Chapter 314

Chapter 315: Wei Liang Cai is still clear-headed

[Tang Rong’s hopes were rosy, but he was destined to be disappointed.] Looking at him with a face full of admiration, Tao Yi Ran spoke tenderly, and she said: “I knew I had not misjudged. My lord is a true gentleman. How could such trifles stump you? You will certainly manage it.” She added softly: “I believe in you.”

[Tang Rong nearly lost his smile. Then he thought that in a couple of days the steward from the shops under his name would come to settle accounts, and there would be income then. If it came to it, he could send a few ornaments from the storeroom to be sold. Failing that, he would have no choice but to go to his father.]

[At the thought that he would one day fret over money, he could not help but feel regret. If he had not changed wives, how would he have ended up worrying over silver? Nor would there be the gossip outside. Perhaps by now he would be riding high.]

In Qiu Shi Courtyard, Xin An also received New Year gifts like those given to Tang Rong. After offering thanks, she brought out the meeting gifts she had just prepared: fashionable jewelry, handsome fabrics, and Diexie Belts that the five boys loved at first sight.

The youngest, Tang Qi, was the most lively and wanted to put his on right away. At first he did not know how to fasten it; Nan Feng stepped up to help him, and that changed everything. Everyone said admiringly: “In an instant you went from a little scholar to a young gentleman.”

Madam Zhao laughed and said: “If this were not the imperial capital under the Son of Heaven, places elsewhere could not compare; even a single belt can be made so exquisite.”

Xin An agreed it looked good, and she said the person who came up with such a belt must truly love beauty. She said: “Later I will have the people from the cloth shop come take your measurements and make a few outfits that the young gentlemen of the capital like to wear; then make two pairs of warm leather boots to match the belts, and it will look even better.”

They were still wearing cotton boots, which did not do justice to the luxury of the belts.

“Really? Thank you, Second Sister-in-law,” the boys chorused, and then one asked: “Will this trouble Second Sister-in-law too much?”

“It is only a matter of opening my mouth to give a few orders, how could that be trouble?” Xin An said with a smile: “You already have handsome looks; with a little dressing up you will be even more striking. Later you can go with your second brother to attend banquets, and all the households will see how fine-looking the sons of our marquisate are.”

Her words made the boys’ brows and eyes curve with smiles, and the girls’ faces were full of longing. Xin An added: “We will make some for the younger sisters as well. When you are all dressed up beautifully, I will take you out for a turn. I cannot imagine how many people will envy me.”

Madam Zhao was delighted. She held Xin An’s hand and would not let go, and she said: “No wonder your mother-in-law praises you with every breath. So thorough and considerate a girl, who could not like you?”

Then she said to the three girls: “You must study hard with your second sister-in-law. Learning what your second sister-in-law knows will be quite enough for you.”

Whether sincere or not, whether purposeful or not, this round of arrangements left people with nothing to criticize.

[It was hard to understand how Tang Rong could have given up such a good wife to exchange for that frail and delicate one; who knew whether he regretted it now.]

As dusk drew near, Wei Liang Cai returned from meeting friends. The moment she saw him, Madam Zhang began to complain furiously, saying that as soon as the Tang family people arrived, Madam Wang and her daughter-in-law were attentive in all things, and she said: “You do not know; before they even arrived, powder and jewelry had been laid out in their rooms, and those three wretched girls could not wait to use them, like people who have never seen good things.”

She continued, and she said: “They even said they would buy fabric and jewelry for them. In front of us they would not spend a single coin, but the moment the Tang family comes they turn grand…”

“And Tang Gang,” she said, “at the very first meeting talked about finding a good Imperial Academy and inviting famous teachers to the residence to instruct them, making all kinds of painstaking arrangements. And what attitude do they show to our Chuan Zong? Let me tell you…”

Her spittle flew as she complained. Without comparison there is no harm; in this way even Wei Liang Cai began to feel uncomfortable. Then Madam Zhang said: “That lot are not good people either. Right in front of me they laid out the New Year gifts they brought and even said that since they had sent the boys and girls over, the family had pooled together twenty thousand taels. Did you see Madam Wang’s face when she accepted the silver? Vulgar to the extreme…”

Wei Liang Cai seized on the main point, and he said: “You are saying the Tang family brought a generous New Year gift and also gave twenty thousand taels? And they prepared New Year gifts for the nephew and the second young master as well?”

“Of course,” Madam Zhang snapped, “and are they not using the marquisate to rake in money to show off how rich they are?”

Wei Liang Cai was very angry, and he said: “I told you to prepare a more substantial calling gift and you would not listen. Kin have near and far. This marquisate is no longer what it was when my sister was in charge. By doing this, the Tang family has made us look very ill-mannered, and you are still making a scene here?!”

He ordered briskly: “Take out five thousand taels to prepare a decent New Year gift for the Grand Matron to make up for it, and prepare four red envelopes of five hundred taels each for use during the New Year. No—give me ten thousand taels. I will prepare it myself.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Madam Zhang’s voice broke when she heard the sum of ten thousand taels, and she cried: “Is it easy for us to save money?”

This time, Wei Liang Cai did not indulge her. He could tell that Tang Gang, though he had not said it aloud, was already displeased with the Wei family; and compared with the Tang family, the Wei family looked even less sensible. With Madam Zhang being so annoying besides, how could anyone like them?

“Enough talk,” he said sharply. “Do you think I do not know how much silver you have on hand? Be satisfied. These years, with the marquisate at our back, how much money have we saved and how many things have we accomplished? Do you think, without the Marquis’s help, I could have received an appointment so quickly? Though I have not been promoted, it is still a good posting. If we had had to seek others’ help, how much more effort and silver would it have cost?”

Wei Chuan Zong and Wei Qing also came out and urged Madam Zhang to bring out the money, especially Wei Chuan Zong, who said: “Mother, if things go on like this, how can we continue to live in the marquisate?”

They were now a grown son and daughter with their own judgment, and they felt their mother was truly an embarrassment.

Wei Qing, mustering her courage, also said: “Mother, when we go out to banquets, could you stop making us sing and play the zither? We are not good at it. Did you not see how those ladies laughed at us?”

Wei Liang Cai had not known about this, and he immediately began to question them closely. Seeing their chance, the sisters told how they had been forced to “sell their art,” and as they spoke they burst into tears. Wei Liang Cai flew into a rage, scolding Madam Zhang fiercely and forbidding her from continuing to harm the two girls.

“It is not necessary to stay in the capital,” he said curtly. “We can seek matches back home, or choose good families in my posting. Stop taking them out to lose face.”

Madam Zhang had already received a promise from Tang Rong; how could she give up? But now not a single person stood on her side. She could only grit her yellowed teeth, go inside to fetch a banknote, and slap it into Wei Liang Cai’s arms, saying: “I am the one who has shamed you all; you are all so respectable, and I am the worthless one. Fine?”

With that she turned and went back inside. The welcome banquet for the Tang family was almost upon them; in order not to lose face, Wei Liang Cai signaled to the two sisters to go in and coax her. When he had been a nobody, Madam Zhang had married him and used her dowry to pave his road. Though she complained when handing out money, she was quick to produce it, and he acknowledged that debt. After the sisters’ persuasion, he himself took the field as well. Only then did Madam Zhang reluctantly relent, planning to handle the matter of the two sisters in secret. Once she and Tang Rong had settled everything, she would see how to lecture that father and son to her heart’s content.