“Young Master, the person has already left. What are you still looking at? Do you want Qian Liang to break through the wall so you can continue looking?” The little tiger-eyed youth who had originally been standing beside Mo Zi now moved close to Jin Yin’s face.
Jin Yin used his gold fan to push the youth’s head away. “Bai Liang, if you dare demolish the wall, I’ll really throw you out to beg for food.”
The one with the green hair ribbon was Bai Liang, also the younger brother.
“Young Master, are there really people in this world who don’t like silver?” Qian Liang’s hair ribbon was blue. He tilted his head thinking. “You were willing to give her two hundred fifty thousand taels, yet she didn’t even blink an eye or change her breathing.”
Below was the dialogue reconstructed in Jin Yin’s mind—
Mo Zi said: Young Master Jin, wait until the person truly can’t come, then we’ll talk.
Jin Yin said: Brother Mo, how can we be certain the person can’t come? One month, half a year, one year?
Mo Zi said: No need. When the capital has his public parade through the streets, beheading outside the Meridian Gate, when I personally see that head fall to the ground, then I’ll come do this transaction with Young Master Jin.
Jin Yin said: I won’t hide it from Brother Mo—I have some sources of information. After that person entered the imperial palace, no one has seen him since. When the Emperor wants someone dead, there’s no need for fanfare at all.
Mo Zi said: Young Master Jin only knows that person entered the palace, but you can’t be certain whether he’s dead or alive. I’m someone who always acts cautiously in my affairs. It’s better to wait. Or, when Young Master has clear proof, it won’t be too late to discuss it with me. My master will marry into her husband’s family in two days. Since she’s a major client of Jinyin Money House, I’ll come by from time to time. When that happens, just like today, Young Master Jin can have someone invite me.
Jin Yin said: Doesn’t Brother Mo wonder how I learned that person’s identity?
Mo Zi said: That’s not difficult at all. The Water Purification Pearl is a hereditary treasure of Nande. For someone like Young Master Jin who can open money houses all the way to Nande—given that person’s power and influence at the time, how could you not have dealings with him? Don’t even tell me—this pearl was originally something you took to give as a gift. Now seeing the object is like seeing the person. Knowing that person has come here, what’s so strange about that? In any case, I’m storing this pearl with you. If the person can’t come, we’ll do business. If he can come—
Jin Yin said: If he can come, what then?
Mo Zi turned and walked away, her voice carrying back: If he can come, then you buy it from him. I’m guessing that given his circumstances, even if he can save his life, in the future he’ll need actual silver far more than a pearl you can look at but can’t eat. At that time, whether you buy it from him for two hundred thousand taels or two hundred fifty thousand taels—that’s your skill.
Jin Yin’s voice pursued: Brother Mo, you’re neither his woman nor his servant. He’s now a homeless dog. Everyone can step on him. Why must you treat him with sincerity? Do you know that as long as you give that person a single drop of water, in the future he can overturn rivers and seas? The him I understand won’t be grateful to someone who helped him when he was in trouble. Helping him is just helping for nothing.
Mo Zi’s footsteps weren’t fast, her voice not loud, yet it could let the three people hear clearly and distinctly: From the very beginning of speaking with me, every sentence Young Master Jin said had ulterior motives—I indeed didn’t misunderstand. To be honest, I only spent a few days with that person, we didn’t speak much at all, and I know nothing at all about his character. However, when I save people, it’s entirely according to my feelings at the time. This person—his life shouldn’t end. Therefore, I returned a pearl to him, but I’ve never thought about wanting him to be grateful to me. The world’s wealth is countless—why be obsessed with a single pearl? I believe what should be mine will be mine. Young Master Jin, let me give you a suggestion. Your establishment’s counters are so high up that for short customers like me, it’s extremely difficult—it doesn’t feel like coming to a money house to deposit money, but rather like going to a pawn shop to exchange money. Greeting customers with smiles is fine, but ultimately it depends on the heart. When the heart is so distant from people, how can people trust your esteemed establishment?
“It’s not that she doesn’t like money, it’s just that she’s a person with principles. People with principles usually can’t make great fortunes.” Jin Yin stood up thoughtfully, the ornaments at his waist swaying elegantly and vulgarly. He put the Water Purification Pearl away in his sleeve and suddenly asked, “Bai Liang, Qian Liang, does our establishment look like a pawn shop?”
“Uh—it’s alright, I guess.” Qian Liang better understood the master’s mind.
“Young Master, if you didn’t mention it I wouldn’t think so, but now that you have, it really does a little bit.” That Bai Liang had nine hundred liang less than Qian Liang wasn’t without reason.
“Go take a look. If it’s really as she said, I probably know the reason why our silver grows so slowly.” Jin Yin leisurely strolled out.
Mo Zi waited in the front hall for less than a quarter hour before Qiu Sanniang and Xiao Yi emerged.
“Miss, is all the silver deposited properly?” She asked with a smile, seemingly completely unaffected by Jin Yin’s earlier words. In this era, who would die and who could live—she was powerless to manage more. That she herself could survive was already not easy.
“It’s deposited properly. There’s a three-year one that gives me six percent interest per year—which other money house is this good? But I didn’t dare deposit it all, fearing I might need it urgently at some point, so I deposited half. The rest is stored without any interest. For every day Wangqiu House isn’t open, I lose interest daily.” Qiu Sanniang naturally wouldn’t store the Water Purification Pearl she got from Mo Zi in the money house—she had put it away safely herself.
This was the typical practice of wealthy people. In their thinking, depositing silver was one thing, but treasures had to be hidden by oneself. If Qiu Sanniang didn’t still not understand her husband’s family’s situation, she wouldn’t even deposit silver.
The three boarded the carriage, with Xiao Yi sitting alongside the driver.
As soon as Qiu Sanniang got in, she pulled out that little abacus from her bosom, wanting to carefully calculate interest again.
Mo Zi couldn’t help but laugh.
Qiu Sanniang glanced at her. “What are you laughing at for no reason?”
“Miss, it’s nothing. I just suddenly remembered—you said the entrance of Jinyin Money House inside and out looked like it was gilded. That color really is quite funny.” What Mo Zi actually remembered was that fan with famous calligraphy and paintings, fan ribs and surface made of pure gold—Young Master Jin’s fan, and that gleaming golden couplet. Looking at it this way, Qiu Sanniang’s little abacus compared to Young Master’s love of gold was simply like a small witch meeting a great sorcerer. She wondered what Qiu Sanniang would say if she met the gold-gleaming Young Master Jin? Kindred spirits? Mutual appreciation? Or hostile envy? Mo Zi secretly amused herself with these thoughts.
“You can tell at a glance they’re country bumpkins who ran out from some small village, haven’t seen the great world, inexplicably made a windfall and are showing off their wealth.” Qiu Sanniang’s words held no good feelings toward the unseen great owner of Jinyin Money House.
So it would be hostile envy then? Mo Zi understood. Qiu Sanniang said Jin Yin was a nouveau riche who came out from a small village, but Mo Zi saw that this person who had quietly established so many money houses, and was still so young—either he was hiding his identity, or he was formidable through unorthodox means, not someone to casually offend.
Qiu Sanniang made the little abacus clack away. Mo Zi didn’t need to help, so she looked out the window and soon discovered these weren’t the same scenes from their arrival.
“Miss, are we going somewhere else?”
“Leaving the city.” When Qiu Sanniang was concentrating, her words were concise.
“We’ve been out for over an hour. If we leave the city and come back, can we make it back to Li Mansion for dinner?” Mo Zi mentally calculated the time.
“If we can’t make it back, we’ll eat outside. It’s rare to come out once—why rush back in such a hurry?” Qiu Sanniang grabbed the small abacus with four fingers, swish swish swish, aligned all the beads neatly, and picked up another small account book with one hand. She had finished calculating one book and was continuing with another.
It seemed to Mo Zi that Qiu Sanniang had been too long without going out cross-dressed as a man, her heart had grown wild, and she didn’t want to return so early. But—
“Miss, the day after tomorrow is your wedding day. Besides, we’re currently staying at someone else’s mansion. Sneaking out for two hours—Bai He and Lu Ju can barely get away with saying we’re sleeping. If we eat dinner before returning, how can those two hold up?”
They had arrived at the capital yesterday. Because it wasn’t an auspicious day, Prince Jing’s mansion sent word to Aunt Wei saying they would send the wedding procession in three days. Xiao Wei and Aunt Wei had originally wanted to arrange for Qiu Sanniang and the others to stay at the Prince’s mansion’s別院别苑, but Li Shi invited them to stay at her natal family home. She was Qiu Sanniang’s godmother, and Li Shi’s father was a Grand Academician famous throughout the capital—the arrangement sounded very proper. Qiu Sanniang could take the wedding sedan from the Grand Academician’s mansion to Prince Jing’s mansion. In name, she would be marrying from her natal family, and the route would pass through all the major wards where officials gathered—truly glorious and magnificent.
“They don’t need to cover for me. My godmother will naturally help me find an excuse.” Qiu Sanniang raised her eyes to look at the street outside. Five years—how could she still have any impression of it? “Do you think, how did I come to acknowledge this godmother? When I was small, Father took me, cross-dressed as a man, down to a restaurant for a banquet with guests. We happened to meet the Regional Inspector and his wife. The two saw I could speak well and had a handsome appearance, and jokingly said they’d acknowledge me as a godson. Then, when they learned I was a daughter, it became acknowledging a goddaughter instead. Later, when I went to the Regional Inspector’s mansion to see my godmother, I almost always wore men’s clothing. She laughed that I had a daughter’s body but a son’s heart. Today when we went out, I didn’t plan to hide it from her. I had Bai He send word to my godmother after we left. I imagine she knows by now. At most I’ll just get a couple of scoldings when we return.”
Mo Zi hadn’t been with Qiu Sanniang for long, so this was the first time she heard the story behind the acknowledgment. “I already thought Lady Tang had an especially good temperament, but I didn’t expect there was such an interesting story—acknowledging a godson and goddaughter over drinks.”
“You think? When my godmother was still the Grand Academician mansion’s young miss, her personality was even more spirited than mine. My maternal grandfather wouldn’t let her study, so she changed into her brother’s clothes herself and ran to the academy to listen to the teachers lecture. My maternal grandfather really had no way to deal with her, so he could only invite people to come teach at home. Now all the young ladies of the Li mansion study—it started with this aunt of theirs.” Qiu Sanniang pinched an orchid flower shape with five fingers and opened the second account book. “My godmother cross-dressed as a man before me. I have to respectfully address her as ‘senior.'”
Hearing this, Mo Zi couldn’t help but clap her hands. “I really never imagined Lady Tang was so lively and bold.”
“After marrying she restrained herself a lot. However, my godfather likes her true nature and doesn’t mind conventions, often taking her out for outings. They’re considered an enviable loving couple—if only my godfather…” Qiu Sanniang paused and lowered her head. “Hadn’t taken a concubine. My godmother’s nature is resilient, she doesn’t like to tell me those things, but I can see that ultimately she’s still disappointed. Because of this, she especially indulges me, often telling me that the young maiden period is the happiest, that I should do whatever I like. The long years after marriage, for women, are very likely a process of brewing bitter wine.”
Women who married into wealthy families probably all experienced similar processes. How many could obtain their husband’s wholehearted devotion for a lifetime? The sweetness and joy at the beginning of brewing wine were but a brief instant. By the time youth had faded and one drank that cup of bitter wine, one discovered it had been brewed for oneself all along.
Mo Zi quietly sighed.