Li Yue gave Xie Wenzhao a scolding, and now felt much more at ease in his heart—only Meng Fu’s health wasn’t too good, and when he had scolded Xie Wenzhao just now, it somewhat affected his performance.
He unfolded the fan in his hand again, gently waving it, with leaves from the Chinese mahogany tree drifting down from above, landing on his shoulder. He raised his hand to brush off that leaf, folded up the fan, waved his hand, and actually carried a bit of a free-spirited and elegant air.
The servants in the courtyard were trembling with fear, their whole bodies shaking, all not knowing what they should do next. They had been in the Marquis Manor for so many years, and this was still the first time seeing the Madam get angry—it was truly too terrifying.
The tempers of the few masters in the Marquis Manor weren’t considered big, at least they rarely got angry in front of servants. Only the old Marquis would occasionally yell at them, but compared to how the Madam looked just now, that really didn’t count for much.
Since Meng Fu fell ill, her control over the Marquis Manor had decreased quite a bit. The hearts of the servants within the residence became unsettled, and quite a few had harbored some thoughts of currying favor with other courtyards. But after today, they probably had to completely suppress all those little thoughts. Some servants even felt that Madam making them stay in the courtyard to listen to her scolding the Marquis had a deeper meaning—perhaps it was to kill the chicken to warn the monkey. [杀鸡儆猴 – a Chinese idiom meaning to punish an individual as a warning to others]
It’s just that this chicken was a bit too high-ranked.
A servant carefully bent down, wanting to pick up the handkerchief that had fallen on the ground just now. As he bent halfway, he suddenly felt a chill down his back. He looked up and saw the Madam was looking at him. His legs immediately went weak, and with a “plop” sound, he directly fell flat on his face.
Li Yue felt that the servants of the Marquis Manor really lacked quality—could trip even on flat ground. He waved his hand and said to them: “If you’re not busy, then just leave.”
Upon hearing this, the servants reacted as if they had received a pardon and hurried to leave. Only the few elder servants from Ronghui Hall still stood in place. They had come to ask Meng Fu for money, but after what just happened, they also didn’t dare open their mouths to her now.
Li Yue stood up, stretched his arms, and seeing that they didn’t leave, walked over and asked: “You few still have something?”
These people secretly looked at each other, yet none dared to speak. Madam even dared to scold the Marquis. If the words they said didn’t suit her liking, would she drive them out of the Marquis Manor? At this moment, none of them dared to look Li Yue in the eye. Someone was already thinking of retreating, figuring that since Madam was in a bad mood, it would be better to come another day.
As for which day—that was hard to say.
Seeing that his brothers all remained silent, Wu San bravely stepped forward from the back. Coming here for nothing would just let the other servants laugh at them. If they backed down today, they probably wouldn’t have the courage to come again. Moreover, the Marquis was scolded so fiercely by Meng Fu because he had gone too far. Their request for money was according to the rules. In fact, from listening to Madam scolding the Marquis just now, she still seemed to be reasonable…
…right?
Wu San gained a bit of confidence. He cupped his hands toward Meng Fu and said, “Madam, we came to collect this month’s monthly wages.”
Although Li Yue had never managed household affairs, he still knew that this kind of thing shouldn’t need him to personally handle. If they came to find him, there must be another reason.
Could the Xuanping Marquis Manor really not even afford the monthly wages for servants?
“There’s such a thing?” Li Yue turned his head and glanced at Qingping, who stood beside him. Qingping had just returned to her senses from the shock of seeing the Marquis get fiercely scolded by the Madam—her whole person was still a bit dazed. Hearing Li Yue’s question at this moment, she pursed her lips and stiffly nodded.
“Alright. How much do you want?” Li Yue asked.
“F-F-Fif…” Wu San stretched out his hand, opening five fingers, but upon seeing Madam’s still slightly gloomy face, he stuttered endlessly and never got the full sentence out. They had originally agreed to ask Meng Fu for fifty taels first, and if she didn’t agree, they could reduce it a bit—at the very least, each person needed to get forty taels.
But now, just a casual glance from Li Yue made him tremble all over, his heart clenched tight, and he simply couldn’t get the words out.
Li Yue frowned—why was this one a stutterer? Couldn’t they send someone who spoke more smoothly? This Marquis Xie Wenzhao was really incompetent. His expression grew uglier, and he asked irritably: “Five what? Five qian [coins]?”
Wu San quickly shook his head—five qian and fifty liang were way too far apart.
“Then five wen?” [文 – small denomination copper coin, even smaller than qian]
Li Yue roughly estimated their number—seven or eight people—and said, “Giving you five wen, you all wouldn’t even be able to divide it up. One wen each, what can you even do with that?”
Wu San immediately widened his eyes, internally speechless—Madam was really too stingy today. Forget about five wen, and to think it was five wen split among all of them! Could the Marquis Manor really be so poor that it was running out of food?
Li Yue couldn’t be bothered to waste more time with them. He asked Qingping clearly about their identities and learned that they had rendered a favor to the old Marquis. So he simply said, “Forget it, I’ll decide—be generous. Give you all five liang. Go buy yourselves a better set of clothes.”
Wu San and the others, before coming to Ji Xue Courtyard to ask for money, had specially dug out those old clothes from a few years ago full of patches, all just to pour out their current hardships to Meng Fu—but now, they hadn’t even opened their mouths yet, and Madam had already said everything.
Before they could speak, Li Yue waved his hand again and said: “Alright, no need to thank me either. You all can go now.”
Wu San opened his mouth. He couldn’t figure out whether Madam truly believed they came with so many people just to ask her for five wen [文 – copper coins], or if she was mocking them. But if they only got five liang [两 – silver taels] from Madam this month, it probably wouldn’t be more in the future either. He hurriedly said, “Madam, that’s not…”
“Mm?” Li Yue tilted his head and looked at Wu San, asking faintly, “Not what?”
Just that light glance froze Wu San on the spot—he couldn’t move at all. When he was young, he had followed the old Marquis onto the battlefield, and had crawled out from seas of blood and mountains of corpses. But in this moment, he felt like he was seeing those terrifying scenes all over again.
Li Yue turned his head and instructed Qingping: “Go get five liang of silver for them.” Then he went straight into the room and didn’t look back again.
Qingping was sixteen this year. She had followed Meng Fu since she was ten years old, coming together to the Marquis Manor. She had witnessed everything Meng Fu had suffered in the Marquis Manor and felt great heartache for her xiaojie [小姐 – young lady, often used by maids to refer to their mistress]. Today, Meng Fu had scolded Xie Wenzhao, and then used just five liang of silver to send off that bunch of old foxes who relied on seniority. Though Qingping worried about her young lady’s situation in the Marquis Manor moving forward, she also felt a burst of satisfaction in her heart. She answered: “Yes, Madam.”
Those people from Ronghui Hall had carefully plotted and prepared, but in the end only left with five liang of silver. If this got out, people would probably laugh their teeth off. After leaving Ji Xue Courtyard, the others all began to complain about Wu San—blaming him for not speaking clearly in front of the Madam. “Five what, five what? Is fifty liang of silver so hard to say? Was it burning your tongue? Isn’t your tongue usually quite slick?”
Wu San got angry hearing those words too, and retorted: “Then why didn’t any of you speak just now? I stuttered, fine—but were you all mute?”
Everyone fell silent. At that time, the Madam had scolded the Marquis until he looked like a grandson, who dared open their mouth? Especially that last look the Madam gave them—it carried a kind of presence they had never even seen on the old Marquis. As if she didn’t put anything in this world in her eyes. They now somewhat understood why Xie Wenzhao, in front of her, was completely suppressed.
These old fellows from Ronghui Hall all sighed in unison: “Five liang—just five liang, huh?”
“How am I going to explain this to the old woman back home!”
“Five liang? If we divide this between us, there’s not even one liang per person.”
“Why don’t we go talk to the old Marquis?”
“That could work,” Wu San nodded. “But we can’t just say it directly—we’ll go back to Ronghui Hall first and discuss.”
After all, even if this Madam dares to scold the Marquis, she surely wouldn’t dare scold the old Marquis too.
—
Li Yue returned to the room and sat on the couch, flipping through a book he casually pulled from the bookshelf. Right now, he had to think of a way to see the Emperor in the palace as soon as possible. Maybe the assessment matter [考绩 – kaoji, imperial performance evaluation system] still had a chance to be salvaged. But with his current body, trying to force his way into the palace was pure daydreaming. If he didn’t force his way, would he have to dig a tunnel in? Then where should he even start digging?
Qingping slowed her steps and stopped in front of him, her round little face full of worry. She said, “Madam, today when the Marquis goes back, he’ll probably be very angry, right?”
Li Yue looked up at her and asked, “What about him being angry? I’m angry too.”
Qingping opened her mouth, hesitated for a while, and truly couldn’t say what was so scary about Xie Wenzhao being angry. He had always been cold to Meng Fu—how much worse could it get? And Meng Fu’s standing in the Xuanping Marquis Manor had never relied on him to begin with.
She paused for a long while and finally said to Li Yue: “If the Old Madam finds out, she might make things difficult for you.”
“The Old Madam?” Li Yue thought carefully. His impression of the Xuanping Marquis Manor’s Old Madam wasn’t much. He had only seen her a few times in court banquets when he was younger. He asked, “How will she make things difficult?”
Qingping thought for a bit and said, “Maybe she’ll make Concubine Sun help you manage the household.”
Li Yue waited for a while, but didn’t hear any follow-up. He asked Qingping, “That’s it?”
Qingping hesitated and nodded, “Seems like it.”
Li Yue closed the book and set it aside, saying: “Then I think I can still scold Xie Wenzhao one more time.”
Qingping didn’t even know what she could say anymore.
Over on the other side, Xie Wenzhao left Jixue Courtyard full of anger. He had just returned to his own Songxuan Hall, when a servant came in to report that someone from the palace had arrived.
Xie Wenzhao didn’t dare delay even a moment. He hurriedly gulped down two pots of tea to suppress his anger, and quickly went out to receive the visitor. The one who came was a young eunuch dressed in a green robe. He looked quite young and his official rank likely wasn’t high, but since he came from the palace, he couldn’t be treated casually.
Xie Wenzhao came before the eunuch, smiling as he asked: “May I ask what matter has brought Gonggong [a respectful title used in historical Chinese contexts to refer to eunuchs, especially those serving in the imperial palace.] to the Marquis Manor today?”
The eunuch said: “His Majesty is holding a banquet this evening at Linde Hall, and invites all noble officials of third rank and above in the imperial capital to attend. This servant has come to inform the Marquis.”
“Many thanks, Gonggong,” Xie Wenzhao had his attendant slip the young eunuch a silver note [银票 – a silver banknote or promissory note], and asked, “But may I ask why His Majesty is suddenly hosting a banquet today?”
The eunuch smiled and replied: “How would this servant know? It’s His Majesty’s sacred grace. You may bring your family members along.”
Xie Wenzhao thought of the scolding he suffered in Jixue Courtyard today. Unless his brain had been slammed by a door, he wouldn’t dream of bringing Meng Fu along. But there was no need to tell this eunuch that and let himself be laughed at for no reason. He simply nodded and said, “Understood.”
“Then this servant will take his leave.”
“Gonggong, walk slowly.”
The young eunuch still had to notify the other officials within the imperial capital. He mounted his horse and rode off.
—
In Zichen Hall, Meng Fu was currently reading through the memorials on the desk. She had been reading ever since morning court ended. Fortunately, these memorials were written concisely, without too many flowery words. She read quickly as well, and in just one midday she had already gone through nearly all the memorials from this period. She paid special attention to the red-ink imperial comments made by His Majesty. She was worried that if something unexpected happened tonight and she still couldn’t find His Majesty, at least she would be prepared and understand His Majesty’s thoughts.
His Majesty’s red-ink comments were even more concise than the memorials—most of the time, he’d just brush them off with five or six characters. Occasionally, when a memorial brought up something that displeased him, he would write a few more words and scold a few more lines—some of the scolding passages even rhymed.
After finishing the last memorial on the desk, Meng Fu raised her hand and pinched the center of her brow. If that His Majesty really had become her, she wondered how he was doing now in the Marquis Manor.
If those people from Ronghui Hall went to him to ask for money, she wondered if he’d be able to handle it. (T/N: Oh he handled it VERY well)
Meng Fu put down her hand. Hopefully, she would be able to see him tonight.