Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Beating Drums and Gongs to File a Complaint!

Gu Nan Xi stepped out of the main courtyard in full formal dress—her sub-third-rank patent robes immaculate and imposing.

“Mother,” Su Xuan Ming asked, momentarily stunned, “where are you going?”

Ever since she’d been granted that patent, she’d never worn these robes on an ordinary day.

Gu Nan Xi adjusted her hair crown, then flicked her sleeve as if snapping a whip. “To take back what’s ours.”

Marquis Yong Chang Residence was still in mourning. She couldn’t dress too bright, too lavish.

But clothes made the person, and a saddle made the horse.

So she chose the robes that reminded everyone exactly who she was.

“Mother,” Su Yun Ting asked from the door plank where she’d been made to lie, eyes bright despite his pale face, “why aren’t we going to mourn and wail?”

Gu Nan Xi’s mouth curved, not into warmth but into something sharp. “Wailing shows weakness. It stirs pity and claims the moral high ground. But Marquis Yong Chang Residence is already fading—why sink ourselves into the mud? Today I’m going to make them understand: even if we’ve declined, we are not something anyone can step on whenever they like.”

And there was another reason she didn’t say aloud.

The original owner had kept far too many “fish” in her pond—men she teased and reeled in. One of them was a golden dragon fish.

If she didn’t drag that dragon onto the chopping board now, was she supposed to wait until it swam away and regret it later?

She didn’t have the original owner’s confidence to juggle so many lines without capsizing.

Jing Niang rushed in as soon as she heard, grabbing Su Xuan Ming’s arm so tightly her fingers shook. “Su Lang, you can’t go! The Dragon-Martial Grand General, Headmaster Wu of Song Shan Academy, the censor, the doctor… we can’t afford to offend those families!”

Su Xuan Ming pulled free, face steady. “Today they bully me alone. Tomorrow they’ll bully our whole household. They have to be beaten into submission. Jing Niang, don’t be afraid. You aren’t married into our family yet—this won’t drag you down.”

When she couldn’t sway him, Jing Niang turned to Gu Nan Xi, voice urgent. “Madam, you’re the matriarch of a marquis household. Are you really going to drag the entire manor into the mire over a small quarrel between Su Lang and his classmates?”

“That’s right!” A sharp voice cut in.

The old madam, just back from offering incense at Da Xiang Guo Temple, blocked Gu Nan Xi’s path. “You can’t go. I’m your mother-in-law—you have to listen to me.”

Gu Nan Xi looked at Jing Niang first, calm and unyielding. “Su Xuan Ming is my son. I have to seek justice for him. If this had happened to Su Yun Ting or Su Yun Yan instead, I would still do the same.”

Then she stepped around the old madam without another glance and led the household out in a rolling procession.

Gu Nan Xi, solemn in her patent robes, walked at the front. To her left was Su Xuan Ming—bruised, battered, and humiliated. To her right, carried on a door plank, was Su Yun Ting—thin as paper, groaning dramatically at every jolt.

Su Yun Yan walked beside the plank, holding a waterskin and feeding Su Yun Ting a sip now and then.

Behind them came the household servants, beating drums and clanging gongs, loud enough to shake windows.

Where the servants went, a crowd followed.

“Isn’t that the Peerless Beauty, Gu Nan Xi?” someone whispered.

“You know the rumors too?” another said. “That’s her. Look at that presence—she doesn’t lose to any consort.”

“Of course not. She grew up under the Grand Empress Dowager’s knee. But where is she going like this?”

“Don’t tell me she’s going to knock on the palace gates and force a marriage.”

“That would be insane. Come on—follow!”

Even commoners who didn’t know what was happening abandoned their bowls and ran after the spectacle.

They stopped before a tightly shut gate.

“It’s this residence,” Su Xuan Ming murmured. “The Assistant Director of the Ministry of Rites, Fifth Rank—the one whose son bites people.”

Gu Nan Xi nodded once. “Xuan Ming. Knock.”

Su Xuan Ming went up and rapped on the gate.

No response.

Inside, Madam Li clutched her son and wailed. “Useless man! You let me and our boy suffer humiliation! It’s only Gu Nan Xi—if she’s done those things, then impeach her!”

Young Lord Li’s face was gray with strain. “Stop talking. Do you have evidence?”

“Evidence?” Madam Li snapped. “Then why are you afraid of her? Why are you hiding inside and refusing to open the door?”

Young Lord Li flushed. “I’m a good man. I don’t fight with women.”

Outside, Gu Nan Xi had already guessed it.

If they opened the gate and apologized in public, where would their face go?

If they refused to admit it and argued with her, what if she went whispering to her pond fish—or even the golden dragon fish? That would be worse.

So they shut the gate and tried to freeze her out.

But Gu Nan Xi wasn’t about to arrive with thunder and leave in silence. That would be an announcement to the world: Marquis Yong Chang Residence is a toothless tiger. Come bite it whenever you like.

“Shout it,” she ordered.

The servants struck up a rapid burst of gongs, drawing every eye. Then, keeping a steady beat, they shouted in unison:

“Li Ming De! If you’ve got the guts to bite people, then you’ve got the guts to open the gate!”

Again.

And again.

The chant rolled bright and clear through the street.

Inside, Li Ming De covered his face and tried to bolt deeper into the residence.

Madam Li’s face flashed red, then white. She trembled with fury. “Gu Nan Xi! She’s trying to ruin my son’s reputation!”

It was shameless. It was ugly. It would become a joke among other households’ matriarchs.

But what did her son gain from enduring it?

A grown man biting people—and now being pinned behind his own gate by a woman. He’d never be able to show his face again.

“Husband!” Madam Li dragged Li Ming De forward and dropped to her knees. “Think of something! If this keeps going, how will our son ever go out again?”

Young Lord Li stared, jaw tight. At last he snapped, “Ming De. Open the gate. Say nothing. Apologize to Su Xuan Ming in public.”

Li Ming De froze. “What? Apologize to that waste?”

Young Lord Li’s eyes went cold. “You’re trapped in your own home by that ‘waste,’ and your reputation is being torn to shreds. A man can bend and stretch. What matters more—this moment of anger, or your future career? Do you want to become an official one day and have everyone joke about how you bit people?”

Li Ming De’s chest heaved. “But I can’t swallow it!”

“You think I can?” Young Lord Li sneered. “Use your brain. Gu Nan Xi is pushing like this—do you think she’ll let Li Shao Yan off? Li Shao Yan is the one who’s been stirring you up. He keeps his name clean while you take the filth. This time, let them tear at each other.”

He leaned in, voice low and merciless. “Apologize. If Gu Nan Xi refuses to let it go even when she’s in the right, even better. Let her scold you. Let her hit you. The world will call her arrogant and domineering, and your reputation will come out washed.”