Xia He had gone to the Chu household as a child with her mother to help with the work, so she naturally remembered: “You mean that mad woman! My mother had even chatted with her before. Don’t let her madness fool you — when she wasn’t having an episode, she spoke in a refined, educated manner, with a certain air of a lady of quality, and she was truly quite beautiful. The mad woman said her husband was a high official in the court, enfeoffed with some kind of title. It was because she grew jealous over her husband taking a concubine that she held a sword and stabbed him, and since it was a family disgrace, the husband’s family had her sent away to Jiangkou. The woman became so consumed with grief and resentment that she lost her mind overnight.”

Chu Linlang already knew these things. She asked further: “And… what did this mad woman’s husband do in the court?”

Xia He thought for a moment and shook her head: “That I don’t know. The woman only said that on her wedding day, the bridal procession stretched for ten miles, all of it grand and lavish — so he must have been a very high official. Eldest Mistress, why did you suddenly think to ask about her?”

Chu Linlang could hardly say she might have encountered the mad woman’s son, who was now the young mentor of the Sixth Prince.

After all, the two had no apparent connection whatsoever. It was only by chance that she had stumbled upon this delicate link between them.

Just then, Zhou Sui’an returned to the household after completing his inspection of the river channel.

Magistrate Zhou had been toiling hard at his post these days, but his spirits were high. Back in Lianzhou, because he had been unable to secure a proper assignment and could only bury himself in the study of water management, he had never imagined he would find such a grand stage to display his talents here in Jizhou.

With his mood lifted, he could not help but think of his first wife.

After all, ever since Hu Shi had entered the household, his mother had nearly every day dispatched someone to keep watch over him, forbidding him from returning to Chu Linlang’s room. During the time in Lianzhou, he had almost never rested in Chu Shi’s chamber.

After that came the move to Jizhou, and he had barely spent any time even in Hu Shi’s room — he was out and busy all day long.

Now that it was late and his mother and her matrons had gone to bed, with no one to push him to fulfill his duty of continuing the family line, he thought he would spend the night at Chu Shi’s quarters.

But Chu Linlang had no heart to attend to her husband. She only said to him: “I have already had the hot water carried to Gui Niang’s room. You have been busy all day, Husband — it is best you go there and rest early.”

Zhou Sui’an’s expression fell at once.

The tender feelings between a man and a woman required the natural, unforced charm of a willow growing where it was not planted to have any real delight. But Hu Shi and Gui Niang were a field his mother had forced him to till by pushing a duck in headfirst — where would there be any of the tender sweetness of young lovers?

Besides, the night was already so late, and Chu Linlang was actually driving him off to plow the field. Did she take him for a bull with boundless strength?

Zhou Sui’an looked at Chu Linlang’s face and suddenly could not remember how long it had been since she had last smiled sweetly at him.

At that, he sat down on the bed and said out of spite: “I am not going. I want to sleep here with you!”

Chu Linlang let out a sigh, took her own bedding, and walked toward the door — it seemed she, too, would be tasting the experience of sleeping in the study tonight.

But before she had taken a few steps, Zhou Sui’an grabbed her hand: “Chu Linlang, what do you mean by this! When it came to taking in a concubine — you agreed to that as well!”

If he could not see by now that Chu Shi was giving him the cold shoulder, Zhou Sui’an would truly be a simpleton.

Chu Linlang raised her head and looked at the face of her husband, which still carried something of a boyish petulance. A tangle of feelings stirred in her heart. She pressed her lips together and finally said what was truly on her mind: “The one who permitted you to take a concubine was the daughter-in-law of the Zhou household, the virtuous wife of Deputy Magistrate Zhou. It was not Linlang…”

The words were somewhat tangled, and Zhou Sui’an could not quite follow them.

What was the difference between the two? She, Chu Linlang, was the daughter-in-law of the Zhou household — his, Zhou Sui’an’s, wife!

Unable to contain his grievance, he said: “If you were unwilling, why did you not say so to my mother back then? Now that Hu Shi has been in the household so long, you hold me entirely to blame for it, without any reason or sense!”

Chu Linlang drew a deep breath. She wanted to say: why must it be I who goes to speak, and not you? You knew full well about the reputation outside that painted me as a domineering shrew. You knew your mother’s displeasure with me. If I had refused once more, it would have brought shame on you before your colleagues too — what standing did I have to oppose your taking a concubine?

But the night had grown dark and she was tired — too tired to quarrel.

These words turned on the tip of her tongue a few times before finally coming out changed in form. She relaxed her expression and coaxed Zhou Sui’an with gentle words: “All right, I was only teasing you and you took it seriously. You know full well how closely your mother watches over you. Hu Shi is in the household and there is still no sign of movement in her belly — if Mother finds out you spent the night with me tonight, she will think I am deliberately holding you back, and tomorrow she will find fault with me again! If you truly care for me, hurry up and go!”

And so, half-coaxing, half-persuading, Chu Linlang finally sent Zhou Sui’an on his way.

Xia He watched with a deep sigh, unable to stop herself from urging her mistress: “Young Mistress, by doing this, are you not pushing the young master further and further away?”

Chu Linlang said nothing. What troubled her most right now was not the husband who would not sleep in her room — it was that man carrying so many hidden secrets.

By now she had figured it out well enough: his father’s clan had most likely taken him back and given him a new identity — a new name pressed upon him. After all, his mother had been a family scandal, and he must have harbored deep shame over having a mother who had stabbed his own father and lost her mind.

If that was the case, Situ Sheng was bold and skilled enough to deceive the emperor and falsify his own background records — well, let him do as he pleased.

She would not eat herself full and then go out of her way to expose someone else’s old wounds and painful past. And of course she would never go running to him to claim some childhood friendship, and end up sharing the crime of knowing and not reporting his deception of the emperor.

Having settled on this course of thinking, Chu Linlang felt somewhat easier in her heart. She just did not know how long Magistrate Situ intended to linger here. She had heard that these past few days he had been visiting the son of the estate owner who had been stabbed and wounded, and showed no sign of being in any hurry to leave.

Could his duties at the Ministry of Personnel truly be so leisurely?

As for Zhou Sui’an — after hearing Chu Linlang’s half-true, half-false words, he finally woke up to the grievances his virtuous wife had been suffering at his mother’s hands all this time.

Taking advantage of a break in the river channel repairs, he deliberately requested a few days of leave to accompany Linlang shopping for household goods around Jizhou city, and to sample some local street foods — all to lift their spirits a little.

As the husband and wife strolled about buying things on the street, Second Miss Xie, seated upstairs in the tea house, happened to catch the harmonious, united sight of them together.

Watching Zhou Sui’an at a food stall, picking up a piece of rice cake and tenderly extending it toward Chu Shi’s lips, Xie Youran gave a quiet laugh of scorn: “Elder Sister, the Sixth Prince actually has this kind of devoted husband among his men — one who practically enshrines his wife as his superior! I only wonder what family Magistrate Zhou’s wife comes from, to make him treat her with such gentle, attentive care!”

The Sixth Princess Consort followed her sister’s gaze and realized who she was talking about. She smiled and said: “Magistrate Zhou is indeed known for being devoted to his wife, but what does that have to do with Madam Chu’s origins? As a matter of fact, Madam Chu’s maternal family are salt merchants, and she herself is a concubine-born daughter of the family — her origins are, in truth, rather modest. But with a husband and wife so devoted to each other, what does background matter!”

Xie Youran was somewhat taken aback. She had not expected that the poised, socially adept Madam Chu came from such humble origins…

Looking again at Zhou Sui’an thoughtfully holding an oilpaper umbrella to shade his wife from the sun, the already handsome Zhou Sui’an seemed to take on yet another quality of gentle, considerate refinement.

Xie Youran found her curiosity piqued: “But that doesn’t add up — I heard other wives talking about him. If he loves his wife so much, how did he still take a new concubine? I can see that Chu Shi is in full bloom with a striking appearance — it certainly doesn’t seem like it should be the time for his feelings to have cooled!”

The Sixth Princess Consort had heard something from Magistrate Zhou’s mother, and with the vague hints Chu Linlang had let slip, she could guess the general picture: “No matter how well a husband and wife get along, if there is never an heir born, there is nothing to be done about it. That concubine was taken on the decision of the Zhou household’s senior mistress. What son could disobey his own mother?”

Just then, the couple downstairs had walked away. The Second Miss Xie, her curiosity satisfied, poked listlessly at the date cakes on the plate.

The Sixth Princess Consort, recalling the purpose for which she had specially brought her sister out today to cheer her up, carefully composed her words and counseled her: “Father also has your good at heart — after much deliberation, he selected the Wang family. Setting aside how steady Censor Wang’s official record is and his sterling reputation as a man of principle, even the Wang family’s third son is well-read and steeped in the classics, very much in his father’s manner. What is a fine man of character, if not measured by his looks? The Wang family’s third son has already secretly seen you and is taken with you at first glance. Your birth characters are compatible — it is a heaven-sent union. If you marry into such a family, both your father and mother would be at ease…”

She had not even finished speaking when Xie Youran’s face had already crumpled. She slammed her teacup down on the table: “Deliberation? All you have to do is scoop randomly from any water pond — it would be full of jumping, wide-mouthed toads! For my own good? I think Father cannot wait to marry me off so I stop bringing calamity to father and mother and the whole family!”

She said that her mother had been perfectly well — yet here she had brought her all the way to this forsaken corner of the world to visit her elder sister. It turned out the real purpose was to have her elder sister persuade her to agree to marry that Wang Toad early!

After all, within the family, she could only bring herself to listen to her elder sister’s words.

At that, her eyes grew hot and wet with angry tears: “What heaven-sent union? Just because of some so-called master fortuneteller’s words, Father and Mother could abandon me in the countryside without a care — with only you coming from time to time to visit me, reminding me there were still blood relatives in this world who cared for me. If they were going to wash their hands of me, they might as well have done so completely. On what grounds do they now put on the air of being good parents and use me to forge a connection?”

The Sixth Princess Consort saw her sister throwing a tantrum again and developed a terrible headache. The reason she had brought her out was precisely to prevent her sister from making a scene in the household, causing the newly wed Sixth Prince to witness it and laugh at them.

She angrily slapped Xie Youran’s hand and gestured for her to keep her voice down. Even in a private room, the soundproofing was not great — one had to be mindful.

“Listen to what you are saying! What do you mean, forging a connection! If Father were the scheming, maneuvering sort, would he have let me marry the obscure Sixth Prince? You should know that at the time, all the eligible young women in the capital were avoiding this match and lining up to be chosen by the Fourth Prince instead! Father believed the Sixth Prince was gentle and kind-hearted and worth marrying. As parents, everything they do is for their children. Why can you not understand that?”

Xie Youran was in no mood to hear her sister’s words. She said coldly: “I will not marry. If Father truly favors someone learned, that Situ Sheng is perfectly fine too — his official career may be somewhat wanting, but he has been a young mentor before. Both his learning and his appearance are nothing to scoff at!”

The Sixth Princess Consort was mortified by the way her sister so brazenly declared her own preferred candidate for marriage. She glared and whispered urgently: “You may admire the man, but the man must be willing too! Do you think I haven’t already lost face trying to put in a word for you? He used the mourning period as an excuse — that was his polite way of declining.”

What the Sixth Princess Consort had left unsaid: if he had any interest in her sister, would he have jumped off a ship in full view of everyone? That was practically a declaration made at the cost of his dignity — that he wanted absolutely nothing to do with a girl from the Xie family!

And thank goodness they were here in the remote countryside of Jizhou with no connection to the capital. Young Mentor Situ was a man of integrity and tight-lipped, and would not spread gossip about her sister. Otherwise, if word of this got out, she feared even the toad-faced Wang young master might find fault with her conduct!

Xie Youran, having run into a wall with Situ Sheng time and again these past days, had long since seen through his meaning. She was not so thick-skinned as to persist in throwing herself at someone who felt nothing for her. But hearing her elder sister spell it out bluntly — that some petty graduate-turned-lowly-official had rejected her — still wounded her pride.

After hearing her sister’s words, she only abruptly rose to her feet: “In any case, you tell Mother that if she keeps pressing me, I will shave my head and become a nun, so they stop having to look at this unlucky star who brings disaster everywhere she goes!”

With those words, she led her maids away without looking back, down the stairs of the tea house.

The street below was a crush of people, and carriages could not get through for the moment. So Xie Youran led her maids and matrons forward on foot, buying a few things along the way to settle her mood.

But they had been jostled by the crowd earlier, and when it came time to pay, the matron in charge of the purse went pale with shock, fumbling at her pockets: “Dreadful! We have been robbed — where has the money pouch gone?”

Xie Youran’s face fell completely. Just as she was berating the matron for her incompetence, a large hand suddenly reached over and paid for Second Miss Xie’s purchase.

Xie Youran turned to look, and there was Magistrate Zhou — dressed in his scholar’s robe and white head cloth, dashing and charming — smiling as he bowed in greeting.

As it turned out, Chu Linlang and Zhou Sui’an had forgotten to buy a few items and had doubled back, arriving just in time to witness Xie Youran unable to pay and berating the matron.

Chu Linlang saw the situation at once and had Dongxue give the silver to Zhou Sui’an, sending him over to help Second Miss Xie out of her predicament.

Her reason for sending Zhou Sui’an rather than going herself was simply to let Zhou Sui’an have a moment to shine and build a favorable impression with the Sixth Prince’s in-laws.

As for Chu Linlang herself — she always had the feeling that the young miss inexplicably disliked her, perhaps because she had witnessed the dock-jumping incident at the pier. Since that was the case, there was no need to go over and invite a rebuff.

As expected, Second Miss Xie was not particularly grateful. She only gave Zhou Sui’an a word of thanks, then cast a glance toward Chu Linlang across the street, let out a cold sniff, and swept off on her way.

When Zhou Sui’an returned, he grumbled to Chu Linlang: “How does General Xie manage to raise such a willful daughter? Her manners are somewhat lacking!”

Chu Linlang said nothing in reply. She simply counted out the number of pastries and cakes she had bought, then handed them to Zhou Sui’an’s manservant: “Tomorrow when you go to the river channel again, do not forget to bring these along. I see that the gentlemen overseeing the channel repairs are all getting on in years — eating cold food day in and day out is not good for them. These chestnut cakes are good for the stomach and can serve as a light snack to hold them over.”

Zhou Sui’an was now doing well at his post. Among all the officials overseeing the Jizhou channel repairs, he was the one with the most hands-on experience. Every time he spoke up with ideas for coordinating the workforce, everyone placed their confidence in him. In this harmonious, easy atmosphere, Zhou Sui’an’s way with people had also grown — he had become much more approachable and was glad to use small tokens to cultivate goodwill.

Watching her husband no longer act like a naive young idealist, and seeing his post take proper shape, Chu Linlang finally let out a breath of relief.

She thought of the fortune Situ Sheng had once divined for her — that if Zhou Sui’an moved to a different post, his career would go more smoothly. She had not imagined he truly had something of an uncanny foresight.

Could it truly be that Jizhou’s water and soil nurtured talent? But before long, she came to understand the workings behind it all…

Not long after Zhou Sui’an and the others had departed, what had once been the settled territory of Lianzhou was stirred up again.

Word came that many long-buried old cases had suddenly been reported by informants, with ironclad evidence. Though many of those involved happened to be the very victims from the recent linked murder cases, it appeared that someone had moved ahead of the shadowy mastermind, extracting evidence from those people before they were killed.

And the unexpected deaths of those people seemed only to further confirm that there was a hidden black hand behind the corruption cases.

Fortunately, the estate owner from Lianzhou who had been gravely wounded had barely escaped with his life and become the sole surviving witness. He had originally chosen to keep his silence, but after being persuaded by his son — who now served as an official in Jizhou — he finally agreed to serve as a witness.

The Emperor was enraged and once again dispatched a censorial imperial envoy to investigate and prosecute the case. The thundering blade struck without mercy, pointing directly at the factions supporting Prince Tai.

This time, not only were many officials who had long since been transferred out of Lianzhou arrested and brought to justice — even newly posted officials of only two years like Zhang Xian were caught up in the sweep.

It was said he had been implicated through his brother-in-law, and a whole pile of corrupt deeds were dug up and exposed about him. The once high-and-mighty Magistrate Zhang, who had cut such an imposing figure in Lianzhou, was seized and beaten down in open court for all to see. Then came further reports accusing him of seizing the land of common people. In the end, he was convicted of corruption and abuse of power, deception of his superiors, and concealment from below. His entire household’s assets were confiscated, the male members were banished into exile, and the women of the family were stripped of their status and consigned to become government slaves.

It was said that Lin Niangzi had intended to protect herself by drawing a clear line from Zhang Xian, but the separation agreement had not even been drawn up when soldiers came and dragged her out by the hair, bound her up, and tossed her on an ox cart.

The prefect — who had always played it safe and acted the genial peacemaker, though he was not a member of Prince Tai’s faction — was also caught up in the fallout. Accused of poor supervision and mediocre incompetence, he was demoted and sent off to some remote backwater to serve as a county deputy.

Though Zhou Sui’an had been at odds with Zhang Xian, upon hearing that his former colleague the county magistrate had been caught up and punished, a mix of satisfaction and lingering dread washed over him — so many officials in Lianzhou with backing and connections had fallen overnight, their wives and children condemned to slavery.

If it had not been for Chu Linlang’s counsel back then, he might well have let the prefect intercede for him and stayed on in Lianzhou. Someone like him, with no roots or backing — how could he have emerged unscathed from such a sweeping flood?

This upheaval in Lianzhou finally taught Zhou Sui’an, this once-naive young bull, something of the true dangers of officialdom. He fell into a prolonged spell of melancholy and sighing, and was no longer the same man of spring-breeze confidence he had been these past few days — the whole of him became more subdued.

That night, he impatiently waved off the matron who urged him to go rest in the little concubine’s room, and simply had Chu Linlang keep him company over wine and conversation, to ease the lingering shock and dread he felt.

The shock within Chu Linlang’s heart was, in truth, no less than Zhou Sui’an’s. She could put others aside, but she felt a measure of sadness for the prefect’s wife, Madam He.

Madam He had once said that at her age she no longer hoped for anything like the reverence between husband and wife — she only hoped her husband would be capable enough to secure an early transfer back to the capital, so she could return to her mother’s side and fulfill her filial duty.

But now the prefect had been demoted, sent off to a place even more remote than Lianzhou, starting from scratch at the very bottom. Madam He, a woman of such high aspirations — how could she bear it?

But beyond her feelings of sympathy, Chu Linlang also knew there was one person she owed her gratitude to. And that was the prophetic Magistrate Situ!

Only now did she fully understand the true meaning behind Situ Sheng’s words when he had told her to have Zhou Sui’an seize the moment and move to a different post.

What remarkable abilities did Zhou Sui’an possess, that the Sixth Prince would keep him in mind and personally write a letter inviting him to Jizhou?

It must have been Situ Sheng who had put in some effort — repaying the kindness she had shown him when she covered for him and helped him tend his wound.

Thinking of it this way — that afternoon in the rain shelter at the tea stall, they had parted on bad terms, and that was because she herself had gotten carried away and offended Situ Sheng with her sharp tongue.

Even if he truly were the son of her childhood mad neighbor, and even if the two of them had a few old quarrels from their youth — he had been willing to help her husband like this. He was truly a gentleman of great breadth and generosity!

And this sweeping purge of Lianzhou — it was hard to say there was not some handiwork of Situ Sheng behind it. After all, that estate owner who had agreed to come forward and testify — his son happened right now to be serving under the Sixth Prince’s command.

Someone had managed to gather evidence from the victims before the mastermind’s killers could silence them — which meant that person had put in real effort, going to visit those individuals early on.

Chu Linlang thought again of the registry of officials she had painstakingly gathered through her connections — the one she had, of course, given to Situ Sheng.

In other words: when the Emperor had rebuked the Sixth Prince and demoted him to Jizhou, and while Prince Tai’s faction had relaxed their guard, Situ Sheng must have been acting on the Prince’s orders, working behind the scenes at great length — all so that the final blow could land with the full force of ironclad evidence.

The power struggle lurking behind all of this was far more harrowing than the surface she had come to know.

And how had Situ Sheng — a young mentor of no great renown — managed to move so freely, maneuvering between the imperial prince and the Emperor himself, reaching all the way to the Son of Heaven’s ear?

Chu Linlang had the instinct that Situ Sheng was far deeper and more unfathomable than she had imagined.

And a man of such calculated mind — surely he would repay every grievance? Setting aside the beatings and scoldings from their childhood, she had just recently, on account of a momentary sharpness of tongue, mocked him about a hidden ailment. That was truly ungrateful and foolish of her.

At that thought, Chu Linlang felt she needed to properly mend her dangerously fraying relationship with Mentor Situ.

As for the past — since the Magistrate had not brought it up himself, she would act as if she had seen nothing.

Having settled on this approach, Chu Linlang finally worked out how she would handle this Magistrate Situ going forward.

The next time she encountered Situ Sheng at the Sixth Prince’s residence, before the cold glance from Magistrate Situ could even drift her way, she raised her voice with a bright smile: “Magistrate Situ, what a long while! My husband Sui’an has been talking about you these past few days, wanting to invite you to our home for wine!”

Situ Sheng had just dismounted from his horse and now saw Madam Chu — with whom they had parted on bad terms — standing in front of a carriage and beaming as she called out to invite him for wine.

Madam Chu perhaps did not know — when she was deliberately being ingratiating with an ulterior motive, that sweet smile of hers was like wine watered down — utterly transparent!

Though he found it contemptible inwardly, Magistrate Situ still said mildly: “Oh? When?”

Hmm… Chu Linlang had only been making the customary pleasantry out of habit. But she had forgotten that this Magistrate Situ did not seem to understand what a polite social formula was.

Since that was how it was, she simply committed to it and spoke with easy decisiveness: “No day is better than today. If it suits Magistrate Situ, come to our home tomorrow. There happen to be two fat chickens at home — I will have the cook make beggar’s chicken for you.”

“A dish this fine — how is it that I have not been invited?” Along with a peal of hearty laughter, the Sixth Prince appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, at the doorway.

Chu Linlang greeted him with another bright smile and said that if the Sixth Prince condescended to come, it would be a tremendous honor to brighten their humble home. Only — with two chickens, there would not be enough. She would have to go down to the river later and catch herself a sea serpent to braise up for His Highness!

This quick-witted quip was amusing enough to set the Sixth Prince laughing out loud, drawing the Princess Consort behind him to ask what the laughter was about.

By the time of the Zhou household’s family banquet, four honored guests had arrived — apart from Situ Sheng and the Sixth Prince, the Princess Consort and her sister Xie Youran had also come.

When had the Zhou household ever had an imperial descendant cross its threshold?

For a moment Zhao Shi was completely at a loss, none of her usual manner of reproaching the daughter-in-law anywhere to be seen. In the presence of such noble personages, she was so flustered she could only pull her daughter-in-law along and keep smiling, allowing Chu Linlang to arrange and oversee everything while attending to the honored guests.

Facing a table full of dishes, the Sixth Prince Liu Ling was quite captivated: “Madam Chu, your household’s cook is truly remarkable — there are so many dishes here I have never seen before!”

Zhou Sui’an sat beside the Prince and explained with a smile: “These are all the specialties of my wife’s hometown in Jiangkou. My wife thought that Your Highness likely has not tasted these rustic, country-style flavors, and has boldly taken the liberty of presenting them — please do not think them too crude, Your Highness.”

After Chu Linlang had cooked several of her best dishes, she washed her hands and came to sit beside the Princess Consort Xie.

As she was helping to serve dishes, she suddenly caught sight of a maid bringing out a plate of sauce-braised cured fish and setting it directly in front of Situ Sheng.