Loyalty in the Time of Tyranny Chapter 6

Before visiting relatives, Adrian Tang had asked Mason Yao to find out the situation of Tang Ju's family.

The Tang family is a big family in Gusu Prefecture. More than 20 years ago, Mr. Tang married a girl from another scholarly family in Gusu Prefecture, who is now Mrs. Tang. The couple had a harmonious relationship and had a pair of children. Mr. Tang took a Concub!ne, and his second son was the same age as Adrian Tang.

Tang Juren's mother passed away two years ago. It is said that she sent people to Zhaojia Village to invite Tang Xiucai to come back to keep vigil, but Tang Xiucai refused. Since then, the Tang family has never set foot in Zhaojia Village again, and the two families have completely cut off contact.

Ivy Don was curious and nervous about visiting relatives. When they were almost at the door, looking at the rich and magnificent gate, the little girl said, "Brother, why don't we go back?"

Adrian Tang: "You've already bought the gifts, why are you still going back? Come in with me."

Ivy Don gritted his teeth and said, "You can go alone. Besides, we can live a good life on our own, why do we have to go to them?"

"You are also a member of the Tang family. We don't have any hatred. It's better to make a family relative than to make a family enemy. Do you understand?"

Ivy Don followed his brother with a wronged look on his face and came to the gate of the Tang family.

Adrian Tang walked up and knocked on the door. There was a sound of footsteps inside, and soon a small door opened from the side. A servant who looked like a doorman came out from the small door, looked up and down at the brother and sister and said, "What's up, little brother? This is the family of Tang Juren from Gusu. Do you have a visiting card?"

Tang Juren was a scholar, and the Tang family was a family of scholars. Outsiders who wanted to visit would usually send their name cards one day in advance to inform the host. Or they could just give their name cards to Adrian Tang directly like Liang Daru did, and hand them over when they visited.

Adrian Tang smiled and said, "I don't have a name card. My last name is Adrian Tang, and this is my sister, Tang Juan. We are from Zhaojia Village. Please let us know."

As soon as Adrian Tang finished speaking, the doorman's expression changed.

Today, Adrian Tang and Tang Juan came to visit their relatives. They were wearing newly bought clothes. They were not made of silk or satin, but they were clean and elegant. In addition, the brother and sister were handsome and cute, so the doorman treated the two children well. Now, when he heard that they were from Zhaojia Village, the doorman showed disgust and snorted coldly: "Wait." After that, he entered the small door and slammed the door, leaving Adrian Tang and Tang Juan outside.

Ivy Don had never been treated like this. The people in Zhaojia Village were simple and honest, and the relationship between neighbors was good. The little girl was angry and annoyed, and Adrian Tang showed a meaningful expression and said nothing.

After a long time, a man who looked like a butler opened the small door and let the brother and sister in.

The Tang family's house was a typical Jiangnan garden. At the entrance was a huge Taishan stone screen with eight characters on it: "Broad learning, firm determination, careful questioning and close thinking", from "The Analects of Confucius: Zi Zhang". The housekeeper took Adrian Tang along the west corridor, passed the west corner chamber, and made several detours to a deserted and remote courtyard. After settling the brother and sister down, the housekeeper left first.

A servant brought two cups of tea to the brother and sister. Ivy Don took a sip and said, "Pooh, it's cold."

Adrian Tang didn't drink the tea at all. He put the gift he brought on the table, closed his eyes and rested, wondering what he was thinking.

After a while, footsteps were heard in the courtyard outside the house. Adrian Tang turned around and saw a middle-aged man wearing a scholar's hat and a round-necked gold-threaded robe walking in. He was a little fat and his steps were frivolous. After entering the house and seeing Adrian Tang and Ivy Don, he paused and continued walking forward.

Mr. Tang sat in the upper seat, and the servant brought him a cup of tea. He took a sip and looked at the brother and sister: "Are you from Zhaojia Village?"

Adrian Tang: "Well, uncle, my name is Adrian Tang, and this is my sister Tang Juan."

Tang Juren looked at Adrian Tang with strange eyes, as if he remembered the past. He said coldly: "So they are my half-brother's children. Why did you come to Gusu Mansion? What's the matter?"

Adrian Tang was about to speak when the housekeeper walked into the room quickly and whispered something in Tang's ear. Tang stood up and said, "Something happened at home. I'll go deal with it first. Wait a moment, housekeeper, bring two plates of snacks." After saying that, he left in a hurry without giving the brother and sister a chance to speak.

Soon, the butler brought a few plates of snacks, which tasted good and were no longer cold like the two cups of tea.

Ivy Don took a few bites and said, "Brother, it's been so long, why hasn't Mr. Tang come yet?"

"Do you really think he'll come back?"

"ah?"

Adrian Tang looked at the cold snacks on the table and stood up: "Are you full?"

Ivy Don: "I wasn't hungry."

"Okay, let's go then."

At first, it was Ivy Don who kept saying he was leaving, and now that Adrian Tang was really leaving, the little girl was stunned: "Didn't you say you were coming to visit relatives? Adrian Tang, if we just leave like this, wouldn't it be a waste of our trip today?"

"Isn't this visiting a relative?"

"You call this visiting relatives? We didn't even talk to Mr. Tang." After a pause, the little girl, young but sensitive, said, "Even though he didn't want to talk to us either."

"It's enough to go through this process. They don't want to bother with you anymore. You know their attitude. You can do the important things next time. What do you think we are here for? Are we really here to visit relatives?"

"If we're not visiting relatives, then what are we here for?" Ivy Don trotted to catch up with Adrian Tang and left the villa.

Adrian Tang had nothing in his hands. He placed the gift in the room and said calmly, "Separation."

After the Tang brothers and sisters left the Tang Mansion, the news reached the main house within a cup of tea. At this time, Tang Juren was sitting at the table eating and had not done any work. After hearing the housekeeper's announcement that Adrian Tang and Tang Juan had left, Tang Juren snorted coldly and asked the maid to serve him a bowl of soup.

"Two little guys who came to take advantage of the situation."

Mrs. Tang took the soup from the maid and handed it to Mr. Tang: "Adrian Tang and Tang Juan? Are they your half-brother's children? Don't they live in Zhaojia Village? When did they come to Gusu Mansion? Why didn't you tell me?"

Mr. Tang finished his soup and said, "What's the point of telling you about that? They are just two poor relatives who want money. When their father was still alive, my mother treated him very well. She never treated him badly. Even when he went to Zhaojia Village, she sent people to send him gifts during festivals and treated him as her own son. After my mother passed away, he didn't even look at her. Isn't he an ungrateful person? An ungrateful person gave birth to two little ungrateful people. This kind of relative came to the Tang family as soon as he came to Gusu Mansion. Naturally, he came to ask for money."

Mrs. Tang frowned and said, "Don't say that. What do children know? Their father's affairs have nothing to do with them. I remember that my nephew should be only twelve or thirteen years old this year." She waved her hand and called the housekeeper: "Tell me what happened after they came today."

The housekeeper told him everything about the Tang brothers and sisters' behavior after they entered the mansion.

Mrs. Tang said, "So they brought gifts? That's thoughtful."

Housekeeper: "They are all cheap things."

Tang Juren: "It's just the autumn wind coming."

Mrs. Tang glanced at Mr. Tang and said to the housekeeper, "You just said that before Adrian Tang left, he said he had to visit someone else, so he couldn't wait any longer?"

"yes."

After thinking for a while, Mrs. Tang called her personal maid and said, "Go to the storehouse and get 20 taels of silver. Go after them now. You should be able to catch up with the brother and sister. After catching up with them, don't disturb them first. Just watch from behind to see if they are really going to visit someone. When they return home, go to their house and give them the silver."

Tang Juren: "What are you doing?"

Mrs. Tang: "What did I do? They are your nephews and nieces, only twelve or thirteen years old. The two children came to Gusu Mansion, but the Tang family didn't take care of them, but drove them away. If this gets out, it will damage your reputation, Mr. Tang, and others will scold your Tang family."

"This, this... This is because the people in Gusu Mansion also knew about their father's actions."

"You bullied his father a lot when you were a kid, right?"

"Who are you speaking for?"

Mrs. Tang: "Okay, just think of it as a snack money from me as an aunt to my nephew. Go ahead."

The maid took the order and left. Mr. Tang was very disdainful, but Mrs. Tang seemed to be thinking about something. She asked, "Those two children have just arrived in Gusu Mansion. Who are their relatives to visit? Aren't our family their only relatives in Gusu Mansion?"

Tang Juren: "Why do you care so much?"

Mrs. Tang opened her mouth but said nothing more.

On the other side, as soon as Adrian Tang left the Tang Mansion, Tang Juan pestered him to explain clearly.

"What on earth is this separation? What are you talking about?"

Adrian Tang was so annoyed that his head hurt. He stopped and looked at his sister seriously, saying sincerely, "Sometimes I really wonder, am I the ancient person or are you the ancient person?"

"What?"

Adrian Tang: "Just pretend I didn't say anything."

As the brother and sister walked, Ivy Don said, "Adrian Tang, just tell me why we have to divide the family."

Adrian Tang: "Call me brother."

"elder brother!"

"beg me."

"Brother, please, you are the best brother in the world."

Adrian Tang wiped the goose bumps on his arms and said, "Do you remember what your father told you about the Tang family when you were little?"

Ivy Don thought for a while: "Dad said that his elder brother had no ambition and was extremely stupid. I don't know what kind of luck he had, but he actually passed the imperial examination. It was unfair of God. Brother, I think dad is right. Today we saw that Mr. Tang doesn't look like a scholar at all. His belly is so big." The little girl drew a big circle next to her thin waist.

"It's not as big as you say. Yes, Dad said so, but have you ever heard Dad say a bad word about the old lady?"

Ivy Don recalled seriously: "No."

"With our father's temper..."

Adrian Tang silently added in his heart: When I wake up in the morning, I will curse Mr. Tang first, when I eat lunch, I will curse him again, and before going to bed at night, I will write a couple of limericks and curse him again.

"Well, with our father's temper, he couldn't say a bad word about the old lady, which shows that the old lady is good to our father, and our father has nothing to say."

Ivy Don: "So?"

Adrian Tang: "So, the Tang family is also a well-known family in Gusu Prefecture. Even the Gusu Prefecture Governor Liang Daru has heard of Tang Juren's name. The Tang family is so famous. Do you think that the people in Gusu Prefecture knew that our father did not come back to keep vigil for the old lady?"

Ivy Don clapped his hands: "Of course I know!"

"To put it mildly, it's unfilial; to put it bluntly, it's unkind and unjust. It's true that my father went into a dead end and didn't do the right thing. Now that my father is gone, others can't blame my father. Who do you think they should blame?"

"...blaming us?"

Adrian Tang smiled and said, "The boy is teachable. So today we go to the Tang family to show our attitude. Since the Tang family does not want to resolve the dispute, then next time we go, we will just split up. Otherwise, if something happens to Mr. Tang in the future, we must help, otherwise we will be ungrateful. And if Mr. Tang does not help us when we are in trouble, he can say that our father was unkind first, and then he is unjust. He is always right in everything, do you think we are losing out?" It's a huge loss!

Ivy Don opened his eyes wide: "Don Shen, you are so smart!"

"Call me brother."

The little girl called out sweetly: "Brother!"

Arriving at Tongde Lane, Adrian Tang searched for two households and soon found the Liang Mansion.

The Liang Mansion was different from the Tang Mansion, both were wealthy families. In front of the Tang Mansion were two round stone statues, while in front of the Liang Mansion were two majestic stone lions. In the Song Dynasty, not every family could place stone lions. Two guards holding long spears stood on both sides of the Liang Mansion's gate. Adrian Tang walked forward, and one of them came down the steps and first examined him.

The soldier was not as arrogant as some of the ruffians, but he was not vulgar either. He asked, "Who is this? This is the residence of Lord Liang, the governor of Gusu Prefecture. Do you have a visiting card?"