On the day of the small celebration at the Pei manor, Lin Shi heard what her son-in-law had said and felt both grateful and relieved — but beyond that, another thought arose in her mind. The moment the banquet broke up, she sent for Lian Jie’er to come and have a chat.
She asked whether “among the students being dispatched on this training assignment, what were their ages, and were there any promising young men who had not yet wed” — and had Lian Jie’er make inquiries with her husband.
What Lin Shi had in mind was already perfectly clear.
And no wonder she would think this way. Among those in the Imperial Academy, besides older students who had entered through the tribute or hereditary exemption routes — as Pei Bingyuan had — there was also a large portion who had obtained their provincial degrees or made the supplementary list for the provincial examination. Those who would be sent to a place like Yuchong County for their training assignment were unlikely to come from overly prominent families.
In any case, they would be working under her husband’s supervision. Lin Shi wanted to take advantage of being close to the water to get the moon first, and see whether any suitable candidate might be found.
Lian Jie’er understood at once, and said she would go home and ask right away, then send word back to Lin Shi. She also sighed with feeling: “Mother truly works so hard — barely finished worrying about this one, and already worrying about the next.”
A stepmother, devoting herself so wholeheartedly to these daughters who were not born of her — it was something genuinely admirable.
“Not at all — it’s simply one more question asked, one more plan considered.” Lin Shi replied, and went on to praise Lian Jie’er: “My only hope is that they can learn more from their eldest sister — to grow and improve, every one of them, and marry well, so that their elders may all be at ease.”
From the time Pei Bingyuan entered the Imperial Academy, to the brothers studying and preparing for the examinations, to this latest training assignment — the Pei family had already received the Xu family’s generosity many times over.
If not for the marriage connection, how could Senior Official Xu have repeatedly gone back to the Imperial Academy to “seek a little advantage” on their behalf, setting aside his own dignity to do so?
“Most of all, the two younger brothers are genuinely promising.” Lian Jie’er said. “At such a young age, they have already cleared two hurdles in a row — and they get along extremely well with Yancheng, their great-nephew.”
The two of them talked of a few other things as well. Lin Shi had Nanny Shen call a servant to fetch some cloth, and said to Lian Jie’er: “This cloud-patterned silk — my eldest brother had it specially woven when he went down to Hangzhou. I’ll have someone send some over to the Xu manor. When you have time, have a few fine garments made from it for your mother-in-law and your sister-in-law.”
Half a month later, the court approved the Imperial Academy’s submitted list of practical training assignments. The very next day, Lian Jie’er sent someone with a message for Lin Shi: of the six students assigned to Yuchong County, one had made the supplementary list for the provincial examination, entered the Imperial Academy as a student, was twenty-one years of age, and had not yet wed.
This student’s name was Li Shuisheng. He was the third son of Department Director Li at the Bureau of Works under the Ministry of Works. He had been assigned to Yuchong County specifically to learn about hydraulic engineering, with the hope of eventually securing a position in the Ministry of Works in the future.
The Director of the Bureau of Works — a seventh-grade capital official who managed the repair of walls and courtyards — was indeed no household of great standing. Was that not precisely what Concubine Shen hoped for?
Having received this information, Lin Shi wrote a letter to Pei Bingyuan, telling him of her plan and asking him to carefully observe Li Shuisheng, and at an appropriate moment to sound out whether the family might have any interest.
By the time Pei Bingyuan read her letter, those six students had already arrived in Yuchong County.
Another half month passed before Lin Shi finally received a reply from her husband. On it was written: “His character is upright, his scholarship solid, and he shows promise of advancing further in the examinations. As for the matrimonial matter you mentioned, he is not averse to the idea — though he says it must be for his widowed mother at home to decide. The county yamen affairs are numerous and pressing, and I have not had the time. I will continue to observe other matters as opportunity allows.”
“The parents’ command and the matchmaker’s words” — leaving the decision to his mother at home was entirely proper. Lin Shi felt this match might well come together.
That day, Lin Shi sent someone to call for Concubine Shen, saying the spring tea was at its most fragrant and she’d like her to come to Zhaolu Courtyard for tea and a chat.
The chat, naturally, was about Li Shuisheng.
“Don’t think I’ve been overstepping — I only noticed a good prospect and kept it in mind, made a small plan. Nothing is decided yet.” Lin Shi said. “The reason I called you here today is simply to ask your thoughts.”
One could see that Concubine Shen’s face lit up with quiet joy. She said: “That the Madam carries this much care for her — that is a blessing my daughter has earned through her fate. This servant’s vision is shallow and I don’t understand one official from another — but hearing that he is of clean origins, a scholar, that is already very fine.”
Having heard Concubine Shen’s response, Lin Shi had no further reservations. She said: “The several shops at the Dongyang Prefecture wharf are all settled now, and are about to open for business. I intend to go and take a look. While I’m at it, I might as well bring the children along to visit their father.” Her husband had been away from home for half a year already; the two places were not far apart, and it was time to go and see him.
“This servant will go and make the arrangements at once.”
……
Pei Shaohuai and his younger brother took leave from their tutor. In the sixth month, Lin Shi took the children, accompanied by servants, and set off from the capital southward along the canal waterway. It took only one day to reach the Dongyang Prefecture wharf.
On the boat.
The summer heat was oppressive and stifling. Fortunately, they were traveling on water, where a cool breeze drifted through, making things less irritable than they might have been.
Zhu Jie’er and Ying Jie’er had not been together in quite a while, and had no end of jokes and playful talk, chirping and chattering away without pause, very close and warm. Pei Shaojin was leaning by the window, gazing the whole time at the landscape flowing backward along both banks — saying that the tutor had told him to take this opportunity to immerse himself in the scenery and absorb inspiration. He had the complete look of a young man leisurely enjoying mountains and rivers.
In the afternoon, Lin Shi called Zhu Jie’er into the cabin and asked: “Concubine Shen has already told you the purpose of this trip, hasn’t she?”
Zhu Jie’er nodded, her small hands not quite knowing what to do with themselves.
“Then let me give you a few pointers.” Lin Shi said warmly. “This time is only a preliminary look — just so you have an idea in your heart. As for whether it’s good or not, or whether it will work out, that is something for your father and me to handle. You need only take a quiet look from a distance, and by no means reveal anything while things are still undecided. If you have any thoughts, wait until no one is around and tell me privately.”
In this world, a proper young woman could not afford to be the one who made the first move in a matter between a man and a woman.
“Thank you for the guidance, Mother. Daughter understands.” Zhu Jie’er replied.
Outside the cabin, Pei Shaohuai had been gently rocked by the large boat’s subtle swaying until he felt drowsy, drifting in and out of wakefulness. It felt rather as though he were back to when he had first crossed into this world, the little infant lying in a cradle, also rocking gently, side to side.
He had not quite fallen into a deep sleep when his younger brother Jin suddenly gave him a forceful shove. He heard Jin Ge’er call out in delighted surprise: “Elder Brother! Elder Brother! Quick, look, look!”
Pei Shaohuai rubbed his eyes and looked in the direction his younger brother’s hand was pointing — but all that remained on the water’s surface were a few fading ripples. Jin Ge’er said with an embarrassed laugh: “Elder Brother, you didn’t see it — just now, a fish leapt up, a huge one, at least this big.” As he spoke, he gestured with his hands.
After a moment: “Would one pot be enough to stew it?” Pei Shaohuai asked.
Jin Ge’er was caught off guard, then shook his head and said: “Maybe two pots would be needed — if you’re adding tofu.”
The next morning, Pei Shaohuai was woken by a chorus of shouting voices. He got up and looked out, and found that the large boat had already docked at the wharf, where cargo workers were in the midst of hauling hemp sacks off the vessel.
Lin Shi led them off the boat. They ate their morning meal at a tavern, and she said they should set off early while the morning was still cool, and get to Yuchong County’s yamen to settle in before the heat of the day arrived.
……
In Yuchong County, the carriage traveled along an official road that had only recently been repaired — still a bit muddy in places. From far away, the breach in the embankment was already visible. It had since become the mouth of a new tributary, from which turbid yellow water poured steadily outward.
This new tributary divided the entire Yuchong County in two.
On both sides of the road, the houses that had previously stood there had been completely demolished without a trace — only faint remnants still barely visible. Yet a good number of villagers could be seen stacking mud bricks, building their houses anew on the original sites.
In the fields, mounds of river sand cleared out by the villagers were piled here and there. The farmland that had been cleared was already sown with millet or wheat, now at the stage of putting out new leaves, a vivid, lush green. But far more farmland remained buried under thick layers of river sand — too deep and heavy to be fully cleared — and would be beyond saving for growing grain. Within only a year or two, wild reeds would take over and the fields would turn into a sprawling bed of reed marshes, never to yield grain again.
Though everything was in disrepair, some hope persisted. A new embankment had already been built.
Pei Bingyuan had originally been on top of the newly repaired embankment, leading the workers in planting willow stakes. When a yamen runner brought word that his wife had arrived, he was left momentarily dumbstruck. He had someone help him tidy himself up a bit so he looked less disheveled, then called for his son-in-law Xu Zhan, and hurried back to the county yamen to be reunited with his wife and children.
“How did you come without any warning?”
“If we hadn’t come, how would we have known you were suffering so much hardship here?” The tears and lamenting that followed need not be described at length.
“The court has entrusted me with this responsibility — how could there not be hardship?”
Indeed, Pei Bingyuan had grown thinner and darker, having endured no small amount of difficulty. As the head of the county, whether managing the flood aftermath or opening up wasteland for cultivation, he was inevitably exposed to the wind and sun day after day.
Yuchong County was in fact already much better than it had been when he first arrived.
The county yamen had few rooms. Pei Shaohuai and his younger brother Pei Shaojin were arranged to stay in their father’s small study. Pei Shaohuai saw on his father’s desk: Pan Jixun’s Jinglie of the Two Rivers and A Comprehensive View of River Defense, as well as Commentary on Waterways and A Comprehensive Discussion of River Flood Control — works nothing like the poetry anthologies and essay collections of before. The extent of his diligence was evident at a glance.
Pei Shaohuai had originally thought that coming to Yuchong County, the knowledge he had accumulated in his previous life might be put to use — perhaps he could offer some small assistance to his father. But after leafing through these old texts, he discovered that the wise men of antiquity had long since compiled in meticulous detail the methods of channeling water with embankments, using the current’s force to flush away sand, and restoring rivers to their original courses. Every method was laid out thoroughly in their writings.
He had not studied hydraulic engineering in his previous life — how could he presume to show off before such men of wisdom?
Opening roads, building new embankments, planting willows, reclaiming wasteland — his father’s methods of governance were very much in keeping with the times. Compared with preventing floods, resolving the people’s food and warmth before winter arrived seemed the more pressing concern. The various ideas Pei Shaohuai had thought of for generating prosperity would have to wait until his father had led the people through reclaiming enough wasteland that there was grain in every household before there could be any basis for discussion.
Having witnessed all this, Pei Shaohuai came to realize he had nearly become the kind of person who “talks strategy only on paper,” and it gave him a timely wake-up call: whatever one does, one must first follow the existing principles of the present world. This applied to future official life as well. If he ever wished to apply what he had learned in his previous life, it would need to be grounded in reality before it could have any effect.
That evening, as Pei Shaohuai was taking a leisurely stroll in the front courtyard, he noticed someone in the small pavilion, burning a lamp and writing by hand.
“Young gentleman — you must be the son of the county magistrate? I am Li Shuisheng, a student here on practical training.”
“Greetings, Student Li. I am Pei Shaohuai.”
A coincidence — he had run straight into the very person he’d heard about. The man appeared proper and upright in his bearing, composed without any trace of frivolity — every bit the scholar.
As it happened, the room inside was stifling with heat, and Li Shuisheng had come to the pavilion to enjoy the cool, where he was writing a letter home. He explained: “A wanderer away from home — my mother worries a great deal. Whenever I have a free moment, I write a letter back and let her know she need not be anxious.”
“Student Li’s filial devotion is admirable. I won’t disturb you further.” Pei Shaohuai said in praise.
……
The following day, having already identified which person was Li Shuisheng, Pei Shaohuai brought Zhu Jie’er along, pointed him out through a gap in the window, and let her see what Li Shuisheng looked like.
Zhu Jie’er was, after all, a young lady. She had barely stolen a few glances when Li Shuisheng happened to turn toward her, and she caught a full view of his face — her own face flushed deep red at once, and she did not dare to look any further.
It could not be called liking or any stirring of feeling — it was simply the bashful shyness of a young girl confronted with the subject of marriage.
During the daytime, the students went out to their various assignments. Li Shuisheng wore a straw hat and ran back and forth along the embankment taking measurements, then crouched down on the ground to sketch out maps and diagrams.
The Zhu Jie’er who had been so bashful before was now watching from a distance, considerably calmer. She watched that small figure dashing up and down the slope, busy the entire morning without stopping once — and something in her gaze grew quietly intent. Whatever she was thinking, it was impossible to say.
“Well?” Lin Shi asked.
“Well what?” Zhu Jie’er lowered her head, her face now flushed all the way to the back of her ears.
Lin Shi asked again: “What do you think of this Li Shuisheng?”
“Didn’t Mother say on the boat that I need only take a quiet look from a distance, and the rest is for Father and Mother to decide?” Zhu Jie’er replied.
Lin Shi burst out laughing and understood Zhu Jie’er’s feelings at once. She teased her: “How unusual that you managed to remember my words so precisely.” She thought for a moment, then added: “We can only stay in Yuchong County for a few days. When you have time during the day, find occasions to go to the front courtyard and spend more time talking with your father.” Pei Bingyuan’s official yamen had been set up in the front courtyard.
“Daughter understands.”
……
Upon returning, it was not for nothing that Lin Shi had specifically instructed her. Zhu Jie’er prepared a lotus seed soup and carried it personally to the yamen to let her father taste it — and to have a proper conversation with him while she was at it.
Li Shuisheng had just finished organizing the maps and diagrams, still covered in sweat. Knowing the county magistrate urgently needed these maps, he had hurried over to make his report. The moment he stepped inside, he saw standing beside the county magistrate a slender young lady in green — jet-black hair flowing like a cascade, skin white as snow.
His instincts were quick. He immediately recalled that the county magistrate had once sounded him out about the matter of his marriage.
Could this be her?
For a moment he was transfixed, and forgetting the rule of not gazing improperly, he could not pull his eyes away for a long while.
“Father, daughter will take her leave first.” Zhu Jie’er swiftly excused herself and departed.
“You came in such a hurry — is there something urgent?” Pei Bingyuan asked Li Shuisheng.
“Ah — what was it that was urgent?” Li Shuisheng had not yet come back to his senses.
Pei Bingyuan, resigned, pointed to the maps Li Shuisheng was clutching against his chest and reminded him: “The maps.”
“Ah, right — the county magistrate asked me to go and draw the maps of the tributary. I have finished drawing them.”
After stepping out of the yamen, Li Shuisheng was consumed with remorse over having lost his composure just now.
……
……
Several days later, Lin Shi bid her husband a reluctant farewell, and brought the children back to the capital, returning to the Earl’s manor.
Over the following month and more, whether it was Lin Shi, Concubine Shen, or Zhu Jie’er herself — all three, by some tacit understanding, never again raised the subject of Li Shuisheng.
As for a matrimonial match — it only counted as a true match when the man’s family came forward to seek the bride.
Until a letter arrived from Pei Bingyuan, on which was written: “Since your return, Student Li has repeatedly made plain to me that he wishes to marry our Zhu’er. Just recently, he even said that once his practical training is completed and he returns to the capital, he will ask his mother to come and pay a visit. You, my wife, would perhaps do well to make preparations in advance.”
In the third month of the following year, Zhu Jie’er turned fifteen and held her coming-of-age ceremony.
Being an illegitimate daughter, the rites and garments naturally could not be as grand as those of Lian Jie’er or Lan Jie’er’s had been. Worth noting, however, was this: the Shangshu manor usually sent only a daughter-in-law or the younger generation for any ordinary visits — yet for Zhu Jie’er’s coming-of-age ceremony, the Second Old Madam actually came in person. What she had in mind, no one could say.
In the middle of the fourth month, a letter came from Pei Bingyuan saying that all the students had completed their practical training and that Student Li had also returned to the capital. Zhu Jie’er had now reached the proper age for marriage. With the young scholar expressing his intention to wed, everyone hoped to see this happy union come to pass.