"No need." Su Jinli waved her hand. Moonlight had flooded the lake, staining the hem of her skirt silver. "We still have to take the children to see the Three Pools Mirroring the Moon." She bent down and picked up Nianli, her fingertips rubbing the dust stain on her daughter's nose. "Isn't that right, little troublemaker?"
Nian Li pointed at Wu Ming's sedan chair and asked, "Mom, how much does that sedan chair cost? Is it enough to buy a hundred sugar paintings?"
Si Yan also looked up at this time, his abacus clacking: "A sedan chair with eight bearers requires eight people. The Hangzhou wage is 200 wen a day, plus the cost of wood and paint..." He paused, looked up at Wu Ming, "Sir, the cost of your sedan chair is probably enough to buy steamed buns for three streets west of the city."
Wu Ming's mouth twitched at this. How could these be children? They were clearly two little devils! He forced a smile: "Young Master, you're joking... I won't disturb your family's enjoyment!" He bowed deeply three times toward the pleasure boat, and with each bend he could hear the hemp rope around his waist creaking. By the time he stood up, beads of sweat on his forehead had already dripped into West Lake, stirring up ripples.
"If my lord and madam need anything, just send someone to the prefectural yamen and let them know! I'm always on call!" Wu Ming practically shouted this before turning and leaving with the yamen runners. He had arrived in a sedan chair carried by eight men, but when he left, he was like a mouse being chased by a cat, not even bothering to pick up the official boots that had fallen to the ground.
As the pleasure boat began to ripple again, Su Jinli finally couldn't help but laugh out loud, her silver armor clanging against the railings. "Look at that prefect! He runs even faster than the Ferghana horse I used to ride!"
Jiang Yan helplessly straightened her hair that was messed up by the wind: "You just like to see others make a fool of themselves." His fingertips brushed across the pearl pendant on her earlobe, which was the token of love he had given her after he won the top spot in the imperial examination.
"How can this be called embarrassing?" Su Jinli raised an eyebrow, the moonlight shattering into stars in her eyes, "This is called... the 'official process' after eliminating harm for the people!" She squatted down and pinched Si Yan's little face. The child was still fiddling with the abacus. "Son, your calculations just now were quite good. You have the style of your mother when I was shaving off the bills of a playboy! From now on, the family accounts will be handed over to you!"
Siyan nodded solemnly, his face full of seriousness: "Yes! I promise to count it clearly. Even the New Year's money given by grandpa will be recorded in three columns!"
Nian Li rubbed Su Jinli's arm, and the pearl flower on her little head tickled her neck: "Mom, when I kicked that fat winter melon just now, was that worse than when you flipped the table?"
"Awesome!" Su Jinli picked up her daughter and kissed her chubby cheek. "Follow me, so cool!"
Jiang Yan watched his wife and daughter laughing and playing, a tenderness in his eyes. The wind from the lake brought the sound of a distant night watchman's drum. Si Yan leaned over his shoulder and muttered, "Dad, the prefect's sedan chair is only worth two streets' worth of steamed buns. I overcharged by one street..."
"Why?" Jiang Yan gathered the shawl that was blown by the wind for his son.
"Because he was so scared that he peed his pants," Siyan said with childish seriousness, "it's considered mental damages."
Su Jinli burst into laughter, leaning on Jiang Yan's shoulder as she watched the moon climb over Leifeng Pagoda. As the pleasure boat passed the Three Pools Mirroring the Moon, she spotted an elderly man in a green robe standing with his hands behind his back beneath a willow tree on the shore. The moonlight outlined his familiar silhouette—the man she had met in the teahouse. The elderly man seemed to sense her gaze and raised his teacup from afar, as if in greeting.
"Who is that?" Su Jinli narrowed her eyes.
Jiang Yan followed her gaze and saw only an empty willow grove. "Maybe it's a local hermit." He tucked her cloak in for her. "It's late. Go back to the cabin. Don't catch a cold."
As the pleasure boat sailed into the quiet waterway, no one noticed the old man in green clothes put down his teacup and whispered to his attendant, "Go check if Minister Jiang's wife's grandfather's surname is Lin." The attendant withdrew as he obeyed. The old man looked at the reflection of the pleasure boat on the water, stroked his beard, and sighed softly, "Qing'er's daughter... is just like her, with eyes that can see through people's hearts."
Inside the cabin, candlelight flickered. Su Jinli watched Siyan hunched over the table, calculating the day's "income and expenditure." Nianli, embracing Jiang Yan's arm, listened to his tales of West Lake at night. Suddenly, she felt the moonlight south of the Yangtze River was even more gentle than that of the capital. Perhaps it was because here, without the calculating schemes of a stepmother, without the bitter tears of a past life, there was only the warmth of those around her and the clear laughter of children.
"Jiang Yan," she suddenly said, "How about we go to Suzhou next?"
Jiang Yan held her hand, his fingertips rubbing the calluses on her palm: "Okay. Wherever you want to go, I'll go with you."
The candlelight crackled, reflecting the shimmering waters outside the window, transforming the warmth of the pleasure boat into the softest painting in the Jiangnan night sky. Meanwhile, the departing prefect was currently sighing in his yamen over the three thousand taels of silver sent by the Hu family. He had already untied the hemp rope around his waist, tossed it to the ground, and tied it into a knot—much like his current chaotic mood.
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