Chapter 36

Zhuo Huiheng seemed not the least surprised by the question, only a faint blush on her cheeks; her gaze, though, didn't waver, and she said gravely: "A great matter like marriage should follow the command of one's parents and the words of a matchmaker; the eldest brother stands as a father, and in all things Huiheng will heed Elder Brother's arrangement."

Zhuo Siheng had foreseen his sister would answer so, and lowered his head, smiling a little sadly: "Sister, what you've said is the rules of propriety — you needn't tell me; I know them well enough. But today I want to hear what's really in your heart."

"This is what's in my heart." Huiheng's gaze was firm, without the slightest waver. "That I've lived to this day is by our parents' tender mercy; that I've been a burden on the family this far is my own failure in a daughter's and sister's duty. If I can't even ease my brother's cares and lighten his troubles, what face would I have to stand between Heaven and earth?"

Huiheng was settled and self-possessed by nature, and this was just what Zhuo Siheng feared most from her; direct persuasion might not work, so he put on a light tone: "Talking nonsense again — if Father knew I'd made you say such a thing, he'd come into my dreams tonight and deal with me by the family rod."

Huiheng's taut nerves eased a little, and she couldn't help laughing.

"And besides, if you hadn't been minding the household these past days, how could your brother have won his degree with no worries at his back? The capital and Shuozhou are a thousand li apart, and this half-year, whenever I worried over things at home, it was thinking that you were holding the fort there that let me breathe a little easier and settle down to my books again." Zhuo Siheng meant every word; it wasn't all coaxing. He truly worried over his family less than he missed them, because he knew exactly what kind of person Huiheng was: entrusting the household's care to his sister, apart from her health giving cause for unease, left nothing to fret about. "My asking you this is your cousin Fan's worry too — he said that if our aunt were alive, she could find you some reliable older woman to help look for a match; but you've only the two of us, this pair of no-account brothers who haven't even married ourselves, and we're no use at all for such things. So even if it may not fit propriety, I still want to ask your wishes — to hear what's really in my sister's heart."

This heartfelt speech unlocked Zhuo Huiheng's calm reserve, and now she seemed at last to return to the frame of mind of childhood, whispering secrets to her brother; after a moment's hesitation, this time what she said was truly, sincerely from the heart: "Elder Brother... I don't want to marry."

"Well, isn't that fine? Why not just say so." Only when his sister spoke her heart did Zhuo Siheng feel he could breathe out; and as when they were small, he leaned in and lowered his voice: "Tell your brother the reasons."

Her brother's reaction set Zhuo Huiheng much at ease, and she too laughed low, and said: "Elder Brother's away at court; and though our household is simple in numbers, there are still plenty of matters to see to — let me go on keeping house. My health is much better now; look — as hard as the journey's jolting was, I was only unwell coming off the boat, and once ashore I was quite well again. The capital's climate is mild; I'll mend my health on the one hand and manage the household's affairs on the other, to lift a few of Elder Brother's vexations, and looking after my sister and brother was always my duty as eldest sister — I mustn't shirk it. As for my own marriage... if the family needs me to secure a footing through a marriage tie, I won't shrink from it; if it isn't needed for now, then I'll keep house with all my heart and think of nothing else."

Hearing this Zhuo Siheng laughed aloud: "How would it ever come to needing you to marry for alliance? Even at our family's lowest, Father never made his children's marriages a bargaining chip; now that we're climbing, step by step, there's all the less need for that."

Thinking again of what she'd just said — truly not the sort of thing an unwed girl should say — Huiheng's ears grew a little hot.

"Then it's settled: whenever your health is sound, all the household's affairs are yours to manage. I still have some of my salary and the emperor's granted degree-rewards, and with the prefecture and county rewards you brought from home, I'll leave it all with you, all for you to decide." After the talk Zhuo Siheng felt easy in body and mind; his sister living contentedly mattered more than anything, and to free her from a burdened, self-wounding heart — today's talk had done its task in full. He rose, said he'd find a doctor tomorrow to look Huiheng over again, told her to rest early, and only then, well satisfied, headed out.

"Elder Brother, one more thing." Huiheng rose too.

"Say it." Zhuo Siheng turned back and said gently.

"Everything else can wait; only Fourth Brother's studies mustn't be delayed." Huiheng said earnestly. "Could Elder Brother find him an academy in the capital with a good scholarly atmosphere and fine teachers? Back home I set aside a sum of silver especially for just this use."

"We really are true brother and sister — the very same things weigh on us." Zhuo Siheng clapped his hands and laughed. "I've already scouted out a suitable connection; but let's wait till you're all settled — a couple of days won't matter."

Huiheng broke into a rare sweet, soft smile: "Elder Brother takes such pains arranging for us — you should pay a little more mind to your own lifelong matter too."

"I just put you in charge of the house, and already you're managing me?" Zhuo Siheng laughed heartily and tapped Huiheng's smooth forehead. "Your brother knows what he's about; I can hardly rush off to marry on the strength of a fresh-won degree. As for matters of fate — neither of us should force them."

Coming out of the room, he heard Ciheng already tidying luggage with Ahuan, two years her junior, the two collapsed in laughter together. Ahuan had kept her widowed mother company in the capital since childhood, and unlike Ciheng — who'd been to many places in Ningshuo Commandery with Doctor Rong and had this southward journey besides — she was, hearing Ciheng tell of the curious sights and adventures of the road, filled with worshipful admiration, prostrate at her feet. The two girls' chattering, merry voices wound through the once-silent little courtyard; Zhuo Siheng hadn't the heart to disturb them, and circled back to his room from behind, his mood fluffy and light as a tuft of willow-down, his step much lighter too.

Truly, only with family was there really a home.

He slept utterly soundly that night, and the next day was full of spirit at work, as if with boundless zeal to pour into it. Zeng Xuandu, knowing he'd taken his rest-day to meet his family, asked after things a little — a superior's due concern, no more, no less. Zhuo Siheng grew fonder and fonder of hearing him talk.

After work he hurried off to the Taishi Hall to waylay Tong Shipei, who thought Zhuo Siheng had finally learned how to steal half a day's leisure from this floating life and enjoy himself — only to find that his treating him to tea was merely a request for help.

"You want to see my father?" Tong Shipei paled in shock. "You really want to see him?"

In his impression, his father was truly hard to approach; setting aside his one disciple Liu Su, all his other old friends and colleagues kept the plain, water-clear friendships of gentlemen, and his house rarely had visitors.

They were sitting just then on the second floor of a little teahouse near Zhuo Siheng's home, the street at the very hour of its thickest foot traffic; the world's clamor and the smoke of its cooking-fires drifted up, and the tea's fragrance seemed three parts richer for it. Filling Tong Shipei's cup, Zhuo Siheng said earnestly: "No need to fret. Hearing you go on about him day after day, I know your father's temper well enough — as do you; how could I possibly go running to him to angle for connections? I've a genuine matter to consult him on."

"Consult me! I'll go ask around for you." Tong Shipei urged with all his might. "I'm afraid a few cold words from my father would leave your very spirits crushed."

"Then let me ask you this: do you know, apart from the Imperial Academy's Grand Academy, where else is suitable for a boy of twelve or thirteen to study?"

This was outside the range of Tong Shipei's gossip-knowledge; he could only shake his head.

Zhuo Siheng said gravely: "That's just it — I want to ask Uncle Tong to inquire after a reliable, suitable private school. My brother Xiheng has just come to the capital, and his schooling is the most important matter in our whole household."

Tong Shipei stopped joking too, and nodded: "It is important. But my father really doesn't see visitors much; I'm afraid he'll refuse you without even sparing me face, and hurt the friendship between us brothers — and then how could I bring myself to ask you out to talk and drink again?"

Zhuo Siheng lowered his voice a little: "It won't come to that; if I were that sort, you wouldn't have kept company with me so long. Fangze, to tell the truth, I did think of calling on Academician Zeng to inquire for my brother, but felt it wasn't quite proper. You're my friend, and the two of us are both in unimportant, quiet posts; your father has retired home, and I've no standing in the capital. Think as I might, I could only trouble you and your father. This time I come to pay a formal call — my card is already written; I'll trouble Fangze to take it back and report."

With that he drew a properly-written calling card from his sleeve and offered it in both hands; seeing this, Tong Shipei took it in both hands too and put it carefully away: "All right, I'll run this errand for you. If my father won't help, I'll go ask others too — those old gentlemen at the Taishi Hall don't usually meddle in politics, so no one will gossip if I call at their homes. But you've reminded me — whether this comes off or not, I ought first to bring a housewarming gift to your home, or my father will curse me for growing more oafish by the day, without a shred of manners, shaming him."

Zhuo Siheng thanked him again.

Back home, the luggage and trunks once heaped here and there had all been put away; with Huiheng seeing to it, small as the courtyard was, everywhere was in perfect order. A few large pieces of furniture had been added inside too — it turned out Xiao Yong, seeing the rooms too bare, had gone and bought them back. He'd also bought the family a good deal of grain and rice, and laid out for Zhuo Siheng in full the mountain goods sent by Old Huyan and Fifth Uncle Zhu's family.

"None of it's costly, but in the capital these are rare northern specialties; if you go about calling, they'll make you look well." Xiao Yong had feared at first that Zhuo Siheng, being a scholar, wouldn't know or would scorn such matters of human feeling; but since they'd met he'd seen him handle everyone and everything naturally, with not a trace of pedantic sourness, and so was reassured. "I set off in a couple of days. The main room you kept for our grandfather — you go on and live in it yourself, master of the house; we'll all keep working on him at his end."

Of course Zhuo Siheng was loath to part with Huyan Yong; but a man's ambition is for the four corners of the world, and everyone had his own road and prospects to hurry after — no need to hold him back; blessings and remembrance were enough.

Huiheng showed her brother the account-book she'd drawn up and written, adapted from the camp account-books they'd all seen and kept back in their exile years. Zhuo Siheng didn't actually know what an ordinary official family's account-books looked like, but a ledger that could manage all the petty sums and goods of a labor camp could surely handle the reckoning of a small household of a few.

Zhuo Siheng told her first to arrange a few new clothes made for the family, and to take out some silver to see to the back court — but before he'd even finished laying out his garden-design scheme, a servant of the Tong household came to call, saying Master Tong invited Attendant Zhuo to the residence tomorrow for a talk.

Whatever means Tong Shipei had used to persuade his old father, Zhuo Siheng didn't know; he hurried to tally up the mountain goods he meant to bring, and the next day, off duty, went home, changed into plain clothes, took the gifts, and called on the residence alone.

He'd been to the Tong residence once before, but that time he'd been carried there half-dead and couldn't well move about; this time the Tong steward was extremely warm, showing him the courtyards and buildings and telling the origins of many a plaque — it seemed the place truly never had visitors, and the old steward, with no guests to receive, had been quite pent up for it.

But it also showed how strictly the Tong household was run: warm as the old steward's introductions were, they were most proper and measured, neither boasting nor exaggerating, carrying a touch of restrained pride and gentle deference; he seemed very fond of Tong Shipei too, and even said the young master had few friends, and thanked Zhuo Siheng for looking after him all this while.

The Tong residence's study was named the Shouxiu Study — staid but refined; Zhuo Siheng knew at a glance the name's source was the Mencius line, "the gentleman's keeping is to cultivate himself, and the world is at peace."

Tong Duo was in the study mounting a scroll of calligraphy, in the plain clothes of a scholar, spare and weathered, yet standing poised and upright as a deep pool, as a towering peak — as though at morning court. Seeing him, Zhuo Siheng composed himself and bowed low: "Your junior pays his respects to Uncle Tong."

"No need, no need — it's not our first meeting, to be so formal; sit." Tong Duo was not the least as fearsome as Tong Shipei made out; both these meetings had left Zhuo Siheng with a fine impression of him. Sitting as bidden, Zhuo Siheng first asked after his health, then said he'd brought some medicinal herbs from the northern mountains, all suited to an elder's constitution. Nor did he keep up empty pleasantries insincerely; his greetings touched the point and stopped, and he came straight to it, in earnest: "Your junior comes with a matter to consult Uncle Tong. I have a younger brother at home, fourth in order, who two days ago finally came to the capital to join me. Before my father passed, the thing he could least let go of was this brother's studies, and he charged me every way to take it to heart. But I'm new to the capital, without connections and ignorant of the lay of things, and so I sought out Brother Fangze to entrust the matter to you — I wish to ask whether there's a suitable private school in the capital where my fourth brother might study."

Tong Duo listened in thought, and at the end smiled: "That's no hard matter; as eldest brother, charged by your father to look after your family and run about for them, so you should. I've been away from court many years, but I've some acquaintance yet, and inquiring for you does no harm. But there's one thing this old man is curious about, and I hope my worthy nephew will answer truthfully."

"Your junior will surely tell all he knows." Zhuo Siheng thought: he'd come to ask a favor — he'd hardly dare not answer...

Tong Duo's expression was as ever calm and constant, only his tone warm: "My worthy nephew is the zhuangyuan the emperor himself named, and now ranks as a seventh-grade attendant in the Hanlin Academy. True, the Imperial Academy's Grand Academy admits only the sons and kin of officials of the seventh grade and above; but for the officials of the Three Halls and the Academy there's an unwritten custom that, even a grade or two short, their family may enter by special exception. Why, then, is Attendant Zhuo unwilling to have his own brother enter the Imperial Academy's Grand Academy?"

Zhuo Siheng showed not the least difficulty, but smiled at ease: "Uncle Tong, to be frank, your junior has of late heard many an official sighing over the ills of the Imperial Academy's Grand Academy. What reaches the throne's ear is either a great matter or a long-festering abuse; unworthy though I am, I am a man's elder brother, and I hope only that my brother can study with a settled mind and not waste his years of hard study — so in this I must, of course, make a choice."

To tell the truth, much of his news came from Tong Shipei; and Tong Shipei was himself a green newcomer to officialdom — where did his news come from, if not from his own father? By way of give-and-take: when someone has told you no end of the state's secrets, to withhold even the plain truth from him leaves no ground to ask a favor. What's more, with the Tong family's news so well-connected, and the emperor long dissatisfied with education administration, it might well be that before Tong Duo retired the two of them had discussed this very question face to face; and even if not, he surely knew of it through other channels — why bother to deceive?

He wasn't fawning for a private matter's sake, still less angling to attach himself to the powerful; Tong Shipei had helped him time and again, and Uncle Tong had once even saved his life. Even if this came to nothing, and he counted this bit of truth simply as returning a courtesy, Zhuo Siheng's conscience was clear.

Tong Duo wore still the loving look of a kindly elder, and said evenly: "Indeed, the official schools' ills I heard the emperor raise at court many times some years ago; only, in recent years the south has had disaster after disaster, and the canal transport was but just overhauled, so all else had to be set aside. That you have such a worry shows you truly act the brother and the father now."

Zhuo Siheng dared hold no hope the matter was settled; he only waited for Uncle Tong's final assent.

"But this old man has one more question..." Tong Duo seemed still to find the talk unfinished, and said suddenly: "Were you charged with overhauling the official schools, what would you do?"