth to bite others! At that rate no official would dare conduct themselves normally! What family doesn’t have weddings and funerals? Doesn’t exchange gifts?”

Pei Qing said, “This does protect officials, but then those who have been extorted from wouldn’t dare report it — wouldn’t that be condoning corrupt officials?”

Zheng Xi said, “If extortion is a crime, how could it only happen once? There will certainly be others who report it. Why give the money and then report it yourself?”

Leng Yun said, “Old Pei, stop waffling. I think what Qilang says is entirely right! When a wall is falling everyone gives it a shove, when a drum is broken everyone beats it. Look at the state of the Court of Judicial Review — let them trample on it a few more times, and everyone will think the Court can be bullied. Then everyone will file a few memorials against us, and we won’t need to do any real work — we’ll be too busy dealing with impeachments all day!”

Zheng Xi said, “Zicheng, for the sake of the Court of Judicial Review’s proper work, we must push back against them.”

“Can we push back?”

Zheng Xi smiled faintly. “As long as we present our reasoning and submit our memorial, others will naturally step forward to argue against him.”

Pei Qing let out a long breath. “Very well! But the review of old cases must be accelerated!”

At the mention of “accelerating,” his thoughts turned again to Zhù Ying — that boy was nothing but slack and lazy, wholly insufferable! He would not say so before Zheng Xi, but after entrusting Zheng Xi with writing the rebuttal memorial, he went charging back to the room where the judicial assessors conducted their daily work.

Judicial assessors — eighth rank from the bottom, from the eighth grade lower — were officials so low-ranking that not one of them merited their own office. They all worked together in a single room, and now a junior minister had paid them two visits in a single morning!

When Pei Qing arrived, the cluster of minor officials were huddled together whispering, all comforting Zhù Ying.

The Left Judicial Assessor had been very anxious about the Court’s impeachment. He had used his connections to inquire from that black-bearded Yang the Sixth and had run back with news: “This is bad. It’s the old cases that got us impeached by the censors.”

He explained everything, and the assessors first had a discussion about how to paper over the situation. They said they ought to look into the old records to find out what had actually happened, the better to manage things. The Left Judicial Assessor said, “Do you know which two cases they are?”

No one knew, and the Left Judicial Assessor said, “Neither do I — so how are we supposed to search?”

Zhù Ying didn’t know either, of course. She had only recently arrived; even with a photographic memory, one first had to have “seen” the documents. The Court of Judicial Review had so many old records — how could one have read through all of them, let alone happened to have read exactly these two?

Everyone was growing somewhat dispirited. Assessor Wang said, “This is bad! Now that they’ve been impeached like this, I fear they’re going to take it out on us, aren’t they?”

Zhù Ying said, “It can’t be that bad, can it?”

Everyone surrounded her, using the pretext of explaining things to her as a way to relieve their own anxiety: “It always flows downward! The senior judge gets chewed out, he pressures the junior ministers, and the junior ministers take it out on the level below! We’re the last level! After us, there’s no one else left to try cases. Will you go vent your spleen on the prison warden? We’re in the position of being able to scold a few minor clerks, but you see these people every day and can’t afford to scold them too harshly. As for the criminals — for all you know, one of them might be reinstated to office tomorrow and come back to get revenge on you. What a miserable existence!”

Zhù Ying asked curiously, “Isn’t the Court of Judicial Review already in disgrace, working to make amends? Why don’t you all simply do your work better?”

The Left Judicial Assessor said, “You don’t understand, do you? Things are already as good as they can be! Look — the three people above us now are all young men with ambitious drive. There’s no way they could handle all these cases with eight bodies each — we’re the ones doing the actual work. If the Emperor wants it done in five days, the senior judge wants it done in three, so by the time it gets to the junior minister, you get two days… tsk! So, Xiao Zhù, when work gets assigned from above, you need to leave yourself some margin. If they tell you to do three cases in a day, you squeeze right up to closing time to finish exactly those three, and sometimes you do two and a half — then next time they won’t so easily pile on more work!”

Assessor Wang summarized: “Being an official is a lifelong endeavor. Without the right background and connections, it’s very difficult for people like us to advance — we’ll likely be grinding it out here for a long time. We have to think long-term!”

The assessors all sighed deeply: “But look at things now — they’re bound to press us to speed up. There’s no help for it, we’d better work a little faster.” They agreed among themselves — the main reason being to warn Zhù Ying — not to accelerate too much at once, leaving some room for these three superiors to go on their rampages in the future.

Zhù Ying said, “I just got scolded by the junior minister — I can’t afford to be scolded again, can I?” She didn’t feel there was anything to lament in what the Left Judicial Assessor and the others were saying. These people — disrespecting their elders, drifting through their days, doing the bare minimum — being scolded was no injustice. But herself — that was a bitter injustice!

The Left Judicial Assessor and the others had misunderstood her meaning, however. Assessor Wang said, “Poor Xiao Zhù — you really drew the short straw. Junior Minister Pei is a strict man!”

The Left Judicial Assessor said, “Indeed — you’re new here, how could you be expected to have everything at your fingertips right away?”

They spoke one over the other: “Don’t take it to heart! There are long days ahead — this is only the beginning.”

When Pei Qing walked in and heard this, he bellowed, “Does no one have any work to do?! You eat the sovereign’s grain yet accomplish nothing — how are you any different from parasites?”

He gave the assessors another dressing-down.

Then he came and stood in front of Zhù Ying.

Zhù Ying stood squarely before him: “Junior Minister.”

“How many cases have you reviewed?”

Zhù Ying said, “You’ve assigned each person a set number of cases per month, haven’t you? There are still some days left in the month — if you require it of me, it can still be done.”

“Arrogance!” Arrogance leads to carelessness, and carelessness in handling cases gives censors something to seize upon. Pei Qing’s impression of Zhù Ying, having briefly improved, had been in freefall ever since!

“I wouldn’t dare. I first lay out the plan in my head, get a clear sense of what I’m doing, and then the actual work goes smoothly.”

“Is that so?” Pei Qing said coldly. “You — those files — bring them here!”

The Left Judicial Assessor, trembling, took the case files from his own desk. Pei Qing said, “Give them to him!” With one motion he dragged the Left Judicial Assessor’s chair over and sat down beside Zhù Ying, the two of them separated by no more than a fist’s width.

Pei Qing said, “Get to work then. What are you looking at me for?”

Zhù Ying glanced at him and began going through the files.

The cases the assessors were reviewing were not particularly major ones. Major and important cases had been set aside for those at higher levels — also deemed “more capable.” What remained: the Left Judicial Assessor would fetch a stack of old files each day, and everyone divided them up. The files were not pulled at random either but were brought back one batch at a time, in reverse chronological order.

Reviewing old cases did not mean dragging out the plaintiff, defendant, and witnesses from every single case to conduct a new hearing. Most often it meant looking over the old records: as long as the written account had no obvious flaws, the logic held together, and the sentencing was roughly appropriate, it could be passed.

Zhù Ying flipped through one file, swept her eyes over it, and set it aside.

Pei Qing said angrily, “Are you doing this to spite me?”

Zhù Ying said, “No — I’m sorting by category.”

“Hmm?”

Zhù Ying said, “This one — theft, a case from two years ago, only five bolts. No need to look further.”

A case value of five bolts was enough for a one-year sentence of imprisonment. Two years had already passed, and the full sentence had been served in the holding cells, with no evidence that additional stolen goods were concealed. Nothing else to be done with it.

Pei Qing said disapprovingly, “Even so, you shouldn’t just toss it aside carelessly — what if there was an injustice?”

Zhù Ying said, “If there was, the sentence has already been served. I want to first pick out those still serving their sentences, in exile, or in custody awaiting referral to the Ministry of Justice for execution. I only have one mouthful of food, enough to feed one person. There are two people in front of me — I’d rather give it to the one about to starve. It’s not that the other one doesn’t matter — it’s just that this is all I have.”

Pei Qing’s mood settled somewhat. He said, “Carry on.”

He wasn’t leaving!

Zhù Ying was not afraid of him. Back home, two rival shamanistic practitioners had once flanked her on either side trying to catch her out, and hadn’t she calmly made a peach vanish right under their noses? That day she had even charmed a string of cash out of Squire Li and gotten to eat a rather delicious peach into the bargain!

What was this compared to that?

Her hands moved quickly. She sorted through them in no time, and found that the assessors were indeed only reviewing minor cases. Major cases — those required them to travel out of the capital on assignment, and only luck would bring one their way. The group of assessors currently confined to the Court of Judicial Review were left with nothing but “odds and ends.”

“Odds and ends” — in truth, even these were not trivial. The truly small cases were handled in the villages and county yamen — all trifling matters, where a criminal, strictly sentenced according to the law, would receive a few strokes of the paddle on the spot and be released.

Zhù Ying moved swiftly, her eyes never resting. The Left Judicial Assessor’s case files — he managed roughly a dozen a day — and once she had finished sorting, she realized she had essentially read through the substance of each case in the process! For any file that had physical evidence, material objects, and complete signatures and seals from all parties, and appeared to have no major problems — that could be counted as reviewed!

What else could be done?

Even so, she still singled out one file that seemed odd: the fingerprint at the time of signing was wrong. Signing one’s name took several forms — those who were literate had their personal seal marks; those who were not drew a circle or a line, or had the length and shape of their finger traced in ink.

In this case, the accused was clearly an educated man, yet he had not signed his own seal mark but had instead pressed a fingerprint. From the written account, the offense and the punishment were fitting, the description was clear — how it was done, where the materials came from, everything matched up, with nothing out of order. The crime was unauthorized minting of coins, punishable by exile to three thousand li, which also seemed incongruous with the status of a scholar.

It was not that scholars would never commit such acts — it was that scholars generally would not do such things personally. Unauthorized minting and the like were usually supervised by someone else — a relative, a servant. This was very suspicious. Why not let the educated man sit for the official examinations and earn a proper station in life?

Either the case had hidden circumstances, or the “scholar” identity was false, or the “scholar” was a scholar in name only. Zhù Ying picked up her brush and wrote down her doubts, intending to go through this case carefully later.

Pei Qing’s pupils contracted. “Take this file — it needs to be re-examined!”

Zhù Ying had put her own notation on each file. She pulled this one out and handed it to Pei Qing, then looked at him expectantly.

Pei Qing asked, “Why are you looking at me?”

Zhù Ying spread both hands. “I’m done.”

Pei Qing froze. “Already?”

Zhù Ying said, “Well… what else…”

Pei Qing then pointed at the stack of files on Assessor Wang’s desk and told him to bring them over. Zhù Ying got through Assessor Wang’s work as well.

The Left Judicial Assessor and Assessor Wang broke out in a cold sweat, constantly glancing outside at the sun: Come on, reach mealtime already — let everyone go eat so these two tyrants will put their powers away!

Half a morning — you reviewed twenty files, did two days’ worth of someone else’s work, and you still expect everyone to go on living?

Finally, Heaven heard the assessors’ silent prayers, and the communal meal hour arrived!

Pei Qing gave a nod and said, “Very good!” He took the one case file and left.

The moment Pei Qing was gone, someone started grumbling: “Xiao Zhù, we just told you, and then you went and worked so fast again! What are we supposed to do now?”

The Left Judicial Assessor said, “Stop fussing! Xiao Zhù, let’s eat first.”

During the communal meal, a junior clerk came over carrying a food box and said, “Junior Minister Pei says Judicial Assessor Zhù did very good work. He’s sending one of his own dishes to Judicial Assessor Zhù.”

The clerk opened the food box and took out a large soup bowl — inside, a whole fat chicken had been simmered into a great pot of broth, bright yellow oil floating on the surface. Zhù Ying had been quite content with her one meat dish and one vegetable: the vegetable was a bowl of marrow squash, and the meat was stir-fried squash with sliced pork — it had meat! She had not expected Pei Qing’s table to be so lavish! He had sent her the entire chicken — not missing a wing, not lacking half a drumstick. It was not leftovers.

Zhù Ying said to the Left Judicial Assessor, “I can’t eat all this by myself — shall we divide it up?”

The Left Judicial Assessor said, “No, no — what’s given to you, you eat. Otherwise if Junior Minister Pei found out, he’d think you were being ungrateful.”

Zhù Ying did not stand on ceremony. She ate the entire fat chicken down to the bare carcass.

The Left Judicial Assessor thought to himself: You call that “can’t eat all this”?

After the communal meal there was a brief midday rest. Some napped, some strolled to aid their digestion, some chatted idly. Zhù Ying went off to find old Fang to borrow more old records to read.

The moment she left, the Left Judicial Assessor and the others rushed over to her desk. The Left Judicial Assessor carefully looked through the cases she had reviewed and nodded repeatedly. Another assessor said, “Old Zuo — what are we going to do? This new kid has set a terrible precedent!”

The Left Judicial Assessor said, “Stop going on about it! Let me think… I remember now — he placed first in the legal examinations. How could he have no other ambitions? When he took leave, he went to Lord Zheng. And Lord Zheng actually approved it, without any sign of finding him presumptuous. He must have caught Lord Zheng’s eye!”

“So what?”

The Left Judicial Assessor said, “So we give him a boost — help him rise a step!”

Assessor Wang had a sudden flash of understanding. “Brilliant! We watch what he wants to do and lend him a hand. We work a bit faster ourselves, and together we get through this thing. Then when something else comes up, we let him take the lead while we carry on as before. If the Court of Judicial Review’s work is done well, we’ll benefit by association! Even if we have no patron and our official rank can’t rise easily, if our honorary rank gets bumped up a grade, at least we’ll draw a slightly better salary, won’t we? The man has ability — let him show it. If you trip him up and don’t let him stand out, do you want him to turn all that talent on you?”

The Left Judicial Assessor said, “Old Wang — perceptive!”

Then someone said, “Oh no — there are quite a few things we haven’t properly briefed him on.”

The Left Judicial Assessor said, “What’s there to fear? If you didn’t brief him properly, just do the work for him — that settles it, doesn’t it?”

The group of old foxes had made their decision.

But that afternoon, before they could even speak to Zhù Ying, Pei Qing arrived again!

Pei Qing was a candid man. If he was suspicious of someone, he would test them; and if they passed his test, he would also acknowledge that they indeed had some ability. He had rewarded her with a chicken at midday, but did not think one chicken was enough to make a subordinate give their all. He also wanted to see where Zhù Ying’s limits lay.

He sat down next to Zhù Ying again and supervised her work for the entire afternoon.

In the afternoon Zhù Ying reviewed another twenty files, identified one minor issue, and found three documents that had already “expired.”

Pei Qing then ordered the Left Judicial Assessor: “Take all those where the sentence has already been fully served and look through them once more. If there are no errors, re-file them.” To Zhù Ying he said, “Starting tomorrow, you will begin reviewing case files.”

Zhù Ying could only say, “Yes.”

Pei Qing took the case file to Zheng Xi’s office and set it down: “Twenty files reviewed, and another one found.”

Zheng Xi and Leng Yun had not yet left. Leng Yun, bored out of his mind, laughed and said, “Qilang, you’ve found yourself a treasure! What a fine piece of work — truly worthy of a protégé you trained yourself!”

Pei Qing said, “What a backhanded remark!” Then he turned to Zheng Xi and made a proper bow, offering his apology: “I misjudged you, my lord!”

Zheng Xi quickly steadied him, saying, “What are these words, Zicheng? Zicheng was entirely reasonable to be suspicious. This child truly hasn’t studied the law for long — I didn’t actually want him to sit the legal examinations in the first place. It was he who insisted he loved it. Zicheng, your eyes are sharp!”

Pei Qing said, “You flatter me.”

Leng Yun said, “You two stop being so politely formal with each other! Let’s have a quick look at these few files! Heh heh! This little fellow knows his business — cases where the sentence is already fully served are as good as dead to us, of no use anymore! But someone still in the middle of serving their sentence — if you determine they were wrongfully convicted, and they shout their grievance to the heavens and come to thank you… oh ho, the public reputation that would follow would be extraordinary!”

Zheng Xi had of course seen this as well, but he said, “That child certainly had no such intention in mind.” He knew this — Zhù Ying’s thinking was peculiar, and though the results always ended up aligning with his own thoughts, the initial motivation was never like this.

Pei Qing smiled and said, “Indeed — she simply wants to finish reviewing the cases and release anyone who has been wrongfully imprisoned.”

Zheng Xi said, “Then shall we proceed on that basis?”

Leng Yun and Pei Qing both said, “Agreed!”

When Zhù Ying next reported for duty at the Court of Judicial Review, the assessors treated her quite differently from before.

First, the Left Judicial Assessor came in early and brought back a large stack of old files, saying: “Xiao Zhù, today you do the sorting. First pass everything through your hands — set aside what doesn’t need immediate attention. We’ll go over those. For anything urgent, you pull it out; when the group reviews it together, and if you find something questionable, sign your name and pass it up.”

They were being remarkably cooperative.

Zhù Ying blinked and asked, “Who do we pass it up to?”

“Ah… shall we go ask?”

“All right.”

In the Court of Judicial Review, Zheng Xi was personally reviewing the Gong Jie case. The review work had largely fallen to Pei Qing — Leng Yun was someone who could actually be relied upon. The two senior judges of the Court each supervised something different: one oversaw the court registrars hearing new cases, the other supervised the remaining registrars reviewing old ones. The registrars were likewise split into two groups — one for new cases, one for old.

After the Left Judicial Assessor reported upward, Pei Qing naturally took charge of this responsibility: “Report to me, and I’ll arrange for people to do the cross-verification.”

Zhù Ying kept this in mind. After the Left Judicial Assessor reported their division of labor, she went to Zheng Xi’s residence that evening.

Zheng Xi had just returned home. Seeing her arrive, he said, “I know all about it. He’s a junior minister — do you think he can’t direct you? Whatever achievements you produce are all to the credit of my Court of Judicial Review. And staying under Pei Qing’s supervision has its advantages too, no less.”

“What… what do you mean?”

“He’s already spoken to me,” Zheng Xi said with a smile. “You — don’t look at someone and, just because they seem upright, assume they can’t think strategically! Uprightness and foolishness are not the same thing! I’m still his superior — would he not tell me?”

“Oh.”

Zheng Xi said, “Are you tired?”

Zhù Ying showed a satisfied smile. “What is there to be tired about? You’re there to handle anyone outside looking to make trouble for me. My colleagues see that I’m young and look after me fairly well. Junior Minister Pei no longer troubles me, I still have enough to eat, and my parents have a decent place to live. What is there to be tired about?”

Zheng Xi said, “You truly are still a child. Well, little one — is there anything you want? Would you like some sweets?”

Zhù Ying said, “Is there anyone with good knowledge of arithmetic who could teach me?”

Zheng Xi frowned. “Why would you want to study mathematics? You are no longer among the monks and Daoist priests — why fixate on such things? In your free time you’d be better off reading the classics and histories.”

“I just want to learn how to do accounting. Some of the cases I’ve been correctly reviewing involve accounting, and none of them are especially difficult. But I’d expect that major cases have more complex accounts. I want to learn in advance in case it proves useful one day. They say that someone who can’t read is a sighted person who is blind. Isn’t a person who sees an account but can’t calculate just as blind?”

Zheng Xi said, “This is not something you can master just by looking at it yourself — you’ll need someone to guide you in the fundamentals. First press on with the old case reviews on hand, and I’ll find a time to make arrangements for you.”

“Wonderful!”

Zheng Xi said with a smile, “Off you go.”

“Yes!” Zhù Ying cheerfully agreed, walked a couple of steps, then turned back. She reached into her sleeve and produced a clumsily carved wooden crane, setting it on the desk in front of Zheng Xi. “Here. I bought it on the road. It looks a bit like you.”

Zheng Xi laughed until he coughed. “I’ve finally received my return gift!”

Zhù Ying said, “What do you mean? I even sent over a feast spread, and they said you ate it.”

Zheng Xi laughed until he was trembling. “Yes, yes, I ate it, I ate it. Work hard. The next time you get a promotion, you’d better arrange an even better spread.”

“I will! Wait — so I really will get promoted?”

“Just keep grinding away! It’s only been a few days! Do you know the official system of this dynasty? Do you know how officials are evaluated for promotion and demotion? Without mastering these things thoroughly, you expect to advance by sheer innate talent alone? Do you know the phrase — ‘climb high, fall hard’? If you want to go far, you must put down deep roots! You have some natural talent right now — but do you know what to do and how to do it when your talent isn’t sufficient? The fundamentals — that’s when they matter! Do you understand me?!”

Zhù Ying stopped smiling. She stood up straight, thought seriously for a moment, then bowed deeply. “Understood.”

“Off you go.”

Having reported in to Zheng Xi, Zhù Ying threw herself wholeheartedly into her work. She never shirked any task — whatever was assigned to her, she did. Her appetite at mealtimes was the same as ever. Very quickly the month passed, and she briskly collected another five strings of cash! Now that she was an official, she couldn’t do business deals anymore, but with the money in her own hands, she could always find ways to make it grow — better to hold on to it.

After collecting her pay, she still kept to the same division as before with Zhang Xiangu: two parts for her mother, eight for herself. Both mother and daughter were quite satisfied. Zhang Xiangu was thinking about getting Zhù Ying some new attire, then remembered that Zhù Ying had mentioned the court would issue cloth for seasonal clothing, so she hesitated.

The things Zhang Xiangu worried about now were entirely different from what had worried her a year ago.

Zhù Ying, for her part, had not a single worry. She rarely worried — when others worried, she looked for solutions. After all, obstacles were always getting past!

She continued reviewing old cases. Where others’ eyes glazed over, she read with avid interest, all the while internally criticizing: Officials are no more morally elevated than ordinary people… Some of these people aren’t even very bright — you have to wonder how they ever became officials…

Day by day like this, the pace of case review at the Court of Judicial Review grew faster and faster. The Left Judicial Assessor and the others were working noticeably quicker than before, though they maintained the air of “we’re getting old, we’re not as capable as Xiao Zhù, we’re leaving all the heavy responsibilities to Xiao Zhù.” Yet they also found time to answer some of Zhù Ying’s questions about official promotions — topics on which their own chances were slim, but their understanding was far deeper than hers. They spoke with great fluency about honorary ranks, substantive posts, merit titles, and noble titles and so on. Early every morning they would drag Zhù Ying to stand at the edge of the Imperial City, pointing at the officials coming and going to give her lessons: “Look there — that one in purple robes, Counsellor Chen…”

Pei Qing did not begrudge them this — that these minor officials had managed to keep going was thanks in no small part to having Zhù Ying as a model. When Zhù Ying reviewed cases, she always caught curious things. Pei Qing himself could not claim he worked faster or more accurately than Zhù Ying.

Even so, Pei Qing believed that Zhù Ying was right where she should be for now. She needed to be tempered through “minor” cases first, and it was not appropriate for her to handle cases involving the death penalty just yet — those tended to carry greater consequences and were usually more complex, such as the Gong Jie case that Zheng Xi was personally overseeing.

Zheng Xi did not argue with him. He too wanted Zhù Ying to become a seasoned professional, not someone who solved cases relying solely on talent and instinct. No matter how fast she was like that, Zheng Xi still felt it was not quite reliable. He intended to nurture her for the long term — he wanted her to grow into a towering tree. Intuition alone was not enough. She needed to observe more and do more! If she wanted to go far, she would need to learn to deploy her “talent” and, more importantly, to handle situations where her talent fell short — and that was when the fundamentals became paramount.

First she would review old cases. At this pace, within a few more months the old case reviews should be mostly complete. After that, she could begin participating in new cases, starting from the “minor” ones and working gradually up to major ones. Zhù Ying was only fourteen years old this year! Zheng Xi planned to have her work and study simultaneously — five or six years of seasoning, and she would still be only twenty, yet absolutely mature enough to be put to great use.

What no one could have anticipated was that before any superior had arranged it, Zhù Ying herself stumbled headlong into a capital murder case.

By the fifth month, the Duanwu Festival had arrived — a holiday observed by the court. As a matter of course there were again a good many rewards, and while Zhù Ying held a low rank, her reputation was flourishing. From Zheng Xi on down, everyone at the Court of Judicial Review had given her some sort of gift.

In addition to rice dumplings and colored threads, there were medicines and reward money and the like — all kinds of things. Zhù Ying had no basket to carry them all, and going back holding everything herself was not very graceful. She also worried the censors might eat too much and feel bloated from meddling.

Zheng Xi said, “Go out and have Ganze and the others help you carry them back.”

Zhù Ying went out empty-handed. She knew that people like Ganze would certainly be prepared during the festival. She found Ganze outside the Imperial City, and was just about to say something when she noticed that both of Ganze’s eyes and the tip of his nose were red, as if he had been crying.

Zhù Ying said, “It’s a holiday — what’s happened to you?”

Lu Chao said, “What’s happened? His cousin-by-aunt was beaten to death by her husband’s family! And they’re still refusing to admit it, insisting she hanged herself!”