Chapter 11: Loyalty and Filial Piety

Yin Wei sat in his chair, staring blankly. "How many taels did you just say?"

The secretary felt a sense of panic. He looked back to exchange glances with the accountant, and upon receiving a look of absolute certainty from him, he trembled and said in a shaky voice, "Reporting to the Prefect, calculated at market value, Miss Tang has donated her personal dowry and that of her mother, totaling four hundred seventy-eight thousand three hundred taels of silver."

Four hundred seventy-eight thousand three hundred taels!

A fierce battle raged within Yin Wei’s heart.

"Among that, the dowry of the late Lady Song, the first wife of the Duke of Wei, is valued at nearly four hundred thousand taels," the secretary added, bowing his head to fan the flames.

"Do it!" Yin Wei neatly straightened his official robes and ordered, "Prepare the sedan chair. We are going to the palace."

*****

Bidan Courtyard.

Tang Zhao burrowed into her warm quilt, holding a hand warmer, while Nanny Song personally served her hot tea.

"With such heavy snow, why did you go out without a word, Miss?" Nanny Song complained. "What if you had caught a chill?"

She glared at Chunfeng, who was sitting honestly nearby drinking hot soup. "You are just as thoughtless; you didn't even try to persuade the Miss."

Chunfeng listened obediently. "Don't be angry, Nanny. I won't dare do it again next time."

Nanny Song didn't believe her.

"Nanny, I did something big today," Tang Zhao said, shifting the focus. "Do you want to know?"

"What big thing?" Nanny Song played along.

"I will be able to get my mother's dowry back very soon."

"Really? Miss, don't tease this old servant!" Nanny Song was so pleasantly surprised that the wrinkles on her face seemed to fade.

"It's true. Tomorrow—no, at the earliest, news will spread by this afternoon," Tang Zhao estimated.

"Oh my," Nanny Song prayed to Buddha repeatedly in her joy. It took a while before she remembered to ask, "How did you manage it, Miss?"

"I found someone to help," Tang Zhao said with calm confidence.

"Who?" Nanny Song couldn't think of any noble family in Luoyang with such influence.

Tang Zhao extended her index finger and pointed out the window.

Everyone in the inner chamber looked up at the pitch-black sky outside the window.

*****

The Imperial Palace, the Imperial Study.

Emperor Kangzhi, over sixty years of age, held a memorial. He felt as if the characters on the page were blocked by layers of mist, unable to be seen clearly.

"Bring the golden elixir," Emperor Kangzhi said in a low voice.

The head eunuch hesitated. "Your Majesty, you already took three pills before the morning court session. The Imperial Preceptor warned repeatedly that the elixir is potent and one must not exceed three pills a day..."

The rest of his dissuasion was swallowed back under the Emperor's icy gaze. He took quick, small steps forward, pulled a brocade box from his sleeve, and held it above his head with both hands.

Rows of milky-white, pearl-sized pills were neatly arranged. Emperor Kangzhi skillfully picked one up, placed it in his mouth, and swallowed it with tea.

This time, he waited a full half-stick of incense before a familiar warmth surged in his lower abdomen. The heat traveled through his meridians and blood vessels to every part of his body, and the soreness throughout his frame immediately subsided.

Emperor Kangzhi picked up the memorial again and began to review it with practiced ease.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the Prefect of Luoyang requests an audience."

"Summon him."

Yin Wei walked into the great hall, bowed, and performed a respectful salute. "Your subject, Yin Wei, pays respects to Your Majesty."

"Rise," Emperor Kangzhi said, taking a sip of tea. "What is it?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, I have a matter to report."

*****

In Bidan Courtyard, Nanny Song looked at the empty sandalwood box and let out an elderly version of a marmot scream. "Miss, you really donated it?!"

Tang Zhao couldn't help but laugh, collapsing onto the bed.

Chunfeng replied silently, "Donated. The Miss's and the late Lady's—all of it was donated."

*****

Inside the Imperial Study, Emperor Kangzhi looked at the two familiar dowry lists. After a long silence, he said, "Just handle it according to the rules."

"Your Majesty, Miss Tang—" Yin Wei paused and corrected himself, "The property donated by the Fifth Young Mistress of the Prince Xuan's Mansion. I have already sent men to collect the portion belonging to the Fifth Young Mistress, but as for the portion belonging to the late Lady Song, the wife of the Duke of Wei..."

Emperor Kangzhi clutched the dowry list—the one he had helped the old General Song review no fewer than thirty times and which remained fresh in his memory—and asked with a complex heart, "What about it?"

"According to the Fifth Young Mistress, the dowry of the late Lady Song is still in the Duke of Wei's mansion and did not enter the Prince's mansion with the Young Mistress."

"The Fifth Young Mistress only holds the dowry list. If she wishes to obtain the items written on it, she requires the cooperation of the Duke of Wei's mansion."

Emperor Kangzhi’s voice was calm. "I recall that after a woman passes away, her dowry should be inherited by her children. Why does Lady Song's dowry remain in the Duke of Wei's mansion?"

"I have the same question," Yin Wei replied. "However, the Fifth Young Mistress does not know the reason either. I fear we can only ask the Duke of Wei's mansion to provide clarity."

Emperor Kangzhi let out a cold snort. The palace maids and eunuchs were silent as cicadas in winter. Yin Wei’s expression remained indifferent and composed.

"What does Minister Yin think?"

"I believe that our Great Yu governs the world by law. The law stipulates that whoever owns the property has the right to dispose of it."

"Follow Minister Yin's words."

Yin Wei received the decree and withdrew.

*****

In Bidan Courtyard, Qiuyu asked in confusion, "Miss, will His Majesty help us?"

"Of course he will," Tang Zhao said, looking at the snow that was still falling outside the window. "Right now, His Majesty and I are grasshoppers on the same string."

Getting the dowry back from the Duke of Wei's mansion completes her task, and His Majesty gets the money to provide disaster relief. It is a win-win.

Even if the system doesn't count her task as complete, she would be happy just to squeeze money out of those vampires in the Duke of Wei's mansion!

Struggling to ignore the pain of losing a massive inheritance, Tang Zhao clutched her chest and brainwashed herself repeatedly: A good child does not covet ancestral property.

"Miss, why go to such great lengths? Since the law stipulates it, why don't we just storm in and snatch the Lady's dowry back?" Seeing the Miss's pained expression, Qiuyu felt the pain herself.

"You're silly. If I go to ask for it, the successor Lady An can just find any excuse to stall and delay."

Tang Zhao looked at Chunfeng with appreciation. "The successor Lady is six months pregnant. If she were even more heartless, she could pretend to have a stomachache from being angered by me and easily pin a charge of unfilial and disrespectful behavior on me."

"Now that I have donated the dowry, if the Luoyang Prefect's office wants this money, they will inevitably go to the Duke of Wei's mansion to demand it. The Luoyang Prefect stands on the side of righteousness and relies on the law. For the sake of their reputation, the Duke of Wei's mansion will have no choice but to swallow the bitter pill."

*****

"When the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman reaps the benefit."

Inside the official sedan chair belonging to the Luoyang Prefect's office, Yin Wei sipped his tea. "The Duke of Wei's mansion has kicked an iron plate."

The secretary echoed, "Indeed. To sacrifice such a large sum of money just to make the Duke of Wei's mansion suffer a major loss—that is truly a grand gesture."

"Although Great Yu governs the world by law, everything is inseparable from human sentiment. If Miss Tang had personally stepped forward to reclaim her mother's dowry, she would certainly have been criticized by pedantic scholars for being unfilial."

"Therefore, she had to borrow someone else's hand. In this world, the only thing that can defeat the word 'filial' is the word 'loyalty'."

Since ancient times, loyalty and filial piety could not be achieved simultaneously. To abandon filial piety to serve loyalty is the way of heaven and human ethics.

The secretary sighed in admiration. If it were him, he might not have been so willing.

Yin Wei glanced at him. "Those who cannot let go of worldly possessions will inevitably be dragged down by them."

He looked at the sky; it was not yet noon. He ordered, "Go to the Duke of Wei's mansion."

The sedan chair bearers acknowledged the order, turned, and headed toward the Duke of Wei's mansion.

(End of chapter)