Chapter 189

Chapter 189: Old Madam Tao Imparts the True Art

Tang Rong did not mention Tao Yi Ran at all, and his stance could not have been clearer. Madam Tao’s anger showed without disguise.

Composed and neither servile nor overbearing, Tang Rong waited three breaths. When neither of the Tao elders spoke, he cupped his fists and said: “If Father-in-law has other business to attend to, I will return another day.”

It had to be admitted that the Heir Apparent of a marquisate carried himself more impressively in public than Tang Mo.

Even so, that attitude chilled Master Tao’s gaze. It was not the manner in which a son-in-law should address his wife’s father. If Tao Yi Ran wished to return to the marquisate, it would not be easy. He rose slowly and said: “Come to the study.”

“Wait,” Madam Tao could not hold back at last. “What are your thoughts regarding Yiran?”

She had been overjoyed when she first gained Tang Rong as a son-in-law, and now she regretted it every bit as much. Her eyes grew more and more displeased when they fell on him. She pressed on: “Whatever she did wrong, she is your wife.”

“As for what happened back then,” she nearly said that if Tang Rong’s heart had been clean, Tao Yi Ran would never have switched grooms at the last moment. But the words were unfit to speak, and Tao Yi Ran’s own hands were not clean either. She changed tack: “Yiran has been wronged living with you. In the marquisate she was forced to keep her head down and seldom even left her courtyard. Now this has happened, and as her husband you do not ask after her?”

“You let her stay long at her mother’s home. How do you think people will view her?”

Tang Rong saluted again and said evenly: “The Tao family’s old madam is gravely ill. Under my mother’s instruction, Yiran returned to her maiden home to attend on the illness, an act of filial piety.”

Madam Tao snorted: “Do you believe the words meant for outsiders? Do not blur the issue. Speak your own decision.”

“I may be married,” Tang Rong replied with composure, “but in the residence all matters are still decided by my Father and Mother. I do not dare oppose them.”

“That is enough,” Master Tao interjected at the right moment. “Come to the study.”

This marriage had become a root of regret to both houses. If she had been married directly to Tang Mo, where would any of this trouble have come from? Though Tang Mo was the legitimate second son and had been a little unruly before marriage, with a reputation that was not exemplary, one could not demand too much of a second son who could not inherit. Yet after the wedding Tang Mo had entirely changed his temper. He was industrious, handled affairs thoroughly, and was filial. How many gifts had Xin Kuan received from him? Cart after cart had been sent to Huaijiang. Who would not desire such a son-in-law? Xin Kuan’s fortune was intact indeed. In a muddle he had gained such a one.

Father-in-law and son-in-law, each harboring his own designs, went to the study. Madam Tao, in a rage, flung a cup and shattered it. In the back courtyard, Tao Yi Ran received the news as well. Clutching a handkerchief, she went straight to Old Madam Tao. The old lady wore the look of one who held everything in the palm of her hand and said: “Show some spirit. Do not fret. Men must be kept dangling. Make him anxious.”

Tao Yi Ran could not bear to wait. She had been home several days already, and only with difficulty had she waited for Tang Rong to come in person. “What if I put on too much of an air and he leaves?” she asked.

Old Madam Tao squeezed her hand: “Choose your bedchamber as the place to see him. When you meet, speak of how you longed for him and give him a taste of sweetness, then retreat to advance. Do you understand?”

“Do you understand the strategy of restraining in order to capture?”

Tao Yi Ran nodded: “I understand.”

Old Madam Tao was very satisfied. Of all her granddaughters, the one before her pleased her most. She was lovely and quick of wit, and she grasped a point at once.

Tao Yi Ran worried about rumors beyond the walls. She still wanted a good name when she walked outside. Old Madam Tao patted her hand: “For the sake of the greater situation, the marquisate has already given you a good name. If you do not lose face, the marquisate will not lose face. For the sake of the marquisate, they will protect you. A woman, if she holds a man properly, can live in comfort. Matters outside will be someone else’s concern.”

Tao Yi Ran understood this, yet she still feared that those present on the day in question would spread slander. Old Madam Tao’s expression turned scornful: “Those high-born ladies who mocked you are nothing at all, merely hypocrites.”

“No matter how exalted the identity, in the end they must rely upon men.”

When it came to the art of handling men, Old Madam Tao possessed far more methods than Tao Yi Ran and was openly disdainful of the capital’s noblewomen. “They clutch great dowries and still must worry over a husband’s future, laboring to serve in-laws. Some even have to feign magnanimity in accepting concubines and then rear the concubines’ sons and daughters. All their lives they struggle for that paltry scrap of face. How many so-called noble ladies are left to guard an empty bed for a lifetime barely two years after marriage?”

Old Madam Tao had never thought those noble daughters and wives amounted to much. A woman, in her view, relied upon her man and upon her own womb. Had she in her youth encountered some prince or duke, she would certainly now be the old madam of still higher standing. She had always felt she had lost out by following Old Master Tao.

“They are only good at wagging their tongues,” she said tartly. “In truth, it is nothing but jealousy of women who can win a man’s heart. If they dare sneer at you, sneer right back. Such resentful women cannot endure provocation. In anger they are sure to lose all sense of measure, and what happens afterward will be entirely up to your mood.”

“As long as Tang Rong succeeds to the title, you will be the Marchioness. Even if they cannot bear the sight of you, they will still flatter you. What is there to worry about?”

Tao Yi Ran found this very reasonable. Her mother had fretted her whole life, and yet did not her father favor his concubines more?

Old Madam Tao lowered her voice: “With men, you must go along with them, but on occasion you must also defy them a little. Only then is it interesting.”

Tao Yi Ran ducked her head with a faint smile. She was dexterous at that move as well, yet she still worried that the people of the marquisate would continue to spurn her.

Old Madam Tao had a counter as well, and it still took hold of Tang Rong: “Strife between brothers is common. He must have grievances in his heart. All you need do is speak on his behalf at every turn, protect him, say that his parents are partial and that his brother is hateful. With the slow work of water grinding stone, he will even be ready to cut off his parents for your sake.”

“So long as his heart rests with you and tilts toward you, what are those people in the marquisate to us? A son grown is no longer ruled by his mother. What is there to fear?”

Before Tao Yi Ran could reply, Madam Tao arrived. On learning that Tang Rong had not come to fetch Tao Yi Ran back, Old Madam Tao did not grow angry. After an instant of panic, Tao Yi Ran also steadied herself. She ordered Bao Qin to go wait in the front compound and, no matter what, bring Tang Rong to her presence.

Seeing them both so composed, the out-of-ideas Madam Tao even began to hope that Old Madam Tao truly had a method to make Tang Rong change his mind. She was angry, but Tao Yi Ran indeed could not reside at her maiden home for long.

“Do you have a way?” she asked.

Tao Yi Ran gave her a reassuring look and rose with unhurried grace. She still needed to return to her room to make herself properly beautiful. She said softly: “Mother, do not be annoyed. Simply wait for news.”

Madam Tao drew a deep breath. Old Madam Tao closed her eyes to rest, thinking: [This daughter-in-law is a useless creature. At the slightest trouble she loses all measure and lets others take her in hand.]