Two days later, all the inn’s supplies had arrived. Shu Rui carefully checked everything twice, ensuring nothing was missing.
The carved signboard arrived as well. Lifting the cloth cover, he inspected it—each character was engraved exactly as Lu Yu had written, stroke by stroke. The craftsmanship was excellent; the brushwork smooth and elegant.
“All the items are ready. Have you decided on an opening day?”
Lu Ling covered the signboard and stored it in the supply room until the inn officially opened.
“All the necessary items for guests are mostly ready. Anything still missing will become apparent once the first guests arrive,” Shu Rui said.
“Also, prepare some stock from the tavern. That will complete the setup,” Lu Ling added.
Daily food supplies could be purchased on the day or the day before, but alcohol should be stocked in advance. Once placed on the shelves behind the counter, it would add to the inn’s sense of readiness.
“This business requires negotiation as well,” Shu Rui said, noting how much running around he had done. By now, he felt he had traversed the entire capital; the southern city was familiar underfoot. Preparing for the opening was exhausting.
Lu Ling commented, “I recall Zhong Dayang’s father is a brewer. He sells wine at home, and Zhong enjoys it too. He keeps a couple of jars hidden in the martial arts hall, sampling during the day. Perhaps you can ask him about sourcing alcohol.”
Shu Rui hadn’t known Zhong Dayang’s family business, so this lead was more reliable than blindly searching for a suitable tavern. Though he drank, he wasn’t one to lose himself in alcohol, making negotiations easier than with rowdy wine sellers.
“Leave it to Zhong Da Ge to inquire,” Lu Ling said.
With the alcohol planned, Shu Rui felt more relaxed. That night, after washing up, he sat down with his abacus to total the expenses.
Furniture and carpentry, economized wherever possible, cost 29 guan and 8 qian, including the signboard. The bedding, curtains, and related items cost 20 guan 6 qian 7. Without the assistance of the knowledgeable Yang Chunhua, he would have spent several more guan. Toiletries cost 12 guan, and bowls, cups, and tea sets totaled 5 guan.
There were also various odds and ends of miscellaneous expenses, amounting to two strings and one mace.
As for the liquor to be stocked next, Shu Rui had budgeted ten strings. If it sold well and ran short, he could always go and get more later. Right now funds were tight, so there was no sense in laying in too much inventory all at once.
Shu Rui worked the beads of the abacus, his vision darkening. “Counting every copper, skimping every way I can, and it still came to sixty-nine strings, five mace, seven cash! And if I add the ten strings for liquor—good heavens, that’s nearly eighty strings!”
You didn’t realize it until you did the math; once you did, it was enough to make your scalp tingle. Even in the midst of things, he had felt that the money was flowing out faster and faster, and that the banknotes he had exchanged from the money office were dwindling by the day.
But he had never sat down and added it all up properly. He truly hadn’t known that what he had left in hand was so little.
Shu Rui felt dizzy and lightheaded. He tossed the abacus aside and slumped forward, his head drooping straight into Lu Ling’s arms.
Leaning against the man’s solid chest, he couldn’t help but complain. “How can money be spent this easily? I honestly thought a hundred strings would be more than enough no matter what. But once you really start using it, you realize that if you don’t plan carefully, it’ll be gone clean in no time.”
Lu Ling wrapped an arm around the ge’er, who seemed to have lost all his strength, soft and limp against him like a fragrant lump of dough.
“When we were drawing the money earlier, I already said we should take out more. You were the one who refused. Running an inn isn’t a small business—naturally the costs are higher. But once it’s up and running, the income will be higher too.”
Shu Rui understood that logic well enough. When the time came, his upper rooms would have to go for at least three to five hundred cash a night. If there were guests every day, and if the clientele was decent, then even with just four rooms, it would still bring in a fair sum over the course of a month.
Still, that was only thinking on the bright side, a way to soothe his aching heart after spending so much money. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of inns in the city. Even though the prefectural capital was prosperous and needed lodging for travelers, it wasn’t guaranteed that so many guests would seek out his little inn.
Thinking of this, Shu Rui looked up at Lu Ling and couldn’t help pinching his handsome face. “You really don’t know the cost of firewood and rice until you run a household yourself. I suddenly feel like you’re incredibly capable. So young, not relying on your family, even sending money back—how did you manage to save up so much?”
“When I was younger, I wasn’t qualified to be an instructor yet. Back then I made a living by taking on some private jobs on the side. Later—”
Before Lu Ling could continue, Shu Rui cut in, asking rapidly, “What kind of private jobs? Don’t tell me it was the sort where people looking for trouble paid you to be a hired thug!”
Lu Ling laughed. “Proper martial halls don’t allow their students to take that kind of work. If you’re caught, or reported by someone else, you get expelled.
“I did have such thoughts back then, but in the end I didn’t do it. The jobs I took were things like accompanying rich young masters when they went out to amuse themselves, acting as a bodyguard, or standing guard at the entrance of newly opened jewelry shops or silk stores to add a bit of presence.
“These kinds of private jobs were allowed by the martial hall. The pay wasn’t fixed—it depended on what people offered. Some paid a hundred-odd cash per job; some rich young masters were more generous, and three to five hundred cash wasn’t unheard of.”
Lu Ling continued, “Even then there were expenses. Whatever ten or eight strings I managed to save, I’d send back home. I never really managed to save much.”
Listening to Lu Ling talk about his past, Shu Rui grew absorbed and urged him to tell more.
“I remember that when I was fourteen, I finished my training and could look for work as an instructor at a martial hall. At first my aptitude wasn’t good enough, so I worked at a small hall as an assistant instructor, earning barely two strings a month. I was young and hot-blooded, easily provoked, and I got into plenty of trouble—fell into more than a few pits along the way. After about two years of that, I moved to a larger martial hall, where my monthly pay rose to three or four strings.
“I worked another year there, then became a full instructor, and my monthly pay doubled. That lasted until I was about eighteen. During those years I spent very little money. My biggest expense was sending money home. The rest, I saved—about a hundred strings or so.”
Shu Rui listened and said, “And after that, you went to work for the heir apparent?”
“Yes. You wouldn’t necessarily know this back in the provinces, but the Heir of Xuanyang isn’t just noble by birth—his mother’s family are salt merchants, extremely wealthy. He’s not extravagant himself, but he’s very generous to the people under him. I often handled matters for him. My regular monthly pay was already quite generous, but the rewards were even more substantial.”
These were private matters. Even his own family didn’t know that Lu Ling had once served such a high household; they only thought he had been an instructor at a martial hall in the capital.
Yet he was willing to tell Shu Rui all of this.
Shu Rui blinked. The generous sums of money did catch his eye a little, but more than that, his heart ached for Lu Ling. No matter how much money one earned, it depended on how much one did. Lu Ling had left the capital because of severe injuries—one could imagine how dangerous things must have been.
Lu Ling only smiled. “I was just protecting the heir’s safety. I didn’t do things like murder or arson. It’s just that in great households there are many grudges, and no shortage of people who wish the heir harm. It’s not as peaceful as ordinary folk’s lives.”
Shu Rui was still distressed. Holding Lu Ling’s hand, he said, “From now on, let’s just run some small business together and do fewer dangerous things. If we manage it well, it’ll be enough to support a family. We don’t need great wealth or high rank.”
Warmth spread through Lu Ling’s heart, and he answered softly.
At the end of the month, before the little inn even opened, the results of the provincial examination arrived.
The scholars who had sat the exam had been on tenterhooks for fifteen long days. On the twenty-fifth day of the eighth month, the results were finally announced.
Early that morning, the Lu family went to see the list. Madam Liu, Lu Yu, and Lu Father went out together. Shu Rui also wanted to go, but it didn’t feel right to tag along with the whole family, so Lu Ling accompanied him.
The list wouldn’t be posted until the exact hour of chen. Shu Rui and Lu Ling arrived half a quarter-hour early, thinking they wouldn’t have to wait long. Instead, they found that the area outside the examination compound was already packed with people. The excitement of viewing the results was in no way less than on the day of entering the exam hall—if anything, there were even more people.
Shu Rui wasn’t tall, and standing in the back he couldn’t see anything at all. Lu Ling took him by the hand and helped him squeeze forward a bit.
A breeze carried the scent of osmanthus. When the list from the Academic Commissioner arrived, the crowd instantly erupted.
The moment the list went up, Shu Rui’s heart skipped. He knew Lu Yu’s literary talent was not poor, but he hadn’t expected it to be this good.
Third place on the very first page of the red list was unmistakably Lu Yu.
Amid the surging crowd, when everyone’s eyes were fixed on the list, Shu Rui happily grabbed Lu Ling’s hand and shook it back and forth a few times. “He passed!”
His joy wasn’t only for Lu Yu. In the past he had often come to see exam results too, but among the students at his uncle’s private school, few ever made the list. This kind of happiness—seeing someone familiar succeed—was rare, especially when it was a top-three result in the provincial exam.
“If Second Brother hadn’t suddenly fallen ill with stomach trouble during the exam, who knows how good his result might have been. Even so, this outcome more than does justice to his efforts.”
Lu Ling was naturally happy for his younger brother as well. But after the initial joy, his gaze lingered on the list, and his expression shifted slightly.
“Did you see clearly who took first place?”
Shu Rui was taken aback. His attention earlier had been locked on whether Lu Yu’s name was there, so at Lu Ling’s words, he looked again.
This time, he froze.
Lu Ling narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Shu Rui. “Your eye for talent really is sharp. You said from the start that he was diligent and gifted. Sure enough—it turned out exactly as you said.”
Seeing Yu Qiaosheng’s name at the top of the list, Shu Rui was also surprised. It wasn’t that he found it shocking that Yu Qiaosheng passed, but that among the top three there were suddenly two people they knew.
He didn’t respond to the sour note in Lu Ling’s words. Instead, he said, “What a pity. This time, we’ve truly lost the academy’s business.”
Hearing that Shu Rui only regretted the loss of business, Lu Ling felt relieved. As long as he wasn’t regretting anything else, it was fine.
Fortunately, he had given that student a warning earlier. Now that Yu Qiaosheng had taken first place and was riding high on success, he likely wouldn’t have the nerve to come back and embarrass himself again.
Lu Ling didn’t sulk on such a happy occasion. He pulled Shu Rui along, ready to head back and celebrate Lu Yu’s success.