The ebony mast of the pleasure boat had just smashed through the golden-red sunset on the lake when a gong-like shout suddenly erupted from the shore. Su Jinli was tidying Si Yan's hair, which had been tousled by the lake breeze, when she heard the call, "The prefect has arrived—" and the coral pearl hairpin on her fingertips slid into her dressing table with a ding.
"Oh, the abacus beads have just been put away, and the prefect is already here on time?" She leaned against the carved railing, her jade armor scratching the cool wood, and her eyes swept over her son, who was fiddling with the abacus in Jiang Yan's arms. The setting sun tinted her eyelashes golden red, and she muttered to herself, "The wages of the eight-man sedan bearers, plus the money for the yamen runners' straw sandals..."
Jiang Yan lifted his daughter Nianli up, his brocade sleeves brushing against the moss on the side of the boat: "Maybe the screams of Hu Taisui have reached the government office." As he spoke, his eyes fell on the squirming crowd on the shore. The black jade hairpin shone coldly in the twilight, appearing more translucent than the glass lamp hanging on the bow.
Nian Li clung to the carved coiled dragon on the side of the boat, her little nose almost touching the railing: "Daddy, look! That sedan chair is bigger than grandpa's carriage!" Before she finished her words, a sedan chair carried by eight people landed heavily on the bluestone slab. The sweat-soaked uniforms of the sedan bearers shone oily in the setting sun, and the apricot-yellow curtains that hung down as the sedan chair swayed swept across the ground covered with broken petals.
First, a plump hand adorned with a red gold ring emerged from the sedan chair's curtains. Next, a middle-aged, bloated man emerged. The patch on the front of his official uniform was askew, reaching down to his armpits, and the jade belt around his waist was pinching his flesh. It was none other than Wu Ming, the prefect of Hangzhou. He was frantically wiping sweat with a brocade handkerchief covered in eight flowers. The jade plume on his hat quivered with his movements, making him look like a crab fresh from a steamer.
"Your humble servant... Your humble servant Wu Ming, I pay my respects to Lord Jiang! My respects to Madam Jiang!" Wu Ming's bow was almost as stiff as a shrimp, the tips of his official boots scraping against the moss on the shore, sending up splashes of mud that landed on Su Jinli's moon-white pomegranate skirt. Seeing this, the yamen runners behind him quickly pounded the ground with their water sticks and shouted, "Silence! Silence!" The startled water birds on the lake fluttered into flight, their drops of water falling directly onto Wu Ming's shiny forehead.
Su Jinli, aboard the pleasure boat, didn't even raise her eyelids as she methodically tied the abacus's sash to Si Yan's head. Jiang Yan, however, took a half step forward, his moon-white robe rustling in the evening breeze. "Master Wu, there's no need for such formalities. I wonder what brings you here at this hour?" His voice wasn't loud, but it made the yamen runners behind Wu Ming hold their breath, and even the distant pingtan music inexplicably dropped three notches.
Wu Ming groaned inwardly. Half an hour earlier, he'd been playing with a canary in the yamen's backyard when a servant suddenly came tumbling in, claiming that Hu Taisui had been bitten by a baby near West Lake and was threatening to file a complaint. He was about to curse, "How dare you bother me with such trivial matters?" but the servant's next words had him smashing the bird feeder: "Sir! That baby's father... looks like Minister Jiang from the capital!"
Who was Jiang Yan? He was the Minister of Personnel, whose name was personally inscribed "Pillar of the Nation" by the current Emperor. He was also the top scholar who silenced the top three Jinshi at the Qionglin Banquet last year. Even more terrifying was his wife—Su Jinli! Wu Ming had once witnessed her in Beijing while reporting on his work. The woman had overturned the teacup at the Minister of Personnel's house in public, pointing her finger at the playboy and scolding him. The memory still sent a chill down his spine.
"Quick! Bring me my official hat!" Wu Ming, not even bothering to put on his official boots, scurried to the storeroom in his slippers, knocking over two pots of oleander along the way. When he finally put on his official uniform, adorned with nine-dragon, four-clawed figures, he discovered his jade belt buckle had already broken, forcing him to have his advisor tie a knot at the waist with hemp rope. Standing on the shore, he could clearly see the twin lotus flowers embroidered on the hem of Su Jinli's skirt—a pattern reserved for the daughters of the prime minister's family, the stitching so fine it seemed to pierce his eyes.
"Sir Jiang, Madam..." Wu Ming's voice trembled like fallen leaves in the autumn wind, "I heard... I heard that there was a misunderstanding on the shore today? It's all my fault for not governing strictly enough, allowing that evil creature from the Hu family to disturb you. I deserve to die! I deserve to die!" As he spoke, he knelt on the bluestone slab, but was quickly pulled back by his follower - the ground had just been wetted by Hu Taisui's urine, and if he knelt down, he would probably get dirty.
Su Jinli finally raised her eyes, her fingertips circling the gold-embroidered purse at her waist: "Lord Wu is well-informed. How is that Hu Taisui your distant cousin?" As she spoke, the corners of her mouth raised slightly, and the cinnabar mole between her eyebrows trembled with her expression, which reminded Wu Ming of the thorny wild roses by the West Lake.
"I dare not!" Wu Ming shook his head violently, the red tassel on his official hat brushing his cheek. "That Hu family is nothing but maggots wrapped in a pile of stinky copper coins! They rely on a few stinky coins to bully men and women. I've wanted to skin them alive!" He said, glaring viciously at the captain of the police station next to him. "What are you still standing there for? Go and arrest that Hu Taisui! I want to personally go to court and see how many romantic debts he owes!"
The detectives looked at each other in bewilderment. Everyone knew the Hu family's annual gifts of gifts of ice and charcoal to the prefectural yamen would pile up like a mountain, but now the master's expression suddenly changed, as if he was ready to devour Hu Taisui alive. Several clever detectives immediately replied, "Yes, sir," but deliberately slowed their pace, waiting to see what Wu Ming would do next.
Su Jinli watched the prefect's changing expressions with amusement. Back in the capital, her father, Prime Minister Su, had been so quick to change his expression when he debated with the scholars in the court. Now, a mere fourth-rank prefect, he had mastered the intricacies of officialdom.
"Master Wu is very thoughtful." Jiang Yan took a step forward, just blocking the half of Su Jinli's face that was hot from the setting sun. "It's just some trivial matters in the market, so there is no need for you to worry about it." His tone was flat, but Wu Ming could hear the meaning of driving him away.
"No, no, no! This is a huge matter!" Wu Ming rubbed his hands anxiously, and the gold thread on the cuffs of his official uniform was almost broken by him. "It is my dereliction of duty to disturb the pleasure of Lord and Madam Jiang! So - I have prepared a light feast in Louwailou, steamed shad with peach blossom wine, please come, Lord and Madam!" As he spoke, he secretly glanced at the two children on the pleasure boat. He saw Nianli curiously picking at the copper nails on his sedan chair, and Siyan was counting on his fingers. He immediately broke out in a sweat on his forehead.
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