Chapter 130 Chapter 130 Entering Beijing (1)
The weather in Qinyang County in November has turned noticeably cooler, and it gets colder the further north you go, so everyone is wearing padded jackets.
This was Rui Rui's first time traveling far away in a carriage, and he was incredibly excited. Despite his speech being somewhat slurred, he insisted on talking to everyone, and he would get impatient if ignored. This annoyed Liu Shi so much that she simply handed him over to Li Xiaoxiao.
Li Xiaoxiao then took the two children and rode in a carriage with Meng Guanqi. Rui Rui was energetic, and she was even more energetic. She was very supportive. When Rui Rui pointed to something out the window, she would tell him what it was and even teach him to speak. The whole carriage was filled with the voices of the two of them.
Aze was initially quite interested, but after listening to them talk for an hour straight, he got tired and couldn't help but move away from her.
Seeing that Aze's head was nodding, as if he was tired, Meng Guanqi reached out and pulled him close, placing his head on her knees. Aze fell asleep as the carriage swayed.
Rui Rui finally got tired of talking. One second she was still talking, and the next second she leaned her head against Li Xiaoxiao's chest, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.
They traveled for a day and arrived in Lin'an Prefecture in the evening. They spent the night in Lin'an Prefecture and boarded a ship early the next morning, heading directly north to Tianjin.
As soon as they boarded the ship, even the most lively Rui Rui became listless. Almost all the northerners on the ship had never been on a ship before, and they all fainted in the cabin, unable to eat or sleep. Liu Shi, Granny Qi, Luo Shi, and Meng Liniang were vomiting so badly that they were turning over in the sand. Only Meng Guanqi, Li Xiaoxiao, and Liu Zhi were a little better and could help take care of the others.
Fortunately, after three days on the boat, everyone seemed to have adapted and were finally able to come out of the cabin to enjoy the beautiful scenery along the way. They were also finally able to eat the river delicacies that the captain had caught for them.
Rui Rui and A Ze recovered quickly. Once they were no longer seasick, they immediately regained their appetites. The boat captain stir-fried the river shrimp he caught and made a milky white soup with the river fish. It was both fresh and sweet, and the two children ate so much that they didn't want to put down their chopsticks. Li Xiaoxiao was worried that A Ze would lose all the weight he had gained over the past few days because of seasickness, but thankfully, after he was able to eat, he quickly returned to normal.
Traveling by water was faster than by land. The boat captain stopped twice along the way to replenish supplies, staying for two days, but still arrived in Tianjin on the ninth day after setting out.
Zhao Jian and A Sheng, who had arrived earlier, were already waiting for them at the dock with Mao Neng and a few others.
As soon as Rui Rui stepped out of the cabin, the cold wind from Beijing hit her, and she immediately threw herself into Li Xiaoxiao's arms, crying, "Hug me, hug me."
It had just rained and snowed in Tianjin. The cold wind was howling, and his little face was red from the cold. He had never been so cold since he was born, and he was very uncomfortable.
Li Xiaoxiao was afraid he would get cold, so she wrapped him in a whole cloak and put a fur hat on him. Only his little face was showing as he curiously watched the people coming and going on the shore.
The boatman moored the boat, and Zhao Jian and the others immediately came over to help Liu Shi and Granny Qi ashore. A man who looked like a steward led a few people up to bow to Liu Shi: "Madam Meng, I am Feng Youcai, the steward of the Min family. Knowing that you will be going to the capital soon, my master and mistress specially sent me to welcome you to the capital..."
Before Feng Youcai could finish his sentence, he was immediately pushed aside: "Get out of the way, get out of the way!"
Feng Youcai was caught off guard and almost got pushed into the water. He broke out in a cold sweat in the middle of winter, and it was only thanks to Zhao Jian's strong pull that he was able to get back to safety.
Zhao Jian was also startled. Even with his calm personality, he couldn't help but get angry: "Brother, our boat is stopped here and is not blocking your way. Why are you pushing people? What if they fall into the river in the middle of winter?"
The burly man didn't even glance at him, and simply threw a piece of silver, weighing about two taels, on the ground: "Alright, it didn't really fall in! Everyone move aside, our adults' ship is about to dock, you all move aside and wait, don't block the way!"
Upon hearing this, the people crowded at the dock to pick up passengers couldn't help but frown. In particular, one boat that was about to dock had its sampan removed by the big man and his men, forcing them to stop elsewhere so that their boat could dock first.
But the ship that the adult was talking about was nowhere to be found.
This angered the crowd, and many people stood up to criticize the burly man: "Isn't that too domineering? Who do you think you are? The boat hasn't even arrived yet and you're already asking people to give up the dock? Do you own the dock? So many boats are waiting to come in!"
The burly man snorted coldly: "Our lord is Lord Huang, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites. He has been sent south on a mission by the Crown Prince and is waiting for a reply. His time is naturally more precious than that of ordinary people like you. If you delay our lord's appointment and the Crown Prince's mission, can you bear the consequences? All of you, step back, step back."
The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites was a fifth-rank official, which was considered a mid-level position in the capital. As expected, some people dared not cause trouble and swallowed their anger, retreating to the side.
But Lord Min was also a physician, a physician in the Ministry of Personnel, whose official rank was no lower than that of a physician in the Ministry of Rites. Liu's boat had already docked. If Lord Huang's boat had arrived, Feng Youcai would have thought it wouldn't have mattered. But this burly man made a huge fuss and a deafening noise, yet there wasn't even a trace of Lord Huang's boat on the water. He was just occupying the position without doing his job.
Seeing Liu and her entourage holding children and standing at the bow of the boat, Feng Youcai reluctantly suppressed his anger out of respect for Lord Huang. He stepped forward, clasped his hands in greeting, and said, "I am a subordinate of Lord Min, the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Personnel. I have come to welcome your in-laws. Lord Huang's boat has not yet arrived, so perhaps—"
Before Feng Youcai could finish speaking, the burly man punched him in the chin and roared, "I told you to wait over there, can't you understand human language?"
Feng Youcai was caught off guard and hit squarely on the nose, causing blood to gush out. He lay on the ground, unable to move for a long time.
The onlookers were all shocked. Ah Sheng went to help Feng Youcai, but Zhao Jian stretched out his long arm and grabbed the big man by the collar, saying in a deep voice, "Your master's ship hasn't even arrived yet and you're not allowing people to leave? You even dare to hit people? Isn't that going too far?"
The others glared angrily, saying, "How can a mere servant of a fifth-rank official be so domineering?"
"Do you own the dock? Why can't people disembark?"
"Where is anyone in charge? Is there no one in charge? Are you just letting this kind of person run wild here?"
"Under the emperor's nose, a casual smash could easily produce a second or third-rank official. How dare a fifth-rank official's servant be so presumptuous?"
"This is outrageous! We don't even know where that lord's ship is yet, and they dare to let their servants run rampant at the dock. Who gave them this audacity?"
...
The crowd's accusations were deafening, but the burly man's men not only didn't back down, they went up and pushed him, shouting, "What are you looking at? What's it to you? Get out of the way, get out of the way, don't block the way—"
The more arrogant they became, the angrier the crowd grew, and the accusations grew louder.
Ah Sheng helped Feng Youcai up. Feng Youcai's nose was bleeding profusely, his lips were cut, and he looked extremely disheveled.
He was a servant of a civil official, and he usually associated with servants from various civil official households. In the capital, apart from nobles, civil officials had very strict rules for disciplining their servants. He had almost never encountered anyone who would openly quarrel in public and cause trouble for their master, let alone physically assault someone.
Feng Youcai was also angry: "I was trying to talk to you nicely, but you attacked me without even asking what happened. So what if you are Lord Huang's servant? I am Lord Min's servant. Let's go see the officials right now and let them give us a proper judgment!"
The onlookers jeered, "Yes, go see the officials and let them judge this! This person has gone too far!"
"That's right, it's outrageous!"
The burly man made a few more boastful remarks, but seeing the crowd's agitated state and realizing he had angered them, he knew he and his five men were no match for the group of dozens. They exchanged glances and immediately decided to make a run for it.
Meng Guanqi watched all this with a cold eye, muttering to himself, "A fifth-rank official in the Ministry of Rites, sent south on a mission by the Crown Prince... The Crown Prince has been assigned to oversee next year's imperial examinations, so this Lord Huang is probably going south for the examinations... Xiaoxiao, go and stop those people. The family members of the Ministry of Rites examiners are causing a huge disturbance before the examinations, incurring public wrath. If the censors just impeach him, he won't be able to continue as an examiner. There's no way someone would be so foolish as to do something like this at a time like this."
Li Xiaoxiao exclaimed in surprise, "You mean these people are fake? Impersonating Lord Huang's family members to deliberately cause trouble here?"
Meng Guanqi said, "Whether it's true or not, we'll find out when Lord Huang's ship docks. But those few people are trying to slip away now that they've angered everyone, and they're not even going to see Lord Huang. Isn't that ridiculous? Let's go."
Li Xiaoxiao shoved Rui Rui into his arms, tapped the bow of the boat with her toes, and leaped onto the shore. She grabbed the burly man's arm and laughed, "You're a joker. You caused trouble and beat people up here, and now you want to run away? Is there such a good thing in this world?"
Zhao Jian and A Sheng were both surprised and delighted: "Xiaoxiao/Sister Xiaoxiao!"
Since Li Xiaoxiao actually made a move, these people have no chance of escaping.
The burly man was surprised that a young woman could hold him so tightly that he couldn't move. He struggled for a moment, but found that his arm wouldn't budge. He angrily shouted, "What do you want? Let me go! You just want me to pay you money? Fine, I'll pay!"
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ten-tael silver ingot, throwing it hard in front of Feng Youcai: "For the little injury on your face, I'll give you ten taels of silver, enough for you to stay in the clinic for a month."
Feng Youcai was furious, his face turning red. He'd seen ten taels of silver before, hadn't he? Just as he was about to throw the silver back, Li Xiaoxiao said, "Let you go? That won't do! Weren't you here to pick up Lord Huang? How can you run away before you've even seen him? Is this some kind of fake?"
A barely perceptible flicker of panic crossed the burly man's eyes, but he immediately shouted, "Who are you calling a fake? Let me go!"
Seeing that he couldn't break free, he disregarded the fact that Li Xiaoxiao was a woman, clenched his other hand into a fist, and immediately swung it at Li Xiaoxiao's face.
Li Xiaoxiao deflected his fist with a single hand, then kicked his knee. The burly man cried out in pain and couldn't help but kneel down. He felt his fist being caught by Li Xiaoxiao's hand behind his back. With a pull and a tug, she had firmly pinned it behind his back. Then, she hooked her leg onto the rope used to tie sacks on the dock and quickly wrapped it around his hands several times, tying a knot. The burly man was immediately forced to kneel on the ground with his hands tied behind his back.
Li Xiaoxiao instructed Zhao Jian, "Hold him down, don't let him escape!"
Following the same method, they also captured the four accomplices who had secretly fled when things went wrong. The five of them were tied up with their hands behind their backs and made to kneel in a row.
The onlookers all stared at her with their mouths agape.
Mao Neng was the most surprised. He had heard from his mother that a very strong young woman had come to the house. She used to help him in the kitchen, but later she was transferred to serve the young master. His mother wrote to him with regret, as if she would have told him about this young woman if he were ten years younger and still unmarried.
Now, seeing how she managed to tie up five burly men in less than half a cup of tea's time and force them to kneel in a row on the dock in the wind, Mao Neng was truly impressed.
His mother overestimated him. Even if he were ten years younger, he still wouldn't be able to handle a woman like that.
Seeing that Li Xiaoxiao had tied up these people in the blink of an eye, everyone cheered loudly after they realized what was happening. However, some people were worried: "Young lady, you should leave quickly. What if Lord Huang comes and sees that you have tied up his servants and makes things difficult for you?"
"Yes, although you didn't do anything wrong, a higher-ranking official can have an advantage, so it's better to avoid trouble..."
Although the burly men were tied up, they didn't say anything nice. They threatened Li Xiaoxiao to release them immediately, saying that they would lock her up in the yamen and beat her to death when the master arrived.
Li Xiaoxiao smiled and said, "Alright, we have plenty of time anyway. Let's wait here for Lord Huang's ship and see how he tries to lock me up in the yamen and beat me to death..."
The burly men exchanged glances, and each saw fear in the other's eyes.
Seeing that no one was there to help him and that his threats had failed, the leader began to beg for mercy: "Young lady, how about you let us go and we won't hold you responsible? We won't complain even if the authorities come. I acted impulsively today and shouldn't have hit your people. I... I apologize to you. Please let us go, okay?"
"Yes, yes, young lady, we were wrong, please let us go."
"If the master finds out we've caused trouble, he'll definitely beat us to death. Young lady, please, have mercy and let us go..."
The reversal happened so fast that the onlookers didn't even have time to react. Hearing them beg for mercy after kicking a hornet's nest, they couldn't help but feel contempt. What a bunch of bullies who rely on their master's power!
Li Xiaoxiao picked at her ear: "What's the rush? I'm not in a hurry. Look, isn't that Lord Huang's ship? An official ship!"
The burly man looked up in surprise and saw a government ship slowly approaching the dock in the distance. The group panicked and tried desperately to stand up and run away, but Li Xiaoxiao kicked them back down.
Seeing their panicked attempt to escape, someone began to mutter, "Strange, weren't you here to pick up Lord Huang? Why do you look like you've seen a ghost when you see his ship arrive?"
"No way? These people are really pretending to be his servants to cause trouble? Why?"
"Who knows? We'll find out once Lord Huang gets off the ship and ask him."
"How despicable and shameless! Lord Huang has been falsely accused even before he's on his way. If these people are really fake, wouldn't he be wronged to death?"
So everyone stopped moving, even the porters stopped carrying their goods and gathered together to watch the spectacle.
Feng Youcai, who had been beaten up for no reason, never expected things to develop this way. Were these people really imposters? Otherwise, why were they running away?
As the official boat approached, the civilian boats waiting to disembark spontaneously made way for it. When the official boat saw them make way, it also stopped. Someone came out of the cabin, cupped his hands, and asked the boats in line, "Excuse me, why don't you dock? You are ahead of us in line, so you should disembark first."
A loud "whoosh" came from the crowd, carrying far and wide, startling the old man who had come out to speak.
It turned out that the onlookers saw that Lord Huang's official boat not only didn't fight for a spot, but also automatically let the boats in front of it dock first. No matter how they looked at it, it didn't seem like an official who would raise such an arrogant servant.
The crowd's gazes toward the burly men became much more complex. Just moments before, they had thought they were half and half, but now they were absolutely certain they were not servants of Lord Huang.
Seeing Lord Huang's humility, the boats that had been queuing entered the dock one after another. After disembarking, they did not leave but stayed there to watch the excitement.
It was more than an hour later when it was Lord Huang's turn to disembark. He was a thin, elderly man in his fifties, wearing only a thin padded long coat despite the cold weather, his back slightly hunched, exuding an air of refined elegance. Seeing everyone watching him disembark, he asked curiously, and after learning the cause of the incident, he immediately turned pale with anger, pointing a trembling finger at the five people kneeling there: "You, who are you? I have never seen you in my home... Why have you tried to harm me like this?"
The burly man dared not admit it. He hurriedly said, "Master, don't you recognize us? We really are your servants..."
Seeing that the men were still stubbornly refusing to admit their wrongdoing, Lord Huang was so angry that his beard almost bristled. Too lazy to argue with them, he immediately ordered his attendants, "Take my official credentials to the Tianjin yamen and have them arrest these audacious thieves who impersonated my family members and interrogate them to find out who dared to harm me—"
"My lord, please wait." A clear voice came from behind. Lord Huang turned around in surprise, and the crowd automatically made way. A young man wearing a black cloak trimmed with white fox fur walked slowly and unhurriedly. His skin was as white as snow, his eyebrows were as beautiful as paintings, his eyes were as black as lacquer, and his posture was as graceful as a pine tree. Lord Huang was over fifty years old and never expected that he would be amazed by the appearance and temperament of a young man today.
Is this the exceptionally handsome young man from the He family? And why have they stopped him?
Meng Guanqi walked slowly to Lord Huang's side and bowed: "Greetings, Lord Huang. I am Meng Guanqi. Today, I brought my family to Tianjin by boat. We happened to see these people acting arrogantly and domineeringly in your name, injuring people. Seeing that they had aroused public anger and that your official ship was approaching, they immediately tried to escape. I sensed something was wrong, so I had my family stop them and wait for Lord Huang to come ashore to identify them."
So that's how it is. If he hadn't stepped in to help arrest these scoundrels who were using his family's name, he probably would have been impeached by an imperial censor within two days.
Lord Huang returned the greeting, saying, "Thank you for your help, Young Master Meng. These are not my servants; they are probably some local ruffians impersonating me. I will have them tied up and taken to the authorities immediately."
Meng Guanqi stepped forward: "Sir, may I have a word with you in private?"
That meant they wouldn't let outsiders hear. Lord Huang gestured for them to leave, and Meng Guanqi followed him to a quieter corner. Meng Guanqi whispered, "Does Your Excellency intend to report to His Highness the Crown Prince upon your return to the capital?"
Lord Huang looked at him in surprise, but remained silent, his eyes already showing a hint of scrutiny.
As a senior official in the Ministry of Rites, and in charge of the imperial examinations next spring, it was highly unlikely that he would discuss matters entrusted to him by the Crown Prince with a stranger outside.
Meng Guanqi didn't take it seriously and continued in a low voice, "Sir, you might as well take these people with you and hand them over to His Highness the Crown Prince. Tell him everything that happened today, and His Highness will have his own plan."
Lord Huang still did not reply, but his eyes were full of suspicion.
Meng Guanqi smiled slightly: "Sir, you only need to mention to His Highness that these people were given to him by Meng Guanqi and Li Xiaoxiao, and His Highness will respond accordingly. If you find it unbelievable, you may take the people away first. If His Highness does not respond, you can hand them over to the Jingzhao Prefecture for investigation. You will not suffer any loss."
Impersonating a family member of a court official to harm others is a serious crime, so it's understandable that Lord Huang brought the person back to the Jingzhao Prefecture for punishment.
Having finished speaking, Meng Guanqi bowed to Lord Huang and gracefully departed, leaving Lord Huang full of doubts.
Meng Guanqi? Could he be a member of the Meng family?
When did the Meng family produce such a talented member? He had no recollection of it at all.
And why did he sound so certain that His Highness the Crown Prince would be interested in this matter? Was he telling the truth or not?
The attendant came over and asked, "Sir, should we hand these people over to the county government of Tianjin?"
Lord Huang glanced at him and said, "No, he will be escorted back to the capital with us."
He decided to take the man back to the capital to consult the Crown Prince. Just as Meng Guanqi had said, if His Highness the Crown Prince thought he was meddling, he could send him to the Jingzhao Prefecture later.
The attendant dared not ask any further questions: "Yes."
After Lord Huang led the people away, Liu and the others disembarked. Feng Youcai stepped forward again to greet Liu. When Liu saw that he had been beaten black and blue, she immediately felt extremely guilty: "Steward Feng, please rise. Lord Min and Madam Min are so kind. They caused all this trouble because of my request to come and get me..."
Feng Youcai said gratefully, "It has nothing to do with Madam. It was just that those despicable villains committed evil deeds, and I was unlucky enough to run into them. It's just a minor injury that won't affect my ability to walk. I'll recover after I go back and rest. Ever since you learned that Madam had gone to the capital, you and your husband have been thinking about her. You sent me to help Madam carry her luggage. Today the weather is cold and the wind is strong at the dock. Please ask Madam and the young master and young lady to get on the carriage and return to the capital first. I will help with Steward Zhao and we will arrive shortly after."
Meng Liniang's dowry list was sent to the Min family well in advance. As the groom's family, the Min family was to prepare a place to store her dowry. At first, Lord Min was worried that Lord Meng had not received much money after the family division and was afraid that he would be in a difficult position, so he gave a betrothal gift of five hundred taels of silver. However, the dowry list that Lord Meng sent back showed a dowry of two thousand taels of silver. Madam Min was very surprised when she received the dowry list. Meng Liniang was a concubine's daughter, and Lord Meng and Madam Liu were willing to spend so much money to prepare a dowry for her. It was clear that they really cared about her.
Madam Min quickly added 500 taels of silver as a gift under the guise of a festival present.
According to custom, the bride's family prepares the same dowry as the groom's family, and the bride takes both home with her. Since Lord Meng prepared a dowry of two thousand taels of silver, the Min family's dowry of only five hundred taels was not enough, so Madam Min quickly made up for it.
Moreover, although Meng Liniang was far away, the dowry prepared by Magistrate Meng and Liu was by no means lacking. It consisted entirely of furniture and chests made of the finest wood, and even a complete set of chamber pots, foot basins, bath tubs, and so on. Transporting so much furniture from Biyang County to the capital would require chartering a whole boat. Therefore, it was only natural and understandable that Madam Min instructed the steward to bring people over to help move the dowry.
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