Since Li Jingming had spoken thus, Zhenniang naturally had nothing more to say. Though she sensed there were many questionable aspects to this situation, some matters didn’t require immediate action. As the saying goes, haste makes waste – a good soup needs to simmer over a slow fire.
Afterward, Zhenniang accompanied Madam Huang to rest in the back tower, and told everyone else to find places to rest as well, while she herself took a light nap. After all, everyone was exhausted from the fifteen-day journey by water.
Though she had intended just a light nap, Zhenniang slept quite deeply. When she awoke, it was already dusk. Opening her eyes and seeing the unfamiliar surroundings, she momentarily felt as if she had traveled through time again.
It wasn’t until she heard the dripping of water from the eaves outside that she came to her senses. She changed clothes and got up, pushing open the window to find a light mist hanging in the air.
Nanjing’s climate seemed not much different from Huizhou’s. Before evening, there had been a light rain. When Zhenniang heard the ugly old woman mutter that “spring rain is as precious as oil,” she took her young maid to dig up a patch of soil in the back courtyard and scattered some vegetable seeds, not wanting to waste even a moment.
Er’gou had already wandered off somewhere unknown.
Looking out the window into the back courtyard, she could see that Master Ma and Zheng Fuli had already cleared out two small rooms and set up some ink-making tools, roughly establishing a small temporary ink workshop. They would wait for Li Jingming to bring people to move the goods piled in the back workshop before properly setting up the full ink shop’s framework.
“Zhenniang, you’re awake?” From outside, Madam Huang heard movement in the room and pushed open the door.
“Yes, I slept quite a while,” Zhenniang replied somewhat embarrassedly as she walked out of the room.
“There’s hot water on the rack over there, go wash up and freshen yourself,” Madam Huang said with a smile, habitually carving a wooden block with a piece of woodwork in her hands. On the table lay a drawing that Zhenniang had made while on the boat.
During the journey by water, Zhenniang had initially spent time asking Zheng Fuli about matters in Nanjing. After two days, he had told her most of what he knew.
Afterward, Zhenniang began learning carving from Madam Huang.
Speaking of block carving, Zhenniang actually had some foundation in it, as in the ink-making trade, block carving was an unavoidable skill. However, in her previous life, machines did most of the carving, and Zhenniang would often take the easy route by drawing the design and having it machine-carved. As such, her carving skills were quite crude compared to Madam Huang’s, so she felt the need to learn.
Of course, Zhenniang’s current study of carving wasn’t aimed at mastering it, as every trade has its specialty, and she was already proficient in the complete set of skills for smoking and ink-making. In the future, she should focus more on learning from various masters to improve her ink-making techniques, rather than spending too much time on carving.
Learning on the boat served two purposes: first, to understand the wood grain properties, which was mainly for producing better ink, as the wood grain of the carving blocks actually had quite an important effect on the ink’s structural stability.
The other purpose was simply to pass the time during the tedious journey. However, since in her previous life, she had always drawn her patterns before carving, during her carving practice, she drew one or two samples of ink line patterns. Unexpectedly, these caught Madam Huang’s attention.
Madam Huang insisted that while Zhenniang’s carving might not be great, her ink line drawings for the blocks were quite good. Thus, in the end, Zhenniang found herself racking her brains to draw various block patterns with ink lines.
Now these drawings had become part of Madam Huang’s collection.
At this moment, after washing her face and wringing out the towel, Zhenniang picked up the basin to go dump the water.
“Zhenniang, just leaves it there, let the little maid come empty it later. You’re the young mistress of the household now, you shouldn’t be doing such things yourself,” Madam Huang looked up at Zhenniang’s actions and casually remarked.
“It’s nothing, I’m used to it. Besides, Little Ya is still helping Ugly Po dig in the back garden,” Zhenniang smiled at Madam Huang. She hadn’t brought Little Ya along to use her as a maid. Rather, she wanted the girl to see the world – for a young woman, experiencing more of life would give her a broader perspective and more openness of mind, whether for future work, marriage, or child-rearing.
As for putting on airs as the young mistress, there was no need for that among close acquaintances. She wasn’t one to put on airs anyway, and some small tasks were quite relaxing to do.
“You’re just like your mother in temperament. Well, suit yourself,” Madam Huang, being naturally easy-going and undemanding, let Zhenniang be since she didn’t mind.
So Zhenniang still carried the basin out to empty it.
Passing by the kitchen, she glanced inside where Sister Ma was busy cooking. Zhenniang could already smell the fragrance of beef soup.
“Miss Zhen, you’re awake?” Sister Ma noticed Zhenniang and spoke, then brought over a bowl of tofu dish: “Miss Zhen, this is what Er’gou bought outside. It’s called Mixed Tofu Soup, a Nanjing specialty. It has an auspicious name too – ‘Future as Bright as Brocade.'”
“Mm, I am quite hungry,” Zhenniang accepted it without ceremony and began eating.
Thus a bowl of ‘Future as Bright as Brocade’ went into her stomach.
“Miss Zhen, I just caught some gossip from the kitchen woman. Do you know how that Sister Qiu got into the Li family?” Sister Ma then said mysteriously.
Zhenniang was quite curious at her expression and asked, “How did she get in?”
“From what I gathered from the kitchen woman’s words, Sister Qiu isn’t a proper person at all. Young Master Zhengping was originally learning to be an accountant at a brocade shop up front, but last year somehow got pulled by Circuit Inspector Ge to help with tax calculations. That’s quite a decent and respectable position. But then Sister Qiu set her eyes on him, and Circuit Inspector Ge specially sent someone to sound out Manager Jingming’s thoughts. Manager Jingming didn’t approve of the Ge family’s daughter and had already told Young Master Zhengping to resign from that position. But later, the Ge family sent someone again, saying some accounts needed clarification, so Young Master Zhengping went over. Unexpectedly, somehow when Circuit Inspector Ge returned home, he found Miss Qiu and Young Master Zhengping in a compromising position. What happened after doesn’t need saying – Circuit Inspector Ge pressured them, and Manager Jingming had no choice but to let Young Master Zhengping marry Sister Qiu.”
Speaking of which, Sister Ma lowered her voice and giggled: “Also when I went out to buy some green onions earlier, I chatted with some neighbors. Everyone’s laughing at the Ge family, saying they only married Miss Ge Qiu to Young Master Zhengping because they had their eyes on this house and those five shops. Everyone used to think the house and shops belonged to Manager Jingming’s family, but now they’re all saying the real owner from Huizhou has arrived, and the Ge family’s efforts were all for nothing – they even lost a daughter in the bargain. They’re all laughing about it in private.”
Sister Ma then gave Zhenniang a thumbs up: “Earlier, when you publicly announced the ownership of this house and the shops, that was a brilliant move. Now everyone knows, and no matter what schemes they might have, they can’t do anything about it.”
“Ha, idle gossip is just that – don’t take it too seriously,” Zhenniang smiled and said.
Her public announcement was mainly aimed at Uncle Jingming’s family, as she had heard from Seventh Grandmother that the finances on this end had been very unclear these past few years. Additionally, no one from Huizhou had been sent over for more than ten years, except for occasional visits from Manager Zheng. And Zhenniang knew Manager Zheng well – while he might not be a bad person, he wasn’t very responsible either, so he probably wasn’t clear about some matters.
Given the situation at the time, that’s why Zhenniang had declared ownership. The Ge family was just caught in the crossfire.
“That’s true, that’s true,” Sister Ma said. As just a helper, she would say what needed to be said, but whether to take it seriously or not was up to her.
Zhenniang continued smiling and nodding, understanding in her heart that Sister Ma’s words were probably quite accurate.
Just then, there was a commotion from the front courtyard. Zhenniang poked her head out to look, and at the other end of the long corridor, Li Jingming and his wife had returned.
Since they were all living under the same roof now, Zhenniang decided to go take a look.
However, just as she walked through the connecting hall between the front and back courtyards, she heard suppressed arguing voices from beneath the stairs – it was Madam Fang and Madam Ge.
Zhenniang couldn’t help but stop in her tracks. While she had no interest in eavesdropping, at this point, whether she moved forward or backward would inevitably disturb them, which wouldn’t be good. She could only quietly stand aside and wait for the speakers to leave.
“Why should I move out of the main room? When I married in, you promised that the rooms in the front courtyard would be ours, and the back tower would be your residence. So why don’t you move to the back tower now? The front courtyard is mine – whether I want to live in the main room or the side room is no one else’s business,” Madam Ge said mockingly in a low voice.
“That was then, this is now. I’m your mother-in-law, and when I tell you to move, you must move. If not, we can ask Second Madam to judge,” Madam Fang refused to yield, and though speaking quietly, her tone brooked no argument.
Zhenniang raised an eyebrow. She had thought the mother-in-law was in a weak position, dominated by her daughter-in-law, but now it seemed Madam Fang had quite the commanding presence.
“Ha! Now that mother-in-law has found someone to rely on, even your tone has changed! Do you want to ask Second Madam to judge? Well, I want to ask Second Madam to judge too. Don’t forget, when I married in, you beat your chest promising that all these properties were yours, saying they would be left to Zhengping and that I would manage them. Now everything’s changed completely. What if I tell Second Madam about this? I wonder how you’ll explain yourself to this Second Madam you keep mentioning?” Madam Ge retorted, refusing to back down.
“Go ahead, tell her if you dare! You can tell, and so can I! Those goods stored in the back workshop aren’t mine – they’re your father’s untaxed goods. He’s the only one profiting from them. If the tax officials found out about this, how well do you think your father would fare?” Madam Fang coldly snorted in a low voice.
Zhenniang blinked at this exchange – what a situation! Neither of them was innocent.
Suddenly, Madam Ge giggled: “Alright, mother-in-law, you just want to live in the main room, so live there. We’re family after all – what’s mine is yours, and what’s yours is mine, isn’t it? We’re in the same boat now. That Miss Zhen isn’t someone to be trifled with. We should put aside our past grievances, shouldn’t we?”
“Of course,” Madam Fang replied coolly, though her voice carried a note of triumph.
So these two, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, ended up putting aside their grievances – was this a resolution?
Then, footsteps could be heard leaving the stairs, one after another.
Only then did Zhenniang emerge from her hiding place. Though she hadn’t meant to overhear all this, what she’d heard gave her a deeper understanding of the situation here.
With these thoughts, she returned to the back tower.
Seeing Zhenniang return, Sister Ma had Little Ya set the table. Zhenniang ate with Madam Tian.
“There was quite a commotion up front earlier, what happened?” The Li family had no custom against speaking during meals, so Madam Tian asked about the noise she’d heard earlier.
“Oh, Uncle Jingming and his family moved back in,” Zhenniang replied.
“How much do you understand about this household’s situation now?” Madam Huang looked up with some concern and asked. After a day here, things felt uncomfortable, seemingly quite complex.
“Probably about seventy or eighty percent,” Zhenniang considered and said.
“Oh? Tell us about it,” Madam Huang put down her chopsticks and looked at Zhenniang.
“Well, let’s start with Uncle Jingming’s side. I’m not quite clear about Uncle Jingming’s intentions, but Aunt Jingming’s thoughts are quite clear. They’ve managed these Nanjing properties for over ten years, and back in Huizhou, the main family line has the elderly, the young, and the widowed – none of them able to travel easily. With heaven high and the emperor far away, Aunt Jingming probably developed some different ideas. That’s why she’s been telling everyone these properties belong to her family.” At this point, Zhenniang took a sip of tea.
“Continue,” Madam Huang nodded.
“As for Madam Ge, her father is the Circuit Inspector of this commercial district. With his men under him, he must have known the true situation of these properties. While Aunt Jingming coveted these properties, Circuit Inspector Ge likely wanted to snatch them from Aunt Jingming’s hands, which is why he arranged for Madam Ge to marry Brother Zhengping. He intended to use Madam Ge to acquire these properties. If he succeeded, since Uncle Jingming’s family wasn’t in the right, they would have had nowhere to appeal. Even if we tried to investigate, we probably couldn’t pin anything on the Ge family. You could say Circuit Inspector Ge had quite a clever plan. Ironically, Aunt Jingming thought herself clever too, wanting to use Circuit Inspector Ge’s influence to legitimately transfer the properties to her name. So the two families went along with the marriage.”
Pausing briefly, Zhenniang continued: “The marriage happened, but Aunt Jingming couldn’t control Madam Ge, who had her father’s backing. Just then, Aunt Jingming received news of our arrival. Instead of telling Madam Ge, she took advantage of Madam Ge’s increasing pressure and simply moved out, aiming to let Madam Ge face setbacks at our hands…”
At this point, Madam Huang interrupted: “Oh? Wasn’t it said they moved out to clean the house for our arrival?”
“Second Aunt, do you believe that reason?” Zhenniang asked with a smile.
“You clever girl, continue,” Madam Huang laughed, tapping Zhenniang’s smooth forehead, clearly not believing it either.
“Go on,” Madam Huang added.
“There’s not much more. After Madam Ge faced setbacks from us and understood the truth, she realized she couldn’t get anything without cooperating with Aunt Jingming. Madam Ge holds evidence against Aunt Jingming, and conversely, Aunt Jingming knows some secrets about how the Ge family made their fortune. They have leverage over each other and mutual needs, so naturally, they’ve made peace now. Next, they’ll be dealing with us,” Zhenniang said while chewing a slice of beef – it was quite delicious, Sister Ma’s cooking was excellent.
“Oh, so they’re like local snakes, and we’re strangers here. This seems difficult. How do you plan to handle it?” Madam Huang continued.
“It’s very simple,” Zhenniang shook her head playfully.
“Oh? Tell us, I think it seems quite difficult,” Madam Huang said with interest.
“Well, schemes can never beat straightforward tactics. Second Aunt, think about it – Uncle Jingming’s family has been in Nanjing for over ten years without returning home. Shouldn’t we give them a chance to reconnect with their hometown? Besides, now that Brother Zhengping has taken a new wife, shouldn’t they return home to pay respects to the ancestors?” Zhenniang suggested to Madam Huang.
“Ha! You clever girl! You’re pulling the firewood from under the cauldron – sending them directly back to Huizhou where they can’t exert any influence. With your Seventh Grandmother there, they won’t be able to cause trouble, and without Madam Ge as an inside connection, even if Circuit Inspector Ge has any schemes, they won’t be easy to execute. We can sit back and watch. Indeed, it’s a straightforward strategy. Your Seventh Grandmother didn’t misjudge you,” Madam Huang laughed. Earlier she had been worried that the situation was too complex for Zhenniang to handle, but hearing Zhenniang’s solution of simplifying the complicated and removing the root of the problem, it didn’t seem so difficult after all.
“When do you plan to have Uncle Jingming’s family return to Huizhou?” Madam Huang asked.
“No rush, let’s watch for now,” Zhenniang replied, though in her heart she was thinking about the matter Seventh Grandmother had asked her to investigate before departing – they should first clarify the accounts of these years.