Chapter Ninety-One: The Ungrateful Wolf

At night, with the wind roaring, Xi Junyu was passing the old second-floor corridor where Golden Wind House adjoined the inner courtyard when he heard a woman’s angry voice carrying from the other side.

“You ungrateful wretch! Ungrateful wolf!”

The voice was being shouted at the top of its lungs. It sounded like Madam Yang, the owner of Golden Wind House. She was already in her forties, no longer young, though she still carried herself with good taste and a certain grace; it was hard to imagine that woman, so composed and refined in ordinary times, screaming in such a disreputable fashion. Xi Junyu listened with interest and stopped in his tracks. Then another voice came back in answer, also that of a woman, clear, forceful, and pleasant to the ear.

“Greedy woman! Leech!”

Golden Wind House had both outer and inner sections. One building inside was connected to the outer one, and beyond the inner building lay the courtyard. The house opened at several levels and welcomed guests at all of them, though Xi Junyu usually preferred to entertain in the outer house. There was no question of one being better than another; it all depended on taste. Standing before the passage now, he listened to the voices within. Something crashed to the floor, likely broken by Madam Yang.

“Shameless wretch! The life of a young mistress... it was always the life of a young mistress... and you... shameless...”

“So what if I could have been a young mistress? I don’t care!”

“Shameless!”

It had been stiflingly hot at noon, and by evening the sky had turned strange. The wind picked up after dark, and it looked as though a torrential rain would come. Business at Golden Wind House was not especially good tonight. A woman hurried out from that direction, and upon seeing him she curtsied and smiled.

“Master Xi.” He knew her from before. “Are you here to entertain guests today?”

“Yes, over there, in the Spring Dawn Room. We are nearly done.”

Xi Junyu nodded. “What’s going on inside?”

The woman looked hesitant. “Madam is angry. Ah, this matter...”

She seemed to want to say more, then stopped herself. Xi Junyu had no intention of pressing further. At that moment, a voice from behind him came from one of the Su family’s stewards.

“Junyu, what happened? Why were you gone so long?”

He turned and replied, “Coming right away.”

Then he took his leave of the woman. He had originally been entertaining guests here together with the steward, and the banquet was already drawing to an end. Earlier, he had simply gone to the latrine. Now that he returned, both sides had begun their farewells, and the steward was escorting the guests out. Xi Junyu only saw them to the door before coming back to settle the bill and tidy up the aftermath.

Since there was nothing else to do, he sent away the other women who had been keeping company, leaving only one he was somewhat familiar with. He had her play a few simple melodies on the qin while he sat there eating and thinking. Seated by the window, though the panes were shut, the wind still carried the noise of the quarrel over to him through the soothing music, and it made for an oddly engaging accompaniment.

“If some rich young gentleman wants to redeem you, I won’t say another word,” Madam Yang shouted from within. “I’ll even give you a dowry. But now you’re just being shameless!”

“I’m being shameless for my own sake! Is the money not enough for my redemption, or what?”

“I don’t care about that little bit of money! Without me, there would be no Golden Wind House! And you want money? Do you know where money comes from?”

“You just want me to keep working here, keep making money for you! You’d like it if I could never leave!”

“Bullshit! Ungrateful wolf! Bullshit! Ask yourself! Go ask for yourself! When have I ever sent off a daughter of mine to be married without being happy and willing? In the past, when it was Sisi, Xiaoyu, Lihong, Baiduo’er, Panshi... Baiduo’er was even matched by me myself! Which one of them in this house was not a prized beauty? When they found a good home, wasn’t I the one cheerfully preparing the dowry? But what are you trying to do now...”

“I like it!”

“You’ve had lard cloud your heart! Even if you leave here and show your face in public, after redeeming yourself you’ll still be showing your face in public. Then what was the point of redeeming yourself? I knew I shouldn’t have been softhearted. That Nie... she came from an official’s family, with her head full of worldly nonsense... I should never have let her work. If she didn’t know how the world works, neither do you? What kind of background were you born from? Your head’s been clouded by lard...”

“Then let it be clouded by lard. Even if it’s clouded, I’m still going to do this...”

“I simply won’t allow it! I won’t allow you to ruin yourself like this!”

“...”

From the roof came several sharp splats as the first drops struck, and in the next instant the downpour crashed down, blanketing the entire city. The words became hard to hear. Faintly, Xi Junyu could catch Yuan Jin’er shouting, “Then beat me to death, then...”

Xi Junyu pushed open the window. The eaves above extended far out, so the rain would not come into the room. Looking across from here, he could see figures moving in the second-floor rooms of Golden Wind House along the Qinhuai River, the shadows of two women quarrelling. Broken fragments of their shouting drifted over on the wind and rain, no longer clear enough to follow in full, only enough to make out whose silhouettes were whose. At one moment, what seemed to be Yuan Jin’er’s figure went to the window, pushed open the pair of river-facing shutters, and the candlelight within the room swayed and flickered.

“Jump, then! Jump into the river and die, and we’ll call it done! Just as though I never raised a daughter like you!”

At Madam Yang’s shouting, Xi Junyu saw the figure by the window climb up without another word, then half her body thrust out into the rain from within his field of vision. With a leap, she plunged down with a thud into the Qinhuai River, which was already churning with waves in the heavy rain.

“Hah!” Xi Junyu chuckled. He had not expected such a woman to exist in this day and age.

“Miss—” There were faint cries from within the house. Another woman went to the window, likely Yuan Jin’er’s maid. Madam Yang also began yelling. “Shout yourself to death! Shout yourself to death! Better if you die! She’s such a good swimmer that even a turtle would drown before she would! Bastard! Ungrateful wolf!”

“Mi-miss...”

“Take it! Take it! Take your miss’s things and go... here, the indenture papers, yours, your miss’s... Get out! All of you, get out!”

Madam Yang started smashing things again. The maid dropped to the floor and kowtowed several times, then grabbed the belongings and ran out shouting “Miss!” over and over.

“Call Master Chen! Take a boat and follow her! Drag that damned woman back up! Don’t let anyone say I, Yang Xiuhong, drove someone to death!”

Amid the rain, the side of Golden Wind House had become lively. Xi Junyu watched the scene and laughed for a long time upstairs. Not long after, he came out of the room, ready to leave. In the corridor he happened to meet two familiar faces head-on: the elder and younger sons of the Wu family, Wu Qilong and Wu Qihao. Seeing them, Xi Junyu stepped aside to let them pass. To his surprise, both men looked delighted.

“Haha, Master Xi, what a coincidence. You’re at Golden Wind House today too—here on business?”

“I was just receiving the Steward of the Four Celebrations District. He has already left.”

“Oh, then since nothing is pressing, why not sit and talk a while? We have no urgent business today. To meet is fate.”

Xi Junyu smiled and shook his head, then politely declined. “Thank you for your kindness, Young Masters, but I still have some matters to attend to, so I shan’t impose. Another time—another time...”

The two Wu brothers were both famous for their warmth and their courtesy toward capable men. Wu Qilong in particular had long admired Xi Junyu. The three of them exchanged a few more words before the Wu brothers finally took their leave with regretful smiles. Xi Junyu waited until they had gone, then turned and headed out of the building.

With this kind of rain, travel was troublesome. Counting the days, Xiao Chan’s father would only be laid to rest at noon tomorrow, and Ning Yi would probably not return until tomorrow night. As for this side, the matter with the Four Celebrations District was more or less settled. It was time to report back on the situation.

Standing at the entrance, he looked out at the astonishing curtain of rain. A servant came over with a carriage. “Master Xi, where to next?”

“Back...”

He thought for a moment. “To the Su Manor.”

The carriage rattled into the sheet of rain, moving along the long street that still glowed with light toward the Su residence. Not long after, another carriage belonging to the Su family crossed the riverbank street not far away and came this way through the rain. Driving it was Dongzhu in a rain cape. They had finally returned to Jiangning at night.

The night life of the Martial Dynasty was fairly lively. The city gates usually stayed open at night, and even when they were closed, it was often very late. Recently, however, refugees had gathered outside the city, and along the road Ning Yi had worried that the gates might be shut earlier than usual. On the way back he had seen the gloom of the sky; fortunately, the rain only began to fall once they had entered the city. He called Geng the guard into the carriage, then handed Dongzhu a rain cape to wear while driving.

Passing by this stretch, he vaguely heard someone calling, “Miss...”

He lifted a corner of the side curtain to look. On this side near the Qinhuai River stood many buildings, most of them brothels, their lanterns glowing beneath the eaves. There were people inside the houses, but very few pedestrians on the street. As he looked out, a woman seemed to be climbing up from the stone steps between two wooden buildings by the river, while her maid stood nearby holding a small bundle.

He did not know why the woman had fallen into the river. Since the rain had only just begun, the Qinhuai River at night was already surging with waves and looked quite dangerous. It was no easy thing for her to climb back up, yet she still appeared almost effortless in her movements. The woman had been wearing little when she fell in, and by now she was soaked through. Her clothes clung tightly to her graceful, curving body, becoming nearly transparent. Her legs were long and lovely, and one embroidered shoe had likely been lost in the water, leaving one bare foot exposed. Standing there in the heavy rain, the scene was truly intoxicating.

A few people on the opposite street, or on the upper floors nearby, must have caught sight of her. Dongzhu, driving the carriage, was probably looking as well. The woman wiped the rain from her face, only then seeming to notice it. She glanced down at herself, then frowned and looked up.

“What are you staring at? Never seen a woman before...”

The words sounded like a sharp scolding, though there was a touch of guilty uncertainty in her voice, and she did not speak loudly. As soon as she finished, she turned around, leaped with a splash back into the river, and in the blink of an eye had already swum far out into the waves.

“Miss! Miss...” The maid ran along the roadside, chasing after her beside the riverbank...

“Tsk, tsk... what a beauty...”

Ning Yi sighed inwardly, dimly feeling as though he had seen that woman somewhere before, though something about the memory was off. Perhaps it was only that he had once seen a film star do something similar. As he was thinking this, Xiao Chan leaned in.

“Master, what are you looking at?”

“Heh, nothing.”

“I don’t believe you.” Xiao Chan shook her head.

“Well, Dongzhu should have seen it too. Go ask Dongzhu.”

“Huh?” Xiao Chan looked puzzled. After a moment, she lifted the front curtain. “Brother Dongzhu, Brother Dongzhu, what did you just see?”

“Wh-what?” Dongzhu stared blankly, then grew flustered. “N-nothing. I didn’t see anything at all...”

“Huh?”

Ning Yi laughed heartily inside the carriage. Xiao Chan looked in confusion from Dongzhu to Ning Yi, then sulkily returned to her seat.

“You’re bullying me...”

He had originally wanted to continue for three straight chapters, but by morning there were still only two, though even these two chapters totaled eight thousand characters. Asking for monthly votes!