Spring Message in the Snow – CH 097

Chapter 97

Surou’s earlier prediction was correct. When the Song family learned she had donated 120,000 taels, they were indeed restless, worried that the money was their own investment. Now they were not even concerned about making a profit; they just wanted to get their principal back.

Mianmian scoffed, “Do you two sisters-in-law think this is like depositing money in a gold and silver shop? You put it in today and can take it out tomorrow? The money is used to buy goods, which are then resold to get cash. Now you want me to ask for it back? Who am I supposed to ask?”

Lady Liu grew even more anxious. “Sister-in-law, are you not old acquaintances? Can you not even make an exception?”

Mianmian replied, “Those are my father’s old acquaintances, not my old acquaintances. Second Sister-in-law, saying that will make you a laughingstock.”

The two women panicked, grabbing Mianmian and saying, “Third Sister-in-law, we only invested because of you, alright? We will be relying on you for everything.”

Mianmian clicked her tongue and laughed, “How is this about investing because of me? You two sisters-in-law insisted on investing because it’s profitable. I was just helping you out a little. If we are lucky, we all make money; if we are unlucky, we all lose. I’ve said that before. Besides, it has not even been twenty days yet, and they have not even gotten their cash back. This is not child’s play; we cannot just withdraw our investment whenever we want. They are doing a million-tael business; do you think they’d cheat us? For just a pittance?”

Lady Xiang and Lady Liu exchanged a glance. “Third Sister-in-law, how much did you actually invest?”

Mianmian replied, “Eighty thousand taels. I scraped together two hundred thousand taels to send over.”

“Since you invested eighty thousand taels, and Third Sister-in-law still has one hundred thousand taels on her, why not use yours to pay for our share first? We do not need any of the profits later; we’ll just give them all to you.”

Mianmian was surprised. “You two sisters-in-law have really calculated exactly how much I have. But I am a living person, and I do spend money on other things. I have other important needs. What about now?” she exclaimed. “Everything was fine before; why the sudden pressure? Is it because I donated money to the orphanage? My donation was for good deeds; it has nothing to do with your money. Besides, each of you only invested 20,000 taels, and Mother is not worried; why are you so anxious? Do not worry; in about ten days, once they’ve settled the payment, I will get your money back for you. Even if we make a lot more money in the future, we will not invest anymore, alright?”

Lady Xiang and Lady Liu had no choice but to wait. Mianmian finally returned to her courtyard and began to plan how to handle the situation if things were exposed.

Nanny Jiang said, “Money cannot be obtained through legitimate means, much less through the court. The Countess can order you to kneel in the ancestral hall as punishment, but if you are forced to kneel for three days and three nights, will you even be able to save your leg?”

Mianmian thought for a moment, realizing she could not afford such suffering. A clever idea struck her: “I will tell Physician Shi beforehand, and on that day, I will pretend to faint and have him diagnose me as pregnant. Then my father-in-law and mother-in-law will not be able to do anything to me.”

Wei’er was astonished. “Physician Shi listens to the mistress?”

Mianmian rolled her eyes at her. “Money makes the world go round. Give him twenty taels of silver, and you can make him say the dead are alive; he’d do it.”

The group huddled together, weighing the options, and decided it was a good idea. After all, both of the Song family’s wives had given birth to daughters. Although there were several illegitimate sons in the courtyard, none of them were legitimate children, a fact that the Founding Earl and his wife had always regretted. If they heard that the third wife was pregnant, it would not be good to abandon the child because of it. As long as Mianmian got through this ordeal, they could consider moving out later, depending on the situation.

Having made up her mind, Mianmian sat by the window, resting her chin on her hand, and sighed, “My Lord, I do not know why, but lately I’ve been craving sour things.”

Song Mingchi, a grown man, had no idea about her subtle, indirect thoughts. He simply said, “Want some sour things? I heard the pickled olives at the North and South shops are incredibly sour, and there are some small apricots from the south at the market recently…” He tapped his thumb and forefinger together. “They are so small, so sour, they will make your teeth ache. I will send someone to buy some to soothe your itch.”

He did not understand the hidden meaning in her words, which made Mianmian very unhappy. “Why do you need someone to go out and buy them? Do you not have legs?”

He hesitated and said, “It does not matter who buys them…”

Before he could finish, Mianmian started to complain, “How much sincerity do you really have for me? You are lazy, playful, and stingy! Last Mid-Autumn Festival, the Heir Apparent bought that hairpin for my second sister; did you not promise to buy it for me? But when we got to the shop, I had to pay for it myself, just to show off to you. If I’d known you were a heartless man, I would not have wanted to marry you to fill the bottomless hole in your family! “

Song Mingchi was so scolded by her that his head was numb, and he kept saying, “I will buy it for you right now; that’s all right!”

But when he was about to leave, he was stopped by her again; her round almond eyes rolled. “Do you know what it means to want something sour?”

Song Mingchi shook his head. “It’s just a craving; what else could it mean?”

Mianmian sighed, patted her belly, and said, “Maybe I’m pregnant with a son.”

He was suddenly startled. “Are you pregnant with a son?” He put his ear up and said, “Let me hear it quickly.”

Mianmian was exasperated. She pushed him away and said, “That’s what I said. What can you hear now?” At the same time, she beckoned him to sit down beside her, hugged his arm, and acted coquettishly, saying, “My Lord, do you think Father and Mother will be happy if I am pregnant with a child? Will they look down on me as a merchant girl in their bones, and will my child not be as well-received as the eldest’s and second eldest’s children in the future?”

Like her, Song Mingchi was easily swayed by rumors and immediately retorted, “You are my lawfully wedded wife, and the child you are carrying is my eldest son. If they look down on you and the child, then they look down on me. If they look down on me, why should I be their son? I will move out of the house tomorrow and live independently!”

Mianmian had been waiting for these words from him and immediately exclaimed with great emotion, “My husband truly cares for me! With your words, even if I suffer some losses in your household, I will be willing!”

Song Mingchi, of course, knew about the losses she might suffer. He had vaguely heard his parents mention the family’s financial difficulties—too many people, an empty shell of an earl’s mansion. The reason they had lowered their standards to marry a merchant’s daughter was that they knew the Shen family was wealthy, and marrying Mianmian would solve their immediate problems.

Originally, he did not care; how wonderful it would be to gain both wealth and a wife! He considered himself a blessed man. But after the marriage, he discovered something was amiss. His wife’s money, which should belong to her and their branch, had all been taken by his mother to fill the public accounts. She only gave the couple a monthly allowance of forty or fifty taels of silver—the accounts just did not add up.

At first, when they asked for the initial two hundred thousand taels, he did not say anything. But after only a few days, they asked for another fifty thousand taels. This time, he was utterly furious. Two hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver, converted into monthly allowances, would take them over four hundred years to recover—how many lifetimes later? They’d crossed the Bridge of Helplessness countless times; who would recognize whom then?! So this time, not only did Mianmian refuse, but he refused too. His parents had nagged him about it the other day, and he simply stormed off. Now, hearing that Mianmian might be pregnant, he felt even more compelled to consider his wife and child. He planned to open a restaurant with a friend soon so he could earn some legitimate money to support his family.

However, when Song Mingchi mentioned this idea to Mianmian, she immediately poured cold water on his idea. “Seventy-two restaurants in the capital, and you want a piece of the pie? Let alone whether the business is good or not, do you know how much capital you will need to invest upfront?”

Song Mingchi hesitated. “How about starting with a small inn and gradually expanding later?”

Mianmian laughed. “Have you counted the number of inns? There are two hundred and thirty-six in all the entertainment districts combined. Do you think you can earn that much?”

Song Mingchi was dumbfounded. “Then what should I do? What other business can I do?”

Mianmian said, “Opening a restaurant or inn requires hiring cooks. If the cooks are not good, the business will be ruined. It’s better to open a peddler’s shop or a horse and carriage shop along the Bian River. With horses, you can do business; merchant ships unload cargo, and porters act as intermediaries. At first, you cannot compete with others, so take urgent orders and pick up leftovers—that’s alright. Over time, as you build your business and establish yourself, business will naturally come to you.”

Song Mingchi shook his head upon hearing this. “Is that not just becoming a middleman?”

This was the Earl’s son’s pride, his pickiness about business, which resulted in Mianmian’s merciless ridicule. “If you were in this line of work, you might not be as good as a middleman. What? You think business is not respectable? Do you think it’s respectable to deal with oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar every day? There’s a saying that a gentleman stays away from the kitchen; listening to the porters’ shouts at the docks is better than hearing the screams of cattle and sheep waiting to be slaughtered!”

This made perfect sense and immediately convinced Song Mingchi. The two sat under the lamp after dinner, discussing the business, even sketching out the shop layout and business structure, just waiting to find a good location to start operating.

There was no way around it; Song Mingchi was not cut out for studying. He’d taken the imperial examinations three or four times but had not even passed the provincial exam. He’d completely lost confidence, to the point that opening a book gave him a headache. Mianmian did not pressure him. She did not want him to become a dragon among men; the most important thing was for him to know his own limitations. If he could not enter officialdom, he could learn business—at least he’d inherited his father-in-law’s mantle.

And so, after ten days of busy work, Mianmian almost forgot about the previous matter. That day, after paying her respects, she was finally cornered in the main room by Lady Xiang and Lady Liu. Madam Liu said, “Third Sister-in-law, the due date was yesterday. Why have you not paid the interest? And you promised to bring back the principal. Where is the money now?”

Mianmian hesitated, not speaking for a moment. Madam Song, as an elder, naturally could not press her but gently reminded her, “Your two sisters-in-law urgently need the money, and the household also needs to hire a few maids and servants… Let’s get all our capital back. Doing business is risky; it’s safer to keep it in our hands.”

Mianmian steeled herself. Since she could not avoid the trouble anyway, she pulled out her handkerchief and burst into tears. “Oh dear, this cannot be hidden anymore… I’ve been running around like crazy because of this. Our business, the merchant ship we invested in, was confiscated by the government in Yingzhou. Tens of thousands of catties of alum were all confiscated. Our business is ruined!”

These words nearly made the Song family mother and daughters-in-law present faint. Forcing herself to regain her composure, Madam Song said, “What did you say? Is it all gone? Not a single coin left?”

Mianmian said yes, peeking at her mother-in-law’s face through her handkerchief, and sobbed, “I know I cannot face my mother and sisters-in-law, so I’ve been running around trying to raise money to get my principal back, but the owner is already imprisoned. Who can I ask?”

Lady Xiang’s legs gave way, and she cried uncontrollably, “That was my life savings, the money I brought from my family home, and now it’s just gone? Third Sister-in-law, do not treat us like fools. We are family; you cannot steal our money!”

Mianmian said honestly, “I also have 80,000 taels in there myself. Compared to you, I should be crying more. Do you think I should steal your money?”

Lady Liu had long suspected her of being dishonest and gritted her teeth, saying, “You do not need to give me any excuses. I will just ask you, that 120,000 taels of silver you donated to the orphanage a while ago, it was not ours, was it?”

“No way,” Mianmian insisted. “I want to do good deeds. Why would I need your money? Second Sister-in-law, do not think that just because you see silver, you are entitled to it. Your name is not on the banknotes.”

In this world, everything was negotiable except for money. Money was a person’s courage; money was a person’s life. The two Song family wives stamped their feet and cried loudly, “Lady Shen, it was you who stole our money! We noticed something was wrong a few days ago, and when we asked you, you kept giving us excuses. Now you cannot hide it anymore, so you finally told the truth, because you were sure we did not have any proof and could not do anything to you. You are heartless; you eat people alive!” With that, they came forward to shove and push, and if it were not for the maids stopping them, they would have definitely dragged out their mistress today.

Nanny Jiang shielded her mistress tightly against her chest, shouting, “Speak your mind! Why resort to violence! There’s no such thing as a guaranteed profit in this world. Making money brings smiles, but losing money leads to horrific consequences! What kind of law is this?! You’ve indeed lost money, but our mistress has lost even more. She’s been running around these past few days, and none of you have seen her. Even if you do not acknowledge her contributions, she must have put in the hard work! When you made money, no one thought to share a few taels of her labor, but now that you’ve lost, she’s being tortured like this…” She cried out to her mistress, “Madam, please say something! Set an example! They are all your daughters-in-law; you cannot be biased!”

But Madam Song, seated at the head of the table, was already seething with anger, leaning back in her armchair, only able to catch her breath.

Lady Liu would not have it, retorting, “We’ve already lost all our money; are we supposed to be grateful to her? Do not play dumb with me; who knows if she’s deliberately trying to squeeze money out of us!”

Mianmian, initially intimidated by their outburst, felt she had to regroup and pushed Lady Liu head over heels. “Me, deliberately trying to squeeze money out of you? Second Sister-in-law, that’s unreasonable! Your monthly allowance comes from my own pocket, and now you are accusing me like this? I will not stand for it!”

Standing beside Madam Song, the two sisters-in-law, though they had not invested any money, were naturally unhappy that their mother’s money had gone down the drain. They grumbled, “Third Sister-in-law, why say that? So our whole family lives off your money; even our monthly allowance comes from you…”

Mianmian said, “Is that not right? Last time, Mother told me that when it came time to distribute the monthly allowance, she did not have enough on hand and asked me to help out.” She sighed. Seeing that the two sisters-in-law were about to retort, she quickly cut them off. “Why would I do that? Absolutely not! Since I entered this family, I’ve never mistreated my elders or sisters-in-law. You take a fancy to this one today and that one tomorrow; every time, I’ve spent money to please you. Now that I’ve lost money, none of you remembers our past kindness. It seems that the favors in this Earl’s Mansion are only worth a few hundred thousand taels. I see it clearly now, and I understand. From now on, we will never see each other again.”

Lady Xiang said, “You’ve wasted our money, and now you want to cut ties? You’ve got a good plan.”

Madam Song chimed in, “The family’s already in such a mess; why not take out what you have and divide it among everyone? A family should always value harmony. Otherwise, it will fall apart, and people will talk behind our backs.”

Mianmian was disgusted. This mother-in-law was only after her money; she would not stop until she was completely drained. This mother-in-law was truly despicable.

“Since that’s how it is, there’s no need to be polite.” Mianmian straightened her back and said, “Fine, whatever we profit from is yours; whatever we lose is mine.”

Everyone was stunned. They had not expected her to agree so readily, and they all stared at her expectantly.

Mianmian elegantly smoothed her temples and said, “Mother borrowed 200,000 taels from me last time, so let’s settle the accounts with my eldest and second sisters-in-law. Adding Mother’s 80,000 taels, that makes a total of 120,000 taels. The remaining 80,000 taels is my filial offering to Father and Mother; it does not need to be repaid.”

Madam Song was furious. She had not planned to repay the 200,000 taels in the first place, and now she was being asked to give her two daughters-in-law 40,000 taels—it did not add up.

Those two sisters-in-law were not pushovers either. They knew their mother-in-law’s character; getting money out of her pocket was harder than tearing flesh from her. Now that a lucrative fortune was right in front of them, rather than fighting with their mother-in-law and damaging their relationship, they’d rather entangle themselves with the third branch of the family. She hated trouble; with a little effort, they could easily get what they wanted.

So someone said, “Third Sister-in-law, it’s best to keep financial transactions separate. This back-and-forth is not appropriate. We will all be living under the same roof from now on. Look how good your eldest and second sisters-in-law are to you; they each have their own difficulties, and they have children to raise…”

Speaking of children, Mianmian decided to feign fainting. Just as she was about to collapse, a servant came in to announce, “Madam, a court attendant has arrived. He’s in the front courtyard, waiting to deliver an imperial decree to the Third Young Madam.”

Everyone was stunned, exchanging bewildered glances. Madam Song was still unsure, thinking she had misheard, and asked again, “Who? For whom is the decree being delivered?”

The servant said, “Third Young Madam, it’s been clearly stated. The steward has already set up the incense table in the front. Please go quickly to receive the decree, Third Young Madam!”

Mianmian then came to her senses, quickly straightened her clothes, and went to the front courtyard. Madam Song and the other women in the household naturally went along to see what was going on.

Upon reaching the front, she saw a court attendant in formal attire leading four eunuchs standing ramrod straight on the steps of the front courtyard, each holding a gilded scroll, calmly awaiting her arrival. Hearing footsteps from the inner courtyard corridor, they finally raised their eyes and glanced around.

“Which one of you, Madam Songs, is Lady Shen?”

Mianmian stepped forward and bowed. “This lady is indeed Madam Song née Shen.”

Then the court attendant raised his head sharply. “Madam Song née Shen, hear the decree!”

Mianmian was startled by the loud announcement. Seeing everyone around her bowing, she did not have time to think further and quickly gathered her skirts, kneeling on the blue brick floor. The court attendant read a lengthy tribute, praising her for her “gentle and virtuous character, combining benevolence and filial piety, and commendable virtue and talent, renowned throughout the community,” and finally declaring, “She is hereby granted the title of Fourth-Rank Imperial Lady, as decreed by the Emperor.”

She listened in a daze, pondering for a long time before realizing that she had received an imperial decree and had become a Lady of the Imperial Decree.

Good heavens! Not only was she shocked, but the entire Song family was stunned. After all, even the wife of the Founding Earl was only a fourth-rank noblewoman, while Mianmian had so easily been granted the title of fifth-rank noblewoman… That was a title reserved for the wives or mothers of officials of the rank of Vice Minister or above. What merit did she possess? Her husband was still a commoner, yet she had become a Lady of the Imperial Decree?

After the palace attendant finished reading the decree, his expression softened, and he presented it to Mianmian, saying with a smile, “His Majesty is greatly pleased to learn of your righteous deeds, Lady. He praises you for your loyalty, filial piety, and integrity, calling you a rare and extraordinary woman. Today, he has ordered me to come and read this decree, bestowing upon you your seal and official robes. From this day forward, you will not have to kneel before officials and will enjoy the court’s salary. Congratulations, Lady.”

Mianmian was still somewhat dazed, holding the scroll in her hands and murmuring, “How did I… become a noblewoman…”

The palace attendant smiled, said nothing more, bowed again, and withdrew from the Founding Earl’s residence.

The people around Mianmian were ecstatic, laughing and crying. “Our lady is a Lady of the Imperial Decree now, a fifth-rank noblewoman! Though not as high-ranking as the second mistress, she’s the second among the sisters to receive this honor. Our lady is capable, no less than anyone else! Let’s see who dares to bully her now!”

The Song family members were somewhat deflated, staring at each other in disbelief. Just because of those 120,000 taels of silver, without relying on her husband’s status or her descendants’ merits, she had obtained the title of Lady of the Imperial Decree. A merchant’s daughter had entered the ranks of noblewomen in the capital, able to attend the Golden Duck Banquet, even gaining access to the Forbidden City and meeting the Empress?

So even officials could be bribed…

Mianmian herself had not expected this. Now, thinking back, it made sense. No wonder Surou had specifically asked the official in charge if the matter would be reported to the Xuanhui Academy; it was because of this. Sure enough, the donation was large enough to turn a dead end into a victory. She was now smug and smiled at her mother-in-law. “Mother, now that I have an official title, could I ask permission to move out of the Earl’s Mansion and establish my own household?”