That night, Zhen Niang kept thinking about the contents of Luo Wenqian’s letter.
Early the next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Zhen Niang woke up, dressed, and pushed open her door. The outer room was Xi’er’s bedroom.
After the family’s financial situation had improved, though they couldn’t afford to buy a new house, they renovated the existing rooms and demolished the old woodshed to build a large room divided into two – the inner room became Zhen Niang’s bedroom, and the outer room became Xi’er’s.
This arrangement made their living space considerably more spacious.
“Xi’er, wake up, you need to go to the clan school soon,” Zhen Niang said, patting the still-mumbling Xi’er.
With the family’s improved finances, they naturally couldn’t let Xi’er’s education go to waste, so they enrolled him in the clan school a few days ago.
“Second Sister, it’s still early, the sun has barely risen,” the boy grumbled, being at the age where he most enjoyed sleeping in.
“It’s not early anymore. By the time you get up, wash up, and eat breakfast, it’ll be just right,” Zhen Niang glared at him.
Xi’er had no choice but to get up, still mumbling under his breath.
Indeed, after washing up and eating breakfast, as the two walked toward the ink factory, though it was early, it wasn’t too early anymore.
The Li clan school was next to the ink factory. The entire Li clan was concentrated in one area, with the main house of the Seventh Branch – the legitimate line of the Li family – at its center. The ink factory was beside it, and Ninth Uncle’s house was on the other side of the factory. Originally, Zhen Niang’s family had also lived in this area, but due to the enormous losses from that year’s incident, the Eighth Branch had compensated the Seventh Branch with their house here, forcing them to move to the area near the city gate.
The clan school was behind the ink factory, and all Li clan members or children of ink factory workers could study there.
The teacher at the clan school was an elderly graduate who, though not a famous literary figure, taught in a proper and orthodox manner. A few years ago, one of the Li clan’s children had even passed the imperial examination to become a xiucai. He was considered quite a good teacher.
Unfortunately, among the Fourth, Sixth, and Seventh Branches of the Li family, while many had talent for ink making, few had talent for scholarship. The highest achievement had been a xiucai degree, achieved by young Wenyou’s father.
As for Xi’er, the family didn’t expect him to achieve any great scholarly success; they just wanted him to become educated and understand proper principles.
At this moment, as the siblings entered the ink factory, it was still early, and the workers hadn’t arrived yet, making the factory seem empty. Only from the eastern warehouse came the sound of running footsteps and heavy breathing.
Zhen Niang looked over and saw it was young Wenyou. This boy was not to be underestimated. Since Zhen Niang had told him to exercise, he had been running laps around the eastern warehouse every morning, never missing a day.
“I’m going to run a few laps too!” Xi’er said, clutching his books as he ran to catch up with Wenyou. He overtook him and looked back smugly.
Zhen Niang gave him an exasperated look. As the boy had just started running properly, she walked slowly beside Wenyou and gave him a thumbs up.
Seeing this, Wenyou’s eyes curved into crescents with joy, though a moment later he seemed to remember something and composed his face. Zhen Niang just smiled faintly.
“Little Uncle is going to clan school now, right?” Wenyou suddenly asked, referring to Xi’er. Though they were only a year apart in age, there was no help for it – Xi’er was of a higher generation.
Zhen Niang glanced at him: “Yes, isn’t Young Master Wenyou going too?”
“Mother hired a tutor to teach me at home,” Wenyou replied.
“It’s better to study at the clan school,” Zhen Niang said.
“Why?”
“Studying at home is studying, and studying at clan school is also studying. But at home, you can’t make friends, while at clan school you can. A hero needs his helpers – when you grow up and want to accomplish things, you can’t do it without friends. A lone wolf can’t succeed. Haven’t you seen in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms how they had the Brotherhood of the Peach Garden?” Zhen Niang explained with a smile.
Hearing Zhen Niang’s words, Wenyou fell into deep thought.
Zhen Niang said no more, just reminded Xi’er to go to the clan school by himself while she entered the Li mansion. As usual, every morning she would go to the Seventh Branch to check on Seventh Grandmother.
In the small room beside the Buddhist shrine, Seventh Grandmother remained unconscious.
Looking at her, Zhen Niang thought about Luo Wenqian’s letter. In his letter, Luo Wenqian had said that Seventh Grandmother might have other arrangements for the Li ink factory, though Zhen Niang couldn’t imagine what those might be. After all, Luo Wenqian was just speculating. As they say, even a fool’s thousand thoughts must contain one good idea, and even a wise person’s thousand thoughts must contain one mistake.
Seventh Grandmother couldn’t have arranged everything perfectly, Zhen Niang thought.
However, none of this mattered much to Zhen Niang. As long as the Li ink business didn’t fall into Li Jincai’s hands, whether Uncle Jingdong or the Seventh Branch took over, as long as the Li ink legacy continued unbroken, there would be no regrets.
“Zhen Niang, come out and let your Seventh Grandmother rest peacefully,” Madam Chen said from the side.
Zhen Niang nodded and walked to the outer room with Madam Chen. She then took out the account books and explained the ink factory’s operating conditions to Madam Chen one by one, then took out a portion of the recent profits from the ink sales and handed it to Madam Chen.
“Zhen Niang, what are you doing? The ink factory is still struggling,” Madam Chen declined.
“First Aunt, please accept it. Though the ink factory may be struggling, our daily lives aren’t easy either. What do we earn money for if not to live better? We don’t know how much Seventh Grandmother’s illness will cost, and then there are everyone’s daily expenses. This money might not be much, but the ink factory is improving now, and things should get better in the future,” Zhen Niang said.
“Ah, alright then, I’ll accept it,” Madam Chen didn’t stand on ceremony and put the money in the cabinet. Running the household wasn’t easy, and Zhen Niang’s money had solved her urgent need.
At the same time, she sighed inwardly, thinking that the old madam’s judgment had indeed been good – Zhen Niang hadn’t failed her trust.
“Also, First Aunt, Young Master Wenyou is eight years old now. Grandfather started teaching me about smoke when I was five, so I was thinking, perhaps we could set aside some time each day for Young Master Wenyou to learn at the ink factory. The way of ink-making can’t be learned in a day or two. Though it’s somewhat difficult, a man’s path should be challenging – that’s how one develops the ability to shoulder responsibility,” Zhen Niang added, borrowing a phrase from Luo Wenqian’s letter.
“Good, good, I’ll arrange it,” Madam Chen was somewhat excited by Zhen Niang’s words. She understood well enough what Zhen Niang was doing – she was grooming Wenyou.
Zhen Niang smiled and nodded. As they were talking, the voices of several aunts could be heard from outside.
It turned out that Li Jincai had sent over several baskets of watermelons, and Madam Tian was having people put them in the well in the back garden to cool.
Zhen Niang followed Madam Chen out.
“Zhen Niang, that Li Jincai is your uncle after all, how could you have him working in the smoke room? That kind of rough work – how can you let your uncle do it? Wouldn’t that make your Aunt Jinhua lose face?” Madam Tian, seeing Zhen Niang come out, spoke up somewhat indignantly.
Since entering the ink factory, Li Jincai had kept a low profile, but he had been quite attentive to the several madams of the Seventh Branch, winning their favor, especially Madam Tian’s.
“Third Aunt, Uncle Jinhua is a manager in the smoke room. How does that make Aunt Jinhua lose face? When Uncle Jingdong first entered the ink factory, he wasn’t even as well-positioned as Uncle Jinhua – he was just a proper apprentice.”
Zhen Niang continued, changing her tone: “As for learning about smoke, everyone in the ink factory has to learn it. In the ink factory, understanding smoke is fundamental. If one doesn’t even know about smoke and can’t distinguish good materials from bad, how can one do well in later stages? Moreover, Uncle Jinhua also works in the accounting office. Though he has more responsibilities, we hope Uncle Jinhua can adapt quickly to help the ink factory. Aunt Jinhua understands this and agrees with it.”
Of course, in Zhen Niang’s heart, she had already marked Li Jincai for close watching.
That so-called manager position was assistant manager. Zhen Niang had deliberately arranged for him to be in Er’gou’s smoke room, where the smoke master had the best technique among all the smoke room masters. Even when Zhen Niang went there, she had been given a stern reception. Now that Li Jincai was there with no skills, he couldn’t manage others; he could only honestly learn the techniques first.
As for the accounting office, since Zhen Niang had taken over the ink factory, she had established a rule that every entry in the accounts must be cross-audited. Even if Li Jincai wanted to play tricks, he couldn’t.