The Chen family was a prominent one in Jiangning, and this estate of theirs, built halfway up the hillside, was handsome and grand. By the time Ning Yi hurried over to the front, Yun Zhu and Jin’er had already arrived and were waiting for him in the courtyard near the main gate. Ning Yi came up from behind and clapped a hand on each of their shoulders. “The two of you young masters are quite handsome — remind me a bit of two young ladies I met not long ago. Either of you happen to have a little sister at home I could be introduced to?”
He’d come over meaning to make a joke of it. Yun Zhu turned, looking rather pleased. “There’s one called Yun Zhu — would this young master be interested?”
Beside her, Jin’er’s expression, already sour, grew sourer still on hearing this. “This young master’s rather handsome too — reminds me of a girl I used to play with. Might that be your sister, by chance?”
Jin’er had certainly heard her share of crude and vulgar talk back at Jinfeng Tower, though she wasn’t in the habit of speaking that way herself. Right now, though, she was plainly annoyed. Once she’d finished speaking, Yun Zhu shot her a sidelong glance, and Jin’er turned her face away with a huff. She was a few years younger than Yun Zhu, and dressed as a boy she looked even more youthful. Ning Yi couldn’t help laughing at the sight. “What would a wet-behind-the-ears little runt like you know about chasing women? Anyway, I saw you two arguing with Liu Qingdi earlier — what was that about?”
Yun Zhu glanced at Jin’er. “Don’t tease her, Liheng — that’s exactly what got her so worked up in the first place.”
“Hm?”
“It wasn’t really anything much. We’d dressed as men to come out, and of course Liu Qingdi recognized us. He told the woman with him, and she came over calling us ‘sister’ with no sense of restraint, deliberately stirring trouble. Then Liu Qingdi and his two friends came over too, saying odd things — asking about how we used to be, whether we were here to perform today, that sort of thing…”
She said this with a faint, composed smile — there was no need to put on a wronged expression in front of the man before her. A few words were enough; he’d understand. Ning Yi nodded. He’d invited Yun Zhu along this time meaning simply for the two of them to come enjoy the outing together, but really, the upper circles of Jiangning weren’t such a large pool of people — if Liu Qingdi could recognize Jin’er, there was every chance others might recognize them too. Even though they’d both left their old lives behind with a clear conscience, running into this sort of thing while out for a bit of relaxation was bound to leave a person feeling put out.
“We should have come together from the start — I didn’t think of that…”
“What’s it got to do with you?” The original reason Liu Qingdi had come over to provoke them had been to directly expose their identities as women, and so Jin’er was also somewhat annoyed on Ning Yi’s behalf for his greeting earlier. Hearing him apologize now, though, she turned back around, frowning to cut him off. “So what if someone recognized us — what does it matter? We used to have that status ourselves, there’s no changing that now. As long as people know we don’t anymore, that’s enough. It was that Liu Qingdi who came looking for trouble, not you — why should you be apologizing?… Hmph. Calls himself a man of letters and talent, shameless pest that he is. You should beat him with poetry later and ruin his reputation, that’ll do just fine.”
“Isn’t that a bit much? Ruin his reputation… and why does it have to be me who does it, anyway?”
“You already apologized…”
“But you just said it wasn’t my business.”
“I was just saying that.” Jin’er had always been something of a pragmatist — keeping her principles when convenient, discarding them when they got in the way. She thought it over, then shot Yun Zhu another sour glance. “Besides, she’s the one with a sister to introduce to you…”
Hearing this, Ning Yi couldn’t help laughing. “All right, all right, you win.”
He laughed again. “Though why don’t you go beat him yourself?”
“I’d love to, but I can’t beat him, can I?”
“I could teach you a few poems, and you could challenge him with those.”
“Your poems… how could I possibly use those?”
“Of course you can. For instance — last night the wind was sparse and the rain fierce, deep sleep failed to dispel the lingering wine; I asked the maid rolling up the blinds, and she said the crab-apple blossoms were unchanged as before…”
Ning Yi had once worked for a time in advertising design and planning, and so had a fairly good hand at various styles of calligraphy, and naturally had come across plenty of poetry along the way. Over time he’d mostly forgotten it, but these past year or two, immersed in classical texts of all kinds, he found he could recall more and more of what he’d once encountered. Reciting it now, smooth and unbroken, without even the proper cadence, he hadn’t even gotten through a full stanza before Jin’er’s eyes had gone wide, and she lowered her voice, urgent. “Wait, wait, wait — I, I, I can’t remember all that! Let me go get paper and a brush…”
Ning Yi laughed and waved a hand. “Later, later.”
Yun Zhu took hold of Jin’er’s hand as well. Though she’d grown used to Ning Yi’s carefree manner, she naturally felt this sort of thing wasn’t quite right. Since Jin’er hadn’t managed to memorize the earlier lines, Yun Zhu had at least gotten a rough sense of them, and after turning them over in her mind for a moment, she asked, “Liheng, what comes after?”
“After that comes the eunuch part.”
“Hm?” Yun Zhu didn’t follow, looking at him with an entirely innocent expression. Ning Yi thought about it. “It should be — knowing, knowing? The greens must be plump, the reds must be thin.”
“That’s a fine line — though it sounds like something a woman would have written,” Yun Zhu said quietly.
Jin’er nodded too. “Greens plump, reds thin… what a beautiful phrase…”
“Ahem — when I was little, there was this nun who passed by our house…”
Ning Yi carried on chatting and joking with Yun Zhu and Jin’er. By this time, the estate had already filled with a good many people. One side of the courtyard, near the hillside, held a terrace fitted with railings, planted with trees and flowerbeds — the spot with the most open view partway up the hill, from which one could take in White Egret Isle and the distant Stone City all at once. Many of the wealthy merchants and scholars who’d already arrived were chatting in the courtyard or in the halls, among them, naturally, the courtesans who’d accompanied them.
Since this was, after all, a spring outing, the fixed itinerary naturally wasn’t meant to stay confined to this estate — the stretch of woodland behind the estate also belonged to the Chen family, and once everyone had gathered, they’d head up together for a proper hike. People kept trickling in as time went on, and Ning Yi soon spotted Liu Qingdi, then Cao Guan, and even Qilan and Luo Miaomiao. The woman who’d been with Liu Qingdi earlier was chatting with Qilan, gesturing over toward Ning Yi; Qilan gave him a bashful smile, and the woman gave an embarrassed little bow as well. Ning Yi and Jin’er gossiped about it between themselves, playing the part of two men.
“That woman clearly has a thing for me.”
“Ha, don’t flatter yourself — I used to greet people that way too.”
“But it’s different for me, I’m Ning Liheng — Qilan admires me so much, she must have told her all about it just now. She’ll hear it, compare it to Liu Qingdi, and figure it’s a much better bet to go after me instead… hey, we could use the trick of stealing his girl to get back at Liu Qingdi.”
“Steal his girl?” Jin’er didn’t quite follow.
“You know, poach her out from under him.”
“Is that… even possible?” Jin’er thought about it, looking a little intrigued despite herself.
“Should be no problem at all, I am something of a celebrity after all…”
“Right, and then win her over and dump her — love her and leave her!”
“How did you get so wicked…”
In truth Ning Yi wasn’t nearly so shallow — he’d only brought it up to needle Jin’er, who’d recently been trying to figure out how to make a move on Yun Zhu. Jin’er had been struggling with just this problem lately — how does a woman go about winning over another woman? She had absolutely no idea where to even start, though in terms of closeness the two of them were certainly close enough already — sleeping together every night, after all. Having come up through the courtesan house, she actually understood perfectly well what could be done between two women physically; it was the emotional side of things she had no idea how to approach.
If it really came down to it, she supposed, one of them ought to have some genuinely masculine way of thinking about it. But as far as Jin’er herself was concerned, she thought of Yun Zhu as someone to be cherished and looked after, and thought of herself, in turn, as thoroughly female as well — even dressing as a man was purely for fun, and she’d never for a moment thought of herself as actually male in her own mind. So her feelings toward Yun Zhu were really more a blend of admiration, fondness, and respect all mixed together. Still, hearing Ning Yi bring up the subject of courting women now, she found herself genuinely interested, and pressed him for more, in the spirit of picking up pointers.
Beside them, Yun Zhu watched the two of them carry on, helpless. She could tell easily enough that Ning Yi was only joking, though Jin’er, it seemed, might be taking it rather more seriously — every so often she rolled her eyes at Ning Yi, and once he’d shot her a look meant to reassure her, she let the matter go and turned her attention instead to quietly working over the “greens plump, reds thin” line, eventually humming a few notes under her breath, only stopping once someone approached.
The one who came over was the heavily bearded Qin Shaoqian, with a girl of thirteen or fourteen beside him — a delicate little thing — and his companion Xu Xiaohu trailing behind. Judging by the girl’s clothing, she too was a courtesan. He’d only gotten back the day before yesterday, and already he’d brought a young girl along with him — truly a man of boundless resourcefulness. Making the introduction, Qin Shaoqian seemed entirely unconcerned. “This is Miss Xiaolü.”
The girl called Xiaolü looked at Yuan Jin’er, apparently recognizing her. “Aren’t you… Sister Jin’er?”
Jin’er’s expression turned strange. She glanced at Xiaolü, then at Qin Shaoqian, and cupped her hands, somewhat distracted. “I’m not Yuan Jin’er — I’m her older brother, Yuan Baoer.” Having already been recognized, she evidently saw no point in further concealment.
Xiaolü gave a small bow. “Hello, Brother Baoer.”
Ning Yi glanced back and forth between Xiaolü and Qin Shaoqian. After a moment, Qin Shaoqian caught on. “Oh, right — Xiaolü here. She’s only fourteen this year. Last night I went to the Mingcui Tower, and they were about to have her go through her formal debut and put her name up on the placard — what a waste that would’ve been, so I just bought her outright. Thought she’d make a fine concubine for Xiaohu here, but he’s afraid of his wife and wouldn’t take her, so I suppose I’ll be keeping her myself…”
Behind him, Xu Xiaohu rubbed at his eyebrow, a little embarrassed, while Qin Shaoqian himself wore an entirely open, unbothered expression, the sort of man who had nothing he wouldn’t say to anyone. Ning Yi thought to himself that this fellow had only gotten home the day before yesterday, and had already gone off to a courtesan house to buy a girl the very next day — quite the bold spirit, that.
With Qin Shaoqian here, Qin Shaohe must have arrived as well — though given his standing, Chen Luoyuan had gone to greet him in person, and he was likely off in another courtyard talking now. Apparently, besides Qin Shaohe, Prince Consort Kang Xian had come today too — with a crowd of literary scholars squaring off to compete in talent, naturally a few respected elder scholars needed to be on hand to serve as judges. Kang Xian was known for his sturdy health and his fondness for lively gatherings, and rarely missed an occasion like this.
They could go over and greet them later, and get Kang Xian and Qin Shaohe together to give Liu Qingdi a hard time.
With this thought in mind, over in the courtyard, Chen Luoyuan and the others were already stepping out this way, and soon after, Zhou Bangyan, Li Shishi, and the rest emerged as well, it seemed. Most everyone had arrived by now, it appeared, and the time for the outing and revelry was finally at hand. As for whatever sparks might fly in the course of the day’s excursion — that was simply par for the course by now, only a question of how much.