Chapter 84: 082 The Children of the Fei Clan

Jingxing Court.

Madam Lou sat in the main seat of the hall. Before her stood Fei Rulan, Fei Ruhe, and Zhao Zhenfang.

"Chunfang." Madam Lou called Zhao Zhenfang's name first.

Zhao Zhenfang immediately stepped forward and answered, "Mother, your daughter is here."

The household slaves of the inner court were all nominally adopted sons and daughters; those with close ties could call their masters Father and Mother.

Madam Lou wore a faint smile and said gently, "What did your brother write in his letter? If you don't wish to say, then forget it."

Zhao Zhenfang had no idea what was happening and answered honestly, "Second Brother said in his letter that Mother has sent him to Jiujiang on important business, and he might not return for two or three years. Second Brother told me to heed Mother's words, to spend more time reading and practicing calligraphy, and not to always join Second Sister in idle play."

"Nothing else?" Madam Lou pressed.

Zhao Zhenfang replied, "Second Brother also said that the next time he comes home, he will buy me a very beautiful big doll."

Madam Lou smiled and waved her hand. "Go keep your Second Sister company."

"Your daughter takes her leave." Zhao Zhenfang immediately curtsied and withdrew from the room.

After Zhao Zhenfang had left, Madam Lou asked her son, "Ruhe, what did Zhao Han's letter to you say?"

Fei Ruhe felt all along that something was amiss and said, "Brother Han said he has been dispatched by Mother to Jiujiang on business and likely cannot return for a year or so. He also said he left his novel manuscript at the restaurant, and whether the Ehu Ten-Day Journal continues is entirely up to me. If I wish to continue, I can discuss it with Xu Ying, Liu Ziren, and Fei Yuanjian. After the price increase for the fourth issue, it is certain to turn a profit."

"Is that all?" Madam Lou asked.

Fei Ruhe nodded. "That is all. Oh, and he also told me to diligently practice my mounted archery skills."

Madam Lou waved her hand. "You may withdraw as well."

Only mother and daughter remained in the room.

They looked at each other, both knowing the truth.

Fei Rulan could hold back no longer and spoke first, "Mother, Brother Han killed people and set fires at the county yamen."

"I am aware," Madam Lou said. "This matter was a miscalculation on Mother's part. I never expected the private secretary to be so greedy. Brother Han had already agreed to give him fifty taels, yet the fool was still not satisfied and secretly sent someone to tip off the Old Master."

Fei Rulan had no mind to resent her grandfather and asked anxiously, "With such a huge uproar, can Brother Han escape?"

"At a time like this, you are still worrying about him?" Madam Lou was both exasperated and amused, with a touch of helplessness. "I knew he had ability, and I knew he had a temper, but I truly did not expect his ability and temper to be so great! Fei Lin came back and told me that Zhao Han killed the private secretary and the Constable, then set fire to the county yamen, and when he left the city he was still whole and intact. Not to mention any wounds, even his clothes were perfectly undamaged — there was not even a stain of blood on him!"

Fei Rulan listened in stunned disbelief. She had not known the details before and had feared Zhao Han had been slashed or beaten.

Now that Madam Lou had spoken, Fei Rulan finally set her heart at ease and even began to imagine the heroic scene of Zhao Han slaughtering his way through all opposition.

Madam Lou asked, "What did he say to you in his letter?"

Fei Rulan answered, "Brother Han said that if your daughter does not wish to wait for him, she should find another good family to marry into. If your daughter is willing to keep faith, then in as little as two or three years, or at most four or five, he will certainly return to Yanshan. When that time comes, he will also settle Chunfang's marriage."

"He still has a conscience, at least he did not force you to wait in bitter solitude," Madam Lou said. "What is your own decision?"

Fei Rulan lowered her head and stared at the floor, not daring to meet her mother's eyes. Her voice was soft but resolute: "Your daughter pledged herself to him in private, so of course she will wait patiently."

In Fei Rulan's mind, that one embrace at the Flourishing Prosperity Tower already counted as a private pledge of lifelong devotion.

Madam Lou neither rebuked her daughter nor expressed approval. She merely analyzed calmly: "Zhao Han has always been clever and decisive. Even if he were framed and thrown in prison, he could have waited for me to pay the money to rescue him. Why did he send Fei Lin out of the city first, then go fight and kill people himself, and even set fire to the county yamen, completely cutting off his own path of retreat?"

Fei Rulan thought it over carefully but could not make sense of it at all.

"It was absolutely not youthful hotheadedness," Madam Lou said, shaking her head and frowning as she pondered deeply. "When he told Fei Lin to leave the city, he had already planned everything out. He was impatient to break free of the Fei clan, impatient to leave Yanshan — what exactly does he intend to do?"

"Your daughter cannot fathom it," Fei Rulan said.

"Neither can I," Madam Lou continued her analysis. "He is a man who values loyalty and affection deeply; he would never abandon his own sister without a care. Yet he left just like that, and even wrote entrusting his little sister to my care, saying that one day he would surely repay me generously. He is absolutely certain he can return — but what does he mean to accomplish by leaving?"

Fei Rulan said, "Brother Han must have great ambitions."

Madam Lou truly could not figure it out. She waved her daughter away, then summoned Fei Lin and his son Fei Chun.

"Fei Chun, you are close with Zhao Han. Do you know what great ambitions he harbors?" Madam Lou asked.

Fei Chun hemmed and hawed, "Per... perhaps to become an official."

"Speak!" Madam Lou suddenly barked in fury.

Fei Chun shuddered in fright and steeled himself. "I truly do not know. He never told me either."

Madam Lou bluffed, "In the letter he wrote to me, he laid everything out clearly. Do you still dare deceive me? Such audacious insolence!"

Fei Chun prostrated himself on the floor and said through gritted teeth, "I truly do not know."

"Leave," Madam Lou said, somewhat resigned.

Father and son obeyed and cautiously withdrew from the room.

Fei Lin asked urgently, "What exactly does Brother Han mean to do?"

"I cannot say. Father, it is best if you do not know either," Fei Chun kept his lips sealed.

As early as last year, Fei Chun had overheard the truth.

At that time, Pang Chunlai and Zhao Han were discussing the great affairs of the realm, evaluating the successes and failures of the uprisings in the three southern provinces.

In the early years of Chongzhen, peasant revolts erupted one after another in Guangdong, Fujian, and Jiangxi. The unrest in Guangdong grew the largest, but it lasted only two or three years before the Governor led troops and put it down. The uprisings in Fujian and Jiangxi, however, held out by relying on the great mountains, historically even outlasting the Chongzhen Emperor himself, and later surrendered to the Southern Ming to become anti-Qing loyalist forces.

Fei Chun had heard it crystal clear at the time: Zhao Han said that Jiangxi had many mountains and little arable land, making it a natural treasure ground for rebellion.

This lad had known Zhao Han's intentions all along, yet had kept them buried in his heart and told no one — he had even withstood Madam Lou's bluffing interrogation.

"Madam, Fei Zhen requests an audience."

Yingchun came in to announce.

Madam Lou ground her teeth. "He still has the face to come see me? Let him in!"

Old Five rolled into the hall and dropped to his knees with a thud. "I pay my respects to the Young Madam!"

Madam Lou sneered. "Fifth Uncle, Brother Han wrote to me saying he saw you enter the county yamen with a clerk. What business did you have at the yamen?"

"Ah? He... he saw me?"

Old Five nearly fainted, the last shred of hope in his heart shattered. He even feared that Zhao Han was hiding right here and would burst out at any moment to spear him dead.

Madam Lou asked, "What are you afraid of?"

"N-n-not afraid at all," Old Five stammered, fumbling to produce a jade pendant and silver. "Chunfang is so clever and well-behaved; the Old Master is exceedingly fond of her. These are all rewards for her."

"Heh, you two really have some nerve." Madam Lou was so angry she laughed.

In the blink of an eye it was the New Year, a rather quiet one this time.

The eldest young master was serving as County Magistrate in Suqian, and the fourth young master as a patrol inspector in Ji'an; neither had managed to return home to reunite with the family.

Word of Zhao Han's deed, however, had already reached Goose Lake. A wanted notice was even posted at the Goose Lake Town dock: the authorities were offering a reward of one hundred taels for the capture of the rebel Zhao Han.

Killing and arson inside the county yamen — whether or not he had actually raised troops in revolt — would mark him a rebel in the eyes of the authorities!

Beside himself with excitement, Fei Ruhe ran to the Loyal and Diligent Court to find Fei Lin. "Uncle Lin, did Zhao Han really kill and set fires in the county yamen?"

Fei Lin could only admit it: "It's true."

Fei Ruhe struck his wrist and sighed, then complained, "A great deed like this, and he didn't call for me? He truly doesn't treat me as a friend!"

Fei Lin did not know whether to laugh or cry. "Young master, this is a beheading offense."

"A true man should be exactly so," Fei Ruhe clapped his hands and laughed heartily, then pressed for details. "How did it happen? Tell me quickly."

Fei Lin recounted the whole story, from beginning to end, in careful detail.

As Fei Ruhe listened, righteous fury swelled in his chest, and he burst out cursing: "That scoundrel of a private secretary! He took the silver and did nothing, then turned around and harmed people instead. Had it been me, I would have done exactly as Brother Han did — only killing him could vent the rage in my heart!"

Fei Lin dared not respond.

Fei Ruhe asked again, "Do you know where Brother Han has gone?"

"I don't know." Fei Lin shook his head.

The Lantern Festival passed in a flash.

Madam Lou and Fei Yuanyi reached an agreement: they would seek out a poor scholar — as long as his character was upright, that would suffice — and swiftly bring him in as a live-in son-in-law.

Fei Rulan was far too foolish, still insisting on waiting bitterly for Zhao Han, a wanted fugitive hunted by the authorities.

They had to sever her hopes!

The matchmaker cradled her tea bowl, her face wreathed in smiles. "Madam, rest assured, I guarantee I'll handle this properly. If no suitable match can be found in Yanshan, I'll search the surrounding counties. It's just that…"

"Just what?" Madam Lou asked.

The matchmaker said with some difficulty, "It's just, could the requirements be lowered a little? A young xiucai, even from an impoverished family, is bound to be proud and ambitious — how could he be willing to become a live-in son-in-law? Would a child student be acceptable?"

Madam Lou turned the matter over in her mind and said, "If he is a xiucai from this county, then not being a live-in son-in-law is also acceptable. If he is from elsewhere, he must be brought in as a live-in son-in-law — I fear my daughter would suffer if she married out. A child student would barely do, but he must have a reputation for talent, and be the sort who is filial to his parents."

"That makes things much easier." The matchmaker brightened.

Madam Lou suddenly set her face sternly and said, "Before this matter is settled, you are not to breathe a single word of it to anyone outside. If I hear any idle gossip, you can weigh the consequences yourself!"

"I will certainly not speak carelessly. If I tell anyone, may my bowels rot and my belly burst and I die," the matchmaker hastily swore an oath.

The matchmaker took her reward money and left, overjoyed.

But Fei Rulan suddenly burst in, her expression blank. "Mother, that was a matchmaker who just left, wasn't it?"

Madam Lou smiled. "It was indeed a matchmaker. Ruhe has also reached marriageable age; I asked the matchmaker to look into daughters from a few good families."

"When the Fei family takes a daughter-in-law, isn't it supposed to be a match with a great clan?" Fei Rulan gave a cold laugh.

Madam Lou said, "In the end, one still has to pick and choose."

Fei Rulan said, "Mother, if you try to force your daughter as well, then your daughter can only go and die."

Madam Lou could finally hold it in no longer. Her expression turned ugly, and she forced a smile. "You're overthinking it. How could Mother force you?"

"Your daughter said she would wait a few years for Brother Han, and she will not go back on that word," Fei Rulan said. "Brother Han is now a wanted fugitive; Mother is certainly unwilling. If you intend to force me, your daughter will surely die. Mother, think on it carefully."

Fei Rulan left as soon as she finished speaking. Madam Lou was so furious she wanted to smash something.

She managed to restrain herself, however. Madam Lou summoned Dongfu, pressed a tael of silver into his hand, and said, "Catch up with the matchmaker and tell her to stop busying herself — my daughter already has a betrothed!"

Just after Dongfu left, Fei Ze (Jiandan) was suddenly brought in, holding a letter. "Mother, the young master has run away!"

It turned out Fei Ruhe had left a letter at the tavern, then taken Fei Chun with him to travel the four corners of the world.

This fellow had been provoked by Zhao Han's example; unwilling to coop himself up in Yanshan County, he wanted to go out into the world and make a great name for himself.

Madam Lou tore open the letter. Only a single line was written: "Mother, your son has gone. Do not worry. Fourth Uncle is serving as a patrol inspector in Ji'an; your son is going to seek refuge with him. Once your son has accomplished great deeds out in the world, he will return."

"Wretched boy!"

"Rebellion — they've all rebelled!"

"I've truly raised a fine pair of children!"

Madam Lou was so angry she nearly fainted. Her daughter being unreasonable was one thing, but now even her son refused to listen.

(End of Chapter)