Chapter 267

Chapter 267: Xin An’s Dowry

Madam Wang sent someone to drag the household physician out of bed. On the verge of tears, the physician tightened at the sight of Tang Mo’s wound, thinking: [Has the marquisate been struck by misfortune this year? The Heir Apparent has run into trouble again and again, and now even the perfectly fine Second Young Master has not escaped.]

When he had finished treating the wound, the physician, not daring to ask the reason, hastily took his leave. [He had thought serving as a household physician would be easier, but… sigh.]

Madam Wang poured Tang Mo a cup of hot water and scolded softly: “How could you be so careless? When he raised his hand, could you not have dodged? Settling accounts with him is not urgent for a single moment. You show no steadiness at all.”

Tang Mo said: “Did I not sleep enough in the day? I could not sleep anyway. I just wanted to watch him jump with anger.”

“You…” Madam Wang admonished him not to be too arrogant, lest he stir up more trouble: “He is narrow-minded by nature. If you provoke him, who knows how he will retaliate. Be careful.”

Tang Mo smiled with narrowed eyes and said: “I am not afraid. Since fatherly kindness and filial piety are not mine to have, then we will simply change the way we get along.”

Saying this, he stood up: “I am going back. I am sleepy.” Madam Wang, helpless, shook her head and sent someone to escort him back.

For several days in a row, rain or shine, Tang Gang went to Chun Hua Courtyard to see Tang Rong, guarding against the chance that Tang Mo would really do something to humiliate him. Tang Rong’s injuries would not heal in a short time; even now he could not get out of bed or walk. If Tang Mo burst in and beat him again, he would have no strength to fight back. For this, Tang Gang even assigned an extra bodyguard to guard the courtyard gate.

Unfortunately for his worries, Tang Mo did nothing in those days, because the matter of his wound splitting open was soon discovered by Physician Qin. Because of this, Xin An kept an eye on him in their courtyard to keep him from getting up to make trouble again.

Time flew, and the weather grew ever colder. After lying in bed several days, Tang Mo’s wound had begun to scab. With Physician Qin’s permission, he put on a fresh outfit and went to his post. Now that he was a deputy commander, there were many matters to oversee, and he had men under his command to dispatch as he pleased. He was, as they say, in the flush of spring.

Thus Tang Gang relaxed his vigilance and began to comfort himself that what Tang Mo had said that night was just angry talk and that he would not do anything excessive. Even so, the men stationed at Chun Hua Courtyard were not withdrawn, just in case.

With some free time, Xin An opened the storeroom and personally selected an extremely precious White Jade Longevity Immortal, which her father had once obtained by chance, rare indeed, and later had given her as part of her dowry.

She also fetched a small casket containing three large pearls, larger and more lustrous than the boxful her mother-in-law had given her; they were rare goods from overseas.

She specially sent for Madam Wang and said: “Mother, please take a look. This Longevity Immortal, shall we present it to the Empress Dowager, and these pearls to the Empress, how about that?”

Madam Wang pinched a pearl between her fingers and walked from room to eaves to catch the light, undisguised amazement in her eyes: “Good heavens. They say salt merchants are wealthy beyond measure, and now I have seen it. I have never seen pearls of such quality.”

She had thought the box she herself kept was already of the highest grade and had even hidden it in her own bedchamber. Compared with the one in her hand, that box was merely like the offspring of a pearl.

“To present them to the Empress is right. People of our station cannot wear these anyway, it is just that…” she said, then concluded: “They are too precious.”

With Tang Mo’s promotion and the emperor’s boundless grace, Madam Wang had been thinking of entering the palace to pay respects to the Empress Dowager and the Empress and of offering a respectable gift of thanks. Unfortunately, having rummaged through the storerooms, she had found nothing she felt could catch the Empress Dowager’s and the Empress’s eyes, and was already considering spending money outside to buy something suitable.

Xin An’s two treasures solved an urgent need, but they were her dowry, after all. Madam Wang’s own dowry had been dipped into by Tang Gang, something she still found contemptible in him. She did not want her son to be looked down upon by his wife.

“Pearls of this quality must be set into a ceremonial crown, and only one can be set. Aside from the Empress Dowager and the Empress, no one is qualified,” she said. “But this is your dowry. How can it be taken out lightly? If your natal family asks later, how will we explain? And how can my son stand tall before his father-in-law?”

“Mother understands your intention, but this is truly too precious. As for items to honor the Empress Dowager and the Empress, Mother will find a way.”

Xin An, of course, knew the two items were precious. If they were not, she would not have brought them out. Many merchants rich as local princes scour for fine pieces precisely to present them to those who can bring great benefit to their families, yet for lack of connections they can only let those treasures gather dust.

[Who under heaven is more worthy than the Empress Dowager and the Empress? If her father knew, he would only worry that what she sent was not precious enough.]

“These things would only sit at the bottom of my chest if they stayed with me. I cannot use them. My sons and daughters will not use them. With the years, their luster will fade. What a pity,” she said. “Better to put things to their best use.”

Madam Wang hesitated. If her in-laws asked later, she truly did not know how to explain.

Xin An saw what she was thinking and reflected: [In my last life, the moment I entered the household I stood in opposition to her. I never truly tried to understand this mother-in-law and merely believed she too was calculating and dark-handed. Only after spending time together in this life did I learn she fiercely protects her own. To be the one she favors feels very good.]

She was the sort who, so long as the other person treated her sincerely, would surely repay it. All she sought was to make herself happy.

“Mother, only if my husband thrives will the Xin family thrive. The Xin family has no scholars of real promise yet. To maintain today’s prosperity will sooner or later depend on my husband. Helping him is helping me and helping everyone of the Xin family,” she said. “Perhaps Mother does not know this, but my father prepared my dowry with these considerations in mind. Half of it was meant to be used to smooth the way for my future husband. So Mother need not feel reluctant.”

This, Madam Wang truly had not known. She had only seen the dowry list and assumed that the Xin family, being wealthy and doting on their daughter, had simply sent her off with much. Now she suddenly understood why Tang Gang and Grand Matron had shown such regret. That regret would reveal itself in unguarded moments. She had thought they regretted that so good a daughter-in-law as Xin An had not married Tang Rong. Now it seemed they also regretted that half of that dowry, did they not? If it had fallen into Tang Rong’s hands, who knew how grand and generous he would appear.

“Even so, we must use it sparingly. There is a long road ahead. In the future, when there is need, speak up. Do not always use your dowry. Once you entered the marquisate’s gates, what you handle is the marquisate’s business, and the marquisate should bear the expense,” Madam Wang said.

“Understood,” Xin An replied.

So it was decided. Madam Wang had Xin An put the two treasures away, then, in Madam Wang’s own name, sent a visiting card to the palace. This time she would personally take Xin An to the palace and spare Grand Matron the exertion.

Auntie Wang put the items away in the cabinet and said: “Madam is very clear-sighted.” In this household, if things were not given to Tang Mo, they would be monopolized by Tang Rong. She added: “If both young masters were your own, perhaps you would not be so openhanded.”

Xin An smiled and said: “It is only human nature.” Who would truly put aside her own son to dote on another’s? Another woman’s child is hard to raise into intimacy.

“Young Madam, a letter has arrived from Huaijiang,” Auntie Wang reported.