Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

Amidst the joyous sounds of gongs and drums, Shen Jingheng, dressed in a bright red groom's attire with a matching gold spiderweb-patterned sash at his waist, his black hair styled in a high bun and secured with a gold crown inlaid with rubies, stood ramrod straight, his tall, slender frame gleaming as he rode a white steed adorned with red ribbons. A smile played on his lips, making his ethereal and handsome appearance even more radiant. Guards lined the roadside to maintain order, and the surging crowds were shoulder to shoulder, all craning their necks to witness this once-in-a-century wedding.

When Shen Jingheng arrived at the Marquis's residence with his wedding procession, the gates, adorned with red silk ribbons, were already completely blocked by a group of young gentlemen. Among them were Changyun and Changyuan's friends from the capital, as well as relatives and old friends who had come from Zhongzhou Prefecture.

“Brother-in-law, you’ll have to get past us first if you want to marry Her Highness the Princess,” one of the Qin family’s sons said first.

He was the grand-nephew of Qin, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and by seniority, he called Qin's second daughter his aunt and Zhang Chengwen his uncle. Now, he was of the same generation as Xia Yu, and since Grand Tutor Shen had married Xia Yu, he had also become Grand Tutor Shen's peer. He had been excited whenever he thought about this lately, determined to give his high-ranking brother-in-law a good hard time during the wedding procession.

Shen Jingheng is usually aloof and holds a high position, making him more authoritative than their fathers and grandfathers. They could never catch up with him in their entire lives. If they missed this opportunity, they would never encounter such a good chance again in their lifetime.

"That's right, that's right. If Grand Tutor Shen wants to marry the Princess, he has to write a poem to urge her to get married first. If it's not good, we won't allow it," another young gentleman teased loudly.

The people around them started to cheer.

"Zecheng, you'd better compose a poem to urge them to get married first, otherwise these little rascals will really stop you at the gates of this mansion." Shen Jingchen whispered to Shen Jingheng as he looked at the young masters of all ages blocking the way.

"Alright, then I'll compose a poem to urge you to get ready for the wedding." Shen Jingheng looked like an immortal descended to earth today, his smile never fading. He readily agreed to their request.

Shen Jingheng lowered his head and thought for only a moment before a poem came to mind. He recited it aloud.

"It is said that rouge is mixed under the candlelight, and spring is not celebrated before the mirror; there is no need for a full face of makeup, just leave the eyebrows for the painter to draw."

As soon as Shen Jingheng finished speaking, cheers and whistles erupted from the audience. No one expected that the usually aloof Grand Tutor Shen could compose such a poem to urge someone to get married.

Shen Jingheng's poem urging her to get ready was quickly passed inside by the maid. Xia Yu was quite surprised when she heard his poem; she hadn't expected him to be able to write such a poem.

Outside, after hearing Lian Mama's explanation, Madam Liu smiled reservedly on the surface, but she was very happy in her heart. Shen Jingheng was more than ten years older than her daughter, and she naturally hoped that the two of them could love each other and live happily ever after after their marriage.

"Lord Shen once achieved the highest honors in all three imperial examinations. Asking him to compose a poem to urge someone to get married would be underestimating his literary talent. This one doesn't count; we need to choose another one." A young gentleman, seeing how easily he had composed a poem to urge someone to get married, made a new request.

"Yes, yes, Young Master Gao is right. We need to pass one more test before it counts," someone echoed.

“Alright, go ahead and say whatever you want. Even if it's not me, I have so many brothers behind me!” Shen Jingheng said, pointing behind him.

The young masters dared not look into the crowd behind them; their elders might be among them. After all, in the first three days of a marriage, there were no distinctions of rank; they only cared about fooling around with Lord Shen and didn't care about anything else. Just as they were about to make a new request, they heard someone shout...

"There are red envelopes, filled with silver notes. One hundred taels each." Immediately, everyone saw a handful of red envelopes being tossed down. One hundred taels of silver notes! These young masters, though they never lacked food or drink, still had a fixed monthly allowance. No family would let their children spend money as they pleased; that would make them spendthrifts. Hearing that the red envelopes were full of one hundred taels of silver notes, they forgot all about blocking the door and rushed towards the scattered red envelopes.

As the red envelopes were being handed out, Shen Jingchen's pre-arranged men suddenly lifted the red cloth covering two baskets, revealing them to be full of copper coins. Several servants simultaneously scattered the coins among the crowd gathered in front of the mansion gate. In an instant, the previously tightly blocked gate of the Marquis's mansion developed numerous gaps. Taking advantage of this opening, Shen Jingheng and his wedding party successfully entered the gate and passed this hurdle.

"Miss, our young master is so generous! He scattered dozens of red envelopes just to get in the door, and I heard they were all filled with one-hundred-tael silver notes. The servants who came with him also scattered two baskets of copper coins. It's so lively in front of our mansion now, everyone's rushing to grab the lucky money."

Hearing the little maid say that Shen Jingheng had actually given away a huge amount of one hundred taels of silver, she inwardly cursed him as a spendthrift. Then, looking at the excited little maid, she said...

"Then why don't you go out and rob wedding money?"

"Hehe, Miss, my sisters and I have already discussed it. I'll stay here with you while they go out to snatch the lucky money. When they come back, they'll each give me two copper coins," the little maid said happily.

Hearing her say that, Xia Yu raised an eyebrow. This little girl was quite clever. So she asked her again...

"How many of the older sisters promised to give you two copper coins?"

"Hehe, all the ladies around Miss have agreed. I just calculated that I can earn twenty-eight copper coins this time."

Hearing her words, Xia Yu couldn't help but facepalm. It turned out that all the maids around her had gone out. She wondered how much money each of them could have managed to snatch. Looking at the smug little maid beside her, she wondered how she had never noticed how clever this little maid in charge of sweeping in her yard was.

It's not that she didn't notice the clever little maid beside her; it's just that she hadn't spent enough time at the Marquis of Dingguo's residence. She had only returned to live there in the last month or so, and it was good enough that she could recognize the maids in the courtyard. How could she possibly know what kind of people each of them were?

So I asked her

Are you on my dowry list?

"Of course they are. All the people in our courtyard were carefully selected by the madam, and they will all accompany Miss to the Shen residence as part of her dowry."

"Okay, sure. Let me know how much money you've made later."

"Yes, I understand," the little maid replied crisply.