Here's Your Money, Get On with It

"Gu Shi, go home. Don't make a spectacle of yourself."

Zhao Shun, the steward, wore a displeased expression, anger rising in him as he looked at Gu Shi kneeling before the gate.

Madam Gu raised her head slightly, glanced at Zhao Shun, and said firmly, "Please tell your master that, for the sake of the betrothal between Zhengchen and the third young miss, I beg him to lend the Gu family a hand!"

Zhao Shun impatiently picked at his ear and leaned toward Gu Shi. "The court has abolished the imperial examinations. Gu Zhengchen has no chance of becoming an official now. What makes your family worthy of our third young miss? Listen well: the Zhao Family won't give you a single copper coin. Get lost before you force me to lay hands on you!"

Gu Shi's expression shifted slightly.

The Gu family had fled disaster and settled in Teng County in the First Year of Hongwu, and had little standing there. Now the Wang Family was pressing them harder at every turn. If they still could not repay the debt, they would likely be driven into a dead end.

The Zhao Family was the Gu family's only hope of survival. She could not leave. No matter what, she could not leave!

"Someone come here! Drag her out and dump her far away!" Seeing that Gu Shi refused to know her place, Zhao Shun shouted an order, then curled his lip at her. "Pah! Who do you think you are?"

Two servants rolled up their sleeves and stepped forward. They had barely seized Gu Shi's arms when a whoosh sounded beside their ears.

Zhao Shun sensed something flying toward him. Before he could dodge, pain struck between his eyebrows, and he cried, "Who hit me?"

A copper coin fell to the ground with a series of clinks, rolled a short distance, and lay still.

Zhao Shun focused his gaze. A copper coin?

A hand picked up the coin. Zhao Shun looked up and met a pair of icy eyes. He involuntarily retreated another step and cried in alarm, "Gu-Gu Zhengchen!"

Gu Zhengchen rolled the copper coin between his fingers twice, then tucked it into his sleeve. He took two steps forward, stopped before Zhao Shun, and raised his hand to deliver a slap!

Smack!

The ringing slap stunned the Zhao Family's servants, as well as Gu Shi and Gu Qingqing.

The onlookers stared at the scene, their eyes wide. Some stood with their mouths open in disbelief.

Someone actually dared slap Zhao Shun in the face?

Zhao Shun was the Zhao Family's steward. He helped its master, Zhao Feng, run the Zhao Family Cloth Shop and was a person of some standing in Teng County. Yet someone had slapped his face-and in full view of everyone!

"Brother Zhengchen."

Gu Shi could scarcely believe it. Her son had always been frail and scholarly. How had he become so fierce today?

Hearing his mother call him "Brother Zhengchen," Gu Zhengchen found it rather hard to get used to.

The Great Ming had inherited the "Song Legacy"-during the Southern Song, Emperor Gaozong, Zhao Gou, had called his adopted son, Emperor Xiaozong of Song, "brother." Calling one's son "brother" was commonplace.

Actual elder brothers and sisters were still called "elder brother" and "elder sister."

But one thing required attention: a "brother-in-law" was not necessarily a real brother-in-law. Well, when a customer visited a brothel, the girls all called him "brother-in-law."

"Gu Zhengchen!"

Zhao Shun flew into a rage.

Smack!

Zhao Shun went blank. It seemed he had been slapped again, hard enough to leave his face burning.

It was no illusion. It wasn't!

Gu Zhengchen stared coldly at Zhao Shun and rebuked him sharply. "Who do you think you are? You don't know your place, yet you dare address me by name!"

Zhao Shun's eyes blazed. He clenched his fists and ground his teeth.

Smack!

The third slap sent Zhao Shun stumbling, and he fell to the ground.

Gu Zhengchen tucked his hand behind his back, drawing a sharp breath through the corner of his mouth. It really does land on your face and hurt in my palm...

"I am a juren recognized by the court, and I am betrothed to your third young miss-the future son-in-law of the Zhao Family. How dare a servant address me by name? Consider these three slaps your reward today. Let them teach you a lesson. Now open the gate and welcome us inside!"

Gu Zhengchen delivered the command with authority.

The Great Ming placed enormous importance on the hierarchy of rank and the rules of etiquette. Those who overstepped their station were severely punished.

Although the court had abolished the imperial examinations, a juren was still a juren. A servant addressing him by name was sufficient grounds for a beating. Even if the matter went before the authorities, the servant would be the one guilty of disrespect!

Social status was an unbridgeable chasm. Even a running start could not get you across it.

The slaps had left Zhao Shun so dazed that, for a moment, he had no idea what to do.

Gu Zhengchen could not be bothered with them anymore. He turned to his mother and Gu Qingqing. "Mother, let's go inside and settle this once and for all."

Gu Shi had not quite caught his words and was still in a daze.

Gu Qingqing urged her mother forward and followed her elder brother.

Watching Gu Zhengchen approach the gate, Zhao Shun hurried to his feet and shouted, "Without the master's permission, entering is trespassing on a private residence!"

Gu Zhengchen stopped before the gate, lifted his foot, and kicked hard!

Bang!

The gate, which had been left ajar, burst open under the force of the blow!

Gu Zhengchen said in a low voice, "Since when does the son-in-law's family visiting in broad daylight count as trespassing?"

Gu Qingqing nodded emphatically, thoroughly satisfied. She snorted at the thwarted Zhao Family servants, filled with admiration for her brother. He had always been weak before, never so commanding.

Seeing the gate open, Gu Shi glanced at the resolute Gu Zhengchen and stepped over the threshold.

The crowd of onlookers immediately erupted into chatter.

The Gu family's juren certainly cut an imposing figure! Not only had he slapped the Zhao Family's steward three times, he had even kicked their gate open. Damn, that felt good!

Those snobs had been bullying a widow and her fatherless children!

Well, now the family had taken the fight straight to their doorstep.

Still, why did this Candidate Gu seem different from the rumors? Hadn't they said the shock had driven him mad? Looking at him now, where was there even a trace of madness or foolishness?

Watching the Gu family disappear through the gate, Zhao Shun shuddered and hurried after them. He overtook Gu Zhengchen and the others, ran through the ornamental gate first, and charged toward the main house, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Master! Master! The Gu family is here!"

Inside the main house.

Granny Xu, a red flower tucked into her hair, was discussing a happy arrangement with Zhao Feng. At Zhao Shun's shout, she panicked. "What are we to do? If the other family finds out, the authorities will beat this old woman to death!"

Under the court's laws, a woman could not be promised to two men. A matchmaker who knowingly arranged another match for an already-betrothed woman faced fifty strokes of the cane, and could forget about ever working as a matchmaker again.

Zhao Feng glanced outside and instructed, "Granny Xu, please take shelter behind the screen."

Granny Xu hurried away.

Zhao Shun ran inside, but had only said a few words to Zhao Feng before Gu Zhengchen, Gu Shi, and Gu Qingqing reached the entrance to the main hall.

Seeing that they had arrived, Zhao Feng had no time to reprimand Zhao Shun. He cast a cold glance at Gu Shi, then fixed his gaze on Gu Zhengchen and said bluntly, "Just in time. Zhao Shun, go fetch six strings of cash."

Gu Shi was overjoyed.

Gu Zhengchen frowned slightly. Zhao Feng's action was unexpected. If he sincerely wanted to help the Gu family, he would have given them the money long ago, rather than let his mother kneel outside the gate and invite criticism of the Zhao Family.

Zhao Shun hurried out. Before long, he returned carrying a wooden tray holding six strings of copper coins threaded on cords. These were six strings of cash.

Gu Shi was about to thank him, but Zhao Feng sneered and waved a hand. "You may take the money. In exchange, Candidate Gu, you must voluntarily void the written marriage agreement between you and Ya'er."

"But..."

Gu Shi grew flustered. How could they do that?

Gu Zhengchen picked up the six strings of cash, the coins rattling, and slowly addressed the disdainful Zhao Feng. "So, Master Zhao, you want me to take these six strings of cash and break off the engagement of my own accord? Heh..."

Zhao Feng slapped the table and rose, declaring imperiously, "Candidate Gu, Ya'er must marry an official. Do you still have any chance of becoming one? Take these six strings of cash and get out of the Zhao Family's house. From now on, we go our separate ways!"

Gu Zhengchen took the six strings of cash and walked toward Zhao Feng, then slammed them onto the table, making the teacup tremble. "Consider these six strings of cash a loan to the Gu family. Here's your money. Get on with it!"