TAMW CH20

[To my wife Yuqing, it has been two months since we parted. By the time you receive this letter, I will already be in France. Work is busy. I have learned of Father’s passing. I appreciate your hard work managing the household in my stead. Once I finish my business, I will return swiftly. Do not worry! — Zhou Xiao.]

However, the first four words of the address had been crossed out and rewritten simply as: “Yuqing.”

Yuqing looked at the letter. The candied fruit in his mouth tasted overly sweet, making him want to gag, but he forcefully suppressed the urge.

“Young Madam… you’ve been throwing up for days…” Zhao Fu stood beside him, gently waving a fan. “Should we fetch a doctor?”

Yuqing waved his hand dismissively. He rinsed his mouth, but still felt unwell. His stomach was churning violently.

He was already rather thin. To conceive a child, he had forced himself to eat more in the two months leading up to the wedding, yet he hadn’t gained much weight. Now, less than three months along, he hadn’t expected the physical reactions to be this severe.

The doctor who originally prescribed his medicine had made it perfectly clear: pregnancy was a near-death ordeal for women, let alone for a man. The pregnancy would not be easy, and childbirth in the future would be even harder. Moreover, this was an ancient prescription with too many variables. Even the doctor himself couldn’t be certain; successful cases throughout history were simply too rare.

Because he had been vomiting severely these past few days and the bank’s affairs kept him busy, he rarely showed his face outside. It was always Zhao Fu who went to the bank and brought the ledgers back for his review.

Basking under the sun made Yuqing a bit dizzy, so Zhao Fu supported him back to his bedroom. Even though he was less than three months along, his body already felt cumbersome. The doctor had said, “Men naturally lack the proper organs for bearing children, so as the belly grows, it will be much more prominent.”

Yuqing loved wearing long gowns. He spun around in front of the bronze mirror and asked Zhao Fu, “Have I gotten fat?”

Zhao Fu shook his head. “You haven’t gained weight. You’ve actually gotten thinner.”

“Ah…” Yuqing felt a bit distressed. He climbed onto the bed, and Zhao Fu dutifully lifted his calves onto the mattress. “Tell the cook to make more vegetarian dishes tomorrow. I don’t want to see any meat.”

Zhao Fu felt uneasy about this. “Eating vegetarian will make it even harder to put on meat.”

Yuqing rubbed his temples. Lacking energy, he wanted to sleep again. He had a sickly constitution since childhood, and originally thought that even if he were pregnant, managing the ledgers from home wouldn’t lead to any major errors. But he had forgotten his poor stamina and his tendency to doze off. Being pregnant, he couldn’t smoke mint leaves either, so he could only occasionally pinch his temples for relief.

“You can leave for now,” Yuqing said, lightly kicking Zhao Fu’s forearm, which had been massaging him.

Knowing he was unwell, Zhao Fu didn’t force himself to stay and quietly exited the room.

These past few days, the Young Madam hadn’t just been dealing with pregnancy; he had also established the Qingming Bank. The bank even issued a type of currency specifically for foreign trade at the port. The interest rate was one percent higher than other private banks, and the vault was full every single day.

This was for no other reason than that Qingming Bank operated under the banner of the Vice President of the Baizhou Chamber of Commerce. It was originally decided that the Chamber President would be replaced this year. Who knew that those old foxes, upon seeing the Zhou family fall and assuming the second Zhou brother had inherited the fortune, would rush to sell their votes to him? But Zhou Yulin couldn’t produce the money. In the end, seeing the chaotic situation, the current President decided to serve for another year.

Yuqing originally ran pawnshops. While these pawnshops looked like ordinary small storefronts, their true specialty lay in interpersonal relationships and the exchange of favors. Whether a family wanted a nice collar for an illegitimate child born to a mistress, or an elderly mother wanted a jade Buddha for her birthday, the pawnshop’s storehouse had everything one could need. Yuqing used these items to smooth things over. During the voting, Zhao Fu stood in as his proxy, ultimately securing the title of Vice President.

Baizhou used to be balanced among three families: Zhou, Ruan, and Li. Now that the Zhou family ostensibly had no heir and had scattered, if the remaining two families fought, the Chamber of Commerce wouldn’t be able to handle the fallout. They had to prop up a new player. This boss of the Qingming Bank was quite suitable; he had secretly sent gifts to many people, each one perfectly tailored to the recipient’s desires. Although no one had seen him, his votes equaled those of the other two families. He was mysterious, and highly capable.

[Yuqing—]

[I take up my pen to speak, but do not know where to begin. Things are busy, and as someone confined to the inner courtyard, you wouldn’t understand…]

“None of this is good.” Zhou Xiao crumpled up several sheets of paper and tossed them aside.

Deng Yongquan, sitting beside him, hurriedly scrambled to pick them up. The two were sitting outside a post office, surrounded by Westerners, directly across from a French railway parts manufacturing plant.

Deng Yongquan was frantic. “Young Master, please ask how my father is doing. He… he served the Old Master his entire life. I’m afraid he might do something foolish.”

Zhou Xiao rolled his eyes at him. “If I get hit by a car and die right now, are you going to follow me to the grave?”

Deng Yongquan trembled in fear. Their Young Master truly blurted out such morbid things without the slightest taboo. He hurriedly shook his head.

With a cigarette dangling from his lips, Zhou Xiao said, “There you have it. Stop bothering me and hurry up and mail the letter.”

Deng Yongquan muttered in his heart, thinking, Every time the Young Master writes ‘To my wife Yuqing’ several times on different sheets of paper just to throw them away. I really don’t know who he’s tormenting!

“The parts here will take another month or more…” Deng Yongquan felt quite awful upon learning of the Old Master’s death; he had grown up in the Zhou residence, after all.

After hearing the news of his father’s death, Zhou Xiao was only silent for a moment. There were no bodhisattva statues here; pouring a cup of wine by the roadside was considered expressing his sentiments. Their father-son bond was shallow, so naturally, he couldn’t say he was deeply heartbroken.

The two had left directly from Shencheng two months ago. Once Section Chief Jiang of Shencheng died, the new Section Chief who took office was incorruptible—but being too incorruptible actually made getting things done more difficult. Deng Yongquan had grumbled before, saying that out of the two Section Chiefs, having only Section Chief Wang die would have been enough. They always needed to leave one alive to balance the books after the railway was built. Section Chief Jiang had deep pockets; setting him up as the fall guy later would have been the most perfect plan.

But Zhou Xiao was something else. He dragged Deng Yongquan back from Liu County bright and early, took him to the man’s own turf, and had the guy stabbed to death too. Zhou Xiao’s original plan was to have Deng Yongquan trigger a mine explosion in Liu County, significantly driving down the price of the resulting “hot potato.” Who would have thought that Section Chief Jiang somehow offended their Young Master, and during a casual stroll, was sent straight to the King of Hell.

The new Section Chief was willing to go through formal procedures. But the parts Zhou Xiao had brought back to the country weren’t enough. Even if they started building the railway, they wouldn’t make it out of Liu County. He had no choice but to return to France to source more parts. And just like that, two months had passed.

Delayed by another month, then loading the parts onto a ship, and setting sail back home would take nearly another month. Seriously… Just thinking about it made Zhou Xiao annoyed. Building a damn railway involved so much trouble.

Deng Yongquan didn’t dare make a sound. He sat there like a quail, timidly waiting for the Young Master to finish writing the letter so he could hurry and post it.

In truth, during the time they had been in France, Eldest Young Master Zhou had sent out anywhere from eighty to a hundred letters. Yet, aside from a formal notification of the Old Master’s passing, there had been no replies whatsoever. Young Master Zhou still ordered Deng Yongquan to rummage through the mailbox every single day. Deng Yongquan could only feign searching for letters amongst piles of newspapers. If there were none, the Young Master would fly into a rage and smash his breakfast to pieces.

In France, Zhou Xiao had started flipping steel and iron parts during his student days, leveraging information gaps to sell off numerous components. His business was actually quite substantial. He had a great mind for commerce, lived in a small mansion, and had a dedicated chef cooking for him every day. But he still smashed things without hesitation.

Deng Yongquan could only pathetically clean up the mess. He couldn’t help but mutter, “The Young Madam doesn’t reply. What’s the use of you continuously sending them…”

“Bullshit! Am I not allowed to inquire about the affairs of the Zhou family?” Zhou Xiao snapped, exasperated.

Speaking of which, although he wasn’t the First Wife’s biological son, his behavior and demeanor had inherited much of her true essence. The First Wife was a spoiled lady; in her entire life, there was nothing she couldn’t get. In her eyes, if you couldn’t get something, it only meant you weren’t ruthless enough, the threat wasn’t big enough. As long as your methods were tough enough, nothing in the world would go against your wishes.

Influenced by what he saw and heard, even if he wasn’t related by blood and even if he found her annoying, these toxic seeds had taken deep root in his bones. Usually sporting a gentle smile, he had even learned how to be a gentleman in France. But in reality, if anyone offended him, he would turn hostile faster than flipping the page of a book. He held extreme grudges and his pettiness was utterly staggering.

Deng Yongquan still remembered a university classmate who shared a dorm with the Young Master. After drinking too much, the classmate merely laughed with others about how strange Zhou Xiao’s French accent was, calling him a foreigner. Zhou Xiao smilingly helped him up the stairs, and the next day, news broke that this classmate had fallen down the stairs while drunk, fracturing his leg. The person had been too drunk to remember the details, and the matter was dropped.

It was exactly because he had followed Zhou Xiao for so long that he knew this Young Master was deeply temperamental. The way his mental episodes manifested was cut from the exact same cloth as the First Wife. But how could he dare to say that? He could only keep quiet and play dumb.

Once all the parts were sorted and packed, the group finally prepared to embark on their journey back home. Deng Yongquan ran over from the house joyfully, shouting, “Young Master, a letter arrived!”

The wind from the pier blew over them. Zhou Xiao looked completely expressionless on the outside, but he hurriedly tore open the letter against the wind.

[All is well. Please take care of your health. Everything at home is fine. I, Yuqing, can handle it. Do not worry, Young Master.]

Although the letter was brief, Zhou Xiao’s mood undeniably lifted. Disliking Yuqing on normal days was one thing, but with his father dead and him unable to return, he imagined the house must be in chaos. Yuqing was so thin, yet managing the household for him, naturally doing his utmost as a wife. Zhou Xiao took pity on him, merely not wanting him to be so exhausted.

Deng Yongquan didn’t have the nerve to point out that the Young Master’s lips were curling up so high they practically reached the heavens.

Catching his gaze, Zhou Xiao’s smirk instantly vanished. “What could he possibly handle? A man who only knows how to cry and snivel… Once we return to the country, I suppose I can drop by the house for a look first, lest he gets heartbroken again. A grown man being so clingy, it’s absolutely improper. I don’t know what the old man taught him all these years.”

Deng Yongquan’s mouth twitched as he listened, thinking, You wrote him a hundred letters and he only replied to one. Who exactly is the clingy and heartbroken one here…

Once aboard the ship, Zhou Xiao locked his cabin door. He quickly took out the letter and sniffed it. Sure enough, it smelled of jasmine. Smelling that scent of jasmine put his mind completely at ease. Since paper didn’t easily absorb scents, let alone hold onto one after crossing the ocean for so long, the writer must have held the paper in his hands for a very long time for the scent to linger. When writing it, he must have hesitated just like Zhou Xiao did when writing his… He must have been very anxious, carefully weighing every word, terrified that his husband wouldn’t like what he wrote.

That was just Yuqing’s cautious and gentle nature. Thinking about it carefully, he didn’t necessarily need children in this life anyway. He never yearned for the joys of parenthood. Marrying a man spared him the headaches of being a father; in fact, it was quite a good arrangement.

Covering his face with the letter, he swayed gently with the ship’s motion. Breathing in the jasmine scent, his fingertips repeatedly rubbed his date pit—its once-sharp edges had actually become rounded and dull. Receiving this comforting letter right before boarding the ship was truly one of life’s beautiful things.

The ferry from France had to stop at several ports, greatly drawing out the timeline. By the time they were ready to disembark, it was already late autumn. Shanghai was closer to Shencheng, so they unloaded the cargo at the port there, and immediately set out to return to Baizhou. Because Li Yuanjing had been running back and forth between Shencheng and Baizhou lately, Zhou Xiao had a former classmate from Baizhou come pick him up. Guo Zhengming was a childhood friend from their junior high school days who had only been running small businesses in Baizhou over the years.

Baizhou had its own port, which was now in the hands of a Vice President. This Vice President never saw anyone, but yesterday Guo Zhengming had sent a calling card and surprisingly received a response.

Guo Zhengming waved his hand excitedly at the port. After Zhou Xiao disembarked, he immediately asked about the parts. If this big ticket worked out and they secured the railway, they could catch the Chamber President completely off guard. When that time came, let alone Baizhou, it would be hard to find anyone in the whole province who could surpass them.

“You have no idea how much has happened these past six months. The port has completely turned upside down!” Guo Zhengming said.

Zhou Xiao looked around. Soldiers were pacing back and forth, still inspecting tobacco, but they let their group pass through without even checking their personal luggage. “Why is this?” Zhou Xiao asked.

Guo Zhengming triumphantly pulled out an invitation from his pocket: “An invitation from the President of Qingming Bank! I heard he’s never hosted a private dinner before. And it’s not just Baizhou—I heard the ports in several neighboring cities are now all in his hands. He’s incredibly powerful!”

“When did Baizhou get someone like this?” Zhou Xiao paused, thinking to himself that this person might be a competitor.

“Ah! He’s willing to lend us money! He can write a check straight away!”

Zhou Xiao sneered. “Do you think pies fall from the sky? Someone who rises to such a high position in a short time is either ruthless or venomous. Who knows what kind of treacherous villain he might be.”

“Oh, let’s just go take a look first. This person is too mysterious and capable. The timing is perfect, too. After we eat, you can still head home and take a look.”

Zhou Xiao originally had no interest in this dinner; in his eyes, the other party wasn’t even qualified. Rising to power in a short time—in ancient times, only treasonous rebels achieved that. Those who didn’t take things one step at a time were far too scheming. They weren’t suitable for socializing, let alone for doing business.

But he still asked, “Where are we eating?”

“Xianxiang Restaurant,” Guo Zhengming raised his eyebrows.

“Why there?” Zhou Xiao frowned instead. Only elderly men discussing business went to traditional old restaurants like that; these days, everyone went to trendy Western restaurants.

Guo Zhengming pushed him to hurry, arranging for Deng Yongquan to grab the luggage. Zhou Xiao didn’t refuse again, because the candied dates at Xianxiang Restaurant were excellent, and Yuqing actually liked them. If the business deal fell through, he could just pack some to take back. Yuqing was soft-tempered; a single packet of pastries was enough to coax him into a good mood.

Guo Zhengming continued to boast about this person as if he were a god. It seemed that apart from a few famous big bosses, no one had ever seen the face of this bank president. Was he really that formidable?

As Baizhou entered late autumn, the cold wind was piercing to the bone. The rickshaw pullers on the street had red, frozen knuckles, and their breaths plumed in the air. Trams clattered loudly down the streets. Sitting in a Ford car, Zhou Xiao had a bit of a headache. He had just gotten off the ship and already had to go spar with some big boss.

Guo Zhengming led him upstairs and gave the reservation name. The waiter shouted out, “Guests, please come in—VIP room for three!”

The center of Xianxiang Restaurant resembled a hollowed-out bamboo shoot, layered floor upon floor. At the very bottom was a theater stage, while the upper-floor private rooms were partitioned off. They walked up the wooden stairs, winding their way up until they were led into the private room.

The private room was different from outside. Even though it was autumn, the bustling Xianxiang Restaurant wasn’t that cold, yet charcoal was actually burning inside this room. “It’s as hot as spring in here.” What hit them in the face wasn’t the smell of charcoal smoke, but a faint scent of jasmine.

Zhou Xiao appeared nonchalant, following unhurriedly behind the guide. His leather shoes creaked against the old wooden floorboards.

“Second Master insisted I make this connection. Young Master Zhou, you have no idea how hard it is to get an appointment with this President! Now that the Baizhou port is in his hands, as long as we secure a partnership, any amount of cargo can enter the port.” The implication was that they needed to show this boss some respect.

In the business world, Zhou Xiao disliked fake pleasantries, and there were very few people who could actually make him bow his head in flattery. Truth be told, having grown up in Baizhou, he was naturally somewhat curious about this big boss who had suddenly appeared. Most likely, it was someone whose business had grown large in another city, coming specifically to grab a piece of the pie at the port. The port economy was bound to boom in the future; one could only say this person had a good eye. With a rich resume, his age couldn’t be too young, especially since he chose such an old-fashioned restaurant. Zhou Xiao hated doing business with old men the most—a bunch of pedantic parasites.

He followed them into the room, stepping around a mother-of-pearl folding screen.

A mysterious, fragrant breeze suddenly wafted over his face. Downstairs on the stage, the performers began to sing a passage from ‘Farewell My Concubine.’ Inside the private room, only the fire burning in a single charcoal basin provided brighter light. It was dim and obscure.

The man behind the screen leaned back on a chaise longue as if he had no bones. His snow-white skin clung tightly to the bones of his hands, which cradled a small hand warmer. The black cloak draped over him gave him an alluringly decadent look. The tiny mole on his face shifted slightly with his smiling expression.

Zhou Xiao’s footsteps halted, and his body slowly tensed.

The large cloak covered the man’s legs. He was slender, wearing a pale green long gown. Half of his long hair was pinned up with a hairpin, while the rest cascaded down to his waist. Unlike his slender shoulders, his lower abdomen was visibly swollen, prominent enough that even the deliberately loose gown couldn’t hide it.

Beneath the gown was that swollen belly, which his hands gently stroked. The man was beautiful. Even the Adam’s apple on his neck was snow-white. As his gaze flowed over the room, he slowly fixed his eyes on the people who had just walked in.

“My condition is inconvenient; forgive my lack of manners.” These few words slipped from his lips. His lilting, unhurried voice was more deceiving than honey. Perhaps because of the severe morning sickness, his voice had become slightly hoarse, yet it was still exceptionally lovely to hear…

“Sit, hurry and sit,” his former classmate urged.

Zhou Xiao’s feet felt as if they were glued to the floor. His mind was a buzzing void. He could only stare fixedly at that swollen, pregnant belly.

It was Ruan Yuqing. His own wife.