Chapter 72: 071 Human Nature

The Zhu clan of Yanshan is not much inferior to the Yanshan Fei clan — it is just that their ancestors produced no famous ministers.

The Zhu ancestral home is in Shitang Town. When they moved there can no longer be verified. However, the Shitang Zhu clan genealogy was prefaced by two renowned figures: one was Zhu Xi, the other was Xin Qiji.

The Shitang Zhu clan branched into five major lines, which further divided into countless minor lines, their descendants now spread across six townships and towns in Yanshan County.

They hold the top-tier technique for making liansi paper and have intermarried with the Fei clan branch that moved to Shitang Town. They have also intermarried with many merchants, forming a "Zhu merchant guild" that has already extended its commercial influence into Fujian.

But strangely, this clan, which has run the papermaking business for centuries, never actively established academies — they only built a few private schools over time.

Moreover, they have no dedicated clan library.

They seem to prefer doing business. If a descendant could pass the xiucai exam, that was enough; if one passed the juren exam, it was cause for celebration. Once they had an examination degree, they would then purchase an official post…

"Brother Duanzhi, I… I… ah!" Chen Lide's face was full of grief.

Zhu Shouzheng laughed. "Suffered a grievance at the Fei house?"

Chen Lide took out a copy of the Ehu Ten-Day Periodical. "Brother Duanzhi, please have a look."

"The Theory of Position and Standing?"

Zhu Shouzheng read it through carefully and at once praised it: "This argument is excellent — it can be called a masterwork!"

The Zhu clan produced many scholars, but very few jinshi or juren. They preferred commerce, and merchants need "equality of personhood." Zhao Han's "Theory of Position and Standing" hit precisely the right note for the Zhu clan.

Chen Lide said urgently, "Brother Duanzhi, do you know who wrote this essay?"

Zhu Shouzheng replied, "Surely it came from the hand of a renowned master or great Confucian."

"It was written by a fourteen-year-old household slave!" Chen Lide said, his voice full of anguish.

"A fourteen-year-old household slave could have such insight?" Zhu Shouzheng was astonished. He asked, "A household slave of the Fei clan?"

Chen Lide struck the table. "Exactly a household slave of the Fei clan!"

Zhu Shouzheng at once sneered. "Ah, this Fei clan — they sit on that prime land at Hekou Town, got their own start through commerce, yet they refuse to do business properly. Their ancestors produced a few famous ministers, and they still dream of producing famous ministers forever? When their own sons cannot pass the exams, they sponsor local scholars. Now they have even sent a household slave to study."

"They are mad for office!" Chen Lide chimed in repeatedly.

Although the Zhu and Fei clans had intermarried many times, the conflict between the two clans was growing ever greater.

One reason was competing business, the other was fighting over land. That they had not yet come to direct blows already counted as mutual restraint.

Chen Lide added, "This household slave, I hear, is a refugee from the north, brought back to Yanshan by that Fei Yinghuan. A household slave is a household slave, yet he was actually registered in the household rolls and took the exams as an adopted son — is this not the greatest farce under heaven?"

Zhu Shouzheng said with a mocking laugh, "It simply ruins the Fei clan's family reputation."

Chen Lide went on, "This household slave, having received such generous treatment from the Fei clan, still refuses to study obediently. He writes essays promoting the Theory of Position and Standing — what is he after? Nothing more than remembering his household slave origins and wanting to truly become a master."

Zhu Shouzheng nodded. "Indeed — the wild ambition of a wolf cub, plain for all to see."

Chen Lide kept pouring poison into the ear: "Fei Yuanlu, the head of Hanzhu Academy, not only failed to stop him but even held a debate for him. How could I stand by and watch? I stepped forward to debate him. Who knew that scoundrel had a glib tongue, quoting out of context and twisting the sages' words. Fei Yuanlu also sided with him, and I, a dignified classics instructor, was actually refuted by a mere child student."

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Zhu Shouzheng gloated, pointing at Chen Lide. "Worthy brother, you must have lost immense face. I did wonder — why would a proper classics instructor at Hanzhu Academy give it up to come teach at a private school in my Shitang Town? So it turns out you were too ashamed to stay on at Hekou Town."

Chen Lide's face crumpled. "Brother Duanzhi, you and I have known each other for decades — why must you mock me so?"

Zhu Shouzheng read the "Theory of Position and Standing" again and said, "Whatever else, this essay is well written, and its reasoning is laid out very clearly."

Chen Lide said urgently, "Brother Duanzhi, this is an essay that will throw the state and the family into chaos!"

"How so?" Zhu Shouzheng asked, puzzled.

Chen Lide explained, "Of the tens of thousands of papermaking craftsmen in Shitang Town, half are indentured slaves of the Zhu clan. Of the countless acres of fields in Shitang Town, at least sixty percent are Zhu clan property. If the Theory of Position and Standing spreads here, what will those indentured slaves and tenant slaves think in their hearts? They will feel that they, too, are not lowly. And if they are not lowly, will they rise up and make trouble?"

Zhu Shouzheng was stunned.

Chen Lide continued, "I have heard that the papermaking craftsmen of Shitang Town will stir up trouble even without cause. If the Theory of Position and Standing gains currency in the world, they will have even more cause when they make trouble!"

The Zhu clan's main business was papermaking, and what they feared most was worker unrest — on average, a strike broke out every two or three years.

Especially for several core papermaking processes, each craftsman was extremely precious and could not be trained in just a year or half a year.

If other household slaves dared to act up, you could simply beat them to death and bury them.

But when these craftsmen went on strike, the Zhu clan truly could not bear to beat them. Never mind beating them to death — even injuring them was like throwing your own silver into the water.

Zhu Shouzheng looked at the "Theory of Position and Standing" again and suddenly found it unbearable to read. He murmured, "It is indeed an essay that will throw the state and the family into chaos."

Chen Lide said, "We must take advantage of its limited circulation and quickly trample that household slave into the ground!"

"But a household slave of the Fei clan — how can I possibly deal with him?" Zhu Shouzheng frowned deeply.

Chen Lide smiled. "The household certificate of the Ehu Fei clan is in the hands of Fei Yuanyi. And Fei Yuanzhen, the clan head of the Yanshan Fei clan, is full of conflicts with Fei Yuanlu, the head of Hanzhu Academy. As long as we persuade Fei Yuanzhen and Fei Yuanyi, we can strike that household slave's name from the Yellow Registers! When that time comes, his child student status will be gone — and what use will an essay written by a household slave be?"

The household registration Yellow Registers were kept in two parts.

The "household certificate" was kept by the common people themselves — it can be understood as a household register booklet.

The "household registration" was retained at the government office, serving as the basis for population counts and tax and corvée levies.

Originally, any change to a household or landholding had to be reported level by level up to the Ministry of Revenue, and only took effect when the Ministry of Revenue affixed its seal and sent it back down.

Once the population grew large, this became unworkable.

By the mid-Ming, authority was forcibly devolved to the departments and counties — the seal of the County Magistrate or Department Magistrate was enough to finalize it.

Fei Yuanyi, in his conflict with his daughter-in-law Madam Lou, had been holding back a lethal weapon he had not yet used: the household certificate in his possession. If he wanted to erase the name "Fei Han," it would be effortlessly easy — just a matter of a meal with the County Magistrate.

Once the name was struck from the household certificate, Zhao Han's child student status would vanish. This was the control a master held over a household slave.

Zhu Shouzheng pondered in silence for a long while, made no commitment, and only said, "That the Zhu clan private school can engage you, worthy brother, to teach is certain to bring flourishing examination success in the future."

"I shall exert myself to the utmost and impart everything I have learned in my life without reservation." Chen Lide rose and bowed.

After Chen Lide left the room, Zhu Shouzheng summoned a household slave. "Go deliver my visiting card. Invite the village elders to come to Shitang on the fifth of next month. Tell them I have prepared wine and dishes for snow-viewing from a boat. Remember — Masters Fei Yuanzhen and Fei Yuanyi must be invited without fail."

In truth, there was no need for Chen Lide to pour poison into ears — Fei Yuanzhen had already made his move.

Fei Yuanlu had expanded the academy fields, reorganized Hanzhu Academy, and handled the aftermath of Fei Songnian's family, rapidly boosting his prestige within the clan. On top of that, the genealogy of the Yanshan Fei clan was also compiled under Fei Yuanlu's direction — his prominence had long since overshadowed the clan head.

Over the past two or three years, whenever any dispute arose within the clan, everyone ran to Fei Yuanlu to resolve it; the clan head Fei Yuanzhen was ignored instead.

When Zhao Han openly proposed the Theory of Position and Standing and gained Fei Yuanlu's support, he was immediately drawn into the struggle between the clan head and the academy head.

Ehu, the Fei residence.

Fei Yuanzhen slapped down a magazine: "Worthy younger brother, that household slave your son took in — he truly has tremendous ability!"

Fei Yuanyi read the article, remained silent, and gave no indication of his stance.

"Why say nothing? This is rebellion, this is overturning the order to become the master! Never mind his own rebellion — he's even inciting all the household slaves to rebel!" Fei Yuanzhen said angrily.

Fei Yuanyi suddenly showed a faint smile: "Since he is studying at the academy, he is Yuanlu's student. It is not very convenient for me to intervene."

They were all old foxes — the struggle between the clan head and the academy head; how could Fei Yuanyi be foolish enough to get involved?

Moreover, Zhao Han had been brought back by Fei Yinghuan, and it was also Fei Yinghuan who had suggested registering him. Although he had conflicts with his daughter-in-law, he was unwilling to fall out with his son again.

Fei Yuanzhen also had a secret weapon in hand. He named his price: "If worthy younger brother can help, I will have your wife enter the ancestral shrine."

Fei Yuanyi was stunned, his expression strange. He hesitated for a long time, and finally sighed: "Allow me to consider it."

The "wife" Fei Yuanzhen spoke of was naturally not the old matriarch of the Ehu Fei clan, but the honored concubine whom the old matriarch had beaten to death. She was the white moonlight in Fei Yuanyi's heart, the most beautiful love of his life, and the birth mother of the second son, Fei Yingqi!

Forty years ago, Fei Yinghuan's birth mother had caned Fei Yingqi's birth mother to death.

The Second Young Master Fei Yingqi, for these forty years, had always called his mother's murderer "Mother"!

Fei Yuanzhen left, but Fei Yuanyi's heart could not be calmed. He murmured to himself: "Qing'er, Qing'er, I have even forgotten what you looked like."

Fei Yuanyi was an old diehard who, for the sake of reputation, would force his own granddaughter to die.

But once upon a time, he too had been a rebel, fleeing an arranged marriage for true love, only to be tied up by his father's men and dragged to the wedding hall.

Who hasn't been young?

It was only that man-eating ritual doctrine, bit by bit, devouring vivid and lovely human nature until nothing remained.

At this very moment, Fei Yuanyi seemed to be awakened, giving rise to an impulse he had not felt in many years. For the sake of his former love, he was willing to have a falling-out with his eldest son, to fulfill the promise he had once made.

When he made that promise, his love was already at her last breath, lying in his arms with a bitter smile.

Bring his love into the ancestral shrine, and strike Zhao Han from the household register!

Taking out the household registration document, Fei Yuanyi swept his brush in a single stroke — "Fei Han" became a blot of ink.

"Prepare the sedan chair, prepare the boat. I am going to the county yamen!"

(End of chapter)