Shen Shaoguang rubbed her aching brow while staring blankly at the lake and mountain scenery on her bed screen. Yesterday she had drunk too much with Princess Fuhui, then had some more wine with plums in pursuit of elegance, and then—Magistrate Lin came, and then what?
This was Shen Shaoguang’s first experience of alcohol-induced memory loss. She wracked her brain trying to remember what she had said and done during that time. It seemed just within reach, but she couldn’t recall it, like when a novel website’s server crashed—the update showed as posted, but no matter how many times you refreshed, you just got a spinning circle, and when text finally appeared, it was “Server is catching up on chapters”—enough to make you want to throw your phone!
Based on plot progression, this was likely a romantic scene, or perhaps something not suitable for children—with lowered inhibitions from alcohol, had she taken liberties with Magistrate Lin? What kind of liberties? A hug, a kiss on the cheek, or… and how did he react?
Yesterday while drinking with the Princess, she had considered letting go. Didn’t the song say you let go because of love? Love or not… Shen Shaoguang stared at the bed canopy and smiled bitterly, feeling a sharp pain in her heart.
Shen Shaoguang thought further if she had done something to him then, it would make things even more complicated—or perhaps make her seem even more despicable.
Letting out a deep sigh, Shen Shaoguang covered her head with a pillow. Enough, enough, no use thinking too much…
“Young Mistress, are you awake?”
A Yuan lifted the bed curtain and moved the screen aside, then was startled by Shen Shaoguang’s appearance, “Young Mistress, is your headache severe?”
Shen Shaoguang put down the pillow, gave an awkward laugh, and after thinking asked, “A Yuan, I drank too much yesterday, did Magistrate Lin come?”
“Yes.”
“What did I say to him?”
“You said you had something to tell Lord Lin, so we went to the side room.”
Shen Shaoguang: “…”
A Yuan looked at Shen Shaoguang’s expression: “Young Mistress doesn’t remember?”
Shen Shaoguang shook her head.
“You probably didn’t say much, it was just long enough to brew two bowls of sobering soup.”
Shen Shaoguang felt both disappointed and relieved—it seemed she hadn’t done anything. That was good, that was good.
“When I came in, Young Mistress was already asleep.”
Shen Shaoguang felt her good drinking conduct had saved her character—she hadn’t completely degraded herself, still maintaining some bottom line. As for falling asleep… she didn’t mind losing face in front of Lin Yan like that.
“Young Mistress fell asleep leaning against the young lord’s chest, your hair was loose, and your face showed signs of crying. I saw you left quite a few tears and nose marks on the young lord’s clothes.”
Shen Shaoguang: “…” A Yuan’s narrative style was full of unexpected turns!
But A Yuan didn’t think it was a big deal: “I’ve seen people who when drunk bang into trees and even relieve themselves in the street. Young Mistress’s behavior was nothing, especially since the young lord isn’t an outsider.” Just like her partiality toward the beautiful cat Ming Nu, the appearance-conscious A Yuan had already accepted Magistrate Lin as their own young master, quite different from her earlier attitude toward Young Lord Liu.
“It was the young lord who carried Young Mistress to bed.” Though A Yuan could have done this herself, seeing how carefully the young lord carried the Young Mistress, like protecting a treasure, A Yuan felt it was indeed more appropriate for him to do so.
Shen Shaoguang pressed her lips together, “Anything else?”
“Lord Lin also instructed us to watch that you don’t kick off your covers and catch cold at night, and to be careful about alcohol sickness, before he left.”
Shen Shaoguang nodded.
“Does Young Mistress have a headache?”
Shen Shaoguang shook her head.
“I’ll bring Young Mistress some honey water.”
Shen Shaoguang waved her hand weakly.
A Yuan frowned at Shen Shaoguang, wondering if Young Mistress’s crying yesterday was from an argument. But the young lord’s manner hadn’t suggested that…
Shen Shaoguang slowly dressed, washed up, and sat before the mirror, looking at her hangover face with puffy eyes. She tied another silk cord into a topknot, wrapping it a few extra times to prevent it from coming loose again.
Knowing she had drunk too much, the kitchen had specially prepared kudzu powder and polished rice porridge with sugar, red dates, and wolfberries—it wasn’t unpalatable. Shen Shaoguang could imagine the Third Princess instructing with her typical scowl, “Grind the kudzu powder finer.” Though her love life might not be smooth, the people around her were all good.
After finishing the porridge, while still pondering matters with Lin Yan, the doorkeeper announced Young Lord Shao’s arrival.
Shen Shaoguang was surprised. On Winter Solstice, with snow making travel difficult, he should have been either paying courtesy calls to business associates or resting at home—why had he come here? Could something have happened?
Indeed, something had.
“That Third Young Master Qiu still has wounds on his face. He claims it was from his cat’s scratches, but what cat has such large hands? Though this matter was indeed his fault. I heard when he married into the family, he agreed he could have served women but not concubines, and no outside residence. Now he’s kept a mistress outside and had a child—how could his wife not make trouble?” Shao Jie said, taking a sip of tea.
“Lady Zhao is quite capable. She’s determined to sell the East Market tavern that Third Young Master Qiu manages, focusing solely on her family’s grain business. The grain business is staffed entirely with Zhao family’s old employees—Third Young Master Qiu is effectively confined.”
Cutting off the source… Shen Shaoguang nodded, truly there were many formidable women in this dynasty. “So?”
“So, shall we take over that East Market tavern?” Shao Jie’s eyes sparkled.
Shen Shaoguang looked at her house that she hadn’t even properly settled into yet. I’ve spent all my money on this place, where would I find money to invest? Of course, this wasn’t Shao Jie’s fault—surely the location must be excellent and the price reasonable.
Indeed it was. “This tavern isn’t far from where we set up our stall before. Business is good, it’s a two-story building with a large hall, about four times the size of our current tavern. It was newly painted just last year, and since it was already a tavern, the kitchen is spacious—we barely need to make any changes. Because Lady Zhao wants to sell quickly, the price is twenty percent below market. If we negotiate further, it might go even lower…”
Shen Shaoguang pondered thoughtfully: “Lady Zhao’s rushing to sell—does she need money?”
Shao Jie shook his head, “Lady Zhao has a fierce temperament, it’s just to show her determination. The Zhao family are old grain merchants in Chang’an, they have plenty of money. It was only because they had difficulty with heirs that they had Third Young Master Qiu marry into the family.”
Shen Shaoguang nodded.
Seeing her contemplating, Shao Jie said, “Don’t worry about the money. I know you probably don’t have any left after buying this house. We can gather the profits from all our shops, and I’ll ask my grandfather for the rest.”
Shen Shaoguang waved her hand—they couldn’t keep taking advantage of the Shao family. Business should be done properly. They had agreed on investment proportions before. Last time, they had added more investment out of goodwill; one couldn’t take advantage of such goodwill and push for more.
“Since Lady Zhao isn’t short of money, how about this—we can do collateralized installment payments. We use two shops as collateral, pay the down payment, get the deed, then pay the balance monthly or quarterly with interest.”
Once again, Shao Jie’s eyes were opened to new ways of buying property. He’d heard of some lenders who collected monthly payments with collateral but hadn’t thought of buying shops and houses this way…
Shen Shaoguang took out paper to calculate the profits from their branches, the down payment, remaining balance, repayment period, and interest. Watching her calculate efficiently, Shao Jie smiled, “Even if you couldn’t cook, you could still be an accountant.”
“That would be too troublesome. Didn’t I tell you before? If I hadn’t become a cook and opened taverns, I would have become a Daoist priestess or Buddhist nun, just chanting sutras and helping people interpret divination lots—that would have been nice too,” Shen Shaoguang said. “If we repay twenty thousand per month, not counting the new store’s profits, each of the four old stores contributes five thousand cash. Based on current profits, each store’s working capital would still have…”
After calculating accounts and discussing terms, without even doing their usual future outlook and mutual business flattery, Shao Jie hurriedly left: “We can’t let others get such a good deal.”
Shen Shaoguang laughed as she saw him out: “If we get it, it’s fortune; if we don’t, it’s fate. Be careful though, don’t fall and hurt yourself in your hurry.”
“What do you mean ‘if we don’t, it’s fate’? Heaven should help those who work so hard,” Shao Jie laughed.
Shen Shaoguang smiled—Young Lord Shao showed quite a bit of Confucian positive spirit. Before she could walk back to the rear courtyard, another Confucian scholar arrived.
Shen Shaoguang turned back to welcome him, and they walked to the inner quarters together.
“Headache?” Lin Yan asked.
Shen Shaoguang smiled, “A little.”
“Have you eaten breakfast?”
“Yes, had some kudzu powder porridge.”
Lin Yan nodded, turning to look at her complexion, and reminded her again, “Never drink so much again in the future.”
Shen Shaoguang nodded guiltily, “I must have said some thoughtless things when drunk yesterday, please don’t take them to heart.”
Lin Yan stopped walking to look at her, then continued forward, “What? Do you regret it?”
Shen Shaoguang: “…Re-regret what?”
“Your father and Governor Shen of Dengzhou were close cousins. When Governor Shen finishes his term next year and returns to the capital to report, shall we ask him to perform the six marriage rites? Though I’m not close to him, I’ve heard your father and Governor Shen were quite close in their day—he should be willing. I’ll write to inquire, and we should also send word to your old home in Luoyang, and Duke Chu’s residence.”
Shen Shaoguang’s eyes widened—wait, how did we suddenly jump to the “six rites” stage?
Lin Yan said calmly, “You agreed to marry me yesterday.”
Shen Shaoguang was utterly despairing of her drinking conduct and hurriedly smiled apologetically: “Well, how can you trust what someone says when drunk?” Someone who blacks out lacks full civil capacity.
The maids came forward to lift the curtains. Lin Yan glanced at Shen Shaoguang before entering first, with her following.
Lin Yan made himself at home on Shen Shaoguang’s regular couch, leaving her to sit across from him at the small table. Maids brought tea.
Lin Yan looked at Shen Shaoguang, who quickly put on an apologetic smile. At this moment, Shen Shaoguang truly felt she had completely degraded herself, and despite her usual quick wit, she didn’t know what to say.
Seeing her like this was rare. Lin Yan maintained his composure for a while before finally smiling.
Shen Shaoguang grew suspicious, “Are you deceiving me?”
But Lin Yan’s expression turned serious: “A Qi, what are you worried about? Your status as a criminal official’s daughter? My career?”
Shen Shaoguang hesitated, then nodded.
“The Prince of Wu’s case has many questionable points. Lord Shen can be cleared of wrongdoing.”
“You’re investigating my father’s old case?”
Lin Yan nodded.
Shen Shaoguang was touched by his thoughtfulness and said softly, “Thank you.”
But Shen Shaoguang also knew that reviewing the Prince of Wu’s case would be extremely difficult. In his final years, the previous emperor was obsessed with elixirs and the pursuit of immortality, and his temperament became violent. If he hadn’t died early, chaos might have erupted. The current emperor rules with “benevolence and filial piety,” and after ascending the throne, he changed some cruel policies, but old wrongful cases remained unopened. While this partly stemmed from the “filial” principle that “a son doesn’t speak of his father’s faults,” it was more likely because he was a beneficiary—several of the current emperor’s brothers were demoted, exiled, or even poisoned in the previous emperor’s final years, otherwise the unremarkable current emperor might not have become emperor.
“For some things, doing our best is enough, there is no need to sacrifice more people. For my father’s matter, justice lives in people’s hearts,” Shen Shaoguang said.
Lin Yan nodded, “A Qi, even if Lord Shen’s wrongful case cannot be cleared and your status remains unchanged, it won’t affect my career.”
Shen Shaoguang smiled slightly—how could it not matter?
“This official career is full of visible and hidden currents, pitfalls everywhere—opinions, political views, government affairs, factions… any of these could cause one to stumble. Compared to these, a wife’s background truly doesn’t matter much.”
“For men, while career and finances are important, family and wives are not light matters either.” Lin Yan looked at Shen Shaoguang earnestly, “A Qi, you are the one I love and admire. If I miss this chance because of these concerns, I fear I’ll never be happy for the rest of my life.”
Shen Shaoguang pressed her lips tightly together, afraid that if she opened her mouth, she couldn’t control herself.
“A Qi, you think too much, always seeking perfection. How can everything be perfect? Life is like sailing a boat—we don’t know what we’ll encounter, we can only choose who to share the boat with.”
“A Qi, last night I dreamed you married someone else. When we met on the street, you curtsied and smiled at me, then walked away with that person. They asked ‘Who was that?’ and you just said ‘That was a regular customer who used to come eat at our place.’ Even in the dream, I felt such deep sorrow, as if I were the only person left in the world. When I woke up and saw my bed curtains, I was so happy—it was just a dream, there’s still time.”
“A Qi, let’s hold our wedding at your old family home. Your parents’ spirits in heaven would surely be happy. Our children can climb the trees you climbed as a child, count the carved flowers you counted, and perhaps even get the same scares you got—are there snakes in that bamboo grove in the front courtyard? We don’t have many poisonous snakes in our area, but I’ll still catch them to be safe.”
“We’ll go to the Wei River in spring, Mount Zhongnan in summer, and in autumn—wherever you want to go. Though my salary isn’t much, if we save, it’s enough to buy another vacation house or two. Besides, my A Qi has the talent of a merchant prince herself.”
…
Listening to him ramble on, Shen Shaoguang’s tears flowed again.
Lin Yan wiped her tears, his own eyes somewhat red, yet still smiling tenderly: “Will you marry me? A Qi—”
Shen Shaoguang wiped her tears—well, let’s take this life risk with him. As for whether it would add more greed, anger, delusion, and resentment, whether she would lose her composure, whether life would be difficult… who cares!
“My name is Shen Shaoguang, born when shepherd’s purse grew wild everywhere,” Shen Shaoguang said slowly. It was the same in both lives, with birthdays barely a week apart—perhaps that’s why both fathers gave the same name? Only this life had a more specific style name.
Lin Yan smiled, and before his eyes seemed to unfold the brilliant scenery of early spring.