"Minister Tang, your daughter didn't grow up by your side either, did she?"
Tang Mingfan said, "In answer to Your Majesty, that is correct. This old minister neglected his daughter and has always felt guilty."
"How have I been any different with the Prince of Jin?" the emperor said with a sigh.
The Prince of Jin rose and bowed. "Father Emperor, please don't say that. I am already endlessly grateful to have been able to return to my family and take my rightful name."
The emperor waved him back to his seat and stayed for a meal before leaving.
For the emperor, it might have been a passing whim, but many people could no longer sit still, including the Prince of Jin's "lackey," Song Jingyang.
"Your Highness, is His Majesty thinking of arranging a marriage between you and Tang Zhuyun?"
Prince of Jin: Oh, so her name isn't Tang Zhuzi.
Song Jingyang said, "You mustn't agree. That woman is pregnant!"
The Prince of Jin was surprised. "Pregnant?"
"She might not be anymore." Song Jingyang told him about his encounter with Tang Zhuyun that day, then said through gritted teeth, "When she climbed into your bed that day, she was trying to make you raise her child. Her intentions are truly deserving of death."
After a brief moment of surprise, the Prince of Jin stopped thinking about Tang Zhuyun. Women were unimportant; he was considering the emperor's intentions.
Without a doubt, the emperor was showing Tang Mingfan favor, but was there some deeper meaning?
Since returning to the capital, every step had been fraught with danger; he could not afford a single misstep.
Seeing his master deep in thought, Song Jingyang dared not speak again and stood to one side with his hands at his sides.
Tang Zhuyun sneezed twice, great big sneezes. The pawnbroker smiled and said, "Have you caught a chill, miss? You should be careful."
Shopkeeper Zhao of the Four Seas Tower, who was beside him, chimed in.
Tang Zhuyun had come to the pawnshop that day to ask how the seasoning for cold dishes was selling. To her surprise, the pawnbroker looked at her as though he had seen the God of Wealth. He hurriedly told an assistant to fetch Shopkeeper Zhao from the Four Seas Tower, then said, "Miss, you've finally come! These past few days, Shopkeeper Zhao of the Four Seas Tower has nearly worn me to death."
As soon as Tang Zhuyun heard this, she knew what was going on: the cold dishes were selling well.
Without betraying her thoughts, she laughed it off. "Surely it wasn't that bad?"
"Not an exaggeration in the least," the pawnbroker said with a smile. He also had someone bring out pastries for Linlin.
Only after Tang Zhuyun nodded did Linlin pick out an ox-tongue pastry and nibble it slowly, listening obediently to the adults.
"Miss, why don't you think it over first? If you were to sell this recipe, how many taels of silver would you ask for it?" the pawnbroker asked tentatively.
Tang Zhuyun smiled faintly. "I'm terribly sorry, but this recipe is a secret passed down through my family. I can't sell it for any amount of silver. But the Four Seas Tower can buy the seasoning from me. I guarantee an ample supply."
It wasn't as though she was desperately short of silver now. She wouldn't sell the recipe; she would keep it and let it lay golden eggs at its own pace.
The pawnbroker gave an embarrassed smile, sensing that Tang Zhuyun would not be so easy to fool.
After Shopkeeper Zhao arrived, he showered Tang Zhuyun with compliments and said he was willing to buy her recipe for two hundred taels of silver.
Tang Zhuyun still refused to sell.
Shopkeeper Zhao was in no hurry. Stroking his beard, he said, "Miss, why don't you go back and think it over? Given enough time, a recipe like this can be worked out."
"Then you can go back and take your time working it out, Shopkeeper Zhao," Tang Zhuyun said with the faintest suggestion of a smile.
Shopkeeper Zhao said, "...I'm not that kind of person. Since it's a secret recipe passed down through your family, I wouldn't use it without paying. The price isn't fixed; we can discuss it further."
"Listen to what I have in mind, Shopkeeper Zhao," Tang Zhuyun said unhurriedly. "Ten jin of seasoning for cold dishes, one tael of silver..."
"Miss, aren't you opening a lion's maw? My Four Seas Tower uses twenty or thirty jin of seasoning for cold dishes every day!" Shopkeeper Zhao grew anxious.
"This seasoning isn't a business without costs. My price is quite fair." Tang Zhuyun showed no intention of backing down.
Shopkeeper Zhao considered it from every angle. Although the seasoning wasn't cheap, the cold dishes really were popular, and no matter how he calculated it, there was money to be made.
"Then you must guarantee that you'll supply the seasoning exclusively to my Four Seas Tower!"
"Of course," Tang Zhuyun said with a smile, "but that comes at a different price: a fixed additional payment of two hundred taels a year."
That was the monopoly fee.
Shopkeeper Zhao was going mad.
But after a round of haggling, he finally agreed to Tang Zhuyun's proposal, though it pained him terribly. They asked the pawnbroker to act as intermediary, and both parties signed a contract.
Tang Zhuyun left with Linlin, a silver note for two hundred taels tucked away on her person.
She went straight to buy Tang Mingfan a new set of official robes. The robes cost fifty taels of silver!
The robes were made from the finest materials and embroidered with lifelike cranes and patterns of seas, rivers, and cliffs. They required both costly materials and painstaking labor and were an absolute luxury.
She gritted her teeth and bought Tang Baixin a set too. Fortunately, his official rank was lower, so his cost only twenty taels.
Just like that, seventy taels were gone. Tang Zhuyun was so pained that she pinched every copper when buying groceries.
Although she thought the silver had come easily, it went even more easily.
In the countryside, an income like hers could support a large family for many years, but in the capital, for the household of a first-rank official, it would probably only be enough to maintain basic appearances.
As she brought Linlin home, she saw from a distance that the main gate was wide open and the place was buzzing with voices.
Chang Zhi bellowed, "No slacking! If you're supposed to slaughter chickens, slaughter chickens; if you're supposed to chop firewood, chop firewood! When Miss Tang gets back and sees I've brought you all here to cadge a meal, she'll start scolding again. Shouldn't you make yourselves useful?"
Tang Zhuyun stormed in, planted her hands on her hips, and said, "You're here again!"
Give Chang Zhi three parts of a friendly face, and he would dare open a dye shop.
He had grown addicted to cadging meals lately and kept pushing his luck. Not only did he come himself, he also dragged the Court of Judicial Review's yamen runners along to cadge meals with him.
Although they brought plenty of ingredients each time, who wanted to wait on them?
Chang Zhi grinned. "Miss Tang, let's talk this over. Today, well, it's my birthday..."
"Didn't you just have your birthday yesterday?"
"I remembered it wrong yesterday."
Tang Zhuyun said, "Cut it out. I'm not falling for that. Tomorrow you'll probably remember you got it wrong today too."
"Linlin," Chang Zhi said, taking a roundabout route, "shall Uncle Chang take you riding?"
Linlin looked eagerly at Tang Zhuyun.
Tang Zhuyun rolled her eyes. "You have to be back in half a shichen."
"Thank you, Auntie," Linlin said joyfully.
The yamen runners who had come to cadge a meal didn't sit idle. They helped chop wood and tend the fire, fetch water and sweep. In short, they humbled themselves as much as they possibly could for a meal, making Tang Zhuyun feel a little embarrassed not to cook for them.
She had a faint feeling that these people coming to cadge meals would become the norm.
She would endure it!
Once Linlin learned to ride, she would kill the donkey after it finished turning the millstone. Hmph!
That afternoon, at Linlin's request, Tang Zhuyun took him to the river to brush the horse. Tang Baixin came home early that day and went along too.
Tang Zhuyun told Tang Baixin about the cold-dish recipe. "I made a rough calculation. Ten jin of seasoning costs two hundred copper coins to make, leaving a net profit of eight hundred. Twenty or thirty jin a day brings in two taels of silver, which is sixty taels a month. Even if sales are lower during the slow season in winter, five hundred taels a year shouldn't be a problem."
She secretly kept the two hundred taels in monopoly fees for herself. As for the official robes, she lied that she had bought them with silver the other party had paid in advance.
She had to keep some private savings on hand.
Tang Baixin was astonished. He had never imagined that one little cold-dish recipe would bring in more than the salaries he and his father earned together.
Tang Zhuyun raised her eyebrows proudly. "Impressive, isn't it? We'll tell Father tonight. He'll be delighted."
Tang Baixin hesitated to speak.
"Big brother, what is it?"
"Don't tell Father." Tang Baixin looked embarrassed. "Father keeps boasting lately about how capable you are. A lot of people think you've driven him mad."
Tang Zhuyun said, "..."
He was addicted to boasting about his daughter. It was an illness, and it needed treatment.
"Besides, Father isn't good at managing money. If he finds out the family has that much silver, he'll start spending it recklessly again. You'd better keep it safe yourself."
Father would spend money recklessly?
Tang Baixin said, "He would. You'll see for yourself in time."
"All right, I'll keep it safe and won't tell Father." Tang Zhuyun quickly made up her mind.
She had only secretly kept two hundred taels, but her big brother was even more ruthless, telling her to keep another portion hidden.
"Help! Help! A child has fallen into the water!"
Hearing those cries all of a sudden, Tang Zhuyun's smile vanished at once, and her heart gave a thump. Could Linlin have fallen into the water?