live-in son-in-law

Chapter 5 The Unrelated One

Pedestrians flowed around them on the street. Su Tan’er, with Juan’er and Xing’er; Ning Yi, with Xiao Chan; and Xue Jin, with his two servants, stood together in a seemingly amiable conversation.

Jiangning was a prosperous area, its textile trade thriving. The three biggest cloth shops nearby were the Su family’s, the Xue family’s Dachuan Cloth Shop, and the leading Wushi Cloth Shop. Xue Jin’s stated purpose for being here was to discuss a potential business collaboration with Su Tan’er concerning the Huai’nan region. However, Su Tan’er only managed a small portion of the Su family’s affairs; most business outside Jiangning was handled by the second and third uncles. She directed Xue Jin to take the matter up with Second Uncle Su Zhongkan. Xue Jin insisted that it was better to deal with someone familiar and invited Su Tan’er to a banquet he was hosting in a few days to discuss the matter with Su Zhongkan… or so he said.

The truth was, everyone knew Xue Jin had always been interested in Su Tan’er. The Xue family had once proposed marriage, but the Old Master didn’t care for Xue Jin, the Su family lacked strong male heirs in this generation and didn’t want to marry their most capable daughter out, and besides, the two families were business competitors. The proposal fell through. On the wedding day, when Su Tan’er ran away, Xue Jin had seized the chaos to sneak in, hit Ning Yi with a brick, and slip away. Without solid witnesses, the whole messy affair was too complicated to pursue and was eventually dropped.

Now, months later, with Su Tan’er technically married, Xue Jin was still hanging around. Even though she couldn’t marry into the Xue family now, Su Tan’er was beautiful, clever, and capable—exactly the kind of woman certain men enjoyed the challenge of ‘conquering.’ He probably hadn’t expected to run into Ning Yi on his way home. He had nothing but contempt for the bookworm and had come over to greet him precisely to provoke him and watch him squirm.

Su Tan’er had come out because she knew exactly what Xue Jin was up to. Her feelings toward Ning Yi were simple: she didn’t dislike him, and he was her husband now, for better or worse. They were bound together. She found Xue Jin as unimpressive as the other spoiled young masters of Jiangning and disliked him personally. But business was business, and personal feelings had to be set aside when the Xue family’s influence was involved.

Hearing the news from Xing’er, she had hurried out, worried that Ning Yi’s scholarly pride would make him easy to provoke. If a conflict erupted, it could easily escalate into a dispute between the Su and Xue families. Her feelings for Ning Yi were nowhere near strong enough to justify risking family interests for his pride. But she couldn’t just stand by either—he was her husband. If a conflict started and she did nothing, she’d be seen as disloyal. If she tried to prevent it, navigating that was tricky. Even though they’d gotten along peacefully these past months, men cared deeply about face. They weren’t close enough for her to know how he’d react if she asked him to back down—he might even suspect there was something between her and Xue Jin. She valued harmony and wanted to avoid domestic strife, even with a live-in husband. *What a headache.*

But when she emerged, she found Ning Yi conversing with Xue Jin naturally about his amnesia, seeming genuinely unaware of who Xue Jin was… *Had no one mentioned him at all these past months?* Puzzled, she smoothly steered the conversation and soon made their excuses, ushering Ning Yi and the maids into the carriage.

“By the way,” Xue Jin called out loudly as they prepared to leave, “for the Mid-Autumn lantern viewing on the Qinhuai, the Puyuan poetry gathering allows families to attend. I hear Brother Ning is quite learned—will you be accompanying Sister Tan’er?” It was early August, nearly Mid-Autumn Festival. The Qinhuai River would be full of events—some for single men, some predominantly for women. The Puyuan poetry gathering was one of the more famous ones. In any era, once people had their basic needs met, they dabbled in refined pursuits. It wasn’t just about poetry; there were performances too. Su Tan’er had often attended in previous years. She lowered the carriage curtain. “We’ll see.”

“Tch… ‘We’ll see’…” Xue Jin muttered under his breath as the carriage pulled away, grinding his teeth slightly. Then he turned to his servants, a look of pure bafflement on his face. “What do you think? Is that Ning guy really faking it? Or did he actually lose his memory? He couldn’t fake it that well, could he?” He felt like he’d just thrown a punch only to hit empty air. His whole performance lacked its intended audience reaction, which was vaguely unsatisfying.

Inside the carriage, Su Tan’er was also studying Ning Yi with a curious expression. The maids were doing most of the talking, chattering about how rude and awful Young Master Xue was, their words subtly weaving around an unspoken theme: *The young lady has nothing to do with him!* Ning Yi occasionally chimed in with a smile.

He honestly just found the maids endearing—well-behaved and sensible. Girls their age in his old world could be so much more willful. After a moment, Su Tan’er spoke up. “Husband… did you really forget that Xue Jin?”

Ning Yi nodded. “I really don’t remember.”

“But… you must have heard about him by now…”

She looked at him doubtfully. He met her gaze, and they held it for a moment. “Did you… want me to hit him back there or something?”

Su Tan’er blinked a few times, and then a slow, genuine smile spread across her face—different from her usual polite mask. It was a smile of relieved understanding. So her husband did grasp social nuances. But alongside that relief, she felt a faint twinge of something else… disappointment? She didn’t care for pure, clueless scholars, but she didn’t much like cunning schemers either. They weren’t close enough for her to tell which he might be.

As the carriage rumbled over a small bridge near the Su family compound, she glanced out the window. “In that case… the Mid-Autumn poetry gathering at Puyuan… would you like to go?”

“I’m not much good with poetry.”

“You don’t have to be. It’s mostly about watching the performances and admiring the lanterns.”

As Su Tan’er spoke, Juan’er nodded vigorously. “Yes, yes, Young Master! There are lots of performances!”

Xing’er added, “The lanterns are really pretty! And there are fireworks!”

“Maybe Miss Qilan will perform there this year…” Juan’er mused.

“We can listen to the songs…” Xing’er said.

The three maids chattered excitedly about the festival’s attractions—a rare and major source of entertainment in this era. Ning Yi smiled and nodded. “Alright then. If we can, let’s all go together.”

The Mid-Autumn Festival was still over ten days away. A few days later, Second Uncle Su Zhongkan formally notified him: he was to report to the Yushan Academy, not far from the Su family home, and begin his new, leisurely life as a teacher.

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