Chapter 50

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Author: 打字机N号

Chapter 50: The search for one’s mom second spring 18/For the sake of my mother’s remarriage 18

T/N: I have been busy these past 5 months with attending short courses and job hunting and unable to fully concentrate on translating. Finally, this arc will end today.. fuhh~

After this, I will translate Mochiron for a bit before proceeding to the fourth arc. There is a reason for it which you will see at the end of this arc. Till then, please enjoy~

#stayathome #covid19

[With the current quarantine, I am basically a mushroom here]

“Humph! “

Lu Guang coldly snorted as step out from his position and came forward.

“Even so, this Jiang Meng-shi is still the womenfolk of the Jiang’s

clan. Furthermore, her name is yet written as the widow of the late Jiang

Dachun in the Jiang family’s tree book. You are neither your mother’s

biological parents or her in-laws. Nor we also have a position as Jiang Clan’s

patriarch. As a son and even one of the younger generation, what qualification

do you have to hold and support your birth mother’s second marriage? Although

your mouth was full of righteousness, could it be that you wanted to offend

others by overstepping their authority?

For Lu Guang, to be able to climb into the position of an Imperial

censor clearly showed that he was not a useless person. Although he was stumped

previously by Jiang Liu’s argument; however, he was also a talented person, he

accurately identified the loopholes in Jiang Liu’s cases and vigorously

counterattacked him.

Granted that he wanted to show his righteousness by fighting over those

widow’s rights, but if by doing so, he was willing to step over the established

rules, won’t other people die to curb this person?

At the current moment, Jiang Liu still able to act out of the boundary

of the established custom by using his position as a son to arrange the

marriage of his mother. In the future, they might be people who wish to imitate

his action. Don’t tell me that this small thing wants to overstep Laozi’s head?

It is the underling who should look after their superior. What’s more, can the

subjects still point at the established rules by the imperial power as long as

they hold the banner of righteousness?

Lu Guang dug a hole for Jiang Liu. If the Emperor has any doubt in his

mind over Jiang Liu’s intention, this suspicion could lead him to death/

“Your Majesty, please turn over to the last page of the report.”

Jiang Liu smiled as he ignored Lu Guang’s questioning, and respectfully

said those words to Emperor Jin Wen.

Emperor Jin Wen looked expressionless. After he was looking at Jiang Liu

deeply, he finally turned the last page of the report.

Lu Guang was nervous when he saw Jiang Liu’s move. He never thought that

this Jiang Liu kid still has something on his sleeves.

At this moment, Lu Guang felt remorseful. Whether the other side’s

mother wishes to remarry or not have nothing to do with them, it just that

because he was Jiang Shendao’s disciples, and the small emperor wants to

promote him into his faction that they had decidedly pulled his name into their

blacklist.

If he knew that this 15-year-old boy has such a sturdy bone, don’t even

say that if he is to agree to his mother’s remarriage, also if he wanted to

give his father who already in the underworld a ghost marriage, they wouldn’t

even be bothered to make any noise, ah.

“The marriage of my mother was, in fact, already consented by the

patriarch of my clan.”

Jiang Liu had long guessed that someone would use his status as the

younger generation to dig a hole for him. Since he wanted to ensure that his

beautiful mother will have a smooth marriage, Jiang Liu naturally had

considered all aspects.

The most crucial factor that will directly influence the success of this wave

is the consent from the Jiang Clan itself.

As early as a month ago, Jiang Liu had sent Jiang Yu, whom the patriarch

had sent to accompany him to the capital while at the same time established a

link between Jiang Liu back to the Jiang Clan with a report detailing his

analysis of the situation in the Jin dynasty and the benefits that came from

encouraging the widows to remarry.

If Jiang Liu is someone with nothing, perhaps Jiang Chong won’t pay much

attention to it, but who is Jiang Liu now?

He is the youngest Champion ever established in the Jin Dynasty. He was

also the first miracle who managed to become a top scorer in all levels of

examination. Not to mention he is also the sole disciple of Jiang Shendao, who

was the current Emperor’s teacher and even one of the high-rank officials in

Hanlin Academy.

When the land under heaven is prosperous, every benefit will quickly

fall on you; However, when the area under the sky was chaotic, every profit

will stop abruptly.

The current Jiang Liu is no longer the one that needs to rely on his clan. On

the contrary, the future of the Jiang clan is the one that needs to rely on his

shoulder.

As long as it is not too much, Jiang Chong will not refuse the proposal.

Not to mention that Jiang Liu also had promised them various benefits.

The reasons why Meng Yun-niang was unwilling to remarry after the end of

her mourning period was not only for the sake of her son’s reputation but also

due to the tofu recipe inheritance.

Now that the Jiang’s mother and son had finally settled down at the

capital with more than 2000 miles separating them from the ancestor clan, it

will not affect their business in the capital even if they give back the recipe

to the clan.

Therefore, in the letter sent back by Jiang Yu, Jiang Liu also added

this recipe alongside his report. Compared to his mother, who could only open a

small shop previously, Jiang Clan could open a much bigger shop. With the

addition to the brand of their Yuan’s tofu, they will be able to have a smooth

business in the future.

As for the profit of this tofu’s shop, it can be used to support the

future generation’s schooling. With this, the lower and middle-income families

in the clan will be able to study freely at ease. It will be hard for a single

branch to keep supporting the clan. Therefore, the more descendants of the

Jiang clan managed to achieved success in the future; it will benefit not only

the clan but also Jiang Liu himself.

Perhaps this factor had impressed Jiang Chong so much that half a month later, Jiang Liu managed to get the report that he wanted.

“The Jiang patriarch deeply felt that the custom

of not allowing the widow to remarry had somehow led to a deep problem,

therefore, as early as the beginning of this month, the patriarch had informed

the clan that he wished to unbarred the rule and even allowed those widow to

take back their dowry if they wish to marry once again. As for those who had

children, as long as they did not change the child’s family name, they are

allowed to bring their children when they married off. Those who do not wish to

remarry, on the other hand, could choose whether to remain in the clan or

return to their family.”

Jiang Chong’s action which was also implemented under Jiang Liu’s

proposal also dealt with in detail the consequences of a widow’s remarriage.

For example, those who insist on remarrying but do not want to take away

their children need to leave half of the dowry, which will be used to support

the children’s expenses until adult. Those who unable to give up their child,

on the other hand, could bring their child to the new family as long as the

child’s surname remained unchanged. No one in the family may, for any reason,

deprive the child of their deceased father’s property. Additionally, the woman

who took their children away also needs to accept the occasional visits from

the Jiang’s family to ensure the children’s well-being and happiness in the new

environment.

Looking at the written rules, Emperor Jin Wen let out a sigh of relief.

And on the final

statement, it was mentioned that, after the Jiang clan had finally untied the

shackles on those widowed women over the years, out of 43 widows in the

village, apart from 21 women who were over 50 years old, 12 of them showing the

intention to remarry and was already looking for their future spouses. These

widows were still in their prime years, and after they remarry, they would

undoubtedly be able to have healthy and lively children, which will also become

the hope of the Jin Dynasty, as mentioned by Jiang Liu.

It’s a pity for those 21 elderly widows. Emperor Jin

Wen had calculated and concluded that perhaps some of them were widows from

that war. If the patriarch can think of this through at that time and support

their remarriage, maybe the new population of the Jin Dynasty will not fall

into such a terrible number.

Wrong!

If the Jiang patriarch could have such a vision now,

he will not act like those other patriarchs, asking those young widows to

remain single for life. This showed that someone in the clan had fed him with

these ideas.

He looked at Jiang Liu, who stood in the middle of the hall. Never mind. It just that a moment ago he felt like he had finally found a very capable demon.

“Since it was the demand from the clan’s patriarch, my beloved official Jiang had been wronged ah.”

Emperor Jin Wen laughed and then the four pages’

report in the hands of the eunuchs, who are on the side, and lets him took it

down and passed it on to the ministers.

The data that Jiang Liu used to refute Lu Guang’s argument was just the tip of the iceberg. The first three pages were an analysis of the various hazards caused by population reduction, especially when compared with the data on the Qiang tribe gathered from the survey conducted by Jiang Liu with the help from the travelling merchants.

The officials who read the report showed an ever more

intense expression.

In particular, those from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue.

Over the past 20 years, the Jin Dynasty’s army had

suffered heavy losses, and the number of troops stationed at the border dropped

sharply from the original 400,000 to the later 270,000. Fortunately, at that

time, the Qiang tribe was equally damaged, and their troops had also

significantly reduced.

But more than two decades later, the addition of new

soldiers could not be compared to the number of the retirement of these

veterans with the army barely maintained the figure of 250,000.

The Qiang tribe is different. These barbarians do not

have those so-called ethical concepts. If the is father died, his father’s

legacy will be inherited by the son, if the elder brother died, the younger

brother will continue to take up the mantle over her elder brother’s family.

How could they use this to put all blame on the women when those widows who’re

their husband died in the war were not inherited by their stepson or their

husband’s brother? At that time, those people in the Qiang tribe had encouraged

those women to remarry. With every newborn, the tax imposed on them was

lightened which greatly encourage the baby boom. Today, that group of children

has grown up and already trained to become a soldier who is ready for the war.

If the Qiang tribe and the Jin Dynasty were to plunge into another war, who

will be able to guarantee the winner and the loser?

The Minister of War started to sweat as his heart drowned

in panic.

As for the Minister of Revenue, he was no better.

The Ministry of Revenue was responsible for the tax collection. Perhaps due to a large number of young and skilled workers recruited during the last war, resulting in a devastating loss. Thus, after the war ended, many places began to become a wasteland due to the lack of labour force. This had indirectly reduced the amount of household taxes, silver taxes, and grain taxes being received into the country.

He had not taken it seriously before. After all, it

was not surprising to see the reduction tax gathered after experiencing such a

big war. However, when these figures were presented in front of him, he finally

released the hidden horror the current situation had for the country.

Silver tax and Grain tax could be considered as an

important military reserve especially at the beginning of the war. don’t look

at the fact that the bad results haven’t yet appeared, if another battle were

to be fought, the Jin dynasty might not be lucky enough to win again. For the

women who were forced to observe widowhood after the death of their husband in

war have led to a wasteful of many young women. With this much surplus as well

as many young men who were forced to become old bachelor, inevitably it will lead

to a lot of land being unattended and a rapid decline in the number of newborns…

They dared not think about it anymore. The Minister of

Household was already sweating hard while the Minister of Military Affairs

looked at him with a bitter smile.

They

could not imagine that such an easy-to-understand truth, was raised by a

fifteen-year-old boy.

Lu

Guang has wholly failed to bring Jiang Liu down, and he could only blame the

other side.

To

think that such a freak that almost like a bewitching monster full of wisdom

was picked up by Jiang Shendao as an apprentice. Lu Guang was both angry and

envious as he secretly prays that he will not be paired up with this boy ever

again.

“I have the verdict on this matter.”

Emperor

Jin Wen looked at Jiang Liu but did not say what the conclusion in his heart

is.

“As for Lu Aiqing, you are nearly being

hoodwinked by those scoundrels. Zhen won’t blame you. However, for that couple

husband and wife who tried to slander the government official, Zhen will hand

them to the capital’s magistrate for them to be punished. Zhen won’t let them

off easily. [T/N: Zhen: Emperor, me; Aiqing: How the emperor calls their

official.]

Jiang Liu is still too young. Furthermore, Emperor Jin

Wen also did not want to suppress the Left Prime Minister’s faction completely.

Although Lu Guang was in the wrong, he decided to push all the fault on Jiang

Liu’s uncle and aunt, who had been acting abominably. After all, Emperor Jin

Wen did not mind a bit in giving them a severe punishment. Perhaps by doing

this, it will make Jiang Liu even more grateful and increase his loyalty to the

monarch indirectly.

*****

Hiding in the corner of Lu’s house, Jiang Erchun and Su Panyun who were dreaming of finally having a good life suddenly had an ominous hunch in their hearts.

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