Changying The Lady Chapter 5 Ruiyu Hall

In the great Vi Dynasty, people respected the hereditary house and despised poor scholars, so the election was according to the genealogy, but the common people were not included in the genealogy at all. As time pa.s.sed, no poor family could get in the top grade and no influential family would fall to low grade.

And all the influential families in this country were also not treated equally. According to the example of the previous dynasty, the family would be Gaoliang, which was the highest grade, if they had Three Counselors of State in the last three generations; the lower grade was Huayu, which had Directors; the grade of Jia had Chief Ministers, Ling, Hu; the grade of Yi had Ministers; the grade of Bing had Executive Vice Ministers or Grand Masters; the grade of Ding had Vice Ministers. The grades from high to low were: Gaoliang, Huayu, Jia, Yi, Bing, and Ding.

However, in this dynasty, there were six families above the grade Gaoliang, all of which had been rich and n.o.ble since ancient times. They had great contributions to the Wei Dynasty, far beyond that of the ordinary Gaoliang, which had Three Counselors of State in three generations.

Take the Wei Family Fengzhou, which had a long history and great inheritance as the other five top clans in the Vi Dynasty as an example: the most distinguished origin of the surname Wei was the surname Ji of Xuanyuan family, which came from Kangshu, the ninth son of King Wen of Zhou Dynasty. Granted the land of Wei, Kangshu was one of the feudal lords in the Spring and Autumn Period, so his descendants took "Wei" as their surname. After the Spring and Autumn Period, the first emperor of Qin integrated the surname of every family. The descendants of the clan of Wei and the people in the state took the "Wei" as their surname. The Wei Family of Fengzhou was exactly the direct line of descents of Kangshu.

In the past few hundred years, Wei Family in Fengzhou had cultivated a lot of talents in every generation. In the former dynasty, which had only lasted for about one hundred years, five officials with the highest ranking were from this family. There were dozens of people with over the third official ranking and real power, and over a hundred people with the fifth official ranking in this family. In this dynasty, because of the credit for helping the emperor to get the throne, this family became more ill.u.s.trious, and there were two hereditary peerages in the clan.

And countless officials working in the Royal Court were from this family. It was one of the most prominent families under the royal family. Since the rest could be compared with the Wei Family, they were not far away from it. Therefore, in order to honor these six families, only these six families could be gentlefolk, write down their contributions, show the court and be arrogant. Gaoliang and the lower grades, collectively called the aristocratic family, were all lower than these six families.

The clan t.i.tle of the Wei Family was Ruiyu Hall, named after Fengzhou, land of their ancestors. At that time, Wei Huan, the head of the Wei Family and the grandfather of Wei Changying, was in charge of Ruiyu Hall.

At one time, Wei Huan was vice-premier, and he was also the Grand Preceptor of the Crown Prince and the Grand Chief Commissioner. He was one of the six senior commanders of the great Vi Dynasty and a dominant figure in this dynasty. However, many years ago, a serious disease almost took his life. At that time, a diviner said that he should not leave his hometown. Wei Huan decided to give it a try and ordered people to send him back to Fengzhou. After moving back, he recovered magically. After he recovered, the emperor ordered him to come back. However, just when he was leaving Fengzhou, he had a relapse, so he had to retire on account of old age in advance and return home.

Because Wei Huan was very trusted by the emperor when he was in office, the emperor was very disappointed when he knew that Wei Huan could not continue to work for him. He granted Wei Huan Duke Changshan to show his favor. Considering that Fengzhou was the hometown of Wei Huan, he let Wei Huan's third son, Wei Shengnian, serve as the governor of Fengzhou and support Wei Huan. In fact, Fengzhou was under the control of the Wei Family before the establishment of the Vi Dynasty. Even if Wei Shengnian hadn't been the governor, Wei Huan would also have the final say in Fengzhou.

In Fengzhou and the sphere of the Wei Family's influence, from the gentry to the lowly, people could ignore imperial edict, but they regarded the Wei Family as royalty.

That the patriarchal clan was higher than the imperial court, was not only happening in Fengzhou. The six n.o.ble families of the Vi Dynasty all had privileges in their hometowns, such as the Wei Family of Fengzhou, the Su Family of Qingzhou, the Duanmu Family of Jinxiu County, the Song Family of Jiangnan, the Liu Family of Eastern Hu, and the Shen Family of Western Liang. In fact, the power of the six n.o.ble families in these six places was admitted by the imperial court, which was also one of the rewards that the First Emperor of Vi Dynasty gave to gentlefolk for their support in the establishment of the dynasty. Generation after generation had followed this rule.

There were two major clans of the Wei Family in Fengzhou. One was the lineal descendant, Ruiyu Hall, and the other one was Zhiben Hall, a branch set up a hundred years ago. These two clans were corresponding to the two hereditary t.i.tles of the Wei Family in this dynasty, Duke Jingping and Marquis Jingcheng. But in this generation, Duke Jingping, Wei Hwan, was a mediocre man. Since he was a boy, he had been addicted to the pleasures of songs and women, hunting and racing. He hated the work and was unwilling to be an official. Although Wei Huan was born of a concubine, he was smart, strong and good at strategy. So, before the death of the old Duke Jingping, he pa.s.sed on the t.i.tle to Wei Hwan, the eldest son of his wife, and gave Ruiyu hall to Wei Huan.

As for the Zhiben Hall of Marquis Jingcheng, the ancestral hall was not far from Ruiyu hall. Although the major branch of Marquis Jingcheng had been living in the capital since the start of this dynasty, it had lots of contacts with Ruiyu Hall, since they had the same ancestors, after all.

And when Wei Huan was retired, because there was no one in Ruiyu Hall to take up the post of vice-premier, he strongly recommended Wei Qi, the Marquis Jingcheng, and the emperor agreed. Therefore, on New Year's Day or other festivals, Marquis Jingcheng would send people back from afar to extend his regards to Duke Jingping, Weihuan.

When Wei Huan was retired, he was under fifty. When he was in the imperial capital, he was used to dealing with a host of problems every day. After returning to Fengzhou, he regained his health, and staying at home made him feel bored. His third son, Wei Shengnian, was granted the position of the governor because of his father. In fact, his ability was mediocre, and Fengzhou was in a mess under his leadership. Wei Huan simply took charge of Fengzhou on behalf of his son. In the past few years, every day, he went to Yamen, the government office, accompanied by Wei Shengnian, to read reports, sign doc.u.ments and judge cases on behalf of his son.

In recent years, the government of the imperial court was going worse and worse, and bandits were rampant all over the country. Northern tribes and Western tribes were seeking for a chance to invade. Although Fengzhou was located in the south, the terrain was narrow and long. The northernmost part of it faced Eastern Hu across Nu River, and Eastern Hu was bounded by northern tribes, so Fengzhou was finally starting to lose the peace of it.

Originally, Fengzhou was a developed state. Compared with other states in the Vi Dynasty, Fengzhou was very rich, and was suppressed by Wei Huan's iron hand. There were not many bandits. But three months ago, in Fengqi mountain, which was less than a hundred miles away from Fengzhou City, a group of bandits robbed the merchants and common people who came by. Last month, the second son of Wei Huan's commoner, Wei Shengyi, who worked as the vice minister in the capital, sent a cart of Cloud Silk to Fengzhou as filial piety. Unexpectedly, it was looted by this group of bandits, and some servants even got killed in this robbery.

Wei Huan was enraged. After writing a letter to report it to the Royal Court in person, he summoned warriors in the state and asked Song Han, the vice governor of Fengzhou to send a team of soldiers to fight against bandits in Fengqi mountain.

Song Han was the junior of the collateral branch of the Song Family in Jiangnan. Because the Song Family and the Wei Family were united by marriage from generation to generation, the relationship between them was very close. Song Han also married a daughter of the collateral branch of Ruiyu hall, so he got the chance to be the vice governor of Fengzhou.

Since he was an official in Fengzhou, Song Han did not dare to neglect Wei Huan's order. After getting the message, he not only sent a group of elite soldiers, but also left for Fengqi mountain in person. Wei Huan stayed in the city for a long time, so he also went to watch the battle and was not home.

When Wei Huan was away, Old Madam Song was in charge of Ruiyu Hall.

Old Madam Song was the Grandaunt of Song Zaishui and the aunt of Madam Song. It was a pity that Old Madam Song and Madam Song both had bad luck in having children. In fact, Madam Song's situation was better. Although she had suffered for nine years before having Wei Changying and Wei Changfeng, all her children were healthy and intelligent. She never experienced the pain of losing her children. But Old Madam Song gave birth to four sons and two daughters, and only the eldest son Wei Zhenghong and the second daughter Wei Zhengyin survived to adulthood.

Wei Zhengyin was doing well. She grew up and got married smoothly. She married the son of the Su Family in Qingzhou. Now she was living in the capital with her husband. It was a marriage between families of equal social rank, and her husband and she loved and respected each other very much. She was far away from her hometown and had a lot of children. Old Madam Song had nothing to worry about for her.

As the only surviving son of the Old Madam Song, Wei Zhenghong was the oldest son of this family, but he had been bedridden with a lingering disease. He could not be supported by his father to be an official and glorify their families like his younger brothers, who were born by concubines of his father. He was lucky enough to live until now and have a son and a daughter.

Therefore, Old Madam Song doted on Wei Changying and Wei Changfeng very much. No matter what made Old Madam Song unhappy, she would be able to smile from the heart when seeing Wei Changying or Wei Changfeng.

But this time, when Wei Changying and Song Zaishui entered the door, holding hands, they saw that Old Madam Song was sitting alone in the hall with a gloomy face. Her eyes seemed to be full of sinister and cruel things. All the servants around lowered their heads. It was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop!

Seeing this, these two girls were stunned. Wei Changying was used to being loved by Old Madam Song. After being stunned, she went forward as usual and greeted her grandmother happily. Unexpectedly, Old Madam Song didn't come to herself until Wei Changying and Song Zaishui bobbed her a curtsey. She forced a smile, restrained her cruelty, showed her kindness, and said, "What brings you here now? Please sit down quickly. It's hot on the road. Ruping, go and get the cold fruit in the well. Don't use frozen cheese. It's not good for girls to eat too much frozen cheese, even on such a hot day."

Although she greeted her granddaughters, the tune of Old Madam Song was full of fatigue, which was hard to be disguised.

Old Madam Song's trusted Dowry Chen Ruping answered quickly and asked people to get the cold fruit in the well.

Wei Changying said, "I just ate a lot of frozen cheese with mixed fruits with my cousin. Now I don't really want to eat it."

Old Madam Song sighed and said, "Then how about some dessert?"

"I'm good." Wei Changying turned her eyes and looked at grandma wonderingly. She felt that Old Madam Song was not as usual today, and said, "Grandma, are you feeling uncomfortable today?"

Song Zaishui waited until Wei Changying expressed her concern and said, "Grandaunt, did you get tired?"

Old Madam Song looked at them. Maybe it was an illusion, but she looked somehow worried. She said, "Yes, a little bit."

Wei Changying was used to flattering her grandmother. Then she stood up, pulled up her sleeve and said, "Let me give you a ma.s.sage on legs!"

Song Zaishui also said, "Grandaunt, I'll give you a shoulder ma.s.sage."

Chen Ruping chuckled beside them, "Madam, you have such good granddaughters. You should be happy. They'll always keep you accompanied."

Old Madam Song forced a smile and said lightly, "Yes, they are all good children. I always want to protect them."

Her words were a little strange. When Song Zaishui seemed to be thinking about it. Wei Changying looked up at his grandmother doubtfully. But Old Madam Song didn't intend to tell them the meaning of her words. She just touched her hair and asked, "Didn't Lvfang just come here to say that you were not coming here today? Why are you here?"

Wei Changying was waiting for her grandmother to ask about it. She showed her grievance skillfully at once, and said, "I wasn't planning to come here, but I miss you a lot, so I decided to come anyway."

Of course, Old Madam Song knew that she was punished to kneel. If it had been as usual, although Madam Song punished her reasonably, Old Madam Song would have always comforted her with some gifts. This time, Wei Changying was thinking what to ask for from Old Madam Song— the set of gla.s.s horse on her whatnot, or the sword hanging on the wall for exorcising evil spirits. Unexpectedly, Old Madam Song said, "Changying, you are getting more and more lovable and gentle now. Keep doing so in the future."

"..." Wei Changying was stunned for a while. Seeing that Old Madam Song didn't mean to go on, she had no choice but to say, "As you wish."

Song Zaishui was also surprised. When she was thinking about why Old Madam Song changed her temper today and didn't care for her granddaughter so much. At that time, a servant came in to report that the third madame was bringing the fourth lady, the fifth lady, the fourth young master, and the seventh young master to pay respects.

Now Wei Huan had four sons and three daughters. The youngest son of him, Wei Shenghe, adopted by Wei Jiong, his childless half-brother. All the daughters were married. Because his eldest son, Wei Zhenghong, was ill, Wei Huan could only cultivate his second son of a concubine, Wei Shengyi, and his third son, Wei Shengnian, with all his efforts.

However, Wei Shengnian, the third son, was very mediocre. Wei Huan was worried that it would not be a blessing for Wei Shengnian to stay in the capital after he got retired and returned home. He simply let him resign on the excuse of supporting his father. Now Wei Shengnian got the position of the governor of Fengzhou, which was convenient for Wei Huan to keep him around and guide him. However, the second son Wei Shengyi completely inherited Wei Huan's shrewdness, and was left in the capital by Wei Huan to act on his responsibility as an official alone.

Wei Shengyi was in the capital, and his wife and other family members had not returned to Fengzhou yet. Today, there were only two branches in Ruiyu hall, the first branch and the third one. Old Madam Song was from a n.o.ble family, and she married a family, which was as old as hers, so she took the rules very seriously. Except for her two legitimate grandchildren, the rest of the younger generation even dare not breathe in front of her.

Although they had to come here every day to pay respects, no one dared to rush into the room without reporting and Old Madam Song's consent, except Wei Changying and Wei Changfeng. If Old Madam Song didn't nod her head, no one would dare to come in. At that time, she gave a grunt, paused for a moment, and said in the most unconcerned tune, "Bring them in."

The maidservant went out to deliver the message. Then the third Madam came in with four grandchildren arranged by age, accompanying by maidservants. Although a large group of people came in, they were all nimble in action. They only heard the slight sound of clothes and skirts, and there was not even a sound of the collision of the ornaments, which showed how strict the etiquette of Wei's children was.

For the family with a history of hundreds of years, the most taboo was the wrong marriage. Naturally, the third madam was also from a famous family. Her mother's family, the Pei Family, had been n.o.ble for less than a hundred years, because her grandfather has been the Grand Preceptor, which was also regarded as the grade of Gaoliang. However, in the generation of her father and her, the highest official ranking was only Chief Minister, so they might fall into the grade of Jia. Her family was far less prestigious than the Wei Family. Even if Wei Shengnian was not the eldest son, the third madam had also married a man in a higher status.

Therefore, the third madam respected the rules the most, among the three daughters in law. Not only did she come to pay respects every day, but she also cultivated all her children equally. She was afraid that the sister-in-law would laugh at her less prestigious background and say that she didn't deserve to be the wife of the Wei Family.

Pei's appearance was delicate and pretty. She took the lead and bobbed Old Madam Song a curtsey gently. At that time, Wei Changying and Song Zaishui also stopped what they were doing and stepped back to salute.

Not until Old Madam Song asked, did all of them get up. They were all dignified and orderly.

After getting up, Pei saw that the complexion of Old Madam Song was bad. She felt surprised in her heart. It wasn't her first day in this family, so she knew that the mother-in-law was shrewd and deep. When it came to unimportant matters, Old Madam Song always didn't show any emotion at all.

In other words, anything that could make Old Madam Song look angry must be big.

Pei was thinking fast in her heart, "Who in the world caused this anger?" She had something to ask for advice from Old Madam Song when she came today, but now she was not sure whether to mention it.