Rebirth: The Journey of an Heiress

Chapter 105: Chapter 104: A Moment of Peace_1

As he spoke, Mr. Gu suddenly stood up and rushed toward the solid wood offering table in the mourning hall.

“Mr. Gu!” Bai Jinxiu widened her eyes, spreading her arms to stop Mr. Gu, but was knocked down along with him.

The mourning hall instantly descended into chaos, with some pulling Mr. Gu and others helping Bai Jinxiu up.

The common people were incited to righteous indignation.

“The National Duke Mansion is too unfortunate! How can they not give the widow of the National Duke any way to live? In one day, they almost forced the deaths of two people from the National Duke Mansion! What kind of retribution is this? Is the clan not afraid of heavenly punishment?!”

“Bah! Shameless! The National Duke Mansion is having such a major funeral, and the clan doesn’t send someone to help the widow and orphans. Instead, they act like bandits to seize the family property!”

“Truly insatiable greed! The National Duke Mansion gives half of its annual income to the clan. Which family is this generous?! I think it’s because the Duke was too kind-hearted, which made those heartless people only greedier, bringing such a disaster upon the widow of the National Duke.”

“I think they just bully the National Duke Mansion because there are no men left! The men of the National Duke Mansion died for the country and the people. How can this shameless clan dare to bully the widow?!”

Seeing the public’s anger, Bai Qiyun took two steps back and stood with his two secondary cousins, clearly frightened and losing his composure by the earlier “Duke’s spirit manifestation.”

“What is this commotion?!”

Mrs. Dong, the wife of the Princely Heir of the National Duke Mansion, entered the mourning hall slowly, supported by Bai Qingyan. Mrs. Dong’s matronly authority was imposing.

“With such a commotion, do you want to alarm the Eldest Princess?!”

Mr. Gu, filled with guilt, heavily kowtowed, “Princely Heir’s wife! This old servant didn’t speak words of loyalty and righteousness. This old servant is not fit to be a servant of the National Duke Mansion!”

Mrs. Dong walked up to the tearful Mr. Gu and lifted him, saying, “Why say such things, Mr. Gu? Your family has served the National Duke Mansion from my great-grandfather’s generation. You’ve all worked diligently for generations! How could I not know that?”

“Princely Heir’s wife!” Mr. Gu’s eyes filled with tears, and he choked with emotion.

“Although the National Duke Mansion had to sell off the family assets to buy fields for the clan and repair the ancestral hall, ancestral temple, ancestral tombs, and school this time, here I, Mrs. Dong, swear that I will support the loyal servants and household slaves of the National Duke Mansion with all my dowry. As long as I have food, no one in the National Duke Mansion will go hungry.”

“Princely Heir’s wife!”

“Princely Heir’s wife!”

The servants and household slaves of the Bai Clan all knelt, grateful for Mrs. Dong’s kindness.

Although Mrs. Dong was a woman of the inner quarters, she was a person with foresight and decisiveness.

Bai Qingyan looked at her mother with admiration and respect. Earlier, her mother had insisted they wait behind and not show up until Mr. Gu was driven to desperation, igniting the public’s anger, before stepping out to take control of the situation.

With her mother’s statement to use her dowry to support the loyal servants and household slaves, when they returned to Shuoyang, the clan would see the National Duke Mansion’s entourage returning grandly, living as before. The clan couldn’t still demand the National Duke Mansion contribute money for the clan, knowing it was all from her mother’s dowry.

No matter how shameless, the clan couldn’t claim contributions from a family member’s dowry. Nor could they extend their hands into the Bai family wives’ dowries.

Otherwise, who would dare marry into the Bai family in the future?

Her solution was thorough, but her mother’s was even more complete. She still had much to learn about these household affairs from her mother.

“To support the clan, the National Duke Mansion sold off all assets to scrape together money! But let me make it clear to the clan…” Mrs. Dong looked at Bai Qiyun, her voice resounding like a bell, “This time, we shouldered the burden for the clan by dismantling our family’s assets. In the future, the clan must not covet the dowries of us widows. We need our dowries to support our daughters and the loyal servants and household slaves of the National Duke Mansion! Once we return to Shuoyang, we ask the clan to give us widows a way to live, some peace!”

Bai Qiyun stood with his two secondary cousins. He should have defended the clan’s honor, but thinking about the candles flickering without wind and the incense breaking twice, he tightly sealed his lips and dared not speak.

Reputation is the foundation of a clan.

He never expected the women and children of the National Duke Mansion, who would rely on the clan in the future, to disregard clan honor entirely, tearing away all pretense with the clan.

If Bai Qiyun’s father, the current clan leader, knew about this, Bai Qiyun’s legs might not be safe.

“It’s not a problem for the National Duke Mansion to lose our family fortune. Luckily, we still have the dowries of us women, enough to support our children and the loyal servants of the National Duke Mansion!” The Fifth Lady, Mrs. Qi, heavily pregnant and supported by her close nanny, also came to the mourning hall. She respectfully greeted Mrs. Dong, “As long as our dowries can buy us widows a way to live, stopping the clan from pushing us to death, what’s the harm in losing our family fortune? Not just Sister-in-law’s dowry, but also my dowry; Sister-in-law… all of us in the National Duke Mansion will face it together. There’s nothing we can’t overcome!”

The Fourth Lady, Mrs. Wang, who had been leaning against her son’s coffin, reluctantly wanting to live, spoke hoarsely, “My dowry too!”

“Mine as well! Although my dowry can’t compare to Sister-in-law’s, it was still a grand wedding back then… the dowry filled the streets for a whole day!” The Third Lady, Mrs. Li, rushed over upon hearing the news, her voice arriving before herself.

From ancient times, married women have regarded their dowries as more important than their lives! When the clan forced the National Duke Mansion to sell off all assets to buy peace, the wives of the National Duke Mansion stood forward, declaring their willingness to use their dowries to support the remaining children of the National Duke Mansion and its loyal servants!

In comparison, the wives of the National Duke Mansion displayed what magnanimity! How sordid the Bai clan of Shuoyang appeared?!

Among common folk, whose family without men could keep a deceased man’s assets? Most widows and orphans were robbed by their clans.

Who would have thought that even a family like the Bai clan could be so unsavory?

Bai Qingyan lowered her warmed eyes. She always knew her aunts were righteous and loyal. Although there were inevitable quarrels and unpleasantness among the households in daily life, the Bai family stood united in times of hardship.

This was the reason the Bai family had flourished for hundreds of years, growing ever more prosperous and honorable.

There is only one bond that cannot be measured by money: blood ties. Her grandfather was right…

“The Duke had said many times in the clan that the National Duke Mansion’s prosperity was meant to serve the clan without complaint or regret! The clan never had the disgraceful thought of forcing the widows of the National Duke Mansion! When the Princely Heir’s wife speaks of her dowry, it embarrasses the clan! It makes the world think that the Bai clan’s leader robs widows’ estates! Since it’s like this… even if it goes against the Duke’s wishes, the clan dare not accept the Duke’s good intentions. Goodbye!”