Ji Yunshu kept silent, deep in thought.
Madam Xie bit her lip and probed tentatively, "Teacher Ji, was what I said not useful to you at all?"
Ji Yunshu smiled. "It's useful. I just… have to think about it."
"That's good then. If there's anything you'd like to ask, I will answer to the best of my ability."
"Many thanks." She continued, "It's getting late. I'll have someone bring dinner for you shortly. Have a good rest after eating."
Madam Xie sighed and nodded lightly, lowering her red and swollen eyes.
Ji Yunshu didn't stay much longer either, and left after saying a few more words of consolation.
The next day, Madam Xie left Anchang Court.
From that day, Ji Yunshu also spent her days thinking in the courtyard. Qiao'er and Shuang'er were used to it by now, and habitually placed a cup of hot tea by her hand and left silently without disturbing her.
After some time, the wall which had been silent for many days suddenly rang out with a call. "Big Brother!"
The voice was very soft and high pitched. It obviously belonged to little Xiyue.
Snapped out of her train of thought, Ji Yunshu turned to see Little Xiyue was sprawled on top of the wall with a wide, cheerful smile. She stretched her arms out towards Ji Yunshu.
"Big Brother, catch me!"
Ji Yunshu walked over to help her down, then brought her over to the pavilion to sit. "Why haven't you come to visit the last few days?"
Little Xiyue propped her chin up with a hand and pursed her lips. "We've been busy at home lately. There was a large order for several bolts of cloth, so Father, Mother, and the workers have been rushing to fulfil it. They've been busy dying and drying the cloth every day, and I helped out as well. We finally finished the order yesterday, so I've come to play with Big Brother today."
"Do your parents know you're here?"
"If I'm neither in the workshop nor in my room, they'll know that I've come to look for you, so they won't worry."
"That's fine then." Ji Yunshu poured a cup of water for her and bade Qiao'er prepare some snacks.
Little Xiyue seemed to be ravenous as she grabbed a few snacks and started eating happily. As she munched, she praised, "The snacks from Big Brother still taste the best!"
"But the snacks your Mother makes are delicious as well." It's true, she wasn't merely being polite!
Little Xiyue puffed out her full cheeks and asked with narrowed eyes, "Does Big Brother like the snacks my Mother makes?"
She nodded.
"Then I'll ask Mother to make some and I'll bring them for you."
"There's no need to trouble her."
"Of course there is! Mother won't find it troublesome if Big Brother likes it." She raised a corner of her lips and continued, "Like the last time you visited my house - Father and Mother have never treated anyone else that well, nor did they ever express such concern. That shows how much they like Big Brother."
Ji Yunshu lightly tapped her on her forehead. "You little imp! The person your parents like best is you! I'm merely an outsider, so they were being polite."
It didn't hurt, but Little Xiyue rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand sheepishly and smiled sweetly.
After she was done with her snacks, Ji Yunshu had Qiao'er bring her to wash her hands before she dashed into the rooms. Xiyue took the familiar path towards the study desk and was delighted to see the books laid out on it. The love of reading is a good habit to cultivate!
She picked up one of the books. "Ooh, I know this book. It's Chen Xunzi's 'Liu Shuang Tours the Country'. I had only read the beginning before I had to put it down, and it had disappeared the next time I went to look for it. Someone else must have taken it before I could."
Qiao'er smiled warmly, "Little Xiyue, our Teacher Ji has plenty of good books. Come visit often if you like reading them."
"Okay!" She nodded enthusiastically and flipped through the book in her hands with renewed vigor. Before long, she plopped herself onto the chair and began reading voraciously.
Qiao'er left the room and told Ji Yunshu, "Little Xiyue is reading one of the books you left on the desk."
"We've long known how much that lass loves reading. Let her be."
But a loud exclamation suddenly sounded from within the room. "Doesn't this belong to my older brother?"
Ji Yunshu looked towards the room in puzzlement and decided to head in. She saw Little Xiyue standing by the bookshelf, holding a piece of paper. When she got closer, she realised that it was the drawing of the jade pendant. "Do you recognise this thing?"
“This is my older brother’s jade pendant.”
"Your older brother?"
The girl nodded. "He usually has it hanging from the end of his dizi. He never lets me touch it even if I asked."
Ah! Ji Yunshu was shocked.
Little Xiyue continued, "My mother had this made specially for him, so it's one-of-a-kind. He always hung it on the end of his dizi, but I later noticed that half of it was missing. He said that the other half was damaged so he had a jade craftsman cut it away." She lifted the piece of paper. "But Big Brother, why would you have a drawing of this jade pendant?"
So Qiao'er wasn't hearing things! The sound of dizi music must have come from Little Xiyue's brother!
Instead of answering her, Ji Yunshu asked another question, "Why didn't I see him the last time I visited your house?"
"He hasn't lived at home for several years now, and only visits occasionally. I'm not sure what he's been busy with either but Mother says he opened a textile/silk shop."
A silks shop?
At the other side.
After a few days of investigations, Lang Po had obtained detailed information about the four merchants and was reporting his findings to Jing Rong. "Your Highness, I've completed my investigations on the four merchants' backgrounds. There was nothing out of the ordinary for three of them, but there's something strange about the bolts of cloth sent to the capital by the Si family."
Jing Rong flipped through the reports with a frown. This merchant was a silk shop called Si Family Silks. It was established the very year the Imperial Court started sending silver to Yufu for disaster relief.
And although it was called a silk shop, no one had ever seen anything resembling a single shopfront!
The silk shop was situated in an average-sized courtyard in the outskirts of Yufu City. There was nothing untoward there; it was a full-service silk shop that did everything from weaving, dying, and delivering cloth.
Lang Po continued, “Their shop only transports silk once a year, and solely into the capital, as recorded clearly in every relay station. However, it is unclear where the silk is delivered after it reaches the capital. Your subordinate staked out the shop for several days, and witnessed a few carts of cloth being delivered into the shop yesterday. Logically, as a silk shop, they should send cloth out of the shop instead of receiving it. Thus, your subordinate snuck inside last night to investigate. Your Highness, guess what your subordinate discovered inside?”
Guess? Did you hit your dumb head on the door? How dare you play guessing games with this prince?! Jing Rong glared at him in warning.
Lang Po realised that he had put his foot in his mouth again and hurriedly answered his own question, “The batch of cloth that was sent in was actually exactly the same as that from the Wen Family Textiles!”