A Willing Mistake, My Lady – Chapter 90
by Little PandaFood Crisis
Setting Out to Stockpile Grain
The Zhang family affair ended with both households raising a tremendous commotion.
That Xu shi—she could cruelly cast aside another family’s daughter, yet couldn’t bear to send her own daughter to marry a fool. Naturally, that warm silver was never going to reach her hands. After the gleaming white silver reached her grasp, the Wang family carried it right back. She hated it so much she secretly pounded her chest and stamped her feet in her room. Unsurprisingly, she pinned the blame on biaomei1 once again.
Right around this time, Madam Shen managed, from among the clan relatives, to pick out a young gentleman for Zhang Miaoyi—someone with genuine scholarly talent, if average looks. Madam Shen had taken Jiang Chenyu along to sneak a look at this young man. Though his appearance was unremarkable, his bearing and manner were modest and courteous. His temperament made up for his plain looks—as long as biaomei wasn’t overly particular about appearances, he was the ideal candidate for a husband.
His one shortcoming was a thin family fortune. There were no parents-in-law in the household, but he did have a younger brother to raise. Fortunately, this Young Master Zhou was diligent and eager to learn; he managed to scrape together a modest livelihood by copying texts and writing books, and supporting two people was well within his means.
“Biaomei, what do you think of this Young Master Zhou?” Jiang Chenyu asked for her opinion.
“I have no objections. I’ll leave it entirely to biaosao2 to decide!” Zhang Miaoyi said, lowering her head with a shy blush.
Young Master Zhou’s looks actually suited her taste—she could tell at a glance he was a responsible, decent man. What’s more, with no parents-in-law in the household, she would take charge the moment she walked through the door. That alone was enormously appealing to biaomei.
“Good. I’ll notify the other side to prepare the betrothal gift. This matter should be settled sooner rather than later—delays breed trouble!” While Xu shi was still short on silver, they needed to get biaomei out of that house quickly.
“But… but how could Young Master Zhou afford the one thousand taels3 betrothal gift the concubine is demanding?” Not yet married, Biaomei was already worrying on her future husband’s behalf.
“Heh, you don’t need to concern yourself with that. Since you call my husband biaoge4, it’s only natural that he should contribute something to your wedding.” Jiang Chenyu’s face, lovely as a spring blossom, carried the warm, indulgent smile of an elder, making her look like a peony in full bloom.
Biaomei looked at her with gratitude, feeling a twinge of guilt over her own past petty jealousy.
“Biaosao, you’re not planning to give that concubine one thousand taels, are you?”
“My silver isn’t so easily earned. You needn’t worry about that. Just go home and prepare for your wedding in peace!” Jiang Chenyu already had a plan in mind.
Master Zhang was a man who cared deeply about face, and he had been stuck in his career without promotion for years. She intended to invite his direct superior to act as go-between—she was certain he wouldn’t dare refuse! As for the betrothal gift, she would see what sincerity Young Master Zhou could muster, then add an appropriate sum on top, giving Master Zhang a graceful way to accept.
“Miaoyi thanks biaosao!” Biaomei said with a respectful bow.
“You’re too polite, Biaomei. Your biaoge isn’t at the manor, so anything I can do to help, I certainly won’t sit by and watch.”
Zhang Miaoyi couldn’t stay long. After expressing her thanks, she hurried away back to the Zhang residence.
As expected, Lord Zhang’s superior came through magnificently. A single drinking session was all it took to bring Master Zhang around. Flattered into a daze, he declared that Young Master Zhou need only present two wild geese5 as a token gesture—which so infuriated Xu shi that her nose practically crooked. Naturally, Young Master Zhou was more reliable than that. He didn’t actually show up with just a pair of geese.
And so the matter concluded. The whole affair cost Jiang Chenyu a total of two hundred taels.
Fifty taels to hire a courtesan whose appearance resembled Second Miss Zhang. After some careful grooming, she was delivered into Wang Jinbao’s company. It took only a few meetings to lead Wang Jinbao around by the nose. Madam Wang, terrified that her son would never produce heirs for the Wang household, had long ago arranged bedchamber maids6 in his quarters. This made the courtesan’s job unexpectedly easy. Disguised as Zhang Jingyi, she met with Wang Jinbao in secret, then vanished without a trace—leaving behind only the Zhang family’s address, for Wang Jinbao to come looking for her. Even now, the Wang family was still wrangling with the Zhang family over this, demanding they hand over Zhang Jingyi.
The next fifty taels went toward supplementing Young Master Zhou’s betrothal gift, bringing it up to one hundred taels—much to Master Zhang’s delight.
The final one hundred taels went toward biaomei’s dowry, serving as the wedding gift-money from Jiang Chenyu and Shen Hetang. As for what the other members of the household chose to contribute, she didn’t pry. But Madam Shen and Madam Ru, as elders, would certainly chip in something. Once everything was prepared, all that remained was to await an auspicious date for the wedding.
With biaomei’s affairs settled, the grain-buying business proved far less smooth.
Jiang Ning and her group returned dispirited and dust-covered, having managed to spend only about ten thousand taels of the silver they had brought.
“Where all did you go?” Jiang Chenyu asked, frowning.
“We headed north, but the Xuzhou and Guangling regions suffered a drought in the two months before the autumn harvest. Grain yields were only half of normal. After paying the court’s taxes, barely any household had a surplus.” For the first time, Jiang Chenyu saw heaviness on Jiang Ning’s face.
It wasn’t just because they had made a fruitless trip. It was largely worry for the common people. She was no longer the Jiang Ning who had to fight tooth and nail to prove herself; compared to her former ferocity, she now carried an air of ease.
“The north accounts for half the empire’s grain output. If even they have no surplus, then grain prices will surely rise this year, and supply won’t meet demand. We need to buy up grain before too many people notice the shortage.” Fortunately, they had set out early this time—the round trip had taken less than twenty days.
“You mean we should head south?” Since the grain buyers who dealt with farmers each year were fixed and familiar, this being their first time in the trade, their purchasing costs would run slightly higher than established buyers—only then would farmers be willing to sell to them.
“Mm. Let’s take a team south and make a circuit. Buy as much as we can. I’ll go with you this time.” Turning a profit from reselling grain was secondary; she had her own concerns, and something in her heart just wouldn’t settle.
“You’re coming along too?” Jiang Ning was somewhat surprised.
“I’m thinking that beyond the grain for resale, I’ll buy a separate batch for my own purposes.” She had always liked to prepare for a rainy day.
“You want to stockpile grain?” Jiang Ning was sharp enough to catch the implication.
“Yes. With grain in hand, the heart stays steady.” Excluding the silver buried back at the old estate, she still had a hefty 450,000 taels in hand.
If she spent 200,000 taels on grain, at current prices—three copper cash7 per jin8—she could sell it at five to six copper cash per jin.
One cart could carry twenty sacks of grain, roughly two thousand jin. A cart of grain would then cost six thousand copper cash—six taels of silver. If she spent 100,000 taels on grain, accounting for rising prices—at five copper cash per jin, a cart would cost ten taels. So 100,000 taels could purchase ten thousand cartloads. Never mind whether she could even use that much—the prefectures that actually had grain for sale couldn’t add up to that volume combined.
Looking at it this way, it wasn’t so bad. She wouldn’t need tens of thousands of taels; she could well afford it. From here, it was simply a matter of going everywhere and buying grain.
Of course, this calculation assumed grain prices hadn’t gone completely absurd. She budgeted 30,000 taels to first stockpile six million jin of grain.
Her fingers flew across the abacus, the beads blurring into a dizzying rattle.
“You’re worried your man at the border won’t have enough to eat?” Seeing her calculate so carefully, Jiang Ning had a sudden moment of clarity.
Jiang Chenyu shot her a resentful glance but said nothing.
“Miss, you married a general. What advantage have you ever gained? You’ve been paying out of your own pocket the whole time!” Jiang Ning said, piling on.
“How have I not gained anything? Our business runs this smoothly, and nobody dares to get jealous and cause trouble—isn’t that all thanks to him? Let’s be honest about it!” Jiang Chenyu rebutted without lifting her head.
“Besides, it’s only this much silver. I can still afford to support him!” she added weakly, sneaking a sheepish glance at the person across from her.
“One hundred thousand troops, each needing at least one jin of grain per day—that’s one hundred thousand jin per day. Those six million jin you haven’t even gotten your hands on yet? Only enough for two months.” Jiang Ning spoke word by deliberate word, so exasperated her nose was practically crooking.
“Ah? Only two months?” It wasn’t that she begrudged the silver—it was just that collecting any more grain than that would likely be beyond their means. But there was no need to worry. This was purely for emergencies. Ultimately, the court would have to find a solution. She was simply afraid that when the critical moment came, the court would drop the ball. Compared to silver, she simply wanted Ah Tang to return safe and sound.
Through previous lapses and close calls, she had learned she needed to provide a safety net for Ah Tang. She couldn’t rely solely on the court—she didn’t have much faith in it.
“The border is a long way off. Just the journey alone will take ages. Men and horses all need to eat. Your budget will need to at least double, and if it truly comes to that, you’d need the court’s army to escort the shipment. It’s not something a handful of us can deliver empty-handed.” Jiang Ning analyzed it for her item by item.
“You think further ahead than I do. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, let’s focus on heading south. We should send someone north as well for another sweep.”
“I’ll go speak with the Heir’s Wife about building granaries outside the capital as quickly as possible. I just hope Ah Tang never needs this batch of grain.”
“Let’s divide the work. The grain you collect, sell wholesale to the major grain shops. We’ll just earn the margin.” Grain was far less profitable than other goods. If they could only collect a few tens of thousands of taels’ worth, doubling it at best would only cover a couple years’ wages for the hired hands—not bad at all!
“Or perhaps we should hold onto the grain ourselves. If there’s truly a shortage and we’ve already sold everything to the grain shops, they might jack up the price for ordinary folk—could even reach dozens of copper cash per jin. By then, the situation would spiral out of control.” Jiang Ning thought for a moment.
“You make a good point. We’re not counting on this grain to make our fortune. Let’s put it all in the granaries together. I’ll discuss with the Heir’s Wife whether we can build two granary sites.”
“So when do we set out?”
“The sooner the better. You don’t have enough carts—find more. We leave together in three days!”
Footnotes
- 'Biaomei' is a pinyin kinship term for a younger female cousin.
- 'Biaosao' is a pinyin kinship term for an older male cousin's wife.
- A 'tael' was a unit of silver currency in imperial China, approximately 37 grams of silver.
- 'Biaoge' is a pinyin kinship term for an older male cousin.
- In traditional Chinese wedding customs, wild geese were the standard betrothal gift, symbolizing fidelity because geese mate for life.
- A 'bedchamber maid' was a servant girl who also served as a sexual partner for the young master of the household, a status below that of a concubine.
- A 'wen' is the smallest unit of copper currency in imperial China.
- A 'jin' is a Chinese unit of weight, approximately 500 grams.
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