Chapter 171

Chapter 171: Madam Wang Fights Madam Tao

Caught between two sides and at a loss for a course, Tang Gang floundered. The Grand Matron was sorely disappointed in him.

“If you still intend to be soft-boned, I will, in your father’s name, summon his old subordinates to this marquisate. I do not believe there is no one who can hold up our banner!”

Tang Gang was thoroughly alarmed. If she did that, how would outsiders view him?

“And I inform you as well,” she continued, “I have already prepared to have outstanding youths of the clan take up residence here. You must earnestly oversee their futures. If you feel unwilling, then properly guide your two sons to become more accomplished. The person to inherit the marquisate need not be chosen solely from among you three father and sons.”

The Grand Matron intended to press Tang Gang hard. This soft-boned man was inferior even to her, an old grandmother.

Tang Gang opened his mouth wide, then lowered his head in shame and anger. Fortunately, his spine was not completely limp. He said, “Your son will not fail Mother’s expectations and will uphold the marquisate’s honor.”

“I also ask Mother to calm her anger and not harm her health.”

The Grand Matron looked at him with a stony face: “Let your mother see how you act.”

Before Tang Gang had even risen, someone below came to report that people of the Tao Family had arrived: “It is Lord Tao and Madam Tao. The Eldest Young Madam did not return with them.”

Tang Gang cupped his hands to the Grand Matron and said, “Mother, your son will go handle this.”

“Go,” said the Grand Matron.

Once he had left, she finally let out a breath. Her tense back stooped noticeably. Gan Lu stepped forward to comfort her: “Grand Matron, you must not anger yourself into illness. You are the backbone of this marquisate.”

The Grand Matron gave a bitter smile: “You truly know how to poke my heart. At this age I must still be the backbone? What use then are sons and grandsons?”

This marquisate had always lacked someone both shrewd and bold. If it continued like this, the Old Master’s glory might not shelter these descendants for long. [We need a true pillar.]

In the front courtyard, Lord Tao and his wife arrived breathing fire. Their aim was clear: to hold the marquisate to account and force benefits out of them, and, at the very least, to win Tao Yi Ran the right to assist in household management.

If Tao Yi Ran held management rights, it would benefit the Tao Family.

Besides, if they did not show hardness today, in the future no one would hold the Tao Family in any regard.

Tang Gang and Madam Wang deliberately kept them waiting a while before arriving together, readying themselves for the hard battle to come.

As soon as the two sides met, Madam Tao chose to strike first: “Dear in-law, after attending the Second Prince’s banquet last night, Yi’er did not return to the marquisate. Did you know this?”

Madam Wang’s lips curved lightly: “Of course we knew. To return to her parents’ home without her husband’s permission, what fine upbringing the Tao Family’s daughter has.”

Each sentence from each side crackled with gunpowder.

As the two heads of house, Tang Gang and Lord Tao sat without moving, prepared to wait until the ladies’ verbal duel ended before rendering their judgment on the matter.

Madam Tao clenched the handkerchief in her hand and said, “If she had not suffered a great grievance at her husband’s home, who would return to her parents’ home for no reason? Dear in-law, will you not ask why she went back?”

Madam Wang answered with composure: “She made trouble and ran back to her parents’ home to hide. I imagine you two know the cause. I only wonder how you intend to handle the aftermath.”

Madam Tao gave a short, scornful laugh: “Aftermath? Dear in-law, I fear you have misunderstood.”

As for Old Madam Tao’s origins, Lord Tao already had a countermeasure in mind. If the marquisate dared to use that as leverage today, they would personally rip off the Tao Family’s fig leaf and win themselves a name for filial piety.

Thus, Madam Tao held her back straight today.

She even wished the marquisate would mention the Grand Matron, so that in front of His Majesty the Emperor they would have even more to say, letting His Majesty see the marquisate’s true face.

She declared, “The Second Young Madam may have fine upbringing, but at one word of disagreement she set an underhanded trap for her elder sister-in-law and struck her, leaving two large bruises on Yi’er. In such circumstances, must Yi’er still say she was at fault?”

“What is the crime of striking an elder sister-in-law?”

Madam Wang was unhurried and even had the leisure to take a sip of tea: “There was cause. Do you in-laws know how this began?”

Madam Tao naturally repeated Tao Yi Ran’s account and then stated her stance: “Even if Yi’er had some shortcomings, it is not a reason for the Second Young Madam to raise her hand.”

Madam Wang countered, “Dear in-law, none know their daughter better than a mother. Do you believe every word she says?”

Madam Tao certainly wanted to believe, but seeing Madam Wang so steady, her heart wavered a little. Tao Yi Ran had prior form, after all.

Madam Wang did not wait for her to answer. She directly recounted yesterday’s events in full, then said: “The truth of this can be learned by casual inquiry.”

“Tao Yi Ran never received an invitation. Instead of staying in the manor to tend to her husband, she schemed to slip out to attend the banquet and even intended to sit down at the zither and show off, offering herself for others’ amusement.”

“What did she take herself for? What did she take our marquisate for, some lowly household?”

Faced with her string of questions, both Madam Tao and Lord Tao were a little dumbfounded. Anger burned even hotter in Tang Gang’s eyes. Madam Wang gave a cold smile and said, “Since Lord Tao and Madam Tao have come in person, then please give our marquisate a satisfactory and complete answer. Otherwise, while it is easy enough to go out through the marquisate’s gate, coming back in will be difficult.”

Madam Tao’s vision went momentarily dark. She had worried last night that Tao Yi Ran’s words might not be truthful. Before leaving this morning, she had asked again, and Yi’er swore that it was the Crown Princess who had invited her to the banquet, and that the Xin family’s daughter acted from jealousy to humiliate her in public.

But since they had come this far, it was absolutely impossible to retreat. She could only brace herself and shift the blame onto the Crown Princess: “It was the Crown Princess who invited her, and the Crown Princess who asked her to play. She is but a subject’s daughter; how could she refuse?”

“So it is the Crown Princess’s fault?” Madam Wang seized on this. “Did the Crown Princess hold a knife to her? Even if the Crown Princess invited her, once there she ought to have conducted herself with modesty and composure, not to cast aside propriety and chase the limelight.”

“The Crown Princess comes from a great house, her etiquette and rules are exemplary. If Tao Yi Ran had not herself indicated a desire to perform for the Moon Inviting Banquet, would the Crown Princess have proposed it?”

“Consider that her husband is injured, her grandmother is ‘gravely ill,’ and even her father postponed taking up his post to observe filial piety. In such circumstances, she still sneaks out to commit acts that demean herself. If others do not treat her as a plaything for their amusement, what are they to take her for?”

“Our marquisate rose by military merit. The Old Master’s battle honors are renowned. Who in the capital does not revere him?”

“Does the Heir Apparent’s wife of the Marquis of Wei Yuan need to play the zither to curry favor with officials’ junior kin? It is laughable.”

Madam Wang did not give Madam Tao any chance to continue quibbling: “There is already precedent for this at the Water Blossom Banquet. You both know how much effort the aftermath took. I can tell you that even if she is allowed to re-enter the marquisate’s gate, she will have no place in future banquets.”

Although both Tang Gang and the Grand Matron spoke in absolutes, Madam Wang knew Tao Yi Ran would ultimately return. The key was that she herself did not wish to see Tang Rong take a wife even more illustrious.

Thus, she would first press the woman completely down within the manor, cutting off one of Tang Rong’s arms, and then proceed step by step with the rest.

There was no need for Xin An to appear. Madam Wang, as mother-in-law, could fight the Tao Family herself. Madam Tao was unwilling to give ground and insisted on her reasoning: “All those present were acquaintances. Even if she played a tune, it did no harm and merely added a bit of liveliness to the gathering.”

“All acquaintances?” Madam Wang laughed, her eyes full of mockery. “Most of the attendees were men. For a boudoir lady, where did all those acquaintances come from?”

“To speak so heedlessly.”

“The Tao Family truly makes me look at them in a new light.”