Chapter 252

Chapter 252: Madam Wang in Full Command

At the neighboring Chun Hua Courtyard, everyone was panicked; the pillar of the household, Tang Rong, had been laid up. The house physician concluded he must remain in bed for three months, for even his ribs were slightly fractured and the matter could not be taken lightly. For the next three months he was to avoid women as well, because someone had stepped on his lifeblood and he needed proper convalescence. This pronouncement let the three pregnant concubines breathe easier: since they were with child and could not attend Tang Rong, otherwise other women would profit; as things stood, it was just right.

By the time everything was handled it was already midnight. With nowhere to vent his anger, Tang Gang glared fiercely at Madam Wang; already smoldering, she slanted him a look and said, “What, does the Marquis also want me to move out?”

“Enough, what are you arguing about in the middle of the night,” Grand Matron said after taking a long breath, her heart crying out, [All of this is karmic debt]. She rose and walked to Madam Wang: “Go and persuade the second daughter-in-law. If she really moves out, the Weiyuan Marquisate will become a laughingstock. Heaven knows how the Imperial Censors will leap about. We are one family; once some words are made clear, that will be that.”

“Mother, I cannot agree with that.”

Grand Matron wished to make a big matter small, but Madam Wang refused to oblige. She said directly that Auntie Cai still had three dolls in her hands: “Unless we find out where those three dolls came from, this will not settle. We cannot allow people to grab a doll today or a strip of cloth tomorrow and accuse the masters at will, then gloss it over afterward with a few words. Would that not make the Weiyuan Marquisate a joke?”

“Ping Qiu.”

The waiting Ping Qiu came in and bowed: “Madam.”

“Take men and seize everyone who serves in Chun Hua Courtyard and in Qiushi Courtyard,” Madam Wang said, “hold them separately for questioning. Ten taels to anyone who reports evidence; as for those who knew and failed to report, or who intend to conceal and shield, regardless of age, sell them to a brothel.”

“Question them through the night!”

Ping Qiu went to carry it out. Madam Wang softened her voice: “Mother, let me see you back. With the house physician on watch day and night, nothing major will happen here. Do not worry about the rest. Whoever did this, we will get to the bottom of it. For so many years the marquisate has been clean; now that such a thing has happened, there is no reason not to investigate, and the marquisate cannot tolerate people scheming behind our backs with matters of offspring.”

Grand Matron finally nodded: “I will leave this to you, but you still must persuade the second daughter-in-law.”

Supported by Gan Lu, Grand Matron left the gate of Chun Hua Courtyard. Outside, Ping Qiu was already hauling people away. Compared with the yawning and slack faces from Qiushi Courtyard, the people of Chun Hua Courtyard were terrified one by one, like startled birds. Grand Matron looked up at the pitch-dark sky, her heart unbearably heavy. [I knew this day would come. I have done my utmost to salvage things, yet the sense of powerlessness covers me like a shroud.] She turned her head to look at the gate of Chun Hua Courtyard, then again at the gate of Qiushi Courtyard. The enmity between the two grandsons, it seemed, could no longer be resolved.

Xin An let Madam Wang in and, smiling, invited her to sit: “I knew Mother would come, so I had someone bring millet and sea cucumber. It is just right now.”

The people of the courtyard had all been called out for questioning; the spacious compound now held only the two of them. Madam Wang did not stand on ceremony; she took the bowl and ate in small mouthfuls. Only when she had finished did she put the bowl down and ask, “Tell Mother how you intend to proceed?”

Xin An did not hide anything. She said she had anticipated what happened today: “I just did not expect Auntie Cai to be so foolish. I thought she would have some high trick.”

“That doll is nothing but the thief crying ‘thief.’”

Madam Wang gave a cold snort: “She is merely taking advantage of your father-in-law’s bias.”

“I cut off his privilege of drawing silver from the accounts at will, so I expected he would make a move,” Xin An said. She did not think tonight’s matter was Tang Rong’s doing, at least not arranged by him personally. If he had laid out the plan himself, it would not have been full of such holes. It should have been Auntie Cai’s own decision.

“Auntie Cai has been pilfering items from the neighboring storeroom to pawn for silver,” Xin An said. “I have told Liu Chang to bring this to Mother first thing tomorrow morning.”

Madam Wang did not answer at once. After thinking a moment, she vetoed Xin An’s plan: “Do not touch Auntie Cai for the time being.”

“Why?”

“This old woman has no head on her shoulders but is accustomed to throwing her weight around,” Madam Wang said. “She is distasteful to look at, but for us she is useful. If she is removed, she will certainly be replaced, and nine times out of ten that replacement will be someone from the palace.”

Grand Matron had already set her sights on Cui Ping. Even if she would not use Cui Ping now, it would not be hard for her to invite someone similar in.

Reminded, Xin An thought of the same thing: “Then I will tell Liu Chang not to act for now, only to keep watch.”

“As for Auntie Cai,” Madam Wang said, “Mother will also make a show of severity and then deal with her lightly. After all, the eldest has once again met with an accident; if Mother disposes of one of his people, whatever the reason, it will sound bad.”

Madam Wang heaved a sigh: “This will wrong you.”

“I am all right,” Xin An smiled. “I answered Father-in-law as I did only because he is too partial. Since I entered this house I have seen with my own eyes how my husband shows filial piety to Father-in-law, and I have also seen how Father-in-law looks on him with dislike. I was merely aggrieved on his behalf.”

“Will Father-in-law bear a grudge against me?”

There was not the least hint of worry in her tone. Madam Wang sneered: “And if he does, what of it? How big a matter could it be?” A father-in-law cannot exactly lay hands on his daughter-in-law.

“Then I must trouble Mother to mediate.”

“We, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, need not speak so,” Madam Wang said. “What matters is that you must not move out. Even if outsiders know it is your father-in-law’s bias and that you were wronged, if you move out you will place the marquisate at a disadvantage. Those people will turn their tongues and say you are narrow-minded and do not consider the greater good. In the end both sides are wounded.”

“To hurt the enemy a thousand while injuring oneself eight hundred is not worth it,” she added.

Xin An pondered briefly, then smiled: “Mother is the thorough one.”

As the interrogated servants returned one after another, Madam Wang rose. On learning that Tang Mo had gone out and would not be back for three days, her heart clenched with worry, but this was not the time to lose her head. She took a deep breath, face set and murderous, and went out.

Xin An sent Nan Feng to find Liu Chang and told her: “Have him hold his men for now, and take him ten taels of silver. Tell him to keep a close watch on every corner of the residence.”

Nan Feng felt very guilty for not having discovered tonight’s plot in advance. Xin An did not blame her: “Judging by how sloppily this turned out, the move next door was made in haste. Qing Mo also received no word, so it was obviously a rogue action. Just keep watching.”

Nan Feng quickly left. Chun Yang and Chun Lv returned as well and said, “Whatever they ask is what we will say. We have nothing to hide.”

Both felt the neighbors were unreasonable; to have them as next door was truly bad luck. It was only pregnancy, why act as if it were something extraordinary.

Xin An yawned: “Rest, all of you. If anything comes up, we will speak of it tomorrow.”

Qiushi Courtyard soon fell quiet. At this time, Tang Gang had already vented his pent-up displeasure on Madam Wang, saying that Xin An was not deferential, that she had learned from Tang Mo to contradict him, and that she was presumptuous on account of having some money: “If there is a next time, send her back to the Xin Family.”

Madam Wang sat and listened to the end, then raised her eyes and asked, “If the Marquis harbors such great displeasure, why did you not display the authority of a father-in-law and deal with her on the spot?”

He did not dare in person and only chewed his tongue behind her back.

“When the daughter-in-law entered, before she had even opened her mouth, the father-in-law’s tea cup had already been smashed at her feet,” she said. “At that moment, had the Marquis already determined it was the second couple’s doing?”

“On the mere words of a single servant, without questioning or investigation, did the Marquis at once convict his own son’s wife? You wish to send her back to her natal home? Fine. We will say that the father-in-law colluded with a servant to wrong her; she showed no sense and refused to confess, so the father-in-law could not tolerate her.”

She had finally seen him clearly: [No matter how well and how respectfully you treat him, if you have ever once resisted him, he will remember only your fault. Such a man is not worth your kindness.]