Triumph in Her Rise and Love

Talking to smart people is always relaxing.

Song Jiyun smiled and said, "If the gentleman has any conditions, he can also mention them."

The man looked at the piece of paper and slowly nodded at two of the words, saying, "My name is Li Si now?!"

Song Jiyun blinked and laughed, "But my current fiancé is named Li Si, isn't he?"

The man spread his hands, and the marriage agreement Song Jiyun had imitated from her father floated gently down onto the travel notes: "This name is too ugly!"

Her smile unchanged, Song Jiyun said, "Then I'll have to find another place for the gentleman to stay. After all, I'm someone with a fiancé now, it would be inconvenient to have the gentleman stay here."

The man said, "Indeed, it's inconvenient."

Song Jiyun nodded with a smile and walked straight towards the gauze cupboard. However, as her hand touched the gauze cupboard door, she turned around as if she remembered something and said while walking back, "I've been so busy these days that I've neglected changing the incense burner. Liu Zi, who serves the gentleman, will now serve my fiancé, so I can only arrange for the gentleman to stay in the West Cross Courtyard."

As she spoke, she began to change the incense in the burner with light and careful movements.

"The place is full of maids, and who knows if there will be those who are blind to value, treating treasures as pebbles and clay tiles as precious jade. It would be troublesome if people were to get hurt because they were stepped too high or trodden too low."

The man said in a serious tone, "That makes sense. After all, it's a household that can force a granddaughter to marry in a period of mourning; it's possible for maids with high eyes and low hands to bully the new servants."

Song Jiyun turned back.

The man lifted his eyelids.

Their gazes collided in the air.

One appeared all smiles.

One looked serious and earnest.

Yet beneath their eyes, both were swirling with calculations that only they could understand.

The air seemed to solidify.

Their gazes locked together, neither willing to back down.

Xiang Zhan knocked on the door from outside, saying, "Miss, Brother Ah Quan has returned."

Song Jiyun smiled faintly and turned to walk outside.

As her hand again touched the door of the gauze cupboard, the man suddenly said, "The name on this marriage contract is not pleasing to the ear!"

Song Jiyun looked down and silently chuckled, then turned around with a serious demeanor, "The gentleman may think of a more pleasant name to use."

The man appeared contemplative, as if he was truly considering what name would be best.

Song Jiyun had already opened the gauze cupboard door, "Since the marriage contract needs to be redrawn, we can discuss this later."

With a "snap," she closed the gauze cupboard again.

*

Zheng Quan returned within the timeframe Song Jiyun had anticipated and brought back eight hundred thousand taels' worth of silver notes.

"The Store Manager said these silver notes were too conspicuous, so he split them all into denominations of fifty and one hundred taels and deposited them in various banks," he said. "The Store Manager also left an address for the young miss, telling her to leave him a message there if she ever has any errands for him, and he will not refuse even if it costs him his life."

Song Jiyun looked at it; it was for an incense and candle shop located next to Xiangji Temple in Hangzhou City.

Although a bit far, she might need it someday.

The Store Manager had not let her father down, and she was actually quite pleased about that.

She handed the slip of paper back to Zheng Quan, "Remember the address, and then burn this piece of paper."

Zheng Quan complied.

Song Jiyun asked about his journey and found out that he had a smooth trip. He had even sent a message to Dragon Tiger Mountain, asking them to send over some brothers skilled in martial arts: "I'm afraid it will take some time to get a reply; we have to wait."

This was also a matter that couldn't be rushed.

She nodded and said softly, "You've worked hard these days. Go and see Nanny Zheng! She's been worried about you since you left."

Zheng Quan, with a simple touch to his head, said, "Didn't the young miss say she wanted me to make another trip to Nanchang Prefecture and Shangrao Prefecture?"

"That's not urgent," Song Jiyun stroked the red lacquer and gold-trimmed Branch Folding Flowers box containing the silver notes, "Now that we have this as our backing, everything else can wait until after my father's funeral."

She had originally thought of leaving a portion for her great uncle, third uncle, and others, but now it seemed they didn't need to spare a single coin.

This Nanchang and Shangrao land, she had to make other plans.

Zheng Quan "hmmed" in agreement, letting Xiang Zhan lead him to Nanny Zheng's place.

*

Song Jiyun returned to the gauze cupboard.

The man's eyelids drooped low, his face calm, as if deep in thought.

Song Jiyun said with a smile, "What should we call my fiancé, do you think?"

The man's dark eyes gazed at her seriously and said, "Cheng Si."

Wishful thinking!

Cheng Si means to inherit. He wanted to pretend to be her fiancé and then take a share of her family's property? Was there such a good deal?

"I think 'Ji Zu' is more appropriate," Song Jiyun said coldly.

What belongs to which family stays with that family; after the act is over, he could leave.

"That works too!" The man pondered aloud, "Let Liu Zi help me pack. Staying here is indeed inconvenient."

Still wants to order around servants and maids, playing the wealthy young master?

No need for that!

Song Jiyun laughed and said, "My fiancé has come from afar and is our valued guest. Naturally, he should stay in our guest quarters. This marriage was arranged by my father and my fiancé's family years ago, and he should have come to marry me long ago. However, my fiancé's family fell into hardship, and only this year did they manage to save enough money to come and fulfill the agreement."

To prevent others from associating him with that affluent young master from the Capital City.

And to keep an eye on him all the more closely.

She continued, "This way, when my fiancé leaves Liang County, he can also explain himself to my family."

The implication was that once this matter is settled, she would let him go.

The man frowned and said, "Wouldn't that be inappropriate?"

Song Jiyun replied earnestly, "What's wrong with that? If my fiancé wants to take a wife, without trading north and peddling south, where would he get the silver to start a family and business? Moreover, since my fiancé has become my family's son-in-law, we can't just watch him fall into decline! The silver needed for business must be borrowed one way or another."

As she spoke, she leaned over and asked him, "How does one hundred thousand taels sound?"

Even a Magistrate wouldn't earn as much in three years.

The man pondered, "Though poor, I am not devoid of pride. How can I use my wife's family silver to do business?"

Song Jiyun could not help but mentally scoff.

Don't think just because the butcher is dead, we're going to eat the unclean pig.

Choosing you is just to handle two things at once.

If you won't do it, are there not many who will?

She said resolutely, "It seems I have misjudged you, thinking of a gentleman with my petty mind! Look, I have done what I needed to do. How about I send someone to escort you to the Capital City? You're a stranger here, unaware of how deep the waters of Poyang Lake are. With the annual floods aside, there are even water bandits causing trouble. Without an escort, it would be hard to travel north safely."

From Liang County, taking the water route was the quickest and best, and the water route meant having to detour through Poyang Lake.

The man said with frustration, "It seems I must engage in business."

Song Jiyun replied, "Not necessarily. Having too much silver on one's person isn't safe either! It still takes a local to lead the way."

On hearing this, the man handed the marriage contract to Song Jiyun, "Change the name!"

Song Jiyun didn't say a word but made a new marriage contract for the man.

The man held it, looking over it this way and that, appearing as one who had never seen a marriage contract before.

Song Jiyun, already so tired she could sleep standing up, had completed a significant task and, with the tension released, felt an overwhelming sleepiness. She had Liu Zi accompany the man while she hurried off to catch up on sleep.

*

In the afternoon, the courtyard was shaded with greenery, the cicadas' cries rising and falling in waves.

The guard pushed the window open and climbed in, finding his master holding a piece of paper and muttering, "How did she manage to make the Pine Soot Ink of Madam Hu appear old on the paper?"