To drive the course of an entire business with a single sentence — even with Ning Yi's background from his former life, complete with an all-powerful intelligence-analysis system and a small army of advisers — would have taken fairly extreme conditions; it would have been a commercial miracle. And to overturn a business decision the other party has already made, without patient grinding on every front, was basically a fool's dream. But the situation before him now was a different matter.
What Ning Yi could sense here was partly his own sharp observation, true; but in this sphere these things were the He family's vital interests. He might guess a little of it at random, while they had probably long since been suspicious.
Perhaps even before Ning Yi and Su Tan'er came calling, these men had been fretting and doubting over exactly this. And now one careless sentence from Ning Yi had instantly given them the signal that the Su family already understood the situation.
Yet Su Tan'er had noticed nothing at all; she was simply certain that the He family deal had fallen through.
When it happened, Ning Yi looked helpless, feeling that his conditioned reflex had been quite unnecessary. I've gone mad with business; I'll never escape weighing the odds as long as I live. Beside him Su Tan'er was full of puzzlement, but since a turn for the better was always good news, she went back inside with them to talk business.
Ning Yi, who had meant to go buy books at the shop in the east of the city, found himself unable to leave after all. When everyone went home together at dusk, Su Tan'er still wore a puzzled face in the carriage.
A few more days passed, and with the twelfth month approaching, the Su household gradually grew lively. Though the snow fell thick, the year's end was near, and the managers of Su family shops in the towns around Jiangning were beginning to gather in the city to review performance and settle the year's dividends. Cousins and relatives of the Su family also came to spend the New Year and pay visits, and with people going in and out of the gates every day, it was already quite a spectacle.
There were many wealthy households in Jiangning, and such scenes were nothing rare at this time of year.
These days Su Tan'er was busy with the He family on one hand, preparing to check over the whole year's accounts on another, and on top of that entertaining relatives she hadn't seen in ages, so that all three maids — Chan'er, Juan'er and Xing'er — were kept running.
Coming home this day through the drifting snow, she found a line of carriages parked outside the main gate. She had business inside and let her own carriage go around to the side gate; servants at the main gate were just then carrying four or five big chests inside, so she waited outside with Xing'er.
Su Tan'er wore a snow-white fox-fur cloak today, its fluffy collar framing a face both clear and lovely, so that she looked at once like a girl still green and untried and like someone who had spent years cultivating an air of ease and independence. She had some name in Jiangning's business circles by now.
Before the uxorilocal marriage she had often dressed in men's clothes, though without much concealing that she was a woman; strangers looking at her took her for no merchant, and even thought her a young lady of some scholarly house.
Often, after a deal was struck, they still had not felt much of an edge from her, and only later, putting the whole picture together, sighed that this woman was truly formidable. Some said that had she been born a man, the head of Jiangning's cloth trade would by now be someone other than the Wu family.
In an age that prized boys over girls, Su Tan'er's sex was a constant inconvenience; but the men who negotiated with her were more or less ill at ease too — puzzled, or contemptuous, or delighted.
What set her above the rest was that she could labor to turn the inconvenience around into her own convenience, finding usable advantages in a disadvantage she could not change. Seen from Ning Yi's side, it might even look like a rather lovable struggle. Naturally, no one else perceived it as pitiable or lovable, or as a struggle.
Most of those inside the Su household had long grown used to the second young lady's temper — one facet of her shrewdness, or of her beauty, or of her softness, or of the way she had, moistening things so softly that no one noticed, gradually propped up the eldest branch of the Su family.
Now, seeing her standing outside, a steward from nearby came running over before long.
"You lot, clear the way at once! Can't you see the second young lady is back?"
The steward waved his hands, wanting everyone hurried along. Su Tan'er walked over smiling. "Never mind, never mind, Uncle Qi. Let them go first — they're halfway in already; coming back out would only waste more effort. In they go, in they go..."
Since she had spoken, the steward called Uncle Qi had no choice but to let the men carry on slowly inside. Only then did Su Tan'er ask, "Uncle Qi, why aren't these coming in through the side gate?"
"Things Third Master bought — ornaments big and small, for New Year festivity, he says. These go in the front hall, and seeing as no one was likely to come this way for a while, I had them hurried in. Oh, and second young lady, Lord Song the prefect arrived today; he's over at the library right now, examining the students' learning..."
"Oh, the prefect is here?"
The Su family had been in business a long time. It could hardly claim to be a house of scholars, but it naturally had dealings of every kind with officials, mostly none too intimate — except with Song Mao, now prefect of the Shenzhou region, with whom there were many ties.
For Second Master Su Zhongkan's first wife and Song Mao were cousins; the Song family had produced a few minor officials, and the Su household had spent a good deal on backing and smoothing the way when Song Mao rose. So Song Mao could now be counted one of the Su family's staunchest backers.
A prefect's influence did not reach Jiangning, but the Su family's business in the Shenzhou area enjoyed a great many conveniences.
On the other hand, Song Mao had won the prefect's post on the strength of truly outstanding learning. These years, as the Su family sought to grow in the literary direction, Old Master Su would, whenever Song Mao visited at New Year, gather the family's young students and invite a few teachers and scholars he knew well to test the children's progress. Song Mao was famous for a blunt, upright nature; he had few kind words to offer at these yearly examinations, but given his judgment, what he said was the most reliable assessment to be had.
With such a backer in officialdom, his yearly visits to Jiangning to call on other officials also let word of his connection with the Su family slip out, which was one more advantage for the family's business. But Song Mao's ties were closest to Second Uncle's side after all, so Su Tan'er merely nodded at the news, without much delight.
As for examining scholarship — that was the same every year; the Su family, it seemed, had no fate to produce a scholar yet. Besides, her husband made a mess of things at the school.
Teachers in the past had wanted to use the whole day for lessons; her husband had the boys read for one hour and spent the rest of the time telling stories. Pleasant to hear, certainly, but how that helped anyone's learning she could not begin to imagine. She only hoped he wouldn't be scolded this time.
The big chests had gone in with much heaving and grunting. Then Juan'er, who had been left at home, came running out breathless. "Miss, you're back at last! My cousin-uncle and cousin have arrived — cousin's waiting for you... Oh, and Manager Xi and Steward Luo got here just now too. Looks like the He family matter has been settled, and they've come to report the good news... Hee, miss, doesn't that make it a double blessing at the door?"
The Su family had many cousins, but there was probably only one Juan'er would speak of that way. In her childhood Su Tan'er had been the sole child of the eldest branch; Su Boyong had no son, and there was a certain grievance in him over this only child being one "without a handle."
He would not go so far as to beat or curse her often, but hot and cold by turns he could not help being. Once she grew old enough to understand things, Su Tan'er had for a time been withdrawn, and for a time rebellious and strange.
Those who became her friends — apart from the three maids Chan'er, Juan'er and Xing'er, who became her friends later — were, roughly speaking, only the eldest daughter of her cousin-uncle Su Yunsong, then manager of the Jiangning shop.
Su Yunsong's daughter was named Danhong. Half a month older than Su Tan'er, she had been a lively, restless child, as good as a boy, and as she grew, she grew gentle and demure.
Later Su Yunsong went off to manage business elsewhere, and wife and daughter left Jiangning with him; but every year when they came back, the two girls would excitedly trade memories and talk of the future. Last year this cousin married; her husband was a young manager in the Su family's cloth business, and she lived happily.
This year she had borne a son just when Su Tan'er was married, and so had been unable to come. Hearing that she had arrived now, Su Tan'er brightened.
"Wonderful! Where is she?"
"Over by the courtyard. She ran into Stewards Xi and Luo just now and chatted with them a while. Chan'er is over there too."
Su Tan'er thought it over. "All right, I'll go ahead first. Juan'er, you and Xing'er take these ledgers over — the ones on top are for the accounting office, the ones underneath go to the master." Xing'er, following behind, was clutching a big stack of ledgers. Having given her instructions, Su Tan'er parted ways with the two maids, tightened her silvery white fox cloak, and went smiling toward the inner courtyard.
There is probably no fixed rule for what two women will gossip about when they get together; but when two recently married friends who have not seen each other for days meet, the gossip is mostly about each other's husbands.
Through courtyard after courtyard, along the snow-covered paths between the gardens, before she even reached the courtyard where she lived, Su Tan'er caught sight of the cousin she had not seen for so long. As if to match her lovely name, the beautiful, gentle woman was still dressed all in red even after her marriage. After a few words of greeting, she asked about Su Tan'er's husband, Ning Yi.
"I've been wanting to meet this brother-in-law of mine for a long while — only the roads were inconvenient when you married, and afterwards I heard a thing or two. But... ha, well? How is he, this brother-in-law of mine?"
To talk of her own husband with someone so close, there was no room for polite evasions. Su Tan'er blushed faintly. "Hard to say. Didn't you see Liheng when you came in, Sister Hong?"
"No, I didn't. I assumed he'd gone out with you, and Xiao Chan said not. Just now I did see Manager Xi and Steward Luo..."
Su Tan'er considered. "Oh — Prefect Song came by earlier, and he's at the library examining the students. Liheng is a teacher at the academy now, so he's probably over there."
"Actually, a few years back I thought Uncle would take Xi Junyu into the family for you..." her cousin said thoughtfully. Seeing Su Tan'er knit her brows in puzzlement, she laughed. "Never mind that. I did ask after this husband of yours, you know. That tune, Shui Diao Ge Tou — I heard it sung in Hangzhou every single day. I thought it was just a man with the same name and surname, and only later learned it was the very same man... But honestly, once I got here, I heard a few odd things..."
Word of Ning Yi naturally would not spread far of its own accord, but anyone with connections who cared to ask could always collect every kind of version, and in her position she would naturally learn a good deal about how Su Tan'er and Ning Yi lived together.
The affection between the cousins was deep, and she truly cared what Su Tan'er thought of all this. She rambled on a while, then said, "Hearsay is not to be wholly trusted, and whether Liheng, my brother-in-law, has talent or ability we may set aside for now... What I want to know is what you yourself really think."
She had been through it herself, and she asked in a tactful tone; after all, she had to know Su Tan'er's own thoughts before she could say anything. Su Tan'er was silent a moment, then lowered her head and smiled.
"You know how I used to think, sister. As for my husband... what his talents are, it's really hard to say. But he's cool by nature and wants little. If you ask whether he suits me — he truly is the most suitable husband I could have."
Her cousin looked at her a few times, then laughed. "That sounds like resigning yourself to your fate..."
"When I was bored in the old days I'd imagine things — of course I hoped my future husband would be skilled in both letters and martial arts, sweet-tempered, and wouldn't stand in the way of my inheriting the family business. But that was all empty fancy.
Looking at these past days, if things can truly go on like this, I dare say that's not bad at all. My husband... he may have some ability; it's just that he's indifferent by nature and sometimes does strange things. But he never glosses over his mistakes or covers things up — I'd call that open and aboveboard..."
As she spoke she lifted her head; snow was falling all across the sky. "When we married, thinking of the years ahead, I felt afraid, and angry, and so I simply left Jiangning. When I came back, it was only after gritting my teeth that I made up my mind. But thinking of it now — if it goes on like this, I won't find it hard at all. I suppose that's how it is: some part of it may be resignation, but truly... I don't dislike it..."
The endless snow wrapped the whole Su mansion, swirling over the city of Jiangning. Along one path a woman in red and a woman in white walked on through the snow. There was a moment of silence; then the gentle woman smiled and turned the conversation from its grave course.
"So then, no head for business..."
"No... er, he just doesn't much care about it..."
"And no literary talent..."
"It's not that either, but... ha, he teaches all wrong, you know. Some of his students are among those being examined up front — I'm afraid he's going to get a scolding..."
"Ha! Then that means my husband wins!"
"...Wh-what sort of comparison is that? I'm not competing."
Laughter carried over and melted away in the vast white swirl of snow. The view swept across the sprawling courtyards great and small and came to rest at the library in the front of the Su mansion, where braziers burned on every side, and a scholarship examination of family significance was even now proceeding toward its middle...