Hong Chu nodded in understanding. “I used to ponder such things when I was young as well. The head steward in our household would ask questions, and I often answered incorrectly. The numbers were clearly right, yet the conclusion was wrong. I remember one year we were discussing the price of oil seeds. The price had always been stable. I gave the usual rate and chose our long-standing merchants. In previous years, that would have been correct. But that year was different—two neighboring provinces had poor harvests, and oil seeds from our province became scarce. When goods are scarce, they become valuable. That year, oil seeds could be sold at double the price. When I heard the result, I said it was unfair. The information was unequal. I did not know about the shortages elsewhere. My answer was not wrong. My father punished me, made me face the wall and reflect. He said if I could not figure it out, I need not study accounting anymore. He would arrange a marriage for me, and I could stay in my room embroidering wedding garments and mandarin-duck quilts, endure a few years, then marry into another household.”
Hong Chu gave a faint laugh. “I shouted that it was unfair. When my brothers answered incorrectly, no one betrothed them or made them sew. My father struck me three times with a board. Later I understood—what fairness is there? Only the strong survive. In business, the more you know, the more you understand compared to others, the more money you make. In life, it is the same. Men have it easier. They can make many mistakes; we cannot. One misstep from us, and all the roads we walked before are wasted.”
He spoke simply, a faint smile on his face, but Lu Yang knew how bitter and difficult that path must have been.
“How were the oil seeds eventually sold?” Lu Yang asked.
“When the harvest failed, doubling the price was the simplest approach,” Hong Chu replied. “My eldest brother said to double it. My second brother argued and said double it, but refuse payment in cash. I still had not understood my mistake. To be released sooner—and to avoid being married off without knowing why—I admitted fault. My father let me out and asked how the oil seeds should be sold. I said we should sell them ourselves. Our region produces oil seeds, and there are many small oil presses. We hired them to press oil for us. When oil seeds rose in price, so did oil. Without even building a workshop, we sold that batch of oil at three times the price.”
Lu Liu knew about that. Li Feng had once told him that in years of poor oil harvests, oil prices could double. Back then Li Feng had still been young, hunting sheep with his father and rendering sheep fat at home for cooking.
Hong Chu glanced at him and smiled. “Oil doubled in price, so oil seeds counted as triple. We did not raise it excessively, or the authorities would have intervened.”
Lu Yang listened with great interest. Usually he was the one explaining business methods to others. Rarely did someone speak to him about trade like this. He found it far more engaging than watching men perform.
After a pause, Hong Chu asked, “Of all the docks along the canal, why is our family’s business the most stable?”
Lu Yang did not know. He had assumed the Hong family simply had the strongest backing.
“In large-scale trade,” Hong Chu said, “you must know how to conduct yourself and uphold principles. At the docks, we put righteousness first. If you do business with the Hong family, you are our friend. When friends face hardship, we lend a hand. Once, a merchant was robbed midway—money and goods gone. His family could barely survive. My father lent him both money and merchandise. Within three years, everything was repaid. He is still one of our long-term merchants. Wherever he goes, whenever he drinks and makes acquaintances, he tells this story. One man brought many merchants to us. Along the canal, those in the dock trade prefer coming to Yunping Prefecture to do business.”
To make a path steady, it is not enough to know the road. Money, goods, and people must all be steady.
Lu Yang felt something stir in his heart. If so, he could continue walking the path he had chosen.
Walk and learn. Books were still necessary; they taught much. But to live and grow required experience.
His motivation to read grew stronger.
Lu Liu turned to Hong Chu. “How old are you this year? My brother and I were born in the fourth month of the seventh year of Changhe. What about you?”
Hong Chu was also born in the seventh year of Changhe, in the first month—three months older than the Lu brothers.
Lu Liu immediately began calling him “Brother Chu.”
“Brother Chu, can you lend me a book sometime? That business manual you mentioned—I want to read it.”
After several cups of tea, Lu Liu had joined in drinking. The table held fruit wine, sweet and easy to swallow. He drank several cups in succession. The aftereffects had not yet set in, but his face was already flushed, smiling like a ripe peach.
“You want to learn business too?” Hong Chu asked.
As far as he knew, Lu Liu stayed home most of the time, merely running a stall occasionally and not managing any shops.
“Da Feng said he will build a family estate so I can be the master,” Lu Liu said with a grin. “I want to learn household management and accounting.”
Hong Chu frowned. “Then what will he do?”
Lu Liu’s smile grew even sweeter. “Work for me. Run errands for me. Heh heh.”
Hong Chu’s brow relaxed. “All right. I will bring it to you another day.”
Lu Yang smiled at the sight.
It seemed Hong Chu did not favor domineering men either.
The three of them did not stay overnight—especially not Hong Chu. The Hong family’s name carried great weight in the prefectural city. If a man wandered the pleasure district, it was one thing; if he stayed the night, gossip would drown him.
Before leaving, Hong Chu had the performers put their clothes back on, then asked them to strip and dance once more.
“If only the men outside were this obedient,” Lu Yang remarked.
“Simple,” Hong Chu replied succinctly. “Crush what they treasure most. Then they will kneel and beg, agreeing to anything.”
Lu Yang liked that. “Better yet, make them break it themselves and offer it up.”
The two exchanged a knowing smile.
Their excursion to the pleasure district ended perfectly.
The three descended together. Lu Liu swayed when he stood; the wine’s strength had finally hit him. Lu Yang supported him.
Outside, he slowed two steps behind Hong Chu and called Li Feng to come up and take him.
The two husbands’ resentment was thicker than ghosts. Who knew what had happened? Neither spoke a word. On the table lay a small mountain of melon seed and peanut shells. The hall was filled with charming figures, yet not even a butterfly hovered near them.
The madam sat in the hall as well. Seeing them emerge, she regretted that they would not stay the night, but quickly put on a smile. “Rest assured, sirs. Your two husbands were extremely well-behaved. In all the years Xiangman Tower has been open, they are the most honest men to walk through our doors! Their eyes did not wander once! I kept watch for you!”
Li Feng strode upstairs, wrapped an arm around Lu Liu’s waist, and asked, “How did he drink so much?”
Lu Yang said, “Wine does not intoxicate; one intoxicates oneself.”
“…Explain clearly,” Li Feng demanded.
“He was intoxicated by handsome men.”
Li Feng leaned close and sniffed Lu Liu. There was clearly the scent of alcohol.
“Did those men dare to make him drink?” he asked.
Were they asking for trouble?
Lu Yang pressed his hand downward. “Calm down. Two pots of fruit wine were served in the room. It was sweet. He treated it like syrup. The alcohol is only hitting him now. Once we return home, a bowl of sobering soup will do.”
Li Feng said nothing more.
Since he had come up, Xie Yan naturally followed. He looped an arm through Lu Yang’s and shot Hong Chu a look full of suspicion.
Hong Chu: “…”
Why look at him? He had not sent the invitation.
Outside Xiangman Tower, Hong Chu heard Lu Liu asking Li Feng, “Da Feng, can you wield a sword? The kind without clothes on—can you? I do not think they were as good-looking as you. Can you? Show me, let me admire you…”
He glanced back.
He also heard Xie Yan asking Lu Yang, “I shelled so many melon seeds for you my hands hurt, and you still did not come downstairs. Were you captivated? You looked at men more times than the melon seeds I shelled. Why can you not look at me instead?”
Hong Chu shifted his gaze to Xie Yan, who was walking in a deliberately dainty, birdlike manner.
“…”
Where did they find such men?
After admiring men, the three went their separate ways.
What Hong Chu intended to do next, the Lu brothers did not know. But when they returned home, there was still “fragrance filling the house.”
Lu Liu pestered Li Feng, insisting on seeing him perform a naked sword dance. If he was refused, he sulked. Refuse again, and he would cry.
With the entire family living together, a few raised voices were enough to be overheard. Li Feng could not withstand the embarrassment. Several times he covered Lu Liu’s mouth, which only made him cry in earnest.
“Other men all did it!” Lu Liu protested. “They were so generous—they stripped and let me watch! I am not asking you to sway and twist. Why will you not agree? Do you not like me anymore? You will not even coax me. I even said you were better-looking than them, but you will not let me see…”
