Chapter 175
Chapter 175
Ji Hanyi did not need long to think. As a child, she had often exchanged verses and composed poetry with her father. This was not difficult for her at all.
She recited:
“With mud in beak, they build on carved beams;
Once wings have grown, each flies to distant lands.
Only the spring breeze still knows the way,
And year by year enters the empty hall.”
Those with wings scattered afar, while the spring breeze returned as always. The poem never once used the words depart or stay, yet it captured the theme perfectly.
Qin Che exclaimed in admiration. Unable to resist, he nudged Shen Si and said, “Very few people can answer my grandmother’s question so quickly. Miss Ji is incredible.”
The corner of Shen Si’s mouth lifted, warmth softening his eyes.
In truth, this question had not been difficult for Ji Hanyi. Shen Si’s only concern had been that she might grow nervous before the Grand Princess.
Grand Princess Rongqing smiled, signaling her satisfaction.
Anyone who could compose an answer so quickly clearly possessed both learning and talent.
She then ordered someone to bring over a brocade box. When the lid was opened, it revealed a mallow-shaped dish covered in sky-blue glaze. Its sheen was as soft and lustrous as the clear sky after rain, but a crack ran diagonally across its center.
Grand Princess Rongqing spoke slowly. “This was once my favorite piece. It remained with me for decades, but three years ago, it was unfortunately dropped and cracked. They say a broken mirror can never be made whole again. Miss Ji, can you make this broken porcelain whole once more?”
The atmosphere in the hall abruptly froze. What she asked was practically impossible.
Once porcelain cracked, even the finest craftsman alive could do no more than bind it with gold lacquer. How could it possibly be made whole again?
Qin Che had not expected his grandmother to make things so difficult. He was about to rise and smooth things over. After all, it had taken a miracle for Shen Si’s heart to finally bloom. If the flower was pinched off now, what would become of him in the future?
He was genuinely worried about Shen Si’s lifelong happiness.
Before he could get up, however, Shen Si caught him by the wrist.
Shen Si’s gaze was fixed ahead, his expression slightly tense as he watched every movement over there. Qin Che could even feel the tightly restrained force in Shen Si’s grip.
Shen Si knew that although Ji Hanyi could be somewhat soft-natured, she had always known how to keep her composure. This question would not be difficult once she thought it through. She only needed not to panic.
Just then, a gentle voice sounded. “Do you have any pine-soot ink in the residence?”
Grand Princess Rongqing frowned slightly, but still ordered someone to fetch it.
Whether Ji Hanyi could actually restore the dish was not important. The Grand Princess wished to test her temperament. She wanted to see how Ji Hanyi would react once she realized she was being deliberately challenged, and how well she could improvise. The mistress of a great noble household could hardly fulfill her duties without a steady disposition and the wisdom to handle all manner of unexpected situations.
A servant soon presented the requested items. Ji Hanyi accepted them, ground the ink stick, then selected the smallest weasel-hair brush and saturated its tip with ink.
She made no attempt to mend the porcelain. Instead, she followed the crack with the tip of her brush, painting along both sides of it.
As Shen Si watched Ji Hanyi lower her eyes and work with quiet concentration, the tension between his brows eased, and a trace of a smile appeared on his face.
Grand Princess Rongqing could not help rising for a closer look. Qin Che also walked over, unable to contain his curiosity.
Wherever the brush passed, the crack transformed into a rugged mountain ridge. To the left, dark, textured washes formed layer upon layer of distant peaks. To the right, pale ink swept lightly across the porcelain, becoming mist and rosy clouds.
The once-glaring crack had actually become the horizon where water met sky within the painting.
Qin Che repeatedly exclaimed in admiration. “Miss Ji’s skill with a brush is truly remarkable.”
Astonishment also appeared in Grand Princess Rongqing’s eyes. She looked up at Ji Hanyi and asked, “How did you come up with this method?”
Ji Hanyi replied, “When I studied the Rites of Zhou with my father as a child, I remember reading: Heaven has its seasons, earth its vital energies, materials their inherent beauty, and craftsmen their skill. Only when these four come together can something fine be made.
“This dish was already beautiful. Though it is cracked, working with what remains may instead give rise to something new. One should adapt to circumstances rather than cling rigidly to the old.”
After hearing this, Princess Rongqing studied Ji Hanyi more closely.
Her young face was lovely, yet beneath it lay such depth of character and talent. How many people could truly understand the principle in her final words – not clinging rigidly to the old? Yet Ji Hanyi had already grasped it.
Princess Rongqing could not help turning her gaze toward Shen Si, who stood to one side. At last, a hint of a smile entered her eyes, silently telling him that this young woman had won her approval.
Shen Si smiled.
Grand Princess Rongqing withdrew her gaze. By this point, Ji Hanyi had already passed the test in her heart. However, she had specially prepared three questions for Ji Hanyi, and one still remained. She could not simply skip it.
She gestured for an attendant to bring over another box, this one made of carved red lacquer and decorated with peony patterns.
The box was opened to reveal a stack of account ledgers.
Grand Princess Rongqing looked at Ji Hanyi and said, “These are the complete income and expenditure accounts for the Villa South of the City over the past three years.”
As she spoke, she tapped the top ledger with one fingertip. “There are thirty-four income entries and seventy-nine expenditures, involving a total of more than eight thousand four hundred taels of silver. Among them, three show deficits, five are muddled accounts, and twelve do not balance.”
Grand Princess Rongqing then raised her eyes to Ji Hanyi, her gaze gentle. “I will give you one stick of incense. Without using an abacus, find every error and tell me how they should be corrected.”
“Can you do it?”
This time, Qin Che could not help exclaiming, “Grandmother, Miss Ji is not a bookkeeper. How could she possibly calculate everything without even using an abacus?”
Princess Rongqing glanced at Qin Che. She did not need Ji Hanyi to identify every error. That would indeed be nearly impossible. What she wanted to test was whether Ji Hanyi was attentive enough to find the key issues hidden in the smallest details.
The Shen Family possessed immense wealth and extensive holdings. If Ji Hanyi lacked even this degree of ability, how could she manage the household in the future? If the Grand Princess approved this marriage only for something to go wrong later, Old Madam Shen and the Empress would hold her, the matchmaker, accountable. She would have no face to offer them an explanation.
Yet Ji Hanyi remained dignified and composed, without the slightest trace of panic. For some inexplicable reason, the Grand Princess began to feel that this task might not be beyond her after all.
Ji Hanyi truly was not flustered. She merely said, “I will give it a try.”
She then quietly asked a nearby servant to bring her brush and paper.
Once they were presented, she did not immediately open the account books. Instead, she picked up the brush and began ruling lines across the paper.
Horizontal and vertical lines swiftly formed a table. After labeling columns for the date, purpose, income and expenditure, and person responsible, she finally opened the first account book. Her gaze swept carefully over each entry before she transferred the key figures into the table. From time to time, she circled an entry or added a mark. The orderly figures resembled soldiers arrayed for battle, while the soft scratch of her brush made everyone watching hold their breath, their nerves inexplicably tightening.
Shen Si’s gaze settled on the sheet beneath Ji Hanyi’s brush, and he paused slightly.
He had always known Ji Hanyi was intelligent, but he had never imagined her to be this brilliant. Her intelligence was no less than any man’s, and at that moment, he could see a shadow of her father in her.
Before even half the incense stick had burned away, Ji Hanyi set down her brush.
She presented the sheet with both hands and said softly and respectfully, “Grand Princess, please take a look. I have marked all the discrepancies.”
Grand Princess Rongqing accepted the sheet and studied it. The entries had been laid out with perfect clarity: In the twelfth lunar month of the year before last, two hundred taels had been spent purchasing stone, with Xu Gui listed as the person responsible. Yet in the eleventh month of that same year, another hundred and fifty taels had already been spent on stone for repairing the wall’s foundation. Why had the stone been purchased twice?
“This is a falsified expense.”
Pointing to the entry, Ji Hanyi continued, “Xu Gui may have made the purchase in two separate batches, but it is more likely that he split one expense into two entries and pocketed the difference.”
“A rule can be established in the future: any purchase exceeding one hundred taels must include quotations from three suppliers, along with samples for comparison. That should curb such behavior.”
As she spoke, Ji Hanyi pointed to another entry. “Last autumn, two hundred and forty taels were collected in field rent. However, the acreage attached to the country estate has remained unchanged, and the harvest was comparable to previous years, when only two hundred taels were collected. No explanation was given for the extra forty taels. The tenant farmers may have paid more voluntarily, or the person responsible may have increased the rent without authorization.”
“I believe the rent should be fixed at a set amount. A separate donation ledger should be created to record anyone who voluntarily pays extra, and the entries should be publicly posted.”
She continued through the entries one by one, sorting the twelve discrepancies into four categories: falsified or duplicate expenditures, discrepancies between the accounts and reality, missing procedures, and unclear divisions of authority and responsibility. She provided a concise, practical solution for each category.
Grand Princess Rongqing was now thoroughly won over by Ji Hanyi. Even Qin Che was impressed beyond words. Just as he had thought, a woman who had caught Shen Si’s eye could not possibly possess only extraordinary beauty.
With the accounts organized so clearly, every scattered problem could be seen at a glance. Ji Hanyi truly was remarkably intelligent.
Grand Princess Rongqing looked at Ji Hanyi. “How were you able to tell whether the figures were correct without using an abacus?”
Ji Hanyi smiled. “Sound bookkeeping does not lie in the beads of an abacus, but in the relationships between the figures.”
“Take this coal purchase, for instance. Eighty taels were spent on coal in the eleventh lunar month, but there are only six servants at the country estate. By the usual standard, thirty taels would have been sufficient. The account claims the additional cost was because the coal was of superior quality, but there is no inspection or acceptance record. That means the proper procedure was not followed.”
In truth, before her marriage, Ji Hanyi had learned only the rudiments of household management and bookkeeping from her mother. After arriving at the Xie Residence, she knew the people there were wary of her, so she meticulously tracked every transaction and sorted each expense by category while managing her own modest courtyard. Over time, she had gained some experience of her own.
The method of ruling the page into a table was also something she had stumbled upon by chance.
Grand Princess Rongqing studied Ji Hanyi for a long moment. She had deliberately ordered these accounts to be scrambled, yet Ji Hanyi had uncovered every discrepancy in such a short time. That was no small feat. For a woman like this, she would gladly vouch for her marriage into the Shen Residence.
A genuine smile finally appeared in Grand Princess Rongqing’s eyes. She slipped the emerald bracelet from her own wrist and personally placed it on Ji Hanyi’s. Then she looked at her and asked, “From the moment I met you today, I felt as though I had known you for years. We share a rare affinity. I would like to take you as my adopted daughter. Would you be willing?”
Grand Princess Rongqing smiled again. “I have no daughter of my own, nor have I ever taken an adopted daughter. If you agree, then from this day forward, you will be a member of the Cheng’an Marquis’s Residence and under my protection.”