Pedestrians came and went along the street. Su Tan’er, with Juan’er and Xing’er in tow, Ning Yi with Xiao Chan, and Xue Jin with his two attendants, stood exchanging pleasantries in a friendly manner.

The Jiangning region had a thriving economy, with a well-developed textile industry; in this trade, the three largest fabric houses nearby were the Su family’s fabric shop, the Xue family’s Dachuan fabric shop, and the Wu family’s fabric shop, which held the top position among them. Xue Jin’s main purpose in coming today was to discuss a business partnership with Su Tan’er concerning a deal in the Huainan region. However, Su Tan’er currently only managed a small portion of the Su family’s affairs — most of the business outside Jiangning was still handled by her second and third uncles — so she suggested Xue Jin take the matter up with her second uncle, Su Zhongkan, instead. Xue Jin, for his part, said it would go more smoothly with someone he already knew involved, and hoped that when he arranged a banquet in a few days to discuss the deal with Su Zhongkan, Su Tan’er might come along as well… or so he claimed.

That Xue Jin had long carried a torch for Su Tan’er was common knowledge — the Xue family had once proposed a marriage alliance with the Su family, but old Patriarch Su hadn’t much cared for Xue Jin, and besides, this generation of the Su family had thinned out in talent, so they hadn’t wanted to simply marry Su Tan’er off; furthermore, the two families were, after all, business rivals. The match never came together, and then on her wedding day, Su Tan’er had fled — Xue Jin, seizing on the chaos, had secretly clubbed Ning Yi with a brick and slipped away. With no solid witnesses, pursuing the matter afterward proved complicated, and in the end it was simply left to drop.

So much time had passed since then, and with Su Tan’er’s own attempt to flee her wedding on top of it, Xue Jin’s return to seek her out now clearly showed he still hadn’t given up. Even though Su Tan’er was now another man’s wife and could never marry into the Xue family, she remained beautiful, intelligent, and capable — the kind of woman that a man who fancied himself accomplished naturally wanted to conquer. What he hadn’t expected was running into Ning Yi on his way back. Though he’d clubbed the man with a brick before, he’d never thought much of this bookish fool to begin with, so he’d walked over to greet him first, meaning to make Ning Yi squirm a little.

Su Tan’er had come out precisely because she knew what Xue Jin was after. Her feelings toward Ning Yi were, in truth, simple enough — she didn’t dislike him, and besides, he was already her husband; there was no changing that now, and on the whole she considered herself bound to him. Xue Jin had no real ability to speak of, no different from the other second- and third-generation wastrels of the Su clan, and she found him distasteful — but with the Xue family’s backing behind him, business was business, and personal feelings had to be set aside.

Hearing word from Xing’er, Su Tan’er had hurried out, mainly worried that Ning Yi’s scholarly pride might get the better of him under provocation, sparking some conflict with Xue Jin that would inevitably turn into a matter between the Su and Xue families. Her feelings for Ning Yi were nowhere near strong enough yet to sacrifice family interests just to back up her husband in a quarrel. And yet doing nothing wasn’t an option either — this was her husband, after all; ignoring a conflict involving him would make her look fickle, but if no conflict arose, offering any kind of caution beforehand was equally hard to judge. Though the past few months living with Ning Yi had been harmonious enough, men, after all, cared most about exactly this sort of petty thing — they still weren’t especially familiar with each other, and if she asked him to back down even slightly, who was to say he wouldn’t suspect something between her and Xue Jin, and hold it against her. She wanted things to go perfectly — even though Ning Yi had married in as a live-in son-in-law, she still hoped to avoid any domestic strife going forward if she could help it. Just thinking about it gave her a headache.

But when she’d hurried out, she found Ning Yi calmly discussing the matter of his memory loss with the man, looking for all the world as though the name Xue Jin genuinely meant nothing to him at all… Had truly no one, in all these months, ever so much as breathed a word of this to him? Somewhat puzzled, she steered the conversation elsewhere, and before long took her leave of Xue Jin, climbing into the carriage with Ning Yi and the maids.

“Oh, right — the Mid-Autumn lantern viewing on the Qinhuai, and the Pu Garden poetry gathering, families are welcome to attend together. I hear Brother Ning is quite the scholar — will you be joining, along with sister Tan’er?”

As the two of them were leaving, Xue Jin called out loudly with a smile. It was now early in the eighth month, with Mid-Autumn approaching, and the Qinhuai River would be hosting countless events — some for bachelors only, some mostly attended by women. The Pu Garden poetry gathering had traditionally enjoyed considerable renown. In any era, once basic needs were met, a taste for refined pursuits was the norm — and despite being called a “poetry gathering,” it naturally featured all sorts of performances besides. Su Tan’er had attended in years past, but this time she simply lowered the carriage curtain: “We’ll see.”

“Tch, we’ll see…” Watching the carriage pull away, Xue Jin ground his teeth, then turned puzzled toward his attendants. “You think that Ning fellow’s faking it, or really lost his memory? Can’t fake it that convincingly, surely!” Thoroughly baffled.

He’d meant, deliberately, to remind Ning Yi that “I hit you, and there’s nothing you can do about it” — he’d even gone so far as to say, “I heard someone’s been spreading rumors lately that it was me who attacked Brother Ning that day — surely you don’t believe that?” — all specifically to provoke him. Instead, Ning Yi’s words had been sincere and even-tempered, with not a trace of forced composure about them. He’d thrown a punch straight into empty air, and amid his bewilderment, felt rather put out that after performing for so long, his audience hadn’t given him even the reaction he’d expected.

Inside the carriage, Su Tan’er, too, was eyeing Ning Yi with some puzzlement. The three maids did most of the talking inside, chattering on about how awful and rude that Young Master Xue was — though on the surface not a single word touched on Su Tan’er herself, in substance it all circled around one underlying point: “the young lady has nothing to do with that man.” Ning Yi occasionally chimed in with a laugh. In truth, in his own mind, he simply found the three girls’ behavior rather endearing — well-behaved and considerate; back in the modern world, girls their age would likely have been insufferably spoiled by comparison. After a while, Su Tan’er finally asked: “Husband… have you truly forgotten that man, Xue Jin?”

Ning Yi nodded: “Truly don’t remember him at all.”

“But… surely you’d heard of him, at least…”

Su Tan’er studied him, puzzled. He glanced back at her, and the two looked at each other for a moment. “Uh, does my wife wish I’d given him a beating just now?”

Su Tan’er blinked at him a few times, then slowly broke into a smile — unlike her earlier practiced smile, this one carried a brightness, a note of relief. So her husband did, after all, understand these matters of the world. But even as she thought this, something in her sank a little too — she had no interest in a pure bookworm, nor in someone truly scheming, but for now, they still weren’t familiar enough with each other for her to read him clearly on such things.

The carriage rolled over a small bridge near the Su family’s gate, and Su Tan’er glanced outside: “In that case… would you like to go to the Mid-Autumn poetry gathering at Pu Garden, husband?”

“I’m not much good with poetry, honestly.”

“You needn’t be especially good at it — just go to watch the performances, enjoy the lanterns.”

At this, Juan’er beside her nodded furiously: “That’s right, that’s right, young master, there’s so many performances!”

Xing’er chimed in as well: “The lanterns are lovely too, and there’s beautiful fireworks…”

“Maybe Miss Qilan will even perform…”

“And singing to listen to…”

The three maids chattered on eagerly about the festival’s various events — entertainment being scarce in this era, they clearly looked forward to such occasions with real anticipation. Ning Yi smiled and nodded: “Sure, if it works out, let’s all go together and take a look.”

Mid-Autumn was still more than ten days off. A few days later, Su Zhongkan came by to inform him that he was to report to Yushan Academy, not far from the Su residence, to begin his new post as a leisurely schoolteacher.