The scene fell quiet, the mood turning solemn. However many important figures were present, everything would only truly begin once the prefect himself arrived.

“Your Excellency.”

“Lord Lu.”

“Prefect, sir…”

Various greetings and titles came one after another, followed by a rising clamor from the injured demanding that “His Excellency see justice done for us.” These were men of some standing — at the very least holders of the xiucai degree — and so were not required to kneel. Lu Tuizhi, known for his mild manner, waved a hand for everyone to sit. His gaze drifted to Ning Yi, and finding the man studying him in turn, Ning Yi cupped his hands in salute: “Prefect Lu.”

Lu Tuizhi nodded, and immediately someone nearby barked out: “Insolence! You, a mere matrilocal son-in-law — how dare you not kneel before His Excellency!”

“No matter.” Lu Tuizhi waved a hand. “Everyone here today came for the gathering, and are all honored guests of this prefecture. Though there is a dispute among you, the truth of the matter is not yet clear, and I will not act in my official capacity just yet.”

At these words, Lou Jinlin’s eyes narrowed slightly. Lu Tuizhi’s gaze swept over him, then settled on Ning Yi. “But once the truth is established, should it prove that someone here today truly acted with reckless violence, that person will bear responsibility. This incident has left so many injured — as is my duty, I will see that person answer for it in the yamen!”

The words carried a sharp edge. As he finished, Ning Yi smiled faintly, and the scholars nearby voiced their agreement loudly, some wincing as the movement pulled at their wounds. Lou Jinlin cupped his hands and nodded, speaking clearly: “In this matter, my family has long-standing ties with the Su family elders of Jiangning — had this been merely a small misunderstanding between the younger generations of our two households, I would gladly let it pass. But it has grown into something so large, touching so many people, that I cannot shield him. My son is reckless and hot-headed by nature, difficult to guide — I believe the fault must lie with him in this matter. Once Your Excellency has established the truth, I ask that you punish him severely!”

“Father! I did nothing wrong—” Before Lou Jinlin had even finished speaking, Lou Shuweng, his face swollen, sprang up from where he sat, and at once a chorus of support rose around him, the wave spreading further to draw in the onlookers behind, many of them speaking up on Lou Shuweng’s behalf until the whole scene grew turbulent with indignation. It was only after a good while, as the clamor gradually died down, that Lou Jinlin glared at his son and barked: “Wretched boy! Sit down! This is no place for you to talk back!” He then apologized to Lu Tuizhi before taking a seat at a nearby table.

Lou Shuwan was seated among the crowd nearby as well, and Song Zhiqian, the Lou family’s own son-in-law, had by now arrived and found his wife, sitting down beside her. The two of them exchanged no words; Song Zhiqian failed to notice his wife’s slight frown, nor the way she closed her eyes afterward.

Lou Shuwan understood better than anyone that their father favored her second brother above all. Within the family, their father was strict with the eldest son, and toward her he showed something closer to disappointed resignation — only toward the second son did he show any real indulgence. From the very moment she’d seen her father’s expression, she’d known he was genuinely, deeply angry this time. Deep down, after all, their father looked down on the other man’s status as a son-in-law who’d married into another household — and it was precisely because of that contempt that his fury now burned all the hotter.

Had it been otherwise, her father would never have taken such a sharp stance from the very start — going personally to speak to the man, dropping hints to the prefect, and stirring up the crowd’s rebellious sentiment with a few pointed remarks. She didn’t necessarily feel she’d fallen for Ning Yi, but she did genuinely admire him. She had met many outstanding men, but this was the first time she’d seen one so outstanding and yet so complicated — and it seemed this was as far as it would go. She knew Ning Liheng had some connection to Qian Xiwen; she’d been surprised at first, but a single visit paid over the course of two months could only be called an acquaintance, nothing more, and with her father pressing him with everything he had, there was no way Qian Xiwen would step forward on his behalf.

On another note, it seemed her second brother had genuinely become smitten with Su Tan’er.

As she sat there turning these thoughts over, Su Wending — who’d been absent for a moment — returned carrying a medicine box (the physicians earlier had refused to treat their side, so Su Tan’er had sent him back to their pleasure boat to fetch one). Around the same time, Qian Xiwen, Mu Bochang, and the others had also arrived. Lu Tuizhi rose to greet them and returned to his seat — it was Qian Xiwen’s arrival, in particular, that he had been waiting for.

Having spoken with Qian Yu, Lu Tuizhi had already formed a rough outline of his intended course, and Lou Jinlin’s few remarks just now had only made his thinking clearer still: despite the Qian family’s apparent leanings, he would still find this Ning Liheng guilty.

It was a difficult decision to make, but favoring Ning Liheng would clearly satisfy too few people; to find him guilty, he needed only to win over Qian Xiwen alone, and the surging tide of public indignation before him was something he could, in the end, use to his own advantage. Should matters prove unworkable, Qian Xiwen would surely understand: convict Ning Liheng, then quietly extend him a personal favor and spare his life — a solution that would satisfy everyone at once. It would win him credit with Lou Jinlin and all the scholars of Hangzhou, credit with Qian Xiwen, and credit with Ning Liheng besides.

And in any case, this was simply the fairest way to handle it — Ning Liheng had, after all, truly beaten so many men, and had genuinely provoked public outrage.

Before long, he began the questioning, and in a matter of moments, the sentiment in the hall began to boil over once more…

…

The wind off the lake swept across the row of great boats moored together; in the main hall of the official flagship, several hundred people had gathered, with a handful of officials and elder statesmen seated at the front, inquiring into the fight that had just taken place.

Amid the crowd, Song Zhiqian, seated beside Lou Shuwan, found himself feeling a certain kinship — the sympathy of one outsider for another — toward Ning Liheng, who now stood before the officials being questioned, likewise carrying the status of a matrilocal son-in-law. Though… the man’s composure up there struck Song Zhiqian as thoroughly strange, even faintly unsettling. The two of them had never had much to do with each other since their first meeting — just that initial visit to the Lou household, and a single chance encounter afterward on the street where they’d exchanged greetings — but regardless, there was some measure of feeling that came with sharing another’s misfortune.

It wasn’t long before he realized that he and Ning Liheng were, in fact, nothing alike at all.

The sequence of events — Ning Yi striking the men, the men taking their beatings — was, in truth, easy enough to reconstruct. What the questioning soon settled on was Ning Yi’s status as a matrilocal son-in-law. To Song Zhiqian’s eyes, there was something genuinely strange about this man — asked about his status, he nodded and admitted it without the slightest hesitation; asked to describe the fight, he answered: “There were twenty or thirty men coming at me together, and I was alone, with a girl behind me to protect. Under those circumstances, I don’t think it should really be called ‘me beating people.'” He referred to the maid as “a girl.”

It was, in truth, not a bad answer at all — even Prefect Lu nodded at it. But there was one problem: having acknowledged the girl behind him, Lu Tuizhi pressed further: “So you admit you were indeed protecting the girl Xiao Chan?” He nodded again, and at that, Song Zhiqian decided the man must be a fool.

When Lu Tuizhi asked for his view on who was truly at fault in the whole affair, Ning Yi thought it over for a moment and said: “I think it was really just a misunderstanding. There’s no real question of fault to speak of.” The hall erupted in a chorus of cold laughter.

“As for this matter, the fault, in truth, lies with my own recklessness,” Lou Shuweng said, rising to answer. “My family and the Su family have long been close friends — my father and Sister Tan’er’s father have known each other for years. This Ning Liheng married into the Su family; I originally treated him with the courtesy due a brother. Who could have known that, despite his position, he would be caught in broad daylight carrying on with a maidservant. Your Excellency, were this an ordinary matter, I would say nothing more of it, but… but I saw with my own eyes the two of them holding hands beneath a tree. Having only just seen Sister Tan’er myself not long before, in the heat of the moment I rushed over to pull them apart and demand an explanation. I admit that I did indeed strike him at that time. But that he, a man who married into another family, should carry on with a maid in this way — there’s no denying it, and I certainly wasn’t the only one who saw it happen!”

At this, several others rose as well, confirming that they too had witnessed the scene, having originally assumed the two were a married couple. Song Zhiqian waited for the prefect to turn to Ning Yi with a stern expression and press him on it — and indeed, the answer that came back was an affirmation. But it was the next sentence that left him utterly baffled.

“Xiao Chan and I share mutual affection. In a few days’ time, I intend to take her as a concubine.”

The hall erupted in an uproar. Lu Tuizhi’s brow furrowed; even Qian Xiwen, who had been sitting quietly with his eyes lowered as though uninvolved, now furrowed his own brow as well, and murmurs of conversation swept through the crowd. Lu Tuizhi glanced over at Su Tan’er, who had remained silent throughout: “Madam Su, he… having married into your family, what is your view on this matter?”

“Reporting to Your Excellency — this was arranged by this humble wife herself.” The woman, who had sat there quietly all this while, expressionless and saying nothing, finally spoke, glancing at Ning Yi with a soft smile.

“He married into your family… how could he take a concubine?”

“The Great Wu Code says nothing against a matrilocal son-in-law taking a concubine, does it?”

Her voice was gentle and pleasant, and she answered as though it were the most natural thing in the world. The crowd looked upon this baffling couple with expressions of some bewilderment. Song Zhiqian, watching from a distance, blinked, dumbstruck, before it finally struck him: A lie… she’s actually telling such a lie to protect this philandering man… But by then Su Tan’er had already stepped forward, moving past Ning Yi, and bowed slightly.

“Your Excellency’s confusion is understandable. My husband did indeed marry into my family, but it was also by my own arrangement that Xiao Chan was given to him in marriage. I was born into a merchant family — my elders had, long ago, arranged a betrothal with my husband’s family while we were both still unborn. By my generation, my father had only myself as his daughter, and being a merchant family concerned with practical matters, I took charge of the household business from a young age. My husband, knowing the circumstances of my family and taking pity on my burdens, chose for that reason to marry into my household…”

Though Su Tan’er had been tending to Ning Yi’s wounds all this while, she had remained silent throughout, even somewhat cold and withdrawn — most had assumed she was troubled in her heart, perhaps even angry, and that whatever composure she showed for the sake of propriety must be hiding turmoil beneath. It was only now that she finally spoke — and though some in the crowd instantly suspected she was lying, she continued on, word by word, gentle yet earnest, and for the moment, no one found it in themselves to interrupt her.

“Though born to a merchant family, my parents saw to it from childhood that I was taught poetry and letters, and I have read the classical texts on womanly virtue. Had the burden of my household not fallen upon me from such a young age, one I could not set down, I would have far preferred to marry into my husband’s family myself, rather than have him marry into mine. I know now that in this, I was selfish, and that I have asked far too great a sacrifice of my husband… but what’s done is done, and I find I cannot bring myself to regret it…”

Her words carried tremendous persuasive force. Though born to a merchant household, Su Tan’er had, in truth, been raised in her girlhood with the refinement befitting a lady of good family. Standing there now in white robes, her bearing graceful and composed, tall and elegant, she glanced at Ning Yi as she spoke, her eyes already rimmed with red. Others in the hall had likely already begun to piece the story together in their minds: the two of them betrothed since before birth, innocent playmates in childhood; later, when Su Tan’er had to take up the family business, Ning Liheng had willingly married into her household. However strange such a sacrifice might seem, it had, in truth, genuinely happened…

“As for Xiao Chan — she and I grew up together since childhood, and it would be no exaggeration to call us sisters. My husband is a gentle, humble man by nature, and since our marriage he has always treated the maids and servants of our household with kindness — everyone who came with us to Hangzhou can attest to this. When we first married, I had Xiao Chan attend to my husband, and he has treated her like a younger sister ever since — it has been more than two years now, and everyone in our household knows this to be true…”

“That’s exactly right — from the moment brother-in-law first came to the Su family, it was Xiao Chan who attended to him.” Su Wending raised a hand, chiming in.

Su Tan’er placed one hand in front of her, and with the other reached back to gently take hold of Ning Yi’s hand, lifted her chin, and drew a smiling breath.

“Though I was taught poetry and letters as a child, I confess I don’t understand these things very deeply. My husband is a famed talent of Jiangning, and I have admired him since we first met. Though he married into my family, I have always honored and loved him no differently than any other woman would her husband. The tenderness and forbearance he has shown me, I have always carried in my heart — and the sincerity of this feeling, heaven and earth themselves can attest…”

She spoke these words slowly, one by one — words that were, frankly, rather saccharine. In a time as conservative as this, most people present had probably never imagined witnessing such a scene in their whole lives. And yet the woman stood there, her words echoing through the hall one after another, spoken with such natural conviction and openness that, for a moment, the great boat fell so silent one could have heard a pin drop.

Not a few of the women present, after their initial shock had passed, now found their own eyes rimmed with red as well. As for the men — Song Zhiqian included — they remained utterly dumbstruck, uncertain what to make of the feeling stirring in their own hearts: admiration, envy, or something closer to resentment… Lou Shuwan pressed her lips together, chin resting on one hand, glancing sideways at him for a moment before turning her gaze blankly back to the front.