With the New Year approaching, the Right Chancellor’s residence had grown rather lively. It wasn’t only younger relations like Wang Shanyue, who shared something of a teacher-student bond with Qin Sizhi, coming to pay their respects — Qin Sizhi’s eldest son, Qin Shaohe, had already arrived in the capital a few days earlier, with Qin Shaoqian expected to arrive in a few more days. What with various other relatives, nephews, and womenfolk of the Qin family gathering as well, the residence had, for a time, recovered something of the atmosphere it once had when Qin Sizhi still held the post of Minister.

With the younger generation gathering here, many of the residence’s guest-advisors and friends were often invited over as well. In truth, this was quite deliberate on Qin Sizhi’s part — a group of people sitting together to discuss principles, or chatting about practical matters of governance, was, for the younger relations with ambitions toward officialdom, a valuable education even from casual listening. It was, in its way, a form of support the old man, now Right Chancellor, offered his family.

Given how many people came and went at the residence, Ning Yi’s visits there had grown comparatively less frequent, though he was still occasionally invited over, and such invitations were generally hard to decline. And more often than not, among this gathering of much older and more senior figures, he attended in the capacity of an “elder” himself. As the youngest guest-advisor at the Right Chancellor’s residence, he stood on equal footing with men like Qin Sizhi, Yao Zunian, and Juemíng — standing he’d earned through his achievements pacifying Liangshan back in March. Given his own depth, there was little need for him to hold back excessively; his grounding in Confucian theory might be lacking, but he always had another framework of thought to fall back on, one that could hold its own logic and often proved thought-provoking — the fruits of a modern philosophical system, after all.

Of course, with Qin Sizhi’s wide circle of associates, Ning Yi occasionally ran into skeptics as well. A few days earlier, at one such gathering, a prefect in his forties, who had once studied under Qin Sizhi, happened to notice that Ning Yi was merely a merchant, and young besides, and began holding forth on the baseness and dangers of merchants, citing examples from his own prefecture. Ning Yi had initially paid it no mind — he was young, after all, and it wasn’t his place to draw attention to himself at such a gathering — but as the man’s words grew more heated and began targeting him directly, Ning Yi finally began systematically dissecting the entire system of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants.

He worked through how the whole system was structured, how it functioned, how merchants had developed over time, their current situation and demands — the specifics of it all, the reasons behind it, and so on — and then went on to analyze the thinking of the merchants under that prefect’s jurisdiction, distinguishing what was good practice from what wasn’t. By the time he had methodically refuted every one of the prefect’s objections, the whole room had fallen rather silent. That evening, after being reprimanded by Qin Sizhi, the prefect came to find Ning Yi to apologize and seek his advice on how to better manage the merchants under his authority…

For Ning Yi, though, it had really just been a simple sales pitch.

Once you step out to actually get things done, all sorts of doubts and challenges are bound to arise — even among those on the same side, harmony isn’t always guaranteed. Ning Yi had long been prepared for this sort of thing, and Qin Sizhi understood as much too, careful not to let conflicts among his own people escalate too far.

Being young, Ning Yi mostly made a point of staying out of the spotlight when he could — the wiser course of action, certainly. Among the Qin family’s relations, there were those who envied him, and others who inquired after his circumstances, weighing whether they might marry a daughter off to him — all sorts of situations like this, more than a few. Ning Yi sometimes found it all rather tiresome.

This time, those gathered at the Chancellor’s residence were mostly familiar faces. Yao Zunian, Juemíng, and Ji Kun were all senior to Wang Shanyue in standing; Qin Sizhi hadn’t yet returned, but Qin Shaohe, Wenren Bu’er, and others were present. When Ning Yi arrived, everyone was in the middle of questioning Wang Shanyue about the details of what had happened in Shandong. Seeing Ning Yi arrive, they laughed and said the main character had shown up. Ning Yi greeted Wang Shanyue and, upon asking, learned that he’d arrived home late the previous night and had come to pay his respects at the Chancellor’s residence first thing that morning. Su Wenyu, not being in a position to accompany him to the Right Chancellor’s residence, had apparently gone straight home.

It was nearly noon by now, and before long, Qin Sizhi returned from outside, accompanied by the current Vice Minister of Revenue, Tang Ke, styled Qinsou. He and Wang Qisong had been old acquaintances, and hearing that Wang Shanyue had returned to the capital, he’d come to see him.

In truth, Ning Yi had already crossed paths with Tang Ke on two occasions. Ever since the poem that had circulated at the Dragon Boat Festival, this official — who carried considerable literary reputation outside the court — had once asked Qin Sizhi why such talent hadn’t been recommended for entry into the Imperial Academy. Though Tang Ke’s official rank was somewhat lower than Qin Sizhi’s, the two shared a fairly close personal friendship. On his two recent visits, seeing Ning Yi again, he’d raised the matter with some concern each time.

On another note, Tang Ke was originally from Hangzhou and had ties with Qian Xiwen as well. The devastation Fang La’s rebellion had wrought upon Hangzhou, along with Qin Sizhi’s account of how Ning Yi had helped lift the siege of Hangzhou, and had gone to visit Qian Xiwen shortly before his death, had left Tang Ke rather well-disposed toward Ning Yi. It was only after their two encounters, upon discovering just how firmly set Ning Yi was against entering officialdom, that his mood soured somewhat — he’d tried earnestly, at some length, to talk him out of it, and his opinion of Ning Yi hadn’t been quite as favorable since.

The greetings and small talk upon meeting followed familiar patterns; Ning Yi was well accustomed to the Chancellor’s residence by now, no longer feeling out of place. At midday, a banquet was laid out in the residence. Ning Yi sat at a table with Wang Shanyue and the other younger relations, chatting and laughing, when Qin Shaohe, the eldest among this group, came over to speak with him about something.

“…These past two days, I’ve been discussing certain matters with Father and Mother. Whenever your name comes up, Brother Ning, we always feel it’s rather a shame that you won’t come forward to take office — so I thought I’d come nag you about it a bit, if you don’t mind. I’m just curious what’s really on your mind about all this…”

On this particular matter, Qin Shaohe wasn’t the first person from the Right Chancellor’s side to bring it up with Ning Yi. It was only once he’d confirmed that Ning Yi truly intended to focus on business for now, with no plans toward an official career, that he smiled and moved on to other things.

“…Well, think it over some more, Brother Ning. Truthfully, Father would very much like to see you step out into the open — working behind the scenes offers no real guarantee going forward… But since you’re not interested in that for now, after discussing it with Father and Mother, I thought there might be something else we could entrust to you instead…”

“Oh?”

“You know how large the Chancellor’s residence is, and how considerable the expenses are. After Father retired, some of the businesses the residence used to run were set aside. Now that he’s back in office and we’re looking to run some ventures again, honestly, it’s largely a matter of trading on the residence’s reputation to bring in money. Most of the business dealings are handled by Uncle Kun, but honestly, he’s not particularly skilled at commerce. After discussing it with Mother, we thought it might not be a bad idea to have Liheng take it over and manage it on our behalf…”

Hearing Qin Shaohe bring this up, Ning Yi laughed. “Does Brother Qin know that over these past three months since I returned to the capital, my people have been spending money like water — I haven’t earned a single tael of silver, and I’ve already spent close to a hundred thousand taels, all of it coming out of my wife’s pocket, too.”

Qin Shaohe clapped Ning Yi on the shoulder, shaking his head with a hearty laugh. “Now, Brother Ning, no need for false modesty. Judging purely by your performance at Liangshan, if it’s business we’re talking about, I’d back you fully, no question. Honestly, when I brought this up with Father, it wasn’t a matter of whether you could turn a profit or not — he simply felt it wasn’t right to burden you with something so trivial, taking up your attention. You’ve turned down office, that’s fine, but there are still matters of governance that will inevitably fall on your shoulders at the residence. Whether or not you take on the business side is a small matter — but the affairs of state, those you can’t turn away.”

Qin Sizhi, in his role as Right Chancellor, effectively served as something like a prime minister these days. Recently, though carrying only the nominal title of guest-advisor to the residence, he’d genuinely often had matters requiring attention passed along to Ning Yi — mostly issues touching on both officialdom and commerce. Some Ning Yi could handle readily on his own; others required consulting people like Yao Zunian on the finer points of official protocol before offering recommendations. This sort of light work wasn’t particularly demanding — though nominally he was only asked for advice, in practice, his recommendations were mostly simply carried out as given.

Hearing this, Ning Yi nodded, then his expression turned serious. “Actually, business depends heavily on backing and connections. Handing me the Chancellor’s residence’s affairs, treating it as an investment on my part, would be far more convenient than trying to manage things alone. It’s just that since this involves money, such matters are usually handled by people from within the household — with so many people connected to the residence in one way or another, if you hand this to me, aren’t you worried it might stir up trouble, upset some of the relatives?”

“That’s a small matter.” Qin Shaohe, now himself a high-ranking prefect in his own right, wouldn’t ordinarily speak so casually with someone like Ning Yi were it not for the close relationship between their families. He waved a hand broadly, understanding that Ning Yi had, in effect, just agreed, and raised his cup with a smile. “Then it’s settled — I’ll leave it in your hands, Brother Ning. As for the household rules, once the New Year’s over, Mother will make everything clear to everyone. I’m sure these matters won’t give you any trouble…”

Having said this, he added with a soft laugh, “Actually, Brother Ning, you’ve got quite the reputation among my cousins and female relations…”

Ning Yi waved a hand. “Stop right there, brother — I’ve already married in.”

At this, the whole table burst out laughing.

The group chatted idly for a while longer, and as the meal was drawing to a close, Ning Yi pulled Wang Shanyue aside to ask about the falling-out with the Zhu Family Manor. Wang Shanyue’s handsome face showed some hesitation.

“Actually… it’s all just some misunderstanding. Miss Hu and I, there’s really nothing between us.”

“Really?”

“Even I was baffled by the whole thing at first.” Wang Shanyue frowned, clearly troubled. “You know, once the Liangshan affair wrapped up, the Secret Investigation Bureau didn’t have much for me to do out there anymore. Since I was already on familiar terms with the people at Solitary Dragon Ridge, I’d spend my free time hanging around there. Sanniang… Hu Sanniang and Brother Zhu had already agreed to marry, but it got delayed a while because of the injuries to old man Hu and her brother. Not long ago, one day, Brother Zhu came to talk with me, mentioned that he and Miss Hu would soon be getting married, and I congratulated him sincerely — but the look he gave me at that moment was already a bit off…”

Ning Yi’s own expression turned strange as he listened to this. Wang Shanyue paused for a moment, startled, then flashed him a middle finger — a gesture Ning Yi had taught him back in Shandong, though coming from the fine-featured Wang Shanyue, it always came off looking rather “icily elegant.”

Wang Shanyue pursed his lips. “I only found out later that he might have been testing me. After talking to me, the next day he apparently went off to discuss wedding plans with Miss Hu. When he came back, though, he suddenly wanted to fight me — I was no match for him at all, and had no idea what was even going on, so of course I flatly refused. And then, while we were still arguing about it, Hu Sanniang came running over with a blade…”

Recounting all this, Wang Shanyue truly looked like a man nursing bitter, wordless grievance. He’d had no idea what was going on at the time, but Hu Sanniang had come running over and said to Zhu Biao: “This has nothing to do with him, Zhu Biao — if you want to fight, fight me!” — along with a few more suggestively worded remarks besides. He’d been left utterly speechless, forced to swallow the bitterness with nowhere to voice it. Hu Sanniang, wielding her twin blades, had then fought Zhu Biao for a while — since the two were fairly evenly matched in skill and neither wanted to fight to the death, Zhu Biao had eventually slunk off in defeat, declaring that a real man doesn’t fight with women.

That same afternoon, once Hu Sanniang had left, Zhu Biao came back to confront Wang Shanyue again, demanding an explanation. In truth, the two had always gotten along quite well, and none of the other men in the bandit group wanted to get involved in this kind of romantic rivalry between a man and a woman. Wang Shanyue fended off a few blows before getting beaten into a pair of black eyes, at which point Zhu Biao finally left satisfied.

Ning Yi couldn’t help but roar with laughter at this, then asked, “So what’s actually going on between you and Miss Hu? Sounds like she likes you, and you don’t like her back?”