Chapter 103: The Scheming of the Richest Man in the Great Tang
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A few withered yellow leaves drifted lightly onto Lu Manman as he slowly stepped down from the carriage.
He glanced up at the gloomy sky and reached out to brush the dead leaves from his shoulder. His wrinkled face revealed nothing. With faltering steps, Lu Manman entered his family residence.
Seeing his family gathering around him, Lu Manman’s expression hardened. He waved a hand.
“Wait! Until that troublemaker has resolved this matter, keep him confined in the ancestral hall. He is not to come out.”
Darkness fell, a sign that yet another day was drawing to a close. Inside the ancestral hall, Lu Liaoliao paced restlessly like an ant on a hot griddle. At long last, Hu the Elder arrived with food, and Lu Liaoliao seized him anxiously.
“Is everything all right at home? What is the situation now?”
“Ah.” Hu the Elder sighed and gave him a complicated look.
“The old master had me hitch the carriage at dawn and follow him to the gates of the Chancellor’s residence on South Street in Pingkang Ward. He stood there in the bitter wind for more than two hours, but the old master bore it all.
“Not long after noon, Chancellor Li Linfu’s carriage finally arrived. The old master immediately knelt by the roadside. Thankfully, His Excellency the Chancellor was not one for pomp. He stepped down from the carriage, spoke with the old master for a while, and then left.
“I was too far away to hear what they said. When the old master returned, he only said, ‘Wait.’ He ordered me to make sure you stayed obediently in the ancestral hall. If you dared to run off, he said he would kill himself.”
Hu the Elder was as long-winded as ever, but this time Lu Liaoliao did not glare at him. Instead, he collapsed helplessly onto the floor, lowering his head. Whether those tears were born of remorse or grief, Hu the Elder could not say.
Time would not stop for Lu Liaoliao’s regret and sorrow. What had to be faced would eventually confront him.
When the white-haired Elder Wang appeared at the Lu family residence with several men, Lu Manman personally went out to welcome him inside. His expression, however, was far from pleasant.
“I have come at the request of Lord Wang Yuanbao to deliver his daughter Liuli’s birth particulars, so that they may be compared with those of your grandson, Lu Liaoliao. Lord Wang also hopes to meet with his future in-law, the old master, to discuss the wedding arrangements.”
In the reception hall, Elder Wang lifted his teacup and took a sip before explaining the purpose of his visit.
“My Lu family has only one grandson. He will never marry into the Wang family. There is no room for discussion.” Lu Manman’s face darkened, his tone utterly resolute.
“Heh heh! Whether your grandson marries into the Wang family or brings our young lady into his own household, this marriage must take place. Elder Lu, do not be so hasty. Why not meet your future in-law first? Once everything has been made clear, no one’s dignity need be harmed. That is the proper way to proceed.”
Elder Wang smiled amiably and spoke to Lu Manman in an unhurried voice.
His visitor’s genial smile and peaceful manner—and the fact that he did not argue over the matter of marrying into the Wang family—caused the defiant force in Lu Manman to drain away. He sat dazed for a long while before slowly rising and returning to his room, where he took out a yellowed sheet of paper.
Upon it were written Lu Liaoliao’s birth particulars—the only thing his birth parents had left him when they abandoned him as an infant.
Trembling, Lu Manman made his way back toward the reception hall. On the way, he encountered his sorrowful granddaughter-in-law, Tang Xiaoqi, who had come to see what was happening. Lu Manman let out a long sigh, his face filled with apology.
“Xiaoqi, my Lu family has wronged you. That wretched boy has wronged you! Why could he not stay at home and study properly? Why did he have to take part in the Wang family’s bride-selection contest? Now the whole city knows what happened, and there is hardly any way to settle it peacefully. Even if I wanted to help you, I am powerless!”
“Grandfather, Liaoliao had his reasons for doing it. I do not blame him. If anyone is to blame, it is that shameless vixen from the Wang family. She had already begun plotting to steal my husband away. She may have deceived everyone else, but she could never deceive me.”
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Tang Xiaoqi’s face was full of grief and indignation, yet she was powerless to stop what was happening.
Lu Manman shook his head helplessly and slowly returned to the reception hall, where he handed Lu Liaoliao’s birth particulars to Elder Wang.
“The signs are an impeccable match. This is a union ordained by Heaven—a perfect pairing!” Elder Wang exclaimed after examining Lu Liaoliao’s birth details. He placed them together with Lu Jiu’s in an exquisite lacquered box.
A helpless, bitter smile appeared on Lu Manman’s aged face. Ignoring Elder Wang’s attempts to dissuade him, he firmly ordered Hu the Elder to go out and purchase the four customary wedding gifts. Only then did he follow Elder Wang’s carriage to the Wang family’s famed fortune-filled estate in Chang’an.
Carrying the four gifts, Lu Manman stood inside the Wang family’s magnificently appointed Hall of Worthy Guests, too ill at ease to sit down.
“My dear in-law, Yuanbao was entangled in worldly affairs and could not go out to receive you. It was truly discourteous of me. Please accept my apology.”
Wang Yuanbao emerged from behind the hall, his face radiant with warmth. He bowed deeply to Lu Manman.
Somewhat nervous, Lu Manman hurried forward to help him up. He wanted to say something, but the words would not come. Uneasily, he held the gifts out before Wang Yuanbao.
Wang Yuanbao accepted them solemnly and placed them squarely on the table. Once the servants had brought tea, the two men sat at separate tables. Only then did Wang Yuanbao shake his head, wag it from side to side, and let out a deeply regretful sigh.
“The Chancellor’s residence sent a representative, and Chancellor Li personally offered to act as matchmaker, proposing your beloved grandson Lu Liaoliao to the Wang family. Not long afterward, someone from Jade Truth Temple arrived as well, declaring in no uncertain terms that a disciple of the Poet Immortal would never marry into another family.
“My dear in-law, had you come to me a step earlier, such an enormous favor and connection need not have gone to waste. What a pity. What a pity indeed!”
Lu Manman’s face turned black. “If your Wang family had not proclaimed everywhere that my Lu family’s sole heir must marry into your household, would matters have come to this?”
“My dear in-law, please calm yourself. Let me explain everything slowly, and then you will understand the painstaking intentions behind my actions.”
Wang Yuanbao took a leisurely sip of tea and continued in an unhurried tone.
“Hmph!” Lu Manman snorted in displeasure but said nothing.
“All my life, I, Wang Yuanbao, have possessed more wealth than can ever be exhausted. Yet though I have nine daughters, I have not a single son to inherit and uphold the family business. Fortunately, my ninth daughter, my Liuli, has been clever since childhood. Her knowledge and talents far exceed those of ordinary people. By the age of fourteen or fifteen, she had taken the reins from this sickly old man and independently supported our enormous household. In the process, she developed the unfortunate habit of looking down on every man under Heaven.
“A few years ago, while my daughter was traveling through the southwest on business, she happened upon your grandson and saved his life. She had intended to bring him back to Chang’an with her. I do not know what misunderstanding arose, but your grandson caused everyone traveling with him to be poisoned by those poisonous mushrooms and fall into hallucinations, while he himself simply ran off. From that day onward, my daughter’s thoughts never left your grandson.”
At this, Wang Yuanbao shook his head repeatedly, looking utterly helpless.
Lu Manman’s eyes widened in astonishment. He had never known that the wretched boy in his household had such a tangled history with Liuli of the Wang family. He felt profoundly ashamed that his grandson had repaid her life-saving kindness with betrayal.
“Alas, marriage is decreed by Heaven. Those destined to become enemies are bound to meet. After your grandson studied under the Two Geniuses of Shu for several years and came down from the mountains, he acquired quite remarkable abilities. Upon returning to Chang’an, every move he made was extraordinary. His actions could be considered beneficial to the state and the people, yet because they involved that indecent matter, he acquired a bad reputation.
“Later, wishing to repay my daughter for saving his life, he accompanied a merchant caravan on a journey far from home and missed the metropolitan examination. My foolish daughter felt terribly guilty over this, and so she devised this plan. Through a grand bride-selection contest, she would build momentum for and establish the reputation of her future husband, thereby reversing the unfavorable name he had previously acquired.”
Wang Yuanbao sighed repeatedly. The old fox said nothing about his daughter forcing Lu Liaoliao into a corner. Instead, he portrayed her as a woman who had exhausted herself worrying for the sake of her future husband.
“So you are saying that this bride-selection contest held by the Wang family was organized specifically for my grandson? Were you not afraid that he might lack sufficient talent and something might go wrong?”
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Lu Manman’s heart surged like a storm-tossed sea. He could scarcely believe what he was hearing.
“Of course! My dear in-law, you underestimate your grandson’s abilities—and you underestimate my daughter’s judgment. In truth, did your grandson not rise above the countless young talents of Chang’an and take first place?”
Wang Yuanbao lifted his teacup, took a satisfied sip, and laughed with leisurely contentment.
“But… but…”
Lu Manman sat stunned for a long while. He felt that something was amiss, yet as he looked at Wang Yuanbao, he could not bring himself to express his doubts clearly.
Only after slowly setting his teacup on the table did Wang Yuanbao smooth his sleeves and begin speaking in a measured voice.
“Your grandson certainly has talent, and my daughter is quite pleased with him as a person. But young men who flaunt their brilliance and act too recklessly are bound to suffer greatly in the future. Look at what he did during the competitions. Proud of his abilities, he insulted the Second Sage. The scholarly world is, after all, the realm of the Confucian school, and with that single act he offended every scholar under Heaven.
“Then, under the excuse that a disciple inherits from his teacher, he plagiarized his master’s poetry and took first place in the poetry competition, ruining his reputation completely.
“For the later contests, I merely wished to teach him a lesson and make him lose so thoroughly that he would have nothing to say. But what did he do to me, his future father-in-law? He told a rags-to-riches tale about a peddler from Chang’an named Wang Ergou, forcing this old man to bear the lowly name of Wang Ergou for the rest of his life, with no hope of ever escaping it.
“He acts without considering the consequences and nearly caused a riot on Mount Zhongnan. I had to part with a pair of Seven-Treasure Boshan censers that I had treasured for years, and spend a fortune building a Temple of the Star Lord of Wealth in Chang’an, before the matter could be settled.”
At this point, Wang Yuanbao still felt a pang of pain. Lu Manman, meanwhile, lowered his head until he could scarcely raise it again.
“Although my Wang family is merely a merchant household, the connections involved in every direction are not to be underestimated. In the future, I will be counting on him and my daughter to uphold this family business. If he does not learn restraint and causes trouble, can either of our families bear the consequences?
“As his future father-in-law, I forced him into a desperate situation this time to teach him a lesson, lest he continue underestimating everyone under Heaven. Your Lu family has only one grandson, and how could I fail to understand that? Therefore, I will say no more about his marrying into the Wang family.”
When Wang Yuanbao finished speaking, he stared steadily at Lu Manman, waiting for his answer.
Lu Manman rose and walked before Wang Yuanbao, then bowed deeply.
Wang Yuanbao immediately helped the old man upright and said with a beaming smile, “My dear in-law, do not be so hasty. Although I agree to marry my beloved daughter into the Lu family, I do have two small requests. I hope you will grant them.”
By now, Lu Manman had completely lost his bearings. He looked nervously at Wang Yuanbao.
“If you have something to say, my dear in-law, then say it. There is no need for such formality.”
“First: My daughter Liuli is my most beloved youngest child, and her wedding must not be too modest. The wedding ceremony and main banquet must be held at the Wang family residence.
“Second: The Wang family has no sons. If my daughter bears children, then apart from the eldest legitimate son, one of them must be adopted into the Wang family to inherit the family business. I cannot allow the Wang line to end.
“My dear in-law, are you willing to agree?”
When Wang Yuanbao finished, he stared rigidly at Lu Manman. His attitude was firm, leaving no room for refusal.
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