“Wenxiang, of the Guarjia clan, styled Wenshan, a member of the Manchu Plain Red Banner. He was an important minister during Emperor Xianfeng’s reign, and is now known as Minister Wen.” Su Minguan gently adjusted the short barrel of the Derringer 1858, whispering instructions, “Raise the muzzle two more points. This gun has heavy bullets.”

Lin Yuchan felt this person was simply a walking encyclopedia, exclaiming with delight: “You even know this?”

Su Minguan’s lips curved slightly, his face showing undisguised contempt, “The red-buttoned merchants of the old Thirteen Factories ranked second in money-making ability, but their greatest skill was navigating official circles. My dead father knew all the big and small figures in the imperial court like the back of his hand. Even though I didn’t like listening, I inevitably remembered some things. Oh, back then he even tried to pull strings through Wenxiang’s connections—when his official position wasn’t that high yet—hoping to get me a retired high official as my mentor, to have an extra path in the imperial examinations.”

Lin Yuchan glanced at the silhouette of this fallen young master from the corner of her eye. For today’s distant excursion, he couldn’t bear to ruin his fine clothes, so he wore the deep gray coarse cloth short shirt popular among sailors, his belt fastened smartly, his feet in half-worn rain boots.

The jade buckles, thumb rings, gemstone hat ornaments, enamel snuff bottle pendants, and such that ordinary wastrels loved to flaunt—he had none of these plain and simple things, only his clothes were exceptionally clean and properly ironed.

But his skilled manner of loading gunpowder into the barrel and squinting to aim looked as if he held the entire world in contempt.

Lin Yuchan absolutely could not imagine him wearing a glossy horse jacket, sitting in the small cubicle of an imperial examination hall, snuff bottle in his left hand, opium pipe in his right, swaying his head as he composed eight-legged essays.

Thinking of this, her first impression of Wenxiang wasn’t too favorable either, and she probed: “Is he one of those ignorant ‘Manchu lords’?”

“Hmm, not necessarily.” Su Minguan suddenly smiled, “Wenxiang returned my father’s bribe and wrote a note scolding him with veiled sarcasm.”

Lin Yuchan: “…”

The mission difficulty increased a bit.

She asked hopefully: “Then what about Wenxiang’s wife…”

“Sorry, never heard of her, can’t help.” Su Minguan shot her a small glare and lightly flicked her forehead, “Focus now, no daydreaming allowed.”

Bang!

Lin Yuchan suddenly pulled the trigger, startling him into jumping on the spot.

Su Minguan said angrily: “You could at least warn me to cover my ears!”

Lin Yuchan, having gotten her small revenge, was in good spirits. Pretending to be surprised with delight, she laughed: “This time it didn’t jam!”

“Not bad, one-third probability. Lady Lin’s marksmanship is skilled—you could go to the racetrack and duel with foreigners.”

Lin Yuchan feinted a punch at him and ran to check the target.

The so-called target was a dummy made of piled fortress stones, ten meters away from her. The sculpture’s structure was very postmodern, barely recognizable as having a head and limbs.

The gunshot startled a small frog in the mudflats, which hopped away in panic.

It was just like playing house, without any of the heroic military atmosphere of “the setting sun paints the western mountains red, soldiers return to camp after target practice.”

Even at such close range, the dummy remained completely unmoved. Lin Yuchan examined it carefully and finally found a chip missing from the “toe” area.

…Nineteenth-century small handguns were too pathetic.

But this was the only model within her current capabilities that she could master.

No shortcuts—just practice.

After finishing a bag of lead bullets, she disassembled the gun for cleaning, checking the barrel and breech for gunpowder residue, and summarizing lessons learned.

Su Minguan dismantled the dummy target, returning each stone to its original position, with the parts blackened by gunpowder facing down soaking in water.

Careful and cautious, leaving no traces.

On the return journey the wind direction changed. The single-person boat couldn’t catch enough wind, so Su Minguan had to bring out the oars. Both of them used oars and sail together, working up a sweat.

Su Minguan looked at the girl teaming up with him. She wasn’t coy at all, nor did she slack off because there was a man beside her. She gripped the oar firmly, stretching her body, her small face glowing red from exertion as she laughed: “It’s been so long since I’ve exerted myself like this!”

He couldn’t help feeling a bit sorry, and nagged: “If only we had a steam engine.”

Water splashed beside her. The thin clothing clung to her skin. He raised his hand to wipe sweat, blocking his gaze.

Lin Yuchan laughed at his naivety: “Foreign steamships all come directly from Europe and America, every screw and hole. Nobody specifically sells you just the engine. Even if they did, they’d definitely charge sky-high prices.”

But then she added: “Maybe we could build our own…”

She was referring to the distant future. In ten or twenty years, China would surely be able to build steam engines. In a hundred or two hundred years, Chinese people would be able to make everything themselves.

But right now, almost all Chinese shipping companies only owned traditional Chinese sailing junks, powered by wind and human force that had been used for millennia—very environmentally friendly.

Su Minguan shook his head, laughing at her innocence: “Might as well have me find pirates to hijack a foreign steamship and dismantle it myself.”

Lin Yuchan pursed her lips again. The rebel’s way of thinking was indeed simple and brutal.

She suddenly remembered something: “Oh right, that day at the customs house…”

“Don’t mention the customs house.” Su Minguan glared at her with disappointment, “Hede is using you. Even if you got your head chopped off, he wouldn’t lose a penny. Are you willing to be beaten and abused?”

“I saw internal notices and bulletins at the customs house,” Lin Yuchan looked back sincerely, continuing, “about duty-free navigation policies. Is Yixing still being charged tariffs for transporting tea inland?”

Su Minguan slowly raised his eyelids, his lazy expression completely gone, and hummed in acknowledgment.

“Enormous punitive tariffs,” his expression darkened as he answered, “specifically targeting us who run into war zones.”

“Ships under foreign trading houses can apply for tax exemptions. Don’t know which new treaty regulation that is.” Lin Yuchan recounted from memory what she had seen on the bulletin, finally saying, “You should be careful—there will be many more competitors soon.”

Su Minguan’s expression grew serious as he looked down at the water, rapidly calculating in his mind.

He could multitask. Even while deep in thought, he rowed meticulously, his arms tracing beautiful arcs. Occasionally, he touched the rudder to correct the boat’s direction.

Lin Yuchan let him space out until the Huangpu River curved, then gently pushed him.

“Well, if you want to shift your business… I do have some possible order opportunities here, like transporting tea to Yantai, Hankou, Zhenjiang, Ningbo, Jiujiang, Fuzhou…”

Su Minguan smiled, his beautiful black eyes full of helpless melancholy: “A’Mei, I’d love to earn your money too. But Wenxiang’s wife is a lady of the inner quarters, and a high-ranking official family lady who never steps outside her door. The only thing I could do is kidnap her as a hostage when she goes to burn incense during the Double Ninth Festival, forcing her to help you… Hmm, though it’s not within the Heaven and Earth Society’s business scope, considering our friendship, I could bite the bullet and do it, but the fee would be a bit higher…”

Lin Yuchan laughed out loud, turning her face away, her earlobes slightly warm.

Since he said this, there really was no other way. She was also familiar with Boss Su’s negotiating style and knew he wasn’t being politely evasive this time.

So she wouldn’t bring it up with him anymore.

What Hede wouldn’t easily give up on, she wouldn’t give up on either.

The small boat turned into Suzhou Creek, and the wind direction was finally suitable. Lin Yuchan put down her oar, used a handkerchief to wipe her sweat, then ducked into the cabin, took off her rain boots, changed out of her wet clothes, and hid her small handgun.

When she came out, her face was wooden. Now the shore was bustling with people, fishing boats coming and going—even a big wave could splash onto a dozen washerwomen. She couldn’t freely joke around with Su Minguan anymore, lest conservative people see and throw rotten fish and shrimp at her.

The boat moored at Yixing wharf, and Lin Yuchan walked out through the front door like a normal customer. The workers were all familiar with her now. Those who had offended her bowed respectfully, while those who hadn’t greeted her warmly.

Just as she was about to leave the shop, Su Minguan suddenly called out to her.

“A’Mei, sorry.”

Earlier he had refused with a playful smile, afraid she might think it was false courtesy.

But then he said, “If you want to compete for that contract, go ahead and do it. If you mess things up and offend the powerful, I can’t promise much else, but as long as you can run into any shop with the Yixing sign, I guarantee your head stays where it belongs.”

His voice wasn’t loud, but his tone was steady and forceful.

Lin Yuchan stood on her tiptoes and gave a little happy jump: “I knew Comrade Xiao Bai had the highest consciousness!”

Su Minguan snorted. These foreign words of hers sounded awkward at first, but became quite pleasant after hearing them often.

Warmth flashed in his eyes as he waited patiently for a while, then asked: “What else?”

Lin Yuchan thought, still not tired of hearing it?

She had to search for more flattery, mentally arranging and combining phrases, when she suddenly looked at his expression and understood.

She swallowed those compliments and softly changed her words: “If I succeed and sell my tea nationwide, all the shipping orders are yours!”

Su Minguan ruffled her hair, his fingers running along the several ridges of her braids, smiling: “That’s more like it.”

She pulled his paw off her head and sternly warned: “Is this how you treat a shareholder?”

Su Minguan was stunned, “Sorry.”

Then he bent slightly forward: “Please retaliate.”

He was still waiting for the little girl to ruffle his hair when unexpectedly he received a light tap on his forehead.

Lin Yuchan: “Farewell! No need to see me off!”

Then, before the distant dock workers could react, she quickened her pace and fled, the door panel behind her flapping several times from being closed too forcefully.

Lin Yuchan planned to run back to Hongkou. But after just a few steps, passing by the adjacent “Yixing Teahouse,” something caught her peripheral vision. Her whole body shivered, and she couldn’t help but stop and slowly back up to take a look.

The original “Liangguang Hometown Association” sign was gone again, replaced with a new one.

“Huguang Hometown Association.”

Lin Yuchan whispered: “Holy shit.”

She kind of regretted flicking his forehead just now…