Lin Yuchan casually dipped a crab claw in the vinegar dish and asked him: “This trip – was it dangerous?”

In her opinion, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom only had about two more years to live and should be entering its death throes.

But quite the opposite was true. Since the beginning of the year, Li Xiucheng had frequently attacked Shanghai, fighting extensively with the Anglo-French forces in surrounding towns, showing great momentum for territorial expansion.

Of course, they hadn’t succeeded. The Qing army’s liquidation of the long-haired bandits, whether real rebels or innocent civilians, resulted in heads rolling, and the whole city was terrified. Even Shopkeeper Mau from Xuhui Tea Shop had taken a day off to watch the excitement.

The foreigners in the concessions did charity work – after watching Chinese kill Chinese, they donated some silver to hire people to collect corpses, earning widespread praise and acclaim.

And in the “North China Herald,” battle reports from the Jiangnan region were constantly broadcast. Though not exactly timely, one could see that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s forces were blooming everywhere – attacking a city here, taking a county there – giving the authorities quite a headache.

…

Was it resurrection from the dead, or a final flickering before death?

“Utterly lifeless,” Su Minguan gave her the answer, his expression grave as he told her, “The Taiping army’s internal strife is known to all. Each unit is busy with northern expeditions and western campaigns to claim credit for themselves, without any planning. On the road, I made contact with some former Heaven and Earth Society members, and they all said it had been a long time since they’d received any orders from Nanjing.”

Seeing Lin Yuchan’s worried expression, he smiled slightly.

“However, all the warfare has been pushed to the periphery, making the territory quite peaceful. It’s just that people’s lives are becoming increasingly difficult. The price Rong Hong paid for tea this time was another ten percent lower than what he paid when buying for you last time. He couldn’t bear it and insisted on ‘giving back,’ distributing that ten percent to the common people. You didn’t see it when people came from miles around after hearing the news…”

He shook his head vigorously, his smile carrying a hint of schadenfreude.

Lin Yuchan also smiled bitterly: “Still not learning.”

Fortunately, he had an iron-hearted helmsman to escort him; otherwise, the distinguished Yale graduate, with his heart full of righteousness unrewarded, would probably have been stripped bare and devoured by the hungry people.

She poured two cups of Shaoxing Huadiao wine to eighty percent full and pushed one toward him.

“Boss Su saved people from fire and flood – have a drink.”

Su Minguan drained it readily, smiling: “Just taking money to do a job. If the financier goes down, where would I get my final payment?”

Lin Yuchan snorted.

“I also picked up some good ships along the way,” Su Minguan said, “many were former warships – sturdy and fast, just lacking maintenance. You couldn’t buy them elsewhere even with connections.”

Lin Yuchan didn’t understand shipping. Hearing him say this, she could only respond with “oh,” looking at him, not knowing how to analyze the information in his words.

Su Minguan smiled as he glanced at her.

“Discount acquisition of quality assets,” he reminded her.

Lin Yuchan’s face suddenly bloomed into a smile. She swallowed the crab meat in her mouth and asked with warm breath: “How much is my share worth now?”

Su Minguan curled the corner of his mouth, dipped his finger in vinegar, and calculated for her.

“Don’t get happy too early. After this trip, there’s ship wear and depreciation, plus repairs…”

Su Minguan pondered slightly and stopped talking.

The Grand Canal had been abandoned for a long time, with silt accumulated at the bottom. Ordinary small boats were fine, but these cargo ships loaded with silver and riding deep in the water sometimes couldn’t get through at all, running aground if you weren’t careful. All the boatmen had to become mud diggers, dredging while moving forward to ensure the ship bottoms didn’t leak, exhaustingly sweaty work.

To boost morale, he and Rong Hong had both stripped off their clothes to dig mud. By day’s end, whether scholar or crooked merchant, they’d all been revealed in their true forms as mud-legs, looking like defective products kneaded by Nüwa, tired enough to make him question life.

…

But he wouldn’t tell her these details. Lin Yuchan had also done hard labor and knew what that wretched appearance looked like. If she imagined it even slightly, his glorious image would be completely ruined.

“…Well, adding the new ship discount, our capital increased by about three hundred taels. Your share amounts to…”

Lin Yuchan smiled happily as she tried to crack crab shells, couldn’t manage it, and could only watch his slender fingers flying up and down, calculating clearly and methodically.

“Twelve taels.” She was very satisfied. “How was the profit from this trip?”

“I still need to go back and calculate the specific expenses. But I definitely won’t shortchange you.”

Su Minguan had once boasted he’d pay himself a thousand taels silver monthly salary, making this small shareholder Lin Yuchan unable to earn even half a copper coin.

But the reality was that as Yixing Shipping’s chief manager, he only took one tael of silver per month.

This was a Heaven and Earth Society tradition – helmsmen couldn’t separate themselves from the masses and had to lead in poverty. One tael of silver was the income ceiling; everything else went to the common fund.

This rule had been set during the Kangxi era. After hundreds of years of inflation, silver had also depreciated terribly, but no one changed the rule – it still hung high in the hall.

Su Minguan didn’t mind. He’d started thinking that since he’d already trampled on so many traditions, he might as well preserve a few.

Unexpectedly, this let her take advantage, and he had nowhere to complain. Appeal to the founding master in heaven?

Fortunately, this small shareholder was also very decent, smiling obediently at him and saying, “Tell me when you have time someday. I’m not short of silver now – you can use my dividends as you like. By the way, when is your next job? Will you be going out again?”

Su Minguan was highly alert and immediately told her, “You don’t have decision-making power, so why ask?”

Inside the small private room, the crab roe was fragrant, paired with rich yellow wine, intoxicating. A thick door curtain was lifted by the breeze at one corner, bringing in waves of coolness.

People outside looking in saw misty ambiguity, thinking it was lovers meeting privately, when actually it was a shareholders’ meeting.

Lin Yuchan gnawed on June yellows, happily calculating her small accounts, feeling like “Helmsman Jin Lanhe is working for me.”

Su Minguan calmly watched her silly smile. This girl who hadn’t seen the world.

She hadn’t seen the kind of accounts on the wine tables of the red-capped merchants of the old Thirteen Factories, where millions of silver taels were at stake every minute, where every stroke of the brush on paper represented someone’s overnight fortune or family ruin.

She also hadn’t yet realized that as Yixing’s capital gradually increased bit by bit, though her share value was rising, it would be much harder for her to expand her holdings in the future.

Too bad she was busy eating crabs and couldn’t think of these things for now. Otherwise, who knew if she could still eat so contentedly?

Just as well – no waste of these tender June yellows.

The ones he’d shelled were already finished. He deliberately didn’t move his hands, watching her take another one and prepare to take on the challenge with determination—

Clumsy but cute.

“A’Mei,” he suddenly reminded expressionlessly, “the crabs are getting cold – slow down, don’t rush, hey, shelling requires finesse, you can’t…”

Too late. Crack – her hands were full of crab roe.

Lin Yuchan pleaded: “Don’t rush me… help me pick up that claw…”

Su Minguan gritted his teeth: “The crab roe!!”

If she couldn’t shell them, fine, but she insisted on showing off, and the crab roe was about to drip!

She was still frantically looking for a handkerchief. He regretted not grabbing that crab earlier. Three qian of silver for one June yellow – if she dared wipe off this crab roe, he might draw his gun on the spot.

Seeing the fine crab roe rolling off her fingertip, he couldn’t stand it anymore, reached across to grab her wrist, and put that finger directly in his mouth.

Lin Yuchan only felt heat at her fingertip, like a fuse being lit, exploding her whole brain full of crab roe.

“You…”

Half her body went numb, her right hand gripped tightly by him, unable to pull away.

She gritted her teeth: “Let. Go.”

Su Minguan didn’t move, his tongue tracing along a smooth fingernail, his eyes dark and unclear, his throat rolling lightly.

Helmsman Jin Lanhe today died for food like a bird, momentarily not knowing how to resolve the situation.

But this wasn’t the first time he’d been impulsive and rash in front of this girl. He wasn’t afraid of causing trouble – he’d just clean up the mess afterward.

He released her fingertip but didn’t let go of her wrist.

“You said your family had no rules from childhood, that you didn’t care about worldly proprieties,” he said with feigned frivolity. “I thought you wouldn’t mind.”

After speaking, he deliberately smacked his lips, widened his handsome eyes, and looked at her with righteous confidence.

Not a trace of shame, except for a blush slowly creeping up his ears, he was completely composed.

Lin Yuchan breathlessly retorted: “I also said no messing around! At least… at least you need my consent…”

“Sorry, I forgot.”

He stared again at her middle finger covered in crab roe, his voice low as he asked: “May I?”

The crab roe was fragrant and tempting, innocently caught between these two people’s sword-glinting confrontation, wishing it could quickly drop down.

Just as it was about to leave the organization—

Lin Yuchan lost her mind and nodded without thinking.

Her fingertip tingled again, the two cups of yellow wine she’d been sipping slowly instantly went to her head, and the young master in front of her became double vision.

She gave up on herself, watching him peck all over one of her hands, then lightly and deftly put it down, dipped it in water with perilla leaves to clean it, and placed it back on the table in front of her.

Only now did this hand belong to her again. Like a wooden carving, she didn’t dare move, feeling like her blood vessels were flowing with Shaoxing Huadiao wine, ready to ignite at any spark.

Su Minguan lowered his eyes, bowed his head to drain a large cup, adjusted his emotions, and then spoke as if nothing had happened.

“Crab roe can’t be wasted. Your way of eating would anger people to death.”

The little girl said nothing, staring angrily at the pile of crab remains before her, her chest rising and falling rapidly.

He felt slightly guilty, turned to look at the menu on the wall, and asked softly: “Are you full? Should we order stir-fried rice cakes with hairy crab?”

The small shareholder bit her lip lightly, her small face flushed pink, her eyes clear and clean, absent-mindedly shaking her head while stealing glances at him from the corner of her eye.

His mind was already composing how to cry tears of remorse and apologize, but his mouth had to try one last time.

“A’Mei, I need to go back to Yixing to do accounts. Want to come supervise?”

She finally shyly raised her head, timidly holding up a left hand covered in crab roe.

“Do you want more?”