Chapter 7: Schemes

At the end of the Yin hour (05:00), the maidservants in the east courtyard of the magistrate’s residence had already risen.

“It’s been a full month. Will the new Lady come to pay her respects to the Grand Madame?”

“Shh! What ‘new Lady’? Do you value your life? Have you forgotten the maid from the third branch? Just because she gossiped about the new Lady behind her back, the Lady caught her and had her given thirty strokes of the military staff. They say it was a military staff—she was almost beaten to death!”

“...I—I just said it out of habit! Besides, we are people from the Grand Madame’s own courtyard—”

The Grand Madame was the mother-in-law of Lady Cui, an elder.

In noble families, one might not go so far as to say that even the cats and dogs in an elder’s courtyard were noble, but a daughter-in-law was always expected to show extra deference to those serving her mother-in-law.

This, too, was a form of filial piety.

A strange look flashed in the eyes of the other maid. Filial piety?

Heh, Lady Cui was not like the former Lady Jiang. Lady Jiang had married into the Wang family from a lower station.

Therefore, after entering the household, Lady Jiang had been cautious, prudent, filial, and gentle.

For the seven years she was there, she never once slacked in her morning and evening greetings or in serving meals.

If the Grand Madame was in a bad mood, she would even deliberately make Lady Jiang kneel as punishment.

She called it “picking up blessings,” and a single session would last the entire afternoon.

Yet, none of this could be classified as abuse, so even though Wang Lin loved and valued Lady Jiang, he could not easily plead on her behalf.

Lady Cui had not married down; she had the backing to be confident.

From the wedding ceremony until now, a full month had passed, and Lady Cui had never once come to pay her respects to the Grand Madame at the prescribed “morning greeting” time—the end of the Yin hour.

Every day, she would arrive fashionably late, basically after the Chen hour, once the Grand Madame had already finished breakfast with her daughters-in-law and granddaughters.

For such a breach of etiquette, the Grand Madame hadn’t even frowned, let alone scolded or punished her.

The Grand Madame had never been a generous person; at the very least, she was certainly not kind to her daughters-in-law.

But she was exceptionally “indulgent” toward the Cui woman.

It wasn’t that the Grand Madame had changed her nature, nor was it that the Cui woman was particularly favored by her—it was simply that the woman had the capital!

Such an arrogant daughter-in-law probably didn’t even know how to write the word “filial” when it came to her mother-in-law.

How could she possibly care about etiquette or “loving the house and its crow” to treat her mother-in-law’s servants with kindness?

“The Lady is here!”

Just as the two maids were lost in their own thoughts—one daydreaming and the other trembling in fear—the voice of the cleaning maid announcing the arrival echoed at the courtyard gate.

The Lady?

If not for the painful lesson of the third branch’s maid, the servants of the Wang household would have hesitated upon hearing the word “Lady”—was it Lady Jiang, or the new Lady?

But because the maid from the third branch had nearly lost her life over a “slip of the tongue,” no one in the Wang household dared to mention “new” or “old,” “Jiang” or “Cui” anymore.

There was only one Lady in the Wang household, and that was the new bride, the Cui woman!

The two maids braced themselves. One picked up a lantern and went down the steps to greet her, while the other stood by the door, waiting to lift the curtain.

Before long, seven or eight maidservants arrived, surrounding a woman dressed in a bright red, gold-embroidered *ruqun* as she walked into the courtyard.

“This servant greets the Lady.”

“Hmm!”

Seeing that the maids in the Grand Madame’s courtyard were also respectful to her, a flash of triumph crossed Lady Cui’s bright, phoenix-like eyes.

What clans, what rules—weren’t they all just spineless wretches?

Some people in the Wang family had wanted to use her status as a second wife as a pretext, deliberately calling her the “new Lady.”

Lady Cui hadn’t bothered with nonsense; she had acted directly.

And so, after a round of military staff, everyone in the Wang household had become obedient.

That was why, as long as one had the backing and the strength, there was no need to engage in the petty schemes and conspiracies of those inner-chamber women.

Because of this, Lady Cui had established her prestige and secured her footing in the Wang family.

But it still wasn’t enough!

Lady Cui touched her lower abdomen. Her *gui* water hadn’t come this month, and her cycle had always been punctual.

If it hadn’t come, she might be pregnant.

If she was pregnant, boy or girl, it would be her treasure.

If it were a son, he would naturally be the legitimate eldest son of the Wang family.

But if it were a daughter... the position of legitimate eldest daughter had already been taken, so the girl could only be the legitimate second daughter.

Lady Cui was not willing to accept that.

Her family status was higher than Lady Jiang’s; why should her daughter be a step below Lady Jiang’s?

Thinking of Lady Jiang, a shadow crossed Lady Cui’s eyes.

They had been married for a month, and Wang Lin had been very gentle and attentive to her.

Wang Lin’s behavior satisfied all of Lady Cui’s fantasies and requirements for a new husband.

However, Lady Cui was a woman, and in certain respects, she had a keen intuition.

For instance, she could still detect clues as to whether her husband had someone else in his heart.

It was said that Lady Jiang was extremely beautiful.

It was said that Master Wang had fallen in love with Lady Jiang at first sight, so much so that he ignored the disparity in their family status and insisted on taking her as his wife.

It was said that in the seven years Lady Jiang was in the house, she had only given birth to one daughter, and the Grand Madame was so dissatisfied that she wanted to divorce her, but Wang Lin refused to the death.

In the end, the Grand Madame had to back down and personally chose two fertile slave girls for Wang Lin.

Although Wang Lin had fathered illegitimate children with those two maids, he had never favored them.

Instead, he had remained as loving and cherishing toward Lady Jiang as ever.

It was said...

Lady Cui had truly not been idle in the Wang household; she had been constantly investigating and inquiring.

And ever since she had established her authority using the maid from the third branch, the servants of the Wang household had all turned to her, following the direction of the wind.

Therefore, it was not difficult for Lady Cui to obtain more, and more secret, information.

And so, even though Lady Jiang had already left, Lady Cui deeply envied and resented her.

“Lady Jiang is gone, but there is still that little bastard she left behind!”

Lady Cui already hated Lady Jiang, and now that she was pregnant, she began to fight for the position of legitimate eldest daughter for her unborn child. With both new grudges and old hatreds, Lady Cui could no longer tolerate Wang Heng.

Squeezing her handkerchief tightly, Lady Cui suppressed the emotions in her heart.

She climbed the steps, entered the main hall, bypassed the screen, and arrived at the inner room where the Grand Madame slept.

The Grand Madame had already finished dressing and washing with the help of her other two daughters-in-law.

Seeing Lady Cui, the Grand Madame almost couldn’t help but look at the hourglass in the corner—was it really the Yin hour? Or the Chen hour?

However, the Grand Madame was old and steady; she might not be able to say she could “remain unmoved even if Mount Tai collapsed before her,” but she wouldn’t easily lose her composure.

She accepted Lady Cui’s greeting coldly and exchanged a few words of small talk with her.

Lady Cui couldn’t be bothered with nonsense; what she hated most was the “hypocrisy” of the Wang family.

When just chatting about daily life, was it necessary to be so vague and circuitous?

Just say what needs to be said, get straight to the point—how much simpler that would be!

“Mother-in-law, my aunt, the wife of the Lou family, has arrived in Hedong.”

“My cousin has enclosed an estate in the east of the city, and my aunt and the women of the Lou family have moved in.”

“My aunt heard that I had married into Hedong, and since the lotus flowers in the new estate have just bloomed, she invited me to go and take a look.”

Lady Cui rattled it all off in one breath.

The Grand Madame was not used to Lady Cui’s way of speaking, but she quickly grasped the main point: “General Lou’s family has all come to Hedong?”

Previously, Lou Jin was only a garrison commander, and that army camp could be moved at a moment’s notice.

In these chaotic times, if Hedong did not have troops stationed there, not to mention being besieged by rioters and bandits, even the local powerful clans would be difficult to deal with.

Wang Lin was the magistrate, and he was determined to achieve political success.

Three consecutive years of drought were indeed a hardship for the people, but they were also an opportunity—many fields outside the city had become ownerless.

Now that the famine had passed, Wang Lin’s primary goal in reorganizing the government was to restore agriculture.

These “ownerless” fields were Wang Lin’s bargaining chips.

He could issue a proclamation informing the masses that as long as they went to “reclaim the wasteland,” everyone could have a share of fifteen *mu*.

One must know that the fields outside the city, while called wasteland, were actually fertile land before the drought.

With just a little reclamation, everyone could have fifteen *mu* of land. In a good year, one *mu* of land was worth at least three or four *guan* of money.

And these were being given away for free by the government.

The people would naturally be overjoyed and actively reclaim and farm them.

With land and food, the economic foundation of Hedong could be stabilized, and there would be more new births, leading to a virtuous cycle.

Only then could Wang Lin sit more securely in his position as magistrate and have dazzling achievements to show his superiors.

But land was a good thing; Wang Lin wanted it, and the powerful clans of Hedong wanted it too.

In fact, they had already taken action in the spring, secretly occupying those ownerless wastelands.

For Wang Lin to want to “reclaim the wasteland” now was equivalent to snatching food from the mouths of these families.

The Wang family had their own private troops, and those families did too.

Unless the Wang family could find outside help.

The Cui family—oh no, the Lou family, the in-laws of the Cui woman—would be Wang Lin’s greatest help.

However, Lou Jin was a military general and did not get along with a civil official like Wang Lin.

Both Grand Madame Xie and Wang Lin wanted to use Lady Cui to open up a relationship with the Lou family.

Before Grand Madame Xie could find a time to bring it up, this “opportunity” had come on its own.

A smile instantly appeared on Grand Madame Xie’s cold, stern face: “Good! Since the Grand Madame of the Cui family has invited you, Ah Cui, you should go...”

Grand Madame Xie wanted to exchange a few more pleasantries and add some personal requests, such as having Lady Cui take the women of the other two branches along.

But Lady Cui, who liked things simple and crude, interrupted Grand Madame Xie directly: “This banquet at the Cui family is a private one, and I want to take Ah Jiu with me!”

Grand Madame Xie was stunned: “Ah... Ah Jiu?”

Wang Heng!

The daughter left behind by Lady Jiang?

Didn’t Lady Cui dislike Ah Jiu? They had been married for a month, and they had only met once, the day after the wedding ceremony.

During that entire process, Lady Cui had kept a dark face and hadn’t even bothered with superficial politeness.

As for Ah Jiu, she was a simpleton who did nothing but eat, never worrying that she had encountered a stepmother who was not kind.

In the month that followed, Lady Cui seemed to have forgotten about Ah Jiu, letting her stay in the east courtyard and live with the Grand Madame.

Grand Madame Xie had thought that was how it would be—Ah Cui wouldn’t play the role of a kind mother, and Ah Jiu would continue to eat and eat.

The mother and daughter had reached a kind of subtle “harmony.”

She hadn’t expected that after only a month, this facade of harmony would be broken.

*Clatter!*

Grand Madame Xie was surprised, and Wang Heng, who was huddled in the corner gnawing on a peach, was even more terrified.

Hearing Lady Cui call her name, she instinctively shuddered, and then, the peach fell to the ground...