Chapter Thirty-Five: A Night of Revelry Among Dragons and Fishes (Part One)
Firecrackers erupted in succession, lanterns burned like dragons. According to the customs of the Wu Dynasty, lanterns were lit throughout the city from the thirteenth to the seventeenth day of the first month, five days in all, with dragon and lion dances filling the nights, sleepless and vibrant. Naturally, the fifteenth day, the Festival of the Lanterns, was the most bustling of all. The snow had yet to melt, and various lantern and poetry gatherings had already begun, outshining even the Mid-Autumn Festival in scale.
The festivities of this night lacked the intense rivalry of the poetry gatherings that marked Mid-Autumn, instead carrying the lingering spirit of countless reunions since the New Year. If that autumn night had seen people revel in the scholarly aura of literati and the spectacle of idol contests, tonight was more a time for personal celebration—families and friends gathered to eat sweet dumplings, guess lantern riddles, stroll the night markets, only then casting a glance toward the misty towers where the scholars gathered.
The reasons for this shift were manifold: heavy snow had blocked roads, fewer merchants and travelers passed through, and many wandering students had returned home before the New Year. Poetry gatherings still took place, but not with the clear distinction seen at Mid-Autumn. The poetry meetings at Pu Garden and Zhishui were not formally held tonight; instead, the students of Lichuan Academy took center stage. Lichuan, the official school of Jiangning, boasted the most talented students, save for the influence of the Zhishui Poetry Meeting hosted by the Pan family each autumn.
Yet even as formal gatherings waned, scholars and literati still found themselves invited to countless banquets, exchanging their latest works from the holiday season. Some students from Lichuan would mingle among these feasts, competing for attention with their poetry. In essence, the evening was suffused with the festive spirit that had prevailed since the start of the year.
As night descended, the city sparkled with prosperity. When the bell tolled at the hour of the Pig (nine o'clock in the evening), Ning Yi and Xiao Chan were seated at a food stall near Zhuque Avenue, eating sweet dumplings. Around them, lanterns bearing riddles illuminated the street as bright as day.
Earlier, Ning Yi and Su Tan'er had accompanied Su Bohong to a banquet at the home of an old family friend. After fulfilling the necessary courtesies, Su Tan'er took her leave with Ning Yi, claiming the young couple wished to stroll Zhuque Avenue—but in truth, their purpose was not so simple.
Several of Su Tan'er's shop managers were negotiating business at Mingxiu Tower nearby, and Su Tan'er was anxious for the outcome. After a brief amble, they found a table in a small teahouse across from Mingxiu Tower, listening to opera as they waited. Ning Yi stayed with her for a while, then, when the young manager named Xi Junyu arrived with preliminary news, he rose to stretch his legs.
“Let's wander Zhuque Avenue and see what delicacies there are. I’ll try a bit of everything.”
“Remember to bring some back for me as well,” Su Tan'er replied sweetly. Xiao Chan followed him downstairs, glancing back to see Su Tan'er, now composed and serene, conversing with the young manager. Ning Yi had met Xi Junyu a few times—ambitious and capable, though lacking subtlety. It reminded Ning Yi of his own youth, meeting many such people, some friends, some rivals. Yet in the end, the one who surprised him most was Tang Mingyuan, who had always seemed indecisive and followed in his shadow. The thought struck him as somewhat ironic.
Soon, he and Xiao Chan wandered Zhuque Avenue, sampling treats from various stalls. Snow still lined the road, the river winds blowing from Qinhuai, but the air was warm, the avenue ablaze with energy—dragon and lion dances, lantern displays, bustling vendors with their steaming stoves. Xiao Chan, unable to eat much, bought a small lantern painted with a cat, though its forehead bore the character for “king,” so perhaps it was meant to be a tiger.
“Master, master, how do you solve the lantern riddle about candied bitterweed?”
“Perhaps ‘sharing sweetness and bitterness’?”
“Master, master, what about ‘yellow silk, young wife, grandson's pickle mortar’?”
“Ah, that's a tough one. It’s the riddle Cao Cao posed to Yang Xiu—the answer is ‘exquisite words’.”
“Master, here’s a really hard one: ‘one form, one body, four limbs, eight heads. One eight five eight, a spring flying upward... What is it?’”
“...How should I know?”
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“Turns out you don’t know either, master...”
“Did you ask about the first two? Were my answers correct?”
“Master’s answers are always right.”
“...Come here and eat some sweet dumplings. I’ll tell you the answer after you finish—it’s the character for ‘well’.”
“Oh, so it’s ‘well’.”
He could never truly be annoyed with Xiao Chan. After a few dumplings, they moved on to the next stall, which sold five-spice beans—Xiao Chan’s favorite. She bought half a porcelain cup and nibbled away, her lantern swaying. After a while, she blurted out, “Miss is actually very tired.”
“Hmm?”
“Just now, when Miss was upstairs in the teahouse and you were about to leave... Actually, you know a lot of things, right?”
Her face was earnest. Ning Yi thought a moment, smiled, and nodded. “If the negotiations don’t go well, your Miss will have to make the final decision. My being there doesn’t help much—sometimes it might even backfire.”
“You really do know everything, master...” Xiao Chan nodded, glanced at him, hesitated, but finally spoke, “Why don’t you help Miss?”
“Your Miss is very capable. No need to worry.”
Xiao Chan pondered, then smiled. “Miss has been very happy lately.”
“Hmm?”
“Because of you, master. Before, Miss rarely talked so much to anyone... Well, she did, but never about business, and never so happily. And then you tell stories, play chess... So Xiao Chan thought, if you helped Miss, she’d be even happier. You know, Miss... Miss is, after all, a young woman like me. When she goes out to work, people gossip. She never says it, but I’m sure she carries a lot in her heart...”
Xiao Chan spoke out of genuine concern for Su Tan'er, mustering great courage, yet worried she might overstep her bounds as a maid and make Ning Yi unhappy. She glanced at him anxiously, but his response was to reach out and gently pinch her cheeks until her face was flattened.
“How old were you when you came to the Su family?”
“Four,” Xiao Chan muttered after a moment, making a gesture with her hand. When Ning Yi let go and turned to walk ahead, she ran to catch up, adding, “I think it was four years old when I was sold in.”
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“Four, so young...”
“Juan’er too. Sister Xing was a year older—she was five. Miss was eight at the time.” Xiao Chan spoke without embarrassment, her smile sweet. “We were so young then, child traders wouldn’t have taken us, but the Su family happened to need some little girls, so I was chosen. My family wanted to sell my brother.”
“I’ve never heard you mention your family.”
“Once sold to the Su family, I belong to them—can’t keep talking about home.” Xiao Chan looked down thoughtfully. “Honestly, I don’t remember much from those days, just hunger. I heard I had a younger brother who died not long after birth from starvation. The family actually wanted to sell my older brother, since he could work, but in the end, they sold me for twenty-five years, and got thirty-five taels of silver. Being Miss’s personal maid is considered good fortune—no matter how many years, it doesn’t matter much. Now I send ten taels of silver home every year. My brother married last year, wrote me a letter saying he married the prettiest girl in the neighboring village... though his handwriting is awful. Hmm, I went home once the year before, and this March I’ll get to see my sister-in-law...”
Such things were commonplace in society. Xiao Chan spoke without much sadness, growing happier as she went on, then nervously pursed her lips. “Master...”
Ning Yi smiled. “So Tan’er is like your elder sister, isn’t she?”
The girl quickly nodded, then shook her head. “I’m just a maid—I wouldn’t dare think that way.”
“But she often talks business with you, and with the managers. Even if I helped her, why would it make any difference?”
“But... but... You’re different, master...”
“Don’t overthink it. Tan’er talks to me about those things because I don’t understand and don’t do business myself. If I could really help, it would turn into business discussions.” Although Ning Yi always appeared simple in front of Su Tan’er, Xiao Chan was no fool—she was, in fact, very clever, and Ning Yi didn’t mind her little schemes for Su Tan’er’s sake; it was only natural. Now, as they walked through the crowd, Ning Yi smiled. “Your Miss is far more capable than you imagine. If she weren’t, helping her wouldn’t do any good—she’d be better off stopping early. Though you think I’m impressive, and that makes me happy, but don’t... uh...”
Ning Yi’s words were cut short as Xiao Chan called from behind, “Master, you really are amazing!” Under the bright lanterns, Ning Yi frowned slightly, puzzled as he looked at his left hand. On the outer side of his thumb was a streak of crimson, still sticky and wet—blood.
Where had he gotten it?
He turned to look, perplexed. The street was ablaze with lanterns, teeming with people, a cacophony of voices. At the far end of Zhuque Avenue, a golden dragon danced to the rhythm of drums, weaving through the lively Lantern Festival. Amidst the crowd, a few constables mingled, apparently searching for something.
Suddenly, a spurt of blood lit up the night...
It’s hard to explain. I wrote this chapter from seven last night to eight this morning, barely stopping, rewriting and discarding, rewriting and discarding. Yet this chapter is merely the prelude to the upcoming plot—I can’t claim it’s particularly brilliant or dazzling. My hesitation stemmed from the plot to come, and after rewriting three times, I ended up with four thousand words, cut out a chunk, and revised again... Now my mind is muddled, my stomach is starving. I’ll make some oatmeal and sleep... But the plot ahead should go smoothly now, so it was worth it.
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