The group of four returned to the second-floor cabin.
Song Shi’an and Jiang Chun’s cabin was at the stern, while Han Xiao and his wife’s cabin was at the bow. It was a top-class cabin, not only larger but also fully furnished, and even came with a small kitchen.
“Song-xiong, sao-furen [Elder brother’s wife], please have a seat.”
After entering the cabin, Han Xiao warmly invited Song Shi’an and Jiang Chun to sit, then hurriedly sent the maidservants to boil water and brew tea.
Even if Jiang Chun was slow-witted, she also realized that this man called Han Yanqing and Song Shi’an not only knew each other but also seemed very familiar.
She glanced sideways at his niangzi, slightly curled her lips, and didn’t have much good impression of this noblewoman who would make the servant women scold people at the drop of a hat.
If she had known this person was such an unreasonable and overbearing character, she definitely wouldn’t have, in a moment of sharp tongue, retorted back. She would have chosen to endure in silence.
Endure for a moment, and the winds and waves will be calm. Anyway, Song Shi’an would have great prospects in the future, so she could just get her revenge then.
That Han Yanqing was a man who knew propriety. He stood up and directly made a long bow towards Jiang Chun.
With an apologetic face, he said, “My niangzi’s temper is impatient, her conduct rash, for no reason she offended sao-furen, this is her fault, I apologize on her behalf to sao-furen. I ask sao-furen, with great magnanimity, not to hold it against her.”
Before Jiang Chun could respond, Qiu-shi directly “scraped” up in a flash and loudly shouted, “Han Xiao, what are you doing?! If we must apologize, I’ll do it myself, no need for you to help me!”
“Han Xiao?” Jiang Chun heard this name and was momentarily speechless.
So this Han Yanqing was actually Han Xiao? Then the young niangzi beside him, who was jumping up and down, was his niangzi Qiu-shi?
In the original book, Han Xiao didn’t have much of a role, but his niangzi Qiu-shi would jump out every few days to find trouble with the female lead Zhong Wenjin, like an undying cockroach.
The reason was because the male lead Song Shirui’s former fiancée was none other than Qiu-shi’s legitimate younger sister, Qiu Er-guniang. After the Song family fell into hardship, the Qiu family quickly dissolved the marriage engagement.
When the Song family was cleared of wrongdoing, and Song Shirui entered the Jinyiwei [Embroidered Uniform Guard], becoming a proper fourth-rank Jinyiwei Commandant, it just so happened that Qiu Er-guniang’s fiancé died of illness. The Qiu family again set their sights on him.
They sent people to pass a message to Song Shirui, saying Qiu Er-guniang didn’t mind being a secondary wife.
The implied meaning: let him get rid of Zhong Wenjin, this first wife of humble countryside background, and remarry Qiu Er-guniang.
Of course, Song Shirui would never agree. Not to mention he genuinely liked Zhong Wenjin, even if he had no feelings for her, the Song family would never again ally themselves with a family like the Qiu family that was so skilled at opportunism and switching sides.
After being rejected, Qiu Er-guniang harbored hatred for Zhong Wenjin, but she had a weak temperament, and only dared to curse a few words in front of her mother and elder sister.
The younger sister was weak, but the elder sister was the type to pinch at the tip and refuse to be outdone.
Thus, the elder sister Qiu-shi, who stood up for her younger sister, became a professional troublemaker for the female lead, a jumping clown who never gained the upper hand, yet repeatedly leaped out to cause mischief.
But her troublemaking was purely picking a fight, never harboring malicious intentions to harm people, so the female lead couldn’t directly kill or cripple her.
Like a fly, buzzing around the female lead, disgusting to the extreme.
After a year or two of this, Song Shirui finally got fed up and personally went to find his brother-in-law, having Han Xiao transferred out of the capital, sent far away to be an official in Fujian. Only then did Zhong Wenjin’s ears finally get some peace.
She didn’t expect to encounter this husband-and-wife pair on the ship to Hangzhou Prefecture at this moment.
Song Shi’an spoke indifferently: “No need to apologize. The two of you are officials and an official’s wife. My niangzi, a mere commoner, does not have such an honor.”
These words made Han Xiao break out in cold sweat. He hurriedly turned sideways, bowed again to Song Shi’an, and said with an awkward laugh, “Song-xiong, please don’t say such things that would humble me.”
Qiu-shi, seeing her husband so humble, bit her lip, and unwillingly performed a curtsey towards Jiang Chun, reluctantly saying, “To have offended niangzi, it was my fault. I ask niangzi to forgive me, if only a little.”
Jiang Chun immediately stood up, smiled and said: “Niangzi, please don’t humble me like this, it was merely a quarrel, I didn’t take it to heart at all, there’s really no need for this.”
Song Shi’an had already said it: they were officials and an official’s wife, how could she, a commoner, dare to argue with them?
Besides, she didn’t suffer a loss—those who suffered losses were the group of servant women she knocked down to the ground.
Reasonably speaking, it should have been her, the one who hit others, to apologize instead. After all, under someone else’s roof, one has no choice but to bow one’s head. But since Song Shi’an didn’t say it, she just played dumb.
Seeing his own niangzi apologize, Han Xiao let out a breath of relief and chuckled: “Isn’t this a case of not fighting, not getting to know each other? Haha, let’s just leave it at that, everyone sit, everyone sit, haha.”
“Langjun’s words are right, not fighting, not getting to know each other, this too can be counted as fate.” Jiang Chun echoed, and took the lead to sit down.
Han Xiao and Qiu-shi also followed and sat down.
Just as they sat down, Han Xiao scooted a bit closer to Song Shi’an, and asked: “Song-xiong, are you heading to Hangzhou Prefecture?”
Song Shi’an didn’t answer directly, instead asked back: “You’ve been transferred to the south?”
Heir to the Marquis of Jinxiang Lu Shuyu was his classmate and close friend at the Imperial Academy. Han Xiao was Lu Shuyu’s younger male cousin, and through the Marquis of Jinxiang household’s connections, he had entered the Imperial Academy. He would stick to Lu Shuyu like a follower, trailing behind his biao-xiong [Maternal elder male cousin], and over time, had become somewhat familiar in his eyes as well.
The three of them had participated in the provincial exam the same year. He himself had passed at the top as zhuangyuan, Han Xiao by dogshit luck had barely passed as the last ranked jinshi, and Lu Shuyu had failed completely.
Afterward, he entered the Hanlin Academy; Han Xiao hadn’t made it as a shujishi, and was assigned by the Ministry of Personnel to a small county in Hebei as a county magistrate.
It had been almost three years now. Seeing him on a passenger ship heading south, it was most likely that he had been transferred for a new position.
Han Xiao puffed out his chest and, with a hint of pride, said: “Yes, this year I received an ‘excellent’ in my performance evaluation, and coincidentally the Tongpan (vice magistrate) of Shaoxing Prefecture suffered a stroke and became paralyzed. The prefect submitted a request for retirement on his behalf, and the Ministry of Personnel sent me to fill the vacancy.”
Shaoxing Prefecture’s Tongpan?
Jiang Chun heard this and looked at Song Shi’an; the two of them exchanged a glance.
Well, wasn’t this a coincidence?
She had been worried about being unfamiliar with the place—if by chance it was too difficult to buy out Song Shi’an’s tangmei Song Shiyin from the brothel, if the old procuress was too stubborn to let her go, or if she asked for an outrageous sum like several thousand taels of silver, what would they do then?
Now, having a familiar face as the second-in-command of Shaoxing Prefecture, and seeing how this person treated Song Shi’an, who had fallen on hard times, with such deference—if they really ran into trouble, they could ask him for help, and he probably wouldn’t refuse.
Thinking of this, she looked at the troublemaking Qiu-shi sitting beside her, and suddenly found her much more pleasing to the eye.
Most likely Song Shi’an had also thought of this, as he actually cupped his hands to Han Xiao and showed a slight smile at the corner of his lips: “Congratulations to Han-xiong on your promotion.”
Han Xiao was immediately overwhelmed by the unexpected favor.
Song Shi’an—Song Qingzhi, this person had always been cold and aloof, and during the three years they were classmates, he had spoken no more than ten sentences to him.
Even that time when he was pulled out of Jinming Lake by him, hugging his legs and weeping bitterly, the other had only said a few more words: “A proper man, crying and wailing like this, what kind of behavior is that?”
And now he was actually smiling as he congratulated him on his promotion. Han Xiao felt as if he were in a dream.
Dazed for quite a while, he finally snapped back to his senses and brought up the previous topic: “Song-xiong and sao-furen, where do you intend to go?”
Since they intended to rely on the light of this Shaoxing Prefecture Tongpan, Song Shi’an no longer concealed it and truthfully said: “I asked around and heard that my tangmei was sold into a brothel in Shaoxing Prefecture. Fortunately, she has not yet come of age and has not yet received clients. My niangzi and I have saved up some silver, planning to go there and redeem her.”
Before Han Xiao could react, Qiu-shi had already cried out in surprise: “Song Shiyin was sold into a brothel in Shaoxing Prefecture?!”
Song Shi’an nodded good-naturedly and said: “Yes.”
Qiu-shi “tsk”ed.
They were all the capital’s high officials and noble families, often running into each other on various occasions, so the Qiu family had quite the understanding of the Song family’s womenfolk.
The girls of the Song family, each and every one, were all exceptional great family’s noble daughters, and among them, the youngest of this generation, Song Shiyin, had the most outstanding appearance.
However…
She stole a glance at Song Shi’an.
If speaking of peerless beauty, this Song family’s eldest young master was truly the peerless one.
Song Shiyin, when viewed alone, was astonishingly beautiful, but when standing next to her eldest male cousin, she would instantly pale in comparison.
She then shifted her gaze towards Jiang Chun.
This fellow had a melon-seed face, apricot-shaped eyes, cherry-like mouth, indeed born quite good-looking, with long legs and tall stature.
But just looking at her appearance, those who didn’t know might think she was a delicate little lady. Who would have known she was a rough woman who would beat people up at the drop of a hat?
Han Xiao didn’t even wait for Song Shi’an to speak, already slapping his chest and confidently declaring:
“Brother Song, rest assured, this matter of redeeming the person, leave it to me. I am, after all, the Tongpan of Shaoxing Prefecture, the first-ranked below the Prefect. How could I not be able to handle this small matter of redeeming someone from the brothel?”
Song Shi’an stood up, cupped his hands towards him, and sincerely said: “Brother Han, such great kindness, I, Song, will remember it in my heart.”
Although they were all old acquaintances, old acquaintances were not all the same.
Lu Zhengheng, who was obsessed with his own paintings, was willing to step out to help smooth over Jiang Chun’s troubles for the sake of the paintings, and also willing to pay a high price to buy his paintings.
But all of this was done secretly.
Usually, he didn’t even dare to interact with himself, for fear of attracting the eyes of Noble Consort Liu’s faction, and dragging in the Fanyang Lu clan.
Whereas Han Xiao didn’t even consider avoiding suspicion with himself. Not only did he invite him to his cabin to chat, but also proactively took on the task of redeeming the person.
Perhaps he regarded himself as a friend?
Friend and old acquaintance—after all, the meaning was different.
Forget it, for the sake of this sentiment, in the future, if his wife provokes Second Brother’s couple and gets targeted by Second Brother, he would lend him a hand.
Han Xiao, as if his butt had been scalded, quickly jumped up to support Song Shi’an, his mouth full of flustered words: “A mere lift of a finger, how can it be counted as great kindness? If we’re to speak of great kindness, you saving my little life, now that’s truly great kindness.”
Jiang Chun raised her eyebrows—
No wonder this fellow didn’t avoid suspicion and even proactively offered help. So it turns out Song Shi’an had once saved his little life.
That made a lot of sense.
If he was afraid of being implicated and avoided Song Shi’an like the plague, that would be ungrateful.
Although in this world, there were plenty of people who repaid kindness with ingratitude, there would always be a few exceptions.
As they spoke, the maid presented tea, and Han Xiao pulled Song Shi’an to sit down, repeatedly offering the lidded teacup.