Reincarnation In The Shanghai Dynasty

Untitled Episodechapter7

Chapter 7 : The Shadow in the Great Hall

The Great Hall of the Chen estate was a cavern of light and noise. Red silk lanterns hung from the high rafters, casting a warm, flickering glow over the hundreds of guests who had gathered to witness the naming of the "Golden Son." The smell of roasted pig and expensive wine filled the air, a scent so thick it felt like a physical weight.

Master Chen stood at the head of the long table, his face flushed with wine and pride. In his arms, he held the infant Chen Bo. The baby was wrapped in so many layers of gold-threaded silk that he looked like a precious statue rather than a living child.

"To my son!" Master Chen shouted, his voice booming against the walls. "The one who will bring the Chen name to the Imperial Palace! The one who will inherit the greatest silk empire in the East!"

The guests cheered, their cups clinking. But far at the back of the room, in the darkest corner where the shadows clung to the walls, sat Lin Xia and her four daughters.

They had not been given a place at the main table. They had been given a small, wobbly wooden bench near the servant's entrance. Their plates were filled with the cold scraps that the guests hadn't wanted—broken pieces of duck and bowls of thin, watery rice.

Lin Xia sat perfectly still. She didn't look at the food. She didn't look at the gold. She watched Master Chen with the eyes of a wolf watching a hunter who had forgotten his traps. To her, the boy was simply a wall that blocked her daughters' future. And Lin Xia was an expert at tearing down walls.

"Mother," A-Ling whispered, leaning close so no one else could hear. Her eyes were fixed on the expensive wine jars being carried by the servants. "The cost of this banquet... it is more than the profit from the entire spring harvest. Father is spending the money we need for next year’s seeds."

Lin Xia’s expression didn't change, but her mind was already calculating. "He is performing, A-Ling. He wants the merchants to think he is drowning in gold so they will trust him with their own money. He is building a house of cards."

"And when the wind blows?" A-Zhen asked, her voice trembling slightly as she watched the guards standing at the doors.

"When the wind blows," Lin Xia said, "we will be the ones holding the fans."

While the music played and the Master bragged, the youngest daughter, A-Jiao, was as quiet as a mouse. She was still covered in a thin layer of soot from her trip through the tunnels, hidden by her dark robes. She had spent the last hour sneaking back and forth between the Great Hall and the cold cellar in the North Pavilion.

"Mother," A-Jiao murmured, her hand brushing against Lin Xia’s sleeve. "The midwife is still hidden in the cellar. I gave her some water and a piece of bread I swiped from the kitchen. She is terrified. She says the Master’s men are looking for her family. She thinks he wants to pay them to disappear."

Lin Xia felt a cold ripple of interest. Why would a man pay a midwife’s family to disappear if the birth was a simple, happy event? She didn't have the answer yet, but she tucked the information away like a secret weapon.

"Keep her hidden and keep her fed," Lin Xia commanded. "The midwife is our insurance policy. We don't use her until the Master thinks he has won everything. That is when the truth hurts the most."

Suddenly, the music stopped. A tall, thin man with a sharp beard stood up from the center of the table. This was Lord Feng, the head of the Merchant Guild and the man Master Chen owed the most money to.

"Master Chen," Lord Feng said, his voice cutting through the drunken laughter. "We all celebrate your son. But a son needs a legacy. You asked the Guild for a loan of ten thousand taels to buy a title for this boy. You said your silk factories were producing more than ever. But my spies tell me the looms are silent and the workers are hungry."

The room went deathly quiet. Master Chen’s smile faltered, his grip on the baby tightening.

"The looms are silent because we are preparing for a new design!" Master Chen lied, his voice sweating with desperation. "By the Moon Festival, the Chen silk will be the only silk the Emperor wears!"

Lord Feng leaned forward. "Then prove it. If the Chen estate cannot show a profit of five thousand taels by the end of the month, the Guild will take your factories. And your 'Golden Son' will inherit nothing but a pile of debt."

Master Chen looked like he had been slapped. He looked around the room for support, but the other merchants were looking at their plates. They were sharks who smelled blood in the water.

Lin Xia watched her husband’s world begin to crack. This was the moment she had been waiting for. She didn't need to expose the baby yet. She needed to save the assets.

She stood up from her small bench in the corner. The movement was slow and graceful, but it drew every eye in the room. A woman standing up in a room of men was unheard of, but Lin Xia didn't care about the rules of this world. She was using the rules of her own.

"Lord Feng," Lin Xia said, her voice clear and ringing like a bell.

The guests gasped. Master Chen’s face turned from white to a deep, angry purple. "Lin Xia! Sit down! How dare you speak!"

Lin Xia ignored him. She walked toward the center of the hall, her daughters following her like a small, silent army. She didn't look like a discarded wife; she looked like a CEO entering a boardroom.

"Lord Feng," she repeated, stopping just a few feet from the merchant leader. "My husband is a man of great... vision. But sometimes visionaries forget the details. The factories are not silent because of a new design. They are silent because I have ordered an audit of the books."

The word "audit" was foreign to them, but the tone was unmistakable.

"If the Guild wants their money," Lin Xia continued, "they should not look to the Master’s promises. They should look to the North Pavilion. From this day on, no silk leaves this estate without my seal. I am the Primary Wife, and under the old laws of the Shanghai Dynasty, I am the guardian of the family’s inner treasury."

Master Chen was shaking with rage. "You have no treasury! You have nothing!"

Lin Xia turned to her husband, her eyes cold and empty. "I have the midwife, Chen. And I have the ledgers A-Ling has been keeping. Would you like me to discuss them here, in front of your friends? Or would you like to sit down and listen to my terms?"

The silence in the hall was so heavy it felt like it might break the floorboards. Master Chen looked at the infant in his arms, then at the sharp, knowing eyes of his youngest daughter, A-Jiao, who was smiling a very small, very dangerous smile.

He realized in that moment that his "useless" daughters were no longer just children. They were a threat.

"What do you want?" Master Chen hissed, his voice trembling.

Lin Xia stepped closer, her voice dropping to a whisper that only he could hear.

"I want the keys to the silk warehouses. And I want the contract for A-Mei’s marriage cancelled. If you refuse, I will tell Lord Feng exactly where you hid the money you stole from the Emperor’s tax."

Master Chen’s eyes went wide. He hadn't told anyone about the tax money. How did she know?

Before he could answer, the heavy front doors of the hall burst open again. A messenger in the Emperor’s colors ran inside, his face pale with terror.

"Master Chen!" the messenger cried out. "The Imperial Silk Office has been robbed! They say the thief used a carriage with the Chen family crest!"

Lin Xia’s heart skipped a beat. She hadn't planned for this. Someone was framing them, and they were doing it faster than she could negotiate. She looked at A-Jiao, whose quick wits were already scanning the room for an exit.

"Mother," A-Jiao whispered, grabbing Lin Xia’s hand. "The guards... they aren't looking at Father. They’re looking at us."