The rank of a Prince’s Residence Chief Steward was considerably higher than Zhù Ying’s. Anyone appointed to the position of Chief Steward of a prince’s residence would have their own distinguishing qualities — whether a fine background, a good reputation, or some admirable combination of ability and social connections.
Zhù Ying was not ranked highly enough to attend court, yet the Court of Judicial Review was within the imperial palace, and a group of minor officials had a particular pastime: whenever they had a free moment, they would gather by the side of a busy corridor, pointing and whispering as they watched the great officials pass. True to her nature, Zhù Ying was naturally one of them.
This Chief Steward, at a single glance, was clearly no ordinary man. For one thing, his appearance was quite striking — had he been twenty years younger, he would have been a handsome youth, and even now he carried himself as a distinguished, dignified middle-aged man. His bearing seemed not at all inferior to many high-ranking officials.
Prince’s residences were attended by eunuchs, and the head of this one’s eunuchs also presented an air of composed tranquility, looking nothing like the crafty, sinister eunuchs from popular tales and stories.
Both men carried themselves with natural ease and excellent manners. Neither fawning nor arrogant, they also showed none of that pointed, deliberate warmth that longtime retainers sometimes put on for a young relative of the household. Their manner was entirely natural, and the distance they kept from Zheng Xi as they walked together was measured precisely right.
Zheng Xi was well acquainted with them both, and as they walked he asked, “I’ve only heard my mother mention it briefly — what exactly is the situation?”
The eunuch said, “As Seventh Master knows, the residence has two storehouses. This time it was the inner storehouse that was robbed. On the twelfth of the ninth month, the Princess Consort sent someone to unlock it and retrieve a set of crabapple cups for use — at that point everything inside was in order. Then on the fifteenth of the ninth month, with winter approaching, arrangements were being made to bring out the seasonal furnishings. The Dowager Consort recalled some fine incense that you had gifted last winter, and gave orders to retrieve it to burn again this year. They searched and searched but could not find it, and upon searching further discovered that a great many items were missing. In the intervening period, no one had been ordered to unlock the storehouse. When it was inspected, the lock was still intact and had not been replaced. The keys were all present and accounted for — all original.”
Zheng Xi said, “If it were the outer storehouse that would be somewhat simpler, but the inner storehouse is close to the women’s quarters. Were the ladies disturbed at all?”
The eunuch replied, “The strange thing is precisely that — no one knew a thing, and when questioned, no one admitted to knowing anything. Every single person claimed ignorance.”
Zheng Xi turned to ask Zhù Ying, “Is there anything else you’d like to ask?”
Zhù Ying quickly stepped forward and said, “There is a great deal I’d like to know, but I’ll start with the most fundamental matters. How much is missing? What kinds of items? How heavy are they? What are their dimensions? And what is their estimated value?”
The Chief Steward said, “There is an inventory.” He passed a list to Zheng Xi, who tucked it into his sleeve, and together they proceeded to the inner storehouse.
Guards stood watch around the inner storehouse. Seeing people approaching, they grew tense. The Chief Steward exchanged a few words with a man who appeared to be the head guard — someone whose attire looked noticeably finer than the others — and the guards welcomed them inside.
The attendants lit the lamps and candles inside the storehouse, and the eunuch said, “This is the place. The residence has found no trace of anything out of the ordinary.”
Only then did Zheng Xi open the list and scan it, seeing a great many items recorded there — the estimated value exceeding ten thousand in gold, and with some of the rarer pieces priced even higher, the total was approaching twenty thousand gold — no trifling sum even for the residence of Prince Gaoyang.
He handed the list to Zhù Ying.
Zhù Ying was busy examining the inner storehouse. The Prince’s Residence inner storehouse had two levels, and they were currently on the ground floor. She had noticed the building had an upper floor when she arrived, yet saw no staircase. The floor was laid with green stone slabs, and the walls were very thick. Zhù Ying stamped her foot on the floor; the Chief Steward said, “Every slab has been knocked upon — none are hollow, and there is no underground passage.”
Taking the list from Zheng Xi, she could only make out “one thousand taels of gold, two thousand taels of silver, one pair of night-luminescent pearls.” The rest of the items left her somewhat overwhelmed — she had never heard of such things. Some of the item names were quite lengthy, and she could only make out half the characters; she was not certain what these things actually were, could not estimate their value, had no idea what they looked like, or what kind of pile they would make heaped together.
Zheng Xi saw that she did not look at ease, and asked, “Well?”
Zhù Ying said, “I need to know the size of these items and their value before I can figure out how they could have been smuggled out and where they might have gone afterward. Wherever theft occurs, stolen goods must exist somewhere — some may have already been fenced and moved, while others, if difficult to sell, might still be traced. You already know this.”
Zheng Xi looked toward the Chief Steward, who said, “This young gentleman, please wait a moment — we will need to draw up a more detailed list.”
Zhù Ying nodded and asked Zheng Xi, “May I look around?”
Zheng Xi looked at the eunuch, who said, “Please.”
This was Zhù Ying’s first time entering such a large storehouse. Even having been robbed, it still held an astonishing wealth of treasures she had never seen or heard of before, and she felt momentarily dazzled. She picked up a cup and asked, “Is the one that was stolen similar in size to this? And how does its value compare?”
The eunuch said, “Which one is the young gentleman referring to? Three different cups were stolen, each of a different size and shape.”
Zhù Ying sighed. “I was not thinking carefully enough — please forgive me. Quite a few items were stolen from this residence, so let me look further and ask about them all together.”
She then noticed a small box sealed with a strip of paper. The eunuch casually drew closer and said, “This contains the gold, and over there is some silver.”
One thousand taels of gold sounded like a great deal, yet in reality it was only two hundred small gold ingots of five taels each — a single small bar — and if the box were sturdy enough, it would all fit in a modest case. Silver took up more space than gold, but the overall volume was still not very large.
Zheng Xi asked, “Were the gold and silver marked with stamps?”
The eunuch replied, “Some of them were.”
Zhù Ying walked around the storehouse and finally understood the second floor: the floorboards above had a square opening cut into them, and when one needed to go up, a ladder was moved into place. She asked, “Were items stolen from the upper floor as well?”
The eunuch said, “Yes.” He looked around carefully before speaking to Zheng Xi: “Seventh Master is no outsider, so this old servant will speak plainly — with items gone from both floors without anyone’s notice, the Prince strongly suspects there is an inside man.”
Zheng Xi nodded.
The eunuch continued, “All those on duty during those days, both inside and outside, were seized and subjected to interrogation. Not a single clue emerged — every last one of them is keeping their mouths clamped shut!”
Zheng Xi said, “Be careful about beating officials of the court.”
The eunuch gave a light laugh. “We know where to draw the line. For those who cannot be beaten too harshly, there are other methods.”
His laughter subsided, and a trace of genuine worry finally showed on his face. He said, “No matter who fattened themselves with this windfall, ordinary daily life must leave traces — before and after. Before: some pressing need for money — a gambling debt, a new romantic entanglement, a family member seriously ill, or getting caught up in some litigation requiring bribes, and so forth. After: extravagant living, acquiring land and property, spending freely, the family wearing new clothes, that sort of thing. Nothing. There is nothing out of the ordinary whatsoever.
Seventh Master knows how it is — which household’s accounts don’t have at least some irregularity? In these past days, the residence turned up several other matters entirely, each dealt with accordingly — but this one, the most serious of all… ah…”
The Chief Steward returned and presented Zheng Xi with a revised and expanded list, with rough estimated values added at the bottom. He said with a sigh, “Ah — apart from gold and silver, these decorative objects and implements — we only ever use them, no one actually scrutinizes what they’re worth. These are only approximations.”
Zhù Ying gave him a sincere bow, then went up to look at the upper floor once more. When she came back down she was considerably more composed — this case had some real difficulty to it.
The theft from the Prince’s Residence inner storehouse had occurred some days ago. From what the eunuch had said earlier, it was clear these people might be haughty but were by no means incompetent. They were familiar with the standard methods of investigation, and the directions of their suspicion were all correct. Yet the traces left behind in the inner storehouse, both upper and lower floors, were almost nonexistent. Unless there were demons and ghosts in this world, it was certain an inside man had done it.
She had even inspected the roof. In some households, thieves pried open rooftops and lifted tiles — leaving no trace visible from outside. But a prince’s residence, an inner storehouse — the structure was far superior to an ordinary dwelling, with several additional layers of waterproofing and insulating materials before the final tiles. For an outsider to remove all of that, descend to steal this many items, and remain undetected would have been extraordinarily difficult.
An inside man — because the thief was someone of the residence, leaving traces here was normal for them; one could not use the logic of “footprints that shouldn’t be here” to single out a suspect.
Moreover, after all these days, the inner storehouse had been searched and inspected countless times, then set in order; after being put in order, the losses were tallied; after tallying, everything was catalogued and re-registered and rearranged. The residence’s servants were all walking on eggshells, terrified that those above might be in a foul mood and take it out on them, and had swept and cleaned so many times that almost all traces had been wiped clean.
The skill of “tracking” was, in this place, rendered useless.
Zhù Ying glanced at Zheng Xi and recalled something Zheng Xi had once said to her: you have talent, but you still need to keep learning — you need to know what to do when your talent runs dry and no longer serves you.
Now she had encountered precisely that kind of situation.
Zheng Xi, the Chief Steward, and the eunuch were none of them foolish, and could see she was at a loss. The eunuch smiled and said, “Now that the young gentleman has finished looking, why don’t we go to the front hall? Seventh Master, if you don’t go soon, the Dowager Consort will come looking for you herself! The banquet has already been laid — I’m afraid you won’t be getting away tonight. As for this young gentleman, we have people to see to him — you needn’t worry.”
Zhù Ying said, “You all are busy, carry on — may I stay and look a little longer? If I want to come back and examine things carefully later, I wouldn’t dare come and disturb you again, and wouldn’t that risk missing something?” After the incident involving Huajie, she had come to better understand these wealthy and powerful households of the capital — under ordinary circumstances, they were reluctant to let outsiders come and go at will through their homes, and a prince’s residence would be even less likely to allow her to come and go as she pleased. She had to use this one opportunity to shamelessly feel out everything she could think of, then go home and think it through carefully afterward.
Zheng Xi said, “Then stay and look.”
Zhù Ying said, “Then I’ll need your help.”
The eunuch and the Chief Steward exchanged a glance. They heard Zheng Xi ask, “What do you need me to do?”
Zhù Ying said, “Gather matching items! Going by the inventory of stolen goods, find originals or close equivalents and pile them together. Once the items are in front of me, I can work out the details.”
Zheng Xi laughed and scolded her, “You really know how to put people to work! Do you even know where you are?”
The eunuch quickly said, “That’s not too difficult.” The Chief Steward added, “Right here — it won’t take long.”
The two of them were not the usual keepers of the inner storehouse — those keepers had been taken away as suspects — and it took some effort to gather the items. By the time everything was assembled, night had fallen, and additional sheep-horn lanterns were lit inside the inner storehouse.
Looking at this pile of items resembling those that had been stolen, all three of them frowned.
Zheng Xi was a perceptive man. When he had raised his concerns earlier, he had identified the core difficulty clearly: Zhù Ying came from a poor family of spirit mediums and had never seen fine things; naturally, she would be unaware of many details she really ought to understand. Lacking that common knowledge and experience of the world, she might easily miss useful clues. With her intelligence, a case she might otherwise have cracked would instead generate unnecessary complications and waste effort that need not be spent.
Now that the items were assembled, a good many things that had been unclear before became apparent. This pile was neither very large nor very small — it was impossible for one or two people to carry it all out in a single trip. It would require either multiple people or multiple trips. Among the items were various treasures, some of them bearing imperial workshop markings, and they shared one notable characteristic: most of the individual items had quite significant value.
Zhù Ying asked to have the inner storehouse’s full inventory brought out, and invited the eunuch and Chief Steward to go through it with her. She compared the two lists and asked where each item had been stored. They were scattered across different categories: fine silks in one area, gold and silver implements in another, jade and jewels in another, aromatics in another, precious medicinal materials in another… valuable items had gone missing from every section.
Zhù Ying sat cross-legged on the floor and thought: if it were me — why would I steal in this way? And how would I get these things out?
On the other side, the Dowager Consort had already sent someone to summon them: “It’s already been missing for several days — it won’t make a difference overnight. I won’t have my darling go hungry.” The whole party was firmly called to the front of the residence for the evening meal.
Zhù Ying was deeply reluctant to leave, and as she exited the inner storehouse, she looked back twice, then insisted on holding a lantern and circling the entire outer perimeter once more. Outside the inner storehouse there was not a single tree, no place to hide or gain leverage. The residence grounds were not small, but the storehouse was not right up against the perimeter wall — the patrol guards would always pass by and look — and the wall itself was intact, with not even a chip in the red paint on its surface.
The footprints on the ground revealed nothing either.
Zhù Ying fell silent. This case should be breakable — but not quickly, not for her. After all, she had no familiarity with the stolen items, and she was not permitted to question the suspects and witnesses directly, with only the Chief Steward and eunuch acting as intermediaries. If the residence were willing to put out a public reward and post people widely to search for the stolen goods, it would be far quicker than this present arrangement.
But that was out of the question — she could not allow “outsiders” to be involved.
Zhù Ying desperately wanted to solve this case and solve it well, yet also had to consider that she could not offend anyone within the residence.
She needed to think carefully.
On the other side of things, the masters of the residence could wait no longer — they still needed to host Zheng Xi for a proper dinner!
The Dowager Consort and Prince Gaoyang were not expecting Zheng Xi to produce results right away. The Dowager Consort, seeing no happy expression on their faces, knew at once there were no results yet, and she was not annoyed. She said with an amused reproach, “Oh dear, oh dear, my darling — same as when you were small. Whenever your lesson wasn’t immediately praised as excellent by your tutor, it would show right there on your face.”
Zheng Xi, facing his maternal grandmother, could only give a helpless laugh and call out, “Grandmother!”
From within this exchange, Zhù Ying somehow detected a faint note of petulant affection.
The Dowager Consort adored this from him, and personally made excuses on her grandson’s behalf, saying, “Even if you go to a temple to make a vow, the incense smoke has to drift up before the bodhisattva before she can hear it, does it not?”
Then she praised her grandson to her son: “Seventh Master has us in his heart — the moment he heard the news, he came.”
And then she said that Zhù Ying too had worked hard: “Poor child, so young and running all about like this. Someone come — take him and see to his meals properly, and none of you are to frighten him.”
Zhù Ying was duly escorted by the Chief Steward himself to go and eat.
The Chief Steward of a prince’s residence held the same rank as a Junior Superintendent of the Court of Judicial Review — which was the equivalent of Pei Qing accompanying Zhù Ying to dinner, and Zhù Ying did not dare take a seat above him. Pei Qing was the sort who would not even share a room with Zhù Ying at the Court of Judicial Review’s lunch, and gifting a pot of chicken soup counted as doing her a great favor!
Zhù Ying stubbornly refused to sit at the head, and the Chief Steward, seeing she did not look dejected but rather composed and steady, felt a certain admiration for the child’s calm temperament, and said with a smile, “You were brought here by Seventh Master — you are a guest. You are young — there is no need here to stand on ceremony the way they do in the outside world.”
Zhù Ying said, “Since there is no need for false courtesy, even if I were to sit anywhere at random, a man of your caliber, placed beside someone of my age — it is still only proper to invite you to take the higher seat.”
The Chief Steward laughed. “Very well — let us sit as equals.”
The two sat side by side with some awkwardness as the banquet was served. Zhù Ying first said, “Allow me to offer tea in place of wine as thanks for your hospitality today.”
The Chief Steward said, “There is no harm in drinking.”
Zhù Ying said shyly, “I am afraid that if I drink and behave poorly, I’ll make a mess of things. Today’s matter — I still need to think it through carefully.”
The Chief Steward did not press her, and after they exchanged a cup, he set his down, offered food once or twice, and then asked, “Well then? Is there some direction you’ve already found?”
Zhù Ying said, “My experience is shallow and there are many things I’ve seen but not yet sorted out. I need to think more carefully before speaking. If I were to make a great commotion the moment I had only the slightest progress, it would be a small thing if people called me reckless — but to press onward, hit a wall, and raise the residence’s hopes for nothing would only make me insufferable. I would not dare to form such a bad habit.”
The Chief Steward said, “Hmm. Young in years yet entirely clear-headed. No wonder you are someone even Seventh Master holds in high regard. Since you clearly know your own mind, I won’t say more. Please —”
The Chief Steward raised his chopsticks, and Zhù Ying picked up hers as well. She glanced at the flowing procession of dishes, and found herself in the same predicament as when she had looked at the stolen items list — she did not recognize half the dishes the Prince’s Residence was serving! She could only make out the shapes of chicken and fish, and identify a few meatballs and vegetables. Everything else she had never seen before.
Given Zheng Xi’s face, the residence was treating her extremely well — serving her things she didn’t even recognize!
At Yu Miaomiao’s home, she had recognized everything, though the food was finer and more costly, and even if she had never eaten such things before, she had at least seen them. Later, entering the prefectural residence, she had broadened her horizons further. Then, coming to the capital, she had also become an official, and had assumed the capital’s splendor was superior to the prefecture — merely different by region, not fundamentally apart. At Zheng Hou’s residence, she had only ever entered Zheng Xi’s study, which was a genuinely functional room for reading and conducting affairs, and had not struck her as excessively lavish.
Until she saw the inner storehouse and banquet of a prince’s residence!
A prince’s residence had lost items worth more than ten thousand in gold and felt no great urgency. It could casually produce another comparable collection of items, and all the while everything else remained as lavish as before.
She picked up a piece of meat with her chopsticks, put it in her mouth, and was genuinely uncertain what kind of meat it was — and no one was announcing the dishes. Zhù Ying thought to herself: I actually trained in the prefectural administrator’s kitchen! This just shows how vast the difference is between officials and a prince’s residence…
Zhù Ying ate with evident pleasure, and the Chief Steward, watching her, found his own appetite unexpectedly opened. He stopped drinking and actually ate an extra bowl of rice. While eating, Zhù Ying observed the Chief Steward’s movements and quietly followed his lead. She imitated him quite naturally — the way a newborn mimics its parents learning to speak and walk — openly and without any embarrassment, just learning.
The Chief Steward noticed but said nothing. He was beginning to understand why Zheng Xi, who ran the Court of Judicial Review and had no shortage of seasoned investigators and time-tested methods at his disposal, had chosen to bring this young novice along.
When Zhù Ying had finished eating and no one came to summon her, she respectfully said to the Chief Steward, “If I were to go question the people there directly like an investigator, it would be rather unseemly. There is one matter I would like to ask you about, sir — please advise if it is convenient.”
The Chief Steward smiled and said, “Go ahead.”
Zhù Ying said, “The keepers of the inner storehouse…”
“They’ve been taken into custody,” the Chief Steward said, his brow furrowing slightly. “It’s late now — would you like to see them?”
“If it is convenient, I would like to have a look,” she said with a shy smile. “Not to hide it from you — I have never personally interrogated a suspect before. I only want a glance; I won’t ask them anything directly myself. But if you could tell me where they live outside the residence, how many people are in their households, and whether those households are prosperous or struggling — I would be deeply grateful.”
As dynasties rise and fall and emperors of various surnames come and go, the courts have operated for uncountable years, and investigators across the land have accumulated considerable experience. The court’s legal statutes include handbooks to guide officials in examining cases — covering the collection of evidence, how many blows to administer in punishment, how to observe a suspect’s expression, and similar matters, all set out with some degree of procedure.
Otherwise, apart from those who entered official service through the law examination, and setting aside those who entered through the classical examinations or through hereditary privilege, how would someone with no prior experience be able to handle cases effectively? With such a handbook, one could follow the template and manage a passable, if uninspired, result — at least the procedures would be correct.
Upon entering the Court of Judicial Review, Zhù Ying had of course committed these procedures to memory. At first she had been occupied with reviewing old case files and had had no opportunity to participate in actual interrogations. Only recently, following Hu Lian to observe, had she been exposed to such situations, and she still had not yet conducted one herself.
She also did not dare overreach. One could not practice on Zheng Xi’s maternal relatives — an unreasonable lot if ever there was one!
The Dowager Consort, who called her grandson “my darling” with every breath and could say without a flicker of expression, while still embracing him, “beat them until they tell the truth” — that woman had lost items worth ten thousand in gold and had not even wanted the Capital Prefect involved, summoning the President of the Court of Judicial Review directly instead.
If she blundered here, there was only so much Zheng Xi could do to shield her.
Not knowing that this child was already as canny as a fox despite her young age, the Chief Steward said generously, “That’s not difficult. I can tell you right now.”
Since the suspects had already been seized and interrogated once by the residence’s own people, the Chief Steward had all their particulars committed to memory. He recounted them at length, then laughed at himself: “I forgot — I’ve talked so much nonsense you must be tired of trying to remember it all. I should write it down for you to read; and the statements too can be shown to you. You won’t be able to take them out of the residence. There is no need to worry — the Dowager Consort hasn’t seen Seventh Master in days and certainly won’t let him go easily. The two of you will simply stay the night. No need to object — come and get comfortable here.”
Zhù Ying said, “I will follow my superior’s arrangements. Having the statements would be ideal. Thank you for the trouble.”
The Chief Steward sent someone to fetch the statements. Before they arrived, word came from the Dowager Consort: “Stay the night here!”
Zhù Ying did not argue for returning home, and spent that night in a side room in the part of the residence assigned to Zheng Xi.
Zhù Ying settled in with the statements she had obtained from the Chief Steward, intending to read through them all that night. She planned to return them to the Chief Steward first thing in the morning, and at the same time entreat him to let her have a brief look at the suspects; after that she would go to the Court of Judicial Review to attend to her regular duties. She did not need to stand in attendance at morning court, so she could arrive at the Court somewhat later than usual.
Entering the small courtyard of the guest quarters, Zheng Xi had only just returned, carrying a faint trace of wine on him. He glanced at her and said, “You’re back?” He looked at what was in her hand.
“Yes! I managed to obtain the statements from the Chief Steward.” Zhù Ying held up what she was carrying.
Zheng Xi asked, “Well?”
Zhù Ying only said, “Staying the night — I was afraid my family would be worried.”
“Someone already went to let your family know long before this — do you think you needed to worry about that? Stop being slippery and trying to change the subject! Tell me: how do you see this matter?”
“I haven’t finished reading the statements yet. I can’t say. I need to read them first. And even when I’ve read them — if I have things to say that are not very favorable, you may not be angered, and you especially may not make things difficult for me afterward!”
Zheng Xi flicked her on the forehead: “Stop rambling! Come over here and look at the statements!”
The statements? He hadn’t read them yet himself, and he certainly intended to. So the two of them sat in Zheng Xi’s quarters going through the statements one by one — more than twenty people’s worth in total, not a single admission of guilt. Every person claimed to have been properly on duty without the slightest transgression, having noticed nothing amiss. With no guilty pleas, there were naturally no facts of the crime to confess to. The statements were not very thick, and reading through them all, the summary was: it wasn’t me, I didn’t do it, I have nothing to do with it, I only ever took small liberties, never anything like theft. This heap of empty statements was finished by the first quarter past midnight.
Zheng Xi said, “All done? Is there anything else you want to ask or have done? Make the most of it now — a prince’s residence isn’t an inn where you can come and go as you please.”
Zhù Ying said, “The things I can ask and see are mostly covered already — all that’s left is having the Chief Steward take me to look at the suspects tomorrow morning. What I’d truly like to do is go through the entire residence and look at every last servant, sizing each of them up and questioning each in turn — but that’s out of the question, isn’t it?”
“Good that you know.”
Zhù Ying spread her hands. “There you have it. Since that’s not possible, we’ll just have to put in more work ourselves. This is quite thorny, you know — even if you put the Capital Prefect Wang here in my place, he’d be scratching his head.”
Zheng Xi laughed and scolded her, “Sharp-tongued little thing — go to bed. You can still get two hours of sleep. If you can’t drag yourself up tomorrow morning, you’ll know what suffering is!” Two hours it really was — the masters of this residence also had morning court, and so did Zheng Xi. Although the prince’s residence was close to the imperial palace, morning court was still early! Uncle and nephew would both have to rise before dawn, wash and dress, put on their full formal attire and assume their proper dignity before making their composed way to the imperial palace, stepping through the palace gates with the first rays of light.
Zhù Ying did not dare dawdle and slipped into her room at once. The bedding and everything inside had been prepared. Having the benefit of Zheng Xi’s reflected glory, even her inner garments and socks had a new set laid out, and hot water for bathing was already prepared. The lamps were lit, and two maidservants stood ready to help Zhù Ying undress.
The maidservants were both about fourteen or fifteen years old, assigned to the guest courtyard of the Dowager Consort’s beloved grandson, and each was presentable and sharp-witted. As both reached out, Zhù Ying stepped back, clasped her hands, and said, “No need, thank you — with less than two hours to sleep, I can do it faster myself. Sisters, please don’t stand on ceremony with me either. Right now, every moment of sleep is most precious to me. I have many things to do tomorrow and really cannot afford to delay. Please forgive me.”
The two maidservants exchanged a glance and were about to say something further, but Zhù Ying had already removed her hat and set it in place and was rolling up her sleeves. The two maidservants simply made a curtsy and withdrew, pulling the door closed behind them.