Half an hour past noon that day, Hu Yuan came by with a small, exquisitely crafted box of plum blossom pastries to see Su Chi. Fortunately, Su Chi wasn’t at the shop at that moment—he was at home.
He had only woken up not long ago. After getting up, he’d taken a small sip of warm water from the bedside table to soothe his throat when he heard someone knocking at the gate. He got out of bed, dressed, and after making sure the bedroom door was closed, went to answer it.
Today, Xie Yushu wasn’t going out for business—she’d given herself a rare day off. She’d been curled up in the crook of Su Chi’s neck, complaining pitifully about how these past few days of delivering orders for big clients had nearly broken her hands and back.
Su Chi was puzzled but kept massaging her, asking, “Don’t you have several subordinates? How did you still end up so exhausted?”
At that, Xie Yushu coughed awkwardly twice. Su Chi understood—his wife was just looking for an excuse to take a break.
After lunch, she claimed she’d eaten too much and was having a “carb coma,” feeling too sluggish to function, and asked him to take a nap with her.
To outsiders, Xie Yushu seemed like a wife who treated her fulang exceptionally well. But at home, it was Su Chi who doted on her endlessly, never refusing any request she made.
Before their nap, he’d planned to move the charcoal brazier out of the room. He was about to do so when Xie Yushu stopped him and asked what he was doing.
Su Chi answered matter-of-factly: wasn’t she getting dizzy from the charcoal? He’d take the brazier out so she wouldn’t feel sick.
Xie Yushu didn’t explain—she just pulled him over, cupped his little face in her hands, and couldn’t help but laugh at his earnest, serious expression. Only then did she clarify that “carb coma” meant feeling sleepy from eating too much rice, and had nothing to do with charcoal smoke.
Only after hearing that did Su Chi understand the difference. He then put on a stern face and lightly thumped her chest with his fist.
She was so mean—always making fun of him.
After Su Chi put the door bolt back in place, he welcomed Hu Yuan into the main hall, brewed a pot of tea, and brought out a plate of the glutinous rice sesame cakes he’d made that morning for them to snack on.
The two of them ate plum blossom pastries and sesame cakes, washing them down with hot tea as they chatted.
Ever since Hu Yuan had become friends with Su Chi, he’d been dropping by the Xie household every few days to talk. Su Chi had grown used to it and assumed this visit was the same—until Hu Yuan brought up the request he’d mentioned before.
Su Chi had already made up his mind—he was happy to help.
Hu Yuan’s eyes lit up when he heard this, and he beamed for a while before going over the finer details of selling his vinegar at Su Chi’s shop.
Su Chi listened carefully, finding nothing amiss. Hu Yuan had thought it all through in detail—he just needed to follow along. But one thing still puzzled him: “Are you planning to keep this from Aunt Hu?”
Hu Yuan answered honestly: “I’ll keep it from her as long as I can. I won’t hide it forever—she’s bound to find out eventually.”
“But why are you doing this?” Su Chi was genuinely curious.
Hu Yuan felt close to Su Chi, knew he wasn’t a gossip, and that he had a good nature. He leaned in and whispered, “I won’t hide this from you. You know my family runs a vinegar workshop—it’s our ancestral business. And my mother has only me. Even though I’m a ge’er, this family trade will fall to me in the future. So my mother wants to find a woman to marry into our family—have her become a son-in-law and marry me.”
So that was it—Su Chi understood.
“That’s why I need to earn more money before I marry. I need to feel secure, and having some private savings is never a bad thing.”
Though Hu Yuan had grown up under his rough-and-tumble mother’s wing, he wasn’t a weak-willed ge’er like those from ordinary households. He’d dealt with merchants his family did business with, and having been steeped in that environment since childhood, he had plenty of ideas of his own.
He naturally knew that recruiting a woman to marry into the family was a thankless task. Women had too much pride—few would willingly agree, and they’d likely become the butt of jokes behind their backs.
Hu Yuan knew the ins and outs of this situation well.
Capable women looked down on the shame of marrying in; incapable ones wouldn’t be of any use and would just live off the family’s ancestral property.
A good wife was hard to come by. If you ended up with some rotten woman who only wanted to drain your family dry, you’d have no one to complain to. You’d be trapped, and if there were children, your whole life would be ruined.
So he’d come up with a plan: before marriage, he’d build up as much savings as possible for emergencies. Even if things went badly later, at least with money in hand, he wouldn’t be completely ruined.
He couldn’t bring himself to lay all this out to his mother.
If he’d told her his reasons from the start, she probably wouldn’t have believed him. She’d trust the character of the woman she’d chosen for him—she wouldn’t see the need for all his defenses and precautions. She’d just think he was being overly suspicious.
Besides, she was confident in herself. With her around, how could any woman bully her son?
That was exactly what Hu Yuan was afraid of.
After hearing everything, Su Chi understood Hu Yuan’s predicament completely, and his heart went out to him.
His heart softened. He took Hu Yuan’s hand and reassured him: “Just bring the vinegar to the shop over the next few days.”
“Mm, I know. I’ve already made arrangements with the pottery shop.”
His mother was away from home for several hours each day—the perfect opportunity to sneak the vinegar out.
With things settled, Hu Yuan felt much more at ease. Somehow, the conversation turned to Xie Yushu, and Hu Yuan teased him:
“Which man in this lane doesn’t know how wonderful your wife is? She really puts all the other women to shame.” Many in the lane were envious of the Xie household’s comfortable life—eating meat at every meal—and some openly praised Xie Yushu, saying she had real skill, had married such a capable, virtuous fulang, and managed her household so well.
What young, unmarried ge’er wouldn’t want a wife like her?
Hu Yuan nibbled on his sesame cake, chin resting on his hand, his eyes full of yearning: “Top-notch looks, dotes on you, brings in money, and has a good temper—us ordinary ge’er can only dream of such a thing.”
Hu Yuan had sharp eyes—he’d already noticed the silver bracelet on Su Chi’s wrist. Anyone, even without knowledge of such things, could tell it was top quality. He was genuinely envious.
It must have been something that Xie woman had brought back for Su Fulang from her last trip to the county.
Su Chi’s face grew warm at the praise, the tips of his ears turning pink. He cast his gaze downward and took a sip of tea to hide his embarrassment.
“And your complexion—so rosy and healthy,” Hu Yuan’s tone shifted, his words startlingly bold, yet his expression remained completely innocent. “The two of you must be very much in love.”
Su Chi was in the middle of drinking his tea when he was caught off guard by this blunt, spicy remark and choked: “Cough, cough, cough—”
“Did—did I say something wrong?” Hu Yuan panicked and hurried behind Su Chi to pat his back.
Su Chi waved him off, his eyes reddening from the coughing fit, his voice still unsteady: “No… I just drank too fast.”
Hu Yuan returned to his seat and let out a long sigh: “If my future wife is even half as good as yours, I’ll consider myself lucky.”
Su Chi wiped the residual moisture from the corner of his mouth and comforted him: “It’ll happen, Yuan Ge’er. Your future wife will surely be a good person.”
The two of them finished both plates of pastries before Hu Yuan finally packed up his box and took his leave from Su Chi.
Just then, Xie Yushu woke up from her nap.
Hearing movement from the bedroom, Su Chi quickly got up and went back inside to check on her.
He couldn’t help but find it amusing—sometimes his wife was just like a child, needing to be coaxed after waking up.
“Yuan Ge’er from the Hu family came by earlier and we chatted for a while,” Su Chi said as he took the outer robe that had been warming by the charcoal brazier and helped Xie Yushu put it on.
He didn’t keep anything from Xie Yushu and told her about Hu Yuan’s plan to sell vinegar at his shop.
Hearing that they’d get a discount and weren’t just helping out for free, Xie Yushu naturally supported the young Hu ge’er’s request.
She leaned down and planted a kiss at the corner of Su Chi’s mouth. After the kiss, she unconsciously smacked her lips—there was a light, sweet pastry flavor. Unable to resist, she pecked him again before slowly saying, “I’m going to find Aunt Liu now—help Sun Wuyou look at houses.”
“I’ll go with you,” Su Chi said. He straightened the ties on Xie Yushu’s outer robe, winding them a few times, then deftly pulled them tight with a practiced flick of his fingers. In one final motion, a neat knot was securely in place.
“Alright.”
The two of them locked the courtyard gate and quickly found Aunt Liu.
After hearing their requirements, Aunt Liu soon led them to a house—also located in Qingshui Lane.
Su Chi tugged at Xie Yushu’s sleeve and whispered, “Isn’t this next door to Tailor Tao’s place?”
Xie Yushu took a look—sure enough, it was right next to Fang Kui’s house.
Aunt Liu pulled out the key and opened the gate, saying cheerfully, “In all of Qingshui Lane, this is the only house of just the right size—there aren’t any bigger ones. The owner moved away a while back, so this place became available. As soon as you said you wanted something large and quiet, this was the first one that came to mind.”
As the heavy gate swung open, the three of them stepped over the threshold. Xie Yushu and Su Chi gave it a careful once-over and found it good in every way—spacious enough for those two mistress and servant to settle into comfortably.
Xie Yushu nodded: “Alright, let’s lock this one in for now. I’ll go bring them to have a look.” With that, she told Su Chi to wait and headed straight to the Sun family pharmacy to fetch them.
Su Chi, being a man, was more meticulous and considerate than most women. His first thought was whether anyone would take care of their daily needs.
Living at the inn, they could have their laundry done by others for a few coins. But if they had their own courtyard, they’d have to manage all the household chores themselves.
He recalled his wife mentioning that the Sun family was wealthy—Wuyou was a genuine high-born young lady, doted on at home, and Guizhi was a high-ranking personal attendant. They’d probably never done any rough or heavy work before.
Sun Wuyou and Guizhi were both younger than him and Xie Yushu—Guizhi especially was practically still a child. They were his wife’s friends and his own friends too. They’d healed his father, and their medical skills were exceptional—they’d treated many poor families in town. It was only right for him to worry about them a little.
So he asked Aunt Liu politely: “Do you know of any household that could come once a day to do their washing, cleaning, and sweeping? They’re busy at the shop every day and work quite hard.”
He added: “We need someone honest and diligent. Pay isn’t an issue.”
Hearing the gentle, soft-spoken fulang say that pay was no object, Aunt Liu perked up, her eyes going wide. She immediately agreed: “Yes, yes! I’ll find a reliable, hardworking family right away. I guarantee they’ll keep everything tidy every day without troubling the master.”
With higher wages came a higher commission for her, so Aunt Liu’s manner toward Su Chi grew even softer.
A quarter of an hour later, Xie Yushu returned with Sun Wuyou and Guizhi, leading them to the house she’d picked out and telling them to go in and have a look.
Sun Wuyou and Guizhi went inside, looked around—checked every room—then came back out to join them.
Sun Wuyou cheerfully patted Xie Yushu on the shoulder, her tone sincere: “Nice work, Xie Da! You found us a place so fast.”
She didn’t feel the slightest bit guilty about putting the young couple to any trouble. This is what friends were for—you help me, I help you, eat and drink together, and talk nonsense.
What amazed her was Xie Yushu’s efficiency—this woman was always on the move, acting on her ideas without delay. Nothing like them.
She and Guizhi were procrastinators. Unless it was about healing the sick, they rarely got anything done promptly. With other matters, it was always “we’ll do it tomorrow.” And so they’d drag things out for days. If Guizhi hadn’t accidentally let it slip in front of Su Chi, they probably still wouldn’t have gotten around to looking for a place.
“The house and courtyard together aren’t even as big as the servants’ courtyard back home,” Sun Wuyou complained, turning to Xie Yushu, “but it’s still way better than that inn room. I’m so sick of staying there. People come and go in the hallway all day—it’s so noisy—and it’s cramped too. Look, it’s squeezed me thin! And Guizhi—it’s even stunted her growth.”
With that, Sun Wuyou placed her hand on Guizhi’s head and gave it a pitying pat.
Guizhi, annoyed, swatted her mistress’s hand away and hurriedly explained to Xie Yushu and Su Fulang: “I’m not short at all! I’m growing just fine! Don’t listen to my young lady’s nonsense!”
Seeing these two lively characters, Su Chi covered his mouth and laughed.
Xie Yushu said, “Then let’s settle on this place. Fifth Miss, come with me to Aunt Liu’s to sign and stamp your thumbprint.”
Sun Wuyou followed Xie Yushu happily.
Guizhi, unable to contain her childlike nature, ran around touching and looking at everything.
It was certainly different from the big rooms back home—much smaller—but this was her and her young lady’s brand-new home in Songwan Town, found for them by Xie Yushu and the gentle Su Fulang. She loved it the more she looked at it—completely satisfied.
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