At the Four Seasons Teahouse not far from the Li residence, in the Spring Chamber.
Ge Dana sat imposingly, his fan-sized palm gripping a purple clay teapot tightly. With narrowed eyes, he took small sips directly from the teapot’s spout while his other hand lightly tapped the date wood table.
Sitting across from him, Li Jingming appeared more relaxed, quietly observing a pot of orchids by the tea room. It was a tree orchid in full bloom, filling the room with its fragrance.
“Autumn Sister will divorce Li Zhengping, her dowry will be returned, and you’ll compensate with half of your family assets. Then we can consider everything from the past settled,” Ge Dana finally spoke.
This was the scheme he had devised the previous night at the Qilan Chamber. Such terms would prove to the world that the divorce between Ge Qiujie and Li Zhengping was the Li family’s fault, and Ge Qiujie was innocent. This would preserve Ge Qiujie’s reputation.
It would also secure some additional wealth for his sister.
He reasoned that Li Jingming had profited considerably from the main family’s businesses over the years. Moreover, with his help, Madam Fang had evaded numerous taxes—evidence he had carefully preserved. Ge Dana believed the Li family wouldn’t dare to oppose him, and if they did, he was confident he could land Li Jingming in prison.
“On what grounds? Let’s be frank. Initially, you deceived Zhengping. Moreover, since marrying into our Li family, Ge Qiujie has neither shown filial piety nor followed her husband’s teachings. She has violated the seven grounds for divorce. If not for our years of friendship, divorcing her would have been entirely justified. I’m agreeing to this divorce now only out of consideration for the brief marital bond between her and Zhengping. As for family assets, that’s impossible,” Li Jingming finally shifted his gaze from the orchids and spoke calmly.
Ge Dana snorted with a grin, then said, “Heh, don’t act so tough. Where did your family’s wealth come from these past years? Wasn’t it all through my help in siphoning from the Li family’s main branch? Your wife is quite skilled at making money too. All these years, I’ve been turning a blind eye, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know what’s going on.”
Ge Dana pulled several papers from his robe and tossed them before Li Jingming. “Take a good look.”
Li Jingming calmly picked up the papers and examined them. They detailed various years’ shop front taxes, surplus taxes, and actual payments made, clearly showing the amount of tax evaded.
“Don’t use this against me. From what I know, many merchants pay far less in shop front fees and surplus taxes than my family. So how can you say for certain my family has evaded taxes?” Li Jingming said as he placed Ge Dana’s papers on the table. He then reached into his robe and placed the papers Zhenniang had given him on the table, pushing them toward Ge Dana.
Ge Dana cast a suspicious glance at Li Jingming before picking up the papers. Upon seeing their contents, he slammed his fist on the table.
“Masters, would you like more tea?” The tea server outside heard the commotion and hurriedly opened the door to ask solicitously.
“Get out! Who asked you to come in?” Ge Dana roared, and the tea server meekly withdrew, closing the door tightly.
Ge Dana’s mind was now in turmoil. While he had been plotting against others, he hadn’t realized he had long been outmaneuvered. Indeed, those who dig pits for others often fall in themselves.
The papers Li Jingming provided showed recorded accounts with missing entries, but the remaining portions had gone into his pocket.
All these records were in his private ledger.
He had no idea how Li Jingming had obtained his private accounts, but if their contents were revealed, all the wealth he had accumulated over the years would be forfeited.
At this point, he could no longer concern himself with Ge Qiujie’s interests.
“Fine, forget about dividing the assets, but the dowry must be returned. And let’s exchange these two private ledgers,” Ge Dana said darkly.
“In a divorce, returning the dowry is natural—no issue there. As for exchanging ledgers, there’s no need. How can I be sure you haven’t made copies, and vice versa? The exchange would be meaningless. Let’s each keep our leverage, and maintain peace going forward. That works well enough,” Li Jingming replied.
“Fine, it’s settled then. This afternoon I’ll bring people to collect Autumn Sister and her dowry,” Ge Dana said with glaring eyes. He had truly underestimated Li Jingming before. Then again, the Li family wouldn’t have left Li Jingming in charge of family affairs if he didn’t have real capability.
“Very well, as you please,” Li Jingming nodded before taking his leave.
As soon as the door closed, Ge Dana shattered the teapot in his hand. He knew he not only had no leverage over Li Jingming, but in the future, any schemes to profit from the Li family’s assets would likely be impossible.
The only consolation was that Li Jingming hadn’t been too harsh—Autumn Sister could still leave with her dowry, preserving some face for the Ge family.
[…continued in next section due to length…]
Not far from their shop, Zhenniang was returning from delivering invitations when she saw Ge Dana leading a group of people carrying out Ge Qiujie’s dowry from the Li residence.
Crowds gathered on both sides of the street to watch.
“I said on their wedding day that Ge Qiujie and Li Zhengping wouldn’t last long. See? Exactly as I predicted,” someone commented smugly from the sidelines.
“What’s there to be proud of? Who didn’t see that coming?” another person responded disdainfully.
“With the bond of marriage, if they had tried to make it work, they might not have been so mismatched. Though Ge Qiujie seemed harsh, she was straightforward about it, without hidden schemes. Zhengping is an upright person and wouldn’t have mistreated Ge Qiujie. Why did both families have to end up like this?” someone else remarked.
“Indeed, indeed,” several voices agreed from the crowd.
At this moment, Ge Qiujie emerged from the Li residence wearing bright red, looking almost like a new bride. Reaching the street and seeing the crowds of onlookers, she snapped, “What are you looking at…”
With that, she angrily boarded the carriage.
Just then, Li Zhengping ran out from the alley, calling to Ge Qiujie’s carriage, “Sister Qiu, take care.”
“Go!” The only response was the sharp crack of the driver’s whip.
Zhenniang stood under the eaves of a shop by the street. Some celebration must have been held there earlier, as fragments of firecrackers still littered the ground like scattered plum petals.
Watching the carriage and the dowry procession fade into the distance, Zhenniang let out a long sigh. It wasn’t that she had any particular thoughts; this outcome was probably best for both parties.
She had simply sighed instinctively.
Just then, several firecrackers exploded beside her, startling her. She turned to see Luo Jiu in a blue robe and gauze cap, holding a string of “Hundred Sons Thousand Grandsons” firecrackers. Seeing her look over, he raised his hand with a smile.
His dark complexion carried a scholarly elegance.
“Today is the opening of my ‘Yi’ branch store. We set off some firecrackers, and this small string fell to the ground without exploding. I just noticed it and relit it,” Luo Jiu approached and explained.
“Ah, congratulations!” Zhenniang quickly said. Looking up, she saw the shop sign reading “Yihou Money Exchange ‘Yi’ Branch.”
They were already at the stage of opening branch stores.
“Thank you. By the way, your Li family’s ink shop is opening soon, right? I see the interior is almost ready,” Luo Jiu nodded, walking over to lean lazily against a wall with his sleeves gathered, asking Zhenniang.
“Yes, we’re opening in a few days,” Zhenniang replied.
“You must be returning from delivering invitations? Where’s mine?” Luo Jiu directly held out his hand before Zhenniang.
Zhenniang was taken aback—no one had ever asked for an invitation so directly before.
“Don’t tell me I’m not invited? We’re from the same hometown after all,” Luo Jiu feigned anger, widening his eyes.
Zhenniang couldn’t help but laugh, patting the small package she carried: “How could we not invite you? I prepared it long ago, but your place wasn’t on my route, so I planned to deliver it tomorrow. Who knew you’d quietly opened a branch store here? I was worried you wouldn’t honor us with your presence.”
She crouched down, opening the small package which contained several more invitations, and began sorting through them.
Luo Wenqian also crouched down, pulled out several invitations, and picked one up saying, “Hmm, this one’s mine.”
Zhenniang leaned over to look, and indeed it had Luo Wenqian’s name written on it.
“Why are these blank?” Luo Wenqian then asked, holding up several blank invitations.
“I just went to the merchant guild and brought some blank ones in case I ran into any acquaintances—I could fill them in on the spot,” Zhenniang explained.
“Hmm, then I’ll take another blank one. If I meet any acquaintances from Huizhou, I can invite them on your behalf, make it more lively,” Luo Jiu said as he tucked a blank invitation into his robe.
“Thank you!” Zhenniang accepted graciously. Luo Jiu ran a money exchange—he dealt mainly with wealthy households. If he could invite some of them, it would help make their opening more impressive.
Zhenniang had her pride. While their opening couldn’t compare to the Tian family’s, it shouldn’t fall too far short. So having more guests would be better.
The Tian family’s opening had been extraordinarily grand, with the Yingtian Prefecture Governor attending, along with all the Ink Affairs Bureau officials. Even Eunuch Ma from the Tax Office had attended—it was truly spectacular.
To be honest, Zhenniang had sent an invitation to Eunuch Ma as well. After all, the Tax Office was the ultimate authority over all commerce, and not inviting him might offend. As for whether he would come, Zhenniang had no expectations.
“Don’t mention it, don’t mention it,” Luo Jiu waved dismissively.
Zhenniang smiled, but turning her head, she noticed some passersby’s strange looks. Her face reddened slightly as she realized how she and Luo Wenqian must appear—crouching under the eaves, rifling through a package of invitations—they looked rather like two thieves dividing their spoils. It was quite awkward.
She quickly coughed and stood up, waving goodbye to Luo Wenqian before departing with her maid.