If Salt Surveillance Censor Lin Ruhai had still been alive, the fat steward might not have been so wary.
After all, Lin Ruhai had merely been the Emperor's trusted confidant, while Prince Zhongshun was the Emperor's full brother. The difference in their closeness was obvious.
But Lin Ruhai had only just given his all until death, and now the orphaned daughter he left behind was being bullied by royal servants. What would the Emperor think of this? How would the court officials react?
The more the fat steward thought about it, the chillier his neck felt. Instead, he began to feel fortunate that the salt smugglers had been stopped by Sun Shaozong before they could commit an irreparable blunder.
Only...
He glanced sidelong at the salt smugglers aboard the ship, then at Jia Lian and the others opposite him, and for a moment had no idea how to settle things. He had just invoked Prince Zhongshun's Estate, only to back down and admit defeat before everyone present. If Prince Zhongshun learned of it, how could he possibly spare him?
Fortunately, Jia Yucun was there.
"Steward."
He simply ignored the earlier clash and spoke as though nothing had happened. "Since fate has brought us together, there is nothing wrong with lending one another a hand. It is only that our ship is already loaded with quite a bit of luggage, and I fear there is no room for an entire shipload of salt."
With that offered as a way out, the fat steward immediately relaxed. Seeing the salt smugglers who had fallen into the water climbing back aboard one after another, all of them blue-faced and swollen from the cold but with none missing, he knew the other side had shown mercy.
So he hurriedly went along with it. "No matter. If my five ships squeeze a little, we can still fit half a shipload of salt aboard. You only need help deliver the remaining half to the ferry crossing!"
Once the arrangement had been settled, Jia Yucun asked Jia Lian to make the final decision.
Second Master Lian had been so frightened by the succession of shocks that half his soul had already fled. Now that the conflict had finally been turned into friendship, how could he refuse?
Thus, the boatmen on their side hurriedly weighed anchor and pulled alongside the salt ship that had struck the reef, leaving the salt smugglers to do as they pleased.
The disturbance thus vanished into thin air. Both sides tried their utmost to act as if nothing had happened, yet who could truly forget the sight of Sun Shaozong holding a great oar and cowing the entire gang of smugglers?
Thus, after the fat steward exchanged a few words with Jia Lian and Jia Yucun, he could not wait to steer the conversation toward Sun Shaozong.
They were all headed back to the capital anyway, so there was no hiding it. Besides, Jia Lian and Jia Yucun did not "dare" conceal Sun Shaozong's identity from a steward of the Prince's Estate.
Yet once he had learned Sun Shaozong's name and background, the fat steward suddenly slapped his thigh and cried in delighted surprise, "So you are Commander Sun's younger brother! Then you are no outsider! Commander Sun has often come to the estate on official business lately, and he and I are already quite familiar. Had I known Commander Sun's younger brother was here, this misunderstanding would never have happened!"
That might have fooled an idiot.
What sort of status did Sun Shaozu have?
In terms of rank, he was only a third-rank commander. As for his actual post, he was merely a fourth-rank battalion commander in the Patrol Defense Camp. He was hardly an important figure. Even the gatekeepers of Prince Zhongshun's Estate probably would not give him a second glance, so what right did he have to be familiar with an estate steward?
At most, they had probably met a few times, and the steward merely knew that such a man existed.
The fat steward spoke this way partly to further downplay the earlier conflict, but more importantly, because he wanted to establish ties with Sun Shaozong.
How shrewd was Sun Shaozong?
In Daiyu's words, he had the hide of a bear and the heart of a fox!
He immediately understood the fat steward's intentions. With a hurried "Ah!" he stepped forward and bowed. "So Steward, you are actually a friend of my elder brother's! This truly is the Dragon King Temple flooded by its own waters. Had I known of our connection earlier, I would never have dared act so rashly!"
After trading a few rounds of nonsense, the two of them actually managed to forge a bit of friendship.
Only then did the fat steward finally give his name. His surname was Zhou, his given name Jingui, and he was one of the three stewards handling external affairs for the Prince's Estate.
As it turned out, the salt on these ships was not exactly illicit salt. It was simply that Lin Ruhai's death had delayed the processing of the salt permits, while the capital had been pressing urgently for delivery. Relying on Prince Zhongshun's Estate's influence, Wu Jingui had simply decided to ship first and settle the paperwork afterward.
Meanwhile, in Daiyu's room, the ladies saw that the storm clouds of the day had finally dispersed, with both sides now chatting amiably without the slightest trace of hostility. At last, they breathed a sigh of relief.
Daiyu ordered Zijuan and Xueyan to shut the windows, then pursed her lips and said indignantly, "That dead fat man got off too easily! Brother Sun should have swept him into the river too, to wash that filthy mouth of his that spews manure!"
Xueyan nodded beside her like a pecking chick.
Zijuan's eyes sparkled as she clasped her hands to her chest and praised him without restraint. "Second Master Sun was so imposing just now! Standing at the prow, he scared more than a hundred men on the opposite ship so badly that they did not even dare move! I say all the men... all the servants in our mansion put together would not be fit to carry Second Master Sun's shoes!"
In her haste, she had nearly included several masters in her remark.
Daiyu would not hold her slip of the tongue against her, but when she compared Sun Shaozong today with her own Brother Bao, who loved eating rouge, a faint sourness rose in her heart without her realizing it.
Just then, an arm suddenly wrapped around her slender waist and pulled her into an embrace without so much as asking.
Daiyu was startled at first. Looking up, who else could it have been but her sworn elder sister, Ruan Rong?
"Hmph, hmph!"
Ruan Rong deliberately put on a stern little face and asked in a sinister tone, "I wonder which unruly commoner was just now slandering Brother Sun, calling him a donkey dropping that only looked good on the outside? If such a troublemaker is not severely punished, would there still be justice or Imperial Law?!"
As she spoke, she reached to tickle Daiyu beneath the arms and at the waist.
"Spare me, Madam Sun!"
Daiyu hurriedly surrendered, crying, "Brother Sun is invincible in battle, a god or demon reborn! This little woman failed to recognize a jewel inlaid with gold. Please, Madam Sun, for the sake of our past friendship, spare this little woman's life!"
Hearing her call her "Madam Sun," Ruan Rong was both bashful and delighted, as though even her bones had grown two ounces lighter. Yet she could not simply let Daiyu off so easily. With a coquettish cry of, "What a sharp-tongued little girl," she was about to continue her assault.
Unexpectedly, Daiyu suddenly raised her little face and asked hopefully, "Sister, what do you think about having Baoyu study martial arts under Brother Sun? He does not like studying anyway, and it would be just right for him to inherit our ancestors' illustrious martial skills!"
Ruan Rong nearly burst out laughing at that.
Though she had never met Jia Baoyu, after spending every day with Lin Daiyu these past days, she had heard more than enough about this powdered young master. Jia Baoyu could not even persist in his studies, so how could he endure the hardships of martial training?
Still, however much she dismissed the idea inwardly, seeing Daiyu's earnest little face made it hard to spoil her mood. So she answered vaguely, "Brother Sun would not be much of a problem, but your Brother Baoyu is as delicate as a golden branch and jade leaf. Would his family be willing to let him train in martial arts?"
"How will we know unless we try?"
Daiyu had only thought of it on a whim, but when she considered that Baoyu had no interest in studying or bettering himself, and even called scholars "career-grubbing parasites," while greatly admiring the famous generals and gallant heroes of ancient and modern times, perhaps he really did have the makings of a martial artist.
It was not that she wanted Baoyu to become particularly accomplished. It was simply that seeing Sun Shaozong's imposing appearance, and recalling the tale of "fighting a band of thieves while carrying a beauty," she could not help but feel a measure of anticipation.
Thus she insisted, "Baoyu need not become as skilled as Brother Sun. So long as he has thirty percent... no, fifty percent... no, seventy percent of Brother Sun's ability, that will be enough!"
Seeing her competitive nature flare up and the standard rise again and again, Zijuan and Xueyan rolled their eyes. Forget seventy percent. If Baoyu could possess even one percent of Sun Shaozong's bold spirit, it would be thanks to the accumulated virtue of Rongguo Mansion's ancestors!
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