The next day, Shu Rui felt that the room seemed unusually bright. Only then did he slowly regain some awareness from his deep sleep and open his eyes.
At first glance, he saw the red canopy overhead. He stared blankly for a moment before remembering that he had married the day before and was now in the new residence.
Married…
Seeing the layers of bed curtains glowing with light, Shu Rui’s eyes widened. This had to mean it was already quite late! On the first day after the wedding, the newlyweds were supposed to go pay respects and serve tea to the elders.
He sat up in a rush, immediately letting out an involuntary hiss. While lying there half-asleep he’d already felt that his body was heavy, but with this sudden movement, there wasn’t a single place—waist, legs, arms—that wasn’t sore, with certain areas far worse than others.
Feeling that soreness, Shu Rui recalled the half-night of entanglement with Lu Ling. He couldn’t even remember when it truly ended. All he knew was that the first half of the night had been very real and intense, and that he’d slept through the latter half, his muddled dreams filled entirely with those things.
Just as he was staring off at the red curtains in a daze, the bed curtain at the side shifted lightly, and Lu Ling poked his head in. “Awake?”
Shu Rui looked at him. Seeing that handsome face now belonging to a married man, then looking at his lips, eyes, and hands, everything from the night before came vividly back to him.
His face flushed completely. He lifted the quilt and pulled it over his head, hiding himself entirely.
Seeing the lump under the blanket, Lu Ling’s brow twitched. “What’s wrong?”
Under the covers, Shu Rui finally felt a bit less embarrassed, and his mouth regained its sharpness. “What do you think it is!”
Again and again—how could someone have so little restraint? At the start it hurt him badly, though Lu Ling had at least shown some consideration and hadn’t forced things. But once it went smoothly, it was as if his ears had gone deaf. No matter how Shu Rui told him to slow down, he didn’t listen.
With the candles burning outside the curtains, every movement, every rise and fall, had been fully visible. He truly didn’t know how he was supposed to face anyone now.
At least now he understood that what those third-rate books described wasn’t all complete nonsense.
Lu Ling had known that Shu Rui would definitely be angry upon waking. He sat down by the bed and coaxed him gently. “It was my fault. The first time doing this, I had no sense of measure.”
He’d wanted to follow Shu Rui’s words, but the first time was all fumbling; the second time he’d barely found the way and wasn’t really there yet; only by the third time did he start to grasp it and make it look halfway proper. Naturally, that meant starting over to really get it right.
All in all, it wasn’t as though he’d acted recklessly.
Lu Ling reached over and pulled the quilt back a little, looking at Shu Rui hidden inside. “Next time, I’ll definitely listen to you.”
Shu Rui’s face was red as he looked up at him. “You’re already thinking about next time? I’m sore all over like this—without ten days or half a month, don’t even think about such things again!”
Lu Ling’s handsome face clearly showed some urgency. What newlywed could be so hard-hearted?
Seeing that Lu Ling didn’t immediately answer, Shu Rui lowered his gaze slightly. “Hmm?”
“Alright, alright.”
Lu Ling surrendered. In any case, he had to agree first and not make him any angrier.
Only then did Shu Rui allow Lu Ling to help him get up, change clothes, wash up, and go pay respects and serve tea to Lu Ling’s father and Madam Liu.
Once they stepped out of the room and Shu Rui saw the blazing sun outside, he realized it was already nearly noon. He felt a bit guilty and quickly pulled Lu Ling along to go greet them.
Fortunately, even though they went so late, Lu Ling’s father and Madam Liu showed no displeasure. Little did Shu Rui know that Madam Liu, seeing how long it took them to come, had been worrying that Lu Ling, that foolish martial man, might have lacked restraint on the wedding night—marriage was a good thing, but reckless excess was not.
After serving tea, the elders kept them for a short conversation, and then the whole family ate lunch together in the new residence.
On the first day of marriage, no matter how much business weighed on his mind, Shu Rui didn’t go to the shop. He’d already taken three days off at the inn, leaving the clerks to watch the place, receive guests, and not take meal orders.
At present, the business still couldn’t fully be left in others’ hands. If he needed to leave to handle something, he had to close up shop. In another year or two, once he had properly trained his two apprentices, it would be much easier to let go.
Autumn days were leisurely. After lunch, Shu Rui retreated back to his own courtyard, with Lu Ling following close behind.
With his body sore and weak, he felt lazy and low on energy. As soon as Shu Rui returned to the room, he kicked off his shoes and sprawled on the couch, feeling that he’d never been this indolent in all his years.
Leaning back against the cushions, he draped one leg over Lu Ling, utterly like a pampered young master, letting Lu Ling help ease his soreness.
“How is it that you’re perfectly fine, and I’m the one suffering?”
Seeing how refreshed Lu Ling looked, Shu Rui felt a bit indignant. It seemed all the pleasure had gone to him.
Who would have thought that after such a long night of exertion, Lu Ling still had the energy to wash himself, clean Shu Rui, and even take the time to wash both of their underclothes.
Thinking of that, Shu Rui couldn’t help but smile a little. All those times he’d grabbed Lu Ling by the ear and told him that men had to be clean—it hadn’t been for nothing. Even at a time like that, he hadn’t forgotten those words.
Lu Ling tilted his head to look at him. “Did I really do that badly?”
“It hurt so much,” Shu Rui muttered.
Still, he’d read in books that the first time hurt more—that everything was hardest at the beginning. And besides… perhaps Lu Ling’s, well… Shu Rui thought it was quite good. He’d read in assorted books about women or ge’er secretly taking lovers behind their husbands’ backs, often because the husband was incapable or simply unsatisfactory, leading to many lamentable affairs.
Though most stories in books were fabricated, there were indeed many such cases in reality.
Shu Rui thought that while he wouldn’t go that far, it was certainly best not to have such worries at all.
Hearing this, Lu Ling lightly reached out and touched Shu Rui’s neck. He’d already heard him say this many times the night before.
“I’ll go find a doctor to prescribe some medicine,” he said.
Shu Rui came back to himself at once. “How could we take something like this outside?”
He added, “Let’s wait a while and see. If… if it’s still like this later, then we’ll talk.”
Lu Ling smiled slightly. “If you’re uncomfortable, I’ll go get you some hot water so you can soak in the bath. After another nap, you’ll feel better.”
Shu Rui answered. After soaking in the bath, he really did feel more relaxed. Sleepiness crept up on him, and he took another afternoon nap.
Even after getting up that day, everything felt a bit strange—like there was still something there—which made him quite embarrassed.
Only after sleeping again did that sensation finally lessen.
Later in the day, word came from the rented house that Shu Rui’s wedding obligations were complete and that the Bai family’s people were preparing to return.
Autumn weather was clear and crisp, ideal for travel. If they waited any longer and ran into lingering autumn rains, the roads would be difficult.
Hearing this, Shu Rui went over with Lu Ling. Since the wedding had gone smoothly, he honored his original promise and rewarded all the Bai family members who had come to escort the bride and had worked diligently.
Two days later, the Bai family’s people left Chaoxi Prefecture, and Shu Rui also returned the rented house.
Life before and after the wedding didn’t seem all that different. Aside from the fact that the two of them no longer needed to hide being together, everything else went on as usual.
After moving into the new residence, they followed the earlier arrangements. The large eastern room where Shu Rui had once lived was kept; when unoccupied, it was used to store odds and ends. The small eastern room where Lu Ling had stayed was converted into a shared sleeping room.
The former large western room became a shared sleeping room for men, while the small eastern room was designated specifically for women and ge’er. With the two sides separated, it solved the issue of men and women not being able to share the same quarters, and no more guests were lost because of it.
Married life passed quickly. Shu Rui and Lu Ling worked diligently at their businesses. In a year or two, they had expanded considerably and taken care of many other matters as well.
Over those two years, Shu Rui kept an eye on farmland outside the city. Little by little, he purchased sixty or seventy mu of land, consolidated it, hired tenant farmers, and raised poultry and livestock. The shop never again lacked vegetables or meat.
The business that Lu Ling ran jointly with Zhong Dayang also flourished. Not only did they buy the shop they had once rented, they also began scouting new locations, apparently planning to open a branch.
In those two years, the storage shop’s business was good. Other merchants couldn’t help but grow envious. Though there were occasional minor incidents, all were resolved one by one. Some in the city even began copying their storage-shop model, creating competing businesses, which caused some fluctuation in trade.
Lu Ling discussed this with Zhong Dayang. Their storage shop had a solid reputation, and over the years they’d built up many connections—such as partnerships with carriage companies and escort agencies. These weren’t things that newly opened copycat shops could easily replicate. But given enough time, even those could be negotiated.
Since that was the case, it was better to take the opportunity to open branch shops. If they occupied more of the market and made their name well known, then no matter how many imitators appeared, they would remain the leading business. Growing larger also made it harder to be swallowed up amid numerous competitors.
Once the two had decided, Lu Ling asked Shu Rui’s opinion, and Zhong Dayang went to ask Cui Rui as well. Everyone thought it was a good idea, and they immediately set about putting it into action.
“Do you have enough money on hand?”
One day, as Shu Rui was returning home from the inn and saw Lu Ling come back as well, he asked him this. Recently, Lu Ling had been busy with matters related to the branch shop and rarely appeared at the same store. Each of them was busy with their own work, and only when they returned home could they see each other.
That summer the heat was oppressive, heavier than in past years. As soon as Lu Ling entered the room, he took off his outer robe.
Shu Rui knew he couldn’t stand the heat, so he had servants bring in ice and place it inside the room.
Earlier that day he had just bought a whole cart of ice and hauled it back. In previous summers they hadn’t used any at all—first because it never felt quite this hot, and second because back then they weren’t as well-off as they were now, so they couldn’t bear to spend good money on something as costly as ice.
This year was hotter than usual. A few days earlier, Father Lu had been supervising repairs on the city’s waterworks and had nearly suffered heatstroke. On top of that, September would bring the triennial provincial examination, and Lu Yu would be sitting for it. It was already late June—only two or three months remained before the exam—so he dared not slack off and studied diligently every day.
Shu Rui worried that in such heat, people would easily grow irritable and overheated and fall ill. So he spent three strings of cash and asked a familiar merchant to buy a cart of ice, which he stored in the cellar for the whole family to use.
The effect was immediately obvious. Like lighting charcoal in winter, the temperature in the house changed at once.
Lu Ling still carried heat in his body. He went straight to the ice basin to cool down before saying, “That’s enough. Today I had the accountant go over the books carefully. We can take out four hundred strings of cash. For the branch shop, we’ll rent first—no need to rush into buying.”
Hearing this, Shu Rui finally felt more at ease. He knew the storage shop was profitable, but they had only just spent several hundred strings last year to buy the storefront, and now they were opening a branch this year as well. He had been afraid they might stretch themselves too thin.
After his hands had cooled, Lu Ling went over and hugged Shu Rui. “Today Zhong Dayang was bragging to me again. That kid said Cui Rui knows he’s planning to open a branch shop, so she gave him fifty strings of cash to support him. He was practically floating.”
Shu Rui laughed. “Sister Cui runs a cosmetics business. Your storage shop can introduce plenty of outside merchants to her. Of course she’d support him.”
Lu Ling rested his head on Shu Rui’s shoulder. “It’s not just that. He’s proud that when he does business, his family backs him.”
Shu Rui shot him a look. “So what, are you complaining that I didn’t give you money? I asked if you were short, and you said you weren’t.”
“Not being short is the truth.”
Shu Rui shook his head, pulled a banknote from the cash box, and handed it to him. This man had always been childish; even after getting married, he hadn’t matured much. If anything, after hanging around Zhong Dayang, he spent all day comparing himself to others in ways that made it hard to scold him properly.
Sure enough, once Lu Ling got the note, he perked right up. He was clearly planning to show off to Zhong Dayang tomorrow.
After sending Lu Ling away, Shu Rui took out the abacus and started checking the accounts.
Lu Ling leaned close. “Why are you always doing the books lately? Is something wrong with the inn’s business?”
“Nothing’s wrong. I just want to see how much cash we have on hand. There’s a business I’ve had in mind for a year or two now. Back then it was hard to move money around, so I kept putting it off.”
Lu Ling asked, “What kind of business?”
Shu Rui stopped moving the beads. He felt that he finally had a clear plan in mind, so instead of keeping it to himself, he decided to tell Lu Ling first.
“I want to open another inn.”
“Another branch of the small inn?”
Over the past few years, the small inn’s business had always been good. While it might not be the most famous inn on Ten-Li Street, it had built up a solid reputation in the southern part of the city. If they opened a branch, its foundation wouldn’t be any worse than that of their storage shop.
Shu Rui said, “Not exactly a branch. We’d borrow some of the name from the original inn, but the form would be different.”
“I want to open an inn that only takes in ge’er and women.”
Back when the small inn first opened, he had already noticed the difference between male and female guests. Most men staying at inns weren’t picky—they just needed a place to crash for the night. They didn’t much care about decor or furnishings; price was what mattered most.
But when women or ge’er stayed at an inn, it was completely different. They were far more particular, especially about cleanliness and safety. Among their guests, most of the praise came from women and ge’er.
Staying at an inn was, after all, a fairly private matter. When men and women were all mixed together, inconvenience was inevitable.
After Shu Rui and Lu Ling got married, they had renovated some newly vacated rooms and made separate communal lodgings for men and women. But once the inn grew crowded, problems still arose.
More than once, there had been sleazy men staying at the inn who went and harassed female guests. Women and ge’er were already anxious enough staying away from home; encountering something like that could truly frighten someone half to death.
Whenever such incidents happened, Shu Rui and Lu Ling would rush over in the middle of the night to deal with them, and afterward they told Xu Cheng to be especially vigilant. Still, it was impossible to guard against every male guest. If someone actually laid hands on a woman and was caught, that was one thing. But when it was just crude remarks—men making lewd comments when they happened to run into female guests in the inn—it was much harder to handle.
Shu Rui thought about this for a long time. If he wanted to eliminate such incidents and give women and ge’er a place to stay without fear, the most suitable solution was to open an inn exclusively for women and ge’er, with no men allowed to mix in.
He had also carefully considered it. This wasn’t just because he himself was a ge’er and understood the difficulties of lodging away from home, wanting to offer some convenience to women and ge’er across the land. From a business perspective, the market was genuinely there.
Nowadays there were inns and lodgings of all sizes everywhere. There were even inns specifically for scholars or for monks. Yet there were none that separated men and women and catered exclusively to one side.
And over the past few years of running the inn, he had discovered that while women and ge’er guests were indeed fewer than male guests, they were by no means nonexistent. Every day they could usually take in at least two. As the realm grew more stable, more women and ge’er were willing to travel, and that meant even more potential customers—there was no fear of lacking business.
The reason Lu Ling and Zhong Dayang’s storage shop had done so well, to the point of opening branch shops within just a few years, was that from the very start they had occupied a niche with no identical competitors. That early advantage was what allowed them to earn so much.
If he could also seize a first-mover advantage, there was no reason to worry about losing money.
Shu Rui had thought it through carefully. The reason there were no women-only inns wasn’t complicated—most male merchants simply couldn’t see the hardships and difficulties women and ge’er faced, so naturally they never thought to do business in this direction.
How many men in this world were truly willing to act for the benefit of women and ge’er?
Lu Ling listened attentively and didn’t refute Shu Rui’s idea at all. Instead, he was already thinking through practical ways to run such a business.
He said, “If you’re opening an inn like that, everything else is manageable, but it’ll be easy for people to see it as a fat piece of meat. Security will be crucial. And since it’s a women-only inn, you really can’t hire male staff.”
Shu Rui nodded. “That’s for sure. Even among male staff, though they work for the owner and count as part of the inn’s operation, there are bound to be bad ones. If they know the entire inn is full of women and ge’er, they might harbor ill intentions.”
Not to mention the manager—there was no guarantee he’d be upright. Thinking of Qing Ge’er’s previous male manager, his behavior had truly been nauseating.
Everyone knew it wasn’t appropriate to hire male staff for a women-only inn, but finding people who could ensure the inn’s safety and were also women or ge’er was difficult to reconcile.
Seeing Shu Rui’s dilemma, Lu Ling said, “Don’t get upset. It’s not as hard as you think. Just spend a bit more money and hire two women or ge’er who’ve trained in martial arts since childhood as staff.”
Shu Rui was doubtful. “Are there really women or ge’er training in martial arts at the martial halls? Even if I’m willing to pay a high price, there has to be someone like that to hire.”
“There aren’t any in the prefectural city’s halls,” Lu Ling said, “but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any elsewhere. I heard Zhong Dayang mention before that Master Zhang’s martial hall is planning to recruit women and ge’er to train. Supposedly, in the western regions near Chaoxi Prefecture, specialized martial halls that teach only women and ge’er have sprung up. They’ve developed very well over the past few years and are gradually expanding outward, setting up branch halls.”
Lu Ling continued, “In a few more years, they’ll probably reach the coastal regions. Master Zhang’s hall saw how strong the trend was and changed its old ways, opening up to women and ge’er so it could secure the coastal market and not let outside halls easily take it over.”
Because he frequently dealt with merchants, escort agencies, and martial halls, Lu Ling knew about such news. That was why, when he heard Shu Rui talk about opening a women-only inn, he didn’t find it shocking at all—he actually thought Shu Rui was remarkably forward-thinking.
If specialized martial halls for women and ge’er could expand and open branches, then why wouldn’t an inn—something so commonly needed—work as well?
“If you’re really set on this,” Lu Ling said, “I’ll ask someone to head west and recruit two women or ge’er trained at those halls to work as staff.”
“Through the connections with martial halls and escort agencies, we can contact the halls there directly. I hear the head of that hall is a very decent person. If it’s a legitimate line of business, they’d be happy to recommend students.”
Hearing all this, a warmth rose in Shu Rui’s chest that he couldn’t quite put into words. It felt as though his somewhat unconventional idea—one he’d thought might never be accepted—had found resonance in this vast world, among people who were neither familiar nor close to him, yet shared the same understanding.
He pulled Lu Ling over and asked in detail about these specialized martial halls.
“I only heard Zhong Dayang chatting about it casually,” Lu Ling said. “I don’t know the finer details. If you want to know more, you’ll have to ask him.”
With the matter weighing on his mind, Shu Rui really did go to find Zhong Dayang the next day and asked him about the specialized martial halls.
Zhong Dayang loved gossip and novelty far more than Lu Ling. Whether it concerned him or not, he always heard plenty of news. Seeing Shu Rui come to ask, he was more than happy to talk.
“I heard the person in charge of that specialized martial hall is also a ge’er. He’s not that old either—about twenty-five or twenty-six. He’s terrifyingly good with a whip, and his archery is superb too. His skills are incredible. The head of Master Zhang’s western branch once sparred with him and didn’t gain the slightest advantage.”
Zhong Dayang went on, “That hall started in a small county. It grew bit by bit, and now it’s got more than ten branches, I hear. They might even expand to the coastal regions. Originally they weren’t competing with our martial halls at all, but seeing how strong the momentum was, people started thinking of imitating them.”
Shu Rui was astonished. “So young, and already in charge of that many martial halls?!”
Zhong Dayang had been skeptical at first too, but now he was full of admiration. “Don’t be surprised. That hall master has a powerful family background—nothing like ordinary people. Rumor has it his sworn brother is a high official in the capital, and his husband is the top authority of a local prefectural city.”
Shu Rui asked, “Are people from official households really allowed to run businesses outside?”
“Most of them must be open-minded people. The last time the head of the western branch came over to report in, when we were chatting privately, he mentioned that the director of that special academy and his husband were childhood sweethearts—their bond is anything but ordinary.
“Besides, there’s family precedent. I heard his father once married into the family, and his younger father was also someone who practiced martial arts. Their household seems to have long been accustomed to women and ge’er holding authority.”
As he spoke, Zhong Dayang’s eyes grew dreamy. “If a life like that—living off one’s spouse—were to fall to me, that would just be… ow, ow, ow! Big sister, let go~”
Seeing the idiotic look on his face, Cui Rui twisted his ear hard. “Do you even have what it takes to live off someone else?”
Watching the two of them, Shu Rui couldn’t help but laugh.
Cui Rui released him and turned to Shu Rui, puzzled. “Why did you have time today to come listen to him prattle on? With that foul mouth of his, he’s only too happy to gossip and avoid doing any work.”
Shu Rui said, “I’ve been thinking over a new business lately, and I need to recruit a couple of capable ge’er or women as staff. I heard from Lu Ling that Brother Zhong knows some connections, so I came to ask.”
“And hearing about someone’s legendary story, I got caught up and asked a few extra questions.”
When Cui Rui heard that Shu Rui had a new business in mind, she became interested as well and pulled him over to ask in detail.