Chapter 110

Chapter 110: Countess Chang Ning’s Words Cut Like a Knife

At the words “the front courtyard sweeper?”, Madam Tao suddenly understood everything, and the stewardess beside her stepped forward to tip the sweeping servant, then had someone see him out; by then Madam Tao had collapsed into a chair, her face drained of color.

The pretense of illness had been exposed by her husband’s family in public, and because her husband’s family saw through everything with crystal clarity, they had deliberately sent a lowly sweeper to deliver their so?called congratulations, which in truth expressed displeasure.

The Tao Family all looked at one another, mainly because the identity of the messenger could not help but make people think more deeply.

Master Tao’s face turned livid as he cut off his children, who were trying to ask questions; after warning them not to spread a word of this, he returned to their room with Madam Tao, both of them walking with heavy backs.

Master Tao asked with a scowl: “What does the marquisate mean by this? To send a mere sweeper to convey such a matter, is it deliberate or a lapse?”

Madam Tao, seeing he still failed to grasp the gravity, turned her head to look at him and gave a cold snort: “Can you not see it yet? They used a sweeper on purpose to remind us.”

Master Tao remained muddled and protested: “They know Yi’er’s health is poor; do they truly mean to bring a charge against her?”

Madam Tao drew a deep breath and said, “Yi’er has been raised by Mother since she was three. By the time she was twelve she often said she was dizzy and palpitated. How many physicians have we invited?”

She no longer wished to hold back: “This constant dizziness and heart flutters, feeling unwell at any time, is exactly the same as Mother’s.”

Master Tao flared with anger and barked: “Hold your tongue.”

She answered with a cold smile, lifting her gaze: “If I hold my tongue, can this be treated as though it never happened? Think back carefully: whenever you refused to meet Mother’s demands, did her body not suffer exactly these symptoms?”

“As a daughter?in?law I should not criticize my mother?in?law, but search your conscience. Are these tricks fit for the hall? When you walk in the Imperial Court, do you not feel a quiver in your heart?”

Master Tao frowned and said nothing, while Madam Tao grew more incensed the more she thought: “After what happened when Yi’er entered the marquisate, at first out of thin skin she lied that she was unwell to avoid the morning and evening greetings and would not step outside her courtyard. But once you tell one lie, you have to keep lying. A person who is supposedly short of breath and flutters at the slightest provocation then fought to steal the spotlight at the Water Blossom Banquet. The marquisate is not the Tang Family; they will not indulge her. Now the imperial physician has publicly exposed her…”

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply: “It seems I must go to the marquisate myself to explain clearly.”

Opening her eyes to pin Master Tao, she said, “Yi’er’s talent is outstanding and her looks striking, yet few noble households ever sought her hand. Tao’er is also gifted and handsome, yet every marriage talk meets obstacles. My lord, do you truly not know the reason?”

“Now that our daughter?in?law is about to give birth, I hope that whether the child is a boy or a girl, Mother will not lay a hand on it. How much more must this household be ruined by her before it is enough?”

These words struck Master Tao’s sorest spot; he wanted to speak, but the words choked in his throat and dragged down his voice, and in the end he could only set his face in grim silence.

In Qiu Shi Courtyard, Xin An clicked her tongue and said in a low, tart voice as she considered the use of a servant to convey displeasure, a method she herself had never used: “Isn’t this what people call killing the body and crushing the heart? This is a mockery of the Tao Family.”

Tang Mo had already steadied himself; other than spitting on his own blindness, what else could he do? He muttered with bleak honesty: “Compared to this, it would almost be better to have been kept in the dark all along. To be stripped open so nakedly like this, the hurt cuts too deep.”

That was the feeling he voiced as a man. Thinking that in his previous life he had not known even to his dying breath, and that before death he felt regret but little rancor, he realized Tang Rong was different: he had been led around like a circus monkey for so many days and then exposed.

Xin An thought to herself with a flash of black humor: [It seems my happiness really does have to be built on his suffering.]

Tang Mo said briskly, eager to distract them both: “Come on, let’s go out and have some fun; today’s expenses are on me.”

Xin An turned her head and said very seriously, teasing him without mercy: “When I go out with you I never plan to spend a coin. Brace yourself, because I plan to empty your purse to the last copper today.”

They locked eyes and then both laughed, before going out together in high spirits to enjoy themselves.

Tang Gang, head pounding with fury, was still in his study cursing Tang Rong: he called him blind and said all his scheming had led to this. Tang Rong’s mind was in chaos and he failed to notice the true meaning behind the words; his silent demeanor only convinced Tang Gang that the exchange of brides had been his doing, which stoked his anger even further.

Madam Wang was in excellent spirits; after lunch and a short rest, she went out. She had arranged to pay a call on Countess Chang Ning that afternoon.

Count Chang Ning’s residence lay some distance from the marquisate. Though Madam Wang seemed confident, she was actually anxious. Countess Chang Ning was not one to be easily reasoned with, and above all she adored her youngest daughter; that daughter had been humiliated yesterday. Today, Madam Wang still did not know what to say.

At first, she had planned to take Tao Yi Ran along, but she feared that obstinate girl would faint right in their host’s manor and make an even bigger mess.

She thought with a curl of her lip: [What a vexing business.]

Thank goodness the girl was not her own daughter?in?law by blood.

Just as she expected, while the earl’s manor gates were easy to approach, Countess Chang Ning herself was difficult to see. She left Madam Wang cooling her heels on a bench for the time it takes to burn a stick of incense; when she finally appeared, her face showed little courtesy. She said coolly: “I have let Madam Tang wait.”

Madam Wang forced a smile and replied smoothly: “I came too early because I was anxious.”

She continued with measured contrition: “Madam Ning, I have come today chiefly to apologize for my eldest daughter?in?law’s improper behavior. I beg you, for the sake of her new marriage, do not hold it against her.”

She added with sincerity: “And I owe Second Young Lady an apology as well. I have brought some fashionable fabrics and a set of jewelry; please, Madam Ning, kindly pass them to her.”

Normally one does not hit a smiling face, and the gifts were not perfunctory. By rights Countess Chang Ning should have cooled. Yet she only cast a glance over the offerings and asked why Tao Yi Ran had not come in person.

Madam Wang answered readily: “Madam Ning may not know, my eldest daughter?in?law is in poor health. She fainted upon returning home yesterday. It is too hot here and I feared she could not bear it, so she is resting.”

Countess Chang Ning’s lips curved in a smile full of scorn as she said, “She fainted? With such a frail body she can still snatch at a man; she is not afraid of dying on the bed. Truly, it is the family tradition.”

Madam Wang was speechless.

Countess Chang Ning’s words were so fierce that Madam Wang did not know how to answer. Fortunately, the countess had not expected her to respond. She gave a cold snort and went on: “Madam Tang, I am a straightforward person. What I say may be unpleasant to hear. By rights, the sincerity of your apology is sufficient; I should smile and let this pass, so that everyone’s faces can remain presentable and we can meet again in the future. However…”

She turned the point: “What happened at the Water Blossom Banquet yesterday was too grave an insult to my daughter. We may not be close, but we have attended many of the same gatherings. You must know what it signifies to perform a musical piece at the Water Blossom Banquet.”

Madam Wang finally tasted how intractable Countess Chang Ning could be. She had thought the countess would not make too much of it for the marquisate’s sake, but even after she poured out smiles, the other side would not accept them. All Madam Wang could do was offer apologies again and again, yet Countess Chang Ning’s temper was not soothed.

The countess said, with a hard gleam in her eye: “My daughter is fifteen this year, the most crucial time for arranging a match. If her prospects have been harmed, how could a few soft words from Madam Tang make up for it?”

“She, that Tao Family girl, was born cheap and behaves wantonly. If she were put in the shade by another, that would be one thing, but to be insulted by her? How is my daughter to go out and face people in the future?”

Countess Chang Ning described Tao Yi Ran in terms so debasing that her words were like knives; a faint unease stirred in Madam Wang’s heart, as if there might be hidden matters she did not know.