Time passed.
In the blink of an eye, three months had gone by since he arrived in this ancient world, and the season had slowly turned from spring toward high summer. Gardens, rockeries, pavilions, courtyards, streets, painted pleasure boats—Ning Yi had gradually grown familiar with this ancient world. Only, much of the time, he found himself bored.
Probably because he had been busy for so long that now, with no computer, no work, nothing at all to do, his hands kept itching.
The Su family was glad enough to see him bored; after all, the whole point of taking him in as a live-in son-in-law was to give Su Tan'er a reason to stay in her own household instead of being married off, and the ideal reason was one that showed no great restlessness.
Of course, on the whole he was still enjoying all this boredom—strolling about every day, taking in the ancient customs and scenery, admiring the ancient beauties, turning over all sorts of nonsense in his head, and most often, whenever he saw something, wondering how many times over he could multiply the profit if he were the one running it, how he would go about making money from it.
Too many years playing boss—you're possessed, he scolded himself with a laugh, and so these notions stayed as nothing but notions, then settled back down into the depths of his mind.
Compared with his idleness, his wife in name, Su Tan'er, was plainly busy. But however busy she was, she generally came home on time for meals.
In that sense the ancient world had its advantages: a woman could never be as free and easy as a man, and even setting that aside, the pace of work in ancient times never left anyone gasping the way modern life did—hauling a laptop around, flying here and there, processing masses of information at any hour of the day.
In an age where information traveled slowly, no such workaholics could be produced. There was always time to rest, because after an order was given, the other end hadn't even reacted yet.
Probably because she took him for a genuinely simple, honest, tongue-tied man, whenever they sat down to eat together she was always the one to start the conversation—exchanging news, keeping the mood light—and Ning Yi would just toss off a line or two in reply. After all those years rolling around in the business world, he had long since developed the knack of speaking offhandedly without ever making anyone feel brushed off, a level far above Su Tan'er's. And so every meal they shared, Ning Yi was reminded of the couple in the movie Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
After the meal, if it was raining, the two of them mostly stayed in their own rooms.
Su Tan'er would read, idly pluck at the qin now and then, do a bit of sewing and embroidery; he simply read and wrote, or else stared into space, sometimes digging out a sheet of paper to run the business-board simulations he used to do, making assumptions about the stock market and the like, and then deciding it was pointless.
Unless something urgent came up, Su Tan'er would also take the carriage out. If the weather was fine, Ning Yi generally went out wandering, and Su Tan'er would go look in on the shops and workshops in the city—the two of them going their separate ways.
The maid named Xiao Chan followed him everywhere. Over the past few months she had more or less become the girl assigned to wait on him, and that too had been Su Tan'er's arrangement.
It was plain that Xiao Chan meant to get on good terms with him; while tidying up his room she would chatter on about this and that, household gossip, or where the young miss had gone today and what she had done.
It was clear that she both admired and liked her young miss—Su Tan'er truly did treat her servants well. Ning Yi's response was mostly just to nod and smile.
When he went out, the girl always trailed behind him; sometimes he felt a little guilty about it, and when she got tired he would sit down in a teahouse nearby and order a few snacks, and the girl would pull small bits of silver from her delicate little purse to pay the bill, which made him feel that this must be roughly how the idle young heirs of the ancient world lived.
It's about the same in modern times—when I go out shopping I don't even swipe the card myself... uh, actually, it's been years since I really went out shopping.
Lately he had taken a liking to watching people play Go along the Qinhuai River.
On a stretch of street by the river that was not especially busy, out toward the edge of the city in a somewhat out-of-the-way spot, there were no large shops—mostly small vendors who came with carrying poles, and not many pedestrians either.
Under a tree by the water an old man often set out a Go board; now and then a few old fellows would gather to watch, and sometimes scholars would come by. There was a tea stall beside it.
The first time, he and Xiao Chan had stopped there to rest their tired legs, and while drinking tea he had casually watched. The two old men playing had both been highly skilled—as expected of ancient times; any two old codgers off the street play this well. After that he came often.
One old man was a fixture; his opponents changed, but after watching for a while he recognized most of them as regulars, and their skill was generally very high.
Such mental exercise was probably one of the few entertainments he could find here. In fact, the Qinhuai River was acknowledged as the most prosperous and extravagant quarter of the day—painted boats and brothels clustered in crowds, and once night fell it became a city that never slept.
He walked about every day and often heard tales of romantic escapades and the like, but everything had its limits; since he had married into the Su family as a live-in son-in-law, that sort of entertainment was more or less cut off from him.
Still, in his last life he had already seen every kind of extravagance and tasted all the splendor there was; naturally he had no great interest in it now.
Then one day the sky was somewhat overcast, though it didn't look like rain would come soon. He and Xiao Chan went to the tea stall; again two old men were playing. After a while a man who looked like a household servant came over and exchanged a few words with one of the old men, and the old man nodded. "Master Qin, something urgent has come up at home—this game..."
"The position is even as it stands. Shall we call it a draw?"
"That would be for the best..."
The two exchanged a few more flourishes in that bookish way, then one old man left and the old man who kept the board began putting away the stones. Ning Yi drained his tea in one gulp and stood up. "Nothing left to watch. Xiao Chan, pay the bill."
Xiao Chan was just taking out her purse when the old man behind them spoke up. "This young gentleman has been coming to watch the games lately, so he must have some understanding of the art. Would you care to play a game with this old man?" His opponent was gone; he was grabbing the first person he could.
"Uh..." Ning Yi blinked, glanced at the sky. "I'm so-so... all right, then."
He sat down across from the old man. While helping clear the stones there was the usual round of "and where is the young gentleman from?" and the like; Ning Yi answered a few words offhandedly. Once the stones were put away they guessed for colors, and Ning Yi took white and moved first. He didn't stand on ceremony either—he picked up a stone and slapped it down.
"Uh—this opening..." The old man gave him a look, then simply frowned and played on.
A dozen or so moves went by, one stone after another, and the old man's frown deepened. At last he spoke, puzzled: "Your skill at Go, young gentleman—might I ask who taught you?"
"I worked it out myself, from game records."
"Ah, no wonder..."
After that the old man said no more; under the tree by the river the two played on in silence. Xiao Chan sat to one side, now and then glancing up at the sky. She understood nothing at all of Go—she only felt that the longer they played, the longer the old man thought, his wrinkles growing deeper, lifting his head to look at Ning Yi from time to time, or shaking it. On the board the white stones massed in imposing formations, and the black stones were gradually cut to pieces.
After about two hours the old man conceded, setting down his stones, and lifted his head to study Ning Yi for a moment. Ning Yi still wore that mild look, as though he found everything interesting. "Your strength at Go, young gentleman... is superb. Only, as for your methods in play, might they be a little..." The old man was weighing his words. Ning Yi, gathering up the stones, only smiled. "Playing to win is like two armies facing each other in battle—how can there be any distinction of methods?"
"Go is the study of gentlemen..."
"You believe a game of Go shows a man's character." Ning Yi spoke casually, collecting the stones one by one. "Is it accurate?"
The old man was taken aback. He pondered a moment, then shook his head with a smile and reached out to help clear the stones. "Not very accurate, I must say."
With the board put away and the sky darkening toward rain, Ning Yi and Xiao Chan headed back toward the Su residence. On the way, the way Xiao Chan looked at him had turned rather startled, and she could not help asking, "Son-in-law, you won?"
"Ah. I'm afraid it won't be easy to go watch the games there anymore."
"Why not?"
"Didn't you see? He's decided I'm a bad man."
"He thinks you're a bad man just from one game?" The girl glanced back over her shoulder. "It must be because you beat him and he's angry... Old grandpas are so petty."
Naturally that was just talk. The old man was a cultivated sort and would hardly take offense over such a thing.
It was only that Go in these times was a matter of great restraint: between friends one played openly and stopped at the proper point, and no one carelessly resorted to aggressive, hounding, or graceless tactics that wear an opponent down and lose one's bearing.
But to Ning Yi a game of Go was nothing more than a pure contest of intellect—and with the imbalance of information between the two sides, even a player of the old man's considerable strength was routed by one small trick after another until his position fell apart.
It brought Ning Yi a small satisfaction at having a modern man bully an ancient one.
That day when he got home, Su Tan'er was just coming back from outside as well. A little maid named Xing'er was directing several men carrying bolts of cloth up to the young miss's room—new stock, it seemed, in a riot of colors. Seeing them come in, Juan'er came down from upstairs carrying a large wooden box.
"Son-in-law, Son-in-law, the young miss heard you're very fond of playing Go, and when she saw this on the street today she bought it specially to give you."
In truth it was a gift from someone else, something Su Tan'er had no use for, and she had simply brought it home in passing—a box with a Go set inside. Ning Yi was rather startled.
"Well—then thank my wife for me."
"Thank her yourself, Son-in-law." The girl giggled and ran back upstairs. Ning Yi shook his head and carried the Go set to his room. There was no one he knew here—who was he supposed to play with?
Juan'er went back into the room; the porters had already left the courtyard. She mimicked Ning Yi's voice: "Young miss, the son-in-law says, 'Thank my wife for me.'" She got a rap on the forehead for it from Su Tan'er, who was going over the account books.
Mistress and maids had grown up together, and though rank was observed, their affection had always been close as sisters'—still, when Su Tan'er was busy it wasn't the time for too much joking. After finishing the accounts she examined the bolts of cloth closely, and just then Xiao Chan and Xing'er came in.
At the sight of Xiao Chan she smiled.
"Out watching Go with the son-in-law again today?"
"Mm." Chan'er shook her little head. "I couldn't follow it."
"I don't care for Go either." Su Tan'er shook her head. She had been out since morning, rushing from place to place, and only now could she rest a little. She picked up a sheet of xuan paper lying on the table and frowned, asking Chan'er, "Is this really a poem the son-in-law wrote?"
The xuan paper was something Chan'er had picked up and brought along that morning. She leaned in to look and confirmed at once: "Yes, I saw the son-in-law writing it. He said he was practicing his calligraphy."
Su Tan'er frowned at it a few more times before setting it down. Chan'er had brought it over in a hurry that morning, and then Su Tan'er had gotten ready to go out and spent half the morning running all over; only now that she was back did she have time to look.
Xing'er, who had been downstairs, hadn't seen it either, and seeing the young miss's expressive face she came over with interest to look. All three maids had in fact studied poetry and arithmetic, but now, passing it from hand to hand, they screwed their little faces up like steamed buns.
"Three lotuses float in the emerald pool... a raft may bear a fair one's thoughts, the dew... wets the sandy wall, dusk is still and dawn is hushed... What's it even supposed to mean?"
In the room on the other side, Ning Yi stood at his desk sorting through the xuan-paper drafts, meaning to throw them out or burn them. He had written ten pages of calligraphy practice yesterday, and only now noticed that one was missing. He thought about it a moment, then shook his head and laughed. "It'd be a wonder if any of you could make sense of it..."
Then the thunderstorm came.
Summer downpours came with real violence. Amid the din that filled the sky, the light dimmed as though evening had fallen; yet in such weather, pushing the window open and looking out at the gardens and mansion soaked in the rain had a certain leisurely charm.
From this side he could occasionally catch sight of Su Tan'er and her little maids moving about in the room across the way. A short while later, when Chan'er came over with several bolts of colored cloth, Ning Yi was at the desk opening the box of Go stones to look inside.
"Son-in-law, the young miss says this is newly arrived silk, and she wants me to measure you for a new set of clothes. Have a look and see which color you like."
"Whatever."
"You can't just say 'whatever' for new clothes." The girl grumbled as she took out a soft tape and measured his height and build. Ning Yi looked out at the pouring rain, then at the girl beside him.
"Are you busy this afternoon?"
"Nothing much."
"Then let's play a game."
"This maid doesn't know Go."
"Not Go. I'll teach you five-in-a-row."
"Five-in-a-row?" The girl looked up at him, a flicker of bewilderment in her eyes—she had never heard of such a game...
And so this little courtyard, always rather quiet, came to ring often with a young girl's cheers that afternoon. Usually she was a quiet, steady sort, but Su Tan'er was eighteen and the three maids around her were only fourteen or fifteen; faced with something genuinely fun, they were bound to forget themselves a little.
In the room across the way, Su Tan'er sat by the window reading, while Xing'er and Juan'er sat side by side on little stools doing embroidery. Now and then, faint through the rain, they caught a cheer of "I won, I won!" from the other side, and could not help glancing up curiously.
After this had happened a few times, Xing'er pricked her finger; she put the fingertip in her mouth and peered over there, puzzled.
"What's gotten into that girl Chan'er..."