As the daylight faded, the clouds gradually thickened, and darkness fell earlier than usual. Wind rose over the river, wave after wave slapping against the hull. It looked as though rain was on its way.
The ship from Zhiyun Trading House slowly approached the shore and stopped at the ferry crossing of a small town.
The town was not large, and the ferry crossing was even more modest, with only a few tiled houses and a small, two-story inn. The people from the two cargo ships, Zhiyun Trading House and Jincheng Trading House, came ashore together. Shiphands, workers, and accompanying guards—several dozen people in all—streamed down from the vessels, making the little ferry crossing suddenly bustling with activity.
Shen Guanting was resting in a private room upstairs at the inn. It was called a private room, though in truth it was merely a clean room facing the street. Opening the window gave one a clear view of the road below and the ferry crossing.
In the main hall downstairs, traveling merchants and shiphands gathered together, ordering food and wine and sitting in groups of two or three. It was Qingming today, and those away from home felt especially homesick. They had all added a few extra cups of wine for themselves, claiming it was to ease their longing.
“We’ve been away for half a month now. I wonder how things are at home,” someone sighed.
“Exactly. In past years, we could still go home to burn incense at the graves during Qingming. This year, all we can do is burn a few sheets of spirit paper by the river.”
“Be grateful. At least we can still have a cup of wine. Those still drifting along on the river can’t even get a hot meal.”
“Hey, did you see those two big cargo ships that docked today? Where are they from?”
“From Huzhou. Zhiyun Trading House and Jincheng Trading House—famous names.”
“Oh, Huzhou…” The speaker drew out the words.
Hearing his tone, the man beside him leaned closer. “You sound as if you know something, old brother?”
The man glanced around and lowered his voice. “I hear Huzhou has been quite lively lately. People from the palace have arrived, and so have people from Yunyan Tower. Who knows what important matter has brought them there?”
“People from the palace and people from Yunyan Tower? Why are they traveling separately?”
“Who knows? Perhaps neither side trusts the other, or perhaps they’re competing over something.”
Someone gave a couple of mocking chuckles but said nothing.
“Who cares whether they trust each other or not? That lady’s reach is long enough as it is. Her business stretches across the entire realm, and she still isn’t satisfied?”
He did not spell it out, but everyone present understood. The founding emperor had established the rule that relatives of the imperial family were not to interfere in government affairs. Yet this particular lady had not only built a thriving business empire—she was no less formidable in other matters.
Shen Qi climbed the stairs, each wooden step creaking beneath his feet. He raised his head toward the warm, muted light spilling through the lattice window of the private room. It was quiet and still, seeming completely detached from the liveliness below.
This journey of his young master’s was about far more than transporting goods to the capital. He had also taken along a few messages.
If those messages reached the capital, the censors would have more than enough to keep them busy.
Neither of the palace’s two most powerful ladies would have any peace.
After the Qingming Festival, the rain began to fall again in a soft, drizzling curtain.
Fortunately, Lin Jing had already flown his kite, so he was no longer thinking about it. He returned cheerfully to take up his duties as the shop’s little master.
As usual, Lin Wu went to open the shop early in the morning. With Fourth Sister He’s help the day before, they now had an extra pair of hands, and the difference was unmistakable. Everything moved much more quickly. Lin Wu therefore discussed the matter with Fourth Sister He, suggesting that if she had the time, she could come regularly in the future and be paid by the day.
Fourth Sister He readily agreed. There were only herself and Li Shu at home, and now that the child was older and spent his days at school, she was bored staying home alone. Helping out at the shop would be much livelier.
As the sky gradually brightened, Lin Jing came bouncing over, with Fourth Sister He following behind him.
The moment the little figure entered, he ducked behind the counter and began counting money, arranging bamboo strips, and wiping down the counter. He handled the entire set of tasks with practiced ease.
Lin Wu was busy spreading pancakes on the griddle. As her hands worked, she glanced toward the street. The tofu shop next door was closed today. The middle-aged couple who ran it were usually diligent, opening early and closing late without ever taking a day off. It was strange to see their doors firmly shut.
Just as she was wondering about it, the owner of the shop next door came to buy a pancake and happened to solve the mystery.
“The couple went back to their hometown for Qingming and won’t be coming back,” the owner said, taking the pancake and biting into it. “They built a new house back home. Their son got married, and they’ve even gained a grandson. The two of them went back happily to look after the little one. From now on, they’ll run a tofu shop in the village instead of coming into town.”
Lin Wu nodded and was about to respond when the owner continued, “Shopkeeper Lin, your business is getting better and better, and you’ve got more and more customers. Your shop must be getting too cramped to manage, right?”
“It is a little crowded.” Lin Wu answered honestly. The cramped conditions were plain for all to see.
The owner gestured toward his own shop. “You could rent mine. Then you could put out a few tables and chairs, which would make things much more convenient. Your business is doing well, and it’s bringing more foot traffic to my place too. I come over to buy your pancakes all the time, so I’ll give you a favorable rent.”
Lin Wu did not agree at once.
What he said was true. Their current shop really was too small. With Fourth Sister He now working beside the counter, Lin Wu could barely turn around in front of the griddle. The weather was not yet hot, so they could still manage for the time being. But once summer arrived and they began making chilled cakes and iced drinks, there would hardly be room to put anything.
The problem was that the two shops belonged to different owners. They would have to discuss carefully whether the dividing wall could be knocked through. If it could not, the wall between them would create all kinds of inconvenience.
Seeing her hesitation, the owner was in no hurry. He merely smiled. “Take your time and think it over. But I should warn you—your pancake shop is doing so well that the foot traffic next door has improved too, and this shop will be easy to rent out. It won’t wait forever. Still, if Shopkeeper Lin wants it, you’ll be the first person I offer it to.”
“Then thank you in advance,” Lin Wu said with a nod.
Lin Jing had been lying across the counter listening to them. He suddenly chimed in, “Once our stuffed-toy business takes off and we make enough money, we’ll buy a bigger shop!”
His tiny face was filled with lofty ambition, and the shop owner burst out laughing.
“Good! Once you buy a bigger shop, I’ll come patronize you every day.”
The children’s stuffed-toy business was actually taking shape quite impressively. They were not merely talking about it.
That very afternoon, they took over the table beneath the awning. Several pairs of little hands appeared, and copper coins came tumbling onto the tabletop with a clatter.
Qi Lang was the most extravagant of them all. He reached into his purse and pulled out two golden beans, which rolled across the table, bright and gleaming.
Sparrow was quick to react and pressed a hand over them. “No, no! That’s far too much!”
“I have money. We’re doing big business!” Qi Lang declared, patting his little chest proudly.
“Having money doesn’t mean you can spend it like this!” Sparrow stuffed the golden beans back into his purse. “One hundred copper coins each. No more.”
Qi Lang could only take out a single silver coin worth one qian. It was just a tiny bean of silver, and he placed it on the table with a pitiful look.
Lin Jing turned his own bulging little money pouch upside down. Several strings of copper coins spilled out, making quite a substantial pile—exactly one hundred coins.
Watching from the side, Lin Wu thought that the child had probably staked his entire fortune. He was showing more courage as an investor than she had.
Sparrow counted off the shares on her fingers. “Tigerhead and I will get the cloth and cotton from home, so we’ll each have a twenty-percent share. Peilan will find the medicinal herbs for the stuffing, so he’ll get twenty percent too.”
She looked at Qi Lang. “You’ll draw the designs. Jing will come up with ideas. The two of you will each get twenty percent.”
As Lin Wu listened, she calculated the shares in her head. The division was far too even. Most of the cloth and cotton were coming from the Shen family.
Clearly, Liang Peilan, one of the older people present, had thought of that too. “The two of you are getting the short end of the stick.”
Sparrow tipped up her little chin, entirely unrepentant. “All the fabric came from scraps we asked for at home. They didn’t cost us anything to begin with. Once we make our first profit, we can buy fabric then. We’re only just starting out, so we need to conserve our capital.”
She patted the money box. “We’ll use this money to hire seamstresses and have them sew the cloth toys for us.”
Now that they had a plan, the children knew exactly what they were doing. They nodded earnestly, their little heads bobbing up and down.
That very evening, Tigerhead dragged Sparrow off to find Madam Shen.
Madam Shen was doing the accounts beneath the lamplight, without even looking up.
Tigerhead poked his head through the doorway. “Mother!”
“What is it?” Madam Shen asked, her brush never pausing.
Tigerhead bounded inside and plopped down beside her. “Mother, we want to use the little room behind the cloth workshop in the west of the city to store things.”
Madam Shen finally raised her head and glanced at him. “What do you have that needs to be stored in the cloth workshop?”
Sparrow followed him in and picked up the explanation. “We want to make cloth toys to sell, so we need somewhere to pile up the fabric and the finished toys.”
Madam Shen set down her ledger. “Oh, you mean those little cloth toys you were chattering about over the afternoon meal—the ones you insisted would sell like hotcakes?”
Tigerhead nodded vigorously. “Yes, yes, those!”
Sparrow continued, “We’ll use the leftover scraps from the cloth workshop to sew them, and we’ll split the money we earn between ourselves.”
Madam Shen’s gaze moved between the two children’s faces. “You certainly know how to think things up. You want to use the Shen family’s fabric to run a business of your own?”
Tigerhead drew himself up proudly. “They’re only scraps! You were going to throw them away anyway. Why not give them to us, Mother?”
Madam Shen shook her head with a laugh and reached out to flick him on the forehead. “Who said the scraps were going to be thrown away? Save up enough trimmings, and they can still be sold for money.”
She sighed. “Very well. Consider it practice for you. After all, I’m your mother. A mother has long been prepared for her own children to squander her silver.”
At that, Tigerhead protested, offended. “We’re not like Big Brother! We’ll definitely make money!”
Madam Shen shot him a sidelong look, her smile faintly amused. “You’d better not take advantage of your brother’s absence to say whatever you like about him. When he comes back, I’ll repeat your words to him exactly.”
Tigerhead shrank his shoulders and muttered, “How can you be like this, Mother…”
Madam Shen turned to Sparrow. “If you want the seamstresses at the cloth workshop to work for you, you’ll have to pay them yourselves. They have their regular work to do. Wouldn’t it be a loss for them to take on extra work for you without compensation?”
Sparrow hurriedly nodded, her expression solemn. “We’ve already thought it through. We’ll pay by the piece—one fee for every item they make.”
Only then did Madam Shen slowly nod. “All right. You’re getting the hang of it. Give it a try and see what sort of business you can make of this. But… if you lose money, don’t come crying to me.”
Tigerhead planted his hands on his hips. “We’re definitely going to make a fortune!”
Now that they had a workshop of their own, the whole business felt completely different.
The children treated it like a secret hideout and went there every day.
The cloth workshop in the west of the city was not very large. It was where the Shen family processed cloth and textiles. A row of tiled rooms stood beneath several broad windows, with looms, dye vats, and drying racks arranged inside. Workers came and went, busy from morning to night. Behind the workshop was a small room that had originally been used to store odds and ends. Sparrow and Tigerhead had claimed it for themselves.
No one knew where they had found a wooden sign. They wrote “Afu Workshop” on it in large characters, while Qi Lang drew a little Afu dog beside the words. Once they hung it over the workshop door, the place suddenly looked quite official.
The name itself had been chosen quickly and decisively. Since their business had begun with Afu, they called it Afu Workshop. Not a moment of hesitation was needed.
The room was small, but once they had tidied it up, it looked quite respectable. Two long tables stood against the wall, covered with clean cloth. Baskets of needles and thread, scissors, and fabric were arranged on top. In the corner, the scraps Sparrow and Tigerhead had carried over from the cloth workshop were stacked neatly in several small baskets, sorted by color.
Lin Jing had brought Afu along as well, placing him squarely in the middle of the table as their sample. Laifu came too. After circling the room a few times, sniffing here and investigating there, he finally curled up on a soft cushion in the corner.
The cushion had been given to him by the seamstresses at the cloth workshop. They had found him adorable, so they took a piece of fabric that had been dyed incorrectly, stitched together a cushion in a few quick motions, and stuffed it with cotton.
Lin Jing crouched down and stroked his head. “This is Laifu’s place at work.”
