Wei Tingyu looked guilty and stammered, glancing at Wei Tingzhen.
Madam Gao, who had just been stung by Wei Tingzhen’s words, appeared furious.
Most people would rather destroy ten temples than ruin one marriage. But Wei Tingzhen was like a troublemaker, determined to disrupt her natal family’s peace and ruin Miss Ming’s marriage.
Suppressing her anger, she spoke slowly to Wei Tingyu: “How can juniors like you interfere in the affairs of your elders? The Marquis is the one living with Miss Ming. Tell me, how has Miss Ming wronged you? Has she been unfilial to her in-laws or disrespectful to her elder sister-in-law? Or is she jealous and hasn’t given you an heir? How can you blame Miss Ming for things that happened before she was even born? That’s so unfair to her! Remember, you chose this marriage yourself!”
The Fifth Madam listened anxiously.
This Madam Gao from the Wang family was too straightforward and lacked quick wit.
Speaking like this was essentially admitting that Dou Ming was an illegitimate child!
She urgently signaled to Cai Shi with her eyes.
But Cai Shi stared blankly at Dou Ming, looking surprised.
She had only vaguely heard that Wang Shi had used her power to bully others, forcing the Seventh Uncle to make her his legal wife. She never imagined there was such a scandal before Wang Shi became the legal wife!
No wonder Dou Zhao was so wealthy!
Half of the Seventh Uncle’s family fortune!
How much money was that?
She pondered silently, completely missing her mother-in-law’s eye signals.
The Fifth Madam sighed inwardly in helplessness.
It wasn’t Cai Shi’s fault for reacting this way.
The events of that year were shameful for both the Dou and Wang families, so they were reluctant to mention them. Who would voluntarily tell the younger generation about such things?
Lady Ji had always stood on Zhao Guqiu’s side, and Gao Mingzhu probably didn’t even know that Wang Yingxue had been made the legal wife. Now, they could only count on Madam Pang to confront Wei Tingzhen.
She looked towards Pang Yulou.
But Pang Yulou appeared thirsty, sipping her tea in small mouthfuls without looking up.
The Fifth Madam was a veteran of social occasions. How could Pang Yulou’s little act escape her notice? But even if the Fifth Madam knew Pang Yulou wanted to stay out of it, what could she do? She had no choice but to step in herself. Seeing that Madam Gao had played the good cop, she had to play the bad cop. So she spoke firmly:
“When our family marries off a daughter, we provide a substantial dowry. The married daughter eats her food and wears her clothes. Is there something wrong with that? If you want the Dou family to manage Miss Ming’s dowry just because of what happened with our Seventh Sister-in-law, we absolutely won’t agree! If you’re dissatisfied, there’s the Shunyi Prefecture above and the Court of Judicial Review below. One is in the neighboring district, the other on Criminal Affairs Street. The yamen doors face south and are open to all. Feel free to go and sue the Dou family!”
“The Dou family also has a belly full of grievances and needs a place to air them.”
“Everyone in Zhending knows that our family’s Fourth Young Madam was betrothed to the Jining Marquis’s family since childhood. Even now, people in Zhending still think our Fourth Young Madam married into the Jining Marquis’s family. The Jining Marquis and our Fourth Young Madam had a good marriage arrangement, but you meddled and forcibly broke it up!”
Wei Tingzhen was already angry, but the Fifth Madam’s words made her even more furious.
If Wang Shi hadn’t set a trap for her brother to fall into, half of Dou Zhao’s property in West Dou would have belonged to the Wei family long ago! How could her brother end up living with a pauper like Dou Ming?
Wei Tingzhen stood up with a gloomy expression, about to argue with the Fifth Madam.
The Fifth Madam sneered, cutting off what Wei Tingzhen was about to say: “Eldest Madam Wei, don’t try to pin this on the Dou family! Who arranged to meet our Seventh Madam at the Daxiangguo Temple to listen to Buddhist teachings to break off the engagement? Who was about to marry the elder sister but secretly arranged to visit a Buddhist temple with the younger sister? And who stood in front of Miss Ming when our Dou family came to take her away?
Eldest Madam Wei, don’t think you can turn black into white and white into black just by moving your lips! Should I invite the wife of Secretary Zheng from the Ministry of War’s Bureau of Military Appointments to testify? Should I call in the attendant who used to serve the Marquis closely but was sent to the farm before the Marquis’s wedding to tell us what happened? Should I find the marriage certificate from the Shunyi Prefecture’s Household Office and show it to the Duke’s wife from the Jingguo Duke’s mansion?”
Her rapid-fire words made the veins on Wei Tingzhen’s forehead throb.
This old shrew knows everything but kept quiet all along.
No wonder people say there’s not a single good person among scholars!
“Go ahead and say it! Do you think I’m afraid of you?” she retorted scornfully, “For men, a reformed rake is worth his weight in gold, but for women, once tainted by the word ‘lust,’ they might as well drown themselves!”
“Is that so?” The Fifth Madam looked at Wei Tingzhen as if she were an idiot, saying disdainfully, “No wonder you’re so arrogant. You’re just an ignorant woman! You’ve probably never seen our dynasty’s great laws, spouting such rural women’s talk! No wonder the Wei family has fallen so far in recent years, and you can’t hold your head high in front of your mother-in-law.”
Her words hit Wei Tingzhen’s weak spot. Wei Tingzhen jumped up to argue with the Fifth Madam but was stopped by Wei Tingyu.
“Sister,” he said softly, feeling both ashamed and guilty, “say less—if this goes to court at the Shunyi Prefecture or the Court of Judicial Review, I can’t escape involvement. At the very least, I’ll face a hundred strokes of the cane.”
Wei Tingzhen was stunned, immediately realizing that disgracing a virtuous family could indeed result in a hundred strokes.
“Sister, now that Lord Dou is in charge of the Ministry of Justice, we can’t win a lawsuit against them,” Wei Tingyu reminded Wei Tingzhen quietly again. “Why don’t we just let this matter go?” He had always been afraid of women arguing, and the Fifth Madam’s fierce expression terrified him. “It’s indeed unreasonable to let the Dou family manage Miss Ming’s dowry. Why don’t we discuss with the Dou family and agree not to let Miss Ming return to her maiden home to see her mother in the future?”
His gentle plea almost made Wei Tingzhen fall over backward.
At this point, he was begging for mercy!
Wouldn’t all their previous efforts be in vain? And they had offended both the Dou and Wang families for nothing!
How could she have such a brother?
Wei Tingzhen couldn’t bear it anymore. She slapped Wei Tingyu’s shoulder and scolded him in a low voice: “Are you even a man? Is this how you handle things? You agreed so readily before, and now you’re changing your mind? What do you take your sister for? Are you letting your sister live or not?”
Wei Tingyu was truly stuck between a rock and a hard place.
He covered his shoulder and said softly, “Then… then what should we do? If it were someone else, we could just pay the fine for a hundred strokes. But we’re going to court against the Dou family, and they’ll find a way to make me suffer those hundred strokes. Moreover, this could be construed as seduction or even illicit intercourse… We’ll be the only ones disgraced in the end. We can’t win a lawsuit against the Dou family…”
Wei Tingzhen was about to lose her mind.
Was this her brother?
Not only was he not helping her, but he was also holding her back.
Unfortunately, at this moment, the reception room was filled only with the women from the Dou and Wang families, along with the Wei siblings and Dou Ming. Everyone’s attention was focused on the siblings, and although they spoke softly, the others heard everything.
Madam Gao felt a surge of joy.
As long as the Wei family backed down, this matter could be resolved easily.
She quickly said to the Fifth Madam, “My dear in-law, once we’ve entered the same family, we’re all one family. There’s no need to be so particular about some things. I think we should just let this matter go. From now on, Miss Ming and the Young Marquis can close their doors and live happily together. We’re all just outsiders; as long as they’re happy, what’s there to quibble about?” She then asked Lady Ji, “Don’t you agree?”
Lady Ji nodded with a smile.
They had come to frighten Wei Tingyu, and now that their goal was achieved, it was natural to smooth things over.
She smiled at Wei Tingyu and said, “Marquis, why don’t you quickly apologize to the Fifth Young Madam? She just had a miscarriage and hasn’t fully recovered. She’s been through so much trouble here and must be feeling awful. Be magnanimous and don’t quibble with Miss Ming over so many things!” As she spoke, she tugged at Cai Shi’s sleeve, signaling her to help smooth things over.
Cai Shi had now come to her senses. She quickly stood up with a smile and half-supported, half-pushed the still sobbing Miss Ming to Wei Tingyu’s side. “Hurry and apologize to the Marquis! He hasn’t blamed you for causing such a scene, which shows he cares for you. You mustn’t anger the Marquis like this in the future!”
Dou Ming looked up at Wei Tingyu with red, swollen eyes. Her timid appearance immediately broke through Wei Tingyu’s defenses.
Wei Tingyu’s face turned red, and he said softly in embarrassment, “Yes, it’s my fault…”
Wei Tingzhen was so angry her teeth were grinding. She pushed her brother aside and shouted “Wait!” in a loud voice. With an icy expression, she said, “If you want to settle this matter, you must agree to several of our conditions!”
Just as they were about to quell the Wei family’s arrogance, how could the Fifth Madam let it go so easily?
“There are no conditions to discuss in this matter!” she immediately said. “For the past half year, considering how well the Marquis has treated Miss Ming, we’ve been tolerant where we could be tolerant and lenient where we could be lenient. We never thought that in others’ eyes, this would be seen as timidity and weakness, something to be taken advantage of. There’s a limit to what can be endured. Either we let this go for the Marquis’s sake and not set a precedent, or we’ll meet in court as the Young Duchess suggests!”
Wei Tingzhen, though outwardly fierce but inwardly fearful, still refused to back down: “Then we’ll meet in court!”
Wei Tingyu hurriedly said, “Fifth Aunt, my sister doesn’t mean anything else. She just hopes that Miss Ming won’t return to her maiden home in the future.” As he spoke, he looked tenderly at Dou Ming. “Every time Miss Ming returns from her maiden home, she’s unhappy for a long time… I just want to live peacefully and not argue all the time…”
The Dou family had built their influence over generations, and now they were at the height of their prosperity and glory. How could the Wei family demand that Dou Ming never return to her maiden home?
If Dou Ming faced grievances in her husband’s family, who would she turn to for justice? Who would speak up for her?
This Jining Marquis had seemed talented and upright before, but when faced with a real situation, he turned out to be completely without initiative or insight.
It was fortunate that Dou Zhao hadn’t married him, otherwise the Dou family would have lost a strong ally like Song Yantang.
The Fifth Madam almost revealed a mocking expression, but then she heard Dou Ming say softly, “If I don’t see my mother, can this matter be dropped?”