Chapter 7

Just as she ran out of ideas, Father and my older brother returned.

They had escorted several elderly officials who had drunk too much back to their residences, and were only now coming home.

With the pillars of the household restored, Grandmother and Aunt straightened their backs again.

One called for her son, the other for her brother. They wept as though they had suffered a grievous injustice, making my mother-in-law and me look like bandits who had broken into the house.

As a deputy chief of the Court of Judicial Review, Father had spent years hearing cases. He was very good at scolding people.

He scolded me. “Whom do you think you’re frightening? Which law of Great Qi says raping a girl under twelve means immediate beheading? It’s a girl under ten. You can’t even remember the law, and you fancy yourself a righteous judge? Aren’t you afraid of being laughed at?”

Grandmother and Aunt wept with joy. He Zhili stirred back to consciousness.

Father took a sip of tea. “For raping a girl under twelve, the death sentence is deferred.”

It was too much for He Zhili. His eyes rolled back; he was about to faint again.

“Not yet.” Father caught him with a quick hand. “Ah Ci has had her turn beating you. I haven’t had mine.”

My brother had a few private scores to settle with He Zhili. He rubbed his hands. “Father, let me join you.”

Father’s and my brother’s fists and feet did far more damage than my switch. He Zhili howled and shrieked until, at last, he lay barely breathing on the floor.

“We’ll leave you alive for the autumn execution,” Father announced.

He Zhili and Aunt both fainted.

Grandmother knew Father’s temperament. She stopped pleading for Zhili and seized on Little Four instead. “Even if he deserves a thousand deaths, what about her? Once he goes to prison, everyone will know she’s lost her chastity long before autumn. Gossip can kill. How is she to live?”

Father looked puzzled. “What’s difficult about that? A girl who has lost her chastity cannot be allowed to go on living. Since Little Four is young and was forced, we can permit her to end her own life.”

Discovering that her son was even more ruthless than herself, Grandmother had nothing to say.

My mother-in-law had whispered earlier, asking why I wasn’t smiling. Now she knew.

My father. Everyone praised him for his integrity, his honesty, his refusal to bow to power.

“Are you satisfied now?” Mother dared not question Father’s decision. She only cried and complained beside me in a low voice. “You’ve ruined a perfectly good marriage, and now Little Four will lose her life too. Just see if she doesn’t hate you.”

Little Four would not hate me. She had not cried. She had only said, “Sister, I want He Zhili dead. Even if it costs my life.”

What was his worthless life, to be bought with hers?

I asked Father, “If a man is forced and loses his chastity, must he also kill himself?”

“Absurd! Nonsense!” Father’s face hardened. “How can a man lose his chastity?”

My brother snickered. “Oh, he can. If it’s a beauty, he might put up a token struggle. If she’s ugly, then he’s being forced to take his trousers off.”

Father glared at him. My brother promptly assumed a solemn expression. “Whatever happens, it’s the woman who loses.”

“And if a man forces another man? Does that count?” I asked mildly. “I hear there are bachelors who haven’t touched a woman in years. Once they find a handsome young man, they won’t let him go.”

Mother was horrified. “Ah Ci, how can you say such outrageous things before your mother-in-law?”

She hurried to apologize on my behalf.

My mother-in-law coughed delicately. “Ah Ci is a young girl. What would she know of these things? I tell her stories when I’ve nothing else to do.”

“My husband spends most of his time guarding the frontier. Whenever he returns to the capital to report, he brings back baskets of stories like that.”

“Apparently those bachelors are particularly fond of men like you, sir. Refined and elegant. Just to their taste.”

Mother was speechless.

So was Father.

His expression chilled. “Ah Ci, there is no need for these insinuations. I know you love Little Four and cannot accept this just yet. One day you’ll understand that I am doing it for her sake. Better to be released from suffering than to endure a life worse than death.”

Father was head of the household. He needed no one’s consent for his decisions, even when a decision meant erasing a life.

He ordered servants to take He Zhili away and hold him under guard.

Then someone came in to announce the arrival of the head of the He family.

Aunt laughed triumphantly. “Brother, I sent word to the He household long ago. Little Four is a Jiang daughter. You may kill her or carve her up as you please. But Zhili is a He son. You may be a deputy chief of the Court of Judicial Review, but the He family is an old and powerful house. Taking my son’s life won’t be so easy.”

The head of the He family was He Zhili’s father, a shrewd-looking man with a short beard.

“The wretch has committed a grave offense and certainly deserves to die,” he said meaningfully. “But both our families have standing in the capital. Losing face before the authorities is a small matter. Damaging the reputations of every Jiang daughter is another.”

“Why not leave the wretch to me? He must die either way. For the sake of our families’ ties, surely there is no need to quibble over where.”

Once He Zhili was back in his father’s hands, safely inside the He residence, whether he lived or died would be anyone’s guess.

Aunt was about to protest, but caught her husband’s eye. Understanding his plan, she fell quiet at once.

Father was no fool. He knew exactly what Uncle intended.

But Uncle offered too much. “The Jiang family has lost a daughter. Naturally, we must give you one in return. Hasn’t your eldest always liked our Yaoguang? They would make a fine match. We could begin arranging the marriage by the end of the year.”

My brother beamed.

He Yaoguang was beautiful, gentle and well educated, accomplished in music, chess, calligraphy and painting. The He family had spent a great deal training her, with a princely marriage in mind.

It would be a shame to marry her to my feckless brother.

Yaoguang was Aunt’s treasured daughter. She started to speak, then swallowed her objections. Precious as a daughter might be, a son mattered more.

Father’s son had made nothing of himself. He badly needed a daughter-in-law capable of upholding the household.

Besides, Uncle had preserved Father’s dignity. Officially, He Zhili was still to die. Nothing would tarnish Father’s image as an impartial, upright defender of the law.

He servants helped He Zhili to his feet. Uncle waved them away with him, then began discussing my brother’s marriage to Yaoguang with Father, who maintained an air of grave importance.

“Two happy occasions, thanks to the old lady’s birthday…”

And so Father did not stop He Zhili from leaving.

Neither did I.