The sky darkened, and Jiangning came alive with noise and light — pleasure boats gliding one after another, the lanterns of brothel after brothel glowing to life. The city’s nightlife, of course, wasn’t limited to visiting the pleasure quarters. There was the Qinhuai night scenery to take in, pastries and snacks to sample, teahouses to sit in and listen to storytelling and ballads — though, relatively speaking, visiting the pleasure quarters was indeed the most fashionable pursuit among them.
The tense situation both inside and outside the city, the flooding that struck every few years — none of it could touch this extravagant, prosperous scene. The wealthy remained wealthy, and in prosperous places like Jiangning, Yangzhou, and the capital, the authorities still maintained a fairly firm grip on order. Even once the gates closed in a few days, most of the brothels and pleasure houses would keep operating as usual — and with the gates shut, prices would only climb higher, fees higher still, while wealthy patrons with nowhere else to go would come around all the more often. If anything, this stretch of time would turn into a golden season for such establishments.
By the time they arrived at Yancui Tower with Li Pin, Su Wengui, Su Wenxing, and the others, the rest of the invited group had already arrived — mostly friends of the Su family’s younger generation, including two lesser-known talents hoping to meet Ning Yi and Li Pin. This outing included not only Su Wenxing, Su Wengui, and Su Wentian from the Second Branch, but also Su Wenluo and Su Wenji from the Third Branch, along with Su Wending, who was fairly close to Su Tan’er’s side of the family. In short, Su Zhongkan had invited everyone he ran into — he was footing the bill today regardless, letting the younger generation of the Su family come out and have some fun.
Just as Su Tan’er had said, Su Zhongkan wasn’t the most honest of men, and he certainly had his eye on the position of family head. But that said, even so, he had no real need at present to play petty tricks on Ning Yi. This banquet was largely incidental — partly a send-off for Li Pin in the Su family’s name, and partly a genuine wish to have the family’s younger generation spend more time around Ning Yi and Li Pin. Su Zhongkan was well aware his own children weren’t particularly capable; if this had been meant to humiliate Ning Yi, it would only have been slapping his own face. Especially with Li Pin present too — socially adept and certain to side with Ning Yi regardless.
Yancui Tower wasn’t as famous as the pleasure houses known for producing top courtesans and reigning beauties. Establishments like Jinfeng Tower or Ningyu Tower, where Qilan resided, counted among Jiangning’s first tier of brothels; Yancui Tower ranked among the best of the second tier — barely making it into Jiangning’s top ten, with genuinely attentive service and entertainment, but not quite carrying the refined elegance of places like Jinfeng or Ningyu. It was mostly a matter of brand reputation.
For instance, if the prefect of Jiangning, or someone like the imperial son-in-law Kang Xian, were hosting guests, saying “let’s go to Yancui Tower” would seem rather unimpressive. Still, plenty of wealthy merchants liked to come by and show their support in ordinary times. Literary men came too, of course — many weren’t so particular — though not in great numbers, since it wasn’t exactly the first choice.
Today, as the group made their way over, no one brought up poetry or literature along the way. Su Wenxing, Su Wending, and the others fancied themselves minor talents on ordinary days, but knew better than to try anything here. With both Ning Yi and Li Pin present, none of Jiangning’s minor local talents dared make fools of themselves in front of them — there had already been the incident of Chen Jiwen, who hadn’t dared put brush to paper after encountering Ning Yi. No point courting embarrassment over such things.
These men belonged to the Eldest, Second, and Third Branches alike, and while there were sometimes friction and petty disputes among them in ordinary times, today they were united in purpose — talking business, not poetry.
Attacking where one’s own strengths lay against another’s weaknesses — rather in the spirit of military strategy. Su Wenxing, Su Wengui, and Su Wenji had all tried their hand at managing a shop or two within the family. Along the way, Su Wenji hit it off particularly well with Ning Yi — this young man was known as the Su family’s “Little Meng Chang,” someone whose own abilities were middling but who knew how to use people well, kept a humble attitude, and spoke with courtesy. Ning Yi found him rather interesting — having a knack with people was certainly a strength, though someone who truly wanted to manage people also needed the ability to balance and check talent, and that was likely where his weakness lay.
Such abilities took long cultivation to develop, tied both to one’s own aptitude and later education — to make use of someone with a hundred points of talent, one needed at least sixty points of ability oneself. It wasn’t impossible to develop, though naturally Ning Yi saw no need to say anything on the matter. He simply listened along the way as Su Wenji shared his insights on the subject and some amusing anecdotes from the business world, nodding along with a smile as if learning something. This only pleased Su Wenji further — it wasn’t often he got to show off in front of someone like Ning Yi — and naturally, he went on to elaborate even further.
Occasionally Su Wenxing and Su Wengui would cut in: “Liheng, you don’t understand business, don’t listen to him, he’s fooling you. That deal over at Tai Lake — Wenji here has no idea what actually went wrong with it.”
“Who says I don’t know!”
“You just listen to whatever your shopkeepers tell you and believe it…”
“At least I can tell what makes sense and what doesn’t!”
The two inevitably started bickering, and Ning Yi and Li Pin found it entertaining watching from the carriage. After a while, one of them turned back to Ning Yi and said, “Why don’t you just ask Second Sister tonight when you get home, see what she says… hmph.”
Even though Su Tan’er was a woman, and everyone here was jockeying for position over the family estate in their own quiet way, honestly speaking, no one would deny her business acumen. As for Ning Yi — he might well be a great talent, but when it came to business matters, he understood absolutely nothing. Both Su Zhongkan and Su Yunfang had, at one point or another, explained to these young men exactly why Ning Yi had been chosen to marry in — and that Xi Junyu, ironically, had been passed over precisely because he had too much business talent. That much was beyond dispute.
And so, all the way there, showing off their business insights, everyone tried their best to display the wonders of commerce to Ning Yi and Li Pin, each hoping to make himself look good in the process — until they got out of the carriage and met up with a few invited friends at the entrance. Su Wenxing was first through the doors of Yancui Tower, and before long ran into some familiar faces up ahead.
By the time the main group entered the gates of Yancui Tower, Su Wenxing and Xue Jin of the Xue family were already there, trading barbed remarks with icy politeness. Beside Xue Jin stood his elder brother, Xue Yan, currently seen as the likely future head of the younger Xue generation, along with a scattering of friends and guests. Seeing over a dozen people from the Su family suddenly pour in, they too gathered around. The madam and doorkeepers of Yancui Tower, sensing trouble brewing, hurried over with smooth words to smooth things over.
Rivalries in the pleasure quarters tended to run hot easily, but this was just a bit of sniping — everyone here had their own standing to consider, and it wasn’t likely to turn into a real quarrel. Both sides found it rather amusing to watch, though Xue Jin’s expression soured somewhat at the sight of Ning Yi. Ever since “the Daoist chanted two verses,” he’d more or less stopped writing poetry altogether, forever feeling he was being mocked. Amid the general commotion, Xue Yan and Su Wengui exchanged smiling greetings, the madam mediated, Xue Jin and Su Wenxing traded a few more jabs while Xue Jin silently stewed over some remark aimed at Ning Yi — and it was then that Li Pin, standing beside Ning Yi, greeted someone across the way.
“Brother Qingdi, you’re here too.”
“Brother Dexin, what a pleasure.”
The man was also a noted talent, named Liu Qingdi, whose reputation stood roughly on par with Li Pin’s and Cao Guan’s. After the greeting, Xue Jin looked up and made an introduction: “This is my brother’s good friend, Liu Yan, styled Qingdi.” A round of polite pleasantries followed, with Xue Jin still watching Ning Yi while Ning Yi turned to take in the layout and decor of the establishment.
A moment ago it had just been Xue Jin and Su Wenxing, all bickering and heat; now, with more people around, the mood seemed almost harmonious. Everyone exchanged pleasantries, laced here and there with quiet barbs. Xue Yan said with a smile, “The specialty of Yancui Tower really is that the main hall’s the most comfortable place to sit. We’re planning to watch the performance from the main hall tonight — what do you gentlemen think?”
Su Wengui replied with a smile, “Who in Jiangning doesn’t know Brother Xue has a discerning eye — since Brother Xue is here tonight, we’ll naturally take our seats in the main hall too… let’s head to the second floor.”
Generally speaking, the first and second floors of a pleasure house’s outer building were laid out much the same, arranged like a theater around the stage at the front. There were private rooms here as well, where one could drink and entertain courtesans, though the performances on stage were fairly mainstream, and of course, in such a public setting, no one could get too forward with the accompanying women. No one came here just to watch a show, after all. If one truly wanted to pursue a courtesan further, one had to move to a different room. As Ning Yi made his way upstairs, he turned to ask Li Pin, “So what exactly are these fellows planning, competing over favor like this?”
Li Pin laughed. “The performances in Yancui Tower’s outer hall take quite a bit of effort too — someone like Lü Xia, one of the reigning beauties here, for instance, doesn’t need to be booked in advance. She performs in the outer hall, and if she happens to take a liking to someone, she’ll come down after the show and offer him a cup of wine, then go accompany him in the inner hall. Ha, being offered a cup of wine like that in full view of everyone — that’s quite the honor. Merchants, talented scholars, anyone — everyone loves this sort of drama, each trying their own scheme to win the beauty.”
Ning Yi nodded. “So it sounds like, to catch her eye, one needs to spend some silver, more or less.”
“Naturally.” Li Pin laughed. “Though of course it’s not that simple either — being an old flame works too, say, or you could simply write her a fine poem, Liheng, and she’d naturally come offer you the cup herself. In short, it’s all more or less the same handful of tricks — if you want to stand out, you have to put in some effort.”
“Oh, is Brother Li planning to write a poem and win the beauty later?”
“That would be difficult,” Li Pin laughed. “That Liu Qingdi’s poetic talent is no less than mine, and given the looks on Xue Yan and the others’ faces, they’re clearly regulars here — they think they’ve already won. Of course, your lot of brothers probably know all this too — the reason they’re confident isn’t just that, though; it’s that with the two of us here, even if I alone write a poem and lose, Lü Xia will still likely come up to offer a polite greeting. But if you write one too, Liheng, with your reputation as the foremost talent and resident genius, on top of your brothers’ silver offensive — well, then the outcome really is anyone’s guess.”
“Oh, so it’s all about face in the end…”
“Ha ha, it is indeed, all for face…”
The two of them chatted and laughed as they made their way up to the second-floor box where they’d watch the performance. In truth, Li Pin was rather keen on this sort of thing — even if Ning Yi didn’t write anything, Li Pin would likely write a poem himself, taking up Liu Qingdi’s challenge. Ning Yi glanced back and saw, down in the main hall below, the scholar named Liu Qingdi seemingly looking his way too, waving with a friendly smile. But Ning Yi’s gaze had already moved on — because suddenly, the sight of a window on one side of a room next to the stage had caught his attention.
That window hadn’t looked particularly notable at first — it was off to the side of the stage, presumably not a room meant for entertaining guests. Ning Yi only noticed it because the madam who’d just been smoothing things over was heading that way, and then… he caught sight of a face peeking out from within. It was Nie Yunzhu.
However long the woman had been watching from inside that room, the moment Ning Yi’s gaze landed on her, she broke into a smile and gave a small wave. As Ning Yi smiled and waved back, another figure leaned out from the same window — another woman, glancing curiously at Nie Yunzhu’s expression before scanning the hall below for familiar faces. When she spotted Ning Yi, her eyes blinked, and her whole face scrunched up. It was Yuan Jin’er.
So the two of them had come running over to sell preserved eggs, had they…
While he was still musing on this, Yuan Jin’er apparently said something, and Nie Yunzhu shot her an exasperated glare with a smile, arguing back. The two of them tussled a bit, and Yuan Jin’er pushed Nie Yunzhu away from the window. A second later, she leaned back into view, stuck her tongue out at Ning Yi and made a face — as if to claim sole possession of her “Sister Yunzhu” — then slammed the window shut with a bang.
Ning Yi laughed, quite amused…