Chapter 277: Entering the Palace

The residence of Zhou Kui, Earl of household retainers, was located in the western part of the capital—a grand compound of five courtyards. The layout imitated Zhou Kui's old mansion in Suzhou, presenting a complete Jiangnan garden scene: rockeries, ponds, winding corridors, an opera stage, and rare flowers and plants of every kind were all present. The furniture in the rear quarters was all crafted from fine rosewood and huanghuali. The entire estate exuded elegance amid wealth, ranking among the finest mansions in the capital, only slightly inferior to those of the hereditary nobility.

"Father, I hear that the Prince of Kaifeng's branch of the Zhou clan, out of consideration for the nation's difficulties, has specially donated half of their family fortune to aid the state. I hear that this donation includes tens of thousands of qing of farmland alone, plus dozens of shops in major cities like Luoyang and Nanjing. These past few years, His Majesty has been selling salt, engaging in trade, and opening workshops—he's raked in a sea of silver. And now he's gained a huge windfall out of thin air—it's practically free money! I think you should go to the palace and ask my sister for a share. Our family's circumstances are passable, but who ever tires of silver and land? We're imperial relatives—you're the sole Imperial Father-in-Law of the Great Ming. With your imperial son-in-law possessing such vast wealth, surely he should share some with his relatives?"

Beneath a weeping willow by the pond in the rear garden, Zhou Kui, wearing a bamboo rain hat, sat intently holding his fishing rod. A young servant boy of eight or nine stood behind him holding a sandalwood box containing dried fish bait, while a comely maidservant wielded a long palm-leaf fan to cool Zhou Kui. The one speaking was Zhou Kui's eldest son, Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi, now past thirty, bore some resemblance to Empress Zhou—his features could be called handsome—but a slightly hooked nose and thin lips marred the overall composition of his face, giving him an air of coldness and ingratitude.

As the eldest son of Imperial Father-in-Law Zhou Kui and heir to the earldom of household retainers, Zhou Yi was nonetheless dissatisfied. He had repeatedly urged Zhou Kui, both openly and covertly, to go to the palace and pressure his sister, asking His Majesty to upgrade the earldom of household retainers to a marquisate. If His Majesty refused, then he should beg for a separate earldom for his younger brother, to whom he was close.

Empress Zhou, unable to withstand her father's persistent entreaties, had at some point last year found an opportunity to broach the matter delicately with Zhu Youjian, but was flatly refused by him on the grounds that no marquisate could be granted without military merit—and the notion of two earldoms in one family was out of the question entirely.

Empress Zhou felt she had lost face and refused to see Zhu Youjian for over half a month as a result, while Zhu Youjian took turns lodging with Noble Consort Yuan and Noble Consort Tian.

The reason Zhu Youjian refused Empress Zhou's request was purely his deep disgust at what Zhou Kui and his son had done in history.

Being stingy was one thing, but when the roving bandits were about to breach the capital and the Emperor urgently needed money to recruit soldiers, Zhou Kui—as an imperial relative—was only willing to donate five thousand taels of silver. Wasn't that the classic case of clinging to wealth at the cost of one's life? And what happened in the end? Didn't the roving bandits still strip his cellars of the several hundred thousand taels he had hidden away?

As Emperor, Chongzhen was still rather mindful of family ties. The bulk of Zhou Kui's enormous fortune had come from the farmland and shops that Chongzhen had bestowed upon the Zhou family—yet when Chongzhen needed money, they proved utterly unreliable.

What most infuriated the present Zhu Youjian was that after the roving bandits breached the capital, the sixteen-year-old Crown Prince Zhu Cilang fled to the Zhou residence for refuge. Later, when the Qing army entered the pass and seized the capital, they searched the entire city for descendants of the Zhu bloodline. Fearing disaster would befall them, Zhou Kui and Zhou Yi actually handed their own nephew over to the Jianzhou barbarians with their own hands, and he was ultimately tortured to death by them under the pretext of being a false crown prince.

The base conduct of Zhou Kui and his son in history made Zhu Youjian regard them with profound contempt. Since his transmigration, Zhu Youjian had only maintained a ceremonial relationship with Zhou Kui out of respect for Empress Zhou, but had never treated him with the same warmth he showed his other two imperial in-laws.

"Oh? Is this true? That Prince of Kaifeng is among the first rank of Princes—why would he bleed himself so dry? Could he be seeking something from the Emperor? What an enormous fortune! Tsk tsk! But, my son, our family doesn't lack silver at present. The Emperor has had money these past few years, but he hasn't let our family miss out on benefits either. The Great Ming has countless places needing money now—supporting troops, supporting famine victims. Wouldn't it be rather inappropriate for us to go asking for more? As imperial relatives, our Zhou family should set an example for the realm!"

Watching his father spout high-sounding nonsense with an utterly solemn, righteous air, Zhou Yi secretly curled his lip, then exposed him without mercy: "As the saying goes, no one knows a father better than his son. Father, spare me your high-flown excuses! Those words might fool outsiders, but between father and son, why such pretense? It's not that you don't want a windfall—it's that the very thought of going to the palace to see my sister makes your heart quail! And my sister too—her elbow always bends outward. We're her own flesh and blood; if she doesn't favor her natal family, whom will she favor? Father, think—one day when you've passed on, I'll be fine, for I'll inherit the earldom. But Second Brother only holds an empty post in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and he's honest and slow-witted. If you don't amass more silver for him, when his family branches out and expenses multiply, with nothing coming in and the family fortune dwindling, what will become of him?"

Zhou Kui's second son, Zhou Fang, had contracted a chill and fever in childhood that was treated too late, leaving lasting damage—his mind was sometimes clear and sometimes confused. And being the second son, he could not inherit the earldom, so Zhou Kui had always felt he owed him.

Though Zhou Yi was no good sort, he had always genuinely doted on his brother, two years his junior. Seeing his brother in such a state, he had persistently urged his father to secure a title for the younger brother as well, so that when their father passed and the brothers divided the household, he could rest easy knowing his brother had a title.

Zhou Kui was now most reluctant to go to the palace to see his daughter, and he knew very well why.

A few years earlier, when the court was short of silver, Empress Zhou could not bear to see her husband fretting daily over money and grain, so she sent someone to deliver five thousand taels to Zhou Kui, asking him to add another five thousand and donate it to the court in the Zhou family's name. But Zhou Kui was utterly unscrupulous—he pocketed two thousand taels of what Empress Zhou had sent and donated only the remaining three thousand.

When Empress Zhou learned of this, she was furious. From then on she had no kind words for Zhou Kui and sent word that he should not casually come to the palace seeking her.

In fact, apart from the last time he had brazenly gone to the palace to have Empress Zhou discuss with Zhu Youjian the matter of elevating his title and granting another enfeoffment, Zhou Kui had not entered the palace for a long time.

"Very well then! For Fang'er to have some hope for the future, I shall go to the palace this once. I'll say this time it's for Fang'er's household support—let's see what your sister can say to that! I refuse to believe that the imperial house truly has no family feeling!"

The mere mention of Zhou Fang's name struck the softest spot in Zhou Kui's heart. He set down his fishing rod, rose, washed his hands in the bronze basin nearby, and turned to go to the rear quarters to change clothes before heading to the palace.

"Father, sister has been with child since last year—by my reckoning her time is nearly due. You'd best bring some nourishing gifts to the palace. As they say, no one strikes a gift-bearer—it's certainly better than going in empty-handed, isn't it?"

Zhou Yi reminded him with a grin.

"If you hadn't mentioned it, I'd nearly have forgotten! My mind's been all on how to broach the subject once I'm in the palace. Go tell the steward to find some ginseng, angelica, and the like from the storeroom and prepare them for me!"