“Second Brother,” Zhou Du said earnestly, “we are one family. Study diligently, serve the realm, and bring honor to our house that is the greatest repayment you could ever give me.”
“Your Elder Brother has matters to discuss with me. I shall take my leave.”
“Farewell, Sister‑in‑Law.”
After Zhou Du departed, Gu Yanchuan stood lost in thought, unable to move.
“Second Brother? What is it?” Lijiao waved a hand before his face, curious at his long silence.
Gu Yanchuan caught her hand gently. “I was thinking… what a truly kind person our Sister‑in‑Law is.” He nearly bit his tongue.
Lijiao nodded innocently. “Yes! I love her so much!” Beautiful, gentle, and generous she had given her blossoms to wear and sweet pastries to eat. Ah… how fortunate Elder Brother is. If only I were Elder Brother…
“Second Brother… do you love her too?”
Gu Yanchuan pinched her soft little cheek and corrected her gravely. “Respect, Lijiao. We hold her in high respect.” Such words as ‘love’ were far too familiar and unseemly.
Lijiao mumbled through her pinched cheek, indistinct and earnest. “Yeth… I love her… and I respect her too…”
“Never mind. You are too little to understand.”
“Why were you gone so long?” Gu Yanshan demanded the moment she returned.
Zhou Du regarded him as one might regard a pile of dry tinder ever ready to ignite. Leaving him waiting had done nothing to cool his temper. Weary from walking, she ignored him, sat down, and poured herself tea.
“Why is this brew so weak?” she murmured, frowning.
Gu Yanshan stiffened then reasoned: She is my wife. What harm in drinking her tea?
“Whose fault is it?” he snapped. “You kept me waiting so long I have drunk my fill already!”
Zhou Du rolled her eyes. “Lian Qing, have them brew a fresh pot.”
“Lord Heir,” she said coolly, “Snow‑Blossom Red demands quiet appreciation. It is wasted on such… robust tastes as yours.” It was indeed casting pearls before swine. She cared nothing for the tea but his audacity irked her.
“One pot of tea!” Gu Yanshan huffed. “Must you haggle over every cup? You are wealthy and unkind!”
Zhou Du laughed outright. “Wealthy and unkind? Have you fallen so low that you must beg from your own wife?” Had he no idea what words meant?
“Enough. Did you not have urgent business? Speak.”
Gu Yanshan recalled his purpose and that he needed something from her. He mastered his anger and spoke as gently as he could. “It concerns… Qingqing.”
I knew it, Zhou Du thought.
“Father emptied nearly every treasure in the vault to meet your betrothal gifts. Nothing remains for Qingqing.”
A dark premonition stirred in Zhou Du’s breast. Here comes another breathtakingly foolish pronouncement.
Sure enough “Therefore,” Gu Yanshan said, “a portion of what was given to you rightfully belongs to Qingqing.”
Fresh tea arrived. Zhou Du took a cup to steady her temper. “Go on. What is it you propose?”
Gu Yanshan met her calm gaze with a touch of guilt but pressed on. “Take some of yours. Add what remains in my private chest and that shall suffice as her dowry gift.”
Zhou Du blew gently across the steam. Such fine tea wasted on such a fool, she thought, and set the thought aside.
“My dowry gifts were delivered to my birth family,” she said evenly. “You know that well enough. Go ask my parents for whatever you need.”
Gu Yanshan stared, aghast. “Ask your parents to return betrothal gifts for a concubine? What would people say of me?”
Zhou Du smiled. “You asked for them. I told you where they are. Why hesitate? Rest assured my parents would give them to you.”
“Zhou Du!” Gu Yanshan cried. “We are one flesh! If I become a laughingstock do you think you shall escape shame?”
Zhou Du blinked innocently. “Too shameful to ask them and too shameful to do without. What, then, do you want?”
“The gifts are yours now I cannot ask them back. But you hold what is hers. Therefore take from your dowry something of equal value.”
The more he spoke, the prouder he grew convinced he was the cleverest man alive.
“Ah,” Zhou Du said, amused. “You wish to take from my dowry?”
“Why do you laugh?” he demanded, frowning. “You refuse?”
Zhou Du explained with exaggerated patience. “Much of my dowry was bestowed by the Emperor. Such gifts may be kept and used but never given away or sold. That is the law.”
“Beyond that are heirlooms of the House of Zhou. Those shall certainly not be given to secure a concubine’s place in your household.”
“Furthermore every item in my dowry is registered with the Prefect’s office. Not one trinket may vanish without being recorded. Lord Heir… you would take your wife’s wedding gifts to bestow upon your concubine? I marvel that you dare speak it aloud.”
Gu Yanshan had hoped she would quietly make things available not blare the matter to the authorities.
“Your father does not know of this plan, does he?” Zhou Du asked.
If the Marquis knew, Gu Yanshan would be beaten within an inch of his life. How dared he speak such nonsense to her face?
Gu Yanshan eyed her warily. “You will not tell him?”
He had barely escaped a beating when he asked his father if Zhou Du spoke, his father might well strike him dead.
Zhou Du gave him a withering look. “I am not like you. I do not go out of my way to anger him every single day.”
“He grows old. You are no longer a boy. Can you not let him rest in peace?” You blockhead.
Gu Yanshan’s pride faltered. If only Father understood me… would I ever oppose him?
“But Qingqing’s betrothal gifts?” he insisted. “Marriage is a woman’s life. I shall not see her shamed.”
Zhou Du glanced at him. So his conscience existed only where Song Qingqing was concerned. He did understand how much a wedding meant to a woman.
“I have a thought,” Zhou Du said, a smile touching her lips while her eyes remained cold.
Gu Yanshan leaned in, oblivious to her tone. “Speak.”
“You are aware,” she said, “that a bride’s dowry and the groom’s betrothal gifts should be of comparable worth?”
Gifts far exceeding the dowry or far beneath it were both unseemly. A noble house sent generous gifts to show honor; the bride’s family matched them in kind. Loving parents added private lands, shops, and silver wealth never counted in the official tally.
Gu Yanshan nodded.
“Your cousin is much beloved in her home,” Zhou Du said smoothly. “Doubtless the Song family will prepare a most generous dowry for her.”