“Here.” Tian Ronghua handed the jar to Zhenniang.
“What is this?” Li Zhenniang asked curiously. She had thought Tian Ronghua was just passing by, but instead, she had come directly to her.
“Thousand-year pine soot.” Tian Ronghua replied coldly.
“Thousand-year pine soot?” Hearing this, Zhenniang raised an eyebrow, her first instinct being that Tian Ronghua might be setting some kind of trap.
“Don’t think your Li family is the only one who knows about ink-making, or that you’re the only ink craftsman. Since our Tian family entered this trade, we’re just as much a part of it.” Tian Ronghua, irritated by Zhenniang’s expression, spoke sharply and heavily and placed the jar of soot in Zhenniang’s hands.
The Li family always assumed the worst of others’ intentions.
Seeing Tian Ronghua’s expression, Zhenniang realized she might have misjudged the Tian family’s intentions. She opened the jar and lightly rubbed some soot between her fingers. The soot felt as smooth as congealed cream. Rubbing it between her thumb, index, and middle fingers, she held it up against the fading gray-white sky – even in this dim light, tiny sparkles were visible. Once complete darkness fell, the ink’s luster would surely be even more brilliant.
This was indeed thousand-year pine soot. Zhenniang couldn’t help but marvel inwardly. The Li family now owed the Tian family a great debt of gratitude.
“Thank you.” Zhenniang hadn’t expected such generosity from the Tian family and felt somewhat embarrassed for underestimating them. She expressed her thanks with a smile.
“No need for thanks. Our Tian family didn’t offer this to curry favor with your Li family. It’s up to you now – if you lose, your Li family might never be able to hold your heads up in Huizhou again.” Tian Ronghua maintained her harsh tone.
“Don’t worry. We won’t lose.” Zhenniang replied with certainty.
“That’s best.” Tian Ronghua responded and turned to leave.
Watching Tian Ronghua’s retreating figure, Zhenniang recalled Wang Decai, whom she’d seen recently. He wasn’t someone to be taken lightly – perhaps she should warn the Tian family. She ran a few steps to catch up: “Wait…”
“Something else?” Tian Ronghua turned back, her face still expressionless.
“I hear Wang Decai is now working closely with your second brother and is quite favored?” Zhenniang asked.
“What about it? Your Li family forced him into exile in Qiongzhou, and now that he’s back, you still won’t leave him alone?” Tian Ronghua replied with a mocking curl of her lip.
“You misunderstand. He no longer has any connection to our Li family. I just wanted to warn you – he’s a scheming person, you should be careful.” Zhenniang said, also curling her lip slightly. From Tian Ronghua’s tone, it seemed she was defending Wang Decai, suggesting he indeed held a high position in the Tian family.
She knew Wang Decai’s character better than anyone – secretive, capable, and patient. And the Tian family’s current situation was well known in Huizhou. During the ink competition, Elder Tian’s defeated expression suggested he might not last much longer. If Elder Tian had fallen, Tian Ronghua might not have been able to control her second brother, who was full of bad ideas. He even kept Su Shi by his side, and after taking another man’s wife, he still dared to trust Wang Decai? Honestly, she admired the second brother’s courage.
Unfortunately, he had courage but no ability. Keeping Wang Decai close was, in Zhenniang’s view, absolutely unwise.
Since the Tian family had shown such goodwill today, she felt obligated to return the favor with this warning.
“Li Zhenniang, I don’t know what to make of you. What, since your Li family couldn’t accommodate Wang Decai, you’re trying to make our Tian family reject him too? Don’t forget, he was once your uncle by marriage. Everyone says the Li family is righteous, but I see it’s all fake.” Tian Ronghua mocked, then coldly snorted: “Our Tian family’s affairs are none of your business.”
“Fine, my mistake for speaking up.” Zhenniang, holding the jar in one arm, made a fist with her free hand and lightly knocked her forehead, half amused and half exasperated. She hadn’t expected her good intentions would earn such a rebuke from Tian Ronghua. Fine, let the Tian family do as they pleased – she’d said what needed saying. You couldn’t force a horse to drink.
If not for the great favor of the thousand-year pine soot, she wouldn’t have bothered making herself uncomfortable by trying to help.
With that thought, Zhenniang couldn’t be bothered to engage further with Tian Ronghua.
Tian Ronghua also had nothing more to say to Li Zhenniang and turned to leave, but after a few steps, she came back and said to Zhenniang: “By the way, I just went to the Luo family warehouse, and the clerk said he brought something to your Li family. Is he still here?”
“Yes, he’ll be out soon. Do you need to see him? Why don’t you wait?” Zhenniang looked at Tian Ronghua calmly, though wondering what business she had with Luo Wenqian.
Of course, there couldn’t be any romance between them – honestly, Tian Ronghua had quite a proud personality, and besides, Luo Wenqian was engaged to her, and Tian Ronghua was also betrothed to someone else. There could be no entanglement.
“No need. Just tell him my father wants to see him about the loan our ink shop borrowed from him two years ago.” Tian Ronghua said.
“When?” Zhenniang asked. Oh, now she remembered – two years ago when their ink shop’s formula had been stolen and she had exposed it, creating a fake formula that caused the Tian family’s entire batch of ink to spoil. With many ink shops returning their goods, the Tian family needed funds to stay afloat, and Tian Ronghua borrowed money from the Yihou Banking House.
“The sooner the better. My father isn’t well.” Tian Ronghua’s expression darkened.
“Alright, I’ll pass on the message.” Zhenniang nodded.
Tian Ronghua left without further words.
Shortly after Zhenniang watched Tian Ronghua leave, Luo Wenqian came out of the Li Ink Shop. Seeing Zhenniang standing under the old locust tree from afar, he quickly walked over: “Why are you standing here? The sun has set, and the wind is strong.”
Though it was early summer, Huizhou had large temperature differences between morning and evening. At dusk, once the sun set and the wind rose, there was still a chill in the air, and she was dressed rather thinly.
Hearing Luo Wenqian’s concerned words, Zhenniang felt very happy. Holding the jar in one arm, she tugged at Luo Wenqian’s sleeve with her other hand, her face slightly flushed: “Brother Luo, I heard what Seventh Grandmother and my grandfather said to you.”
Hearing this and seeing Zhenniang standing here, obviously having waited for a while to speak with him, Luo Wenqian took her hand: “What is it? Do you have thoughts about it?” He fixed his intense gaze on Li Zhenniang.
“Yes.” Zhenniang’s face grew warmer under Luo Wenqian’s stare. She nodded, then bit her lip before continuing: “Brother Luo, I wanted to discuss with you if we could find a way to have the wedding after the ink competition. You know my grandfather’s health – he almost had an incident last time making the Six Harmonies Three Talents ink. He really can’t handle ink anymore. So I must oversee the competition ink production.”
“Zhenniang, having the wedding after the competition is impossible. This isn’t just your Seventh Grandmother and grandfather’s wish – it’s what I want too. I’ve finally found someone who understands my heart, and I want to ensure your complete safety.” Luo Wenqian said with a gentle smile, though his eyes showed determination.
“Brother Luo…” Zhenniang grew anxious.
“Zhenniang, this isn’t up for discussion. From your grandfather’s tone, even if the wedding wasn’t set before the competition, he’s determined not to let you be involved in this ink-making. Do you understand?” Luo Wenqian squeezed her hand again.
Hearing these words, Zhenniang felt a wave of distress. How could she not understand her grandfather’s intentions? If something went wrong with the ink competition, the court would first hold the ink maker responsible. Her grandfather wanted to keep her completely removed from it.
By now, she knew the matter was settled – she wouldn’t be able to participate in this ink competition.
“Brother Luo, I understand.” Zhenniang took a deep breath. Since things were decided, she wouldn’t dwell on it. During this time, she could focus on supporting from behind the scenes.
“Here, let me carry that.” Seeing Zhenniang’s somewhat resigned expression, Luo Wenqian felt more at ease. Noticing the jar in her arms, he took it from her.
Letting Luo Wenqian take the jar, Zhenniang explained: “Tian Ronghua just came by. She said her father sent this – it’s thousand-year pine soot.”
“Thousand-year pine soot? Tian Huaian is quite generous.” Luo Wenqian raised his eyebrows, somewhat puzzled.
“Oh right, Tian Ronghua also said her father wants to see you,” Zhenniang remembered the message she was supposed to relay.
“Oh? Tian Huaian wants to see me? When?” Luo Wenqian stroked his chin thoughtfully.
“Tian Ronghua said it’s about the loan their ink shop borrowed from your bank two years ago. She didn’t specify a time, just said the sooner the better.” Zhenniang replied.
Hearing this, Luo Wenqian pondered for a moment, then suddenly said: “Tian Huaian probably won’t last much longer.”
He handed the jar back to Zhenniang: “Zhenniang, I’ll go to the Tian house now to see Tian Huaian.”
“Mm, be careful.” Zhenniang took the jar, offering a word of caution to Luo Wenqian.
Luo Wenqian waved with a light smile, then strode off toward the Tian residence.
Zhenniang gathered her thoughts and returned home. Whatever happened, they now had the thousand-year pine soot – everything was ready except for the ink-making itself.
Back home, when Manager Li heard they had obtained thousand-year pine soot, he was also very excited: “Good, good, good! Tian Huaian has shown true spirit this time. Whatever his intentions, our Li family now owes the Tian family a great debt.”
“By the way, where’s Wenqian? Didn’t your grandfather say he was with you? He was waiting for Wenqian to share a drink with him,” Zhao Shi asked as she brought in the meal, not seeing Luo Wenqian.
“He went to the Tian house,” Zhenniang replied, then explained everything about Luo Wenqian’s visit to the Tian family, though she still didn’t understand why he had said Tian Huaian wouldn’t last much longer.
“Tian Huaian truly might not last much longer.” Hearing Zhenniang’s explanation, Manager Li suddenly sighed.
During the Li and Tian families’ competition for tribute ink status, the Li family had naturally gathered intelligence on their rival. Before the competition, Tian Huaian had been practically bedridden, but in the days just before the competition, his condition had suddenly improved. The Li family had investigated this too.
They learned that Tian Huaian had obtained some powerful medicines from a doctor – the kind that could only provide temporary strength, after which the body would be even weaker once the effects wore off.
Manager Li understood that Tian Huaian had been willing to risk his life to secure the tribute ink rights, knowing his second son was hopeless, and the Tian family’s future would depend on Tian Ronghua and the Xu family.
But without sufficient capital, they wouldn’t be able to negotiate well with the Xu family, which was why the tribute ink rights had become crucial for the Tian family. They had invested considerable effort, even bribing several ink testers. However, the Li family had been prepared and nearly exposed the testers’ past misdeeds. Then Lian Jiying’s unexpected appearance completely ruined Tian Huaian’s carefully laid plans.
Given this context, the gift of the pine soot and Tian Huaian’s sudden desire to meet with Luo Wenqian made it clear – Tian Huaian was trying to secure a backup plan for the Tian family.