Chapter 274

Chapter 274: Was This Your Doing?

At some point the sky had turned overcast and the wind had picked up, not lightly either. The gusts scattered the lingering stench in Chun Hua Courtyard, granting everyone there a reprieve. People drew in great lungfuls of fresh air, and some inhaled hard several times, hoping to flush the foul breath from their bellies.

The yard had dried out, but the odor inside the rooms could not dissipate for a while. Those attending within could still catch that faint, elusive whiff.

Tang Rong fell asleep in a state of utter dejection. In his dream he tumbled into a latrine, filth flooding his nose and mouth, and the fright jolted him awake; when he stepped outside he was drenched in sweat.

Auntie Cai had reached the point where even tea made her retch. She could not bear to see the slightest hint of color in food. Even white porridge she forced down one bowl through clenched teeth and almost brought it right back up.

Madam Wang came once, and after instructing them to serve him well, she said nothing more. Leaving the courtyard, she went straight to Chun Rong Hall to report everything to the Grand Matron.

On hearing the news, the prayer beads in the Grand Matron’s hands nearly snapped. Thinking her old ears had deceived her, she asked: “Did you say it was the eldest?”

“Yes.”

Madam Wang lowered her voice and said: “They say his belly caught a chill. People have their urgencies; when it hits suddenly no one can control it. It is somewhat…”

“It is human nature,” the Grand Matron said. “The body is no matter; I fear only that his heart will not accept it for a time.”

It took the Grand Matron a long moment to accept the fact. She rose, intending to visit, but Madam Wang said: “The fewer who know, the better. This must never be spread outside. Mother, better not to go. The eldest child likely does not wish to see anyone.”

“After taking medicine he has settled down,” Madam Wang added, “but the household physician wants to leave, saying an elder at home needs care. Mother, shall we let him go?”

The Grand Matron knit her brows and said: “It is best he not leave at a time like this. Give him more silver.”

“We already offered more. He is firm.”

Madam Wang said that once the household physician left, it would be hard to find a suitable replacement. “Qiu Shi Courtyard has Physician Qin, but given the relationship between Physician Qin and the second daughter-in-law, the eldest will not want Physician Qin to treat him.”

The Grand Matron let out a long sigh and told Madam Wang to keep the physician by any means necessary: “Even if he must go, make him wait until spring. I have been thinking that after the New Year, we should have the eldest accompany me to the Enci Temple in the suburbs for a few days, to eat vegetarian and chant scriptures, to turn our luck.”

She had come to believe the Abbot of South Crossing Temple without reserve; [she wondered what karmic debt Tang Rong must have owed in a past life to be repaying it with such hardship in this one].

“How did it go?”

Tang Mo hurried back to Qiu Shi Courtyard and, upon seeing Xin An, pulled her inside, asking: “Did you catch the spectacle today?”

“Next time there is such a spectacle, do not tell me,” Xin An said. She felt that even without seeing it she could imagine it; once imagined, she could not eat. “At the worst of it, our courtyard had the smell too.”

“Tell me quickly,” Tang Mo urged, excitement brimming. “I wanted to stay in the residence and watch, but I could not. Missing it is too regrettable. Tell me exactly how it was.”

Xin An called for Nan Feng to recount it: “Nan Feng tells it well, vivid and lifelike.”

Nan Feng had been running up and down all day, terrified of missing any of the excitement. She wished she had eight mouths to repeat everything she had seen. Now that she had the chance, she poured it all out, from the moment Qing Mo fed him the medicinal soup to the moment Auntie Cai burst out of the room splattered with filth. Some of it she had seen with her own eyes, some she had wrung from Qing Mo through questioning, and some she had picked up from next door. Leaving nothing out, conjectures included, she spoke with spittle flying. Tang Mo listened, dumbstruck. [He had originally planned to foul just one bed to disgust Tang Rong; he had not expected there would even be someone specifically assigned to catch the excrement.] He clicked his tongue and joked: “The Heir Apparent really is different; such a stickler for propriety.”

“When Cai Quan and his son left, they ran for it, as if afraid Auntie Cai would chase them,” Nan Feng said. “Looks like they could not stand it either.”

Merely thinking of the scene filled Tang Mo with boundless glee. He laughed aloud, thoroughly satisfied: “A pity I did not see it. What a pity.”

“Second young master, better not regret it,” Nan Feng said. “Now the people next door retch at the mere thought of eating. Especially Auntie Cai, they say even her water cannot have color, and her food can only be white porridge.”

“Serves her right,” Tang Mo said through gritted teeth. “If she is not disgusted to death, she will not learn to rein in her audacity.”

[From that one sentence, Nan Feng sensed another meaning; today’s spectacle next door was likely the second young master’s handiwork. He looked a little like a good person, but in truth…]

“Tang Mo, come out.”

Tang Gang’s voice came from the gate. Tang Mo rose with unhurried ease. Xin An caught his hand and asked: “Will you be all right?”

“What could happen,” he said, giving her hand a squeeze. “Do not worry. I will be back soon.”

Tang Gang had returned only a little later than Tang Mo. As soon as he was back, Steward Zhang came forward to whisper the matter about Tang Rong. Tang Gang’s heart lurched; [he had guarded against everything, yet he had not guarded against Tang Mo playing such a trick]. He strode quickly to Chun Hua Courtyard, and as soon as he entered the room where Tang Rong was staying, the reek hit him. Tang Rong did not want to see anyone or speak; he lay with eyes closed, ignoring everyone.

Tang Gang sent for Qing Mo and forced him to recount that dreadful scene once more. Auntie Cai, listening off to the side, almost broke into tears again. Maddened, Tang Gang immediately went to settle accounts with Tang Mo.

“Father, your pace is quick,” Tang Mo said with a grin as he came out. That brazen look almost made Tang Gang roll his eyes.

“Get to the study,” Tang Gang snapped.

“All right,” Tang Mo said, smiling as he went out.

Once they reached the study, Tang Gang struck the table with a sharp smack and demanded: “Was this your doing?”

“Yes,” Tang Mo said, sitting down of his own accord. Since that trip out with Liao Zhi, he had seen a bit of the world. When the bandit’s blade chopped toward his arm, he had thought he would die on the spot and had even prepared last words. It turned out to be a false alarm. After that, his state of mind changed a good deal; some people and matters he had once clung to no longer seemed so important. Lounging with one leg slung over the other, he said: “Did I not say early on that I would take revenge. I was going to go to my big brother’s bedside and scold him twice in person, but then I thought that would be dull. Watching him make a fool of himself is far more satisfying. Still, I kept my word. I did not injure him.”

“You bastard,” Tang Gang roared, slapping the table again. “You might as well have just given him two slaps. After this, how is he supposed to go out and face people?” [He was not some seventy- or eighty-year-old, yet he had soiled an entire bed; the image alone made Tang Gang feel ill.]

“What has that to do with me,” Tang Mo said bluntly, still jiggling his leg. “When he ordered his people to frame me, he did not spare a thought for me.”

“You are brothers; must you really do this?”

“He struck first. Why should I be the one to swallow the loss?”

At that moment Tang Mo felt both unfamiliar and familiar to Tang Gang. Seeing he had not a shred of proper posture, Tang Gang barked: “Sit properly. Who told you to jiggle your leg. Can you not learn from your elder brother?”

Tang Mo grinned and said: “Learn what from him, how to soil a bed?”

“You bastard.”