The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 1116 - 1095: Insiders and Outsiders (Bonus - s for reader "Snow*Flower" for their tip)

Chapter 1116: Chapter 1095: Insiders and Outsiders (Bonus Chapters for reader "Snow*Flower" for their tip)

Just as she exited the palace gates, Manbao spotted Bai Shan, Bai Erlang, and Daji not far away. Her face immediately brightened, and she turned back to happily tell Eunuch Wu, "You don’t need to see me off, just take Young Manager Zheng back to Jishi Hall. My family has come to pick me up."

Young Manager Zheng was nearly scared to death by Manbao and quickly said, "No need, no need, I...I will just take a ride with Young Doctor Zhou for a bit, no need to trouble Eunuch Wu."

Eunuch Wu also felt that if Manbao wasn’t taking his carriage, he wasn’t going to bother sending Young Manager Zheng.

Seeing that Young Manager Zheng was tactful, he smiled and nodded, saying, "Then I’ll just see you two off here. What time does Young Doctor Zhou plan to come tomorrow?"

Manbao thought for a moment, she still had to administer acupuncture to Yin Huo after school tomorrow, so she needed to leave the palace early, and thus she said, "I’ll come during Wei Shi (1p.m-3p.m)."

That way, she could leave the palace around the end of Shen Shi (3p.m-5p.m).

Eunuch Wu smiled, nodded in acknowledgment of the time, and bid farewell to Manbao.

Manbao ran towards Bai Shan and the others. Bai Shan also walked a few steps forward, seeing her rosy cheek and happy smile, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Because Young Manager Zheng, a stranger, was with them, they had many questions they couldn’t ask, so everyone was rather quiet after getting on the carriage.

Young Manager Zheng’s gaze slid back and forth among the three of them. Seeing that they kept exchanging silent looks but didn’t speak, he started to regret not just walking out and hailing a carriage himself.

The three exchanged glances, thinking they had understood each other’s intentions. Then they all turned their attention to Young Manager Zheng and began finding topics to chat with him.

Manbao asked him, "Were you nervous when you entered the palace?"

Bai Shan then asked, "Did Manbao say anything wrong in the palace?"

Bai Erlang asked, "Did you meet the Emperor?"

Young Manager Zheng: ...What should I do if I want to get off and walk now?

Finally, under the watchful eyes of the three, he barely made it to the front of Jishi Hall. He almost fled as he jumped off the carriage. Manbao pulled down the carriage window and waved to him, "I won’t go in. Just tell Shopkeeper Zheng that you were present during the discussion about the illness."

But there was quite a long time in the middle when he wasn’t by her side. They didn’t ask in the palace; weren’t they going to explain things now that they were outside?

To let them help her assess if she had done anything wrong or said anything inappropriate.

But before he had a chance to speak, Manbao had already lowered the curtain, and Daji had spurred the horse forward.

Young Manager Zheng could only watch the carriage departing into the distance. He sighed lightly and turned to go inside to report back.

Even if Young Manager Zheng had asked, Manbao wouldn’t have told him; it was a secret, and secrets should naturally only be shared with one’s own family.

Therefore, as the carriage had only gone a short distance, Manbao, who had been holding back all this while, immediately lowered her voice yet couldn’t help but excitedly say to them, "Do you know who the Emperor is?"

Bai Shan and Bai Erlang exchanged glances, their faces speechless, "We know."

Manbao stared, "You know?"

Bai Shan: "...Of course, it’s Prince Qin, the Second Prince of the late Emperor, who doesn’t know that?"

Manbao: "...I’m talking about the person! You, me, him; we’ve all seen him, do you know who he is?"

"It sounds as if the current regime isn’t run by humans..." Bai Shan hadn’t finished ranting in his mind when he suddenly realized the implication of her words. He was taken aback, then thought carefully for a long time, shaking his head blankly, "I don’t know, have we met before?"

Bai Erlang was also incredibly surprised, "My goodness, when did we ever meet such an impressive person?"

Manbao then chuckled and said, "It was when we went to Yizhou City to study and took a detour through Maozhou that we met him. At that time, he was disguised as a merchant and called himself Li Er."

Bai Erlang was still wondering who it was, but Bai Shan had already remembered, sighing, "Indeed, it was Li Erlang."

Finally, Bai Erlang remembered a bit, but he couldn’t quite recall what the man looked like. He was a bit curious, "What was he doing in Yizhou at that time? Did he already know that the Prince of Yizhou was planning to rebel, so he went to investigate?"

Bai Shan and Manbao both glanced at him, with Bai Shan saying, "A child of great wealth does not stand under a dangerous wall; he is the emperor, how could he possibly run to Yizhou knowing that the Prince of Yizhou was plotting treachery?"

Manbao said, "He’s not without subordinates; there are so many ministers, just sending one person to investigate would have sufficed."

Bai Erlang then asked, "Then why do you think he went to Yizhou?"

Bai Shan thought for a moment and said, "Maybe it was for the resettlement of the disaster-affected people?"

Manbao added, "That was three years ago, the arrangements should have been made by then, which officials were good and which were not, one could basically tell by just visiting the place."

Bai Shan nodded.

The trio fell silent for a moment, then Bai Shan turned to Manbao, "Did you manage to form any connections with him?"

Manbao coughed lightly, slightly embarrassed, "I did, albeit accidentally."

Bai Shan replied, "... He is the emperor, don’t engage in networking with him in the future."

Bai Erlang remarked, "It’s not like we even can, huh, at least we’ve met him, stayed together overnight at that, yet he ended up causing us trouble, getting you to come to the capital to file a complaint."

Manbao sighed, "Yes, the imperial family is just like what’s written in the books. I really don’t understand, the Third Prince and the Crown Prince are from the same parents, neither lacking money nor land, why would he still compete with the Crown Prince for the throne?"

Bai Shan answered, "It’s exactly because there’s a lot of money and land, that’s why they compete."

Bai Erlang disagreed, "We are also not lacking in money or land, yet I’ve never thought about competing with my older brother."

Bai Shan then glanced at him, "That’s because the inheritance was fairly divided between you cousins. Besides inheriting an extra portion of sacrificial fields and the family home, the rest of the lands were practically split half between you two. But you should know, according to our family rules, the eldest legitimate son can inherit more than seventy percent of the wealth, and the remaining thirty percent is divided among the other sons."

Manbao looked at Bai Erlang, "If Old Master Bai and Mrs. Bai have more children..."

Bai Shan continued, "Then you guys will just split that thirty percent of the wealth, let’s see if you would be happy then."

Bai Erlang’s mouth hung open, and it took him a moment to find his voice again, "That’s not right, why didn’t I know about this rule?"

Manbao finally remembered, "Isn’t there also this rule in the law?"

Bai Shan nodded affirmatively, "That’s right, there is such a rule."

He said, "In their view, the entire world belongs to the emperor, and the princes born of the same mother only get a single piece of land, which is less than ten percent compared to the whole world. The princes born from concubines might get even smaller and poorer land; thus, there are many who are dissatisfied with this."

Manbao remarked, "It’s strange, it’s Confucianism that insists on the primogeniture system, it’s also Confucianism that says it’s not the scarcity but the uneven distribution that’s problematic, so what does Confucianism really want, for the eldest son to inherit more, or for equitable division among all sons?"

"Naturally, it’s favoring the eldest son," Bai Shan said, "Family inheritance focused in one line to ensure long-lasting continuation. The phrase ’not the scarcity but the uneven distribution’ is just an acknowledgment of a fact."