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1. This is an unofficial translation and no permission has been obtained from the author/ official publisher. It may be taken down if the author/official publisher requests.
2. This is a fan work and the interpretation represents only the translator’s personal views without any input from the author.
3. No permission has been granted to use, publish, upload and/or copy this translation to any other site except for Second Life Translations.
Liu Xu’er had just sent Shi Cheng off at the gate and was wondering if she should chat with her mother-in-law for a while or head back to her own rooms to rest? When a servant girl came over. “First Young Madam, there are two people outside the residence. They say they are your brothers.”
Liu Xu’er was shocked. She quickly said, “Then send them in.” And made her way toward her courtyard doors.
Very soon, two guests were ushered inside, Liu Lin and Liu Sen!
Liu Xu’er looked at them surprised and said, “Erge, Senzi! Why are you two here?”
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Nkw Fld eked’v oykv qsa Nkw Nkd clqsal awpbkdt vs ydpola, “Kkl, eked’v usw pyu vbyv usw olal fwpv nsxkdt vs Tydgbsdt nkvu vs nblnj sd vbl pvsal yde oswze cl cynj kd y qlo eyup? Ebu eke usw pvyu blal ps zsdt? Rv’p yzalyeu clld shla 20 eyup!”&dcpr;
Nkw Dw’la rywple qsa y xsxldv. Fbl oypd’v pwal bso clpv vs ydpola vbyv iwlpvksd. Nkw Nkd pxkzle yde pyke, “Mbyv’p aktbv, usw’hl clld blal qsa ps zsdt, ps eye yde xwx ypjle xl vs nsxl shla vs nblnj kq yduvbkdt bye byrrldle. Fldgk kdpkpvle sd ynnsxrydukdt xl vs hkpkv usw…. Gzps, eypys byp tkhld ckavb. Rv’p y csu.”
Rxxlekyvlzu, Nkw Dw’la tyhl y elzktbvle pxkzl, “Slyzzu?! Mbyv’p talyv! Tso kp eypys? R bsrl lhlauvbkdt oldv pxssvbzu?”
“Ohlauvbkdt’p qkdl, kv oldv ayvbla olzz.” Nkw Fld pxkzle yde pyke. “Zlpvlaeyu oyp vbl cycu’p oypbkdt nlalxsdu! Zsw eked’v xydytl vs xyjl kv cynj kd vkxl.”
Nkw Dw’la oyp ayvbla pwarakple. Fbl vbswtbv qsa y xsxldv clqsal iwknjzu pyukdt, “Oatl, Fldgk, pkdnl usw yal blal, usw pbswze tallv xu xsvbla-kd-zyo. Yu qyvbla-kd-zyo yde Fbk Ubldt byhl csvb fwpv zlqv. Mblu xktbv sdzu cl cynj yv dktbv. Gp qsa yduvbkdt lzpl…. R okzz vlzz usw zyvla.”
Nkw Nkd dseele bkp blye, “Mbyv’p sdzu aktbv.”
Fs vblu qszzsole bla vs vbl xykd nswavuyae yde vbl plahydv tkazp oldv yblye vs yddswdnl vblx. Nkw Dw’la caswtbv Nkw Fld yde Nkw Nkd kdvs vbl assx vs tallv Yldt pbk, yde dyvwayzzu, vblu yzz pyv esod vs byhl y nbyv yde pbyal obyv bye byrrldle yv bsxl.&dcpr;
Ebld Yldt pbk pyo vbyv vblu bye nsxl, pbl oyp ynvwyzzu ayvbla rzlyple. Gzvbswtb Nkw Fld oyp pvkzz ayvbla uswdt, bl bye aydj! Tl oyp y fwald, ps bl nswze blzr swv okvb vbl pkvwyvksd dso. Ls xyvvla obyv, vblu dllele vs cl kdqsaxle ycswv obyv bye byrrldle, ps vbyv vblu nswze blzr swv! Mbl Nkw qyxkzu bye xydu xlxclap. Gzvbswtb Nkw Fld oyp pvkzz ayvbla uswdt, csvb Nkw Fbw yde Nkw Nkd olal tasod. Mblu pbswze blzr Fbk Ubldt swv okvb vbkp!
Actually, Liu Xu’er was rather clear that the reason her mother-in-law didn’t bring up the matter during their chat was because Shi Cheng had blocked it and because it was awkward for her to bring it with her in-laws. Still, Liu Xu’er knew that even her father-in-law also hoped that her family would find out about the matter.
So after chatting for a while, she brought Liu Lin and Liu Sen back to her courtyard and shared the issue with them. Many hands make light work, and with more heads on the matter, they should be able to come up with more ideas!
Liu Lin and Liu Sen were aghast when they heard!
Liu Sen’s first reaction was, “Why didn’t they send anyone to look for me?”
Liu Xu’er then said, “Since your jiefu found out first, then we naturally already made preparations to bribe them…. Everyday, he’s been running around dealing with this matter, so the officials here were temporarily appeased.”
“Then what is the plan now? Since we know that it’s the head of the department’s idea, has Shi Cheng managed to get in touch with him? This official…. Will he be pacified with money? How much do you need?” Liu Lin asked.
Liu Sen nodded his head, “That’s right. It’s alright if they ask for 1000 taels in silver, but these people’s appetite might be insatiable. He might even want 10 000 taels, or perhaps, 100 000 taels! That would be a joke….”
Liu Lin then said, “It shouldn’t be the case? They…. Surely they would know their limits? They won’t ask people who can only afford 100 taels to cough up 10 000 taels. Otherwise, folks would just ignore their impossible request!”
Liu Xu’er said, “Even if we can give them that much…. Shi Cheng has never considered giving them 1000 taels of silver. We aren’t the criminals here! We weren’t engaged in any smuggling, so why should we have to give them that much? Even if they want to torture us and extort money from us slowly, we’re not fools to let them have their way.”
“Then what’s the plan?” Liu Sen again said. He was still quite young; although he was rather smart, he really didn’t know what to do in such a serious situation.
Liu Lin was also rather worried.
“So Shi Cheng is still thinking of a plan.” Liu Xu’er said. “We’ve already started to look into the head of department – we were trying to find out where his ancestral home was, and have already dispatched people to see what he might need….”
She again paused and said, “Shi Cheng and I have discussed it – we will first give them some benefits, so that they know that we understood their request. We will appear as though we are raising money, and occasionally, we will also give them some, to pacify them…. Then we will continue to drag the matter. The longer we can drag the matter, the better…. The people in Dongchangfu aren’t fools, right? If the investigation here drags on for too long, wouldn’t they get suspicious that the department here wants to share their glory? When Dongchangfu sends people over to chase the department here, they should naturally lower their expectations of what they would receive, just so that they can get some money sooner.”
Liu Lin nodded his head. There was logic to this. He paused for a while before saying, “Then why didn’t you send word back to us? Dage and I…. we could have come over earlier to help think of a plan.”
Liu Xu’er sighed. Actually, she had wanted to do just that these past few days. She felt that she should send someone over to tell her family and invite her elder brothers over to discuss the situation. But Shi Cheng said that it wasn’t necessary yet. He told her to wait, so she could only wait.
Liu Lin’s face was grave. Liu Sen was restlessly fidgeting with something in his hand, and the atmosphere was rather heavy. Liu Xu’er called for a servant girl to change their tea, before changing the mood by asking, “Dasao has given birth to a baby boy? Are both of them doing well? How much did the baby weigh?”
Liu Lin also sucked in a mouthful of air and shook off his heavy mood. He smiled and said, “They’re both fine. He was seven jin and nine liang at birth. The baby looks rather plump. He has chubby cheeks and thighs. Dage can’t bear to put him down.”
The instant they changed the topic to the baby, everyone’s face broke into smiles. Liu Xu’er asked Liu Sen to share with her about the washing ceremony. She sighed all through the retelling, “I didn’t manage to rush back in time. I should have been there!”
Liu Sen wasn’t that clear about the seriousness of the matter facing them. So when he spoke about the festivities, he was rather animatedly giving a vivid description of everything. Liu Xu’er felt happy just listening to him. She finally felt her depressed mood from the past few days lifting.
Liu Lin was smiling as he heard him retell it, but mentally, he was still thinking about plans. The trouble was that he wasn’t clear about the details. Furthermore, he had never dealt with such an important official, and was somewhat hesitant.
Liu Xu’er had been discussing the issue for days with Shi Cheng, and had some idea of what was happening. When Liu Sen was done with his narration, the room became quiet for a while. When the mood started to become heavy again, Liu Xu’er started to comfort them.
Night came quickly, and Shi Cheng was finally back.
When he heard that his in-laws had come, he hurried over to greet them. Because Shi Cheng’s father had returned earlier than him, Shi Cheng wasn’t in a hurry to speak to Liu Lin. He first brought the brothers over to greet his father.
Although there were troubling matters to deal with, life still went on. Shi Cheng’s father had initially been rather thunderstruck, but after a few days, he had thought it through. They would just have to deal with whatever came their way. In any case, he had seen that Shi Cheng seemed to be handling the situation rather well, and Shi Cheng himself didn’t appear to be too agitated, so his father very quickly stabilised his own mood.
As such, when he saw Liu Lin and Liu Sen, he was actually rather pleased. After they exchanged greetings, they sat together in the main courtyard to have their meal. When he found out that the Liu family had their first grandson, he hurriedly told Shi Cheng’s mother to prepare some gifts. They would send it to Feng town the next day.
After their meal, they all made their way back together to Shi Cheng’s courtyard. They had just entered when Shi Cheng turned to smile at Liu Xu’er, “I’ve already thought of a plan!”
Liu Xu’er was both delighted and surprised, “Really?! What plan?”
Everyone rushed back to the room. Liu Xu’er then instructed the servant girl to go and brew some tea. They would slowly discuss the situation. The instant Shi Cheng sat down, he said, “Thankfully, the head of department’s home isn’t too far from here. He’s based in Pingliang city, in Gansu prefecture….. I told someone to investigate, and it turns out that this person was also a villager. He managed to climb to his current rank after passing the imperial examinations.”
Liu Xu’er then asked, “He’s already a third or fourth rank official… A head of department should be at least that right? So his family should have risen up with him, and shouldn’t be based in the village any longer right? What’s the use in investigating that?”
Shi Cheng smiled and said, “I was also hesitant before sending someone to investigate this. What was the use, I wondered? When I sent someone to his old village home, it was confirmed that everyone had already moved out from there. He had already bought a big mansion in Pingliang city with plenty of servants to attend to them there.”
Liu Lin had only heard about the situation today, and was still rather unclear about many areas. He was somewhat unable to wrap his head around what he had heard. He quickly said, “Wait, wait…. Have you already met with the head of department?”
Shi Cheng nodded his head, “I haven’t just met him, we’ve had two meals together.”
Liu Lin stared at him wide eyed.
Shi Cheng smiled and said, “This official is a bit pretentious – he has cultivated the reputation of valuing talents… Got it? So when he has the time, he enjoys going to more populated events to meet with the xiucai and juren there, and give them a few words of encouragement. That was how I managed to squeeze my way in. I mingled in with the rest of them and then managed to have two meals with him.”
Liu Lin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Shi Cheng continued, “Actually, this plan can only be devised by villagers like us… We should still buy him some land! Under the current rule, no matter how serious the crime, ancestral property cannot be taken away. That is to say, the emperor doesn’t want to be accused of stealing other people’s ancestral graves! So I thought that I would buy more land around the head of department’s ancestral tombs. I would buy it and give it to him! This idea might not have even occurred to him… Think about it, he has already become a third ranked official. Although he would definitely renovate his ancestral tombs and ancestral temples and what not, he would probably opt to buy houses and lands in a more prosperous area. After all, he is always looking to progress onwards; why would he look to expand his holdings in his old village.”
Liu Xu’er started to understand a bit.
Shi Cheng continued to explain, “I hired someone to investigate, and sure enough, he had bought quite a few houses in Pingliang city, but not near to his own ancestral temple. He hasn’t expanded his holdings there…. We can go and buy up the land around, expand that area, and give it all to him…. This can be his escape route, an escape route he never thought of.”
He smiled and said, “I will hint to him subtly, that this is his ancestral property. It is linked with his ancestral home and ancestral tombs. If he is alright with it, I can even help him repair his ancestral shrine! And then extend the boundaries of the shrine to include the new areas, so no one can say anything. And since this person…. has already achieved this level of rank, he shouldn’t be someone naive. If I hint, he should understand my intentions.”
Liu Xu’er nodded her head, “Buying him some land and a house would only cost us a few hundreds of taels. But we have reminded him of the availability of this escape route…. As an official he would definitely have to plan for both the best and worst case scenarios. Considering the conflict in court, he would need to consider what he should do if he failed. If we give him these ancestral properties, even if he fails utterly, so long as he manages to preserve his life, or at least the lives of his children, then at least they wouldn’t have to worry about food and drink. And his children and grandchildren would have the chance to change their fortunes.”
Shi Cheng nodded his head heavily in agreement. He smiled, “That’s right! That’s it exactly! I plan to move him! Let him feel that we have his best interests at heart! Then he won’t keep thinking to extort us in future…. And it wouldn’t cost that much – land in the village, even if we buy 100 mu, would only cost about 50 taels of silver. If we include a house, it should only be 200 to 300 taels!”
Thanks for the chapters!!!!
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