Chapter 304: Understood
Gu Yan returned much earlier than usual, and Li Xiaonan was writing a letter to her eldest sister.
“What are you writing?” Gu Yan leaned over to look.
“You can’t see!” Li Xiaonan quickly reached out to cover the letter, “It’s a letter for my eldest sister.”
“Why can’t I see a letter for your eldest sister?” Gu Yan moved to the other side.
“You’re still wearing your cloak, Wan Jing! You’re covered in cold air!” Li Xiaonan shielded the letter with both hands.
Alas, this rule of not announcing oneself also had its downsides.
“If you let me see it, I’ll leave,” Gu Yan looked down from above Li Xiaonan’s head.
“No!” Li Xiaonan leaned forward.
She was complaining about the rules of their manor.
“Fine, if you don’t want me to see it, I won’t,” Gu Yan stepped back.
Li Xiaonan visibly relaxed.
When Gu Yan came out after washing up, Li Xiaonan had already tidied away the paper and brush.
“Your letter to your eldest sister must be all good news and no bad, so why can’t I see it?” Gu Yan continued from their previous conversation.
“Eldest sister isn’t stupid; if I only report good news, she’ll worry,” Li Xiaonan replied.
“Then you’re complaining? Saying I’m bad? Or Mother is bad? Or that Jianle City is bad?” Gu Yan pressed.
Li Xiaonan glanced at him sideways and didn’t answer.
“I heard you were quite engrossed in appreciating flowers today,” Gu Yan changed the subject.
“Who told you? Wan Jing?” Li Xiaonan asked.
“Wan Jing acts like a mouse seeing a cat when she sees me; she can’t even speak coherently, so it wasn’t her.”
“Then who was it?”
“Bili,” Gu Yan answered crisply and directly.
Li Xiaonan drew out her “oh” sound.
“Bili told me, surely Mother asked her to tell me, were Wei Wu and Xiao Jiu ignoring you?” Gu Yan said.
“Why would you tell me this?” Li Xiaonan retorted.
“What do you think?”
“You know what your mother thinks, so why would she tell you this?” Li Xiaonan leaned closer and asked.
“You should learn to guess and infer Mother’s intentions.”
“Just tell me, why should I learn? I’d rather use that time to do something productive,” Li Xiaonan shot back.
Gu Yan was momentarily speechless, then chuckled, “That’s true, with me here. Mother thinks you shouldn’t just sit there, but should go talk with Wei Wu and the others. Xiao Jiu is straightforward, and Wei Wu definitely wouldn’t ignore you.”
Li Xiaonan looked at Gu Yan without speaking.
“What is it?” Gu Yan asked.
“Thinking about how to say it.”
“Just say it directly,” Gu Yan smiled.
“I didn’t interact with them because I felt that no matter what I did, or how well I treated them, it wouldn’t make any difference.”
Gu Yan raised an eyebrow.
“It’s not just Ninth Lady Pan and Fifth Lady Wei; I feel like all the young ladies in Jianle City dislike me. They dislike me not because I’m a bad person, but because I married you, such a perfect husband… this is a small price for marrying you.”
Li Xiaonan patted Gu Yan’s chest. Gu Yan’s eyebrows rose as high as they could go, then lowered as he burst into laughter.
“So, it’s my fault for implicating you,” Gu Yan put his arm around Li Xiaonan’s waist, pulling her close.
“How can this be called implicating?”
“Everyone else is happy, but one person is left out. You must have suffered a lot at the flower appreciation yesterday,” Gu Yan said, a pang of pain in his heart.
Li Xiaonan pushed herself out of Gu Yan’s embrace and turned to look at him.
“I feel sorry for you,” Gu Yan lightly tapped the tip of Li Xiaonan’s nose.
“They dislike the person who replaced Miss Shi and married you. No matter who that person is, they wouldn’t like her; it’s about the situation, not the person. Besides,”
Li Xiaonan paused, “Before, when we were in the village, the villagers disliked us, especially me. They all thought I was a monster. Later, when we moved to Pingjiang City, I still had no friends. They looked at me like I was a monster. I married you, so I am indeed a monster, right? I’m used to it. If all the young ladies and wives in Jianle City liked me, I really wouldn’t know what to do.”
“I only worried that you would be sad and depressed because of it, and harm your health. Otherwise, nothing else matters. Now that you’ve thought it through so clearly, then there’s nothing to worry about,” Gu Yan said earnestly, looking at Li Xiaonan.
“Is this what you were writing to your eldest sister about?” Gu Yan glanced at Li Xiaonan.
“No, it’s about yesterday when your mother and Shen Momo were talking. Your mother said that if we have children in the future, she’ll take them to raise as soon as they’re born. You know what your mother meant, right?” Li Xiaonan lowered her voice.
“Mm,” Gu Yan’s heart sank. “You’re telling your eldest sister about this? While it’s true you shouldn’t only report good news, how can you tell her such gossip?”
“Mei Jie has a cat, and even when I fed that cat, Eldest Sister was worried, saying: ‘Hey, don’t feed it until it’s sick!’ Even if I feed the cat a small dried fish, Eldest Sister isn’t at ease. Do you think she’d be at ease letting me raise a child?” Li Xiaonan patted Gu Yan’s chest.
“If Eldest Sister were here when your mother said that, she would definitely clap her hands and agree: ‘Yes, yes, yes, that’s exactly what I think!'”
Gu Yan looked at Li Xiaonan speechlessly.
……………………
Seeing Gu Yan enter, Zhou Shennian quickly stood up and handed the letter in his hand to Gu Yan.
“Young Lord, please take a look at this letter. It just arrived.”
“Who is it from?” Gu Yan took it.
“An old friend from Jiangnan,” Zhou Shennian smiled.
Since arriving in Jianle City, he had reconnected with almost all his old friends and classmates from Jiangnan, exchanging letters and gathering information about major and minor events in Jiangnan.
Gu Yan read quickly.
The letter mentioned only one thing: it was heard that the Young Lord’s Consort, Madam Li of the Li Family, was negotiating with the Jiangnan Silk General Store to introduce fine cloth into the silk shops and major silk stores under the Jiangnan Silk General Store. It was said that Old Shopkeeper He from Linhai Town had made the connection.
“Has the Young Lord’s Consort mentioned this to you?” Zhou Shennian asked.
“A Nan hasn’t been involved in business matters for a long time. What do you think about this?” Gu Yan asked.
“I think Old Shopkeeper He’s letter should arrive in the next couple of days. Shall we read Old Shopkeeper He’s letter first?” Zhou Shennian asked Gu Yan.
“He Chengzhe’s letter…” Gu Yan didn’t finish speaking, then suddenly asked, “How did Dong Xi die?”
“They say he died of illness,” Zhou Shennian cautiously watched Gu Yan’s expression. “If Dong Xi had stayed in Jianle City, he might have had a chance. He shouldn’t have gone back.”
“He went back because his heart was set on something,” Gu Yan gave a faint hum. “All his efforts in studying were wasted on fanciful thoughts.”
The next day, He Chengzhe’s letter arrived.
The letter detailed Li Jinzhu’s cooperation with the Jiangnan Silk General Store.
The reason was that Li Jinzhu noticed an increasing number of men trading fine cloth with them. Li Jinzhu consulted He Chengzhe. The reason for the increasing number of men was that Li Jinzhu had set a high price for buying fine cloth, making the profit from weaving fine cloth very large, thus attracting men from various families. Not only were there more men buying fine cloth and selling cotton thread, but even the number of men attending the weaving school increased.
Li Jinzhu wanted to reserve the livelihood of weaving fine cloth for poor women. He Chengzhe suggested that Li Jinzhu lower the price of buying fine cloth, transferring the profit to the sale of fine cloth. This would also leave enough profit for traveling merchants and shops, garment factories, etc., to be willing to do business with fine cloth. He also suggested that Li Jinzhu cooperate with the Jiangnan Silk General Store.
Li Jinzhu’s negotiations with the Jiangnan Silk General Store went smoothly.
Finally, He Chengzhe suggested that Li Jinzhu take the lead in establishing the Jiangnan Cotton Cloth Guild, so that they wouldn’t have their business taken away by the Jiangnan Silk General Store in the future, or be controlled by them.
Gu Yan and Zhou Shennian discussed until late at night. When Gu Yan returned to the manor, Li Xiaonan was already asleep. Although Gu Yan had a stomach full of questions and things he wanted to tell Li Xiaonan immediately, he didn’t wake her, as these were not urgent matters that couldn’t wait.
