Chapter 29
After learning about the past between Empress Dowager Chen, the Chen family, and the Li family, Cui Lanyin understood that Empress Dowager Chen intended to make a grand public show of sending back her dowry, so that everyone in Yingcheng would know she was severing ties with the Chen family, and the two sides would have no further contact for the rest of their lives.
Cui Lanyin had a clear plan in mind, and when she left the palace, she brought Buyan and Buyu along with her.
Aiye and Sangzhi were still new to such matters, and lacked experience in grand formal occasions. Since today required them to put on a fully imposing display of authority, the palace eunuchs were far more suitable to accompany her, so Cui Lanyin did not ask the two maids to come along.
After the Yao family's housewarming banquet, Bailin and his three companions selected four other guards to attend to Prince Wei when he went out, and the four of them split up to take charge of other different tasks.
The guards they had newly selected were not the same group as those who patrolled and stood guard at the Prince Wei's Mansion. It was when Cui Lanyin saw those two unfamiliar guards following Prince Wei at the Funing Palace the day before that she noticed this point.
She asked Qinglin about it, and Qinglin told her that those guards had been by Prince Wei's side since the days when he resided at the temporary imperial palace. They were divided into four teams of Lin Guards, named after the colors Green, White, Red, and Black, and each of the four "Lin" led one team respectively.
Cui Lanyin now understood that the guards led by the four "Lin" were the trusted personal followers of Prince Wei.
When the four "Lin" heard that Cui Lanyin was going to put on a grand display of prestige for this trip, they were all very generous. Each of the four teams sent two guards to accompany her, and Chilin even assigned two female guards to her retinue.
At the front of the procession, 16 elite soldiers from Prince Wei's Mansion cleared the way. In the middle were 360 ceremonial guards of the mansion, with eight Lin Guards bringing up the rear. Buyan and Buyu stayed close at Cui Lanyin's side. After Cui Lanyin helped Prince Wei board the four-horse ivory carriage, the grand procession, full of imposing ceremony, headed for the palace gates in a mighty stream.
When they arrived, Qi An was already waiting outside the palace gates, with more than twenty carriages lined up behind him, drawing the gaze of the palace guards on duty who kept craning their necks to look over.
When they saw the huge procession from Prince Wei's Mansion, even though it was strictly forbidden to chatter or act without discipline at the palace gates, those guards could not help pointing and whispering among themselves.
It was not just the ordinary guards who were stunned. Even Qi An, who had seen countless grand scenes in his years of service, was taken aback by the long line of the procession stretching out in front of him.
Ever since Prince Wei came to Yingcheng, he had always traveled with minimal attendants, whether going to the imperial palace or the Military Department, and had never once deployed the full ceremonial guard that a prince of the blood was entitled to.
That Prince Wei was willing to come along with them was already a pleasant surprise, so no one had dared to hope for anything more from him. Therefore, even though Empress Dowager Chen and Qi An both knew that putting on a full display of ceremonial guards and carriages to overwhelm the Chen family with their power would be the most satisfying move, they had never brought the matter up.
At the lunch meal in Funing Palace the day before, Qi An had noticed that Prince Wei was willing to listen to Cui Lanyin's advice. It went without saying that the grand scene unfolding before his eyes was all because Cui Lanyin had persuaded Prince Wei to agree to it.
This Second Miss was such a thoughtful and kind person. Empress Dowager Chen had not raised her up for nothing, and it was also worth all the trouble he had gone to rummage through the storehouses to find suitable fabrics and jewelry for her to use.
Qi An was filled with heartfelt gratitude. He first stepped forward to pay his respects to Prince Wei inside the carriage, and when he saw Cui Lanyin about to step down, he quickly stopped her. "There is no need for Second Miss to get down." He then handed over the register in his hand, saying, "This is the dowry list. Please have a look over it, Second Miss."
Empress Dowager Chen was the legitimate daughter of the Duke Dingguo's mansion, and she had married into the imperial family as a empress. Back then, the Duke Dingguo's mansion was at the peak of its power and prestige. The scene of her 120 palanquins of dowry being carried into the imperial palace in grand style on her wedding day was still remembered by many elderly people to this day.
But the truth was, as Cui Lanyin flipped through the list briefly, she found that if it were not for the 20,000 taels of silver notes that were part of her private dowry, the 128 palanquins of dowry were numerous in quantity, but far from what they had been supposed to be.
She paused in surprise, and Qi An immediately knew what had caught her attention. "At that time, Old Madam Yu had already passed away for five years. The household was run by Empress Dowager Chen's elder brother and his wife. Lady Zhu claimed that since Empress Dowager Chen was going to marry into the imperial palace, many of the dowry items that had been prepared earlier were not suitable to be brought into the palace, so she took it upon herself to replace a great many of the things Old Madam Yu had started preparing for Empress Dowager Chen from the day she was born. As for that 20,000 taels of silver note, in those days, it would have been a laughingstock if a legitimate young lady from any noble or minister's household had less than 20,000 taels of private silver as part of her dowry when she got married."
Cui Lanyin frowned. How could the Duchess of Dingguo act in such a petty way, no better than the mistress of a tiny, lowly household?
"Lady Zhu's family background was not prominent. Back then, when Empress Dowager Chen's elder brother insisted on marrying her, the Chen family caused quite a stir over it." Qi An added with a smile, "The current Duchess of Dingguo also goes by the surname Zhu. She is the niece of the previous Lady Zhu from her own natal family."
Eunuchs always know the unspoken rules between women better than anyone else, and Bailin would never have thought to mention all these details.
Cui Lanyin saw that for all the items on the dowry list that had been worn out, used, or damaged over the years, replacements of even greater value or equivalent silver had been added to make up for the loss. Just counting these additions alone, Empress Dowager Chen had suffered a huge loss.
She closed the dowry list, called over Buyu, and told him to select 256 ceremonial guards to carry the dowry palanquins.
Seeing the ceremonial guards carrying the well-packed dowry items out of the carriages two to a palanquin, Qi An was confused about her intention. "Second Miss, what are you doing this for?"
Cui Lanyin smiled with a hint of mischief. "Look, Chief Steward, we need to let everyone see that Empress Dowager Chen's dowry is being returned to her completely, with every item accounted for and even more than the original amount, right? If we keep everything hidden inside the carriages, no one will be able to see clearly. If any rumors spread later, how could Empress Dowager Chen possibly argue the facts with every gossipmonger who talks about it?
So we have to carry this dowry out in the open, one palanquin after another, so that everyone who passes by can count how many there are, and everyone will know that it is only the Chen family who owes Empress Dowager Chen, and that Empress Dowager Chen has never done anything wrong to the Chen family. Don't you think that makes perfect sense, Chief Steward?"
Qi An was so delighted that his hands itched with excitement. If it were not for the fact that he could not behave improperly at the palace gates, he would have smacked his thighs hard in joy.
"Wonderful! Wonderful! Second Miss has thought of everything so thoroughly."
But Cui Lanyin was not done with her plans yet. She called over Buyan, took out the dowry list, and pointed to it to give him instructions. "You teach the ceremonial guards to memorize exactly what is inside the palanquin each of them is carrying. Along the way, have them call out the contents of the dowry list one palanquin after another in the proper order. Especially for the items I have marked as replacements, they have to announce what the original dowry item was, what has been added to replace it now, and how much extra has been added. Not a single detail can be omitted. Do you understand?"
Buyan nodded with a cheeky grin. "Rest assured, Second Miss. I will make sure every guard memorizes their part perfectly and shouts the announcements out loud for all to hear."
Qi An had never thought such a trick was even possible. He had always prided himself on being resourceful, but at this moment he could not help but admire her from the bottom of his heart.
He had originally planned to follow along hidden in the carriage, ready to step in and offer guidance if Cui Lanyin encountered something she could not handle. Now there was no need for that at all. His face was crinkled up in a wide, happy smile. "Then I shall leave everything entirely to Second Miss." He watched the mighty procession carrying the dowry depart, then scurried quickly with small, hurried steps back to Funing Palace to report the whole matter to Empress Dowager Chen.
Back at the Duke Dingguo's Mansion, Chen Yan, the Duke Dingguo, his wife Lady Zhu, and the heir of the mansion Chen Ling were talking in the main hall.
Chen Yan said to Chen Ling, "When you have your next day off from official duties, you and Lady Shang bring little Hong to the Funing Palace to pay your respects to Her Majesty the Empress Dowager."
Lady Zhu could not help complaining. "Last time I brought Lady Shang to the Funing Palace to request an audience. We had already reached the palace gates, but Her Majesty was so cruel and hard-hearted. She sent a young eunuch to turn us away right in front of all the palace guards, and I was so humiliated."
Chen Yan's face darkened at once. "I told you long ago that Her Majesty would not receive you. If you had not gone to pester her that time, we would not be in this situation where we cannot even get an audience with her now."
Lady Zhu was very displeased. "I just don't understand why Her Majesty is so displeased with me. Everyone says that an elder brother's wife is like a mother to younger siblings. Even for the sake of her aunt, Her Majesty should not treat me this way."
Chen Yan did not want to argue with her anymore. He turned to ask Chen Ling, "Has the Five Wards Military Office still not found anything out?"
The mere mention of this matter made Chen Ling seethe with frustration. "Those people are the worst sycophants, fawning on the high and kicking the down. A few days back they were still blocking and investigating everything, but now they turn tail and run the second they spot anyone from our estate. Yesterday, I slipped some silver to get a bit of information, and they said some untouchable big shot had pressed the matter to a stop, warning us not to dig any deeper. Even if we found out who was behind it, we'd have to swallow the insult anyway, so why bother?"
Chen Yan's eyes darkened with fury. "If only Empress Dowager Chen would stand by us, even the Li Clan would treat us with due respect, we'd never have been bullied so shamelessly like this."
Chen Ling couldn't help but ask, "I even thought the Li Clan was the one who ordered this."
Chen Ling shook his head. "The Li Clan prides itself on its noble, untainted reputation. They'd never stoop to hiring street thugs to hurl insults at us in public. This must be from some family we offended in the past."
The Chen Clan had offended no end of families over the years, so Chen Ling could only put that thought aside for now.
"Father, Prince Wei has already offended Prince Duan and Prince Kang just to shield Miss Cui. And Empress Dowager Chen didn't even try to avoid suspicion — yesterday she even let that Miss Cui wander freely around Funing Palace. Yesterday afternoon, Qi An personally followed the carriage to Prince Wei's Manor, bringing piles of gifts to that Miss Cui. The Empress Dowager is acting this way, what if when Prince Duan takes power in the future... we don't get dragged down along with them?"
"None of the imperial family are fools. Since Prince Wei dared to act so boldly, he must have something solid to fall back on. I suspect His Majesty will leave a decree to protect him after he's gone. As long as Prince Wei doesn't stage a rebellion, even when Prince Duan ascends, he probably won't be able to touch Prince Wei. Still, when you go to Funing Palace later, you have to persuade Empress Dowager Chen, tell her to stop meddling in these affairs."
"I understand..."
Their conversation was cut off by a burst of rapid footsteps. Before the maids could even announce her, Lady Shang burst right in, her face etched with anxiety. "Father, Mother, the heir, the gate guards just came to report that Prince Wei's carriage has stopped right outside our main gate. They say they've come to return Empress Dowager Chen's dowry to our estate."
"What?!" Chen Yan and Chen Ling shot to their feet at once.
Lady Zhu called out to Lady Shang, scolding her sharply, "Look how flustered you are, what a disgrace! Tell us exactly what's happening outside first."
Lady Shang hadn't seen any of it herself, so she could only repeat the words from the servant who had passed the message. "Prince Wei's ceremonial guards have carried one hundred and twenty-eight palanquins of Empress Dowager Chen's dowry over here..."
Chen Yan and Chen Ling's hearts sank, they didn't even stop to listen to Lady Zhu anymore, and dashed out one after the other.
Lady Zhu didn't bother pressing for more details either, and let Lady Shang support her as she stumbled along behind them.
When they stepped out of the manor gate and saw the long line of dowry palanquins stretching all the way down the lane, far beyond what their eyes could reach, Chen Yan and Chen Ling felt their vision swim.
To make things worse, the gate guard was still chattering to the two men. "Lord Duke, Young Master Heir, what on earth are we going to do? The whole lane is packed with people who came to watch the fun. They're all gossiping that Prince Wei's ceremonial guards shouted out every item on the dowry list the whole way here. They even detailed exactly which items were damaged, and what was used to replace them. Everyone's saying that out of Empress Dowager Chen's dowry, only that twenty thousand taels of silver was real and substantial, and most of the rest was just... filler."
They remembered what the old lady of the family had done all those years ago, and had thought that secret would never see the light of day. But now it had been laid bare for the whole world to see, and Chen Yan wanted nothing more than to find a crack in the ground and hide in it.
There was no way to run. They saw hundreds of ceremonial guards forming a full ceremonial procession to clear a path, and Prince Wei's ivory chariot slowly pulled up right in front of their manor.
Chen Yan and Chen Ling steeled themselves and stepped forward to greet him. "Your subjects pay our respects, Your Highness."
Out of the corner of their eyes, they saw two female guards step forward and open the carriage door, but no one got out.
"There's no kinship or friendship between us, so His Highness won't bother getting out of the carriage. Have your people come over to take over the dowry quickly, His Highness still needs to head back to rest." The voice was that of a woman. Chen Yan and Chen Ling looked up in shock, and saw that inside the ivory chariot sat a man and a woman.
The carriage was deep and shadowy, and a woman was blocking the view, so they could only see a man sitting cross-legged leaning against the carriage wall. Everyone in Yingcheng knew that Prince Wei always meditated when he wasn't napping, so that man could be none other than Prince Wei.
The woman on the outer side wore a veiled hat. Her voice was so beautiful and melodious that everyone could tell she was a young unmarried lady.
Putting two and two together with the events of the past two days, Chen Yan and Chen Ling both realized that this must be that Miss Cui.
With Prince Wei sitting right there in the carriage, the father and son could only swallow their anger for the moment, and spoke in a conciliatory tone. "There's no reason for Her Majesty the Empress Dowager to ask for her dowry back, there must be some misunderstanding?"
"What misunderstanding could there be?" It was still Miss Cui speaking. "Her Majesty the Empress Dowager simply doesn't want to be sickened by your filthy, rotten behavior anymore. The Chen Clan has latched onto her like leeches, drinking her blood and eating her flesh for all these years. That's more than enough, it's time to put an end to it."
She didn't give Chen Yan and Chen Ling any chance to argue back, and ordered the eunuchs standing on both sides, "Start reading the dowry list from the beginning properly. Let all the people out here hear what a grand dowry the Chen Clan gave Empress Dowager Chen. It's truly the most generous among all the noble daughters of the dukes and ministers, no one will ever top it in later generations."
At a wave from that eunuch, the ceremonial guards started announcing the contents of each palanquin one by one. When people heard that several winter coats counted as an entire palanquin of dowry, even the servants of the Chen Estate started whispering and gossiping.
After Chen Ling took the dowry list, that young woman had an even more sharp-tongued move waiting. They heard her clear, crisp voice say, "Buyan, His Highness's chariot is so noble and precious, it can't be sullied by this dirty, lowly place. Go and wipe it down carefully."
The two eunuchs quickly agreed, and actually pulled out cloth towels to wipe down the entire carriage.
Chen Yan, Chen Ling, and Lady Zhu and Lady Shang who were hiding behind the gate felt so humiliated they wanted to vanish. Chen Ling burned with rage and tried to step forward to confront them, but the Prince Wei who had been meditating inside seemed to flick a finger against the carriage wall. The guards by the chariot moved so fast no one could see how, a gust of fierce wind blew over, and Chen Ling staggered back several steps before he could steady himself.
He was so frightened that he didn't dare move a muscle again.
The young woman first turned to the carriage and said with a soft laugh, "There's no need for you to step in, Cousin. We agreed I'd handle all this, you just sit back and relax."
Then she turned back to the father and son, her tone completely different, "Master Chen, your memory seems to be failing you. Normally, after being accosted and cursed at in public once, you'd learn your lesson. How come you're still so overconfident and reckless?"
Chen Yan and Chen Ling's faces drained of color. "It was you two!"
"That's right." Her tone was gentle and sweet, but her movements were full of killing intent. "Remember this, never step one more step towards Her Majesty the Empress Dowager's palace again. If you do, the consequences will be far worse than this."
Chen Yan was already in his late fifties. To be humiliated and taunted by a young girl in front of the whole crowd, he was so overcome with rage and shame that his head spun, and he could barely stay on his feet without Chen Ling holding him up.
And that wasn't the end of it. As the ivory chariot was about to leave, that young woman called out with a bright smile, "A bad wife ruins three generations of a family. The Chen Clan has had two Lady Zhus in a row. Goodness, how many generations will that ruin? When will your family ever get to see a bright future?"
There are some typos I'll fix tomorrow, and I'll try to get the next update out earlier than today's!
