When the earth awakens its killing intent, dragons and snakes rise onto the land. — from the Yellow Emperor’s Scripture on the Hidden Talisman
Chapter 158: Aftermath
The new year had just passed, though the Lantern Festival had not yet arrived. Along the streets by the Qinhuai River, the air was thick with the cheer of the New Year season. Firecrackers went off now and then—some from shops opening for business or welcoming guests for the new year, others scattered and random, set off by children running wild through the streets with strings of firecrackers, laughing and shrieking as carts and pedestrians passed by.
The festive mood did nothing to dispel the cold. Along the street, the swept snow had piled up on either side, showing no sign of melting, heaped up like little hills. Yet inside a private room at a restaurant called Tingtao Pavilion, beside the road, it was warm. A brazier, carefully placed, blazed away, warming the room while still allowing a little air to circulate. The room was luxurious; beyond the strings of pearl beads, the scent of burning incense drifted, curling through the air, accompanied by the pure, ethereal sound of a zither. The woman playing it had a graceful figure and a bright, lovely face, but for now she simply served as an accompaniment, saying little.
Tea was poured into the cups, the leaves unfurling in the ripples, steam rising off the surface.
“I left Jiangning right before the New Year and only came back yesterday. Has anything major happened these past days?”
“Same as you, Brother Tang—I also left the city to pay respects to my ancestors and call on my elders at home. There’s no news to speak of.”
The scene seemed calm. The two men speaking were Puyang Yi and Tang Xu, both rising stars among the younger generation of Jiangning’s merchant circles. Tang Xu was refined and cultured, accomplished not only in business but also in literary learning. The two were rivals, yet in a sense also friends, occasionally meeting to drink tea and chat. Today’s meeting, too, happened to fall after the New Year, and since the courtesan Qilan was present, she had been asked to accompany them on the zither.
“…While I was out of the city, I heard there was a snowstorm up north. Lin Shouzhou had a shipment of goods coming through, and it got caught in an avalanche—lost everything. Poor fellow.”
“That Lin Shouzhou has plenty of tricks up his sleeve. Borrowing from here, scraping together from there—he always manages to get through. Ha, it’s just that his luck has been poor these past two years…”
“He really is a formidable man. War is coming soon, and I hear he’s already invested heavily in the north. Once fighting breaks out, he’ll be counting the days until he strikes it rich. Wealth sought amid danger, as they say…”
“The cloth merchants have been talking about something else lately, too. A few days ago they were drinking with people from the Weaving and Dyeing Bureau, and there was a lot of sighing going around.”
“Oh? Wasn’t last year’s affair enough? What’s happened now? Has the Xue family made a move too?”
“It’s still the business between the Su Family and the Wu Family.”
Puyang Yi took a sip of tea, mildly surprised. “Didn’t that end back in late October, when the Su Family split their household? The Wu Family got thoroughly outmaneuvered by that Ning Yi fellow—by now most of the business transfers should be more or less settled. Don’t tell me they’re still unsatisfied and stirring up more trouble?”
“The aftermath isn’t over yet.”
“There’s still aftermath?”
“I only pieced it together myself today, though the people in the cloth trade have sharper noses and probably caught on already… The Wu Family has taken over the entire New Year tribute-cloth quota for the Jiangning region, on their own initiative. Officials at every level have been coming and going constantly.”
“Taking on the tribute cloth? Have they lost their minds?”
“They probably have no choice. I hear the Wu Family has been spending money like water lately—their family fortunes crumbling like a landslide. A third of it was already carved away by the Su Family, and now, taking on the tribute cloth and greasing palms up and down the chain, they’ve spent nearly half of what remained. People only noticed the bribery after the New Year—they were moving far too recklessly. By now they’ve probably breathed a sigh of relief, but after this, I’d guess the Wu Family’s reserves amount to less than a third of what they once had, and for the next few years they’ll likely be working themselves to the bone just to serve the imperial merchant title. I ran into Wu Qilong once—he seemed much more withdrawn than before.”
Puyang Yi opened his mouth, then asked, “Why would this happen?”
“Guess. I only just worked it out myself.”
The other man set his teacup to his lips, blinked, and lowered the cup again. “That cloth—the color-fading problem—they couldn’t fix it?” It wasn’t really a question; it was a conjecture born of careful thought.
Across from him, Tang Xu nodded. “That’s my guess too. I imagine quite a few others have caught on by now as well.”
“This whole affair really has been one twist after another—to think it’s still not over even now…” Puyang Yi murmured, his expression complicated.
“Everyone got played. Even after it was all supposedly laid out in the open, people were still being played.” Tang Xu laughed. “It’s been deception after deception ever since the Su Family assassination attempt. Back in late August, when the decision was made over who would hold the imperial merchant title, everyone thought the Su Family had been cheated and marveled at the Wu Family’s cunning. Then at the Su Family’s clan assembly in late October, people realized it was actually the Wu Family that had been deceived. Who would have guessed that even after that October revelation, everyone was still in the dark… Looking at how the Su Family behaved toward the Wu Family at the time, nearly everyone assumed the two families had reached an agreement—that the Su Family had used the genuine brilliant brocade to force the Wu Family’s hand. But now it seems…” He took a sip of tea, his expression complicated. “It was an empty-handed trick played on a hungry wolf. That really is something to admire…”
Puyang Yi was silent for a moment. “So in other words, the Su Family never actually traded the real brilliant brocade for a third of the Wu Family’s business—they traded a single secret for that third, and the Wu Family then had to go and destroy another third all on their own. It was all revealed back in October, and yet no one suspected this. That really is… ten steps ahead with every move calculated…”
“Thinking back on it now, it all makes sense.” Tang Xu nodded. “The Wu Family’s foundation is deep and solid—if they’d only lost a third, they could probably still have held their position as one of the three great weaving houses. But after this affair, the Su and Wu families are now bitter enemies. If I were Ning Yi, I doubt I’d allow that situation to continue—the only way to feel secure would be to crush the Wu Family completely, leaving them with no strength to compete. It’s just that, at the time, no one imagined his appetite could be this large, so no one gave it further thought—people simply assumed the Su Family had already gained a great advantage, and that knowing when to stop was only natural… The Xue family and the others missed their best opportunity. This Ning Yi seems mild-mannered on the surface, but in truth… he’s frightening.”
The two of them spoke only in the tone of idle chat—their family businesses were far larger than the Su Family’s, and they weren’t even in a competing trade—but discussing this affair still left them astonished and full of admiration for the scheming behind it. The outcome revealed at the clan assembly back in late October had already been shocking enough on its own: a trap within a trap, one layer nested inside another. Just when people thought they’d finally seen the full result, it turned out the affair was still unfolding even now, having ground the Wu Family down to a mere third of what they once were. And the mastermind behind it all was nothing more than a scholar.
“Good thing he’s not an enemy.”
“Ha, a scheme like that isn’t something you can just pull off anytime—there’s bound to be some luck involved too. I doubt even you’re afraid of him, Brother Puyang. Besides, I hear you’re on rather good terms with this Ning Liheng. What’s he really like? Had you never noticed any of this in him before?”
“We’ve gathered together a few times, though I wouldn’t necessarily call it a close friendship. He’s a man of indifferent temperament, not particularly interested in gatherings or pleasure-seeking. In the past I only thought his grounding in poetry and prose was impressive—I never imagined that when he stood up for his family, he’d stir up a storm on this scale. An entire family, the Wu Family, ground down and broken just like that… I went to visit him after October, but I heard that once the matter of the imperial merchant title was decided, he simply went back to his life teaching at Yushan Academy. Once in a while I run into him wandering the streets, and as for the whole Su Family affair, he pays it no mind at all anymore. He’s far more carefree about it than either of us.”
“What a strange man.” Tang Xu smiled, raised his teacup, and said, “Now I find myself thinking—if anyone tries to scheme against the Su Family again in the future, they’ll have to carefully weigh the weight of this Ning Liheng standing behind them…”
Thinking of the Su Family’s current situation, if one were their enemy, having someone known as “ten steps ahead” standing guard behind them would truly be enough to make one’s scalp crawl. With a single move, he had wiped out a third of the Wu Family’s fortune—anyone else would need to think very carefully indeed before acting.
Behind the pearl curtain nearby, Qilan continued to play the zither, gradually piecing together what the two men were discussing, listening closely all the while.
Stories of gifted scholars and beautiful women were always the mainstream fare of the pleasure quarters. Now that she was the reigning courtesan queen, she occasionally heard people speak of Ning Yi, weaving her into the talk as well, and in her heart she couldn’t help but feel a certain strange flutter. Ning Yi truly was one of the strangest talents in Jiangning—regarded by many as the foremost scholar of the city, and yet he kept his distance from the pleasure quarters, which was unheard of for someone of his standing. And yet she felt, all the same, that his reputation was well earned—even surpassing Cao Guan’s, which was a strange feeling in itself.
He kept his distance from everyone in the pleasure quarters, not just her—but if he ever took an interest, she felt she would surely get along with him. Qilan sometimes thought this to herself; after all, she was different from the others, and hadn’t he tipped her several thousand taels of silver at the last courtesan pageant?
Of course, now that she had status, she was in fact quite busy—entertaining guests on behalf of the Puyang family, repaying the kindness of those who had recognized her worth, all sorts of obligations, and getting to know other talented men besides. It was only in her idle moments that she thought of such things, and thoughts of Ning Yi’s situation were not frequent, but whenever they came, she never found them unwelcome. Sometimes she heard that Ning Yi kept in contact with Yuan Jin’er, the once-famous courtesan who had since retired from the trade, though she had no idea how true it was—in the pleasure quarters, rumors were never in short supply.
Today’s gathering didn’t require much of her, so she was content to sit off to the side, plucking the strings idly, letting her thoughts wander over such matters. Puyang Yi and Tang Xu chatted on a while longer before finally rising to take their leave. Puyang Yi mentioned he planned to visit the Su family in a few days, and would invite Ning Yi to the Lantern Festival poetry gathering while he was at it… Qilan wondered to herself whether he would actually come.
Puyang Yi had other matters to attend to as well; after seeing Tang Xu off, he parted ways with Qilan right at the entrance of Tingtao Pavilion. Qilan had her maid with her anyway, and a driver to take her straight home. And it was on the ride home that day that she happened to actually spot Ning Yi and Yuan Jin’er.
After the New Year, though there were plenty of pedestrians on the streets, few were out purely for leisurely strolling—most were paying New Year visits from house to house, each with their own purpose in mind. The carriage rolled along the Qinhuai River, and at one intersection she lifted the curtain and caught sight of Ning Yi’s figure, along with another person, heading into a restaurant by the river. The person walking with him looked somewhat like Yuan Jin’er, but something felt off, different from the usual impression—so she had the carriage stopped.
Mostly it was because Puyang Yi and Tang Xu had just been discussing Ning Yi that she got down to take a look. The restaurant by the river was still under renovation, apparently having paused work for the New Year, but its layout was rather odd—the style had some subtle changes. Though not extensive, on closer inspection these changes did make the two-story building, presumably meant to serve as a restaurant, stand out. It was clear a good deal of thought had gone into it. Since it was cold, Ning Yi was bundled up heavily, and with a hat on he looked rather unrefined. Beside him was a woman, also dressed warmly, in a brown outfit with a hat trimmed in white fur—though she still couldn’t hide a certain radiance, from a distance she looked rather like a red panda.
Qilan studied her for a moment and confirmed: the person walking beside Ning Yi was indeed Yuan Jin’er, the legendary courtesan who had supposedly retired from public life.
As the reigning courtesan queen, Qilan today wore an elegant, refined dress—beautiful, yet also warm, clearly the product of careful thought. Yuan Jin’er, once a courtesan queen herself, would never in the old days have dressed so casually, in a way that seemed to deliberately downplay her looks. Ning Yi and Yuan Jin’er walked into the restaurant, holding a few sheets of paper, pointing here and there at the furnishings in the hall. Qilan frowned slightly, told her maid to wait, and hurried over herself.
The floor was only half-renovated, and some of the windows hadn’t been properly closed. Ning Yi held a brush, discussing something with Yuan Jin’er, occasionally leaning over a table to scribble and sketch, while Yuan Jin’er pushed things around, running about the cluttered hall. Their conversation drifted out from inside:
“…It doesn’t need a major overhaul, but it has to bring out how important tidiness is… Yeah, I’ve actually been pretty busy lately. Two disciples—the younger one wants to do dangerous experiments all day, and the older one… the older one’s a little girl too, and lately she’s been scowling all day. She’s only thirteen, turning fourteen this year, and I hear her family’s looking for a husband for her, so she’s been in a mood.”
“Fourteen is plenty old—old enough to marry, or at least get engaged.”
“That’s a deep question about age, hard to explain to you… Anyway, I’ve decided to add a few more stools… How old are you, anyway? Why haven’t you married yourself off yet?”
“My fate’s a hard one, I can only muddle through with Sister Yunzhu… Don’t get your hopes up! Oh, right, I’ve been thinking—could we call this place ‘Bamboo Records—Jin’er’s Shop’? Promise me, and I’ll go get the sign made.”
“…Change the second shop’s name to Jin’er’s Shop.”
“Mm-hm.”
“Sure, fine, whatever you like.”
“Why’s your face doing that…”
The two of them chattered on inside, bits and pieces, some of it beyond her understanding, but… the feeling of it was strangely warm.
It felt exactly like family—like husband and wife, or like brother and sister.