Duoduo looked at the house in front of her with some curiosity.
She had never seen a house like this before.
Duoduo used to live in the most remote courtyard of the Song Manor. Although the house there was dilapidated, it was still a grand mansion with high walls.
A house like this, where a person could touch the eaves just by raising their hand, was something Duoduo had never seen.
Full of curiosity, Duoduo followed her parents into the old man's home.
Hearing her husband say that distinguished guests had arrived, the old man's wife hurriedly asked their son to carry a table out into the courtyard.
Then she took her daughter-in-law to boil water and brew tea.
The Prince of Pingyang chatted with the old man about the harvest in the fields and the lives of the common people.
Duoduo listened for a while before she started wandering around the courtyard.
Curious about what the inside looked like, she stood at the doorway.
Inside, a girl about the same age as Lüzhu was softly scolding a boy who was about Duoduo's age.
Both of their clothes were very shabby, covered in patches upon patches.
In the little boy's hand was a small, sword-like toy.
Duoduo noticed that the light in the main room was very dim, and the inner rooms were even darker.
It was just like the days when she lived in the backyard without candles and had to walk in the dark.
The old man's son went out for a trip.
After a while, he returned holding a small cloth sack.
He went into the kitchen and did not come out for a long time.
Duoduo walked to the outside of the kitchen door and heard voices coming from within.
"Mother-in-law, are we cooking this entire half-sack of rice?"
"This much grain is enough to feed us for several months."
"Cook it! The noble guests have many people with them, we cannot let them go hungry!" the old woman said resolutely.
"But, Mother-in-law, why did the noble guests insist on coming to our house to eat?"
"Why didn't they go to the estate manager's house? His family eats big fish and meat for every meal!" the daughter-in-law said, somewhat unwillingly.
"Why do you have so much to say? It is a good thing to have guests at home! You are young and don't understand, just hurry up and cook!"
Duoduo quietly slipped away and returned to the side of the Princess Consort of Pingyang.
Meanwhile, the Prince of Pingyang was still chatting with the old man.
"The harvest in the fields is good, and the weather has been favorable these past few years. Why do you look so sorrowful, old sir?"
The wrinkles on the old man's face seemed to deepen.
"You might not know this, noble sir, but the land this humble one farms belongs to the Princess Consort of Pingyang."
The Prince of Pingyang slowly rubbed the jade archer's ring on his hand.
"Is there something wrong with the land of the Princess Consort of Pingyang?"
The old man let out a long sigh.
"There is nothing wrong with it, it's just that the rent is getting higher and higher."
"In the past, the rent for this land was only fifty percent."
"But later it kept increasing, and now they collect a full eighty percent!"
"Moreover, every year when we pay the rent, the grain measures perfectly at home, but when it reaches the estate manager, it is suddenly not enough!"
"Father!"
The old man's son interrupted him.
The old man waved his hand.
"It's fine. Your father already has one foot in the grave, what is there to be afraid of?"
"Father, you don't need to dirty the noble guest's ears with these miserable matters," the old man's son said anxiously.
Here, the estate manager held the most power and had numerous lackeys under him.
If the lackeys heard them discussing the estate manager behind his back, their whole family would suffer.
Suddenly, a row of golden words appeared before Duoduo's eyes.
[The estate manager's men are arriving right now!]
[This family is about to meet disaster. A perfectly good family will be ruined—some dead, some scattered—all because of the arrival of the Prince of Pingyang.]
Duoduo didn't have time to read the rest of the words. She ran up to the old man.
"Grandpa, do you have any wide open spaces around here?"
"We want to go fly a kite later! I brought a really, really big kite!"
Seeing Duoduo's well-behaved appearance, the old man thought of his own grandchildren, and a look of affection appeared in his eyes.
"Of course we do. On this estate, the most spacious place is the courtyard where the estate manager lives."
"Outside his house, there is a very large open field, big enough even for horse riding."
Just then, a guard hurried in, leaned close to the Prince of Pingyang's ear, and whispered something.
The Prince of Pingyang nodded with a cold gaze.
In a flash, the guard slipped back out.
Duoduo blinked. "Father, after we finish eating, can we go there to fly the kite?"
The Prince of Pingyang turned the jade archer's ring on his finger.
"You brought a kite? Did you bring one for your father?"
Duoduo froze.
"Father can fly it with me. Next time, I'll ask Mother to make an even bigger one for you."
As they were speaking, three or four men surged into the courtyard.
The leader was a skinny man with a sharp, ape-like face and a handlebar mustache.
Seeing the newcomers, the old man and his son stood up immediately.
"Advisor Jia!"
Advisor Jia's gaze circled over the Prince of Pingyang and his family.
Because they had come to the estate today, the Prince of Pingyang's family wore ordinary clothes so as not to stand out.
However, despite the clothing, the aura surrounding the Prince of Pingyang was still extraordinary.
Advisor Jia could not quite figure out the Prince of Pingyang's identity.
They had only heard from their subordinates that distinguished guests had arrived at the old man's house, so they rushed over.
They had never seen the Prince of Pingyang or his Princess Consort, so they did not recognize them.
Even the estate manager had only seen the Princess Consort of Pingyang once or twice.
Most of the time, the person he dealt with was the steward of the princely manor.
"May I ask where this noble guest hails from?"
Advisor Jia gave the Prince of Pingyang a perfunctory bow and asked in an overly formal tone.
The Prince of Pingyang looked at the jade archer's ring on his hand and completely ignored him.
Lingfeng, who was standing behind him, shouted a reprimand.
"Who do you think you are? What right do you have to question my master? Step back at once!"
Lingfeng was wearing a set of coarse, short-sleeved clothes today, looking just like an ordinary servant.
The lackeys behind Advisor Jia waved their fists at Lingfeng with ferocious expressions.
"This is our Advisor Jia, got it?"
"If you come here to play, you have to pay our estate manager a toll, understand?"
"Otherwise, you'll have to leave your carriage behind!"
The lackey who spoke pointed triumphantly at the carriage in the courtyard.
An angry expression appeared on Lingfeng's face.
"A toll? What toll? When was such an official decree ever issued?"
Advisor Jia gave a wicked laugh. "This is our estate manager's territory. Whatever our estate manager says is the official decree."
"We are merely passing through and will be leaving shortly."
"As long as you step onto the estate, you must pay! Ten taels of silver! No! Twenty taels of silver!"
Advisor Jia held up two fingers.
The old man and his son were dumbfounded.
Lingfeng clenched his fists, but then he heard the Prince of Pingyang's order.
"Lingfeng, give it to him!"
"Master!" Lingfeng was quite shocked.
The Prince of Pingyang shot Lingfeng a sideways glance, and Lingfeng very reluctantly took out twenty taels of silver from his pouch.
Advisor Jia took the silver, picked up one of the ingots, and bit it.
A deep tooth mark appeared on the silver.
A flash of regret crossed his eyes; if he had known this noble guest was so generous, he would have asked for more.
Advisor Jia looked at the four or five servants guarding the carriage, waved his hand at the men behind him, and said,
"Let's go, back!"
