Chapter 52: A Young Couple
Li Xiaonan stood beside the woman and craned her neck to look at the abacus.
The woman instinctively dodged to the side, turned her head to look, and seeing it was a little girl, she smiled slightly. Just as she was about to focus on the abacus again, Li Xiaonan met the woman’s slight smile with her own, beaming, and pointed behind her, “That master asked us to come and take a look.”
“It’s our Young Lord, not ‘that master’!” Wan Jing frowned and corrected.
“Young Lord?” As the woman turned, she tapped twice on A Wu’s stilts with her knuckles.
A Wu jumped down from the stilts with incredible agility, startling both Li Xiaonan and Wan Jing.
“No need, no need, that…” Li Xiaonan waved her hands to stop him, but it was too late.
“You can look, but why mention our Young Lord!” Wan Jing glared at Li Xiaonan with a frown.
They were given this task of just looking, and they were supposed to look quietly. This little girl had blurted out the Young Lord’s name right away. A Wu was standing so high up, so conspicuous, and with that jump down, their Young Lord, being so sharp, would surely know they had called A Wu down!
Alas, she wondered if the Young Lord would blame them for being too presumptuous. This little girl wasn’t from their manor, and she was a blunt, country girl. This matter definitely couldn’t be blamed on her, so it must be her own fault…
“I didn’t mention the Young Lord, you did!” Li Xiaonan retorted.
A Wu placed a hand on the woman’s shoulder and, together with her, watched Wan Jing and Li Xiaonan bicker.
“We were just looking, you didn’t need to call him down,” Li Xiaonan turned to the woman.
“I saw the Young Lord, he’s over there. What are you two looking at?” A Wu asked with a smile, sizing up Wan Jing and Li Xiaonan.
“To see how loudly she’s calculating on her abacus, what she’s calculating,” Li Xiaonan pointed at the abacus the woman was holding.
“Calculating the cargo manifest. You two?” The woman smiled, looking at Li Xiaonan, then at Wan Jing.
Below Li Xiaonan’s indigo half-skirt, half of a plain white pair of trousers was visible, and she wore an indigo short jacket. Both were made of coarse, home-woven cloth. Her hair was braided into two pigtails wrapped around her head. Her attire was that of a poor person, just like theirs.
Wan Jing, on the other hand, was dressed in fine silk clothes, wore a gold bracelet on her wrist, and her double buns were glossy. Each was adorned with a string of excellent pearls. She was extremely wealthy.
These two people didn’t look like they were from the same family.
“We both came with that Young Lord. He said,” Li Xiaonan pointed in Gu Yan’s direction, “that today is your first day in charge of the wharf?”
Li Xiaonan stood on tiptoe and looked at the porters nearby, who were carrying heavy loads and moving with quick steps.
“Yes, it was the Young Lord who gave him the opportunity. His surname is Yao, Yao Wu. I am his older cousin. My surname is Wang, my given name is Yuting.” Wang Yuting introduced herself first.
“My surname is Li, Li Xiaonan. She is called Wan Jing, ‘Wan’ meaning evening, ‘Zha’ meaning illuminate, ‘Qing’ meaning clear sky.” Li Xiaonan also introduced herself.
“My surname is Du,” Wan Jing added with a smile.
“What does your Young Lord want to see?” Wang Yuting held her breath slightly and asked cautiously.
“Just now, I said the wharf was quite chaotic, and that Young Lord said…”
“You can’t repeat the Young Lord’s words without permission!” Wan Jing reached out to cover Li Xiaonan’s mouth.
“I’m not from your manor!” Li Xiaonan pushed Wan Jing’s hand away, looked at Wang Yuting, and continued, “He said that since it’s your first day taking over, it’s quite good that it’s only this chaotic.”
Wan Jing blinked her eyes, then after a moment, she let out an “oh” and fell silent.
That was true. She wasn’t from their manor. She could even be considered the Young Lord’s teacher. Whatever she wanted to say, she could say.
A Wu chuckled, and Wang Yuting let out a long sigh, also smiling.
“Then what do you want to see? You have to report back, right?” Wang Yuting became noticeably more lively.
“To see how you calculate the cargo manifest,” Li Xiaonan leaned in to look at the large cloth bag Wang Yuting carried on her back. The corner of the bag revealed a thick stack of papers sewn together. The stack was messy, with all sorts of paper.
“This records how many ships arrived from early this morning, what tonnage they were, what cargo they carried, and how long it took to unload,” Wang Yuting took out the messy stack of papers and handed it to Li Xiaonan.
“We’ve never had to manage the entire wharf before, so we never paid attention to where the delays in unloading cargo occurred. Today, we had to figure it out as we went along,” Wang Yuting paused, glanced at A Wu, lowered her voice slightly, and smiled, “Tell your Young Lord that tomorrow will definitely be better than today.”
“No need to say it, he’s seen it all. He’s very sharp,” Li Xiaonan pointed behind her.
“The Young Lord is just. The more just a person is, the sharper they should be,” A Wu said in a hoarse voice.
“Insightful, great wisdom!” Li Xiaonan looked at Wan Jing and praised A Wu.
Wan Jing rolled her eyes at Li Xiaonan.
This praise should be given in front of the Young Lord. What use is it telling her?
“Miss Xiaonan, try some of this,” Wang Yuting reached into her cloth bag and pulled out a small cloth pouch, handing it to Li Xiaonan. “Fried soybeans, a common dish from my hometown. Please try some, Miss.”
Li Xiaonan looked at the pouch of fried soybeans, which was only half full. She wanted to decline, but before she could speak, she changed her mind. “Soybeans can be fried and eaten? Then I’ll try some.”
Li Xiaonan took the pouch, opened it, picked out a few beans, and put them in her mouth. She then offered the pouch to Wan Jing, “You try some too.”
“You can’t eat while on duty,” Wan Jing pushed it away grumpily.
“They’re really delicious. I’m taking them all,” Li Xiaonan withdrew her hand, tightened the pouch, and held it.
“If Miss Xiaonan likes them, I’ll fry more next time and bring them,” Wang Yuting smiled like a flower.
“Are you done looking?” Wan Jing frowned and pointed at Li Xiaonan.
“Done. Let’s go back. Goodbye,” Li Xiaonan waved goodbye to Wang Yuting and A Wu.
Wan Jing pushed Li Xiaonan, walked a few steps, then looked back. Seeing that A Wu had already climbed back onto the stilts, she pushed Li Xiaonan another two steps and said in a low voice, “What kind of person are you! Greedy and clueless! These fried soybeans were definitely something they brought to stave off hunger. A handful of soybeans could save a life! They gave them to you, and you just took them?”
“If I hadn’t taken them, those two wouldn’t have felt at ease. I took the soybeans, and look how happy Wang Yuting is smiling. You’re the one who’s clueless!” Li Xiaonan retorted.
Wan Jing raised her eyebrows, then after a moment, she let out a “ha.”
“Do you have any silver?” Li Xiaonan looked at the embroidered sachet on Wan Jing’s waist.
“What do you want to do?”
“Since you’re afraid they’re hungry, if you have silver, we can buy some braised meat or oil-crisp cakes and send them over,” Li Xiaonan turned back and pointed at A Wu, who was standing on stilts.
“I’m on duty!” Wan Jing retorted grumpily.
Li Xiaonan let out an “oh.”
Right, she was on duty. You couldn’t do personal errands during work hours, especially in the service industry.
