Before Chu Linlang could think of a second topic, Situ Sheng spoke first: “At the midday banquet, Officer Zhou swept away his former awkward silence and spoke with the Sixth Prince at length, offering a number of insightful remarks. It seems that what the Prince said last time struck a chord with Officer Zhou — he has made considerable progress in just a matter of days.”

Chu Linlang felt a surge of joy inwardly: her husband had shown some spirit — he had at last salvaged some face before the Sixth Prince.

She affected an air of humble anxiety: “That day, my husband’s responses before the Prince were halting and poor — he came home deeply disheartened, feeling he had let down the court’s trust in him. So he threw himself into his official duties with renewed diligence, determined not to fall short again… You are a favored person before the Prince, and if my husband has been lacking in any way, I humbly ask that Master Situ look upon him with generosity — and put in a good word for him before the Prince!”

Situ Sheng looked at her, a faint, enigmatic smile hovering at the corner of his mouth: “Officer Zhou exerted himself for a matter of days and yet surpassed the several months he had been posted in Lianzhou. Such a talent — the Sixth Prince naturally treasures and values him… I am newly arrived here, and there are many local affairs and people I am not yet familiar with. The Lianzhou officials, overawed by the Prince’s status, are all timid and evasive. If I could be as perceptive as Officer Zhou — open a window of understanding — things would go more smoothly for me.”

Chu Linlang turned his words over in her mind, and with careful caution smiled: “But of course. If the Master encounters any difficulties, he need only come to my husband. He will speak without reservation.”

Situ Sheng listened to this, and the trace of irony at his mouth seemed to deepen somewhat.

What followed was apparently a fit of his schoolmaster’s instincts — he seemed to take Chu Linlang for an elementary student and began, in an offhand, sporadic manner, to hold forth on historical anecdotes — speaking of figures such as Empress Dowager Dou of the Han dynasty and Queen Mother Xuan of the Qin dynasty, and similar tales.

Chu Linlang had little fondness for historical texts and allusions, and finding herself unable to follow the thread of his meaning, she could only maintain a polite, unhurried smile — neither imposing nor cold — and during the gaps in Situ Sheng’s discourse, diligently pushed the refreshments toward him.

Having played the lute for half an afternoon to a slow-witted cow, Situ Sheng was tired of playing. The music finding no appreciation, he finally concluded with a mild: “Since Officer Zhou is deep in his cups and unable to receive me, I shall take my leave.”

Chu Linlang had been waiting for precisely these words. She exhaled inwardly, and with a note of cheerful courtesy said: “Why is the Master leaving so soon — won’t you stay and have a simple dinner?”

This was the sort of rote polite phrase one offered, and any sensible person should not have taken it seriously. Yet Master Situ looked up and slowly said: “Since the Madam puts it that way…”

Chu Linlang heard what sounded like a willingness to stay and dine, and her smile froze. She stared fixedly at his lips, watching to see just how shameless a man from the capital could be.

Situ Sheng seemed to greatly enjoy watching the changing expressions of people from Lianzhou. He waited until Madam Chu’s face had gone quite dark, then slowly and unhurriedly continued: “If the Madam insists… it is hard to decline such warm hospitality, and under normal circumstances I ought to remain and enjoy some local home-cooked fare. Unfortunately, the midday banquet was rather too filling, and I wouldn’t wish to impose further.”

Chu Linlang again privately exhaled with relief, not daring to be polite any further. She took her maids and personally escorted Master Situ to the front gate.

But as they passed through the courtyard, a gust of wind carried with it a peculiar smell.

Situ Sheng couldn’t help frowning and looking over — it turned out to be some cured fish hanging on a rope nearby to dry.

These had just been brought from her hometown of Jiangkou by the merchant who supplied Chu Linlang’s goods.

Chu Linlang noticed Situ Sheng suddenly stopping dead in his tracks and staring straight at the cured fish, so she had her maid take some down and present them to Master Situ as a fresh local delicacy to try.

But when the maid brought them over, Master Situ didn’t touch them at all — he simply retreated back a step or two, and with the barest, nearly imperceptible twitch of his sharp brows, said: “No need for the courtesy. I’ll take my leave!”

And with that, his long sleeves billowing out behind him, he strode away in great haste — as though being chased by a dog — without so much as a backward glance.

Zhou Sui’an’s younger sister, Zhou Xiuling, had caught a glimpse of Situ Sheng’s face from a distance earlier, and now as she watched the man’s tall retreating figure, she asked: “Sister-in-law, who is that? He’s so very handsome!”

Chu Linlang accepted the cured fish back from the maid and said: “He’s a teacher from the imperial palace in the capital — is it any wonder he’s handsome!”

Zhou Xiuling laughed: “What — do they select teachers by their looks?”

Chu Linlang smiled: “If a man had the face of Zhong Kui, the noble eyes of the palace would never survive the sight!”

Zhou Xiuling found that quite logical, and couldn’t help saying with pride: “In that case, my elder brother could also go to the palace and be a teacher for the imperial family — would his looks pass muster before the noble eyes?”

Zhou Xiuling was not boasting idly — her elder brother was refined and handsome, with an air of graceful warmth, and wherever he went, did he not draw the eyes of women?

Chu Linlang understood that her young sister-in-law had always taken her brother Zhou Sui’an as her greatest source of pride, and couldn’t resist teasing: “By that reasoning, your brother married too early — otherwise he might have ended up taking a princess as his wife and giving you an imperial sister-in-law!”

The two of them laughed and joked for a while, and Chu Linlang told Xia He to send the fish she had taken down to the kitchen to be stewed.

The lingering smell of the cured fish on her fingers led her mind, unbidden, back to Situ Sheng’s expression of disgust when he seemed to find the scent intolerable.

Cured fish may be delicious, but there were certainly those who found the smell repellent. For some reason she couldn’t quite place, Situ Sheng’s manner just now felt strangely familiar — but who exactly that reminded her of, Chu Linlang could not, for the moment, recall.

She was just about to turn and go back into the courtyard when she heard voices coming from the gate porter’s room nearby.

It was Zhou Sui’an’s personal manservant Manfu, sitting by the door of the porter’s room warming himself at the fire with the old gatekeeper.

Seeing that Situ Sheng had gone, he gossiped idly: “At noon it was this same Master Situ who poured the most aggressively, getting our master dead drunk — and now he follows him all the way to the house. Could it be that he didn’t get enough to drink at the banquet?”

—

The accumulated old irregularities and cases in Lianzhou were numerous and tangled. The neighboring county had been far more complicated — heads had been rolling there — and everyone had expected the same here in Lianzhou.

But Chu Linlang had reminded Zhou Sui’an to be forthcoming with Master Situ and offer what modest assistance he could — because the man was a favored person at the Sixth Prince’s side, and one simply could not afford to offend him.

But at least if he was willing to admonish and correct, that was something to be grateful for — it meant the Sixth Prince still had some regard for her husband, and had at least bothered to send his Junior Preceptor out to pull him back from the edge.

Chu Linlang shook her head helplessly: “Never mind that he is the dignified Junior Preceptor — even if he were only a eunuch at the Sixth Prince’s side, you would still need to be respectful and deferential. Human relations and social grace — they are not one bit inferior to book learning!”

When Liu Ling was soaking in the hot mountain spring, surrounded by steaming pine-scented vapors, he couldn’t help asking Situ Sheng: “Master — why are we investigating so many old cases?”

She simply turned around and asked Zhou Sui’an who Empress Dowager Dou of the Han and Queen Mother Xuan of the Qin had been.

What was the point of the Sixth Prince digging up stale and long-forgotten old affairs?

He was now preoccupied with the prospects of his career, compounded by the worry of his father-in-law descending upon Lianzhou — and was short on the leisure for idle conversation with his wife.

Then, thinking over Situ Sheng’s sudden unannounced visit to the house, it finally dawned on her — the purpose of it all. He hadn’t come to visit her drunk and insensible husband at all. He had clearly come to deliver a warning — to her!

But more and more, the assembled officials began to sense something was wrong. This Sixth Prince was clearly digging through old accounts — he was investigating a number of long-forgotten cases from the past. Even cases from ten or twenty years ago had been dug out.

As for the Sixth Prince himself — even he wasn’t entirely clear on why he was investigating all of this.

But since Situ Sheng had come personally, he planned to go to the yamen a little earlier the next day and ask whether the Sixth Prince had any instructions.

When Zhou Sui’an sobered up in the night and saw his wife sitting by candlelight reading, he asked what she was doing.

The more Chu Linlang thought on it, the clearer and more sensible it seemed.

Manfu had been standing right behind Zhou Sui’an throughout, so naturally he remembered every detail clearly — and recounted it faithfully, word for word.

Besides, Lianzhou had been through several changes of officials — who even remembered these old histories anymore?

Zhou Sui’an frowned: “Why ask about these scheming women who meddled in politics?”

The Sixth Prince felt that was sound reasoning. Along this journey he had found his resolve for killing becoming smaller and smaller.

Having listened for a while, Chu Linlang finally understood. Her husband had been far too careless — after a few cups of wine, he had let slip the secret before Situ Sheng, exposing the fact that his knowledge of local affairs was actually the achievement of his own wife.

Lianzhou, where the waters ran deepest, was largely filled with people loyal to his paternal uncle Prince Tai. His uncle held such great power at court that even his imperial father deferred to him in many matters. If a genuine conflict arose, his father might not necessarily be willing to protect him.

Chu Linlang could read well enough, but staring at the page for too long made her eyes ache, and many of the sentences were obscure and difficult to parse. She had been searching through the pages for a long while and still hadn’t found what she was looking for — her head was beginning to pound.

Could it be that Situ had seen through the ruse behind her false accounts, and had come to warn her to restrain herself — to stop sitting behind the curtain pulling strings and interfering in her husband’s official affairs — or else be careful to end up a widow?

That thought sent Chu Linlang’s head breaking out in a cold sweat. Back in the room, she found it difficult to sit or lie still — so she simply went over to rummage through the books on Zhou Sui’an’s shelf.

But the Sixth Prince seemed to have been shaken by the ruffians who had tried to assassinate him. Since arriving in Lianzhou, he had slowed the pace of his blade. These past few days he had merely summoned the officials from the various yamen for questioning, recording their statements one by one.

Zhou Sui’an didn’t know what was going on and asked again what had happened. Chu Linlang understood Zhou Sui’an’s temperament — she didn’t want to frighten him — so she made up an excuse, saying she was just cross-checking something out of curiosity after hearing it over tea and listening to storytelling.

Situ Sheng sat serenely at the side tea table, pouring scalding hot water over the tea mountain. Hearing the Sixth Prince ask, he spoke slowly: “Lianzhou has since antiquity been a vital passage for the transport of military supplies — and also the place where corruption runs deepest. The officials here are unlike those elsewhere — many of them have close ties with the military. His Majesty, though he places great trust in Your Highness, must still proceed with caution, lest you become too entangled and find yourself unable to give a proper account upon returning to the capital. Therefore, rather than investigating new cases, it is better to investigate old ones — and in so doing, trace back through the successive changes of Lianzhou’s officials over the years, to have a thorough understanding in your mind.”

Digging through these harmless, inconsequential old cases — now there was a smooth and prudent path.

Zhou Sui’an was too tired to bother arguing with a woman. What did Chu Linlang know about a gentleman’s principles and integrity? She had been raised in a salt merchant’s family, accustomed to nothing but flattering and fawning on officials and clerks of every kind.

Chu Linlang knew that Zhou Sui’an’s conduct when drunk was not the best — but she had not expected him to be so careless even in front of someone from the capital.

Chu Linlang heard all this and immediately understood. Her husband had been far too careless — after a few cups of wine, he had given away the secret to Situ Sheng: that the knowledge he had displayed of local affairs was in fact his wife’s doing.

In Lianzhou, where the waters ran deepest, most people were loyal to his paternal uncle Prince Tai. His uncle wielded power so great at court that even the Emperor deferred to him in many things. If a genuine conflict arose, it was uncertain whether the Emperor would be willing to protect him.

Chu Linlang, though she could read somewhat, found her eyes aching after too long, and many of the passages were abstruse and difficult to parse. She had been searching through the pages for a long while and still found nothing — her head was beginning to throb.

Could it be that Situ had seen through the ruse behind her false accounts, and had come to warn her — telling her to hold herself back, not to sit behind the curtain pulling strings and interfering in her husband’s official affairs — or else be careful to end up a widow?

The thought of it sent a cold sweat breaking out on Chu Linlang’s head. Back in the room she could neither sit comfortably nor lie still — she simply went over and began rummaging through the books on Zhou Sui’an’s shelf.

But Zhou Sui’an snorted dismissively: “He is nothing more than a palace Junior Preceptor, without any real official duties. Though I respect his learning, I need not treat him as a superior. And the Sixth Prince as well — how can he set aside proper officials and rely on his own tutor from his youth as a military advisor? Is that not favoritism — a violation of proper order?”

—