0146 The Golden Winged Envoy (XI)
Upon learning that the Ministry of Revenue had sent officials to her door, Madam Luo was indeed somewhat surprised, but she quickly composed herself, instructed her maid to style her hair and makeup appropriately, and then had Granny Li accompany her to the front courtyard.
The Ministry of Revenue sent a man surnamed Zhao to be in charge this time. He slowly sipped two mouthfuls of Yangxian tea before seeing Madam Luo leading a group of servants and maids in.
Zhao, the steward, immediately stood up and bowed respectfully.
Luo smiled slightly and returned the greeting. After taking her seat in the main seat, she said, "Master Zhao, please have some tea." Seeing that the other party readily agreed and did not seem to be in any difficulty, she continued, "I wonder what business the Ministry of Revenue has that warrants your visit to my humble abode? Is it because my master is in the southern borderlands..."
Zhao, the head of the department, realized that she had misunderstood. He quickly waved his hand and explained, "Minister Shu is an official of the Ministry of Rites. Now he is on a mission to the southern border. Any response will be known to the Ministry of Rites and the Emperor first. It has little to do with our Ministry of Revenue."
Upon hearing this, Madam Luo breathed a sigh of relief, the anxious look on her face fading, and she smiled gently, "If it's not for that, then the reason the steward has come to visit is..."
With a smile on his face, Zhao, the steward, stood up and offered his congratulations again: "I have come here to deliver something."
Madam Luo frowned slightly, her gaze following the other person. She saw Master Zhao move his short, stout body and take something like a booklet from the servant's hand, then respectfully hand it to her.
"What's this?"
"Household registration," Chief Clerk Zhao twitched his beard, his lips moving in a cheerful smile, "Your second daughter is sixteen years old, has her own property, and is financially secure enough to live independently, meeting the criteria for establishing a household. A few days ago, she submitted the relevant documents to the Ministry of Revenue, requesting to register her as a female household. Now everything is complete, so I have come to deliver the household registration to the second daughter. I wonder where she is now?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Luo flicked her wrist, and the teacup tipped over, swirling twice in the saucer and spilling a pool of emerald-green tea.
"What did you say?" Madam Luo looked at Steward Zhao in disbelief, her eyes filled with shock.
Zhao, the steward, was puzzled and repeated, "I said I came to deliver the household registration to your second daughter. She has now separated from the main family and registered as a separate household."
Luo's mind was buzzing, and for a moment he even felt dizzy and almost fainted.
“Impossible! How could a girl like her break away from the protection of her parents’ clan and establish her own household?” Madam Luo gripped the chair armrests tightly, almost losing her voice.
“Mother, that was in the past. Now Her Majesty the Empress is implementing new policies, allowing women over fifteen with property to register their own households. Although no one has yet agreed, Afu is willing to be the first to do so.”
Shu Fu received the message and arrived late, dressed in a misty red short-sleeved ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress), her figure burning like fire as she came, illuminating the somewhat quiet scene in the courtyard.
The spring sun shining through the eaves reflected on the girl's bright cheeks, making them appear as vibrant and radiant as ever.
Luo sat in the hall watching her, and suddenly seemed a little dazed.
Is this her Afu? When did she grow so tall?
Shu Fu entered the inner room, greeted Luo Shi and Zhao Zhushi in turn, then took the household register from Zhao Zhushi, bowed her head and carefully looked through it for a long time before finally showing a genuine smile.
"Thank you for making this trip. Once everything is settled for my new home, I will definitely treat you to some good wine to express my gratitude!"
Manager Zhao raised an eyebrow, put on a smiling face like Maitreya Buddha, and nodded in agreement.
It wasn't until this moment that Luo Shi finally came to her senses and shouted sternly, "Shu Fu, what are you saying? What do you mean by establishing a household and moving! Your parents are still alive, and you are unmarried and living separately from them. This is unfilial! Do you want to be such an unfilial person?"
Her chest heaved, her mind racing with shock and anger. Her vision blurred, and she felt as if everything happening around her was completely detached from her expectations, heading towards a state of utter chaos.
He had already used underhanded methods to keep her locked up at home and held onto the marriage certificate tightly, refusing to mention annulment no matter how much she begged him.
But how could she, how dare she?
How could she directly establish a separate household and live separately!
To be fair, the Luo family had already exhausted all means of dealing with the inner quarters—
First, cut off all her avenues for seeking help from the outside world, then confine her to the inner quarters as her parents to await her wedding. How many young ladies would have their last bit of edge worn away by this kind of despair that is so clear at a glance?
Every step felt like being cut by a dull knife, slow yet deadly.
But Shufu deliberately bypassed all the established paths and chose a path that had never been taken before.
Luo was momentarily stunned and blurted out the reprimands she had just uttered. Only then did she remember that Master Zhao was still present, and she immediately fell silent, her eyes fixed on Shu Fu.
The words "unfilial person" landed on the ground. Shu Fu pursed her lips, then looked at Luo Shi and smiled slightly, "Mother, what you said is strange. Even if I go out to live, I am still your daughter. Just like my second and third uncles who are sent to serve as officials and cannot return for three to five years, it is as if they are living independently. Aren't they Grandmother's sons and Father's brothers?"
Shu Fu carefully put away the household registration book, bowed respectfully to Madam Luo, and said earnestly, "They are like this, and so am I. Even if I move out and live my own life from now on, I will not abandon my identity as a daughter of the Shu family. I will wish my parents good health from afar, and if I am of any use in the future, I will do my best to help them."
Luo's temple throbbed, and she subconsciously wanted to say something like, "How are you the same as them?" But then she thought again, Shu Fu is sharp-tongued and always knows how to shut her up with twisted logic.
Madam Luo patted her chest. Seeing this, Granny Li quickly served her fresh tea. She took a sip, her complexion improved slightly, and then said:
"You've been spoiled by me and don't know how dangerous it is outside! Today you're going out alone without the protection of your parents and clan. Do you know how others will bully you because you're weak and vulnerable!"
Shu Fu remained undeterred: "Does having a clan guarantee protection? Mother, have you ever heard the story of Liu Qi Niang from Hedong? Liu Qi Niang's parents were in the timber business and had a fortune of over ten thousand taels of silver. But after her parents passed away one after another in the third year of Chongde, her father's clan members used the excuse that she was the only daughter in the family and had no brothers to help her to forcibly seize the family business that should have been inherited by her!"
"Or perhaps there was Lü Siniang from Jiangnan. After her marriage, she was subjected to all sorts of abuse by her husband's family. Finally, her husband passed away due to illness, and she thought she was free. She sent a letter to her family saying that she wanted to return home. Originally, her brother had already set off to fetch her, but then the clan intervened, saying that their family could not allow married daughters to return home. No matter what, they would not allow them to take her home, causing a beautiful young woman to waste her life."
"When I saw these things in the local gazetteer, I felt heartbroken and dared not imagine what I would do if I were in that situation one day."
"If this is what Mother meant by 'clan protection,' then I'd rather not have it!"
Luo's face paled slightly, and she retorted, "Nonsense, fallacies and heresies!"
She wanted to retort, "These are just a handful out of millions; those two young ladies are just unlucky," but she lacked experience and couldn't provide any examples to refute Shu Fu. So she stopped arguing with Shu Fu and turned to look at Manager Zhao.
“Master Zhao,” Madam Luo began, her eyes filled with hope, “this matter concerning household registration was truly a rash and impulsive act by my daughter. Children act without thinking or considering the consequences, and we have troubled you and the officials of the Ministry of Revenue. This matter must not be taken seriously…”
Zhao, the steward, immediately frowned, his two hastily drawn eyebrows: "Let Madam Luo know that this household registration of the Second Mistress is not only stamped by the household registration office, but also stamped with the Empress's seal. It is like an imperial decree and cannot be easily disobeyed."
"Moreover, Second Madam is the first person to establish a separate household. She has already informed all the prefectures and counties about this matter, serving as a model for implementing the decree. Even the younger sister of the Duke of Su and the wife of the Marquis of Changning is greatly encouraged by her and is now preparing documents to divorce the Marquis of Changning and establish a separate household."
Upon hearing this, Shu Fu glanced sideways, recalling the time she heard Lady Su, the Duchess of Su, mention her fiery-tempered younger sister at Li Miao's villa.
If the woman who said, "The silk robes you wear and the brocade shoes you walk in, I earned a share of every bit of that," was able to solidify her resolve to divorce because of her small act, then she could be considered to have done a good deed.
Upon hearing Zhao's words, Luo's face drained of all color. She sat in her chair, her hands clenching and unclenching several times, before finally looking coldly at Shu Fu, her voice devoid of any warmth:
"Since you've decided to leave, I won't stop you anymore. I just hope you won't regret what you've done today!"
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