Chapter 168

Chapter 168: Going to the Marquis’s Manor to Demand Justice

Tang Mo’s bid to win everyone’s laughter succeeded, instantly lifting the merriment of the Moon Inviting Banquet to a new height; the Second Prince was very pleased, for a banquet is best when the distinguished guests are many and the bustle is lively, and if everyone clings to face and refuses to step forward, what meaning is there?

Tang Mo cupped his hands to the crowd and said: “I have made a spectacle of myself, truly a spectacle; at this moment I wish I could dig a hole and crawl into it.”

Someone teased with a grin: “But remember, if we laugh today, we mustn’t keep laughing at it tomorrow.”

The crowd laughed again. Yan Shi Mao also stepped out, saying he would imitate Tang Mo and offer a doggerel verse for everyone, and that he would even continue with Tang Mo’s opening, then he recited: “Before I lift the brush, tears already stream; carefree days for a dozen years; now you make me compose a verse; let me lament and stake my life.”

The crowd roared: “Hahaha~~~.”

Another gentleman clapped and said: “Marvelous, it has the same clever charm as Second Brother Tang’s. I have one here as well…”

Everyone found it amusing, and those with genuine learning stood up too, composing poems that followed Tang Mo’s opening. When it reached Liao Zhi, he said bluntly that he could not do it; after all, he had gone to the battlefield at twelve, where would he have found time to write poetry.

A friend coaxed him with a smile: “Even if you can’t, don’t kill the mood. Just add two words to each of Second Young Master Tang’s four lines and join the fun.”

Liao Zhi obliged and declaimed: “Before I lift the brush, tears already stream (unnecessary); the gentleman stands before me (what fear); today I simply cannot make this verse (inevitable); my lady will surely dislike me (serves me right!).”

Even the Crown Prince repeatedly said it was interesting, and everyone found it all the more delightful. A banquet without elders present is truly liberating; if elders had been there, they would have scolded them for not behaving properly.

Madam Liao had been laughing so much that her cheeks ached. Xin An said with warmth: “Sister Xu looks so lovely when she smiles; you must smile more often in the future.”

Madam Liao nodded: “All right, I will certainly come out more often.”

They had laughed so hard that tears came and their cheeks were sore, yet their hearts felt extraordinarily light.

A lady leaned in to share the latest: “I heard we can release lanterns later and pray for blessings. Will Younger Sister Xin make a wish?”

Xin An shook her head and joked: “They say one year in heaven is but a day on earth. I made a wish to the Weaving Maiden Star Goddess only last year; if I make another this year, won’t it look to the star god as if I am wishing all day long?”

Madam Liao laughed again and said: “Younger Sister Xin makes sense. By that logic, the Cowherd Star meets the Weaving Maiden Star Goddess on the Magpie Bridge every year, and in the Weaving Maiden Star Goddess’s eyes it must feel like seeing him every single day. It would only delay her weaving; she ought to be vexed.”

The two laughed together. They had barely sipped a cup of tea before an attendant announced that the Second Prince’s Consort had prepared many lanterns; everyone could write their wishes upon them and set them aloft.

Madam Liao and Xin An did not go, nor did Lin Yao. Lin Yao’s reason was simple: “On ordinary days, whatever I want or want to eat, I can have at once. I truly have no wishes.”

There was nothing to be done; her backing was formidable.

A companion asked softly: “Younger Sister Xin, you’re not going?”

Xin An smiled and answered that she had already prayed to the Bodhisattva earlier: “Why trouble two masters with one matter?”

She was about to add, “In that case, let us…” when an attendant from the Second Prince’s Consort came to invite them. The Second Prince’s Consort had just finished a verbal spar with the Crown Princess and, judging from her expression, had won a decisive victory. Smiling, she beckoned them to sit, speaking either of how amusing Tang Mo’s verse was, of how close Yan Shi Mao and Tang Mo were, or of how truly outstanding Liao Zhi was; she heaped praise on the three husbands in turn.

The flattery left Xin An feeling that today’s Second Prince’s Consort was almost unfamiliar. [To become a prince’s consort requires true ability.] Only someone like her, who has not seen much of the world, would believe the Second Prince’s Consort is genuinely straightforward and unreserved.

While the Moon Inviting Banquet’s merriment continued, Tao Yi Ran was weeping rivers. After leaving the Second Prince’s residence, she did not return to the marquis’s manor but insisted on going straight back to the Tao Family. Steward Zhang could not stop her and had to escort her home in person.

After seeing the bruises on her thigh and underarm, Madam Tao’s eyes welled with rageful tears. However dissatisfied she might be, this was her own daughter; how could she not burn with anger and pain at seeing her bullied so?

Madam Tao clenched her jaw and declared: “That merchant-born woman is simply audacious beyond belief to do something so vicious. Stay here at home tonight. Tomorrow morning I will personally go to the marquis’s manor to demand justice for you.”

Master Tao frowned slightly, unwilling to believe that a younger sister-in-law would openly lay hands on her elder brother’s wife. He asked for details about what had happened at the Moon Inviting Banquet. Tao Yi Ran’s gaze flickered twice, then she lowered her eyes and let tears fall as she said: “It was only that the Crown Princess said my zither playing was decent and wanted to invite me to play a piece. Before I even agreed, my younger sister-in-law pinched my leg, then feigned concern and twisted me again, and forced me out of the Second Prince’s residence.”

Fury surged in Madam Tao’s eyes as she said to Master Tao: “Even if Yi’er did something amiss, that is no reason for her to use such cruel hands.”

She went on, her voice hard: “If we do not go to reason with them and demand justice, how is Yi’er to gain a footing in the marquis’s manor in the future, and how will people outside not look down on our Tao Family?”

She added with a stab of bitterness: “We expended such effort and money to help Tang Rong. And what came of it? Two beasts ruined the affair. He himself failed to rise, and all the toil from before went up in smoke. Should we not go to the marquis’s manor and demand an explanation?”

At the very mention of that matter, her heart ached. When the Grand Matron’s scandal burst forth, the marquis’s manor wielded it like a cudgel. They had spent heavily to keep it covered up; to get Tang Rong in front of the Crown Prince, how many gifts had they sent to the officials beneath the Crown Prince?

The marquis’s manor had not spent a single copper.

Madam Tao’s anger spilled over: “And they say that bodyguard was left by the Old Marquis. Ask around the capital and see if any household’s bodyguard would allow his own master to be bitten by dogs.”

She snorted in disgust: “He has ill fortune and drags down the Tao Family’s girl’s reputation besides, making our Tao Family a laughingstock, and having coarse women throw rotten leaves at us. And now even a merchant-born woman can humiliate my son like this, simply outrageous.”

Master Tao gradually grew angry as well. [If the Grand Matron’s affair cannot be hidden, then let it be.] Families in the capital who knew the inside story were not few; better to expose it himself than be held by the throat. He slapped his thigh and sighed that when Countess Chang Ning mocked the Tao Family over this, he should have gone to court to cry; even if it invited ridicule, it would have earned him a reputation for filial piety, which would have helped his career. [Alas, I was muddled then.]

Tao Yi Ran had barely wiped her tears and gone to rest when the Tao Family’s young master came back from outside, reeking of wine, which displeased Master Tao. The young master scowled and said impatiently: “A few sons from the great ministers’ households dragged me out to drink. I couldn’t refuse.”

He turned to his mother and demanded with entitlement: “Mother, give me some silver. My purse is too tight. When I go out, I can’t even afford to host a feast.”

Master Tao already had a fire in his belly and snapped: “The sons of the great ministers’ households were all at the Second Prince’s residence tonight. Whose sons were you drinking with?”

The young master muttered with a shrug: “Not all of them went, did they? Is the Second Prince’s banquet so easy to attend?”

Madam Tao, who had always indulged her treasured son, stepped in to make peace; she turned to fetch a banknote and said to Master Tao: “Our son is married now. It looks improper if he doesn’t have any silver at hand. Where can he make connections without spending?”

Master Tao’s mind was turning over the matter of going to the marquis’s manor tomorrow, and he had no heart to focus on the young master. He offered a few perfunctory admonitions and let him go.

With the banknote in his sleeve, the Tao Family’s young master thought ruefully that his luck tonight had been abysmal, losing everything. Tomorrow he must try again. [From childhood to now, I have never had such bad luck.]