Pedestrians came and went along the street. Su Tan'er had Juan'er and Xing'er with her, Ning Yi had Xiao Chan, and Xue Jin had brought along two servants; they stood there talking, all friendliness.
The Jiangning region was prosperous, its weaving trade well developed, and the three largest cloth firms in these parts were the Su family cloth shop, the Xue family's Dachuan Cloth, and, heading the guild, the Wu family cloth shop.
Xue Jin's main reason for coming this time was to discuss with Su Tan'er a partnership on a deal down in Huainan. But Su Tan'er only handled a small part of the management in the Su family just then; most of the business outside Jiangning was still in the hands of Second Uncle and Third Uncle.
So she told Xue Jin to take the matter up with Second Uncle Su Zhongkan, and Xue Jin replied that it was always easier to talk with a familiar face present—when he gave a banquet in a few days to discuss business with Su Zhongkan, he hoped Su Tan'er would come along as well, and so on and so forth...
That was what he said, anyway.
Xue Jin had always had a thing for the Su family's Su Tan'er; everyone had known it for ages.
The Xue family had once proposed marriage, but for one thing Old Master Su did not much care for Xue Jin, for another the Su family's younger generation was thin on talent and they had no intention of marrying Su Tan'er straight out of the house, and besides, the two families were, after all, business rivals.
The match never came off, and on the wedding day Su Tan'er ran away. Xue Jin seized the confusion, sneaked up, and knocked Ning Yi cold with a brick before running off. With no solid witnesses, pursuing such a shitty little mess was a complicated business, and in the end it was quietly dropped.
So much time had passed, and there was the business of Su Tan'er fleeing her wedding besides, yet here Xue Jin was, coming to find her again—naturally he still had not given up.
Su Tan'er was another man's wife now and could never marry into the Xue family, but she was beautiful, clever, and capable, and a man who fancied himself a real talent loves to conquer a woman like that. What he had not counted on was running into Ning Yi, on his way home.
He might have hit Ning Yi with a brick before, but he had never taken this bookworm seriously at all, so he came over and greeted him of his own accord, meaning to put Ning Yi in an awkward spot.
Su Tan'er had followed him out, naturally, because she knew what Xue Jin was thinking. Her feelings about Ning Yi were really quite simple: she did not dislike him, and he was her husband already—there was no help for it; in the end she still felt that Ning Yi and she were tied together.
Xue Jin had no great ability, no different from that pack of second- and third-generation good-for-nothings in the Su family, and she disliked him; but no matter what, with the Xue family's backing behind him, business had to stay business, and personal likes and dislikes had to be set aside.
When Xing'er's message reached her, Su Tan'er hurried out—she was afraid, after all, that Ning Yi in his scholar's pride would not weather provocation and would end up in some clash with the man; and if a real clash broke out, it would inevitably become a matter between the Su and Xue families in the end.
Her feelings for Ning Yi were still far from the point where she would spend the family's interests just to vent her anger on her husband's behalf.
Yet she could not simply ignore it either: this was her husband, and to ignore a fight would make her a fickle, loose woman; but if no fight had started, finding the right touch in smoothing things over was hard to gauge.
These past few months she and Ning Yi had gotten along harmoniously, but men—what men cared about most was exactly this kind of messy business, and the two of them still did not know each other well.
If she asked him to give a little ground, who knew whether he would decide there was something between her and Xue Jin and take it to heart. She wanted everything to come off perfectly; even though Ning Yi had married into the family, she hoped to avoid as much as possible any future disharmony in the household.
Her head was starting to ache.
But when she rushed out, she found that Ning Yi was discussing his memory loss with the man as naturally as could be, looking for all the world as though even the name Xue Jin meant nothing to him... Could it be that in all these months, no one had mentioned the matter in front of him, not once? Somewhat puzzled, she steered the conversation elsewhere, and before long took her leave of Xue Jin and got into the carriage with Ning Yi and the maids.
"Oh, that's right—for the Mid-Autumn lantern viewing on the Qinhuai, everyone may bring their families to the Puyuan poetry gathering. I hear Brother Ning is a man of great learning. Might you be coming along with Sister Tan'er?"
Seeing the two about to leave, Xue Jin asked this loudly, smiling, from where he stood. It was already the eighth month, and the Mid-Autumn Festival was near; on the Qinhuai River there were countless entertainments—some open only to unmarried men, some mostly attended by women—and the Puyuan poetry gathering had the greater name in past years.
In any era, once people have enough to eat and wear, playing at refinement is the normal thing; and though it was called a poetry gathering, there were naturally plenty of performances as well. Su Tan'er had attended often in previous years. This time, however, she let the carriage curtain fall.
"We'll see."
"Tch—'we'll see'..." Watching the carriage roll away, Xue Jin ground his teeth, then grew puzzled again and turned to the attendants beside him. "You tell me—is that Ning fellow faking it, or did he really lose his memory? Nobody could fake it that well, surely!" He was thoroughly baffled.
His original intention had been to pointedly remind Ning Yi, 'I hit you, and there's nothing you can do about it,' and he had even deliberately said things like 'Lately some people have been spreading rumors that I attacked Brother Ning that day—surely Brother Ning doesn't believe them?'—all to make the other man angry.
Who would have thought Ning Yi would speak so earnestly and calmly, with not the slightest sign of forcing himself to keep face.
It was as if Xue Jin had punched at empty air; on top of his bewilderment, he felt rather sore that he had been putting on this performance so long and his audience had not given him a single reaction he was owed.
Meanwhile, inside the carriage, Su Tan'er was also watching Ning Yi across from her with some puzzlement. The ones doing most of the talking were the three maids, chattering about what a nasty, ill-mannered sort that Young Master Xue was; on the surface not a single word touched Su Tan'er, but to listen to it, they were all obliquely angling at one theme: "Our young miss has nothing to do with that man, you know." Now and then Ning Yi joined in with a smile.
In truth, he simply found the three girls' behavior adorable—so well-behaved and sensible. In a modern society, girls that age would be willful past all reckoning. After a moment, Su Tan'er asked, "Husband... have you really forgotten that Xue Jin?"
Ning Yi nodded. "I truly don't remember him."
"But... you must have heard about it by now..."
Su Tan'er stared at him questioningly. He glanced back at her, and for a moment the two looked at each other. "Uh—does my wife want me to have given him a beating just now?"
Su Tan'er looked into his eyes and blinked a few times, then gradually began to smile—not the formulaic smile from before, but a bright one with a touch of relief in it. Her husband did understand the ways of the world after all. Yet even as the thought came, there was a faint sense of loss at the bottom of her heart. She would never like a pure bookworm, nor would she like a man truly full of scheming; but they were not yet well enough acquainted for her to see these things clearly.
The carriage rolled over a small bridge near the Su family's gate, and Su Tan'er looked outside. "In that case... for the Mid-Autumn Puyuan poetry gathering, would you like to go, Husband?"
"Poetry and lyrics aren't really my strong suit."
"You needn't be much good at them. It's just to watch some performances and enjoy the lanterns."
As soon as Su Tan'er finished, Juan'er beside her nodded vigorously. "That's right, that's right, Son-in-law—there are so many performances!"
Xing'er chimed in. "The lanterns are lovely too, and there are beautiful fireworks..."
"Maybe even Miss Qilan will be performing..."
"And we'd get to hear her sing..."
The three maids chattered on about the entertainments at the lantern fair. Entertainment was scarce in these times, and they were plainly looking forward to it. Ning Yi nodded with a smile. "Mm. If it can be managed, we'll all go and have a look when the time comes."
The Mid-Autumn Festival was still more than ten days away. A few days later Su Zhongkan came to inform him that he was to report to Yushan Academy, not far from the Su house—he was to begin his life as a leisurely schoolmaster.