Chapter 043

Chapter 43: Madam Wang Completely Explodes

After careful deliberation, Tang Gang made his choice: he blamed Tang Rong’s beating on the Northern Garrison Army’s lax patrols.

Through his maneuvering, a memorial to impeach the Northern Garrison Commander lay before the Emperor the very next day. To keep Tang Rong from becoming too conspicuous, the memorial merely reported that thieves had beaten a man in the street, brazenly flouting the law.

It added that Tang Rong had put up active resistance, but being outnumbered had suffered only minor injuries; unfortunately his cheek had been affected, so he needed to recuperate in the manor.

In this way, the focus of public attention shifted to the question of the capital’s safety. Pressure on the Northern Garrison Army spiked. Commander Liao Zhi entered the palace that very day to plead guilty, and a rift with Marquis Weiyuan Manor became official.

Tang Mo’s heart that had longed for a father’s love died that day. [It died then and there.] Though he had predicted that Tang Gang would make this choice, the moment the result appeared it crushed him. It was a fatal blow from the person closest to him. The marquis knew perfectly well that he was about to report to the Northern Garrison Army, yet to protect the son he valued, he gave not a thought to Tang Mo’s future.

Madam Wang exploded at last, casting aside all pretense of dignified gentleness. She flung the words in his face like stones: “If the marquis thinks Tang Mo is inconsequential and his life and death can be ignored, then say so plainly. My son and I will move out of the manor at once. It will also save the marquis from guarding against us like thieves day and night.”

She lifted her chin and declared with iron in her voice: “I may be the second wife, but I entered with a proper marriage, in a palanquin borne by eight bearers through the main gate of the manor, not as a concubine or a bed servant. Tang Mo is my son. Though he is the son of the second wife, he is still your own flesh and blood, not inferior to anyone.”

She pressed him without mercy: “Search your conscience. From the day I entered this house, how have I treated the Heir Apparent? In all these years, when have I ever treated him harshly? I pitied that his birth mother died young, and from the time Tang Mo could understand, I taught him to give way to his elder brother. Whenever the brothers clashed, I held Tang Mo down and made him yield. I have regarded him as my own son. And you?”

Her eyes burned as she demanded: “All these years, have you ever fulfilled the responsibilities of a father to Tang Mo?”

She slashed the air with her hand and cried: “You knew he was about to report to the Northern Garrison Army, yet you still treated him like this. Tang Gang, you have gone too far.”

Tang Gang’s face turned a mottled green-black. First, because all these years Madam Wang had always been gentle and sensible and had never spoken to him like this; second, because his heart felt guilty, since what she said was true. But even so, he would never admit he was wrong. He forced out, stiff and stubborn: “He does not need to go to the Northern Garrison Army. The manor can afford to keep him. I will find him another placement later.”

Madam Wang roared with a force that shook the rafters: “Get out.”

She advanced, words like knives: “Do you have the face to take what you just said and repeat it outside? Do you still deserve the title of father? When have you ever had him in your heart? Even that post in the Northern Garrison Army was something you sought for your beloved son. If your beloved son had not been shameless enough to force himself on his younger brother’s wife, would you ever have given that position to Tang Mo?”

Her voice dropped to a chilled fury: “I kept silent so you would not lose face. My good will is not a reason for you to push your luck and trample us. You and your son must not go too far. I do not wish to see you. Get out of my sight at once.”

Her roar was heard throughout the courtyard; every servant fell silent with fear. Tang Gang, incensed, tried to retaliate, sputtering: “Do not speak such nonsense, you…”

She cut him short with a single word that cracked like a whip: “Out.”

Sweeping an arm, she sent the teacups flying from the low table. They shattered at Tang Gang’s feet, and his fists clenched in rage. Madam Wang took two steps forward, came close enough to stare him down, and dared him in a voice raw with fury: “Go on, hit me. If you have the guts, kill me today.”

Her eyes were bloodshot, a feral light flashing within. In that instant, Tang Gang was cowed. Their gazes clashed for a heartbeat; he broke first, flung his sleeve, and left.

Within moments, word that the marquis had been driven out of his lady’s courtyard spread through the manor from top to bottom. Everyone carried a set of scales in the heart, and from Madam Wang’s words they weighed out the truth. The general conclusion was simple: the biased marquis had finally met his comeuppance.

Tang Mo and Xin An hurried to Madam Wang at once. Madam Wang dismissed the servants and, to their surprise, showed none of the haggard sorrow they had feared.

Tang Mo crouched beside her and said with heartfelt concern: “You already know he is partial. Why make yourself so angry?” He patted her hand and added, steady and practical: “Calm yourself. It is not a great matter. I have ways to handle it.”

Madam Wang set down her cup and slowly let out a long breath before admitting: “I have been waiting for this opportunity. Today felt like the right time, so I staged this scene.”

She did not go on. She worried that Xin An might not be reliable. Tang Mo spoke up for his wife at once, reassuring her: “Mother need not avoid her when speaking. Some things cannot be explained clearly in a few words. All you need to know is that she stands with me. Our goal is the same.”

Xin An sat down neatly and observed with quiet acuity: “Mother must have been waiting for this chance all along.”

Madam Wang looked at her in mild surprise, and Xin An went on, precise and cool: “Father is partial to the eldest. Before our marriage, the timing was not ripe. Now that we are married, his partiality has only grown. After what you did today, you can openly favor us in the future, and even if outsiders learn of it, they will only express understanding.”

Madam Wang reached across the table, patted the back of Xin An’s hand, and praised her with open warmth: “Such a clever girl. You were meant to be my daughter-in-law.”

Tang Mo was still a step behind, mind turning. Madam Wang exhaled a long, heavy breath and spoke of the past, voice low: “Before I married in, I was full of hope, imagining a harmonious couple. Since Tang Rong’s mother died when he was young, I thought that if I treated him well, even if he could not take me as his birth mother, he would at least respect me. What girl goes to her marriage full of schemes?”

She shook her head at the memory and continued: “Your father was afraid I would teach his eldest son badly and guarded against me in everything. He would sooner use someone like Auntie Cai, a woman without sense who only knows how to throw her weight around, than trust me to take care of the boy. Later I thought, if he does not want me to care for him, then fine; at least when something goes wrong, I will not be blamed. But I underestimated his shamelessness. Whenever anything happened to his son, it became the stepmother’s failure to look after him.”

Her tone was wry and tired: “On the surface, I am the mistress of the manor, and he gives me face in everything. Outsiders say he values me. In truth, as long as a matter touches his eldest son, I cannot even brush against it, much less speak a word.”

She lifted her chin, a hard pride in her eyes: “After so many years, I have finally waited until today.”

She closed her eyes slowly. Xin An had judged shrewdly. By erupting without regard for consequences today, some talk would inevitably spread. When she, in her disappointment, changed her temperament and favored her own son in everything, who could blame her? She was being forced. [She had been driven to this.]

Tang Mo felt even more wretched. Mother and son had seemed to live in splendor in the manor these years, but in truth they had been stifled. A spark flashed through his mind. He felt as though he had finally touched the path that lay ahead.

Xin An was about to speak when a servant hurried in to report that the Grand Matron had arrived. Xin An rose at once and supported Madam Wang, crying out with urgent distress: “Mother, what is the matter? Mother…”

Her urgent tone made Madam Wang understand at once. She swiftly dipped a finger into the tea cup, touched the tea to her eyes, and reddened them. Tang Mo lunged forward with a shout of alarm and called: “Mother.”

He scooped her up in his arms and carried her swiftly into the bedchamber, calling over his shoulder as he went: “Quickly, fetch the doctor.”

The Grand Matron heard the shout the moment she stepped through the gate and hastened toward Madam Wang’s room. Inside, Xin An helped Madam Wang lie down and murmured under her breath: “Cry. Think of all the years of grievance. The more miserable, the better.”

Madam Wang began wiping at her tears at once. Her heart was already sore. Though she had schemed against Tang Gang, had she not been driven to it, would she have schemed against her own husband? Thinking of these years of grievance, her tears flowed in torrents. The Grand Matron entered just as Xin An, holding the hairpin freshly removed from Madam Wang’s hair, looked up and said with a catch in her voice: “Grandmother, Mother she…”