Chapter Sixty-Eight: Double Ninth Festival in September
As autumn winds rise, chrysanthemums bloom across the fields.
September is marked by two major events: the Double Ninth Festival, when people climb mountains to pay homage to their ancestors and enjoy the autumn scenery; and the Double Ninth Festival, when people eat crabs, drink wine, appreciate chrysanthemums, and recite classical poems. These two events combined form a grand refined affair—the Double Ninth Festival, a time beloved by poets and writers, celebrated in verse. The Great Zhou Dynasty, at its peak, was a time of great cultural refinement, and its people indulged in such refined pursuits even more than their predecessors.
The Ruan family of Jingxi, a family renowned for its poetry and scholarship, naturally deserves special mention. Although Duke Wenxiao held only a second-rank official position, he was a leader in the capital's literary circles, frequently inviting friends and scholars to crab roe banquets. They would enjoy crabs, admire chrysanthemums, drink wine, and compose poetry; even the late emperor had privately attended. After his death, the crab roe banquets ceased to exist. However, every year before the Double Ninth Festival, the steward of Lingtang in Yangzhou would still travel south by boat to Taihu Lake to purchase crabs at great expense, then have them delivered to the Ruan family residence in the capital by special envoy.
This year, due to insufficient rainfall and low water levels in Taihu Lake, the crab harvest has been reduced. A total of twenty-two cages were delivered from Yangzhou; some died en route, so after sorting and repackaging, there were exactly twenty cages. The First Madam then discussed with the Old Madam: "...I've thought about it, and we'll send two cages each to the Marquis of Dongping's residence, the Duke of Dingguo's residence, the Princess Huiwen's residence, and the Prince of Han's residence, and one cage to the others. Does that seem appropriate?"
The old lady frowned and said, "Why give it to the Han Prince's Mansion? They have never had any dealings with us."
The First Madam said, "This is the Master's intention. Wasn't it Second Uncle who helped with this matter?"
The old lady raised an eyebrow and said with a sneer, "He took ten thousand taels of silver and a famous painting from the previous dynasty from our family, and sent Tao'er to some poor and desolate place in Luzhou to be a deputy militia commander. Hong'er actually wants to send him crabs? Even if they die one by one, we won't give them to him." A deputy militia commander is an unranked official position, and Luzhou is in Sichuan. The roads to Sichuan are rugged, and life there is not easy. Who knows when he will be able to return? Just thinking about it makes the old lady feel suffocated.
The First Madam frowned slightly. The Old Madam was still living in the past, believing it to be the Ruan family of Jingxi during the reign of Duke Wenxiao, favored by the emperor and on good terms with all the officials. Now, with no one to rely on and no one to support them, the First Master was struggling to hold things up by himself. Carefully choosing his words, he said, “Mother, Prime Minister Shen is now very powerful, and those who used to be on good terms with us have all distanced themselves. When my second brother got into trouble, my father searched everywhere for people to help, but they were all afraid of offending Prime Minister Shen and avoided him. In desperation, he turned to Prince Han. My father said that the Emperor was angry that my second brother was neglecting his duties while traveling and sightseeing, which led to the students' riot. He should have been demoted to a commoner and never employed again. It was only through the mediation of Censor-in-Chief Hu that he was finally demoted to the position of Deputy Commander of the Militia. Although it is not a high rank, at least he has been spared and can be dealt with later. Now, among all the civil and military officials, only the old ministers of the late Emperor gathered around Prince Han can rival Prime Minister Shen. My father was fine before because he didn't align himself with either side. But now, because of my second brother, everyone knows that he has established a relationship with Prince Han. Will there be any slander in the future? If he doesn't get along well with Prince Han, I'm afraid the trouble will be... much worse.”
The Ruan family was declining, and the old lady was well aware of it. However, she had become too accustomed to the past glory and couldn't shake off the past, nor was she willing to. She lowered her eyes, remained silent for a long time, and then said, "You are the head of the household, and this matter should be decided by you. You don't need to ask me."
With that considered an agreement, the First Madam breathed a sigh of relief, fearing that her daughter might become stubborn and the Master would listen to her again. "There's one more thing. Princess Huiwen and the Duke of Dingguo's mansion have both invited our daughters to their homes. In return, we should also invite Princess Jingyi to our mansion. I'd like Second Sister to do it. What do you think?"
After a moment's thought, the old lady said, "Let Fifth Sister go and invite her."
"Isn't this inappropriate? Fifth daughter is neither the eldest son nor the legitimate daughter."
The old lady said unhappily, "How can she not be the legitimate daughter? She came from Lan'er's belly."
This was the first time she had said this, and the First Madam's heart sank. She suddenly remembered that when the Second Miss returned from Tianqing Temple, she had a lump on her forehead. She said resentfully, "Mother, Grandmother is too biased. From beginning to end, she only took the Fifth Miss and led her away, completely disregarding my life or death."
"Mother, please don't be angry. I misspoke. It's just that she's registered under Aunt Fang's name, so people outside think she's a concubine's daughter."
"So what? Princess Jingyi is still born out of wedlock. Besides, Princess Huiwen has her eye on her." The old lady said impatiently, "Alright, it's settled then."
"Yes." The First Madam clenched her fists tightly, her fingers digging into her palms, causing a sharp pain.
After she left, the old lady called Manyun in: "Go to Fifth Miss's room and see if she's feeling any better?" She added with affection, "That child is really easily frightened. It's been three days and she still hasn't recovered."
Manyun said with a smile, "Madam, you have weathered many storms, so Fifth Miss is naturally not as good as you."
"You're so sweet-talking, go on."
Manyun nodded and went to the east wing of Liaoyuan. She saw Hanxing and Ju'er sitting outside, making knots and talking quietly. The room was silent. When the two maids saw her, they quickly stood up and greeted her in hushed tones. Manyun pointed to the room and asked, "Is Miss awake or asleep? The old lady is very worried and sent me to check on you."
"I just woke up and I'm talking to Sister Yunying right now."
Manyun was slightly taken aback. She had long heard that since entering the Ruan family, Miss Yunying had been very low-key and didn't interact much with others, often only going to the Fifth Miss's room every few days. In fact, it wasn't just her; Xiuping also liked to go to the east wing of Liaoyuan Garden, which everyone found quite puzzling every time they mentioned it.
"Sister Manyun, please wait a moment, I will go and inform them for you."
Manyun nodded.
Hanxing went inside, and a moment later, Xiuzhi came out, smiling broadly, and pulled Manyun along, saying, "Why are you standing outside? It's been windy these past few days, be careful not to get hurt." As she spoke, she walked into the house.
"Is Fifth Sister feeling any better?"
"I'm fine now, just a little weak."
As they talked, they entered the inner room. Ruan Bi sat leaning against a soft couch, while Yun Ying sat on a round stool. They seemed to be talking about something, but both had smiles on their faces. They exchanged greetings and chatted for a while about the "Yun" character in Yun Ying's and Manyun's names being the same. Then Yun Ying got up to take her leave.
“Sister Manyun, go back and tell Grandmother that I’m alright and that she doesn’t need to worry.”
“You are the apple of her eye now, how can she not worry? If you want her to stop worrying, you should get better quickly.” Manyun said half-jokingly, her lips slightly pursed, revealing dimples at the corners of her mouth.
“I’m really fine now. Sigh, sister, to tell you the truth, it’s because I ate too many crabs the other day, and then…” Ruan Bi pointed to her stomach, “My stomach got chilled and it hurts a bit. I had to say I was frightened.”
Manyun suddenly realized and said, "I see. I was wondering why you would be frightened, young lady?"
Ruan Bi smiled and asked, "I heard there's been a result regarding Second Uncle's matter?"
Manyun nodded and said, "Yes, the master said so. He's been demoted to deputy commander of the Luzhou militia. I heard he'll be heading there directly from Yangzhou in the next few days. Aunt Sun will be going with him, while the second young master will be returning to the capital. However, the matter of the Guo family's young master is still undecided; he'll probably face the death penalty." She paused, sighed, and said, "Poor third young lady."
"I heard they're even revising the Hereditary Grant Law?"
“The master did say that,” Manyun tilted her head and thought for a moment before saying, “I don’t remember very clearly, but it seems that originally, civil and military officials of the fifth rank or above could have their sons appointed to official positions through hereditary privilege, but this was changed to only officials of the fourth rank or above. Those appointed through hereditary privilege also had to pass the selection examination and the presentation examination. It was also stipulated that officials appointed through hereditary privilege could only serve as local supervisors of the eighth rank or below, and could not serve as high-ranking and important positions such as censors, regents, or diplomatic envoys.”
Although Ruan Bi was unfamiliar with the affairs of the Great Zhou Dynasty, he had studied politics for over a decade and had some insights into official documents. This revision aimed to raise the bar for entry into officialdom through hereditary privilege, reduce the number of people admitted through this system, lower the ranks of hereditary officials, and restrict their promotions. The goal was to keep a large number of hereditary officials in local positions, thus posing no real threat to officials who came from the civil service examination system. This should be beneficial to the Great Zhou Dynasty, but whether it could be effectively implemented was another matter. Ultimately, such revisions harmed the interests of current high-ranking officials.
However, Man Yun, who didn't understand politics, could still remember everything clearly, which showed how sharp her mind was. Ruan Bi liked this and asked, "Sister Man Yun, are your thoughts still the same as before?"
Manyun was slightly taken aback, but after a moment she realized that the question was about her feelings for the young master. She lowered her eyes for a moment, smiled helplessly, and said, "Miss has forgotten, I am just a servant. I am content with what I have."
Ruan Bi was momentarily dazed, realizing how foolish she had been. Even her own marriage was arranged by the old lady, let alone hers.
After a moment of silence, Manyun relayed the old lady's message, asking her to write a letter inviting Gu Jingyi to come over and play.
Ruan Biyi wrote a letter as instructed, and received a reply the next day. The reply said that the Double Ninth Festival was in a few days, and the entire Dingguo Duke's family was going to the suburbs to climb mountains and enjoy the view. Since there were no mountains near the capital, they were going to stay at the farm. They were busy packing and couldn't come to the manor to visit. They would arrange another time after the Double Ninth Festival when they returned to the capital.
At the bottom of the letter, another line of writing in a different, lively handwriting read: "You're so stupid! The assassin had already drawn his sword, and you still rushed at him. So stupid, so stupid! Also, I said I'd send you paintings of galloping horses or heroes of the Sui and Tang dynasties, so why are you sending two ink paintings of lotus flowers?"
On the Double Ninth Festival, the Emperor led members of the imperial family to the Five Sacred Mountains Palace to offer sacrifices to their ancestors and pray for blessings. He also announced that Consort Xie was pregnant again, and to bring good fortune to the unborn child, a general amnesty was granted. He was nearing thirty and had no children, possessing only a son and a daughter. His eldest son was frail and sickly, and whether he could even grow up healthy was questionable, let alone become the heir to the throne. He urgently needed a healthy and intelligent prince to ensure the long-term stability of the empire. Meanwhile, the common people began to gossip. Empress Zhao had been married to the Emperor for eight years, yet she had not conceived. Was a woman who couldn't even bear a child worthy of being Empress?
When Ruan Bi heard this, she was immediately in a panic.
Sure enough, Master Ziying arrived early the next morning.
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