Lu Yang listened to him speaking so confidently and called him a “big man”: “You’re getting more and more like the head of a household.”
Xie Yan didn’t want to be a big man. He said, “I’m just a little man of a scholar’s household.”
Lu Yang was so charmed that he laughed all night.
The next morning, the couple got up early and went out with Xie Yan’s mother to hire a yin-yang master to calculate auspicious dates.
When Lu Yang checked for a date to relocate the grave, he had others verify it. There were two suitable days before the New Year: the third and the twentieth day of the twelfth month. The third had already passed; the twentieth wasn’t far off.
Xie Yan went home and had someone calculate again—it still came out the same two dates. No choice, the matter was settled.
Lu Yang and Zhao Peilan copied three sets of scriptures, and the three of them visited a temple to donate incense money and hire monks to chant.
The family genealogy book was purchased—it had columns similar to account books, just needed to write in them.
Since Xie Yan wanted to relocate the family lineage, they wrote a new genealogy. Following the imperial examination standard of three generations, they wrote three generations above them and then included themselves.
Lu Yang’s name was written next to Xie Yan’s. Xie Yan had a courtesy name, “Zhuozhi,” written in small characters, and Lu Yang’s courtesy name “Jingzhi” was also added, which he found very satisfying.
Before the grave relocation date, Lu Yang was busy with a few other tasks.
He received dividends from the local bookshop; Master Jin sent over six hundred thirty-one taels and three qian of silver, a mix of whole and fractional amounts. He showed the account book to Lu Yang, who just closed it—doing business with them was a muddled affair, and figuring it out precisely wouldn’t help.
Master Jin said all taxes had been paid, so the remaining could be spent, and also brought Xie Yan a calligraphy copybook. Allegedly, students in the capital were all practicing it.
“It’s by Lord Cui, praised by the emperor himself. A copy of his ink work circulated, and what I have is a replica for practice.”
The examination also considered handwriting. Many examinees had imitated ministers’ scripts in the past. Lu Yang didn’t know if Xie Yan would need it, but kept it just in case.
When Lu Yang mentioned their plan to prepare for exams in the prefectural city, Master Jin understood they might not return to the county regularly. He regretted it but offered congratulations.
During the New Year, Lu Yang gave Master Jin a holiday gift as part of their ongoing relations.
Then came the horse merchants. True to form, they hiked the price—a small horse at twenty taels. Lu Yang, just sitting down, immediately got up to leave.
Why not bargain?
The horse merchant had never met anyone like this. Others would complain about the high price to negotiate. Coming from far away, Lu Yang left without bargaining, frustrating the merchant, who even ran outside the tavern to call him back.
Lu Yang wasn’t interested in chatting: “You’re not sincere. I’m buying horses, not just from you. It’s the end of the year, and you’re the only horse seller in town willing to come. I’m buying a small horse—not for a noble, but for my brother’s newborn. Do you think I’m in a hurry? Give me a fair price; if not, don’t waste words.”
The horse merchant paused, “Then eighteen taels per horse.”
Lu Yang put down his teacup and left again.
The merchant chased him onto the street but couldn’t get him to stop.
That afternoon, Master Wu mediated, bringing them together to negotiate properly.
The horse merchant had never seen Lu Yang behave this way: “You’re not even in a hurry to buy. Why make me come from afar? Are you just playing with me? Who will sell horses to you in the future?”
Lu Yang hadn’t contacted the Hong family in the capital yet, but he flexed his influence:
“You know the Hong family at the capital dock? We’re on good terms. Buying a horse would be easy. This is for Uncle Wu’s sake; otherwise, I’d have taken the first asking price and ripped you off. Consider me a fat sheep—open your mouth and I’d have taken it!”
The merchant, hearing “Hong family,” looked surprised, then offered sixteen taels per horse—cutting two taels in one round.
Before Lu Yang could respond, a servant said someone outside wanted to buy. He’d never seen such a brazen broker before and ignored it, chatting with Master Wu about a future visit instead, so as not to delay studies.
The horse merchant wasted time with the broker—Lu Yang didn’t even pay attention. The deal didn’t close that day; the small horse was bought by the broker.
The next day, again with Master Wu mediating, Lu Yang was invited over; the horse merchant offered another horse.
“Fifteen taels per horse, no lower. If you don’t buy, I leave.”
This was a reasonable price. Lu Yang tried to negotiate a bit more. After all, he made only a few coins selling buns—every bit counts.
The merchant threatened to leave, and he did, horses waiting outside. The first negotiation failed, but Lu Yang would try again at the end-of-year horse market.
This time, Lu Yang chased him down, negotiating while walking:
“Keeping them costs a day’s expenses per day. Selling to me won’t hurt you. You’re taking fewer horses, less hassle, cash in hand—isn’t that better? At the city gate, you give a price, I pay with silver notes, one hand for money, one for horse.”
The merchant refused.
Lu Yang reached the city gate, stopped, and turned to leave.
They continued using this method, eventually getting the horse price down. Two small horses cost one tael less, twenty-nine taels total.
He didn’t buy the large horse—any horseman could ride it.
Seeing Lifeng already had a horse and Xie Yan looking envious, he bought it together.
The horses from Wu family had to be returned for their move. The old cart was replaced with a new one.
Bringing the horses home, Xie Yan was ecstatic.
“After the New Year, I’ll have a horse to ride in the prefectural city too.”
No need to compete with Lifeng anymore, avoiding all that stress.
Lu Yang had been busy with these matters for days. Once home and rested, Xie Yan told him: “Eldest uncle’s family sent news—Second Bai brother came to report good news: his wife gave birth safely!”
Lu Yang nodded and prepared a gift: a longevity lock, a generous present by local standards, though less than a foal.
“The timing’s tight; we’ll visit when we go back to the village for New Year.”
Xie Yan agreed. That evening, they counted money and found a place to hide it.
The bookshop had previously given a two-hundred-tael deposit, then another six hundred plus taels arrived.
Buying ginseng, horses, land, and covering grave relocation, their total expenditure this year reached over two hundred seventy taels of silver.
The shop’s surplus hadn’t been settled yet, nor had dividends from the company. After calculation, they could cover over a hundred taels.
Lu Yang found a belt with a sewn inner pocket and neatly stacked the silver notes inside.
