Chapter 105

After the funeral, preparations began for Yunkai to inherit the chieftainship. Yunkai was Lord Han's legitimate son, and given Lord Han's last words, his ascension to the chieftainship was meaningless. However, when discussing the ceremony for his ascension with the various Mengquan clans, this logical move met with opposition.

Yin Tai stared intently at the chieftains seated on the mats below and sneered, "The master has just left, and some people are already refusing to take his words seriously. I'd like to ask you, why can't my son Yunkai sit in the chieftain's seat?"

The leader of the laid-off circle clasped his hands and saluted towards Yin Tai: "Madam, don't be angry. The second young master is the master's legitimate son and has a noble status. He is the most suitable heir now. But his marriage..."

Yun Kai frowned, but said nothing as he waited for the group of people below to reveal their final trump card.

Seeing this group even dragging Yueming into the relationship, Yin Tai was furious. He slammed the small table beside him and shouted, "His marriage was arranged by the master himself when he was alive. He summoned everyone in the nine Meng eighteen circles. You also came to drink the engagement wine. Congratulations were all over his mouth then, but now you are finding fault with him. Are you thinking of rebelling now that the master is gone?"

The head of the Shanggang Circle said, "Madam, you are wrong. The eldest young master was still alive at the time, so he was the legitimate heir. That's why you arranged a marriage for him. The eldest young mistress is a legitimate Miss Xiangkan. Besides, the second young master married into the Lan family as a great master, which is considered too high for the Lan family. But the master and Lan Yingde are of the same mind and insisted on arranging such a marriage for the second young master. We couldn't disobey him and had to go along with his wishes. After all, everyone thought that the second young master was destined to become a great master in Mengquan. But what is the situation now? The second young master wants to be a chieftain, the leader of our Zhaopian, and the king of Yunxiang. How can he marry a commoner's daughter?"

Yin Tai slammed his palm on the small table, causing the teacup to vibrate and the lid to fall off, shattering on the wooden floor. The maid kneeling behind the screen heard the commotion and hurried out to clean up.

Yin Tai's fierce eyes swept across the faces of those aggressive Mengquan leaders and the deaf-mute Yamen officials, and said word by word: "You may have forgotten that Lan Yueming is not only the daughter of Lan Yingde, she is also the daughter of Lisheng Meng! She is listed in the Lisheng Meng family tree."

Everyone's eyes were fixed on the half-closed Taotouren, waiting to see if he dared to say that the bastard born from his family's disregard for the family's reputation and eloping with Lan Yingde was worthy of the title of Zhao Fayintai.

Seeing the tense atmosphere, Master Tinglai quickly tried to smooth things over, saying, "You can't be so sarcastic. Mr. Lan has made great contributions to Prime Minister Yun's current situation. This marriage is not an injustice to Yunkai."

The Mengwai leader interrupted, "You're wrong, Master. No matter how great his achievements, Lan Yingde is still just a commoner from another land. Rules are rules. It's been a long-standing rule that nobles and commoners cannot intermarry. The chieftain of Mengmeng married a commoner, but was banished by the government and the Buddha to a remote place to be a master. But he became a chieftain himself, and he didn't go against the rules of his ancestors, did he?"

The other Mengquan leaders echoed, "That's right. These rules were set by your ancestors. It's unacceptable for you not to abide by them. Don't the Han people always say that there is no order without rules? Besides, if no one follows the rules, how chaotic will the world be!"

This is a naked threat. If the Tusi Mansion takes the lead in breaking the rules, don't blame them for following suit.

Yin Tai was so angry that he was shaking all over, but he could do nothing. Yun Kai said calmly, "Let's stop here for today! I'm tired." He stood up, walked to the Tao headman, clasped his hands together, and said, "We'll continue the meeting tomorrow. Grandpa, please stay at the mansion tonight to avoid the hardship of traveling back and forth."

The head of the Shanggang Circle raised his lip slightly. Was the Second Young Master trying to show everyone that he wouldn't give up the little girl from the Lan family? Young people are just infatuated, and infatuation is good! If he wasn't infatuated, the rest of the play would be difficult to perform.

Coming out of the meeting hall of the front yamen, Yun Kai instructed Feng Xiaosai, "Go and find out who Master Tinglai has been meeting recently."

Lan Yingde received the letter from Tao Tou Ren's messenger and frowned after reading it. Changsheng, who was standing by, saw this and asked cautiously, "Master, what did Yueming's grandfather tell you?"

Lan Yingde handed him the letter and sighed worriedly, "The thing I was most worried about has happened."

Changsheng took the letter and read it quickly, becoming more and more frightened. "How dare they force Yin Tai and the Second Young Master like this, and even bring up Yue Ming's marriage? Aren't they afraid of angering us and calling in the border garrisons to make them pay?"

Lan Yingde sneered, "They'd rather this matter get bigger and bigger. This Tusi succession issue is an internal matter of their own clan. If outsiders get involved, they'll have a pretext to disobey the Tusi's orders. Then the Nine Mengs and Eighteen Circles will each establish their own territory. The big fish will eat the small fish, the strong will take over the weak, and then Yun Xiang will no longer be called Han."

Changsheng said angrily, "But what about Yueming? This marriage was arranged by Han Tusi when he was still alive, through both persuasion and hard tactics. It wasn't us who pushed for it."

The sound of Yueming and her maid chatting could be heard in the yard.

Ye Hu said worriedly, "Next month is the big day for you and the Second Young Master to get married, and yet these things happened. I wonder if the wedding will be postponed?"

Yueming sat in a rocking chair, shielding herself from the sun with a round fan. "We Han people observe three years of mourning when a blood relative dies. Does Prime Minister Yun have anything to say?"

Ai Ye replied: "It's the same. You can't marry or build a house for three years."

Yueming sighed, "I saw the funeral procession carrying red and flower umbrellas, so I thought the customs here were different from ours. It turns out they all have to observe the mourning period for three years."

Ye Hu comforted her, "It's not always necessary to stay like this. There's also the custom of robbing someone of their father's widowhood. Counting from the day Master Han is buried, you can marry the Second Young Master within a hundred days. There's no delay."

Yueming lay back in the rocking chair, fanning her eyes as she murmured, "He's very busy right now. He's busy investigating the murderer of the old master and the eldest son, and busy taking over the position of Prime Minister. I'm afraid he doesn't have the time to think about marriage. Men are all like that! Unlike us women, who have such narrow minds. They have the world in their hearts and understand what is important and what is not!"

Hearing this, Lan Yingde's heart trembled and he said fiercely, "It all depends on Yunkai's choice. If he is determined to stay with Yuebai until old age, I will sacrifice my life to help him keep Yun Xiang. If he has other ideas, my daughter Lan Yingde will never have trouble finding a husband."