Chapter 6

Before evening, Lady Li had taken her complaint to the Countess.

“Sister-in-law has only just married into the family, and she’s already beaten Cong and his nurse. Where does all that temper come from? The children were playing perfectly happily. It’s outright bullying!”

The Countess was old. More than anything, she wanted family harmony and hoped all her descendants would be affectionate with one another. She had no liking for a troublemaking thorn like me.

When she sent for me, all the women of the family were waiting in the main hall. No one dared breathe loudly. You could have heard a pin drop.

I raised an eyebrow. All this over a trivial squabble? They were treating it like a Hongmen Banquet.

“My eldest son’s wife,” the Countess said with unusual severity, “I would like to hear your explanation.”

Beside her, Lady Li embellished her story with an aggrieved air. “Sister-in-law is young, so a little temper is understandable. But our Cong is only five. She frightened him so badly that he developed a fever after going home. In the end, it’s my fault for being such a useless mother…”

She certainly knew how to turn black into white. No wonder my sister had suffered so many quiet losses at her hands.

Before I could speak, Zhao Yuhua hurried in. “Wujiu is still young, Mother. Her concern for the children must have made her lose her composure…”

The Countess shook her head, displeased. “That is no reason to hit and scold Cong! We are a family. Harmony between brothers is what matters most!”

Over the years, Lady Li had often brought Cong to flatter and charm the Countess.

Both boys were her grandsons, but naturally she was more attached to the one she saw so often.

Zhao Yuhua placed great store by filial duty. Seeing his mother angry, he hastily told me, “Wujiu, apologize to Mother at once! Then apologize to your sister-in-law!”

Apologize for what?

With a cold laugh, I pushed past him. “What I did today was necessary.”

The Countess frowned. “What do you mean?”

Lady Li cried, “How stubborn you are! You bully a child and still insist you’re right! I don’t ask for an apology. I only ask that you stop frightening our Cong. He’s the only son our branch has!”

Now Zhao Yuhua was displeased too. “Why must you be so obstinate…?”

The whole pack closed in as though they wanted to eat me alive!

But I was not so easily frightened.

I had faced foreign enemies at Jiayu Pass without a frown. What was a roomful of witless women and children?

“Only today did I learn,” I said distinctly, “that Cong has been bullying the motherless You for an entire year. You knew perfectly well, Sister-in-law, yet never restrained him. If my poor sister knew, how it would break her heart.”

Then I produced a list.

On it were all the toys and objects Cong had taken over the past year: the nine linked rings, bamboo dragonflies, a rattle, a glazed glass lantern… Item after item filled at least a whole page.

“Look at this!” I raised my voice as well. “The glass lantern was part of my sister’s dowry, and you couldn’t even leave that alone! Is this children playing, or is your branch trying to rob us? If you want things, just say so. The Yue family can afford them. We’ll consider it charity for beggars! Just don’t make such an ugly spectacle of yourselves and ruin the children’s affection for one another!”

Lady Li took the paper, her expression shifting. “There can’t be so many. Sister-in-law, you’ve invented all this!”

I laughed coldly. “Then let’s look in your courtyard. Everything in my sister’s dowry bears our family mark. If the things aren’t there, I’ll pour you tea and apologize. If they are, there’s no need for fuss. Eat every last one of them, and the Yue family will let the matter rest!”

My voice rang with certainty. Lady Li’s face changed completely.

They were all small, scattered objects. She must have seen quite a few of them lying around.

Three or five might have meant little. With so many, the explanation became rather harder.

The tables turned at once!