When it came to depravity and shamelessness, there was no woman more filthy than one who had climbed into the bed of her close friend’s husband!
Chu Linlang herself had done nothing more than go through a proper separation from her husband — and had never deliberately seduced a man who had a wife!
She had originally not intended to engage in a direct clash with Tao Huiru. As she had once advised Tao Yashu at the oasis: it was better to offend a person of integrity than to offend a petty schemer.
Unfortunately, Tao Huiru had no sense of shame — time and again she had plotted against herself and Situ Sheng, and now she had the nerve to come before her and invite abuse. Since this petty schemer already bore a grudge against her, whether the offense was five parts or ten parts made little difference.
She might as well drop all pretense and give Tao Huiru a thorough tongue-lashing first, just for the satisfaction!
In all her previous encounters with the daughter of the Duke’s household — and the current Crown Prince’s maternal aunt — Chu Linlang had always been polite in speech and generous in manner.
So much so that Tao Huiru had grown accustomed to looking down on this woman from her elevated position. Although she recognized that the Chu woman had some cunning and skill at flattery, she had never truly taken her seriously.
However clever a lowly little mouse might be, one could hardly regard it as a person.
What she had never expected was that this woman’s words would be this cutting — leading off by insinuating her moral corruption.
That premarital liaison, which had caused so much scandalous talk throughout the capital at the time, was Tao Huiru’s most tender and vulnerable point — she despised anyone who brought up that chapter of her past.
It struck too sharply and too suddenly. Tao Huiru’s face changed color, and she flushed red with fury as she choked out: “You… you shameless creature!”
As she said this, Tao Huiru realized she had lost her composure, and in doing so had lost the upper hand.
She drew a deep breath and worked to steady herself, seeking to get a grip on the Chu woman. She let out a cold laugh and said with suggestive meaning: “To be so utterly devoid of manners at such a young age. Could it be that Situ Sheng has given you the confidence to humiliate the daughter of a Duke’s household? Oh — of course. You probably still don’t know the true identity of your sweetheart Situ Sheng, do you? No wonder you feel you have risen to the heights and look down upon everyone.”
Tao Huiru was convinced that Situ Sheng would never dare entrust his life and its secrets to such a lowly woman.
Being fond of this Chu woman was one thing — but telling her that he was the descendant of a military family exterminated on imperial orders was an entirely different matter.
A calculating, mercenary merchant woman like her — once she knew the truth, she would be frightened half out of her soul.
If the Chu woman did know, she would not dare report it, for fear of implicating herself, and would certainly find a way to leave Situ Sheng and get far away from the capital.
And so Tao Huiru deliberately let the comment hang in the air, intending to reveal bit by bit to this Chu woman just what kind of trouble-laden man she had taken up with.
Yet unexpectedly, Chu Linlang simply smiled faintly and said: “Him? Naturally he is a minister cherished by His Majesty — a pillar of the nation, devoted heart and soul to the country’s welfare!”
Tao Huiru gave a vicious laugh, leaned deliberately close to Linlang, and began to say slowly: “Do you not know… that he is in truth a descendant of the convicted criminal Yang Xun? He is a person who should by rights have died, yet has been surviving in hiding under a false name, someone who cannot live in the open light of day?”
The moment those words left her lips, Tao Huiru felt a wave of relief and exhilaration — as though the gloom that had been pressing on her for days was about to be swept away entirely. She waited to watch Chu Linlang’s expression shift through confusion and bewilderment, slowly giving way to growing dread and panic.
Unfortunately, the moment her words fell, her collar was seized in a death grip by Chu Linlang.
The woman who spent her days in the company of aristocratic ladies, all charming smiles and pleasant manner, now carried a hint of ferocity that defied description. She leaned in deliberately close, pressed her lips to Tao Huiru’s ear, and said: “These words of yours… have you spoken them to anyone besides me?”
Although Tao Huiru had previously witnessed this woman seize Liao Jingxuan by the collar, she had never once imagined that she would make an unprovoked move on her in the same fashion!
A woman who was always all fawning flattery and obsequious compliments suddenly revealing the manner of a bandit — it gave her quite a start!
Tao Huiru tried to break free, only to discover that this seemingly slender willow arm had such formidable strength?
When had she ever suffered such humiliation? In a surge of fury, she intended to strike Chu Linlang back across the face.
Unfortunately, she did not know that in her youth, Chu Linlang had been practically a tomboy.
Apart from occasionally helping the boatmen carry sacks of salt and doing other rough work, she had also gotten into brawls with half-grown boys on the salt boats, and had rarely come out the worse for it.
And so the moment Tao Huiru moved her arm, Chu Linlang — already prepared — batted the hand away and stepped lightly aside, dodging that slap, then raised her own hand and returned a clean, ringing slap to Tao Huiru’s face that sent the prim and proper senior nun’s head spinning sideways, and sent her stumbling to sit on the ground.
That slap was entirely a matter of personal grievances — delivered without the slightest trace of emotional impulse.
Chu Linlang did not know whether Tao Huiru was in pain, but her own arm was left faintly buzzing from the impact.
She had wanted to do this for a long time. Shaking out her hand with grim satisfaction, she said coldly: “It was you who gave Yang Yi the idea, and had the Jing Kingdom people drawn to my shop, wasn’t it? This slap is on behalf of my maidservant Dongxue!”
When she first heard from Situ Sheng that Tao Huiru had recognized him and gone to confront Yang Yi about it, Chu Linlang had immediately seen it all with perfect clarity.
Because she had previously been unable to puzzle it out no matter how she turned it over in her mind.
The scheme of luring the Jing Kingdom people into her shop to cause harm and humiliation — this was simply not the kind of tactic a military man like Yang Yi could have devised!
The moment she heard that Tao Huiru was also entangled in it, Chu Linlang could have guessed whose handiwork it was even with her toes!
The accumulated scores from Tao Huiru’s previous repeated troublemaking had not yet been settled, yet she had the nerve to come before her and show off with her tongue, trying to drive a wedge between her and Situ Sheng!
If she could swallow all that, she might as well adopt this fake nun’s surname!
Tao Huiru was truly stunned by the blow from the Chu woman!
After all, she was the legitimate daughter of a Duke’s household — raised since childhood in the finest of circumstances. After her marriage, although she and Yang Yi had occasional verbal quarrels that sometimes escalated to physical exchanges, even Yang Yi had never used this much force when striking her!
Now to be slapped and berated like this by a common market woman she had never taken seriously — she was shaking with rage, clutching her cheek as she said in a trembling voice: “You lowly woman, how dare you hit me?”
Chu Linlang laughed.
There was quite a list of things she dared to do! Besides, having already earned the title of brazen woman today, she had nothing further to lose. She simply pulled off one of her shoes and held it in her hand, seized Tao Huiru by the hair, and proceeded to beat her soundly with the sole of the shoe: “You call yourself not lowly? Seducing another woman’s husband! Scheming against your own niece! Colluding with the enemy! Leading traitors to indulge Jing Kingdom dogs in causing havoc! And now coming here to plot against Situ Sheng and stir up trouble before my very eyes!”
Chu Linlang kept her voice low for fear of attracting attention; Tao Huiru too was afraid of attracting attention, unable to fight back and not daring to call for help — she could only cover her head and dodge miserably.
She had no choice: every accusation this Chu woman was shouting was a charge that could ruin a person’s reputation entirely.
Tao Huiru truly had not expected that Situ Sheng, without reservation, would have told this brazen Chu woman his entire background and history.
Still less had she expected that this brazen woman would defend Situ Sheng with such reckless abandon.
Tao Huiru was even more afraid of crying out and drawing her son and the servants — if they overheard even a thread of what was being said, the consequences could be disastrous!
But as things stood, she could not break free from Chu Linlang’s grip, and in the end she had her face pressed to the ground and her head covered as she did not dare rise.
Once Chu Linlang had vented to her heart’s content, she straightened up, wiped the sweat from her brow, and calmly put her shoe back on.
She had gotten that foul breath well and truly off her chest, and could now present her trump card at leisure.
And so she drew from her inner breast the family letter that Tao Zan had written for her, and waved it before Tao Huiru — who had just scrambled back to her feet: “Do you see this? This was written by your son! Every word expresses longing for an elder brother and father, and eager hope to cast aside the darkness and come to the light, to help Father at his side. Especially this line — ‘Mother too longs for the day she can reunite with you and mend what was broken’ — truly moving enough to bring one to tears.”
Tao Huiru looked up and recognized the familiar handwriting — this… was this not her son Tao Zan’s penmanship?
She reached out to snatch it, but Chu Linlang nimbly sidestepped, and said with a smile: “Official Tao’s calligraphy is distinctive — he himself told me it is a decorative style he developed through laborious practice, entirely his own in all of the capital. There is no forging it. You are free to simply stay home tapping your prayer block in the future — that is perfectly fine. But if you ever dare to come out stirring up trouble again, neither you nor your son will be able to escape having anything to do with this letter.”
A woman of venomous intentions was not easy to predict. Though she should have been held in check by her concern for her son and would not dare provoke the wrath of Emperor Jinren, what if the aging Emperor who bore a deep grudge against the Yang Family were to one day pass from this world? Tao Huiru would then no longer have the worry of being implicated to hold her back.
But with this letter in Tao Zan’s own hand, addressed to his father and elder brother, and containing words expressing both his and his mother’s longing to reunite with his father at the earliest opportunity — regardless of who sat upon the throne, this was ironclad evidence of colluding with the enemy.
It indicated that Tao Zan had long since known that Situ Sheng was his elder brother, and moreover harbored a profound longing for that traitorous father of his!
As Tao Huiru thought through the contents of the letter, she trembled all over with fury: “How could Zan have written such nonsense? He has never once asked about his father! What kind of witchcraft did you use to make him write such treasonous words? You… you have a grudge against me — come at me if you dare, but Zan is the most simple and innocent of souls! Why must you harm him? To maliciously frame and slander an innocent person is asking for divine retribution!”
Chu Linlang, having finished putting on her shoe, gave a laugh of disbelief: “So you do know that maliciously framing an innocent person invites divine retribution? Then why do you plot against others with such complete absence of guilt? Rest assured — as long as you harbor no harmful intentions, I will naturally not misuse this piece of paper to falsely accuse anyone. This is our arrangement… the petty person speaks first, then the person of integrity.”
With that, she also smiled and asked Tao Huiru pleasantly: “Lay Buddhist Tao, do you have anything else you wish to say? Oh my, your hair is in such a state — shall I help you tidy it? Otherwise when Young Master Tao asks, you will have a difficult time explaining yourself.”
Tao Huiru was in a thoroughly disheveled state, her hair having been grabbed and pulled into disarray by Chu Linlang. Yet she strained to maintain the dignity of a Duke’s legitimate daughter, and said coldly: “There is no need…”
Just as Chu Linlang was turning to leave, Tao Huiru could not resist one final, resentful question: “What exactly is Situ Sheng’s true intention? Why is he concealed within the court? Is he there to avenge the Yang Family’s extermination in blood? That path leads to nothing but death in the end! You are a clever woman — why do you insist on binding yourself to a man like him, someone who has nothing left to lose?”
Seeing that Tao Huiru was still relentlessly trying to sow discord, Chu Linlang gave a gentle smile: “Actually, there is something I have never understood about you. In order to become Yang Yi’s wife, you went to extraordinary lengths, even going against your own conscience to harm others. Yet in the end, when disaster fell upon the Yang Family, you were the first to draw a clear line between yourself and Yang Yi and wash your hands of any connection. Could it be that you were a couple who could share good fortune together, but could not face adversity together?”
Tao Huiru gave a cold laugh: “What of it? Are you going to pass judgment on me from your lofty position? Anyone in my situation would have made the same decision — after all, he threw away all principles for the sake of his own survival. My son was so young — how could I not think of him? Would you not have done the same?”
On this question, Chu Linlang had genuinely given it some thought — after all, Situ Sheng’s background was complicated, as a descendant of a convicted criminal. How could she have failed to consider what she would do and where she would go if things developed toward the worst possible outcome?
And so, hearing Tao Huiru’s question, she simply gave a calm smile and said: “If it were me, I would probably take my young child and set out to find my husband. Because the one I love must be a man of integrity and righteous purpose — how could I simply take someone else’s word that he had gone over to the enemy? I would find him myself and hear the truth directly from his own lips. I am his wife; we are a family. Even in death, we die together.”
Hearing these words, Tao Huiru paused for a moment — because she had never once considered the possibility that the news of Yang Yi going over to the enemy might have been false.
Still less had she ever thought of taking her child on a long journey across a thousand miles to find him and demand the truth.
But such reasoning was simply too absurd.
That Yang Yi had defected to the enemy was an indisputable fact. And her actions at the time had been entirely beyond reproach — otherwise, how could her Zan have grown up in such vigorous health?
This Chu Niangzi had never been in her situation. What she had said was nothing more than high-sounding, self-righteous talk…
With that thought, Tao Huiru gave Chu Linlang a cold laugh: “Whatever faults I have, I am still better than you! Look at yourself — at your age, specifically going after men younger than yourself! Have you no shame!”
Chu Linlang assumed she was referring to her attempting to seduce Tao Zan, and could not help but roll her eyes. But then Tao Huiru continued: “Your devotion is pointless as well! Even if Situ Sheng does not mind your status as a remarried woman, he would absolutely never take a wife older than himself! A woman who is older than her husband…”
Seeing that Chu Linlang had paused at these words, Tao Huiru smiled with understanding: “Oh? He has not told you his age? Let me calculate — is he three years younger than you, or four years younger? Women, you see, do not age as well as men. Perhaps in a few more years, you — the older sister figure — will begin to show your age…”
She had not yet finished her sentence, but found that the Chu woman had already walked out of the bamboo grove without a backward glance.
By the time Tao Huiru had with great difficulty tidied her disheveled hair and straightened her clothing — deciding she could just barely be seen in public — she endured the aching of her cheek and scalp and limped out of the bamboo grove.
When she got into the carriage, Tao Zan was sprawled lazily inside, thoroughly engrossed in reading a popular unofficial history novel and had not looked up to see his mother.
Tao Huiru, holding back her agitation, asked her son: “You… you wrote a letter for your elder brother?”
Tao Zan was at an exciting part of his story, and did not even lift his eyelids, replying absentmindedly: “I don’t have an elder brother — who would I write to? Are you talking about those cousin brothers of mine who have been posted to official positions in other provinces?”
Tao Huiru, barely suppressing her anxiety, asked again: “Then… how does Chu Linlang come to have a letter in your hand addressed to an elder brother?”
Tao Zan continued in his languid manner: “What does one thing have to do with the other! During the break in the ritual ceremony today, she happened to want to write a family letter, but her handwriting was so bad that she was worried her elder brother and father might not be able to read it, so I kindly copied it out for her. Well, I had no idea her background was so pitiful — her mother was a concubine who was driven out of the household, and she is now trying to find a way to persuade her father to reconcile with her mother and mend what was broken. Oh, and she also said my calligraphy was excellent, and that such talent was somewhat wasted in the position of a temple official!”
Upon hearing her foolish son’s account, the lay Buddhist was so enraged she nearly vomited blood three times over.
She had finally understood how Chu Linlang had come to have that letter in her hands.
What family letter! Chu Linlang’s own elder brother had been personally delivered to the county prison by her own hands. Was this letter written to ask the newly released father and brother whether the prison meals had been palatable?
As for that concubine mother of hers — she had struggled with everything she had to permanently sever all ties with her employer’s household. How could she possibly be looking forward to “mending what was broken”?
This was plainly a trap laid for her son!
Both she and Yang Yi were people practiced in calculating and scheming — how had they produced a son as dim-witted as Tao Zan?
The accumulated fury of taking hits and enduring insults in the bamboo grove had left Tao Huiru at her limit, and she snatched the leisure novel from her son’s hands and beat Tao Zan about the head with the spine of the book: “How can you be this stupid? If it was a family letter, why would it say ‘cast aside the darkness and come to the light’? Did you not find that suspicious? Who would believe such a thing!”
Tao Zan had grown up from infancy with Tao Huiru’s fond and indulgent parenting — he had never in his life been berated so mercilessly and without warning by his own mother!
The scolding left him aggrieved, and he could not hold back. He gave his mother a shove, then shouted to the driver: “Stop the carriage!”
Then he jumped out of the carriage in a huff and strode away.
Tao Huiru called after him from behind, but her son never looked back.
She also could not understand it — her always well-behaved son had been growing increasingly rebellious lately, never failing to give her cause for concern. What was this about?
It must be that Chu Linlang had poured some more deadly nonsense into her son’s ears!
Tao Huiru’s heart was burning with fury, yet she could not explain to her son the twisted and complicated details of the situation — for knowing his naive and open nature, he might let the heaven-toppling secret slip out inadvertently at any moment, bringing about a calamity to destroy them both!
With that thought, she picked up her prayer beads and made a determined effort to compose herself. But in the end, she seized the beads and snapped the string apart with a jerk — and they scattered with a clatter, raining down all over the carriage interior!
Chu Linlang! Do not ever let yourself fall into my hands. I will absolutely make sure you do not die well!
As for Chu Linlang — this trip to the ritual ceremony had not been wasted. She had actually managed to extract a “family letter” from the fake nun’s foolish son.
With this hard-to-explain piece of evidence in hand, she could now rest somewhat easier and not need to worry about Tao Huiru using Situ Sheng’s identity as material to cause mischief.
Yet all the way home, Chu Linlang felt a fire rising in her chest.
Tao Huiru had stated that Situ Sheng was twenty-two years old this year, and spoke of his zodiac sign with absolute certainty.
In matters of this kind, Situ Sheng’s stepmother would have no reason to lie or misremember — after all, she had put considerable effort into finding Lady Wen’s son.
And come to think of it, remembering how slight and small Situ Sheng had been in his youth, he did indeed appear to be two or three years younger than herself.
It was only that after reaching adulthood, his tall stature and steady composure had been so thoroughly disarming. He had said he was older than Linlang, and she had simply believed it without a second thought!
She had thought that Situ Sheng, as far as she was concerned, had told her everything there was to tell. Yet who would have imagined that he had actually concealed this one thing from her!
Upon returning to the country retreat, Dongxue was laughing and chatting with Guanqi, the two of them together teasing with a meat bone a mixed-breed dog that Guanqi had given her.
The moment she saw her young mistress come back, Dongxue excitedly pointed it out: “Young Mistress, Guanqi brought it — he said it’s just turned one year old and can guard the house and courtyard!”
No one expected the young mistress to slowly crouch down, reach out and pry the dog’s mouth open, and very carefully examine its teeth. The dog, subdued by Chu Linlang’s presence, did not dare to struggle and could only strain its neck backward and whimper softly.
And the more Chu Linlang looked, the darker her expression became.
Guanqi suddenly felt uneasy, and crouched down beside her, asking cautiously: “Chu Niangzi… is this dog not right?”
Chu Niangzi looked at him with an icy expression: “The teeth haven’t even grown in evenly, and you’re calling this one year old?”
Ah? Guanqi had not at all anticipated that Chu Niangzi would count the dog’s teeth with such precision. He hurriedly looked too, and sure enough, they were a bit short of the mark.
He immediately gave an awkward laugh: “Perhaps the family keeping the dog misremembered the month. But the dog is good — sturdy build, loud bark. Even if it’s a few months short, guarding the house is no problem at all…”
The more Guanqi spoke, the quieter his voice became — because Chu Niangzi’s eyes were terrifyingly expressive.
From the look of things, if he said another word, Chu Niangzi was going to pry his mouth open and count his teeth too. And so Guanqi simply shut his mouth and covered it, then said with embarrassment that he would go back and get a fully mature one instead.
Dongxue also noticed that her young mistress was in a bad mood, and immediately signaled Guanqi with her eyes to quickly take the dog away and not aggravate the young mistress further.
Chu Linlang watched the retreating figure of Guanqi carrying the dog with a cold smile, still fuming under her breath: “A little thing with the nerve to pass itself off as grown!”
Once the dog was taken away, Chu Linlang washed her hands, changed her clothing, and asked mildly: “Has Lord Situ come?”
Dongxue, handing over a towel, said: “Did you not mention that the chair you use for calligraphy practice is a little low, and that it leaves your back and waist uncomfortable? My Lord came earlier and took the chair to the workshop in the back courtyard to make some adjustments. I will go tell my Lord in a moment that you are back.”
Chu Linlang said nothing, and simply picked up a piece of embroidery she was halfway through and sat cross-legged on the bed, sewing in silence.
But unfortunately, after beating someone earlier, her arm was sore and aching, and after a few stitches she felt restless and irritable.
Situ Sheng had come to her country retreat particularly early that day and had spent half the day doing carpentry work in the back courtyard. But the woman who normally flew toward him like a butterfly, a face full of delight to greet him, had returned home today without coming to see him, and was simply sitting composedly in her own room embroidering.
When Situ Sheng entered the room, Chu Linlang slowly raised her head and looked him up and down.
Situ Sheng instinctively sensed her gaze was unfriendly, and looked down to check himself. He had changed into a short jacket and long trousers for the carpentry work — though dusted with wood shavings, there was nothing amiss with his appearance.
Yet before he could ask, Chu Linlang simply gave a straightforward account of her exchange with Tao Huiru and their spirited altercation that day, and then handed the letter to Situ Sheng.
Situ Sheng listened and gave a slight start — evidently not having anticipated that his younger brother, connected to him by blood, could be this dim.
But it also helped him understand the reason behind Chu Linlang’s unusual mood today. She had clearly had a quarrel with Tao Huiru and been left in low spirits — which was why she had not come looking for him!
At that thought, he read through the foolish younger brother’s “letter of allegiance” once more, and for a moment felt a complicated tangle of emotions stirring within him.
He recalled that when he had reunited with Chu Linlang, she had boldly used doctored accounts to get a grip on people.
Who would have thought that in the space of two years, she had refined and polished her skills in the “art of fabrication” to an even higher degree — and had already advanced to the level of finding someone to write on her behalf!
Chu Linlang sat on the bed, embroidery needle in hand though not sewing, and used the time while he was reading the letter to look Situ Sheng up and down the way one counts a dog’s teeth — then said with studied carelessness: “I did not expect Tao Zan to be so guileless. But as long as his mother does not overstep, there will be no need for us to use this letter.”
Situ Sheng put the letter away, gave it some thought, guessed the reason behind his younger brother’s unprompted attentiveness, and could not help but probe: “Did he… show some disrespect toward you?”
Chu Linlang gave a faint smile, her eyes bewitching and expressive: “I am this beautiful, and still unmarried — is it not perfectly natural for men to pay me attention and try to please me?”
The words were not unreasonable in and of themselves, but were these words one could say to one’s own man’s face?
Situ Sheng’s gaze darkened slightly, just about to speak, when Chu Linlang breezily continued: “…But a man that young and immature — how could I possibly take any interest? You know me — I simply cannot bring myself to like someone younger than myself. Even two or three years younger is out of the question!”
Situ Sheng pressed his lips together, brushed some wood shavings from the front of his garment, and said mildly: “One cannot make such a sweeping statement. What you dislike is a man who is young and frivolous — if a man is steady and dependable in his conduct, a slightly younger age should not prevent a woman from entrusting her life to him.”
Chu Linlang raised an eyebrow and drew out her reply: “How could that be? No matter how much he pretends at steadiness, underneath he is still a raw and unripe young fellow — just like a dog whose teeth haven’t grown in yet. No amount of pretending can make it convincing!”
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