Dowager Lady Gan mentioned this to Eleventh Young Lady during a leisurely visit: “…One cannot help but admire how adept the Li family is at finding the right connections. On the strength of a son holding nothing more than a fifth-rank Captain’s post, they managed to form a marriage alliance with Princess Ancheng!”
By this time, the trousseau shop had already opened for business, right in the season of “money or no money, take a wife and spend the New Year well.” With their embroidery designs fresh and original, their quality excellent, and their pricing reasonable, the shop had drawn in a good number of customers and quickly built up a modest reputation in Yanjing. Whether for Eleventh Young Lady, Master Jian, or Dowager Lady Gan, this opening was already more than satisfying.
Eleventh Young Lady’s reason for calling on Dowager Lady Gan this time was to bring the shop’s accounts for her to review.
“Young people are like the rising sun — the future holds limitless promise,” she said with a measure of tact. “It is no wonder Princess Ancheng was moved.”
Dowager Lady Gan laughed at this. “Still, thinking about it, the two households are fairly well-matched.”
Dowager Lady Gan was referring, no doubt, to the fact that Princess Ancheng’s prince consort was himself not exactly a man of integrity. Years back, he had been impeached by a censor for smuggling illicit salt and received forty strokes of the heavy rod, which had left him with a limp in one leg. In recent years, rumor had it that he had taken in a band of idlers and was running government loans on the side. Now that maritime trade had been reopened, Fujian was at the center of everyone’s attention — this Prince Consort likely had his own private calculations as well.
But this was, after all, another family’s business, and it was not for Eleventh Young Lady to comment upon.
To speak ill of others behind their backs was not the conduct of a person of honor. Dowager Lady Gan had made her allusion gently, leaving much unspoken, and turned the conversation to the trousseau shop’s business. “So you’re saying we actually made six taels of silver this year?”
Eleventh Young Lady smiled and nodded: “If we leave your shop’s rent out of the reckoning, we did indeed make six taels of silver. But if we factor in your shop’s rent, we are actually down by sixty taels.”
Dowager Lady Gan looked puzzled.
Eleventh Young Lady calculated it out for her: “Your shop has an annual rent of eight hundred taels — spread across twelve months, that works out to roughly sixty-six taels a month. Now that we’ve made six taels of profit, if we add in the shop’s rent, we’ve actually lost sixty taels.”
“Oh my!” Dowager Lady Gan laughed. “This really is complicated. No wonder people say that commerce is not for everyone.” Then she added: “Still, making six taels of profit isn’t bad at all! For our very first time in business, at least we haven’t run a loss!”
Eleventh Young Lady smiled and nodded. “The reason I’ve come today is to discuss two matters with you. First, the dates for the shop’s closure over the New Year period. Master Jian’s thinking is to close on the seventh day of the twelfth month and reopen on the eighteenth day of the first month. Second, the end-of-year bonuses. Although we haven’t made much money this year — partly because we only just opened, and partly because we’ve been keeping our margins thin while building a name for ourselves — we still cannot shortchange the shop’s staff. The proposal is to give the head manager eight taels, the deputy manager six taels, the young apprentices two taels apiece, and the embroidresses five taels each in bonuses. What do you think?”
“The shops along East Main Street generally close on the seventh day of the twelfth month and reopen on the eighteenth of the first month. We should naturally do the same,” Dowager Lady Gan mused. “But isn’t the head manager’s bonus a little low? Our household’s first-tier stewards receive twelve taels at New Year. And these people came here on the strength of Master Jian’s reputation. We can tighten our belts a little — the difference won’t hurt us. I’d say we should be a bit more generous.”
Both the head manager and the deputy manager were old acquaintances of Master Jian’s — experienced veterans of the embroidered goods trade.
“I have already reached an agreement with Master Jian — this year is an exception,” Eleventh Young Lady said. “Starting next year, in addition to their wages, one-tenth of the shop’s profits will go to the head manager, deputy manager, and apprentices as a dividend, and another one-tenth will be distributed among the embroidresses. Rather than giving larger bonuses, it’s better to give them more incentive to make the business flourish.”
“I’m afraid the two managers will think us stingy,” Dowager Lady Gan laughed. “I don’t quite understand all of this. But since you and Master Jian have already worked it out, I’ll defer to your judgment. Besides, as I said from the beginning — I’m not getting involved in the running of the shop.”
Even so, since this was a venture with three equal partners, some matters still called for more communication with Dowager Lady Gan.
Eleventh Young Lady smiled and talked with her for a good while longer, until she saw that the day was advancing, and rose to take her leave.
The moment she came through the door, Lvyun informed her: “Third Master has sent the New Year gifts from Shanyang!”
“Is it Old Gan Quan he’s sent again?” Eleventh Young Lady smiled, shrugging off her chestnut-colored sable-fur coat as she spoke.
“Old Gan Quan again,” Lvyun replied, taking the coat she had removed and handing it to a young maid nearby. She helped Eleventh Young Lady into the wash room to freshen up. “Gan Quan’s wife, seeing you were not in, has gone to pay her respects to the Dowager Lady.”
Eleventh Young Lady nodded, washed up, and made her way to the Dowager Lady’s rooms.
The Dowager Lady had given Gan Quan’s wife a meal in the east side chamber, and when she heard Eleventh Young Lady arriving, the woman hurried out to kowtow to her.
Eleventh Young Lady gave her two taels of silver as a reward and went into the Dowager Lady’s inner room.
“So — you’ve finished going over the accounts,” the Dowager Lady said. She was sitting on the kang, happily arranging several cloth tigers and little embroidered shoes alongside Nanny Du. She smiled and beckoned Eleventh Young Lady over to sit beside her.
Eleventh Young Lady paid her respects, then settled beside the Dowager Lady. “Dowager Lady Gan is a widow, and Master Jian is, after all, a craftsperson — so I’ve had to run back and forth between both households.” She then smiled at the finely crafted cloth tiger in the Dowager Lady’s hands. “Is this for the Grand Princess?”
Yesterday had been the Grand Princess’s one-month celebration. Eleventh Young Lady, being in mourning, had not attended. But the fireworks that lit up half the Yanjing sky were proof enough of how festive the occasion had been.
The Dowager Lady smiled and nodded. “The New Year is nearly here — I thought I’d find a few little trinkets to send to her.” Then she pushed the cloth tiger and little shoes in front of Eleventh Young Lady. “My eyes aren’t quite what they used to be. Help me look them over.”
Eleventh Young Lady ran her hands over the little shoes — the uppers, the soles, the bindings — checking their softness.
“That child is truly lovely,” the Dowager Lady remarked naturally, turning to the subject of the Grand Princess. “She is the very image of the Empress. And yet the Emperor insists that she takes after him without question.” She laughed warmly. “All the eunuchs and female officials saw it and agreed with their eyes closed that she looks like the Emperor — which delighted him no end. If not for the fact that the Empress Dowager has been feeling a little under the weather, the hundred-day ceremony was going to be a grand affair as well.”
Not long after the Grand Princess’s bathing ceremony, the Empress Dowager had come down with a cold. The Dowager Lady and the others had paid visits to the palace to inquire after her health. It had already been more than half a month.
“Has the Empress Dowager still not recovered?” Eleventh Young Lady asked, a little surprised.
“They say she has not yet fully recovered,” the Dowager Lady replied meaningfully, “but when I went to visit, though she was still taking medicine, her voice was full of vigor when she spoke — I would think there is nothing to be truly concerned about.”
Eleventh Young Lady smiled.
The Dowager Lady plainly did not wish to pursue this topic, and immediately changed the subject, asking about Xu Siyu’s return for the New Year: “…They say he will reach Tongzhou on the sixteenth day of the twelfth month. Has his accommodation been made ready?”
“Everything is in order,” Eleventh Young Lady replied, smoothly following the Dowager Lady’s lead. “Ji Ting’s wife has moved in some potted flowering trees, and all the bedding has been changed for new. Qinxiang and the others have already gone ahead. Will you go over to have a look tomorrow, my Lady?”
“I trust you to handle it.” The Dowager Lady smiled. “I won’t go for a look.”
A young maidservant came in to announce: “Dowager Lady, Madam — the Elder Young Master from Cangzhou has sent the New Year gifts!”
The Dowager Lady was clearly delighted, and urged Eleventh Young Lady: “Go quickly and see!”
Eleventh Young Lady smiled and returned to her own courtyard.
Lvyun then came in accompanied by two sharp and capable matrons.
They greeted Eleventh Young Lady and offered the customary New Year’s blessings. One of the matrons said with a smile: “We have also brought along a pair of starlings for the Second Young Master; a pair of kingfishers for the Young Heir; a pair of orioles for the Fifth Young Master; and a pair of parrots for the Elder Young Miss.”
“How very thoughtful!” Eleventh Young Lady said with a smile, offered a few words of courtesy, and then gave each of them ten taels of silver, instructed Lvyun to take them to the outer wing for a meal, and told Yan Rong to take the Shao family’s gifts to each person’s room.
Yan Rong returned to report, but drew close and murmured: “I heard some of the young servants in the outer wing saying that although the Third Master’s gifts are the same in quantity as at the Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn — the quality is noticeably inferior.”
Eleventh Young Lady was somewhat surprised.
Yan Rong said quickly: “Truly — I went and looked myself. The cured ducks the Third Master sent at Mid-Autumn were plump and well-fatted, but the ones sent this time are quite thin and small.”
Eleventh Young Lady smiled with a quiet sigh.
The New Year gift inventory would be sent to Xu Lingyi, but it was Steward Fan — who handled the gift exchanges between households — who would be responsible for entering the items into the storeroom. In a matter like this, one imagined even Steward Fan might find it difficult to comment.
“Don’t breathe a word of this,” Eleventh Young Lady instructed Yan Rong. “It would only embarrass the Marquis.”
“Your servant understands!” Yan Rong said hurriedly. “I haven’t mentioned it to a soul.”
Eleventh Young Lady asked after her errand: “Were the Elder Young Master’s gifts all delivered?”
“The Second Young Master’s were handed to Qinxiang; the Young Heir’s to Nanny Du; the Fifth Young Master’s to Nan Yong’s wife; and the Elder Young Miss’s to Little Oriole.”
Since the Dowager Lady had used the excuse of the summer heat to keep Xu Sizhun in her own rooms, she had never again mentioned arranging a separate courtyard for him. Eleventh Young Lady, knowing that Xu Siyu and the others had only moved to the outer wing after passing the age of ten, did not bring it up herself, and the matter had simply been left aside. The gifts for everyone else had been handed over to the personal attendants, but the one sent for Xu Sizhun — Yan Rong had taken it to Nanny Du.
Eleventh Young Lady nodded quietly. “You handle things with great care.”
Yan Rong, at this recognition, flushed with excitement, curtseyed, and said: “Your servant has done nothing more than live up to Madam’s teachings.”
Eleventh Young Lady smiled and dismissed her.
Xu Sijie then came running in dragging a birdcage: “Mother! Mother! Look — the birds Elder Brother-in-Law sent!” Nan Yong’s wife followed behind with an apologetic expression. “Madam, the Fifth Young Master simply would not be kept back…”
Eleventh Young Lady signaled to Nan Yong’s wife not to worry, and smilingly took the birdcage and handed it back to her. “Birds must be hung under the eaves to be kept properly — you can’t go running about with them like this.”
Xu Sijie nodded with great seriousness. “Hang them under Mother’s eaves — the bird will sing for Mother to hear!”
“This is Elder Brother-in-Law’s gift to Jie Ge!” Eleventh Young Lady said with a smile, drawing Xu Sijie into her arms. “Hang it under your own eaves — the bird will sing for you to hear.”
He wriggled in her arms: “For Mother to hear!”
He was trying to give it to her, wasn’t he?
Eleventh Young Lady kissed his cheek warmly: “Mother finds noise distracting — hang it under Jie Ge’s eaves.”
Only then did Xu Sijie fall quiet.
By the time she had settled Xu Sijie and returned to her room, she found that all the serving maids and matrons had retreated and were standing at a distance beneath the eaves, while Xu Lingyi and Xu Lingkuan stood in the courtyard, speaking quietly together.
Hearing the sound of her approach, the two brothers broke off their conversation.
“This late, with the cold as it is — why not go inside?” Eleventh Young Lady smiled and greeted them.
—