TRCT_29

Chapter 29: Difficult to Put Into Words — A Bit Contrived, Jie Yuanyuan

In order to finish Luo Mingxuan's leather jacket as soon as possible, Ji Qingzhou got off work an hour later than usual that day.

By the time he returned to the Jie mansion, the sky had already gone dark. The Jie family had all finished their evening meal and retired to their respective rooms, leaving only Jie Yu'an and Shen Nanqi still sitting in the great dining hall.

Mother and son ate the tea snacks and pastries Shen Nanqi had brought from Suzhou, chatting about trivial everyday matters.

"In a couple of days, your Uncle Lai's son is getting married. Your father and I both have to go to the wedding banquet. Why don't you go back to Suzhou with your father then?" Shen Nanqi suggested, with a hint of coaxing in her tone.

"That Luo boy is sure to go too, so you'll have company together."

Jie Yu'an shook his head: "I have acupuncture that day."

Shen Nanqi had already anticipated he'd use this excuse, so she said: "I asked around, they're holding a wedding that combines old and new customs. The bride is fetched at noon, the ceremony is held in the hall in the afternoon, and the banquet is in the evening. So if you finish seeing patients in the morning, you'd still make it in time taking the train with Qingzhou in the afternoon."

Jie Yu'an furrowed his brow slightly, still somewhat unwilling.

He had never liked socializing to begin with, and now that his eyes were blind, going to such a crowded, bustling place would only burden the people around him.

But then the words Ji Qingzhou had spoken to him a few days ago, urging him to go out more, surfaced in his mind. He considered it for a few seconds, then said: "Ask Ji Qingzhou. If he says we'll go, I'll go."

Hearing this, Shen Nanqi couldn't help raising an eyebrow: "What's this supposed to mean, you're taking his arrangements as orders now?"

"He's most likely free," Jie Yu'an's tone was calm and certain.

"Fine, I'll ask him in a bit, then," So saying, Shen Nanqi lowered her head to glance at the watch on her wrist.

"That child, honestly, look at the hour, and he's still not back. He just runs that one small tailor shop, does he really need to be so hardworking and devoted to it…"

The corner of Jie Yu'an's mouth twitched, almost imperceptibly. Calmly, he thought to himself: Getting off work late is nothing compared to true hard work and devotion, you just can't see it when a certain someone sneaks downstairs in the dead of night like a thief to secretly pedal the sewing machine.

While he was silently grumbling to himself, Jie Yu'an suddenly heard a light, brisk footstep approaching from far down the corridor outside.

His hearing had grown ever sharper since he lost his sight. Even with Shen Nanqi beside him muttering on about how "it's not safe for Ji Qingzhou to come back so late" and the like, he could still clearly pick out, from amid the female voice surrounding his ears, the owner of those footsteps striding briskly toward the dining hall.

For a moment, his heart inexplicably sped up its beating, stirring up faint ripples of something like eager anticipation.

As if to conceal this surge of emotion, he put on an air of nonchalance and lifted his teacup, taking two sips of hot tea.

"Sorry, I'm back so late! You've all finished eating already…"

Just as Jie Yu'an was drinking his tea, the familiar, clear voice came, unsurprisingly, from the doorway.

He set down his teacup, leaning back against his chair in a casual posture. As the young man's footsteps drew nearer, the flat, dull mood that had settled over him suddenly grew light and buoyant.

"I was just saying, you've really been neglecting sleep and meals for this job of yours, barely making it back in time to eat every few days."

Shen Nanqi scolded him with feigned displeasure, though her face carried a trace of helpless smiling. She then raised her hand to have a servant bring out the warmed dishes.

"I've been a bit busy lately, that's all, I still haven't even started on the coat I promised to make you."

Ji Qingzhou sighed lightly, hanging his backpack and coat over the back of a chair, then pulled out the seat next to Jie Yu'an with practiced ease and sat down. Without standing on ceremony, he reached over and took a piece of lotus-cream pastry from the plate in front of Jie Yu'an and bit into it.

"There's no rush on my coat. The weather's slowly warming up anyway, so I won't have much use for one soon."

"No, that won't do, I still need to finish what I promised you as soon as possible," Ji Qingzhou finished off the pastry in a few bites, then picked up the teapot and poured himself a cup of hot water.

As he drank, he used one hand to pull out from his bag a ball of cashmere yarn he'd bought from the foreign goods shop that day, along with a knitted cardigan design he'd sketched out earlier, and handed them to Shen Nanqi: "Take a look, do you like this color?"

The young woman in the sketch wore a pale pink qipao paired with a short, light grayish-purple knit cardigan. Though the design was drawn simply, the few sparing lines and the curves and fold textures conveyed the elasticity of the cardigan and the texture of its knit pattern.

Shen Nanqi looked at the sketch, then at the ball of yarn whose color matched it, and said with a touch of realization: "You mean to knit a coat like the one in the drawing using this yarn? That looks like it'd be quite difficult, wouldn't it take a lot of time?"

Ji Qingzhou shook his head slightly: "It's manageable, not that hard."

"Not hard?"

"Knitting a full garment does take some skill. Things like scarves or shawls are comparatively much simpler. Here, let me show you…"

Seeing that she was interested, Ji Qingzhou took out two wooden knitting needles from his bag, pulled out some of the cashmere yarn, and with nimble fingers tied a slipknot, looping it onto the needle and pulling it tight.

He then quickly cast on, looping the yarn forty times, alternating knit and purl stitches to finish the first row, before slowing down slightly for the second row. As he knitted, he leaned forward across Jie Yu'an, demonstrating the technique for Shen Nanqi up close.

"Your hands really are nimble!"

Watching him knit out two or three centimeters of neat, even fabric edge in just a few minutes, Shen Nanqi's eyes couldn't help but light up. She watched his hands intently, unable to look away, finding it more and more fascinating the longer she watched.

So when Ji Qingzhou finished a row and was about to switch the needles over, she couldn't help saying: "Let me try?"

"Sure, go ahead and try," Ji Qingzhou handed the needles over to her. Before he could offer much guidance, Shen Nanqi slowly knitted two stitches herself, following the technique he'd demonstrated.

She really was sharp, and picked it up quickly, after just a few tries her motions grew practiced. She laughed lightly: "This really isn't hard. So if I just keep going like this, I could knit a whole cashmere shawl?"

"That's right," Ji Qingzhou nodded. Just then the servant brought the food over, so he turned his attention away for the moment, picking up his bowl and chopsticks to serve himself a full bowl of rice.

"Are there other knitting patterns too?"

"Plenty of them, but I'm not all that skilled at most, so there aren't many I can show you."

"No rush on that, let me get a solid handle on this basic stitch first before I try anything else."

Shen Nanqi had originally just been curious, wanting to try out something new, but after a few rounds of knitting she found herself a bit hooked. She spoke up directly: "I'm keeping this set of tools for myself, then. There's no rush on my coat, just buy some more balls of yarn next time and knit it whenever you have a spare moment."

But then, considering that Ji Qingzhou was not, after all, her own nephew, and that this cashmere yarn, soft and fine to the touch, surely hadn't been cheap, she added:

"Oh, that's right, I haven't given you this month's allowance yet, have I? I'll have Aunt Liang draw thirty yuan from the account for you later, the extra ten yuan over last month can be your payment for the trouble of knitting that coat for me."

As soon as the topic of his allowance came up, Ji Qingzhou, feeling a bit guilty and embarrassed, turned back into a meek "kept man" who could only murmur in agreement.

After the two of them exchanged a few more words across Jie Yu'an, the room settled into a comfortable, quiet atmosphere.

One focused on eating, the other absorbed in knitting with great enthusiasm.

After a good while longer, Shen Nanqi finally pulled herself away from the enjoyment of her knitting, setting the needles aside for the moment, and looked toward Ji Qingzhou:

"Almost forgot the actual matter at hand, on the fifth, some relatives of ours in Suzhou are holding a wedding banquet. Would you like to go with Yuanyuan that day to attend?"

The fifth? Another Suzhou wedding banquet?

That was most likely the very same wedding Luo Mingxuan was going to attend, wasn't it?

"What do you say, feel like getting out for a bit?" Ji Qingzhou gave the person beside him a light nudge with his arm.

Jie Yu'an pressed his lips together, but before he could answer, Shen Nanqi cut in: "He said you wouldn't have time."

"Oh?" The moment he heard this, Ji Qingzhou understood at once that Jie Yu'an was using him as an excuse not to go out.

He genuinely didn't have much free time, but he could probably manage to spare a day or two.

Determined not to let Jie Yu'an's little scheme succeed, he said: "Then let's go. I'll treat it as giving myself a short break, go have a couple of fun days in Suzhou, relax a bit."

The moment he said this, both he and Shen Nanqi immediately looked toward Jie Yu'an, expecting him to come up with some other excuse to overturn the decision.

To their surprise, after hearing this, the man simply went on holding his celadon teacup, taking the occasional sip of hot tea, saying nothing at all, and just like that, went along with it without objection.

Shen Nanqi studied Jie Yu'an for a few seconds, feeling rather puzzled inside.

No one knew her son's temperament better than she did. If he genuinely didn't want to go, he would never have handed the choice over to someone else.

For a moment Shen Nanqi began to suspect that this boy had actually wanted to go out with Ji Qingzhou for some fresh air all along, but had been too embarrassed to bring it up himself, so he'd found a roundabout way to get her to suggest it instead.

It seemed that during the time she'd been away, these two youngsters had grown rather close?

Keeping her expression neutral, Shen Nanqi raised an eyebrow slightly. With a mind to test the waters, she deliberately brought up another matter to the two of them:

"There's one more thing. Last time, Qingzhou wanted to go to Old Master Bao's birthday banquet, and I didn't let you go because I felt that Bao Ziqiong's character left something to be desired, didn't I? As it happens, next month Lu Shunxing's daughter is holding her coming-of-age ceremony, and they've sent us an invitation. Why don't the two of you come along together to the banquet this time?"

As she spoke, she quietly observed Jie Yu'an's expression.

Normally, her son was never willing to attend this sort of gathering, but perhaps if he had a companion he got along well with this time, he might agree after all.

Who would have thought that after hearing this, Jie Yu'an gave no indication of his stance on the matter at all, instead, he latched onto an entirely different point.

Turning his head toward Ji Qingzhou, he asked, as if only in passing: "Is Bao Ziqiong the one who harassed you?"

"Huh?" Ji Qingzhou was caught off guard for a moment, not expecting him to suddenly bring this up.

He was just about to explain that it wasn't Young Master Bao himself he'd punched, but one of his men, when Shen Nanqi's brows knit together and she asked: "Bao Ziqiong harassed you?"

"No, it wasn't him."

"Then what happened, exactly?" Shen Nanqi's attention had clearly been redirected.

The matter had already been settled, and Ji Qingzhou had never intended to report it to anyone, but since Shen Nanqi was asking directly, he gave a rough account of what had happened at the Daguan Teahouse.

Once she'd heard it all, Shen Nanqi was visibly displeased, and said in a stern voice: "I'll find an opportunity to have Jianshan let Old Master Bao know about this. I only knew his son had always been frivolous, ill-mannered, perverse, and spoiled, I never imagined he'd now even dare to let his men go bullying someone of mine. Truly lawless."

Ji Qingzhou, now the one being defended, fell quietly silent.

Judging by how things were unfolding, he strongly suspected that Jie Yu'an had deliberately seized on the wrong point just now, so as to use his mother's hand to seek justice for him.

So he'd said he wouldn't help him get even, but in truth he'd kept it in mind all along…

Thinking this, Ji Qingzhou glanced sideways at Jie Yu'an, who sat beside him holding his teacup.

Seeing him keeping his expression tight, the corners of his mouth pulled into a flat, even line, putting on an air of indifference as if the whole matter had nothing to do with him, Ji Qingzhou couldn't help but secretly want to laugh.

If Shen Nanqi hadn't been there, he really would have wanted to tease him: a bit too contrived, Jie Yuanyuan.

"Well, this has reminded me of something, too," Shen Nanqi's voice drew Ji Qingzhou's attention back.

She looked at him and sighed lightly: "Going around out there alone like this isn't very safe for someone like you. Who in the business world hasn't got some sly tricks up their sleeve? And on top of that, you're always coming back so late, I keep worrying you'll get robbed by someone.

"How about this, there's a Browning pistol in the box in Yuanyuan's nightstand. He has no use for it sitting at home anyway, so why don't you take it to protect yourself?"

"Huh?" For once, Ji Qingzhou was at a loss for words: "But I don't know how to use a gun."

He was just running a tailor shop, not a bank, wasn't this a bit much?

And another thing, it was one thing for Jie Yu'an to keep a private stash of money in his nightstand, but why was he also hiding a pistol in there? Was he planning to whip it out unexpectedly and shoot him the next time they had an argument?

"It doesn't matter if it can't actually kill anyone, at a critical moment, just pulling it out to scare someone off is plenty useful too. Once Yuanyuan's health improves a bit, I'll have him teach you how to use it."

Having arranged everything, Shen Nanqi then turned to look at her son and asked: "Lending your gun to Qingzhou for self-protection for now, that's fine, isn't it?"

Jie Yu'an fell into a tactical silence for a moment, then nodded and said: "Fine."

Ji Qingzhou turned to glance at Jie Yu'an again, somewhat surprised that he'd agreed so calmly, completely unlike his usual style.

With mother and son playing off each other like this, the matter was settled just like that. Ji Qingzhou, though he felt it wasn't really necessary, had no choice but to nod along in agreement.

With the matter resolved, Shen Nanqi's mood settled back down, and she brought up the matter of Lu Shunxing's daughter's coming-of-age ceremony again, asking Jie Yu'an whether he'd go.

"We'll see," Jie Yu'an clearly didn't want to go, and gave this answer to buy himself time.

Ji Qingzhou asked curiously: "Is the Mr. Lu's daughter you mentioned Lu Xueying?"

Shen Nanqi raised an eyebrow at him: "You know that young lady too?"

"I only just met her today, she's one of my future clients. She asked me to help her design an evening gown for her birthday banquet."

"She asked you to design her gown for her?" Shen Nanqi first repeated this in surprise, then smiled: "Sounds like your business is expanding nicely! That young lady from the Lu family is famously particular about how she dresses, I've heard her family employs five tailors whose sole job is making clothes for her alone."

"That extravagant?"

"That's nothing, everything she wears and uses is imported European brand-name goods," Once the topic turned to gowns, Shen Nanqi grew more interested, and said in a light, cheerful tone:

"Funny you should mention it, I was actually meaning to ask whether you'd have time to tailor an outfit for me, something suitable for a Western-style evening banquet, or even a qipao like the one from last time, just a bit more formal. Since that girl beat me to it, you're probably swamped already, so I won't trouble you with it this time."

Hearing this, Ji Qingzhou set down his chopsticks and said: "What are you saying, how is this any trouble at all!"

Although he genuinely was a bit busy, with orders already booked out through next month, Shen Nanqi had always been the kindest to him out of everyone in the Jie family, helping advertise for him, giving him pocket money, and Ji Qingzhou didn't want to let her down. So he said:

"I'll have a gown design for you within the week. If you like it, I'll make it for you. If things get especially busy later and I really can't spare the time, you're welcome to take the design to another tailor, I won't mind."

"Going to another tailor probably wouldn't be very convenient. You have no idea how many qipao orders Yuxiang has taken on lately, all that money's just going straight into Master Yan's pocket for nothing."

Shen Nanqi pressed her lips together as she spoke, her words carrying a note of indignation on Ji Qingzhou's behalf:

"Besides Yuxiang, plenty of other tailor shops are copying and making this new style of qipao too. I'd guess that in another couple of months, every woman in Shanghai will be wearing the narrow-sleeved, fitted style."

Ji Qingzhou couldn't help but laugh, shaking his head: "Even if I snatched up all those orders, I couldn't possibly finish them all, some of that money ought to go to other people. Besides, if Yuxiang's name weren't so well-established and their craftsmanship weren't so solid, this new style of qipao wouldn't have caught on so quickly in the first place, would it?"

"That's a fair point, I suppose," Shen Nanqi lowered her eyes in agreement, though she still felt a bit of a pity about it.

She then turned the topic back: "Still, if you've truly decided to take on this order of mine, I should pay you the proper price for it. Even though we're like family, it wouldn't be right to take advantage of you, otherwise I'd feel bad about it."

Gnawing on a braised chicken drumstick, Ji Qingzhou nodded, and spoke without much thought: "By rights I should decline politely a bit first, but since you've already said that, I really can't let you feel bad about it, I'll just play the part of a donation box. You give as you please, I'll take as it comes, and every cent I take will count as merit dedicated to Jie Yuanyuan."

Jie Yu'an: "……"

"This child, always talking nonsense just to please people," Hearing that even his nonsense had Jie Yu'an's interests in mind, Shen Nanqi felt quite gratified.

She then picked up her knitting needles, knitting away as she let out a soft sigh: "Time really does fly. Even that Miss Lu is coming of age now."

"Still, thinking about it, it really is about time," she said, glancing over at Jie Yu'an, recalling: "She's only three years younger than you, you know. You two even met once as children, at that restaurant by West Lake, remember? The same year that old Taoist priest read your fortune."

Jie Yu'an couldn't even recall the matter of the old Taoist, let alone some girl, so he simply paid the topic no mind.

Ji Qingzhou, listening alongside them, unconsciously began calculating Jie Yu'an's age in his head.

Once he worked it out, he was thoroughly startled.

If Lu Xueying was coming of age this year, and Jie Yu'an was only three years older than her, wouldn't that make Jie Yu'an just twenty-one?

Or even, if his birthday hadn't passed yet, he'd only just turned twenty!

Good heavens. He'd known he was older than Jie Yu'an, but he never imagined it was by this much, he'd assumed at most a year or two.

But it wasn't really his fault. Just looking at Jie Yu'an's aloof, refined, noble face and his nearly six-foot frame, who would have guessed he was only two or three years past adulthood?

Twenty-one, in the modern era, that wasn't even legal marrying age yet.

All at once, a wave of guilt too difficult to put into words welled up in Ji Qingzhou.

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