Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Three: Calling Up Troops and Appointing Generals

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That night, their eldest uncle’s wife sat cross-legged amid piles of silver, grinning from ear to ear. After putting Jinbao to sleep, her husband found her still counting the money and asked softly, “Have you finished counting?”

“Of course I have.”

She had arranged the money in perfect ranks. The ten-tael ingots were the grand marshals, standing in the very center. The one-tael pieces were the generals, lined up in a second row. The scattered bits of silver were the colonels, forming the outer ring.

As for the copper coins, they were mere foot soldiers, fit only to be piled up in heaps on either side.

“There you have it—two hundred and seventy-six taels, seven mace, and six candareens!” His wife introduced her army of silver like an empress.

“That much?” Her husband was startled. “It feels as though we haven’t spent any less than usual these past six months.”

The household’s ancient tables, chairs, stools, and chipped cups, bowls, jars, and basins had all disappeared. Inside and out, his wife had replaced everything with new furnishings. The three generations of the Su family could finally wash their faces, feet, and clothes separately, each with his own basin.

Young and old alike had been outfitted in complete New Year clothes, and there had been no shortage of food or drink.

“We certainly spent plenty. I’ve kept accounts of it all.” His wife opened a notebook made of coarse paper. The figures were written in crooked, wavering strokes that no one else could decipher, but she herself understood every mark. “From the seventh month until now, our ordinary household expenses alone have come to nearly ten taels of silver.”

Then, with the relish of someone displaying a family treasure, she continued, “But we have plenty coming in now! Leaving out the odd bits, we had twenty-four taels left over in the seventh month. Chun earned seven and a half taels for five months of work, Second Uncle earned ten, Xia brought home eighteen taels in wages today, and you brought in twenty-five. The county magistrate and Commander Ma gave Qiu sixty taels. Then there were today’s two dividend payments, totaling one hundred and thirty-nine taels.”

“We didn’t plant crops this year. We leased the ten mu of land to the Fifth Branch, with the harvest divided equally. That brought in another three and a half taels, which they delivered a few days ago.” She paused to catch her breath. “Now you figure out how much that comes to. There are also the nine taels distributed by the clan. I didn’t include those, since Father hasn’t been feeling well. You men can discuss later what should be done with them.”

“Very well. I’ll discuss it with Father later.” Su Youjin nodded, then sighed. “It really is easier to know how to earn money than how to save it…”

“Exactly. Every one of them seems to have suddenly found their wits and started bringing money home!” His wife covered her mouth and gave a muffled, wheezing laugh.

“Well? Impressive, aren’t I?” His chest swelled with pride, his tail nearly sticking up to the heavens.

“How much did you actually earn?” His wife curled her lip. “Most of it came from Second Brother and his wife.”

“Now that isn’t fair! First, they aren’t husband and wife yet. Second, even if they do become husband and wife, I’m the one who brought them together!”

As befitted a man who knew how to handle affairs, he presented his arguments one after another.

“Third, you see only their success and their money. You don’t see your husband carrying the burden for them.”

“Isn’t that just because you spend every day fawning over Commander Ma?” His wife curled her lip again. “And besides, the two of them are willing participants in their own affair. What does that have to do with you?”

“Now listen to that! On the first day of the New Year, I delivered their meal to them. Didn’t I ask you to pack a little extra?”

“That’s true.” His wife suddenly understood. “Could it be that you already noticed something was going on between them then?”

“Not at all.” He patted his imposing belly and laughed smugly. “But even if they had no such intentions, I would have found a way to give them some.”

“You’re devious.” His wife gave him a disdainful look, then laughed. “Still, Second Brother really has struck gold this time. Hurry up and get them married. Otherwise I’ll always be worried that they might fall apart.”

“You’re not afraid they’ll fall apart. You’re afraid no one will be making money for you anymore.” He gave her a knowing smile. “Relax. Neither of them is like Third Brother. They’re steady enough. We don’t need to worry.”

He knew very well that for the two of them to become husband and wife, it would not be enough merely to wait until the proper term had passed. In the end, they would still have to get past Scholar Cheng.

But there was no need to tell her that. Otherwise, his foolish wife would lose sleep over it.

So he changed the subject. “You should be worrying about where we’ll build a new house next year.”

“How am I not worrying?” His wife pulled a long face. “There’s no land left at Erlang Rapids. If we build again, we’ll have to go up the mountain. Your parents’ legs aren’t what they used to be. How could they live any higher?”

“True.” He nodded gravely. “I’ve noticed that Father isn’t nearly as nimble on the stairs as he was last year. Why don’t we move to town?”

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“Wouldn’t there still be stilt houses in town?” His wife lowered her voice, revealing the plan she had been turning over in her mind. “The reason I insist on going to the county seat isn’t merely to see the children.”

“Then what else are you going to see? Monkeys?” he teased.

“See your head! I’m going to look at houses!” she retorted. “Didn’t I stay in the county seat for a while last year? I discovered that everything there is better than here at Erlang Rapids.”

“Obviously.” He laughed. “We’re only a mountain village, while that’s the county seat. It’s in a mountain valley too, but at least it lies where two rivers meet. If there weren’t so little level ground, and if the Red River weren’t so difficult to navigate, Luzhou might never have had a chance to flourish.”

“Exactly. At the time, I thought that once our son became a licentiate and went to study at the county school, why would he ever come back? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if he married a girl from the county seat and became a city man, just like his younger uncle?” Her face filled with longing. “But back then the family was too poor. It was nothing more than a dream.”

“Things are different now. We have money. Why should we build another house here?” His wife slapped her knees excitedly. “We might as well buy a larger courtyard residence in the county seat! The old couple wouldn’t have to climb stairs anymore. Once Chun and Qiu pass the licentiate examination, they could even bring their brides home there.”

“What about Xia?” Her husband was now considering every angle. “His work as a second-grade craftsman depends on Erlang Rapids.”

“Next year I’ll renovate the old house. It won’t cost much.” His wife had already made her calculations. “For Xia alone, the house we have now will be quite sufficient when he marries.”

“The old house? You make it sound as though we’ve already bought a new one.” He gave her a mocking look. “Put your money away. I don’t even have room to lie down.”

“You don’t sleep in my bed anyway. Go lie over there and let me enjoy my money for a while.” She waved her hand, and he meekly crawled into the narrow quilt, not daring to say another word for fear of provoking her.

~~

After once again managing to sleep where he pleased, their eldest uncle rose before dawn the next morning and joined Su Youcai in pasting up the couplets he had written the night before.

The couplet on the main gate read:

“Through generations, poetry and books uphold our house;
Fine wine passed down brings a fresh new year.”

The horizontal inscription read:

“Welcoming the New Year with Poetry and Wine.”

The younger generation was drawn over as well, helping to straighten the crooked couplet while naturally offering their own critiques.

“The horizontal inscription is wonderful. It turns the ordinary into something marvelous. The wine is both the wine we brew and the wine with which we welcome spring!” Chun praised it from every angle.

“You mean my father’s couplet is too commonplace,” Su Lu said with a laugh. “Couplets on the outer gate are meant for everyone to read. The villagers have to be able to understand them.”

“Exactly!” Su Youcai said happily. “Changing the wording into something more refined would be easy enough:

‘Silken texts sustain a house whose ways are mellow;
Sacred wine upholds the family, whose fortunes flourish!’

Or we could use ‘woven classics’ in the first line and ‘fermented grain’ in the second. Wouldn’t that sound much more elegant? But then the neighbors passing by wouldn’t understand a word.”

“Second Uncle is right.” Chun nodded. “A New Year couplet isn’t an examination exercise. I was thinking about it the wrong way.”

“Stop crowding around the gate and chattering just to put up a couplet!” Their eldest uncle’s wife came out to throw away some water. Seeing all the men of the household gathered around the entrance discussing scholarship, she looked ready to splash them all. “What are you waiting for? Go do what needs doing!”

“Oh…”

Only then did the men scatter like frightened birds.

After the couplet had been put up and breakfast eaten, their eldest uncle’s wife cleared the table and washed the bowls and chopsticks. The whole family then prepared to depart, supporting the old and shepherding the young.

At that moment, Su Youpeng, Su Youxi, Su Youli, and Su Youming arrived with a group of boys from the Shui generation to help carry the luggage. There was a great advantage to having many hands: all the bundles and bags filling the courtyard were moved in a single trip.

His wife inspected the house once more. Only then did he lock the door and hand the key to Su Youpeng, asking him to keep watch over the place.

When the family reached the landing stage, their luggage had already been carried aboard and stowed securely.

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The old clan chief, the chief craftsman, and the other elders had all come to the landing stage. They had come both to see the family off and to send along congratulatory money for the wedding.

“Be sure to bring the two children back in the spring so we can have a look at them,” the old clan chief instructed.

“We paid for them, after all!” Su Daji joked, sending young and old into helpless laughter.

“Very well.” The old man could only agree through clenched teeth, thinking to himself, It seems I won’t be coming back anytime soon either.

“Cast off!” the old boatman called from the stern. Together with the young boatman at the bow, he poled the lopsided-stern boat away from the landing stage.

The clansmen waved until the boat vanished from sight, then finally turned back.

~~

Following the family rule against riding on the same boat, Su Lu and his two brothers, along with Su Youcai and his wife, did not board.

To withstand the rapids and dangerous shoals of the Red River, the lopsided-stern boats were narrow, and they were already carrying a great deal of cargo. The thought of fourteen people squeezing aboard one of them was enough to make anyone’s scalp prickle.

Naturally, their godmother rode on their eldest uncle’s horse.

The party hurried along and reached the town in only half an hour.

Taiping Town was far livelier than it had been the day before. The area around the academy was especially crowded, with at least two or three thousand people gathered there.

Today was the annual enrollment day for Taiping Academy.

Since Chun had to go to the county seat for training, he could only entrust the task of escorting the examination candidates to Su Hai and Cheng Wantang.

The examinations had already begun, so there was no point in going over now. Fortunately, Chun and Qiu had visited the village school early that morning to encourage the children and see them off.

The party went straight to the wharf, where they found that Commander Ma had indeed come to see the old man off. He had also brought a considerable amount of local produce for the old man to take along.

Two other boats at the wharf were especially eye-catching.

One flew a red flag bearing the words “Hejiang County Office.” Its boatmen were all dressed in official uniforms, and two sturdy constables stood guard aboard it.

The other boat was even more conspicuous. It was somewhat larger, and at its bow flew a tawny-yellow flag, three feet long and two feet wide, emblazoned with four striking characters:

“Summoned by Imperial Decree to Sit the Examination!”

This was clearly the boat carrying the headmaster to the capital for the metropolitan examination.

There was further proof: Zhu Zihe was standing at the bow. When he saw Su Lu approaching, he nearly smiled, but restrained himself and called into the cabin with a solemn expression, “The child prodigy has arrived.”

The cotton curtain was lifted. A middle-aged man in a blue, round-collared official robe stepped out and cupped his hands toward Su Lu with a smile.

“I am Hai Han, an instructor at Hejiang County School. By order of the county magistrate, I have come to escort the child prodigy Su to the county school to teach.”

“You flatter me beyond measure.” Su Lu hurriedly bowed in return.

Instructor Hai, speaking in a distinctive Qiongzhou accent, nodded and said in a deep voice, “It is getting late. Board the boat, and let us be on our way.”

End of Volume.