Chapter 403 — Inspecting the Marriage

CHAPTER 403

Inspecting the Marriage

By the time Shi Feng reached the outer gate, Lin Langtian was standing on the top step with a sack of sweet potatoes over his shoulder, arguing with Warden Ji Yan.

“It's closed,” Ji Yan said. She had both hands on her halberd and looked like a woman about to cry. “The Valley is sealed. By order. Everybody, go home!”

“Nonsense,” Lin Langtian said happily. “I'm on official business.”

“What business?” Ji Yan said.

“I'm here to inspect my junior brother's marriage!” Lin Langtian said.

The road went silent. On the crates, forty merchants stopped chewing. Behind the green curtain, a girl's voice squeaked, “Inspect?”

“A sect has to inspect its groom’s household,” Lin Langtian said, swinging down the sack. “Where he sleeps, what he eats, the sort of in-laws he’s acquired. Rules are dead, but people are alive. I’m chief disciple, which is better than an elder for this. Younger and more handsome. Fetch your Registry Keeper.”

“How do you know about the Registry Keeper?” Ji Yan said.

“I know everything. It's a tiresome gift,” Lin Langtian said.

Shi Feng stopped at the foot of the steps. Lin Langtian turned and spread his arms.

“Junior Brother!” Lin Langtian cried. “You look thin. They're starving you! I knew it. Is that bitter melon I smell on your sleeve?”

“Senior Brother Lin,” Shi Feng said. “Where did you take your nap?”

“On the road. I had no choice. A cart passed me with a bed on it, and the carter said I could lie down for a silver.” Lin Langtian sighed. “It was a very good bed. I didn't want to leave it.”

From the steps behind him came a single dry cough.

Sima Lan stood a pace back, with her ledger under one arm. Strapped to her back was a knee-high bronze travelling furnace on three short legs, with a bundle of herb sacks on top of it. Old Soot was riding on her shoulder, and it had just spotted a drift of petals by the gate. It growled.

“You forgot this,” Sima Lan said, to Shi Feng.

“I didn't forget it. I left it for you,” Shi Feng said.

“I thought so,” Sima Lan said coolly. “I’m still holding the stall. Zhu Liu sits there with my ledger and very clear instructions. Lin Langtian said you needed the furnace, and I was the only one who’d carry it safely.”

“I said she was the only one who wouldn't sell it,” Lin Langtian said.

Ji Yan was staring at Sima Lan's load of hardware.

“And you are?” Ji Yan said.

“Attendant,” Sima Lan said.

“Maid?” Ji Yan said.

“Attendant,” Sima Lan said.

“It says ‘maid’ on the carts,” the young warden whispered. “They say there's a princess who carries his furnace—”

“I was a princess,” Sima Lan said. “Now I'm an attendant. The furnace is on the contract.”

“Registry Keeper!” Ji Yan roared. “Registry Keeper!”

Tan Ruo hurried up with keys clanking and reading lenses in hand. She recognised Lin Langtian’s cheerful expression and looked immediately weary. Before he explained anything, she took out the scroll case.

“Inspect?” Tan Ruo said.

“Annex three,” Lin Langtian said.

“There's no annex three,” Tan Ruo said.

“Look again,” Lin Langtian said.

Tan Ruo looked at him for a long time. Then she opened her scroll case, flipped through three rolls, unfolded a fourth, and read at the very bottom in a voice of deep, personal betrayal.

“Annex three to Article nine. The senior kin of a registered husband may inspect the household once,” Tan Ruo read aloud. She lowered the scroll. “It was added forty-one years ago by a drunken elder. Nobody has ever used it.”

“Used it now,” Lin Langtian said.

“Outrageous!” someone shouted from behind the curtain.

“They're treating our Senior Sister like a goods inspection! The guest is usurping the host!”

“The nerve!”

“Open the gate!” Tan Ruo said, to the heavens, to the wardens, to nobody. “It's the law!”

“But—” Ji Yan said.

“The Valley will be outraged on the inside. Open it,” Tan Ruo said.

The green light peeled back. Lin Langtian marched through humming, Sima Lan followed with her chin high, and Shi Feng walked last, with the pleasant calm of a man who has been through worse gates.

The news reached the guest court faster than they did.

Ling Qingzhu waited inside the plum-tree gate with her right hand at her side. Her hair was loose, but her white veil was tied. She’d clearly hurried there. Lin Langtian bowed grandly. She glanced at his potatoes, then studied Sima Lan’s furnace and ledger.

For a long, quiet moment, nobody spoke.

“Your attendant,” Ling Qingzhu said, “carries your furnace too?”

“An attendant,” Sima Lan said, “carries what is listed on the contract.”

“I see.” Ling Qingzhu's thumb pressed against her sleeve. “And all of it is listed?”

“Everything is listed,” Sima Lan said.

“She carries everything,” Shi Feng said.

“I'm sure she does,” Ling Qingzhu said.

Ling Qingzhu and Sima Lan held their ground. Neither raised her voice. Lin Langtian looked between them, delighted, while Shi Feng waited for someone to ask about the actual work.

“Excellent,” Lin Langtian said, rubbing his hands. “Introductions are done. Now, Junior Sister-in-law, I must inspect. Where does the groom sleep?”

“On the floor,” Ling Qingzhu said. “It's in the terms.”

“And the bride?” Lin Langtian said.

“On the bed,” Ling Qingzhu said.

“And where do the senior brother and the attendant sleep?” Lin Langtian said.

Ling Qingzhu opened her mouth. She closed it. The guest court had one room, one bed and one porch.

“I'll take the porch,” Sima Lan said at once.

“Wonderful,” Lin Langtian said. “Then I'll take the bed.”

“…” Ling Qingzhu said.