Chapter 7
Seeing things turn against her, Matron Li threw caution aside and shrieked,
“Your ladyship must not slander me! Without a shred of proof, how can you accuse me?”
“My late mistress, open your eyes and see! You’ve been gone such a short time, yet someone already has no room for the children you left behind! She even means to beat us old servants to death…”
I paid no heed to her cries.
I spoke directly and sharply.
“Matron Li has betrayed her master, repaid kindness with treachery, and framed the mistress of this house. Fifty strokes, and strip her of her allowance.”
“Send her and her family to the bleak northern estate. They are never to return to the capital!”
When she seemed about to howl again,
I added, “Another cry, and your six-year-old grandson can take your punishment instead.”
“As for Xiaoque…” I looked at the pale-faced Liang Yueyi.
“She aided wrongdoing and concealed it. Twenty strokes, and she and her family are to be sold at once!”
Xiaoque shuddered and finally burst into sobs.
Kneeling, she clung to Liang Yueyi’s legs.
“Miss, save me! I only did what Matron Li told me!”
“I’ve served you since I was little. If I leave, who else will serve you so completely and faithfully?”
A flicker of pity crossed Liang Yueyi’s face.
Several times she tried to speak, but my stern gaze stopped her.
“Insolence! As a servant, you fail to guide your mistress properly and now dare to threaten her openly.”
“After her beating, hand her over to the magistrate to deal with as he sees fit. Take them away!”
Once Xiaoque and Matron Li had been dragged out wailing,
the other stewards in the hall fell utterly silent.
Their faces showed newfound respect and frightened relief.
I swept my gaze over them, my voice icy.
“Listen carefully, all of you! I, Wen Ling, now govern the inner household!”
“Anyone who serves outsiders at our expense or incites their masters to wrongdoing will share the fate of Matron Li and Xiaoque!”
The servants dropped to their knees together, repeatedly answering, “We obey your ladyship!”
Finally, I turned to the two trembling children.
“You two are confined for two months. Copy the Book of Rites and the Classic of Filial Piety three hundred times each!”
“You may come out when you finish! Another offense will take more than copying books to settle! Take them away!”
Liang Jingyu shrieked, “You wicked woman! Father must have been blind to marry you!”
“Four hundred.”
“I’ll never give in! You won’t make me submit!”
“Five hundred!”
His chest heaved with anger, and he was about to speak again
when his sister quietly tugged his sleeve.
At last he shut his mouth.
Expressionless, I said, “Five hundred.”
“You… you wicked woman! I didn’t even say anything this time!”
I smiled at him, my voice chilling.
“Take the young master and young lady away. See that they lack neither food nor drink.”
“They may come out when their copies are finished.”
After that was settled, I returned to my room.
I had just sat down and rubbed my brow when Jinxia spoke quietly.
“My lady, the duke stood in the corridor for a while just now.”
My hand paused briefly. I murmured assent.
Good.
He had heard and seen everything, and had not intervened.
That was a statement in itself.
Candles flickered in the ancestral hall.
The two half-grown children knelt on cushions,
a thick stack of writing paper and ink before them.
Liang Jingyu gritted his teeth and slashed at the page.
Liang Yueyi sobbed quietly beside him.
“Brother, five hundred copies… how long will it take?”
“Our hands will break…”
Liang Jingyu wrote faster and faster, his writing growing ever messier.
Finally, he flung his brush to the floor.
“Copy what? I won’t do it! Let’s see what she can do to me!”
“But she even dared sell Matron Li and Xiaoque.”
Remembering what she had seen, Liang Yueyi shivered again.
“Because she’s vicious!”
Liang Jingyu held his head stubbornly high, yet an involuntary shudder passed through him.
“How could Father bring a woman like that home?”
Just then, the ancestral hall door opened gently.
I entered carrying two steaming bowls of sweet osmanthus drink.
At the sight of me, Liang Jingyu turned away at once, presenting the back of his head.
The little girl stopped crying in fright and shrank into herself.
I set the bowls on the low table, my voice calm.
“Copying takes concentration. Drink these before you continue.”
Liang Yueyi stole a glance at the apricot-yellow liquid.
She swallowed, but did not dare move.
Liang Jingyu turned and glared at me bitterly.
“Hypocrite! You needn’t pretend to be kind!”