Chapter 195
Chapter 195: Our Second Young Master Wins Hearts
Auntie Wang, upon hearing what had happened today, wanted nothing more than to buy a string of firecrackers to set off; she had come along with Xin An from the Xin family and of course understood what it meant to have seen the Emperor.
She said with a grin: “If the master finds out, he will be terribly envious.”
Handing her the empty bowl, Xin An lay down and said: “I’m going to sleep for a while.”
Auntie Wang hurried to tuck a blanket over her and, carrying the bowl, went out in high spirits, [the marquis’s household truly is different; the generous offerings our master sends every year are not in vain. If our second young master could become a marquis one day, how wonderful that would be.]
At that thought her heart gave a sudden thump and began to pound; [our eldest girl was originally meant to marry the marquis household’s heir apparent, and it was the marquis household that failed to keep its word first. If we cannot change the husband now, then changing who becomes heir apparent is only right and proper. The second young master is also a legitimate son, why should he not qualify? How could that Eldest Young Madam next door compare to our eldest girl?] The more she thought, the more excited she grew, then [this idea is far too bold], so she drew a deep breath, returned to her own room, and calmed herself.
At this time Madam Wang was seated before the Grand Matron, speaking about arranging accommodations for the clansmen: “We do not yet know how many will ultimately come, so we have tidied up Ning Cui Courtyard and Ning Xiang Courtyard. Ning Cui Courtyard has many large rooms, so let the boys live there; even if a few more come, it will still be roomy enough.”
She added matter-of-factly: “Let the girls stay in Ning Xiang Courtyard.”
The Grand Matron answered with a soft hum and then sighed: “Once they arrive, it will be hard work for you to look after them.”
“Do rest more,” said Madam Wang, “with the second daughter-in-law helping, there will be no problem.”
Although Madam Wang had some grievances toward the Grand Matron, to be fair, having such a mother-in-law was already quite good, and at least there was nothing to fault on the surface. She spoke gently: “Set your mind at ease. None of this is a great matter. Everyone hopes for your long life and good health.”
Forcing a smile, the Grand Matron had Gan Lu fetch a banknote and said: “Take these, as a supplement for household expenses.”
Madam Wang did not refuse. Though the accounts held a decent sum, year’s end was expensive by nature, and if those people arrived before the New Year, it would mean another very large outlay.
Leaving Chun Rong Hall, Madam Wang sent someone to Qiu Shi Courtyard at once; if her daughter-in-law was capable, then she must not sit idle, and it was best to let her get quickly into the swing of things.
Xin An arrived half an hour later. Seeing the smile on her face, Madam Wang questioned her in detail about having entered the palace that day, and was very pleased: “Your grandmother also wished to give you a bit more face. In a month the clansmen will arrive, and there should be several young ladies among them then. You will need to take them out and about.”
Xin An smiled and said: “With Mother here, why would there be any need of me?”
“Mother is getting on in years, not as at ease among you young people.”
Madam Wang said that once people arrived she would see how things stood and then ask Xin An to step forward to assist: “Do not worry, this burden will not fall on your shoulders. Just guide them along a bit.”
With that, Madam Wang took out the household account books for Xin An to read. She intended to begin teaching Xin An how to manage the household, so naturally she went over the expenditures in each quarter and the relationships with people outside. Even though Xin An had experience from her previous life, that had been figured out on her own, and Madam Wang, as a mother-in-law in that life, had taught her nothing at all, so she listened very carefully now.
Time slipped by, and evening came. When Tang Mo returned, he asked about her time in the palace. Learning that she had nearly been worked to death, he laughed and said: “Didn’t you say you had experience?”
“I was bragging,” said Xin An. In her previous life she had never enjoyed the honor of being kept for a meal by the Empress Dowager or sharing a table with the Emperor. She entered with a crowd and left with a crowd, without any moment worth boasting of. “I know the roads, not the people.”
“But I did gain something today,” she added, brightening. “Let me tell you, and we can think it through together.”
She had turned over the Emperor’s words again and again all afternoon, but because she did not fully grasp the current situation, she could not judge them well.
“Is he encouraging my father to go into the sugar trade?” She then recounted the Emperor’s words for Tang Mo. “Does the imperial court lack sugar?”
Tang Mo did not know either. “I can ask Liao Zhi tomorrow and find out. If His Majesty truly has that in mind, this is Father-in-law’s opportunity. If he can become a major sugar merchant, then we can find a way to let him meet the Emperor, and his standing will change at once.”
“Then why would we still need to rely on the marquis household?”
Xin An arched a brow. “You would be willing?”
Tang Mo understood what she meant. “What a thing to say. If Father-in-law prospers, I prosper with him. Can we not, as father-in-law and son-in-law, support each other?”
The Xin family had a chance to grow big, so why suppress it? Now that they were all in the same boat, of course everyone should do well.
Xin An smiled. Tang Mo did not have the sharpest mind, but he was good-hearted. “Your heart is getting broader and broader.”
“I can still weigh gains and losses,” said Tang Mo. “I am counting on Father-in-law, once he is successful, to take me under his wing often.”
Xin An gave him a thumbs-up and teased: “Our second young master grows more and more endearing by the day.”
“All thanks to the timely guidance of the great beauty Xin,” he replied, grinning.
After a few jokes, Xin An said she would send a calling card to General Xu’s residence the next day. Tang Mo was curious and asked: “Not going to the Second Prince’s residence?”
“The Second Prince’s consort is pregnant. It is better not to go near her at this time. I thought it over. Since it was Madam Xu who first spoke of buying sugar, we should go directly to the Xu family. It comes to the same.”
Tang Mo felt their days were looking more and more promising. “When you have time, start arranging the outing. I have already given instructions for what needs doing. At the latest, the young madam of the Zhang family will hear the news tomorrow, so there will be no excuse to keep her from attending the spring banquet the day after tomorrow.”
The autumn banquet was the day after tomorrow, and there were still five days until the next rest day. Tang Mo had been counting the days, preparing to strike Tang Rong in rapid succession.
Xin An cooperated with all her strength.
The next morning, Xin An’s calling card was sent to the Xu family. Madam Xu did not put on airs, and immediately had the messenger bring word back that she was at home at all times. Thus, after lunch, Xin An tidied herself and went to the Xu residence.
The marquis’s household and the Xu family had both once been military houses. Now the marquis’s household had turned to civil service while the Xu family still commanded the army. Unlike the serving lads at the marquis’s gate, the soldiers on duty at the Xu family’s gate had no small measure of imposing presence.
“Are you the Second Young Madam of Marquis Wei Yuan’s residence?” A steward came to receive her, and upon learning it was indeed she, his smile grew broader. “We heard you would be coming. My lady has been waiting for some time. Please, Second Young Madam, this way.”
“Please lead the way,” said Xin An.
Once through the main gate, even at a glance one could feel how different the Xu family was from the Liao family. Unlike the Liao family’s disorder, the Xu family exuded an ineffable gravitas, the sediment of power hard to name and only truly known by those who had felt it in person.
“We have already sent someone to inform my lady. Please wait a moment, Second Young Madam.” In the side hall a maid served tea, then withdrew to wait at the door.
As the tea touched her tongue, Xin An’s lips curved slightly. It was Silver Blossom tea from Huaijiang. [I have never sent the Xu family this tea, so it must have been gifted by the Crown Princess.]
“Second Young Madam, forgive me for keeping you waiting.” Her voice arrived before she did. Xin An rose quickly; when she saw her, she made her curtsey. “Madam Xu.”
“You are a rare guest indeed,” said Madam Xu as they sat. “I have been waiting for you.”
She did not circle around the topic but came straight to the point: “Did you come today because Boss Xin has sent news?”
“You truly have foresight,” said Xin An with a smile.
…
“Yesterday I received a letter from home. My father’s view is that anything beneficial to the state must be done. If the Xu family has need, do not even explain the reason, just name the amount. If what the Xin family has on hand is not enough, he will do his utmost to make up the difference.” Xin An had come to discuss a deal, and there was not much to haggle over in this case, so she spoke with plain candor.
Although Madam Xu had long expected that the Xin family would not refuse, she was still delighted at this moment. “Boss Xin is truly public-spirited.”
“I will be frank as well,” she continued. “The Xu family’s sugar purchases are mainly for the army’s soldiers. The volumes are significant and needed every year. It is not that we have not sought out sugar merchants before, but they could not supply steadily. Often we had to buy from several dealers just to gather a bit of sugar. If Boss Xin can supply in bulk, nothing would please us more.”
“Sugar is a rare thing,” said Xin An, “expensive and hard to obtain, and not easy to store. Heat or damp will cause it to melt. Without a stable clientele, no one is willing to stockpile it.” The key was that, unlike salt which was available at all times, sugar had a seasonal nature.
Madam Xu naturally knew these matters and only asked that they do their best. “If Boss Xin can take this on, we will not seek others.”
“If it truly comes to that, my father will have his hands full,” said Xin An with a laugh. “But at present he does not have much on hand. If you need it urgently, I fear he cannot manage it. If it is for next year, then anything is possible.” Sugar came from sugarcane. If they could secure the army’s business, they could seek out places suitable for cultivating cane, have the local magistrate encourage the people to open more fields and plant more cane, and build workshops on site, so that more sugar could be produced. All of that would take time.
Madam Xu smiled. “Do not worry about the army’s business. The quantities will never be small. So long as the Xu family stands, the Xin family can carry on this trade. Only on price, we hope it can be more reasonable.”
One sugar deal could draw the Xin family into alignment with the Xu family and establish long-term mutual interest, while giving the Xin family a dependable backer. Madam Xu had been certain the Xin family would not refuse.
This was the point Xin An had already discussed with Tang Mo. Since she was here, she was forthright: “With your assurance, I am relieved. I will write to Huaijiang at once. After spring next year, my father will come to the capital himself to discuss the details.”
“As for this year, we can first deliver a batch of sugar and settle the price after it is fixed next year.” It was the Xin family’s show of good faith.
Madam Xu was very satisfied with her attitude. “Next year is too late, and merchants do not carry credit past the New Year. Since you, representing Boss Xin, have agreed, the army will immediately send people to Huaijiang to discuss the details with Boss Xin and at the same time take away whatever sugar there is at present.”
“I will follow your arrangement,” said Xin An.
The smoothness of the process was within both women’s expectations. How the army would negotiate was not Madam Xu’s concern, and how her father would view the profits was not for Xin An to interfere in. What both valued was using this matter to draw their families closer and secure their respective interests.
“The last time I saw you was at the Water Blossom Banquet,” said Madam Xu as their conversation turned to lighter topics. “You are very different now. You are steadier and more composed than before.”
“You will laugh at me,” said Xin An. “When I first arrived in the capital, I was unfamiliar and ill at ease. Fortunately Sister Lin and the others looked after me and took me out for tea and to hear opera. Otherwise I could not have adapted so quickly.”
“Do you mean Second Young Madam Lin Yao of Marquis Qin’s household?”
“Yes.”
“She is a forthright person,” said Madam Xu, smiling. “There is nothing in the capital she does not know.”
Xin An also took the opportunity to voice her thanks to the Second Prince’s Consort. Smiling, she said that she had accompanied the Grand Matron to the palace yesterday and learned that the Second Prince’s Consort was with child: “It is a great joy. I originally meant to go offer congratulations, then thought the Second Prince’s residence must be on edge and the consort needs to rest, so I will wait a few days.”
At that, the delight in Madam Xu’s laughter could not be contained. “The imperial physicians from the palace have already moved in. In another two months, when things are stable, you can see her. These days she will be stifled from having to sit quietly.”
Her daughter’s pregnancy was a heaven-sent blessing. That very morning, oversight of the Ministry of Revenue’s affairs had fallen to the Second Prince, and at the same time the Empress’s admonitory edict reached the Crown Prince’s Manor, confining the Crown Princess within the residence for half a month, which was indeed something to celebrate.
Xin An smiled along, [not going to the Second Prince’s residence just now was the right choice. The child in the Second Prince’s Consort’s belly carries the hopes of many, and nothing can be allowed to go wrong. At this moment the residence has surely closed its doors to visitors.] [No gifts either; who knows what schemes others might try. At such a time it is better to do nothing than to do the wrong thing.]
Madam Xu was quite interested in Huaijiang, and Xin An enjoyed speaking of her hometown. Seated together, they spoke not like elder and junior, but as peers.
After seeing Xin An out, Madam Xu could not help but feel it a pity for Tang Rong and said that Tang Mo had good fortune: “With a virtuous wife, a husband knows fewer calamities. How could the ancestors’ words be wrong?” Tang Rong had mistaken a pearl for a pebble and would one day regret it.
Leaving the Xu residence, Xin An went to look in on the medicinal-meals shop. Fang Da was not there; a batch of goods had arrived at the sundry shop and he had gone to receive them, so she had the carriage turn toward the Wang household.
Most of the business of looking after the old soldiers was managed by Madam Wang of the Wang family, and Xin An needed to send some benefits her way.
On the road she bought a good amount of cakes and tea to bring. As soon as she entered, she received Madam Wang’s warm welcome.
“Why be so polite? Aunt was just thinking of going to the marquis’s residence to find you,” Madam Wang said with a smile.
Since the marquis’s household had made clear who was responsible, the pressure on the Wang family had lessened greatly. In particular, the fact that Xin An paid out readily had satisfied Madam Wang very much. She immediately spoke of how Nan Feng had come with Liu Chang to discuss and settle the purchases of grain and winter charcoal.
“You really thought it through. Buying charcoal at this time is much cheaper,” she said approvingly.
Xin An smiled and said: “It was only mentioned in passing that day. I had not managed these affairs before, and I do not know many things, so I can only trouble you, Aunt.”
“It is no trouble,” replied Madam Wang.
Once they were seated, Madam Wang cheerfully went over what had been done in these days. “We have counted everyone once again and agreed that rations, charcoal and other items will have fixed quotas, one share per household. If an old veteran passes on, his descendants will no longer receive the allotment.”
“When we first announced it, there were some objections, but they understood our difficulties. Recently the sons in those households have been busy looking for work, and the older girls have gone out to learn proper rules. At year’s end there are many banquets, and every household is short-handed. These people can help and earn some money.”
She added that whether it was learning rules or skills, the arrangements were made by the Wang family. “Of course the expenses are covered by the silver Second Young Madam provided. As the saying goes, better to teach a man to fish than to give him fish. With skills in hand, earning a living is easier.”
These were things Madam Wang had wanted to do long ago but had lacked the ready silver to set in motion. With Xin An resolving the biggest problem, everything could be arranged smoothly.
“With you taking pains to manage this, my husband and I can rest easy and be lazy,” Xin An joked. “When Grandmother first gave this matter to us, we were worried we would not do it well. Fortunately we have you.”
Madam Wang was willing to work, and Xin An was happy to pay and to let Madam Wang take a share of benefits. Better that than doing everything herself and ending up exhausted.
“I came today because there is one more matter for which I must trouble you,” said Xin An.