As they rode in their carriage, Su Rong and Duanhua learned more about this Old Man Zhao from each other.
According to Duanhua, he was an ancient scholar. In his younger years, he had earned a living through calligraphy and painting. He wasn’t particularly wealthy, but he didn’t live in poverty either. After all, which ladies of the Capital City didn’t secretly own a few of his paintings? This continued until he got married at the age of thirty and had a son who turned out to be a natural-born businessman. In a span of just ten years, his son became a renowned tea merchant in the Capital City. This allowed him to indulge his passion for story-telling without having to rely on painting for a living. He would spend his days narrating tales at Yipinxiang Tea House.
Wealth gives people the liberty to do what they please. Therefore, he only narrated stories once a month. However, this only increased the popularity of the Yipinxiang Tea House, attracting countless people eager to listen to his storytelling sessions. His popularity now was even greater than when he used to sell his paintings.
In addition to the ladies, there were also many young men who enjoyed his storytelling. After all, he didn’t restrict himself to romantic and aristocratic plots. He would also narrate tales of strange incidents, bizarre characters, casual anecdotes, and the vicissitudes of the Jianghu, which fascinated many young gentlemen.
The carriage soon arrived at the Yipinxiang Tea House. Su Rong quickly helped Ye Qiuying out of the carriage. Qiuying covered her mouth to suppress her gasp of surprise while her eyes widened in awe.
Duanhua climbed down from the carriage shortly after, speechless at Su Rong’s antics. She advised, "The girl is an impeccable lady herself. Please don’t lead her astray."
She strongly denied her fear of jumping out of the carriage and stumbling over her dress.
Su Rong quickly set Qiuying down, smiling apologetically. "Sorry, I forgot."
Ye Qiuying withdrew her hand from her mouth, voluntarily holding on to Su Rong’s hand. She felt excited, her eyes brimming with admiration. "Su Rong, you’re so cool. You hopped down from such a high carriage."
Feeling a bit sheepish, Su Rong hushed her, "Shhh, don’t learn from me." She added, "Even if you do learn from me, if someone were to criticize you for being unladylike in the future, I will deny ever teaching you that. Especially in front of your uncle."
Ye Qiuying held back a chuckle, "Alright, I won’t say I learned it from you."
Duanhua rolled her eyes, holding on to Su Rong’s arm. "I heard everything you two were talking about."
However, Su Rong was too engrossed in taking in the view of the bustling Yipinxiang Tea House to bother with her. Even from the outside, she could hear the lively chatter inside.
Duanhua peeked inside, releasing a sigh of relief. "Good, we’ve arrived early. They won’t allow anyone in once the story-telling session begins."
"Is it always so strict?" Su Rong raised an eyebrow.
"Absolutely! As people keep coming and going, they disrupt Old Man Zhao’s storytelling session." Duanhua hurried Su Rong, "Let’s go quickly. They’re about to close the gates."
Su Rong nodded.
Fen Ling followed behind them. The four of them entered the Yipinxiang Tea House.
Two young servers at the entrance, tasked with greeting the guests and managing the entrance, clearly recognized Duanhua - a regular patron. With welcoming smiles, they greeted her and ushered them into the tea house.
As they crossed the threshold, they saw the main hall already filled to the brim. In the center was a platform with a table, a chair, and a man. An old man in azure robes, around sixty, was ascending the stage. The table held a fan, a book, and a gavel.
"There’s our spot." Duanhua pointed towards a spot right in front of the platform. She proudly revealed to Su Rong, "I had booked it for a thousand tael of silver."
Su Rong thought the price was steep and whispered, "Does it include the tea?"
"Certainly not! The tea and snacks cost extra. The high price only guarantees a place," Duanhua explained. "Even at this price, one needs to compete with others to secure the spot."
Su Rong thought, "..."
This tea house sure knows how to make money.
The foursome navigated through the rows of seats to find their prime spot and sit down. Upon their arrival, a server swiftly tended to them, asking, "Your Ladyship, will you be having Yunwu tea today?"
"Yes." Duanhua nodded, "Two servings of all dim sum."
The server promptly went to fulfill their order with a smile.
Comfortably seated in the semi-circular area, Su Rong reflected on her past visits to local tea houses and Jiangning County teahouses. However, she found the seating arrangement of Yipinxiang Tea House more thoughtful with padded leather seats. It provided much comfort and showed attention to detail.
Fen Ling leaned close and whispered to Su Rong, "Sis, now that we’re in the Capital City, don’t you realize there are people out there who are even better at making money than you?"
With a sideways glance at him, Su Rong responded, "The world is a big place with plenty of talented individuals. In a place like the Capital City, one wouldn’t last long without some skill."
Fen Ling nodded, patting the leather cushion, "These cushion seats are made of deer skin."
Duanhua coughed, spoke softly, "Stop acting like you’ve never seen anything before. You’re a person of reputation, plenty of people are watching you."
Fen Ling pouted, "Fine!"
It wasn’t that he lacked experience. It was just that he thought spending so much silver for a reserved spot should be worth it. Listening in to old man Zhao’s storytelling was one thing, but the comfortable cushions on the chairs and tables also add up. As far as he could see, the further seats certainly did not come wrapped with such comfort, they were bare wooden table and chairs, certainly bum-ache inducing if sat on for too long.
The little cashier brought over a pot of tea, and then laid out a whole table of dim sum, nuts, and melon seeds, declaring "Enjoy your meal!" The hurly-burly of the main hall quieted down as soon as old man Zhao thumped his gavel.
"Today, I will tell everybody about the legend of Princess Liang Zhenmin from our Daliang," old man Zhao bellowed, "Let us start with Princess Zhenmin..."
Su Rong squinted his eyes slightly, finding the situation surprisingly coincidental.
Duanhua was also taken aback, "I thought we were going to be getting some historical tales about the princesses of previous dynasties today? Why is he talking about Princess Zhenmin now?"
Fen Ling popped a piece of cake into his mouth, chuckled upon hearing this and answered nonchalantly, "It’s because my sister is here today."
Duanhua looked puzzled, "What does her presence have to do with this?"
Fen Ling thought to himself, there must have been special arrangements made for this event at the One Fragrance Teahouse and for old man Zhao. It’s unclear who did it, but the story today was clearly selected for the visiting master.
Su Rong also picked up a piece of cake, handed it over to Ye Qiuying, and turned to ask Duanhua, "What’s wrong with listening to the story of Princess Zhenmin?"
After the assassination attempt that day, Duanhua was so scared that she went to sleep. So she wasn’t around when the princess and her prince consort asked Qiuying about her background and Qiuying revealed her real identity. Therefore, Duanhua was still unaware of it.
Duanhua stammered, "It’s not like it’s bad or anything, it’s just that I’ve heard this story countless times from my mother since I was little. It’s not worth spending the silver to hear him narrate it, is it?"
Compared to all the stories of Princess Zhenmin, how could old man Zhao know them better than her mother, who was a princess of the imperial court?
Su Rong smiled, "Would you keep me company in listening then?"
What could Duanhua do? She couldn’t exactly ask old man Zhao to change the story, so she could only nod and say, "Alright then!"
Old man Zhao began with Princess Zhenmin’s birth, and then proceeded to some of her amusing anecdotes, all of them seemingly true to life. Even Duanhua found herself nodding along in agreement, seemingly satisfied with the accuracy of the narration. He continued with the story of when Princess Zhenmin became a woman. On the day of the release of the imperial examination results, Zhenmin fell in love with Xie Yuan, the number one scholar, at first sight during the parade. They met again at the Jeweled Grove Banquet set up by the former emperor for their second encounter, deepening their attraction for each other. As the empress dowager had wanted to arrange a marriage, but seeing how useful Xie Yuan could be, the former emperor sent him to Jiangnan to investigate a private salt case. His investigation went on for over a year, and just as Xie Yuan was returning to the capital, turmoil erupted in the court, and their marriage plans had to be delayed. And as they waited, two or three years flew by, only for an unforeseen incident to occur...
"It’s spot on," Duanhua whispered to Su Rong, "I really admire Aunt Zhenmin. As princesses, she made it into the official history of Daliang, whereas I’ll probably only make it into the unofficial histories."
Su Rong, resting his chin on his hand, poked fun at her, "Being mentioned in the unofficial histories might be the most significant accomplishment for you."
Fen Ling nodded in agreement, "There are too many princesses around. After a thousand years, perhaps your name might not even appear in the unofficial histories."
Duanhua took offense, "It definitely will be."
She grabbed a handful of melon seeds and began to crack them open fiercely, "Zhou Gu should be able to make his name into the history books, right? My name is bound to be linked with his. Even if I may not make it into the official history, in the unofficial histories, people will certainly mention that I had feelings for him."
Su Rong: "..."
Fen Ling: "..."
That could be possible indeed!
Seeing Fen Ling and Su Rong rendered speechless, Duanhua couldn’t help but "hmmph" with self-satisfaction. She was just about to continue when suddenly she exclaimed. "Isn’t Zhou Gu in that private room upstairs? I think I saw him."
Her eyes had become well-trained after focusing on Zhou Gu for so many years. She was rarely wrong with this kind of thing.
Su Rong followed Duanhua’s gaze towards the private room on the left of the upper floor. From their angle, the room door was closed, and the curtain was drawn so nothing could be seen. He retracted his gaze and grabbed a handful of seeds, "You must have seen wrong."
"Impossible!" Duanhua jumped up abruptly, "I’m going to find him." She turned to head out, then again turned towards Su Rong, "You wouldn’t mind, would you?"
"No, go on." Su Rong waved his hand dismissively.
Duanhua straightened out her clothes and headed upstairs.
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