MLMD – Chapter 14 A Battle of Wits

“Has the old matriarch of the Yue family gone mad? She actually sent that bookish fool over. Isn’t she afraid that idiot will squander the entire Yue Manor fortune?” Lin Yuanteng, head of the Lin family, cried out in shock. His booming voice made the great hall hum.

Unlike Zheng Fakui’s kindly, benevolent appearance, or Wang Shoucheng’s imposing square-faced authority, Lin Yuanteng was thickset, with a face full of coarse flesh and a pair of triangular eyes. At first glance, he looked like a butcher. In fact, his temperament matched his looks—extremely overbearing. He also controlled nearly a thousand aggressive, hot-blooded miners, which made many people deeply wary of him.

Li Yuan, head of the Li family, frowned, clearly displeased with Lin Yuanteng’s shouting. He said calmly, “Brother Lin, why the fuss? Isn’t it better that the Yue family’s old woman sent this wet-behind-the-ears kid? This way, perhaps we won’t have to pay any price at all to take the Sanggan River into our own hands.”

Lin Yuanteng nodded. “Mm, that’s true. It saves us a lot of trouble.”

“Cough, cough…” Zheng Fakui coughed lightly from the side, a hint of displeasure rising in his heart. He spoke up, “Gentlemen, no matter what, the Yue family is a local gentry clan that has upheld farming and scholarship for several hundred years. One must know moderation—don’t go too far.”

“Ah… haha… Lord Zheng is right. Later we’ll definitely give that little fellow a bit of face.” Lin Yuanteng laughed heartily, though a trace of disdain flashed through his eyes.

“That will do.” Zheng Fakui nodded, then turned to the yamen runner by the door. “Go invite Young Master Yue in.”

“Yes, sir!”

The runner turned and left. Soon, a set of light footsteps sounded from the doorway. A young man wearing a white long robe, with fairly proper features and refined brows, appeared before everyone…

Yue Yang slowly entered the hall. He swept his gaze around, then finally fixed it on the middle-aged official seated at the center, dressed in a crimson robe with a cloud-wild-goose embroidered on his chest. Yue Yang had crammed some knowledge about the Ming official system before and knew that the cloud goose signified a fourth-rank official. In the entire Yingzhou Prefecture, only one person could wear such a robe—the Prefect of Yingzhou. In later times, that would be equivalent to a mayor who also doubled as the party secretary.

Yue Yang hurried forward, bent deeply, and performed a formal salute as he said clearly, “Greetings, Prefect. This junior, Yue Yang, has come to receive your guidance.”

Zheng Fakui studied Yue Yang’s face. Seeing that the young man showed not the slightest trace of nervousness or unease upon entering, he nodded secretly and smiled. “So you are the young lord of the Yue family. I have long heard of you—seeing you today, you truly are a promising young talent. Come, rise quickly.”

After paying respects to Zheng Fakui, Yue Yang straightened his chest and casually cupped his hands toward the remaining three men in the hall. “You three must be the heads of the Lin, Li, and Wang families. Yue Yang greets you.”

“Impudent!”

“How dare you!”

“Rude brat!”

A chorus of angry shouts rang out as Wang Shoucheng, Li Yuan, and Lin Yuanteng erupted in fury.

Wang Shoucheng pointed at Yue Yang and said coldly, “Young Yue, did your elders never teach you proper etiquette? When meeting your seniors, you don’t even perform the appropriate salute?”

The most hot-tempered, Lin Yuanteng, cursed loudly as well, “Boy, if you don’t bow and apologize to this old man immediately, don’t blame me for being ruthless!”

In the Ming dynasty, etiquette was taken extremely seriously. Xunzi once said: “Without ritual, a person cannot stand; without ritual, affairs cannot succeed; without ritual, a state cannot be at peace.”

Meaning: without propriety, one cannot live as a person; without propriety, nothing can be accomplished; without propriety, a nation cannot be stable.

Etiquette was also an important tool for those in power to maintain their rule, so every dynasty placed great importance on it. By convention, Yue Yang, as a junior, should have greeted the three men with a junior’s礼. Instead, he had treated them as equals, casually cupping his hands. This was undoubtedly a form of contempt, handing ammunition straight to three men who were already eager to find fault. Even Zheng Fakui shook his head slightly at the sight, the small bit of goodwill he had just formed toward Yue Yang vanishing without a trace.

Yet in the face of Wang Shoucheng’s and Lin Yuanteng’s accusations, Yue Yang showed neither guilt nor fear. He looked at Wang Shoucheng and sneered. “This gentleman must be Head Wang, I presume? Yue Yang dares to ask—did everyone come here today simply to reminisce, or to discuss the matter of the Sanggan River? If it’s the former, this junior will immediately apologize to the three of you and beg your forgiveness. But if it’s the latter, then please forgive Yue Yang for his lack of courtesy.”

“Uh…”

The moment Yue Yang spoke, Lin Yuanteng and the others were rendered speechless—even Zheng Fakui was taken aback. Indeed, Yue Yang’s words made sense. Why had everyone gathered here today? If it were merely to drink tea and chat, then Yue Yang naturally should have paid a junior’s respects. But today they had come to scheme over seizing the Yue family’s Sanggan River. Moreover, Yue Yang was not here in his personal capacity—he was here as the head of the Yue family. In terms of status, he already stood on equal footing with Lin Yuanteng and the others. A simple cupped-hand greeting was perfectly appropriate and could hardly be called discourteous. For a moment, all three fell into collective silence.

Seeing them at a loss for words, Yue Yang sneered and, without waiting for Zheng Fakui to speak, walked over and seated himself at the lower-right position beside Zheng Fakui.

Zheng Fakui’s eyelids twitched. He coughed lightly and said, “Ahem… What Young Master Yue says does make sense. Gentlemen, there’s no need to dwell on such minor formalities. Discussing the main matter is more important.”

“Mm… yes, yes… the main matter first.” Li Yuan quickly laughed it off and steered the conversation away.

Lin Yuanteng snorted. Accustomed to dealing with rough miners, he was the most blunt of them all. He looked straight at Yue Yang and said plainly, “Young Yue, we originally sent this invitation hoping your grandmother would come. But since you’re here representing Yue Manor, that works too. I’ll be frank with you. There’s been a severe drought this year—out of the four rivers in Yingzhou Prefecture, three are about to run dry. Only your Yue family’s Sanggan River still has water. We figured your Wuli Village can’t possibly use it all, so why not dig a few more channels and let us use some too? Just consider it helping us out in an emergency.”

Wang Chenglin chimed in, “Indeed. Brother Lin speaks well. Our rivers downstream have all dried up—our fields are on the verge of withering. Nephew Yue, just do a good deed and share a bit of the Sanggan River’s water with us.”

“That’s right. It’s only a little water anyway, not worth much silver. Nephew Yue surely wouldn’t be so stingy. Lord Zheng, don’t you agree?” Li Yuan added from the side.

As the three of them sang in chorus, pressuring Yue Yang, Zheng Fakui merely sat back in his chair with his eyes half-closed, assuming a stance of complete detachment. Yue Yang, meanwhile, wore a mocking expression. Only after they finished speaking did he sneer, “Oh? So what you’re saying is that today, our Yue family must agree whether we want to or not?”

Wang Shoucheng replied without changing expression, “Ah, Nephew Yue, that’s not quite right. We’re doing this purely out of necessity, not to seize the Sanggan River. Once the rainy season comes and water levels return to normal, we’ll naturally block off those channels and restore everything to its original state.”

“Yes, exactly. If Nephew Yue feels it’s a loss, our three families can offer some silver as compensation. In any case, we won’t let Nephew Yue suffer.” Lin Yuanteng put on a show of generosity.

Looking at the surrounding faces—some hypocritical, some feigning magnanimity—Yue Yang suppressed the anger in his heart and sneered. “Oh? Since Head Lin says there will be compensation, may I ask whether that is truly meant, or merely empty words?”

“Ah… well…” Lin Yuanteng was momentarily dumbfounded. He had only said it offhand—he had never seriously considered compensating the Yue family.

Yue Yang sneered again. “So the compensation Head Lin mentioned was just something you said casually, never meant to be taken seriously?”

“This…”

Now not only Lin Yuanteng, but also Wang Shoucheng and Li Yuan showed traces of embarrassment. Even Zheng Fakui found the scene hard to watch and spoke up, “Young Master Yue, there’s no need to be upset. In my view, since the three families wish to dig channels from the Sanggan River, they should naturally offer you some compensation. The question is—how much does Young Master Yue think would be appropriate?”

Yue Yang replied calmly, “Prefect, the heavens have been unkind these past two years. It hasn’t rained a single drop for nearly half a year—water is as precious as oil. Given that, this junior believes that if the three families wish to use the Sanggan River, each should pay one thousand taels of gold. In return, I can make the decision to allow all three families to share the river’s water for half a year. What do you all think?”

“What? Absolutely not!”

The moment Yue Yang finished speaking, the three family heads practically jumped to their feet.

Lin Yuanteng’s face flushed crimson. He sprang up, pointing at Yue Yang as he roared, “Young Yue brat! Do you really think your Sanggan River water is some kind of divine nectar? You dare try to fleece me like this?!”

Bang!

Yue Yang slammed the table and shouted, “Lin! If you’re unhappy, then don’t buy it! No one’s forcing you! As for fleecing you—this young master has no such refined hobby!”

As Yue Yang’s words fell, the atmosphere in the great hall suddenly turned tense…