“You are the one managing the household now — there is nothing you cannot say. Invite them all in. Cui Xiang, please invite the two concubines out as well.”
Cui Xiang was Nanny Su’s given name. She acknowledged the instruction and went to the side chamber. After the children had arrived, the Old Madam had asked the concubines to wait in that room.
Once everyone was assembled, Hua Zhi dispensed with any preamble and went straight to the matter at hand. “My suggestion is that it would be best to sever ties with our maternal families.”
The moment the words fell, the room stirred with unease. A woman’s maternal family was her backbone, her foundation, and the greatest potential source of aid in times of difficulty — all the more so when those maternal families held positions of no small standing. Who was to say they might not be able to lend significant help?
The Old Madam swept the room with her gaze, and everyone fell quiet. “Why?”
“Severing ties is in everyone’s best interests.” Hua Zhi looked at the assembled company. “You may think of them as your maternal families. But to those families, you are daughters who have been married out and water that has been poured away. Their first consideration will be whether continued association with the Hua Family — now in the Emperor’s disfavor — might taint their own sons and grandsons’ prospects, whether it might provoke the Emperor’s displeasure toward them, whether it might affect their standing at court.”
Seeing that everyone was listening carefully, Hua Zhi made her meaning yet more plain. “This is not to say that your parents will genuinely abandon you to your fate. If you were to go to them in need, parental love might indeed move them to help. But that love has its limits. No one can say how long it will take for the Hua Family to regain its standing, nor can anyone say whether parental love will still be enough by the time that happens.”
Hua Zhi smiled faintly. “To sever ties at this moment is to make plain that you have no intention of dragging your maternal families down with you. Your families will be moved by your consideration, and they will feel guilt for not having been able to help. When ties are resumed in the future, there will be no awkwardness between you. People can only speak as equals when they stand on equal footing. Do not attempt to test the hearts of others in a time of misfortune — I fear the results would disappoint.”
And if parents and brothers were truly of good heart, even if open contact was severed, could they not still maintain it in secret? It came down to whether there was true intent or not.
The room was so silent that even breathing could be heard clearly. The children seemed to understand, and each breathed quietly, careful not to disrupt the adults’ affairs.
“I had half a mind to argue against the eldest young miss’s words — by any account I was quite favored at home. But on reflection, I find there is nothing more reasonable than what she has said. No matter how wonderful it is at your own home, once you are married out you belong to another family. To share in honor and hardship together, that is with the family into which you have married. Your maternal family can help you through one difficulty — but how can they help you through all your days? Even if your own parents were willing, the sisters-in-law and brothers’ wives would surely be at your door calling you a curse upon the household.” Wu Shi rubbed her belly with a wry smile, and felt a measure of relief that she had not — without the Old Madam’s permission — yet sent word to her own home.
“Indeed. No matter how dearly my parents love me, can I ever be more important to them than their sons and grandsons?” Third Madam Xia Shi took up the thread, the bitterness plain in her voice. To share a surname with her own family, yet to have become a stranger in another’s house — and in that household, the wife was equally a stranger. How pitiable was the fate of women.
The Old Madam swallowed the astringency gathering in her throat. “Then let each of you send word home. From tomorrow, the Hua Family will close its doors to visitors.”
“Closing our doors to visitors — that we can do. But sealing the gates entirely will not do. Grandmother, we must find a way to bring in some silver. In a place like the northern regions, life is hard without money to smooth the way.”
The Old Madam had had no less a thought herself, only she had been at a loss for a workable plan. Now, hearing these words from her granddaughter, she could tell plainly that she had already thought of something — and she sat up straighter at once. “What do you intend to do? Greasing the palms of those bloodsuckers takes no small sum.”
“Life cannot go on without food, clothing, shelter, and travel. I intend to start by doing something with food. Grandmother, you know that your granddaughter has no particular hobbies — only a rather greedy palate. I have spent no small amount of time tinkering in the kitchen over the years, and every one of Ying Chun and the others’ hands are skilled at making food. As for Fu Dong’s culinary abilities — I would dare pit them against the Imperial Chef.”
This the Old Madam knew well — she had received food sent over by this granddaughter from time to time, so that over the years, her entire impression of this granddaughter had been tied up with food. Small wonder she had misjudged her. Still — “There is no shortage of people selling food in the capital. Will it truly bring in enough silver?”
“Does the food you have tasted elsewhere compare to what I have made?”
“Naturally, it does not.”
“And have you ever eaten the like of it anywhere else?”
“…Come to think of it, I have not.” The Old Madam nodded thoughtfully. If what was being sold was something entirely one’s own, there was certainly profit to be had.
“I will try my hand first. If it does not work, I will find another approach. There will be a way to earn money.”
“Very well. Try first.” The Old Madam glanced at Nanny Su, who understood. She went to the lowest drawer of the cabinet, opened a concealed compartment inside, and drew out a money chest.
“This holds everything of value that Grandmother has on hand. Half to keep in reserve, and the other half to you. If that is not enough, each branch can contribute.”
Hua Zhi had been about to decline, but on second thought, this was a matter for the whole family. Everyone needed to be involved. When people have put in their own money, they pay closer attention — and moreover, the more money she had to work with, the better she could act.
Inside the chest, alongside a roll of silver banknotes, there were several pieces of jewelry, their styles somewhat dated — evidently of considerable age.
There were eight banknotes in total, each for two hundred taels. Hua Zhi accepted four of them. When the Old Madam moved to distribute the jewelry as well, she declined. “We are not yet at the point of pawning belongings. Please keep these for now. If I find myself short, I will come to you.”
The Old Madam pressed another banknote into her hand. “Work hard. Grandmother believes in you.”
Not wishing for her aunts to feel any resentment, Hua Zhi said, “No matter how much is earned, all of it will go into the communal funds until Grandfather and the others return. As for how it will be divided thereafter, that will be for Grandfather and Grandmother to decide. Though I expect there will not be much left over — there are far too many places where money will need to be spent, and the hands of Grandfather and the others must absolutely never be left empty. If it is possible, I also intend to use silver to see what can be arranged here in the capital. Grandfather’s was not a grave crime — there may yet be a way for him to come back.”
“Is… is that true? He can come back?” Third Madam Xia Shi rose to her feet, agitated. “As long as my husband can come back, whatever it takes will be fine.”
First Madam Zhu Shi and Fourth Madam Wu Shi nodded in unison. Even the habitually reticent Second Madam Qi Shi fixed her gaze unwaveringly on Hua Zhi. What was a little money, as long as the men came home safe and sound.
“Eldest young miss, one moment.” Xia Shi swept out of the room in a flurry. The sight of her made even the Old Madam smile — having been a part of this family for so many years, was this the first time she had been seen in such a frantic rush?
Not long after, Xia Shi returned hugging a money chest. She did not even count it — she simply pushed the entire chest toward Hua Zhi. “I kept a little aside for myself. All of this is yours.”
Seeing Xia Shi act in such a way, First Madam Zhu Shi naturally had to show her own support for her daughter — she promptly sent a maid back to fetch her own private savings. She had set a little aside herself, after all.
Whether or not Wu Shi and Qi Shi were willing in their hearts, the occasion demanded that they make a showing. Holding four money chests in her arms, Hua Zhi did not decline. “I will do my utmost to make this silver produce more silver. All of you are welcome to check the accounts at any time.”
The excitement had not yet faded from Xia Shi, who kept saying: “We trust you. All of us trust you.”