“This was given to me by Grandfather. If Father doesn’t believe me, you can ask Third Old Master,” Lou Jing said, gesturing for Le Xian to pick up the books on the floor and offer them for the Third Old Master’s examination.
“Nn. These are indeed Lou Jing’s personal assets,” the Third Old Master said, stroking his snow white beard as he looked carefully at each document page by page. The houses, land, commercial buildings, and even the servants’ contracts of bonded service, were all listed clearly as Lou Jing’s personal assets. The Third Old Master sighed inwardly. His cousin, the old Anguo Gong, was really biased toward this grandson. The Jinzhou assets were very valuable – Lou Jing owned eighty-three shops on just one street in Jinzhou, and this was worth the same amount as all of the Lou family’s shops in the Capital.
“Given this, furen, may I invite you to bring out the main residence’s accounts? Let’s get the division of assets done before noon, so that the banquet won’t be delayed,” Lou Jing said in a sincere voice.
Madam Wei’s breath caught painfully in her chest. After causing all this trouble, Lou Jing was still thinking of eating his lunch here?!
The maternal First Aunt pressed her lips together in an effort to stop herself from grinning.
According to the laws of the empire, if they waited until early spring next year to divide the family assets, Lou Jing would be splitting the assets with Lou Jianyu and his two brothers. The tribute crop fields and generational assets belonged to Lou Jianyu and were not divided. The other assets belonging to the Lou family would be split into four parts, with Lou Jing receiving two shares and Lou Jianyu’s two brothers receiving one share each. However, because the three Lou brothers were still in their mourning period, their shares could not be split at this time.
“Zhuoyu is eldest brother’s child, so his share of the assets should come out of Lou Jianyu’s assets,” the paternal Second Uncle said. The moment he realised that his share might get reduced, he had started paying his fullest attention. As he spoke, he furtively jabbed the paternal Third Uncle with his elbow.
The Third Uncle blinked in confusion for a moment, then nodded, frowning. “Zhuoyu is the eldest legitimate son born of the principal wife. Big brother doesn’t have any other sons at this time, so how are we dividing the family assets?”
Ordinarily, where there was only one son born to the head of the family, this son would inherit all the assets held by the head of the family upon the latter’s death. That would form his share of the assets. However, Lou Jianyu had done something completely unprecedented in marrying off his one and only legitimate son as a male wife. This muddied the waters greatly, and how the assets were to be divided in this outlandish situation was open for debate.
“Absolutely not! Since the family assets have not been split, the son who has been married off should have his share satisfied from the main pool of assets!” Madam Wei shrilled from behind the screen immediately after the paternal Second and Third Uncles spoke. Lou Jing was the eldest legitimate son, and she absolutely couldn’t say anything about the baby in her belly; there was nothing else she could say in defence since Lou Jianyu had no other children. However, if Lou Jing’s share came from Lou Jianyu’s share of the assets, then more than half of Lou Jianyu’s assets would have to be given to him.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Furen is correct. Since Father and my two Uncles are still observing the mourning period, you cannot ask to split the family assets and move out during this time. My share naturally has to be calculated based on the full pool of family assets,” Lou Jing said, smiling faintly as he looked at his father.
Lou Jing’s paternal Second Aunt and Third Aunt’s faces fell on hearing this. When they had given last year’s account books to Lou Jing, they had completely forgotten that a son who had been married off was also entitled to a share of the family assets! Lou Jing was Lou Jianyu’s eldest legitimate son, and the old Anguo Gong’s eldest legitimate grandson; when he was married off, he was the Shizi and the heir apparent. If they were to split the family assets this way, then the assets would be split into six parts, with the paternal Second and Third Uncles getting one share each, and Lou Jing and Lou Jianyu receiving two shares each!
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“Go and bring the main residence’s accounts here,” Madam Wei instructed the head maidservant.
The maternal First Aunt had not said a word to interrupt these proceedings. She sat calmly to one side, sipping tea. The Lou family’s quarrels had nothing to do with her and Xu Che; they were just here to make sure that their beloved nephew didn’t get a penny less than what he was entitled to. As to how exactly the Lou family wanted to split the family’s assets as between themselves, she and Xu Che couldn’t care less.
Back in the Imperial Palace, only the Emperor and Zhao Duan remained in the Imperial study. Even Huai Zhong had been sent out to guard the door.
“Zhen intends to depose the Crown Prince,” the Chunde Emperor said abruptly, not mincing his words in the least.
Zhao Duan looked shocked. He knelt hurriedly before the Emperor. “Your Majesty!” he protested.
“The Imperial Court has not been stable since the eighth month. It’s already come to this, and Zhen is sick and tired of it,” the Chunde Emperor said, frowning. Originally, he had wanted to discuss this matter with the Minister of the Right, Chen Shichang, but he knew that Chen Shichang would agree wholeheartedly, so there seemed to be no point. Additionally, these few days, the Minister of the Right had been the messenger of so much bad news that the Chunde Emperor felt annoyed just looking at him. That was why he’d called the Minister of the Left to discuss this instead.
“It is Chen’s fault that Chen is unable to lessen the Emperor’s burdens,” the Minister of the Left said, kowtowing. “The Crown Prince may be dull-witted, but he is pure-hearted and filial. Why does the Emperor want to depose him?”
The Chunde Emperor couldn’t help nodding slightly on hearing this. Before the Crown Prince returned to the palace, Zhao Duan had said that the Crown Prince was dull and didn’t have any schemes up his sleeves. Recent events had borne out this assessment; all the Crown Prince had done recently was to shoulder the blame on his own. He was truly an honest, sincere child. “The reason the Crown Prince is deposed will be that he is dull-witted, and is unable to be the pillar of the Yu Dynasty that the Crown Prince needs to be,” he said.
Zhao Duan heaved a sigh of relief on hearing this. If the Crown Prince was deposed for this reason, he could still be made a Qinwang ; if he had been deposed because of his crimes in the Qinghe incident, his life would be in danger.
“Your Majesty is most magnanimous. It is the empire’s fortune to have you as Emperor!” Zhao Duan said.
The Chunde Emperor’s expression relaxed on hearing this. He thought back on Xiao Chengjun’s tearful expression that day in the Imperial study and felt a wave of guilt wash over him. However, things had progressed in such a way that someone had to be sacrificed, to show the hundred officials of the Imperial Court and the people of his empire that someone was taking responsibility for this serious infraction.
“Given that the Emperor intends to demote the Crown Prince to a Qinwang, what will the name of his title be?” Zhao Duan asked, subconsciously watching the Emperor’s every move. He had not been a minister in the Chunde Emperor’s Court for the last ten years for nothing; he understood the meaning of every small movement the Emperor made. He intended to take advantage of the Emperor’s sympathetic mood today to set this decision in stone.
The Imperial edict deposing the Crown Prince had to state what the Crown Prince was demoted to, and there were only two options – to be reduced to an Imperial prince, or to a commoner. If he wished to appoint the demoted Crown Prince as a Qinwang, that was another edict altogether.
The Chunde Emperor stared blankly at Zhao Duan. He didn’t seem to have caught on to Zhao Duan’s intentions. “What do you recommend?” he asked.
[Eastern Palace, Chongwen Chambers]
The Crown Prince wet his brush in the jade brush washer, using the tip of the brush to gently touch the delicate, translucent pink lotus flowers extending out from the body of the brush washer. He then dipped the brush in ink and drew a fine outline on the paper.
“Dianxia, the Emperor has summoned the Minister of the Left to the Imperial study,” An Shun said quietly as he walked over to the Crown Prince.
Xiao Chengjun nodded slightly. “Go and light the usual incense the Crown Prince Consort uses,” he instructed.
“Certainly,” An Shun said. He didn’t dare to look at what the Crown Prince was drawing, and went to get the incense with lowered eyes.
The incense used in Bafeng Palace’s incense burner was one that Lou Jing brought over with him from the Anguo Gong residence. It was a faint herbal scent made from a type of plant found in the Western Regions.
The purple glass incense burner was filled with new incense, and Chongwen Chambers was soon filled with the scent that Lou Jing often had on his person. Xiao Chengjun breathed in deeply, then slowly drew a pair of gorgeous eyes that burned like twin cold stars.
To achieve great things, one had to make small sacrifices, and leaving this freakish, corrupt Imperial Court was the best decision he could make in the circumstances. Xiao Chengjun had no regrets about this decision, but as he looked at the handsome face in his drawing, he couldn’t help but sigh deeply. Without the position of Crown Prince, he had no right to have a male wife, and their marriage contract was now just a piece of scrap paper.
I draw this painting from my memory, putting my heart into every stroke. My heart is as fragile as a wet piece of paper, and the person I’ve drawn is no longer my wife.
Meanwhile, the main hall of the Anguo Gong residence was now as noisy as a fish market. Lou Jianyu argued loudly with his brothers as to whether Lou Jing’s share of the family assets should be satisfied from the main residence’s assets or the Anguo Gong’s personal assets. In the end, the Third Old Master spoke up, and all three of them came to a compromise. The main residence’s assets would be split into five parts, with one share going to Lou Jing. Since Lou Jianyu’s two brothers could not move out during the mourning period and therefore could not split the family assets, they would satisfy the rest of Lou Jing’s share from the part of the estate that Lou Jianyu was entitled to. This added up to about the same amount as what Lou Jing would have received in a straightforward division of the main residence’s assets.
In other words, Lou Jing’s two uncles’ share in the family assets had been reduced, and Lou Jing had received a share equal to what the two uncles would each have received. On top of that, he also received his father’s share of the family assets, which amounted to thirty percent of the main residence’s assets. He got the largest share of the assets, essentially.
Lou Jianyu and his two brothers had all made a loss, so they stopped quarrelling with each other. The paternal Third Uncle wanted to criticise Lou Jing for getting a share larger than his own father’s, but when he looked at Xu Che’s spear, which was still embedded in the stone floor, he swallowed his words and shrank inwardly.
Madam Wei’s face had turned pale, but she was still quite calm. The head maidservant brought the accounts over, and after glancing at it, she handed it over to the Third Old Master.
Cheng Xiuru and Lou Jianyu’s accountant looked over the accounts at the same time. There were only a few pages of consolidated sums, and they both frowned. “If we compare these accounts with the ones from two years ago, there’s at least 60,000 taels of silver missing!” Cheng Xiuru said.