This performance of theirs was still not enough. Gu Tingye actually proceeded to prop his wife into a chair with great ceremony, and Minglan leaned lightly against the armrest in a posture of delicate, floating fragility. Wang Old Madam turned her head and worked hard not to look at their theater. She had barely managed to press down her vexation and was just about to speak when Changbai opened his mouth first: “A daughter-in-law who plots against her mother-in-law falls under the ten unpardonable offenses. According to statute, the penalty is beheading at the lighter end, and death by slow dismemberment at the heavier.”
Wang Shi almost leapt to her feet in fright. Why was her son bringing this up?
Wang Old Madam stared blankly for a moment, then smiled — though the words rang hollow: “You have been posted away for several years, and your mother has not seen you for such a long time — she misses you terribly. Why bring this up now?” She looked carefully at this grandson, the one who most resembled her deceased husband, and noticed that his fair complexion had been tanned somewhat reddish-brown by the sun, less refined than he had once been — yet his bearing was better, and between his glances there naturally lay the authority of a man who had managed affairs independently for years.
Changbai said: “Oh — was it not Old Grandmother who just told Father that if this matter were made public, Aunt might have a chance of survival, but my mother would be inescapably doomed? I first wished to explain the statutes to Mother, so she has a sense of what she faces.”
Wang Old Madam’s expression shifted. Wang Shi gripped her son’s sleeve with both hands. “…You — you already knew…?”
Changbai glanced at his mother and said blandly: “I know everything.”
Minglan was inwardly astonished. She had kept the information quite well sealed — how had her elder brother come to know so quickly?
While she was thinking, she felt a faint itch in her palm. She saw Gu Tingye, seated beside her, nod toward her and silently mouth the word “Gongsun.” Minglan thought for a moment and understood. The guards she had used to seal off the mansion, capture people, even to interrogate and apply pressure — they had originally been dispatched by Master Gongsun Baishi. Whatever the results of the interrogation were, others might not know, but Gongsun Baishi certainly would. He had sent someone to find Gu Tingye and told him everything from start to finish. On the way to the Sheng mansion, the brother-in-law had run into the eldest uncle, and so Changbai had come to know all of it as well.
Wang Old Madam’s gaze fell on Gu Tingye’s seat, and she felt uneasy. She said with a smile: “You rushed here from a distance, and in this short time, what you’ve heard may be somewhat incomplete.”
Changbai gave a light sound: “Old Grandmother says it is incomplete — does that refer to Aunt finding someone to formulate the poison, or to Aunt deceiving my mother into administering it?”
Wang Old Madam’s smile went rigid: “Your aunt and your mother were both confused, which is how they ended up committing such a monstrous wrong.”
Changbai shook his head: “My mother was indeed confused — she believed a blood relative could be trusted, not knowing that her own sister would actually deceive and harm her. As for Aunt… every step was precisely calculated, not a single one off. And even now, does she not still have my mother holding up the blame for her? I can see she was perfectly clear-headed throughout. Where was the confusion?”
Wang Old Madam was displeased, and said with a light tap of the armrest: “As you’ve grown older, you’ve developed more of your own opinions — you no longer see any need to heed what your elders say.”
Changbai lifted his head and looked up at her: “What would Old Grandmother have me heed from you?”
Wang Old Madam was arrested by those stern eyes — so like her late husband’s — and fell momentarily speechless.
“Aunt poisoned my grandmother, deceived my mother, and brought the whole household into turmoil. And Old Grandmother wants me to let it go without pursuit?” Changbai stood at the center of the main hall and spoke in a low, steady voice. “My father refused to release Aunt, and Old Grandmother used my mother and me as leverage to force my father to comply. Does that mean my mother and I are not also flesh and blood of the Wang family?”
Wang Old Madam’s face grew hot. She said with difficulty: “My dear child, you don’t understand. If this affair goes public, it will be especially damaging to you. Your father is also afraid it might damage your prospects…”
“Then do not let it go public.” Changbai looked at her coolly. “This matter of Aunt — even if the law of the land could be made to tolerate it, family discipline cannot. Either notify Uncle by marriage and have the Kang ancestral hall handle it, or let Old Grandmother give us a proper accounting. Keep it behind closed doors; no one outside need know.”
Wang Old Madam’s heart sank steadily lower. She knew Changbai’s character well — once his mind was made up, it was virtually impossible to change it. Her thoughts in chaos, she called out: “A fine, filial grandson indeed — who opens his mouth about going to court. Don’t you care whether your mother lives or dies?”
Changbai turned to Wang Shi: “Mother, based on what Sixth Sister holds in evidence, it is clear that you were deceived and did not know it was poison. If you were truly to appear before a magistrate, you would most likely face the charge of improper conduct toward a superior — which would not carry beheading or slow dismemberment.”
Wang Shi sniffled: “…But there would still be no shortage of corporal punishment, would there?”
Changbai showed not the slightest crack, and said blandly: “Mother has indeed shown disrespect toward the elder madam. To receive some corporal punishment is appropriate.”
Wang Shi collapsed face-down across the table and wept still more loudly. She had thought her son would pull her to safety — she had not expected his nature to be so unyielding that he would include his own mother in the punishment.
Wang Old Madam’s chest heaved violently with fury, and she said with a series of cold laughs: “A fine, righteously selfless, filial grandson! Your mother has committed the grave offense of defying a superior — I shall see whether you, as her son, can keep your own hands clean?!”
These words were extremely vicious. Yet Changbai’s next sentence was: “Naturally, I cannot. I have already drafted a letter of resignation on the road here, and intend to submit it on the day I formally report in.”
Minglan’s heart gave a sharp jolt. Then she heard a collective intake of breath from the room. Sheng Hong stiffened, every vein in his neck standing out. Wang Shi instantly stopped crying and stared blankly at her son. Changbai looked at Wang Shi, his soft and unhurried voice carrying the faintest note of grief: “With Mother having done what she has done, what face would I have left to stand in officialdom, to speak of morality, to speak of loyalty and filial piety? Once this is resolved, I will submit my resignation.”
The room fell so silent one could hear a pin drop. Wang Uncle wore an expression of shame, shaking his head and sighing repeatedly. Wang Aunt, however, appeared genuinely moved, and cast a resentful glance at her own mother-in-law.
After a good long while, Wang Shi suddenly lurched to her feet and threw herself at her son, pulling and clutching at him, weeping and wailing simultaneously: “You cannot resign, you cannot resign! …My dear child — you began your schooling at age four. From north to south, not a single teacher failed to praise your intelligence and diligence. Morning and night you applied yourself without ceasing, never missing a single day! In the great heat of summer you broke out in prickly heat yet refused to ease up for even a moment; in the depths of winter your hands chapped with frostbite yet you refused to write one fewer character — I was so heartbroken watching you… You studied through more than ten years of hardship to win your position. Your future is bright before you now — do not let Mother ruin it!”
These words, each one the heartfelt voice of a mother, moved everyone who heard them. Wang Aunt and Liu Kun’s wife turned aside to wipe their tears. Even Minglan’s heart ached. Changbai supported Wang Shi, and could not help his own eyes reddening.
In her agitation, Wang Shi forgot all propriety and used her sleeve to wipe her tears, the cosmetics on her face smeared with grief. “It is all Mother’s fault — Mother was wrong, Mother was blackhearted! I will go confess my crime, I will submit to judgment…” She turned a cold laugh on Wang Old Madam at the head of the room: “From this day on, Mother has only one daughter! Since you have no regard for whether I live or die… bring on the court, bring on all of it — whether they kill me or dismember me, I accept!”
Wang Old Madam was struck through with a sharp stab of pain. She held herself together with great effort and wept to Wang Shi: “You foolish thing — you are the child I carried for ten months in my womb. How could I have no regard for whether you live or die!”
Wang Shi let out a cold laugh: “Mother, in order to protect Elder Sister, you threatened to expose everything. You cared nothing for Elder Brother’s official reputation, for the Wang family’s honor, or for the lives your two nieces must lead in their husbands’ households! How much more, then, a mere ‘me’?”
Hearing her own daughter speak such biting words against her, Wang Old Madam’s vision went dark, and she nearly fainted, striking her thighs and weeping loudly: “Must you all force me to die?! Let me give my life in exchange for the Sheng family’s elder madam!”
Changbai steadied Wang Shi into a seat, then turned around: “The two situations cannot be compared in the same breath. Our elder madam’s fate is uncertain — she has been schemed against and poisoned by a wicked person. If Old Grandmother were to suffer a mishap, it would be the result of an unfilial daughter’s torment.”
Minglan lowered her head and brushed the corner of a tear from her eye, the corner of her mouth curving upward — Elder Brother was of a generation that had never been susceptible to emotional manipulation. The sort of women’s tricks involving “if you dare do such-and-such, I’ll go throw myself in the river or bash my head against the wall” had absolutely no effect on him.
Wang Old Madam would not give up and wept: “It was my fault in raising her poorly — a mother’s fault for not teaching well. Let me die in her place — is that not enough? Spare that foolish creature!”
Changbai said: “If dying in someone’s place were possible, why have successive dynasties so strictly prohibited human substitution, and to what end?”
Wang Old Madam wept for a good while, and was just about to plead once more when there came a heavy bang as a fist struck the table. Sheng Hong rose to his feet, his face iron-grey, and said in a low, grave voice: “There is no need to say more. Kang Wang Shi must be punished! If my mother-in-law insists on making this a public affair in order to preserve the eldest sister-in-law’s life — then let it become public. The Sheng family is not so easily bullied!”
He had just been listening to the words of wife and son, growing angrier and angrier with each moment, his complexion cycling through green and red, the darkness of his mood saturating his entire forehead.
To think that he had spent his entire life as an upright official and an honest person — the inner household more or less brought under control, his children mostly accomplished — he had never oppressed the common people, never involved himself in factional strife or succession struggles, had been careful not to offend even a single person. After decades of such caution, reaching this point in life, just as the Sheng family’s rise seemed increasingly certain — to have this kind of affair fall upon him, threatening to ruin the career of the eldest son he valued most — this was truly beyond endurance!
Who had he ever wronged?! He had been criminally wronged! He had done none of this wrong!
“I have always treated my Kang brother-in-law generously — whether in financial matters or legal disputes, whatever was within my power, I have exhausted every effort to assist!” Sheng Hong spoke with furious passion. “And this is how the eldest sister-in-law repays me?! My mother disapproves of her, so she wants to kill my mother. I ask my mother-in-law — what does the eldest sister-in-law take the Sheng family for?! She poisons as she pleases, frames others as she pleases, completely without restraint — does she take those of the Sheng surname to be easy prey?!”
Wang Old Madam’s face was ashen. In all her life, she had never been treated with such contempt — and by the son-in-law who had once been the most deferential and respectful toward her.
After catching his breath, Sheng Hong gave a cold laugh: “The eldest sister-in-law acts without fear of consequences — and now, at last, I understand why. It is because my mother-in-law has been standing over her as her shield! It seems my mother-in-law has looked down on me all along! She has written off the Sheng family as weak and easily bullied, on account of our modest background, and now uses my son’s career and the Sheng family’s reputation as a weapon to threaten me. Very well, very well! If you want it taken to court, take it to court!”
He suddenly pointed at Wang Uncle, his moustache quivering with indignation: “Over these many years, the number of lives on the eldest sister-in-law’s hands is not likely limited to one or two. How many has Elder Brother covered up for her, how many mouths has he stopped? Let us bring it all before the court in one go — I want to see, with multiple offenses compounded, whether the eldest sister-in-law can still keep her life!”
At these words, Wang Aunt’s complexion changed drastically; she seized her husband’s sleeve with great force and shot him a severe glance. Sweat poured down Wang Uncle’s face. Sheng Hong was as slippery as a glass bead — while he, too, had helped with some of those private matters, mostly by way of money and favorable words, careful never to touch a drop of true trouble — Wang Uncle himself had been deeply involved. If those old buried affairs were all dug up, it would not only be the end of Kang Wang Shi; his own official position might well be jeopardized. Thinking on this, he hurried to look at Wang Old Madam: “Mother…”
Wang Old Madam could clearly see the beseeching look in her son’s eyes. Her heart went ice-cold and desolate, and she sank limply back in her chair, her arms braced against it trembling violently. Nothing more could be said after all this — she had been completely routed.
Minglan quietly observed the change in her expression, knowing that in her heart, this old woman had already raised the white flag, and she could not help but feel a quiet sense of satisfaction.
— While she was watching others, Gu Tingye had been watching her all along — carefully noting her every frown and teary glance, her every smile and every sigh.
Just then, a young married maid hurried in from outside. Minglan was mildly surprised: “Cuiping, what brings you here?”
Cuiping was smiling through tears of joy, and fell to her knees with a thud: “The elder madam has awakened! …Nanny Fang sent me to report right away — the elder madam has awakened!”
These words struck the room like a thunderclap on a clear day, and everyone instantly sprang to their feet —
Sheng Hong felt a tremendous weight lift from his shoulders: he would not have to enter mourning.
Wang Shi went weak all over: she would not have her head cut off or be slowly dismembered.
Wang Old Madam straightened up in her chair: at least she would not be paying with her life.
Minglan laughed until she cried. She pressed her palms together and bowed fervently toward the heavens again and again, murmuring under her breath: Thank you, Heaven; thank you, Amitabha Buddha; and thank you, Guanyin Bodhisattva — from now on I will definitely eat more vegetables, I won’t be picky — I won’t eat freshly slaughtered… I won’t eat braised pork knuckle either!
Gu Tingye, standing beside her: ……
Only one person in the entire room was the exception.
Changbai’s face remained perfectly expressionless. Seeing no empty tea bowls on the table, he picked up the teapot and poured a large mouthful directly into his own mouth — he had ridden hard to get here, and then argued himself hoarse; his throat was parched and smoky… The death sentence is commuted, but what should the lesser punishment be?
Over more than two years of adjudicating cases as a county magistrate, he had not held that position for nothing. Setting down the teapot, he quickly had a plan.