On the Qinhuai River, in the pleasure boat now dimmer with some of its lanterns extinguished, Xi Junyu glanced around. Wu Qilong smiled, pulled out a rice pot from nearby, and set it out. Xi Junyu went over and served himself some rice, then sat down at the table beside him, tipping a dish of food into his bowl.

“It’s always like this after the crowd’s had their fun — a whole table of scattered leftovers, and who knows if anyone actually ate their fill.” In the flickering lamplight, Wu Qilong picked up a bit of green vegetable with his chopsticks and popped it into his mouth, crunching audibly.

“At least no one’s going hungry.” Xi Junyu answered flatly.

“I always feel hungry myself… There was one time I really envied that Ning Liheng fellow. Not long ago, we all had dinner together — invited him, Shopkeeper Liao, Shopkeeper Luo…” Wu Qilong thought for a moment. “He just kept eating the whole time. He was really eating.”

“People with nothing at stake can always eat their fill.”

“True enough.”

After this brief exchange, the two of them sat and ate. Though the food looked like leftovers, it had clearly been prepared by a skilled chef, and even now, it still tasted quite good. The sound of chewing filled the cabin, the water rocking gently outside. After a good while, Wu Qilong finally set down his chopsticks and began drumming his fingers on the table.

“Tomorrow, the day after, and then the night after that — everything comes to a head. Right now, no news is good news. Brother Xi, there shouldn’t be any changes at this point, should there?”

“None.” Xi Junyu shook his head. “Chen Er’s confession that the assassination was instigated has already broken through the crisis hanging over them — nothing stands in the way of the imperial merchant appointment now. Everyone’s in good spirits, and while it hasn’t gone to anyone’s head, they can all see clearly enough: once the appointment is secured, everything else for the Eldest Branch falls into place. From here on, there’s no turning back for them. Right now… they’ve burned their bridges, they have no retreat, they can only push forward with the current momentum. Nothing’s going to change at this point, not realistically.”

“That’s good news, then.” Wu Qilong poured himself a cup of wine, smiled, and drank it in one gulp. “Things are all set on my end too. Not much else to say — my father simply asked Lord Dong to arrange the order of presentation that evening. Ha, our Wu family’s weaving has always surpassed the Su family’s — securing that first-mover advantage should be enough. The rest, we’ll leave to the various gentlemen at the textile bureau…”

Having said this, he laughed, and once Xi Junyu had finished eating and set down his bowl and chopsticks, Wu Qilong finally shook his head. “Two days from now, Su Tan’er will more or less have lost any chance of taking over the Su family. Internal strife within the family, that useless lot squandering the whole fortune — there’s no future left there. Won’t you really come join our Wu family?”

Xi Junyu glanced at him. “You know exactly what I intend to do.”

“You and I have known each other for years. A few years back I invited you to join my family, and you refused for Su Tan’er’s sake — I understood that. But now, for a woman who’s already become another man’s wife, tsk, you really are something…” Wu Qilong sighed, then, seeing the look on Xi Junyu’s face, laughed again. “All right, I know — the two of them haven’t consummated the marriage yet. Once the imperial merchant matter is settled, you could naturally arrange for a few shopkeepers to move against Ning Liheng, keep them from ever getting that chance. Su Tan’er’s years of hard work will have gone up in smoke, and she’ll surely be looking for someone to take her anger out on. But in the end, that’s really quite difficult, Xi Junyu — once the Su family collapses, given Su Tan’er’s temperament, she’ll grit her teeth and pick herself back up regardless. If you help her from behind the scenes then, years down the road, she’d owe you for it, and perhaps the two of you could end up together — but it really is a long shot.”

Wu Qilong paused. Here, Xi Junyu spoke calmly. “And by then, the Wu family will have already become the imperial merchant, the moment will have arrived, and you can move on toward becoming the foremost cloth house under heaven. As for the Su family — decades of accumulation built that scale, and once the old patriarch passes, once it collapses, it’ll take decades more to climb back. We won’t be rivals anymore. And to you, naturally, I’ll pose no threat either.”

“I’ve never cared about that kind of threat — it’s just a pity.” Wu Qilong frowned slightly. “Here in Jiangning, me, my younger brother, Xue Yan, you — none of us can match Su Tan’er. Honestly speaking, over the course of several years, she seized on one opportunity and never let go, pushing it forward relentlessly to where it stands today — that’s the proper way to do business. She really is formidable; the rest of us fall short of her. In terms of business acumen, among the younger generation, only Puyang Yi of the Puyang family and Tang Xu of the Tang family could make me feel truly outmatched, besides Su Tan’er. But she’s a woman after all — even if I were placed in her exact position, I might not manage what she has, but she still has her limitations too, plenty of complications that get in her way.”

Wu Qilong drew a breath. “Honestly, I never had any intention of specifically targeting the Su family. If it weren’t for how things had lined up — with both my family and the Xue family setting our sights on the imperial merchant appointment — if Su Tan’er had already made her preparations, then whatever she was set to earn should simply be hers, no one contesting it. But it happened that just as she was ready to make her move, everyone else had their eyes on the same prize — you could say her timing was simply unlucky. Once you’re in the game, deception and rivalry are just how it goes. But I’ve never intended to target anyone specifically — it’s just business. My Wu family has long been the foremost cloth merchant in Jiangning, Brother Xi — Jiangning itself is just a pond. You could head out to the open sea. Do you really mean to stay confined in this little pond?”

Xi Junyu smiled. “It’s nothing more than doing what needs doing. No need for grand principles.”

“True enough.” Wu Qilong laughed, shaking his head. “I know how you think — life is about doing things, and once you’ve found something worth doing, you go and do it. But… she’s just a woman. One day, once you’ve climbed higher, you might find all this rather pointless. Or perhaps a few years from now you’ll realize this woman is nothing special after all, that the feeling you once had is simply gone, and you’ll regret it. Do you know — I married at eighteen, and three years later she passed away. I swore I’d never touch another woman. But a year later, one day, out of nowhere, I realized I’d forgotten what she looked like when I tried to picture her. I took two concubines after that… women are all the same.”

“That’s just how people are,” Wu Qilong went on. “Men like us, if we’re going to do something, we ought to do something great. Women can’t accomplish anything — and besides, they’re all alike. Let go of Su Tan’er, and you’ll find there are plenty more just like her. You know, plenty of women love to put on airs and strike poses — whether it’s an act or genuine, once is enough; there won’t be a second time I let my thoughts linger on her. These are small matters, but let me leave you with a line on the subject: pining does no good at all — if you’ve no feelings for me, then I’ll let it go!”

“You’ve been talking a lot of nonsense today.”

“Ha, I know you probably won’t listen, but as long as there’s a chance, I have to say it, because there’s only three days left before this all resolves. Are you really going to stay tangled up at her side for ten, twenty years, just because they haven’t consummated the marriage? One more step forward and you’ll see the ocean — just one step. The next ten, twenty years of your life would be completely different. If the Su family matter succeeds, fine, good for them — but even if the imperial merchant appointment were handed to the Su family outright, I wouldn’t lose a moment’s sleep over it. My Wu family will still be the Wu family. If you and I joined forces, our reach would never be confined to Jiangning alone.”

Wu Qilong smiled. “In the end, though, it’s still your own decision to make.”

The more capable a man is at getting things done, the firmer his resolve tends to be — Xi Junyu wasn’t a man who acted without thought, and persuading him would surely be difficult, but there were things that still needed saying when the moment called for it. After Wu Qilong finished, Xi Junyu’s expression remained unchanged for a long while before he finally spoke.

“For these last two or three days, don’t stir up any further trouble. Su Tan’er isn’t simple — it’s entirely possible she has a backup plan of her own. For the sake of the annual tribute cloth, she’s been pulling funds from every region for over two years now. At this point, hundreds of thousands of taels have already been poured in. If, once the appointment is announced, all her expectations come to nothing, there’s no telling what she might do.”

“Ha ha, are you suggesting she might slash prices and flood the market?” Wu Qilong laughed, delighted. “I’d welcome that, honestly — breaking the rules like that would turn everyone against her, and the Su family would collapse even faster. Your old patriarch would never allow her to do such a thing, and neither would Su Zhongkan or Su Yunfang. If she did something like that, she’d be dragging the entire Su family down with her in a fit of madness.”

He shook his head, his voice rising slightly with excitement and confidence. “If there’s anyone I’m actually wary of, it’s this — Su Tan’er and Shopkeeper Liao have poured everything they have into building up the Su family’s momentum to this point. Su Yu is the truly formidable one — back in his day, he single-handedly built the Su family up to establish the three-way balance of power in Jiangning’s cloth trade. Even now, if he stepped forward, he might just manage to turn things around — but he’s old, and the Su family can’t hold out much longer on his strength alone. Of course, that’s a matter for later. Right now he’s already largely stepped back, and whatever effect he can still have is limited. Who else is there? Could it possibly be that Ning fellow, thrust into the role at the crucial hour, drawing everyone’s attention, expected to somehow turn the tide?”

Xi Junyu narrowed his eyes, his expression weary. Honestly, he wasn’t particularly fond of hearing that name. A useless man, and yet he’d somehow ended up marrying Su Tan’er — and now, of all things, the Su family had pushed him forward to hold the fort temporarily. A useless man who’d taken what should rightfully have been his: “Don’t get too full of yourself. He’s Jiangning’s foremost talent, brimming with poetic gift — go pulling underhanded tricks, and watch him tear you apart in verse afterward.”

“Ha ha, fair point, fair point.” Wu Qilong slapped the table, laughing, then his expression sobered slightly. “The man’s no fool, actually. Watching his bearing and manner, he’s honestly more sensible than the rest of the Su family put together. His moves these past weeks have been clumsy, sure, but not exactly reckless either — clearly he’s been putting real thought and effort into learning. It’s just, given the state the Su family’s in, it’s only natural he’d feel anxious. If this were an ordinary time and something minor came up, letting him take charge probably wouldn’t cause much harm. But right now… a scholar facing a situation like this, up against opponents who aren’t even playing in the same league — what could a clever novice possibly accomplish? This was never something he could really take part in from the start. All you can say is… he came along at the wrong time.”

“After this is all over, he’ll probably understand a great deal.” Xi Junyu thought over what Ning Yi had actually been doing these past weeks, then shook his head faintly and turned to head out. “As long as there’s nothing else, thanks for the hospitality.”

“No need to thank me for a favor like this — you’ll owe me one in return, though.” Wu Qilong made the joke, then waved a hand. “Think over what I said. The ocean’s right there ahead — not worth staying stuck in a pond. The doors of the Wu family are always open to you. Oh, and that line I gave you… pining does no good at all…”

“If you’ve no feelings for me, then I’ll let it go.” Xi Junyu, already walking out, repeated the line, his silhouette dissolving into the darkness by the boat’s railing. “Let’s hope there’s no need for another meeting like this.”

“This matter’s settled. There shouldn’t be any more surprises.” Wu Qilong replied. Once the hazy figure had drifted off with the small boat, he finally sighed, pushed aside the bowls and chopsticks in front of him, and rose to leave. “What a pity…”

He murmured this quietly to himself. Whatever the case, Xi Junyu was a talent he’d long wanted to recruit — if he was to take over the Wu family someday, he’d need his own capable circle. The Wu family securing the imperial merchant appointment was certainly welcome, letting him move some plans forward ahead of schedule — icing on the cake — but even without it, the Wu family would remain the Wu family. He was still young, with plenty of opportunities ahead to expand — but a talent like this came along once in a lifetime. What he truly valued was the future, not the gains right in front of him.

Still, since such gains were on offer, there was certainly no harm in taking them while he was at it. Standing at the boat’s railing, he thought back on the Su family’s panic these past month or so, the anxiety hidden beneath their aggressive push, the frantic scrambling of that old patriarch who’d once single-handedly carried the Su family to the top of Jiangning — and the gleeful, smug look on the Xue family’s faces across the way — he couldn’t help but laugh and shake his head again.

Truly absurd.

The light on the river dimmed a little further, the small pleasure boat gliding forward through the ripples.

Dawn broke, then darkened again — this was the twenty-fourth of the eighth month; the next dawn would bring the morning of the twenty-fifth. Ning Yi slept in that day, missing the morning meeting entirely. That evening would bring the annual general gathering of the cloth trade, held by the textile bureau — since autumn was the harvest season, every trade held such a general gathering once a year.