2.20 Late Spring

Mid-July arrived in the blink of an eye.

Just as Lin Rui had predicted from the more than twenty letters he sent out, the vast majority received no response at all. As the saying goes, "tea cools as soon as the guests leave," and Lin Ruhai's death was shrouded in murky circumstances, making it entirely understandable that others chose to wash their hands of the matter.

Fortunately, not everyone was so heartless.

In the back garden, inside the embroidered tower.

"Brother Rui, is this the last one?" Seeing him mark up a list, Lin Daiyu walked over gently. "The ones crossed out are... Looking at it this way, there are only four families left who bothered to reply."

"Fortunately, the most important one didn't refuse us." Glancing at the list one last time, Lin Rui let out a long breath of relief. "The Censorate was ice-cold, paying no attention to the report I submitted previously. They simply canceled Uncle Lin's name according to standard procedure."

"Brother Rui!" Lin Daiyu could not hold back her tears.

"There, there, it's all in the past now!" Lin Rui sighed helplessly. "When I went to the Ministry of Personnel to handle the cancellation, Lord Xu of the Bureau of Merit Evaluation—a dear friend specifically mentioned by Uncle Lin—made time to see me. I seized the opportunity to deliver the letter directly into his hands."

"Did he give any instructions?" Lin Daiyu asked anxiously.

"He asked me to come to his residence tonight." Lin Rui wore a wry smile.

"Sir, what does that mean?" Xueyan asked, completely puzzled.

"It means he doesn't want to publicly expose our relationship." Lin Rui could only sigh. "This is already quite good; at the very least, he is still willing to see me. Securing a placement with his help is infinitely better than those who received our letters and remained completely silent."

"Brother Rui, what do you plan to say to him?" Lin Daiyu asked, letting him pull her into his arms with a heart-wrenching ache.

"I won't need to say anything; I'll just follow his lead," Lin Rui shook his head helplessly. "Judging by his intentions, my placement should be finalized today. Unfortunately, up until now, I still have no idea where I'll be assigned."

"Does elder brother plan to accept?" Lin Daiyu asked softly.

"What else can I do if I don't?" Lin Rui released her, took her hand, and they began to walk together into the garden. "Right now, the most important thing for me is to secure a post as quickly as possible. I can't afford to be picky about whether it's good or bad; even a bad post is better than nothing. Connections and favors have an expiration date, especially under current circumstances. The longer this drags on, the more troublesome it will become. The fact that Lord Xu is still willing to help shows an extraordinary conscience on his part. If I were to refuse him now, I'd probably never even get to see him again in the future."

"Is this what they mean by the warmth and coldness of human relationships?" Lin Daiyu turned to embrace him, tears finally spilling over. "Little sister has read about such things in books since childhood, but never truly felt them until now. Today, I've truly witnessed it."

"You silly girl, isn't that just how government offices work?" Lin Rui, however, seemed unfazed, smiling as he held her tighter. "Just as I said before, the fact that he is still willing to help shows he has a profound sense of righteousness. That is quite enough."

"Didn't you say a total of four families replied, miss?" Xueyan could not help asking.

"Two of them were Uncle Lin's classmates from the imperial examinations. They've spent their whole lives languishing in the Censorate or the Hanlin Academy, past forty years old without ever being promoted or posted outside the capital. They are utterly useless," Lin Rui sighed softly. "Only one is a fellow townsman from Suzhou currently in the Ministry of Works, serving as a department director."

"The Ministry of Works?" Lin Daiyu hesitated. "I heard that Second Uncle works in the Ministry of Works as well?"

"That one is even more useless," Lin Rui stated bluntly. "He currently serves in the Bureau of Land Reclamation under the Ministry of Works, as one of the five primary directors. But his responsibilities are restricted to the expenditure and auditing of funds for the repair of imperial tombs. On paper, his authority sounds immense, but in reality, he has no actual jurisdiction over anything."

"How so?" Xueyan was completely bewildered.

"Because this authority conflicts with the Imperial Household Department and the Imperial Clan Court," Lin Rui explained, finding the man rather pathetic. "The so-called 'construction and repair of imperial tombs' takes place entirely within the burial grounds of the imperial family or noble houses, figures whose prestige far outweighs his.

Normally, when nothing is happening, he's basically idle, drinking tea and chatting. When something *does* happen, it's a major event, and his opinion won't count for anything anyway. At most, he just issues official documents according to instructions, while the actual responsibility falls either on the Imperial Household Department (for the royals) or the Imperial Clan Court (for the nobility). What earthly use is his authority?"

"Brother Rui!" Lin Daiyu playfully punched him in exasperation.

"This maid heard that the Rongguo Mansion still has an Eldest Master?" Xueyan asked hurriedly.

"He nominally holds a concurrent post in the 'Five Armies Chief Military Commission' as one of the five chief commanders—though I'm not sure if it's the front, rear, left, right, or center division." Mentioning this, Lin Rui sighed again. "His official rank is extremely high—Senior First Rank—but in reality, he was long ago sidelined by the Ministry of War. It's nothing more than a place for old men to draw a salary and retire."

Lin Daiyu: ......

"Does that mean the Rongguo Mansion doesn't even have a single person qualified to attend court?" Xueyan blurted out.

"Them? They probably haven't heard any real news from the imperial court in years," Lin Rui nodded. "Remember Second Brother Lian who came by the other day? Like me, he only holds the purchased title of a 'Sub-Prefect,' but in reality, he's just a commoner with no actual power."

Xueyan: ......

"An entire Duke's estate, how did it ever fall to this?" She found it completely incomprehensible.

"Let them be." Lin Rui was currently struggling to secure his own future; how could he possibly care about a bunch of good-for-nothing parasites in the Jia family who only lived off their ancestors' legacy? "Little Sister Lin, I'm afraid I'll be too busy to look after the household over the next few days. Please remember to help Madam."

"Do I need you to tell me?" Lin Daiyu shot him a sideways glance. "Shall I ask Sister Miaoyu to keep me company?"

"Little thing, you're not very big, but you sure know how to brew vinegar." Lin Rui lowered his head, intending to steal a kiss.

"Hmph!" Blushing fiercely, Lin Daiyu shoved him away and pulled Xueyan along as she hurried back. "You think quite highly of yourself, don't you? Why don't you go busy yourself with your official career and economic statecraft? I don't have any official business here for you. Don't waste your time—go on!"

Lin Rui chuckled in spite of himself, watching her retreat through the doorway before turning to leave.

Just as he had said, he was about to become extremely busy, and the first order of business was tonight's visit.

However, he did not see that the moment Lin Daiyu stepped back into the embroidered tower, she pulled her maid close, silent tears streaming down her face.

"Miss?" Xueyan was perplexed, yet she followed her back to the bedchamber.

"Brother Rui, with such a large household of ours resting on your shoulders, you have to suffer so much," Lin Daiyu silently gazed at his retreating figure until it vanished completely beyond the passageway. "Tell me, am I being very foolish?"

"Huh?" Xueyan failed to follow her train of thought.

"Sister Miaoyu, Sister Xiuyan, the two young ladies of the You family, plus Sister Baoqin and Sister Xiangling who are busy over in Tianjin," Lin Daiyu gently counted on her fingers. "In the future, there might even be other sisters, yet all I can do is watch."

"This—" Xueyan's voice was barely a whisper. "Isn't it normal for a master of high status to have three wives and four concubines? Look at how devoted our master and madam are to each other, yet they still have two concubines serving them."

"Indeed, two of them!" Lin Daiyu playfully grabbed her and began tickling her ribs in mock anger. "And you as well!"

"Ah—tee-hee-hee!" Xueyan gasped for air through her giggles. "Miss, what about this maid?"

"Do you take me for a fool?" Lin Daiyu stopped abruptly with a faux glare, then reached out to pinch Xueyan's ear, her cheeks gradually turning crimson. "Brother Rui and you... for half an hour! Did you really think I understand nothing and see nothing?"

"Miss!" Terrified, Xueyan instantly sobered up and hurriedly explained, "This maid knew she shouldn't have... but it was also for the sake of the miss! Elder Master Rui sleeps in his own courtyard every single night, and of the people you just named, how many are actually by his side?"

"It's hard on you," Lin Daiyu sighed softly, pulling the maid into a gentle embrace as they lay down together.

A personal maid and her mistress shared the same fate; such things were, in a way, "interchangeable."

"Miss, it's not good for you to always dwell on this," Xueyan said, full of sympathy. "This maid remembers Madam mentioning a few days ago that there are several young ladies of our age over at the Rongguo Mansion. Why don't we go visit them one of these days? At least you'd have someone to talk to."

"This—" Lin Daiyu hesitated. "You can see it just as well as I do. Mother and Brother Rui both consider it best not to go over there right now. We can't just go by ourselves, can we? Would that be proper?"

Xueyan fell silent, hesitating.

"If that's the case, I suppose we can only wait for Elder Master Rui to make arrangements," she finally said with a shake of her head.

"Brother Rui!" Lin Daiyu raised her head to gaze toward the front courtyard, a trace of quiet grievance unconsciously coloring her pretty face.

Over at the Rongguo Mansion, in the back garden.

The scorching heat seemed to be diluted here by the lush greenery everywhere. Beneath the cool shade of trees and shrubbery, three young maidships of similar age were playfully chasing one another, while three other maids anxiously followed behind.

"Third Sister, have mercy! This little sister admits she was wrong!" Xichun cried out, too exhausted to run any further, and begged for mercy.

"Only now do you know you're wrong? Too late!" Tanchun lunged forward to grab her, and the two began playfully wrestling. "Why did you stop running? I thought you could keep going forever and never let me catch you!"

"Aish, Sister, have mercy—tee-hee-hee!" Unable to endure the tickling, Xichun twisted and turned to dodge. "If outsiders saw you acting like this, wouldn't it ruin your reputation? I heard that Auntie, who has been living in Yangzhou all this time, has already returned to the capital. What if she suddenly drops by... oh!"

As she twisted too violently, Tanchun lost her grip, causing Xichun to tumble to the ground.

"Fourth Sister, are you alright? Did you hurt yourself anywhere?" Yingchun, who had been watching the fun with a smile, hurried over, her pretty face etched with worry. "Even if you two are playing around, you should be careful! What if you'd broken something?"

"I just slipped by accident—" Tanchun looked ready to cry.

"Ow... it hurts—" Xichun pulled a miserable face and "wailed."

To her surprise, the moment she started crying out, both of her older sisters froze.

"You little minx, are you trying to scare me to death?" Tanchun gave her a light slap in exasperation. "You still have the energy to wail, so you must not be badly hurt. I should teach you a proper lesson so you fall again—take this!"

With that, she pinned her younger sister down and resumed tickling her.

Laughter immediately filled the entire garden.

"Third Sister, you mentioned Auntie just now. Second Brother (Jia Lian) went to pay his respects and said she's been back for quite some days," Yingchun said, her thoughts drifting elsewhere. "By rights, they should have paid a visit by now. Why haven't we seen hide nor hair of them?"

Tanchun finally let her younger sister go, helping her up while pondering the question.

"Perhaps their household affairs haven't been sorted out yet," she ventured after a long moment, sounding rather uncertain.

"So what if they haven't?" Xichun blurted out. "If they can't come over, we can go visit them!"

Tanchun and Yingchun both rolled their eyes at her in exasperation.