The weather had turned cold, and Old Master Yan was warming himself by a brazier, sipping wine.
When he saw Li Zixiu had arrived, he ordered a few more dishes to accompany the wine.
Li Zixiu didn’t stand on ceremony, and after having a couple of glasses with Old Master Yan, he explained his arrival, "What are your plans here? You know that I am completely confused with this back and forth. I figure since you are so experienced, following you must be the right decision."
Old Master Yan chuckled and said, "I am old now, and I’m planning to retire. After the start of the year, I will hand over all the business to my eldest son. Then, I will just stay at home, look after the children, and enjoy my wine."
Li Zixiu of course didn’t believe it.
No matter how much Li Zixiu tried to extract more information from Old Master Yan, Yan remained tight-lipped and even called his eldest son to greet Li Zixiu, saying, "You will be dealing more with him in the future. I hope, Old Master Li, you can take good care of our blockheaded son."
Old Master Yan’s eldest son was about the same age as Li Zixiu. Because Old Master Yan had always been in charge at home, Elder Yan, when seeing Li Zixiu, acted almost as if he were a generation younger.
Perhaps he had not yet adjusted to his own role.
He offered a toast to Li Zixiu.
Li Zixiu had nothing more to say but swallowed his words.
After seeing off Li Zixiu, the father and son ordered two more dishes to accompany their wine and had a couple of drinks together.
Elder Yan asked his father, "Are we really going to close down the kiln factory?"
"What else?" Old Master Yan lamented, "Thirty years in the east of the river, thirty years in the west. Our family started from wheel throwing. We can just start from wheel throwing again if need be. Not to mention, if the Song Family Kiln Factory really excels, the few wheel throwers they have will definitely not be enough. We can always pick up jobs from their kiln factory."
Elder Yan thought it over. With land and kilns at home and caring less about appearances, he didn’t mind wheel throwing for the Song Family Kiln Factory.
It’s not like he would have to do the wheel throwing himself!
"Then I’ll visit the Song Family in a few days." He made up his mind and could afford to put aside his pride, "Since Boss Song is gone, and his family is left with women and children, I might as well offer a helping hand."
Since he had decided to go into business with the Song Family, he needed to have the right attitude.
Old Master Yan looked at his eldest son, whom he had raised himself, and nodded with satisfaction. "Take some of our smoked meat and fish along too, to foster goodwill between our families."
It was a pity that their grandsons were already married; otherwise, forming a marriage alliance with the Song Family would have been nice.
As the father and son were talking, Old Master Xiong arrived.
His hearty voice seemed to make the door frame resonate.
"Brother Yan!" He came with a cartload of goods, calling them New Year’s gifts. Upon seeing Old Master Yan, he grabbed his arm, "Your wife must take extra care with our family’s matter!"
It took Old Master Yan a moment to understand that he was referring to the matter of proposing to Miss Song.
The two of them sat down again by the brazier.
"You must make a clear list, which Miss Song does your family want to marry?" Old Master Yan poured him a drink while saying, "Didn’t we agree to discuss it in the spring? Why have you rushed over now?"
Old Master Xiong, finding the wine cup too small, had Elder Yan swap it for a small bowl before he sighed, "Brother, let me speak frankly! I am very keen on this marriage alliance with Boss Song!
"I have seen everything she has gone through recently, one event after another.
"Look at the things she’s done; which one isn’t something even a man cannot achieve?
"With such a sister, the younger sister cannot be far behind.
"Even if there’s a slight deviation, I can always negotiate with my in-laws to get things back on track. That’s hundreds, thousands of times better than dealing with those you can’t reason with.
"Brother, you must find a way to make this marriage happen no matter what!"
Before Old Master Yan could respond, Elder Yan came in to inform him, "Dad, Old Master Wu and the others have arrived. They said they want to discuss with you what to do next year."
*
In the Yinyu Hall of Song Mansion, the window lattices of Yuan Yunzhong’s study were wide open, letting in the cold breeze and the faint scent of plum blossoms.
Wrapped in a light fur, Yuan Yunzhong was standing in front of the large desk, arranging plum blossoms with scissors.
The blue and white porcelain’s four-petaled flower holder was elegantly bright, and the vermilion plum blossoms were strikingly radiant.
Next to it, Zheng Quan leaned against the floor-to-ceiling red lacquered pillar, idly tapping his fingers.
As he saw the snowflakes in the air growing bigger and denser, he murmured, "I wonder where Miss has reached now?"
Is it cold? Can she drink some hot soup?
"Tongling!"
Suddenly, Yuan Yunzhong’s voice came from inside the room.
Zheng Quan looked at him in surprise.
Yuan Yunzhong’s expression was serene, and amidst the shielding vermilion plums, he was cold as the moon.
Without raising his head, he cleanly snapped off a small branch of the plum blossoms with a crisp "click."
These days, Zheng Quan had been following Yuan Yunzhong, who, if not reading, was painting. In the middle of winter, he had even moved several plum trees over; some bloomed with red flowers, some with pink, others with vermilion, and there was even one that surprisingly had green flowers.
He truly feared these plum blossoms wouldn’t survive!
"How did you know Miss has reached Tongling?" Zheng Quan asked, looking at Yuan Yunzhong suspiciously.
Since Miss had left Jingde Town, he had not stepped outside at all.
Yuan Yunzhong stepped back, examined the plum blossoms he had arranged, showed a satisfied look in his eyes, then put down the scissors and told Liu Zi, "Put it on the piano desk in the inner chamber."
Liu Zi carried the plum vase into the inner chamber.
Yuan Yunzhong looked at Zheng Quan.
Zheng Quan returned his gaze, perplexed, not understanding what he meant.
Yuan Yunzhong’s expression turned somewhat cold as he walked to the washstand, poured himself some hot water, and immersed his hands in the yellowish copper basin.
Zheng Quan belatedly realized that Yuan Yunzhong had intended for him to assist in washing his hands.
He smiled awkwardly.
Liu Zi had already run out and quickly helped Yuan Yunzhong with a hot handkerchief.
Zheng Quan coughed lightly, feeling uneasy.
"If the wind and water are favorable, a grain transport ship can travel seventy-five li in a day," Yuan Yunzhong said slowly as he dried his hands, "and with headwinds, it can make forty-five li a day. Miss Song left thirteen days ago, with seven days of tailwinds and five days of headwinds, making the ship travel about seven hundred and fifty li more or less, and today it exactly stopped at Tongling."
Zheng Quan looked bewildered and said, "How do you know?"
Yuan Yunzhong glanced at him, then looked behind him.
Zheng Quan then noticed that there was a simply drawn waterway map on the screen behind him, done on Xuan paper.
There was Poyang Lake, Jingde Town, Lake Entrance...all clearly marked.
Zheng Quan couldn’t help but step forward.
He had never seen such a clear and concise map before.
"How, how could you draw all these?" he asked, looking at the lines representing waterways on the map, astounded.
The map even had thirteen red dots circled with vermilion ink above the waterways.
Could it be that Young Master Yuan calculated every day where Miss had reached?
"Not right!" he looked at those red circles and suddenly said, "Miss has been traveling for thirteen days, seven plus five is twelve."
Yuan Yunzhong didn’t even glance at him but pointed at the remaining plum blossoms and instructed Liu Zi, "Take them to the mistress."
During the leisure of winter days, arranging a few branches of plum blossoms helped pass the time.
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