Zhenniang didn’t find anything wrong with Madam Sun’s actions. After all, with the main branch in a weak position, while one shouldn’t harbor harmful intentions, one must maintain vigilance. A mother taking precautions for her children could never be wrong.
It was just that Madam Sun’s sister-in-law’s intentions weren’t so simple.
After considering these matters, Zhenniang let them go—it wasn’t a big deal. She then went to inspect everything at the ink workshop, where the goods for transport to Nanjing had already been packed, before returning home.
Unexpectedly, at her doorstep, she found Madam Du’s mother, Madam Shen, peering around but not knocking.
“Aunt, here to see Sister-in-law?” Zhenniang asked from behind, startling Madam Shen, who turned around and awkwardly said, “Ah, it’s Zhenniang… yes, just coming for a visit.”
“Why not knock then?” Zhenniang smiled, before calling out. Uncle Liujin opened the door, greeting Zhenniang with a smile, but his expression soured slightly upon seeing Madam Shen, offering only a tepid greeting: “Madam Shen, you’re here.”
It wasn’t that Liujin had a poor attitude; it was just that Madam Shen frequently visited the Li family’s eighth branch, always either borrowing money or taking things. Over time, it had become rather irritating.
Hence, his tone wasn’t particularly warm.
“Ah, during the New Year, I came to see the little one,” Madam Shen responded awkwardly, referring to the Li family’s recently born infant.
Li Liujin secretly rolled his eyes upon hearing this. Madam Shen always had various excuses for her visits. Just three days ago, Madam Du had taken the children to pay New Year’s respects at the Shen family home. His wife had gone along, and what happened? The New Year red packets for the two children contained just one copper each.
While one shouldn’t judge New Year gifts by their monetary value, they at least show one’s attitude. Moreover, considering how much Madam Shen had taken from the Li family, giving just one copper during the New Year was simply unreasonable.
On the way home, his wife had complained about that one copper until his ears nearly developed calluses, saying she’d never seen such a greedy maternal family that only took and never gave.
Therefore, Li Liujin had little fondness for Madam Shen, and her visit today was undoubtedly to borrow money again, though she used the excuse of visiting the baby.
“Please come in, Aunt,” Zhenniang politely invited Madam Shen.
Upon entering, they smelled the fragrance of bean-yellow pastries. Zhenniang took a deep breath, knowing the family was preparing oil-faced bean-yellow pastries for her journey tomorrow.
“What’s that lovely smell?” Madam Shen asked from the side.
“It must be oil-faced bean-yellow pastries. I’m returning to Nanjing tomorrow, these are for the journey. Aunt, you should take some to try later,” Zhenniang replied. Li Liujin could be cold to Madam Shen, at worst being dismissed as a servant’s poor manners.
But Zhenniang couldn’t. Madam Shen was still her sister-in-law’s mother. If not for the person, then for the position—besides, Zhenniang had been in Nanjing all last year and wasn’t clear about the Shen family’s situation, so proper etiquette must be maintained.
“Yes, yes, good, good,” Madam Shen responded with a smile.
As they talked, they circled to the kitchen, where Sister-in-law Zheng was busy with Liujin’s wife. The eldest sister-in-law was also helping, with her few-month-old baby strapped to her back.
“Zhenniang, you’re back?” Madam Du smiled upon seeing Zhenniang, but her expression turned helpless upon seeing her mother: “Mother, you’re here.”
“Ah, yes,” Madam Shen responded, looking awkward and hesitant as if having something difficult to say.
“Sister-in-law, let me take over here. You go talk with Aunt,” Zhenniang interjected.
“Mm,” Madam Du responded, then stood up and pulled Madam Shen along. The two left the kitchen and went to a corner. From the kitchen window, Zhenniang could see her sister-in-law taking money from her purse to give to Madam Shen.
Frowning, Zhenniang asked Madam Zheng beside her, “Aunt, have Sister-in-law’s two brothers still not returned?”
“How would they dare return? The warrant for their arrest hasn’t been withdrawn yet. However, recently the Shen family gained a pregnant woman. Madam Shen tells others she’s a distant relative’s wife who came to stay during her pregnancy, but I don’t believe it. How could the Shen family, in their current state, provide for others? Which distant relative would send their pregnant wife there? I suspect she’s the wife of one of the brothers, secretly sent back after becoming pregnant. Madam Shen can’t tell outsiders, fearing questions about her brother’s whereabouts,” Sister-in-law Liujin interjected.
“I see,” Zhenniang nodded. That made sense. The Shen family had no livelihood to begin with, and now with an additional pregnant woman, their expenses must have increased—no wonder they came to borrow money.
The Shen brothers were truly worthless.
As they were talking, Madam Du soon saw Madam Shen out. Remembering her earlier promise, Zhenniang packed some hot oil-faced bean-yellow pastries to give her.
“Aunt, take these to try,” Zhenniang handed the pastries to Madam Shen.
“Ah yes, they smell wonderful,” Madam Shen responded eagerly.
“Zhenniang…” Madam Du looked at her sister-in-law, eyes reddening.
Zhenniang smiled and shook her head, then excused herself and turned to enter the inner room to find her mother. Meanwhile, Madam Du saw Madam Shen out.
“Let me tell you, in Nanjing, you should take on more of the ink workshop responsibilities, and build more connections outside. Zhenniang is still a young woman, many things aren’t convenient for her. We can’t put all the burden on her shoulders. That girl is strong-willed and won’t utter a word even when things are difficult or unfair. You must think for her,” Zhenniang heard Madam Zhao instructing her father as she approached the east room.
“I understand, I just can’t bear to part with you. Why don’t you come with us to Nanjing? The family has Madam Zheng and the others here anyway,” Li Jingfu said somewhat petulantly.
“You think I don’t want to? But the old master’s health seems to be declining lately, his nighttime cough is getting worse. How could I feel at ease? Besides, you’re not leaving forever, and I can visit Nanjing when I’m free,” Madam Zhao said. Then, raising her voice, she added, “I must warn you though, Nanjing is a place of temptation—you better keep your heart in check and not get any funny ideas.”
“Ah, come on, even when I was at my worst in the past, I never had such thoughts,” Li Jingfu said. Then Zhenniang heard her mother exclaim “Oh!” and call him a rascal, followed by sounds of intimacy.
Although Zhenniang had seen plenty in movies and television in her previous life, she still blushed. This wasn’t the time to disturb her parents, so she quietly retreated.
Xihu’er had disappeared somewhere, probably off playing with Runhu’er and Tianyou again. Her elder brother, being the owner, had to watch over the oil workshop during the New Year workers’ holiday and wouldn’t return until evening.
Zhenniang went to the main room, where she found Madam Wu sitting at the door with little Xiaoguan, wearing a satisfied smile.
“Grandmother, where’s Grandfather?” Zhenniang asked.
“Where else? He’s in the small ink workshop in the back. Ever since you gave him that ink last time, your grandfather has been obsessed with it. That old man has spent his whole life absorbed in ink, and you’re most like him,” Madam Wu chatted, pulling Zhenniang to talk for a while about survival philosophy—mainly about not standing out too much when away from home.
After keeping her grandmother company for a while, Zhenniang stood up: “Grandmother, I’ll go check on Grandfather in the small workshop.”
“Yes, yes, go ahead. You’re the only one who can talk with your grandfather,” Madam Wu smiled. The grandfather and granddaughter pair could talk about ink in ways that left others unable to join the conversation.
“Mm,” Zhenniang responded, then went to the small ink workshop in the back courtyard.
The small workshop in the back courtyard had originally been a storage room, later converted by Old Master Li. It had two rooms—one for smoke production and one for mixing and making ink.
When Zhenniang entered the small workshop, she found her grandfather boiling glue.
However, what struck Zhenniang as strange was that typically, only one type of glue was used for each ink, but now she saw several types laid out—deer horn glue, cowhide glue, fish maw glue, and others.
“Grandfather, why are you boiling so many types of glue?” Zhenniang asked curiously. This had never happened in previous ink-making—usually, the glue should be pure, with variety only coming from various additives. She had never heard of using multiple types of glue. Wouldn’t that be too mixed?
“Zhenniang, you’re here. I’m just experimenting. I’ve been studying the ink you brought back last time. Our Li family’s Four Harmonies ink is profound—one jin of soot, three qian of raw lacquer, two qian of processed lacquer, plus additives mixed into the glue—these are all good, but after several attempts, I’m still far from matching the quality of the Four Harmonies ink. I’ve been pondering the reason, but look at this ink’s cross-section…” Old Master Li handed her half a stick of ink.
Zhenniang drew in a sharp breath—her grandfather was truly bold, having broken the ink stick that Master Qi had given her to study.
“Grandfather, you broke it! How will I explain this to Grandfather Qi? He only said we could study it, not that he was giving it to us!” Zhenniang exclaimed in surprise.
“That old fellow, with his temperament, once he said that he won’t ask for the ink back. At most, when we figure out the method for the Four Harmonies ink, we’ll explain the formula to him. That old fellow never makes losing deals,” the old master said gruffly, though his harsh words indicated their once-close relationship.
Zhenniang now carefully examined the cross-section. Ancient ink’s broken surface should be deep black, hard yet lustrous, as fine as rhinoceros horn, with a texture smooth as jade—these were characteristics of top-grade ancient ink. However, looking more carefully, she noticed that the fine texture had a kind of flowing quality. How was this possible? The entire cross-section seemed to have a flowing effect.
“Grandfather, this ink… could it be because of the glue?” Zhenniang couldn’t help asking.
“I’m not certain yet, but I suspect this flowing effect comes from mixing different types of glue. I just haven’t figured it out completely,” Old Master Li sighed somewhat.
They say times progress, but with crafts like this, as techniques are lost generation by generation, sometimes the present cannot match the past.