News that Hangzhou had fallen and that Ning Yi and Su Tan’er were on their way home had been trickling into the Su household for the past ten days.
Since the Ning couple had headed south the previous year, the Su family’s situation had, at first, remained stable. Riding the momentum of their victory over the Wu family in the imperial-merchant affair, Su Tan’er had gone south to expand their business. Though Su Boyong had lost the use of his legs, his judgment, ability, and connections remained intact; Su Tan’er’s original intent in going south had been to ensure her father’s influence wouldn’t be suppressed. After she left, the main branch’s strength in every area developed just as expected. With the Wu family now in decline, the balance shifted, and the Su family had all but become the foremost house in Jiangning’s textile trade.
Although the Wu family still held the position of guild head at the time, it was already all but settled that the Su family would take over next. But the biggest turning point came, of course, from the upheaval that July — Fang La’s fall of Hangzhou shook the south to its core. Every business along the Yangtze and Qinhuai basins was affected, and within Jiangning’s textile circles, rumors spread that Su Tan’er and Ning Yi had gone missing amid the rebel chaos. Both inside and outside the Su family, the ever-watchful Wu and Xue families immediately began stirring.
The Wu family, freshly demoted from its position atop Jiangning’s textile trade, still had ambitions of its own, while the Xue family had long been consumed with envy over the Su family’s sudden rise. Under these circumstances, the two families joined forces. Meanwhile, within the Su household, the second and third branches saw an opportunity of their own — if Su Tan’er and the calculating Ning Liheng had really come to grief in the south, and the Su family had reached such heights, why should outsiders get to claim the spoils when they could claim them themselves?
Su Wending and Su Wenfang, who had traveled south with Ning Yi and Su Tan’er, rushed back to Jiangning as soon as they reached Huzhou. By then the south was already in chaos, with all sorts of news circulating daily. What Su Wending and Su Wenfang brought back was that Ning Yi and Su Tan’er’s whereabouts were unknown. Although the couple had been under soldiers’ protection when they were separated, their fate remained uncertain — and in truth, “uncertain” was already the worst possible news.
Su Boyong and the others could only wait for further word, since, according to Su Wending and Su Wenfang, Ning Yi had more or less saved the lives of everyone on that journey of flight. Half a month later, when a letter arrived from Su Tan’er, everyone who intended to act had already begun acting.
The Wu and Xue families had already begun negotiating with various upstream and downstream merchants. The second and third branches of the Su family had initially intended to wait and see, but that’s simply how people are — once one person starts planning to carve up the main branch, the rest won’t be left behind either. After all, Su Boyong could hardly be certain he had full control of the situation at that point. Under the pretext of “we’re all family” and guarding against the Xue and Wu families, they began placing their own managers in some of the main branch’s shops, auditing the books, and so on — someone even went so far as to hint to Su Boyong that perhaps he should adopt an heir, a suggestion Su Boyong answered by smashing a teacup over the man’s head.
When Su Tan’er’s letter arrived, her heart entirely consumed with her pregnancy and with Ning Yi, it offered no word at all about what might be happening back home. By then those who’d already made their moves were in too deep to back out, and they consoled themselves — if the couple had really escaped danger, why hadn’t they come back? The south was in such chaos, trouble was bound to come sooner or later, and besides, Ning Liheng was most likely dead anyway.
Some even suspected the letter had been forged by Su Boyong himself — a rumor spread by the Xue and Wu families, who didn’t much care what would happen when Su Tan’er returned, so long as they seized territory now; however clever Su Tan’er might be in business once she came back, what could she really do? This theory, in turn, convinced many in the second and third branches.
Afterward, when Su Boyong sent a letter urging Su Tan’er to hurry back to Jiangning, that letter vanished without a trace, seeming only to confirm everyone’s suspicions further.
Over the following months, it truly became a campaign — the second and third branches, together with the Wu and Xue families, pressing down on the main branch. Naturally, the second and third branches framed their position publicly: Su Zhongkan, Su Yunfang, and the others argued that the eldest brother could no longer manage the main branch’s current situation, and that rather than let the Xue and Wu families profit from it, various cousins and in-laws ought to step in and take over — presenting a united front to outsiders. That was the official line, at least, but what followed was, in truth, a massive internal drain of resources.
Su Boyong, paralyzed as he was, could only draw on his old connections over the following months, and on the possibility that his daughter might still be alive, to hold the main branch together. From the imperial-merchant battle in which they’d defeated the Wu family, the main branch had reaped considerable profit, and such vast capital was enough to let him wear the opposition down slowly. Old Patriarch Su Yu watched all this unfold, able only to watch — his authority could only be invoked if the Su family faced true ruin. If Su Tan’er really had died, then the main branch’s share would simply be divided among the second and third branches.
In the months that followed, Jiangning’s textile trade fell into disarray — worse even than after the Su family’s defeat of the Wu family in the imperial-merchant affair. Some steady merchants refused to abandon their ties to the Su family, while many opportunists chose new sides in this business war. Both the Wu and Xue families began profiting once more. This state of affairs continued until, ten days ago, news arrived that Hangzhou had fallen — and with it, a letter from Su Tan’er, this one even forwarded through official channels.
Ning Yi and Su Tan’er were both safe and sound, on their way home. Su Tan’er, nearly nine months pregnant, might give birth along the way before returning.
Once this news spread, the external chaos gradually settled. The Wu and Xue families understood there wasn’t much opportunity left, though over the preceding half year they had already profited handsomely, and many upstream and downstream merchants who had taken sides during those months couldn’t easily switch back to the Su family now. Within the Su household itself, though, the mood was one of stunned silence. The significance of the couple’s safe return wasn’t simply that they were coming home — during their flight, they had saved numerous high officials and dignitaries, and who knew whether any of those connections might now reach into the family’s affairs? And even setting that aside, there was no telling how far the main branch’s own network and influence might have expanded. Under one roof, if there was to be a reckoning later, there would truly be nowhere to hide.
Only those who had sided with the main branch throughout this period now saw a dawn breaking — people like Su Wending and Su Wenfang, who in recent days had taken to telling others: “Do you know how those people on the road called Second Brother-in-law their sworn brother? Let me tell you, the situation back then was truly dangerous…”
Where some felt triumphant, others grew anxious. Over the following days, the second and third branches, along with relatives aligned with them, scrambled in a panic. Some had already begun worrying about a reckoning, nervously discussing whether to return the shops and goods they’d seized from the main branch recently. Others remained defiant — Su Yunfang, for instance, pounded the table in his courtyard and shouted, “I’m not giving anything back! In that kind of situation, it was only right that I worried about things on their behalf — let’s see what they can do to me…”
Though the pressure had eased somewhat, there was still a period of buffer time, since the news at first suggested Su Tan’er might give birth before returning. But on the evening of the first day of March, word came that people had spotted the young mistress and her husband disembarking at the docks. Ning Yi and Su Tan’er’s departure from Zhenjiang this time had been rather sudden, with no advance notice sent ahead; only once they’d disembarked was someone sent hurrying back to the household, and before the news had even fully spread, the carriage had already pulled up at the gate.
Beneath a sun not yet fully set, Ning Yi and his wife walked through the gates of the Su residence, servants and stewards coming out to greet them, passing Su family relatives stopping to say hello. In everyone’s eyes, this young couple, gone from home for a year, seemed to carry themselves with an entirely different air than before.
In that world of war and danger, they had saved many people and made many connections — wealthy merchants, officials, great scholars. Though no one could say exactly what these connections amounted to, that hardly stopped people from imagining. And this son-in-law, once known merely as a careful, calculating man, had faced down monstrous figures like Fang Qifo, Wang Yin, and Shi Bao amid the carnage of Hangzhou — in the stories Su Wending and Su Wenfang told after their return, the one recounted most often was that battle at Peace Lane.
And now that the couple had truly returned, it all felt real.
That refined, scholarly-looking young son-in-law had killed men with his own hands. He had turned the tide for the imperial army, indirectly caused the deaths of thousands of rebels, and had even faced the most vicious of the rebels head-on without losing ground. What kind of person was that, really?
Since the news had only just spread, few people had come out to greet them yet. Su Tan’er and Ning Yi weren’t exactly elders in this household anyway. Coming home was simply coming home — Xing’er, Juan’er, and the others directed the servants in carrying their simple belongings into the small courtyard, then went to tidy up. Ning Yi and Su Tan’er first went to see Su Yu; once they arrived at his courtyard and paid their respects to the old patriarch, Su Boyong had already had someone wheel his chair over as well.
On a practical level, there was plenty to deal with, but with Su Tan’er nine months pregnant, rest came first. Ning Yi’s solution was, characteristically, simple and direct — he gave a general account of the Hangzhou trip, what connections they’d made, who they’d met, and laid out before Su Yu and Su Boyong the official and business relationships in Jiangning worth cultivating.
“Going forward, there’s no problem extending the Su family’s textile business along the Yangtze toward the Qinhuai region. As for whatever’s happened at home, Grandfather and Father-in-law can handle it. Tan’er won’t be getting involved in any of that for now — she needs to focus on resting and carrying the baby.”
Once this was said, he accompanied Tan’er back to their courtyard, where everyone was still sorting things out. By now, wave after wave of visitors had begun arriving — mostly family relatives, like Su Wending and Su Wenfang, but also some who had previously leaned toward the second and third branches, coming now to offer veiled apologies. The second and third branches, of course, kept a close eye on all this, watching to see what Ning Yi and Su Tan’er intended to do with them. In the small courtyard, some people even began telling Ning Yi and Su Tan’er about the family’s situation over the past few months, hoping to stir up some retaliation — but Ning Yi brushed off this kind of talk with a simple, “Take the long view — no need to fuss over such small matters,” then saw them off without letting them trouble Su Tan’er further.
Hearing this secondhand, Su Zhongkan, Su Yunfang, and the others quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Su Yunfang said, “Well, at least he understands the bigger picture. We’re all one family — however capable he is, what’s he really going to do? If he really moved against family, honestly, even though they came back from the chaos, family matters aren’t the same as outside affairs. There’s not much he could really do to us.”
Even as he spoke, someone came in with news that the Princess Chengguo’s household had sent an invitation for Ning Yi and his wife to attend a banquet. Su Yunfang’s expression froze for a moment, and the messenger continued, “But Second Brother-in-law declined, saying he’d just gotten home and needed to settle in first — he’ll pay a visit this evening instead…”
Su Yunfang sat down in his chair, swallowed a few times, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.
…
Having only just arrived home, Ning Yi naturally couldn’t rush straight over to Old Kang’s place — they knew each other well enough that a small delay wouldn’t matter. After directing the servants to clean and arrange the courtyard they hadn’t lived in for nearly a year, and after dinner, Ning Yi prepared to pay a visit to Kang Xian’s residence. As he left the courtyard, he happened to run into Su Zhongkan, who also seemed to have just finished eating.
They exchanged greetings and walked together for a stretch. Su Zhongkan asked roughly about his time in Hangzhou, expressed some concern, then vaguely hinted at the importance of family unity. This was, essentially, someone come to feel out the situation, and Ning Yi naturally met it with a smile, deflecting for a while.
As for what would become of the second and third branches, he genuinely had no intention of concerning himself with it — a bunch of petty, small-minded people, honestly rather laughable. Of course, his lack of concern rested on the assumption that someone else would concern themselves with it. If Su Zhongkan, Su Yunfang, and the rest thought this might simply blow over, they were sorely mistaken.
At this point, the Su family stood on the verge of a further leap forward — the next stage would put them on the scale the Lou family had once occupied, and at such a stage, disunity within the family was the very last thing they could afford. Should something like this happen again in the future, the Su family would need to present a completely united front for the family to reach its full potential. Ning Yi knew that Old Patriarch Su understood all this — if Su Tan’er and the many connections in her own hands were to truly be put to full use, then all present resources needed to tilt toward the main branch.
Over the preceding months, Su Yu had stayed silent because the main branch could still hold its ground, and because Su Tan’er’s fate had remained uncertain. But surely the old man had seen everything that had happened within the family. Now that he and Su Tan’er had returned, what would follow was inevitably a thorough purge — made an example of, to root out any chance of something like this happening again. This reckoning would likely be even more severe than the one after the imperial-merchant affair; the second and third branches would certainly be cut down hard by the old man. A beating among one’s own, so long as it didn’t break any bones, was the only way the family could truly stand strong afterward.
Of course, this was only Ning Yi’s own reading of the old man — if it were up to him, he would certainly do exactly that. If Su Zhongkan and the others thought a simple show of contrition would be enough, they were being hopelessly naive; when it came to the family’s future, Su Yu was the one who cared most of all. Of course, if the old man chose not to act this way, it made no real difference to Ning Yi either — his and Su Tan’er’s standing wouldn’t change regardless of future scheming; it was only the second and third branches who stood to lose more.
With these thoughts turning over in his mind, he left the Su residence, and without calling for a servant, drove a carriage himself out into the streets of Jiangning. After a year’s absence, Jiangning remained as prosperous as ever, though passing one particular street corner, he paused briefly — there, at a junction he didn’t recognize, stood an elegant, beautifully appointed restaurant doing brisk business. What caught his eye were the characters on its signboard: Bamboo Record — Yilan House.
In a year’s time, it seemed Bamboo Record had done quite well for itself. He smiled. But what was this “Yilan House” about? After so long apart, had Yuan Jin’er’s affections wandered to someone named Lan, or something-something-Lan?
Well then — after paying his respects to Kang Xian… he’d go ask her about it.