The Prime Minister’s Daughter and the Marquis’s Fool – Chapter 30

The Daughter of the Vice Minister of Revenue¹

Steward Li ordered someone to bring over a few sets of clothes. After Lin Xizhao took them, she went into the hidden room to dress the barely clothed girls.

Zhao Jiayu’s anger was written all over her face. She stared at Steward Li, who stood to the side with his head bowed, and asked, “Does my maternal uncle come here often?”

Hearing this, Steward Li lowered his head even more.

This was indeed a place Xiao Tong² frequented. The reason the young girls were kept here was because of that termagant at home. He couldn’t even keep a single concubine in his household; his wife had found ways to have them all sent away or sold off.

But the Matriarch of the Xiao family never came here. Every time Xiao Tong visited, he used the excuse of inspecting the wine, and he never stayed long, so he had never been discovered.

Zhao Jiayu had stumbled upon this by accident today, but for Qu Sheng, it was no accident. Qu Sheng had long heard rumors that the capital’s General Xiao was privately keeping these young girls; she had caught wind of it some time ago.

They had come here today because after Zhao Jiayu got the wine, she didn’t dare take it back to her residence. She said she wanted to leave it at the Prime Minister’s Residence so that when she wanted a drink, she could just get it directly from Lin Xizhao. That was why she had asked Lin Xizhao to come along.

Back when Qu Sheng was in the Shoulin fiefdom³, she had become deeply familiar with such mechanisms, as the Southern Pavilion Courtyard was filled with them. Though this wine cellar was dim, she had seen through its secrets with a single glance.

“I’m taking these people with me. If my uncle asks, tell him to come to the Zhao Residence and ask me for them,” Zhao Jiayu said, watching as Lin Xizhao led the young girls up. She glanced sideways at Steward Li and the others following behind her.

She wasn’t taking the wine anymore. The sight of all this now just turned her stomach.

The young girls were led out of the villa⁴. Although the Zhao family’s carriage was large, it couldn’t hold so many people. Zhao Jiayu had the steward prepare another carriage and had the young girls get in.

Xiao Bingying, sitting inside her carriage, heard the commotion outside and lifted the curtain for a look. Seeing the group of young girls who had appeared from nowhere, she lowered her eyes, understanding in an instant.

When I was little, there were girls this age in our residence. I didn’t know what they were for back then, only that they were kept in the rear courtyard. Sometimes when I went there, I would hear crying.

When I got a little older, I understood. But I, too, had to live under another’s fence⁵; these girls had all been purchased according to the law. Even if I wanted to intervene, I had neither the right nor the power.

But there haven’t been any in the residence in recent years. I originally thought Father had stopped doing such things, but it turns out he just moved them somewhere else. It must have been my mother; she kept too tight a rein on him, forcing my father to put them here.

Lin Xizhao and the others returned to the carriage. Xiao Bingying looked at the furious Zhao Jiayu but didn’t ask what was wrong.

“You knew, didn’t you?” Zhao Jiayu faced Xiao Bingying the moment she was settled, her expression extremely grim.

“Jiayu,” Lin Xizhao said, seeing Zhao Jiayu’s explosive expression and speaking up to stop her.

How could Xiao Bingying have known? If she had, she wouldn’t have brought Zhao Jiayu here to wade into these muddy waters⁶.

Solving this matter is actually quite simple. One just needs to tap from the side and strike from the flank⁷ to let the Xiao family matriarch know, and she will clean things up herself. It’s just that these girls probably wouldn’t have had a good future. It’s for the best that Zhao Jiayu found out; at least these little girls won’t have to suffer anymore.

Xiao Bingying’s silence only fueled Zhao Jiayu’s rage. Right now, she wasn’t angry at her uncle, but at Xiao Bingying for shrinking back like a turtle, for not stopping her uncle all these years.

The two carriages entered the city. The original plan was to take the girls to the Zhao Residence, but Lin Xizhao suddenly changed her mind. She had a certain understanding of the Zhao family; Zhao Jiayu’s mother doted on this younger brother of hers. It was impossible for her not to know about the things he did.

Now that Zhao Jiayu knew of her uncle’s sordid affairs, she probably wouldn’t be able to get justice for these girls even if she wanted to. Moreover, if the girls were taken back to the Zhao Residence, it would be fine for a day or two, but after a while, her uncle would inevitably ask for them back without Zhao Jiayu’s knowledge.

“You should leave these girls to me. I’ll arrange for them properly. Remember, you must get your hands on their indenture contracts⁸,” Lin Xizhao instructed.

Lin Xizhao couldn’t take them back to the Lin Residence either, but she had a small courtyard in the capital that her mother had once acquired. Xiao Tong was an official; he wouldn’t dare to knowingly know the law and break the law. He must have spent money to buy these girls outright. Otherwise, based on these acts alone, if a censorate official⁹ were to impeach him, he would probably lose his black gauze hat¹⁰.

Zhao Jiayu’s anger had subsided slightly. As for Xiao Bingying, she knew she shouldn’t have lost her temper and blamed her for this. Xiao Bingying’s situation in the Xiao Residence was already difficult, and she was just a girl. Even if she knew, what could she have done?

Zhao Jiayu nodded in agreement with Lin Xizhao. When she looked at Xiao Bingying, her expression was a bit awkward. After a moment, she said in a low voice, “Ajie¹¹, why don’t you come stay at my place tonight?”

Xiao Bingying forced a smile. “It’s fine. No one saw me.” She hadn’t gotten out of the carriage, so no one from the Xiao family had seen her. When she had agreed to take Zhao Jiayu, she had already prepared an excuse; she just had to stick to the original story.

Zhao Jiayu still felt guilty for losing her temper with Xiao Bingying when she got on the carriage. Just as she was about to invite her to the Zhao Residence again, Lin Xizhao said, “That’s a good idea. It would be best if Auntie Xiao could also find out when Bingying goes back.” Only then could they get their hands on the girls’ indenture contracts more easily.

Hearing this, Xiao Bingying thought for a moment, then nodded. “Alright, leave it to me.” A direct approach wouldn’t work, but she knew how to tap from the side and strike from the flank.

The Zhao family carriage arrived at the Lin Residence. Zhao Jiayu left in her carriage, and Lin Xizhao spoke with Xiao Bingying for a while longer before letting her return in the Xiao Residence carriage.

Watching them both leave, Lin Xizhao took Qu Sheng’s hand and asked, “Do you want to go back to the residence and rest, or come with me?” They had been out for so long. Although Qu Sheng practiced martial arts, she preferred peace and quiet when there was nothing to do.

“With you, Jiejie.”

Ever since she learned about what happened at the Marquis Yongshen Residence, Qu Sheng had been a little worried about Lin Xizhao being alone.

“Alright, let’s go then.” Lin Xizhao reached out and stroked Qu Sheng’s cheek.

She wouldn’t turn a blind eye to what she had seen today. Rescuing these girls would surely damage her and Zhao Jiayu’s reputations if word got out. But she also knew that as long as the Zhao and Xiao families cared about Zhao Jiayu’s reputation, this matter would not be spread. Certain of this, she dared to take the girls to her place.

After settling the girls in the small courtyard in the capital, Lin Xizhao took Qu Sheng back to the Prime Minister’s Residence. The moment Zhao Jiayu returned to her own residence, she flew into a thunderous rage, accusing her maternal uncle of his misdeeds.

“He is your uncle! How can you speak such nonsense?” Madam Zhao was displeased that her daughter would criticize her own brother to her face.

“Am I wrong? If he were just taking concubines normally, that would be one thing, but how old are those little girls? How could he have the heart to harm them?” The fire in Zhao Jiayu’s chest was reignited by her own mother.

“Your uncle has always been so good to you. Are a few purchased maids more important than him? Look at you! Is this how a junior should behave?”

“Mother!” Zhao Jiayu’s anger was pushed to its limit. She was so disappointed in her mother. She knew her mother had always taught her to be wise and protect oneself, but some things were not meant to be backed down from.

Those children hadn’t even reached the age of the hairpin ceremony; they were still children. The very thought was horrifying to her. How could her mother see these children as so insignificant?

Just a few months ago, at Lin Xizhao’s maternal uncle’s place, she had witnessed a woman’s life being taken by a man at will. Today, she saw her own uncle’s disgusting behavior, yet her mother, a woman herself, was still so protective of him, treating those children like weeds.

What kind of man-eating country¹² was this?

“If one of those children today had been me from a few years ago, would you still speak so lightly, Mother?”

“Jiayu!” Hearing his daughter apply the situation to herself, General Zhao’s face instantly turned grim.

Smack!

“I think you’ve gone mad!” Madam Zhao’s face was ashen as she slapped Zhao Jiayu across the face.

Zhao Jiayu’s head snapped to the side. She frowned from the pain, but the sting on her cheek couldn’t suppress the fury in her heart.

“If Mother doesn’t make my uncle hand over the indenture contracts, then I’ll let everyone in the capital know that he violates young girls.” Zhao Jiayu threw all caution to the wind. She had just asked her mother to get the contracts, but her mother had deliberately demurred, speaking up for her uncle.

Clearly, her mother knew about this.

That Xiao Tong liked young girls had originally been just a rumor, but if it came from Zhao Jiayu, his own niece, it would naturally be confirmed.

Although the girls were legally purchased, it was still something hard for people to accept. While it might not cost him his black gauze hat, it would make any future promotions in his official career rather difficult.

However, given Xiao Tong’s qualifications, advancing further would have been extremely difficult anyway. So, whether this got out or not was of little consequence to him.

But Zhao Jiayu was a girl. For her to have stumbled upon her uncle’s sordid affairs—if that got out, it would be a disaster for the Zhao family’s and their daughter’s reputation. It would be just as difficult for her to find a husband in the future.

“Someone, come and watch the young miss. Don’t let her go anywhere,” Madam Zhao ordered, panting with rage. Hearing her daughter spouting such madness, disregarding even her own reputation, she had someone place Zhao Jiayu under house arrest.

“Mother can lock me up for a day, or a year, but you can’t lock me up for a lifetime, can you?” Zhao Jiayu could be incredibly stubborn. The pain on her face only added to her inner rage and frustration. But even so, she remembered what Lin Xizhao had told her. They had to get the girls’ indenture contracts; only then would the girls have a way to live. “I have no other demands. I only hope that Mother can go to my uncle’s and get the indenture contracts for those little girls. Could that possibly be wrong?”

Zhao Jiayu’s tone had clearly softened by the end.

Just as Madam Zhao was about to lecture her daughter again, General Zhao spoke up. “Your mother and I will get their indenture contracts. But you must promise that this matter will not be known by any outsiders.”

General Zhao naturally didn’t want to get involved in the Xiao family’s business, but he had to protect his own daughter’s reputation.

Hearing her father’s promise, Zhao Jiayu turned and quickly agreed, “Okay, I promise, Father.” All she wanted were those girls’ indenture contracts.

General Zhao saw the red swelling on his daughter’s cheek and felt a pang of pity in his heart. But given his daughter’s explosive temper, he couldn’t encourage her behavior. He could only pretend not to see it and said, “Go and rest.”

Having gotten her father’s word, Zhao Jiayu turned and left the hall, not even wanting to look at her mother again.

After Zhao Jiayu bathed, a servant brought in a medicinal ointment. Zhao Jiayu held the vial, looked at it, and then raised her eyes to ask, “Did my mother tell you to bring this, or did my father?”

“Replying to the young miss, the Madam told this servant to bring it for you to apply to your face.”

Hearing the maid’s words, Zhao Jiayu immediately tossed the vial back onto the tray in the maid’s hands. “Go and tell my mother that whether I live or die is none of her business.”

Zhao Jiayu was speaking out of anger, but she had barely finished when Madam Zhao arrived.

“Did I raise you all these years just to let you die as you please?” Madam Zhao walked over, took the vial from the maid’s tray, and added, “Come here, let me see.”

Zhao Jiayu took a breath, then exhaled the air from her chest. She turned away, not wanting to deal with her mother, but Madam Zhao grabbed her and turned her around to face her.

Zhao Jiayu knew martial arts, but so did Madam Zhao. That slap had not been light.

“Does it still hurt?” Madam Zhao asked, dabbing some ointment out while looking up to check the injury on Zhao Jiayu’s face.

Zhao Jiayu puffed out her cheeks and said nothing. Madam Zhao didn’t press the issue. She applied the ointment from the cloth to Zhao Jiayu’s face, blowing on it gently as she did.

“By saving these girls today, you are only harming the next batch of girls,” Madam Zhao said, as if unintentionally.

Zhao Jiayu was stunned. She blinked her uncomprehending eyes at her mother and asked, “What do you mean by that, Mother?”

Madam Zhao lowered her head and dabbed on more ointment, gently applying it to Zhao Jiayu’s face. She knew her daughter was a bit slow and could never figure out convoluted matters. She had to break it down and crush it into pieces, explaining it carefully, for her to understand. “I am well aware of what kind of character your uncle has. It is their good fortune that you saved those girls today, but can you stop your uncle from doing it again in the future?”

She had heard of Xiao Tong’s preference for young girls when she herself was very young. So many years had passed, yet Xiao Tong’s disgusting habit hadn’t changed, and the girls were still just as young. Which meant that, over all these years, the girls had been replaced, batch after batch.

“Isn’t that something you should be doing, Mother?” Zhao Jiayu knew her mother doted on her uncle, but couldn’t she intervene in a matter like this?

“Even your aunt can’t control him. How can I, a daughter who married out, discipline him?” It wasn’t that Madam Zhao hadn’t said anything, but Xiao Tong simply wouldn’t listen.

Even if he did, it would go in one ear and out the other¹³. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have moved those girls from his residence to the villa, all hush-hush.

“Is there really no way to stop it?” Zhao Jiayu truly couldn’t understand why he couldn’t be stopped.

“The laws of our Tiancheng Kingdom permit the buying and selling of people. How can we interfere?” They could manage it for a while, but not forever. Madam Zhao applied the last of the ointment to Zhao Jiayu’s face and sighed. “In a country like this, hardship for women is unavoidable. We are merely better off for being born into wealthy families, but even then, we can’t always avoid the filth within our own household walls.”

As she spoke, Madam Zhao thought of the few concubines in her own residence. If she hadn’t only given birth to Zhao Jiayu, how could she have ever agreed to let the Zhao family take in more concubines?

Although those concubines couldn’t stir up any major storms, they had, at times, created a rift between her and General Zhao.

In this Tiancheng Kingdom, a man was forever the sky above a woman’s head. Obey your father at home, obey your husband after marriage, and obey your son in widowhood¹⁴—that would never change. Her failure to produce a son for the Zhao family made her a sinner in their eyes.

Those other concubines hadn’t produced a son either, so she could only continue to find more fertile women for her husband until a son was born. Otherwise, she would be unfilial, a jealous wife¹⁵.

“Mother…” Zhao Jiayu felt a pang of guilt, but she still didn’t think she had done anything wrong. Since she had encountered it, she couldn’t just stand by with her hands in her sleeves¹⁶. If she encountered it again in the future, she would do the same thing.

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Lin Xizhao and Qu Sheng returned to the Prime Minister’s Residence. During the evening meal, Lin Xizhao instructed the kitchen quarters to add extra dishes for Qu Sheng. They had been running all over the place that afternoon, and she was afraid Qu Sheng would be famished.

As Lin Xizhao was feeding Qu Sheng, there was a knock on the closed door.

Lin Xizhao looked up. Qu Sheng also turned around after taking the food from Lin Xizhao’s jade chopsticks into her mouth.

“I’ll go see.” Lin Xizhao put down her chopsticks, got up, walked to the door, and opened it.

“Oh, eating so late, are we?” Yu-shi stood outside the door and glanced at Qu Sheng inside.

Lin Xizhao looked at her uninvited stepmother, met her gaze, and gave a soft hum. Her voice was gentle as she asked, “It’s so late. Is there something Auntie Yu needs from me?”

Hearing this, Yu-shi smiled. “We didn’t see you come back this afternoon, so your father and I didn’t wait for you.”

Lin Xizhao didn’t think much of it when Yu-shi mentioned the meal. They had returned late; it wouldn’t have been right to make their elders wait.

“It’s fine. We were the ones who came back late. Is there something you need, Auntie Yu?” Lin Xizhao asked again what had brought her here.

Yu-shi had been visiting her frequently lately. She didn’t believe it was just to see if she had eaten.

Yu-shi’s smile widened at Lin Xizhao’s question. “It’s like this. Didn’t we attend the banquet at Prince Fucheng’s Residence yesterday——”

“Auntie Yu, I’ve told you before, until my mother’s case is solved, I will not consider marriage.” Lin Xizhao cut her off before Yu-shi could continue.

A flowing water banquet¹⁷ was for the young masters and misses of various families to meet each other. To bring it up now could only be for that reason.

“No, it’s that the daughter of Vice Minister Xin of the Ministry of Revenue wishes to befriend you.”

“The daughter of the Vice Minister of Revenue?” Lin Xizhao had some impression of her. They had exchanged a few words at the flowing water banquet.

“Yes. She has a gentle personality, the type who never steps out of the main gate or crosses the threshold of the second¹⁸. She felt a closeness to you when she saw you yesterday but was too shy to say anything. So, her mother sent an invitation card, inviting you to be a guest at their residence tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” The wariness in Lin Xizhao’s heart faded when she heard it was an invitation from the girl.

“Mhm. Madam Xin also said she will personally cook tomorrow and hopes you will do her the honor of coming.”

Lin Xizhao lowered her eyes and thought for a moment. The girl was indeed rather timid; when she spoke to her, her voice was as quiet as could be. If she were to decline such an invitation, it would surely hurt the girl’s feelings. “Alright, I’ll take Sheng’er with me tomorrow.”

“Take her?” Yu-shi glanced inside. Qu Sheng had her back to them, eating by herself.

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The author has something to say:

Qu Sheng: “So what if a young lady invited her? I’m a young lady, too, and a prettier flower girl than them at that.”

Lin Xizhao: “Let me have a taste. Are flower girls sweet?”

Qu Sheng: “Sweet enough to make your teeth fall out.”

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