Chapter 5

Chapter 5

On my first visit back to my natal home, such a terrible mishap had occurred.

Jiang Shaoling had the mind of a child. Once he finished crying, he forgot all about it.

But I could not forget even if I wanted to. After causing trouble of this magnitude, I had to give his father an explanation.

I had heard that my father-in-law was the most amiable and smooth of men outside the home, and that he lived by the saying, “Harmony brings wealth.” At home, however, he did not like to smile. The household rules could not be called especially strict, but as the head of the family, he was always stern-faced, making the servants tremble with fear whenever they worked.

The steward had already reported Jiang Shaoling’s matter to him. Seeing me waiting outside the study, my father-in-law was not surprised. He only said to have me come along to see him.

Through the doorway, from a distance, I saw Jiang Shaoling sitting in the courtyard, looking at the stars.

He was not making a fuss or crying, so my father-in-law did not go over.

He simply stood beneath the paulownia tree outside the gate, half-hidden in the dimness, his gaze like pebbles as he silently watched this son of his who had suffered grievance in broad daylight.

Jiang Shaoling was wearing a moon-white long robe today. After we returned from the Lin Family, I had pressed him into the bath barrel, scrubbed him clean, and changed him into it. He was usually playful, and the servants dressed him in black, dirt-resistant clothes for convenience. Today, dressed all at once in white, with a blue-green jade pendant hanging at his waist and sitting there properly, he really did look somewhat imposing, like a pampered young master from a wealthy family.

My father-in-law said nothing, so I quietly stood beside him.

After Jiang Shaoling watched the stars for a while, he likely grew bored. He stood up, paced in two circles, then grabbed a passing servant and asked, “Lin Xi?”

The servant said, “The young madam isn’t here. Perhaps she has matters to attend to.”

Jiang Shaoling gave a dazed “oh,” scratched his head, muttered something, and went inside. When he came out again, he was holding a handful of honeyed dates.

My father-in-law suddenly asked, “You married my son because you had nowhere else to turn. Do you resent it?”

I lowered my eyes, thought for a moment, and answered honestly, “I accepted two loads of betrothal gifts from him. It was the money that saved Mother’s life. Since I accepted the betrothal gifts, the contract was made. I have no regrets afterward.”

Whether I resented it or not, what meaning was there in saying more?

Marrying Jiang Shaoling was the best choice I had at the time.

Besides, though he was simple-minded, he had an innocent heart, something few people in this world could match.

After a pause, I gathered my courage and asked my father-in-law, “And do you regret it, Father?”

With the Jiang Family’s wealth, buying a few girls from poor households to feed, clothe, and serve Jiang Shaoling for the rest of his life would not have been difficult. Yet his family were merchants. Even with a fool, they had to calculate away the last bit of value, marrying him to a girl whose reputation had been utterly ruined, all for the sake of forging a slight marital tie with a scholar-official clan, so that in the future, there might be someone in the palace who could say a few helpful words.

But Jiang Shaoling was, after all, a fool. Even when kept in his own family’s courtyard, the servants still looked down on him, let alone in an environment like the Lin Family.

My father-in-law did not speak.

His eyes were deep, and from his face, I could not tell whether he held any resentment toward the Lin Family.

After a long while, my father-in-law said, “With only two loads of betrothal gifts, you were able to save Mother’s life. Then have you ever thought about letting her live the rest of her life without worry for food or clothing?”

I was astonished. “Father, you mean…”

“The eldest branch of the Jiang Family must have someone to manage its affairs.”

Thinking about it, my father-in-law must have still felt at least somewhat upset. It was one thing for him to belittle his own son, and another for others to belittle him.

For me, being able to learn business from the Jiang Family was not as simple as becoming the person in charge of the eldest branch. It truly gave me the means to stand on my own. I bent my knees and gave a deeply respectful bow of thanks.

My father-in-law likely still bore resentment toward the Lin Family. He gave a cold snort. “There is great learning in trade. You can thank me after you have mastered it.”

From then on, I slept only four hours a day.

I rose very early in the morning to learn the abacus. Late at night, when all was quiet, I learned to read account books.

There was no time during the day. Jiang Shaoling was extremely clingy. He wanted to look at ants, pick up fallen leaves, and go scoop up the little fish beneath the lotus leaves.

He loved sweets. I heard from the elderly servants in the household that when he was young and simple-minded, my mother-in-law had invited many doctors to examine him. Mountains of bitter medicine were poured down his throat until his voice was nearly hoarse from crying.

He ate too many candied fruits, and when he reached seven or eight and began losing his baby teeth, he suffered terribly again.

Counting the days, his mother had already passed away by then. He must have been full of bitterness with nowhere to speak of it.

I mixed jujube paste with flower honey and made him steamed buns, telling him he could only eat one a day.

That night, when I lifted the quilt, two plump round steamed buns rolled out from inside. Jiang Shaoling lay with his head on a bed full of bun crumbs, gazing at me with a silly smile.

I was speechless. I had clearly coaxed him to sleep before going to read the account books.

I pulled Jiang Shaoling up and patted the crumbs clean from the bed. Standing beside me, he actually knew to hand me the dustpan. So angry I could only curse, I shouted, “Are you stupid or not?”

Jiang Shaoling smiled slyly and opened his arms to me with a foolish little grin. “Lin Xi, keep me company.”

Once I had gotten the hang of working the abacus, my father-in-law asked me several questions from the account books. I answered them all one by one, and the keys to the main branch of the household fell into my hands.

I found a broker and bought a few new servants. They were all the crooked melons and cracked dates that everyone else had passed over: one girl had pockmarks, another had poor eyesight, and the remaining pageboy was as thin as a stalk of hemp and walked with a limp. There was no helping it. The previous ones had all set their hearts on running over to the Second Young Master’s side. Anyone too capable would never stay with our eldest branch.

Rather than waste time fighting over people in the inner courtyard, it was better to buy someone steady at a low price.

The day the servants in the courtyard were replaced, Jiang Shaoling refused to eat. When he saw an unfamiliar face pouring tea for him, he shrank back on instinct.

I patted the fool’s hand, guilt twisting in my chest.

“Just this once. Next time, I’ll give you the very best.”

With the wages I saved from replacing the servants, I bought all kinds of fabric. After Jiang Shaoling fell asleep, I lit a lamp and went to the outer room, trying to recreate the garments worn by the beauties recorded in ancient books.

Naturally, the news could not be hidden from my father-in-law. He came to my small courtyard and asked what I had in mind.

I said, “Most of the patterns and makeup styles popular in the market now came from the palace. In the past, the late emperor created the Bright Pear makeup for his favored consort, and the romantic tale spread throughout Shangjing City. For a time, noble ladies all competed to paint the same look on their faces.

“That shows whether something is beautiful or not is secondary. What matters is the story behind it. If the Jiang Family’s fabrics could be worn by some noble personage in the palace and earn a word of praise, that would naturally be ideal. But we are not imperial merchants, after all. We cannot count on the nobles of this dynasty, but there are plenty from former dynasties.

“Long ago, Consort Yang’s Rainbow Skirt and Feathered Coat Dance shook the world. The poems and writings remain to this day, but who has ever seen the true Rainbow Skirt and Feathered Coat? If I say that is what I am selling, who would dare say it is not? All women under heaven love beauty. Who would not want to imitate Consort Yang, put on such a garment, and dance for the man she loves?

“In my opinion, Father, the value of a dress lies in the story behind it. An ordinary dress might sell for one string of cash. But if it were the same style once worn by Her Grace the imperial consort, how much should it sell for then?”

After listening, my father-in-law’s eyes showed clear approval.

He stroked his beard and, in a rare moment, praised me. “It is commendable that you thought of all this.”

I smiled shyly. “I have never done business before either. I am only thinking aloud. As for how to actually carry it out, I will still need much guidance from you, Father.”

Three months later, the first batch of garments went on sale, and they sold unexpectedly well.

My father-in-law allocated twenty percent of the profits to the eldest branch and also handed me a shop in Sijing Alley to manage. Broken silver covered the entire table. I had never seen so much money in my life, and I was so excited I could not sleep.

Jiang Shaoling was unhappy. He patted the bedboard and pouted. “Sleep.”

I hugged the silver to my chest and said, beaming with joy, “Husband, our days are going to get better.”

He did not care whether our days were good or bad. He only repeated, “Sleep.”

I said with a grin, “Our days are going to get better. Better, do you know what that means? It means-if you want to buy candied dates, you can buy as many as you like. You won’t have to ask Father for money anymore.”

This time, Jiang Shaoling understood. He grinned too. “Buy. Tomorrow!”

The next day, word came from Jiang Shaoqiu’s side that the Second Young Master had rented a painted pleasure boat to tour the lake and invited us to go along.

I had always been prone to seasickness, but Jiang Shaoling badly wanted to go. Touring the lake was much more interesting than counting ants at home. Seeing how eager he was, I told him to listen to his younger brother on the way, while I went out to the street to buy him candied fruit so he would have something to eat when he came back.

The shop where I bought candied fruit was Tianxiang Tower, the most famous in the city. Their goods tasted good and were ten percent more expensive than other shops. In the past, Jiang Shaoling was not favored, and whenever we needed money for daily expenses, we had to draw silver from the accounts office. It was not that the Jiang Family could not afford it, but taking from others always made one beholden to them, and we also had to worry about gossip.

Now that we had earned our own money, I bought a bulging pouchful. Passing a roadside stall, I also picked out a jin of top-quality hawthorns, thinking I would make Jiang Shaoling some candied hawthorn skewers when I got back.

By the time the candied hawthorns were finished, the sun had not yet begun to slant westward. I estimated he still had some time before he returned, and I was just about to find something handy to stick the skewers into when I suddenly saw the limping pageboy running all the way over.

He hobbled as he ran, sweat covering his forehead, but his lips were snow-white. In that moment, he looked exactly like Cailian when Mother’s life had been hanging by a thread.

My heart lurched. The candied hawthorns I had spent the whole afternoon making scattered across the ground. I opened my mouth blankly, just about to say something, when I heard him cry,

“Terrible news-the Eldest Young Master has fallen into the water!”