This time, Duan Yan was determined to stock up on as many supplies as possible. It might well be his only chance, so naturally he wanted to buy as much as he could.
But money was tight. After scraping together every last bit, he could only produce another six thousand taels in banknotes.
Gou San'er, Lin Er, Wang Quan, the two Tie brothers, Tie Da and Tie Er, the estate managers, and several other longtime stewards under his command all learned of their eldest brother and master’s predicament.
Some of them knew what Duan Yan was really doing. Others still had no idea that war was about to break out; they only knew that Duan Yan intended to go out personally to purchase goods, but was short of silver.
The men gathered together and held a private meeting.
The next day, Gou San'er brought five hundred taels of silver to Duan Yan.
“It isn’t much, but it’s the brothers’ goodwill. Please accept it, Master. What you’re buying this time is life-saving grain. Some of the men under us still don’t know what’s going on. They only see you going out personally to buy what they think are important trade goods. When the time comes, they’ll naturally understand your good intentions.”
Duan Yan was surprised and deeply moved. He had never expected them to pool their money to help him. Under normal circumstances, he certainly would not have accepted their funds. But the supplies he was gathering would benefit them just as much once they were brought back.
So Duan Yan thanked his brothers for their kindness and accepted the money.
Before leaving, he made a special trip to Yan’er Manor to visit Old Man Duan. Of course, he was not going merely to see him—he had an ulterior motive in mind.
After tea and a meal, Duan Yan told Old Man Duan and Old Madam Duan that he intended to lead a group of men out beyond the pass.
“It’s good for you to go out and see the world. This place is only so big, and life here is nothing special. Go out and broaden your horizons. A man needs to know how vast the world is before he can settle his temperament.”
Old Man Duan was quite supportive of Duan Yan leading the men out. The autumn harvest was nearly finished, and the weather had cooled down nicely. It was a good time to leave the pass. By the time they returned, it would be nearly New Year.
“Have you chosen the men? Are the bags packed?”
Seeing that Old Man Duan was being so agreeable, Duan Yan’s eyes shifted. He cleared his throat. “Those things are easy enough. Gou San’er and the Tie brothers have led men out several times before, so they know what they’re doing. It’s just…”
Old Man Duan glanced at him. “Just what?”
“I’m a little short of money.”
Duan Yan said it with a shamelessly straight face.
“You manage two huge estates, and you even own the only ironworks around here, yet you’re short of money? What have you been fooling around with? Did you lose that much on the grain shop?”
Old Man Duan’s eyes went round. “Bring me the account books so I can look them over. You good-for-nothing spendthrift—how did you manage to run out of money?”
Duan Yan gave an awkward little smile.
“Could it be that you bribed the Song family so their man could get that clerkship at the yamen?”
“I didn’t spend any money on that. I only put him in touch with someone. He got the job through his own connections.”
Old Man Duan snorted. “Look at you, getting all worked up over one question.”
“I do have a little money here, but don’t even think about taking it. I’ve been saving it for your wedding. If I gave it to you, you’d spend every last copper.”
Duan Yan said, “My matter with him is still a long way off. This isn’t the time to start planning for that.”
“Then what is the time for? You’re already a grown man. Once this year is over, you’ll be twenty-two. How long are you going to keep fooling around? Old Man Qian spends all day showing off his grandson in front of me.”
Duan Yan wanted to stop the conversation from going any further, so his expression turned serious.
“I’ve received some news. There may be a war outside. I’m going out this time to stock up on food and necessities.”
Old Man Duan abruptly stopped nagging him about marriage.
“W-War? You little brat, don’t try to fool me!”
“How could I joke about something like this? Why else do you think I opened a grain shop? Surely not just to lose money.”
Duan Yan continued, “The reason I’ve been constantly buying grain and storing it in the warehouses, and why I haven’t allowed you to sell the grain from the estates, is because of this.”
Old Man Duan’s heart gave a hard thump. He had long felt that his son’s recent business decisions were strange. Thinking it over carefully now, everything really did line up.
His heart pounded. “Are you certain?”
“Just wait and see, Father. The yamen will issue related orders soon enough.”
Old Man Duan’s brows drew tightly together. “Why didn’t you tell us sooner? You wait until things are urgent before bringing it up!”
With that, he hurried into the inner room. A while later, he came back out and stuffed two thousand taels in banknotes into Duan Yan’s hands.
“This is all I have here. I even took out the money from the bottom of the chest.”
“This matter is no small thing. Don’t rush off just yet. Since you’re going out to buy supplies, you need more silver. Buy extra provisions for our town as well.”
Duan Yan had no idea what he meant, but he stayed as instructed. Old Man Duan turned and went out the door.
“…Sigh. That troublesome boy has never listened since he was little. If he wasn’t causing trouble today, he’d be making a racket tomorrow. Just when he finally seemed to have settled down, he went and botched the business and made a mess of the accounts… Second Brother, how much money do you have on hand?”
“We have a little here, but not much. I’m afraid it won’t be of much use. If you don’t mind, Brother, I can give you thirty taels to help tide you over.”
Old Man Duan stuffed the money into his pocket, wiped his face, hauled himself up, and went out the door. Then he headed to the next house.
“Third Sister, your brother here has had such a hard life!”
“That debt-collecting demon of a nephew of yours has gone and run up more debts outside again…”
Old Man Duan counted the banknotes, then went on to the large-tiled house farther ahead.
“Old Xu, are you asleep?”
“The weather’s getting cooler, so it’s perfect for sleeping. But your old brother here can’t sleep. My heart’s burning with worry…”
…
“Shuanzi, your uncle wants to ask you something…”
Duan Yan waited and waited at the farmstead. It was not until the sun had begun to slant westward that he finally saw Old Man Duan returning along the village road with his hands clasped behind his back.
Old Man Duan wiped away a handful of sweat and pulled a small bundle from inside his robe.
“Take it.”
Duan Yan opened it and found banknotes, loose silver, and strings of copper coins, all jumbled together inside.
“Where did all this money come from?”
“I borrowed it from people. Altogether, it’s only a little over three hundred taels.”
Old Man Duan said, “Those who are willing to lend money now will naturally benefit later. As for those who refused, I won’t forget them either. I know exactly who lent how much. Once we’ve bought the supplies and war breaks out, when food and necessities become scarce, those people will certainly receive their fair share of the benefits.”
Duan Yan’s heart stirred. He carefully put the money away.
“Father really does have connections. You’ve thought of everything.”
Old Man Duan unhappily rubbed his nose and waved a hand.
“Go on, go.”
On the final day of the ninth month, Duan Yan and Song Fengsui set off with their horses, riding into the autumn wind.
The autumn light was at its brightest. Once they passed through the county checkpoint, the official road was crowded with people transporting goods. Everywhere was lively after the harvest, especially around the densely populated county seats and prefectural towns. Compared with the area around Yan Town—or even the county itself—it was like a completely different world.
Along the steep mountain roads they had traveled before, they might encounter only a handful of people in an entire day. Here, however, traffic was constant.
Song Fengsui’s horsemanship was not bad, but after riding for four or five days without a proper rest, even he was beginning to feel worn out.
His buttocks and thighs had been rubbed sore by the saddle, and every jolt of the horse made matters worse. He no longer had the energy to race Duan Yan or admire the autumn scenery. He burrowed into the carriage instead, slumped against the cushions, and flipped through an old agricultural book he had bought along the road.
Duan Yan was afraid Song Fengsui would feel stifled sitting alone in the carriage, so he reached out and snapped off a handful of wild chrysanthemums by the roadside and placed them inside.
Song Fengsui twitched his nose and lightly inhaled the chrysanthemums’ fragrance. The scent was mild, with the faintest hint of bitterness, but it nevertheless eased the restlessness in his heart and made him feel calmer.
After seventeen days on the road, they finally reached their destination for purchasing supplies: the prefectural city of Qianzhou.
By the time they entered the city, the sky was ablaze with the setting sun. The group headed straight for an inn.
Duan Yan planned to stay at the inn for one night, then find a broker the next day and rent a small house as their lodging. There were more than a dozen of them, and purchasing all the supplies would certainly take more than two or three days. If they stayed at an inn every day, going in and out to buy and store their goods, how could that be as convenient as having a place of their own?
Besides, inns were crowded and full of prying eyes. If anything went missing—or if something inexplicably appeared—who could say what had happened? On this trip, avoiding trouble wherever possible was the best course.
“Fourteen people?”
The proprietress looked at the men flooding in like a school of fish. Six or seven were burly and formidable, while a few looked somewhat more refined and slender. Anyone who had not seen much of the world would have been startled by such a sight.
“The inn still has one large shared room, one lower-class room, and one upper room. The shared room has enough beds for eight people. They’re all men, so there’s no issue. The lower room can be squeezed to fit four, and you two husbands can stay in the upper room. How does that arrangement sound?”
At the proprietress’s words, both Song Fengsui and Duan Yan felt a little embarrassed, yet there was also a secret delight in their hearts. A complete stranger had actually taken the two of them for a married couple.
“Seeing that your inn is so spacious, surely there aren’t any more rooms available?”
“The autumn examinations were held a month later this year, so all the local scholars came to the city in September. Though the examinations are over, they still have to wait for the results, so none of them have left yet.
“On top of that, autumn is also a busy season for traveling merchants. The inns throughout the city are all in high demand, just as you’ve seen.”
The moment the proprietress finished speaking, two men carrying bundles on their backs came in from outside. Afraid that they would take the last rooms and leave his people with nowhere to stay, Duan Yan immediately said, “We’ll take the arrangement you suggested.”
“Very well!”
The proprietress beamed and called over a servant to make the arrangements. She then informed the two newcomers that the inn was already full.
Song Fengsui lightly scratched his ear. After receiving his room token, he hurried upstairs ahead of Duan Yan.
Guided by the servant, he entered the room. As soon as the servant left, he took off his shoes and socks and collapsed onto the bed. His calves were sore and swollen. He had been sitting for so long without moving that even his legs had begun to retain water.
After drinking the tea the servant brought up, he called for hot water. He waited for quite a while, but Duan Yan still did not come upstairs. Song Fengsui stepped out and glanced down at the first floor, but there was no sign of him in the main hall either.
He thought that Duan Yan was even more particular about propriety than he was. Surely he had been imagining things all along. There was no way Duan Yan would spend the night crammed into the woodshed just to share a room with him.
Though he ought to have felt relieved, a trace of displeasure instead rose in his heart.
Just then, the servant delivered the hot water. Song Fengsui closed and latched the door, took out his clothes, and went to bathe.
Downstairs, Duan Yan watched until the carts and horses had been settled, then instructed the men to take turns standing guard. After that, he asked a servant how to contact a broker who dealt in rental properties.
Unexpectedly, the proprietress was remarkably well-connected. Her own younger brother was a broker in the area. Upon hearing what sort of house Duan Yan wanted, she sent someone to summon him. He arrived and showed Duan Yan several properties.
After some back-and-forth, Duan Yan settled on a house. The broker said he would bring the keys the following morning.
Once everything had been arranged, Duan Yan went upstairs to find Song Fengsui. He intended to ask what he wanted to eat that evening, but when he reached the door, he found it latched from within.
He had never dared imagine the delightful possibility of sharing a room with Song Fengsui. He had already planned to squeeze in with the others downstairs and make do for one night.
Now, seeing how guarded Young Master Song was around him, he felt a faint chill in his heart.
He stood outside the door like a tiger for a while. Once his anger had subsided, he still knocked.
“Sui Sui, what would you like to eat later?”
No one answered from inside. After quite some time, footsteps finally sounded, and the door opened a narrow crack. Before he even saw the person opening it, a familiar, cool fragrance rushed into Duan Yan’s nose.
He raised his eyes and saw Song Fengsui wrapped in his undergarments, his hair dripping wet, his bare, damp feet carrying him over to open the door.
Duan Yan hurriedly turned sideways, blocking the opening with his body. He glanced left and right to make sure no one was watching before turning back. He was just about to tell Song Fengsui not to rush out carelessly to open the door when Song Fengsui spoke first.
“Why are you still blocking the doorway? Aren’t you coming in?”
The door creaked, and the latch dropped back into place.
Outside, the sky was neither fully dark nor truly light. No lamp had yet been lit inside, leaving the room dim.
Duan Yan sat astride a chair. He caught the scent of flowers that had clearly been burned as incense in the room. The fragrance was somewhat gaudy, and the longer he smelled it, the more indescribably strange he felt. He kept his eyes lowered, not daring to glance toward the bathing tub behind the screen.
It was not long before Song Fengsui emerged from behind the screen. He looked no different from before, still wearing only his undergarments. He had merely gone back to wash his feet once more, then dried them and put on his shoes.
Using a handkerchief, he slowly dried his loose black hair. Fresh from his bath, he carried a slight moistness, like a pure lotus blooming in the mist.
He sat gracefully on the bed beside Duan Yan and placed the handkerchief in Duan Yan’s hands.
Duan Yan was naturally delighted to take on the task of drying his hair. As he carefully rubbed the soft strands, he noticed the fabric of Song Fengsui’s undergarments. It was the same material Gou San’er and the others had brought back the first time they had gone beyond the pass to purchase medicinal herbs.
He remembered that he himself had taken it to the shop to have it tailored. Now, seeing Song Fengsui wearing it, his eyes darkened. In the privacy of his heart, he felt a certain possessiveness being satisfied.
“Where will you be sleeping tonight?” Song Fengsui asked languidly.
Duan Yan came back to himself. “...I’ll make do downstairs. I’ll squeeze in with Gou San’er and the others. I’ve already found us a house, so we won’t have to crowd together tomorrow.”
“The weather isn’t cold yet. As long as you’re not sleeping outside, somewhere that keeps out the wind and rain should be fine. Anywhere will—”
Before he could finish, Song Fengsui interrupted him.
“So you’re going to leave me here alone?”
Duan Yan froze. Hearing the muffled note in his voice, he hurriedly said, “It’s only upstairs and downstairs. We’re not far apart. I already checked.”
Song Fengsui turned around and looked at Duan Yan.
“Why do you have to squeeze in with them instead of sharing a room with me?”
Duan Yan met his eyes, and his breathing stalled for a moment.
He was somewhat ill at ease, but answered honestly. “...I don’t approve of having premarital—”
“Sex.”
Song Fengsui naturally understood what he meant, and the tips of his ears flushed red.
“Is spending the night in the same room necessarily going to lead to that? You’re a man. If you don’t approve and refuse, then you can simply restrain yourself. Who could force you?”
Looking at Song Fengsui’s exquisite face, as though it had been delicately outlined by a painter, Duan Yan said, “You really are domineering and unreasonable. How do you expect me to restrain myself when you act like this? Do you truly not see me as a man—or do you genuinely think I’m incapable?”
Song Fengsui’s entire face turned red.
“Stop spouting nonsense. When we first met, in that situation, weren’t you... quite capable?”
Duan Yan wanted to ask how Song Fengsui could possibly know whether he had been all right back then. Even if they took a step back and assumed that Song Fengsui truly hadn’t meant anything by it at the time, could things be the same now?
Suppose… he meant suppose—if they had been in that situation back then, but were in the kind of relationship they had now, he certainly wouldn’t have had the heart to leave Song Fengsui soaking in the water until he caught a chill. He would have used the most straightforward way to deal with it.
But saying such things to Song Fengsui now really did make it sound as though he were hinting at something sexual.
“We’re in an unfamiliar place, and we have to spend the night here. I don’t care what you say—I’m scared staying here by myself.”
Song Fengsui turned away angrily after struggling for ages to get those few words out.
“All right, all right.”
Duan Yan was utterly at a loss. “I’ll sleep on this couch tonight, and you can sleep on the bed in the inner room. I’ll stay close and keep watch over you. That should do, shouldn’t it? You don’t have to be afraid.”
Only then did Song Fengsui’s expression improve a little, though he still couldn’t help muttering, “You’re such a nuisance! You have to push people until they’re desperate before you’re satisfied.”
Duan Yan truly felt he had been wronged.
All of a sudden, he reached out, wrapped a hand around Song Fengsui’s slender waist, and pulled him from the couch into his arms in one smooth motion.
Song Fengsui had yet to recover from his shock when he found himself sitting on Duan Yan’s lap. Duan Yan’s arms were wrapped around him, imprisoning him almost completely.
Duan Yan leaned forward slightly. “If I’d done this from the very beginning, you would have been even more anxious.”
His warm breath brushed against Song Fengsui’s ear and neck. This was the first time Song Fengsui had ever been so intimately close to Duan Yan, and the first time he had so keenly sensed the strong, distinctly masculine presence radiating from him.
Duan Yan had carried him on his back and in his arms before, but he had never once overstepped the bounds of propriety, nor had he ever made Song Fengsui feel uncomfortable. That restraint was certainly a good thing—and one of the reasons Song Fengsui liked him.
But now that they were together, things were different. If Duan Yan continued to observe the same proprieties as before, Song Fengsui couldn’t help feeling that something was missing. The kind of love he wanted had never been about treating each other like honored guests, all politeness and formal respect. If things stayed that way, he would always feel that they were too distant.
Looking at Duan Yan now, Song Fengsui felt neither offended nor afraid. Instead, he felt as though they had grown closer.
He placed his palm against Duan Yan’s firm abdomen and gave it a light stroke, clearly pleased with the feel of it.
He blinked at Duan Yan. “Not necessarily.”
A tingling sensation spread through Duan Yan’s waist and abdomen, sinking deep into his flesh.
He hurriedly caught Song Fengsui’s mischievous hand. Song Fengsui was still sitting in his arms, and Duan Yan simply couldn’t withstand this kind of temptation. If things continued, the person in his arms would realize just how poorly he was handling it.
Still, he had discovered that Young Master Song seemed to have a far stronger appetite for sensual pleasures than he had imagined.
