To h*ll with that!
She was supposed to go accuse Xing Muzheng before that same emperor who’d wronged her by accusing her of infidelity and tossing her out?! She’d rather accuse them both together—if only someone would listen!
That thought was like a bucket of cold water poured over her head. Suddenly, Qian Jiaoniang found the whole thing absurd. Yet her smile only grew wider.
“Marquis, what are you saying?” she said, beaming. “How could I possibly bring such a complaint to the Emperor? Forget it, forget it. Looks like no one can convince you right now. I’ll just shamelessly go back and eat at the marquis’s house for a while longer!”
After speaking, Qian Jiaoniang gave a formal bow to both Xing Muzheng and Xie Zhang, then strolled away at a calm and measured pace. Xing Muzheng’s gaze darkened, and he strode after her. Xie Zhang stepped down from the bench and exchanged bewildered looks with the hunched-over assistant magistrate.
Outside the yamen, a small crowd of onlookers had gathered, still milling about curiously by the wall. When they saw Qian Jiaoniang emerge, they swarmed forward, noisily asking what grievance she had come to report. Qian Jiaoniang ignored them completely and kept walking straight ahead. Behind her, when the crowd saw Dingxi Marquis come out with a darkened face, they all scattered like birds and beasts. A few bold ones didn’t flee far, hiding in the shadows to sneak glances.
Qian Jiaoniang tilted her head slightly—she knew Xing Muzheng was following behind, but she didn’t acknowledge him, only continued walking. Xing Muzheng, face grim, walked beside her in silence. When Qian Jiaoniang sped up, he sped up. When she slowed, he slowed. When she simply stopped, he stopped too. She took a deep breath and resumed walking forward; he followed without a word.
Although they had been married for years, this was the first time the two had walked side by side like this.
Xing Muzheng turned his head slightly to glance at Qian Jiaoniang, but she didn’t look his way. He let out a faint sigh; the anger in his chest quietly dissipated.
Qian Jiaoniang took familiar shortcuts through quieter alleys, but even so, they ran into many people along the way. Several recognized Xing Muzheng and respectfully stepped aside, then turned their backs and whispered gossip to neighbors.
The two of them, pretending as if nothing had happened, walked in silence all the way to the gates of the Dingxi Marquis’s residence. The two stone lions by the door bared their mouths as if mocking her. The gatekeepers were joking around near the corner, and when they looked up and saw the pair in front of them, they were startled.
“Marquis, M-Madam?”
When they recognized Qian Jiaoniang, their expressions changed drastically. When did the madam leave the manor? And with the Marquis, no less? The Marquis had clearly left alone this morning!
Qian Jiaoniang gave a cold snort and went straight up the steps. A servant quickly pushed open the main doors for her. Xing Muzheng waited until she entered the manor, then asked coldly, “How did the Madam get out of the residence?”
The servant dropped to his knees in fear. “Master, we truly don’t know!”
“Find out which gate Madam used to leave. Bring me the person responsible.”
Qian Jiaoniang returned to her courtyard with a blank expression. Qingya came up to her. “Where did you go? You were gone all morning!”
“Don’t even talk about it!” Qian Jiaoniang stomped into the room in a fury, grabbed a throw pillow, and slammed it hard onto the bed while cursing Xing Muzheng as a b*stard. Qingya waited until she’d vented, then poured her a cup of cold tea. Qian Jiaoniang gulped it down, poured herself another, and drained it again before finally recounting everything that had happened.
Qingya listened and then burst into incredulous laughter. “You ran to the yamen to accuse the Marquis? Oh heavens, my dear lady, that’s like going to the capital to accuse the emperor!”
“How was I, a country woman, supposed to know what a fief even is?” No one had ever explained it to her!
“You…” Qingya tapped her forehead. “Listen carefully now. A fief means the imperial family granted this whole region to the Marquis. He makes all the decisions—taxes and grain from the people don’t go to the national treasury, they go to the marquis’s estate. Every official in Yuzhou, big or small, can be dismissed by him with a single word. So tell me, how could the magistrate possibly take your side? The moment he speaks out, his official hat’s gone!”
Qian Jiaoniang slammed her cup down and sat there fuming.
Qingya went over to fan her to help her cool off. After a moment, she nudged her gently. “What’s gotten into you? His Majesty already gave the verbal decree allowing your separation. Even the Marquis can’t stop it. All you need to do is wait patiently, and he’ll have to let you go. Why be so impulsive? Normally you’re not like this.”
Qian Jiaoniang said, “I don’t want to stay here even a moment longer. This place makes me sick.”
Behind the screen, Xing Muzheng heard her words loud and clear. That disgust, that indifference.
He silently turned and walked out. With long strides, he left the courtyard, walked a distance, then suddenly stopped and slammed his fist hard against the courtyard wall.
A young servant ran out from the side gate and reported, “Master, we found the person who let Madam out. It was Old Zhang at the South Gate!”
Back at the outer study, Old Zhang was already kneeling in the inner hall, trembling all over. When he saw Xing Muzheng enter, he kowtowed repeatedly. “Please spare me, Master, please spare me!”
Xing Muzheng asked, “Why did you disobey my orders and secretly let the Madam out of the residence?”
Old Zhang cried out in grievance, “Master, I swear I didn’t know! This servant truly didn’t know the Madam was—was Madam! She always said she was a seamstress in the household, and she even had a child…” Wait a second—wasn’t that child who came out the South Gate every morning for school and called him Grandpa Zhang… wasn’t that the young master?!
“Look at those old eyes of yours—do they even work? That was the Madam, and the child is our young master!” Ding Zhang scolded.
“Aiya! This servant truly didn’t know! The Madam—she always said she was a seamstress!”
This Old Zhang was, in fact, distantly related to Ding Zhang. And being a simple and honest sort, he hadn’t questioned it. Ding Zhang glanced at Xing Muzheng’s face, hoping to say a few words on Old Zhang’s behalf, but Xing Muzheng’s expression was unreadable. Ding Zhang cautiously said, “Master, it was also a coincidence. The time Madam gathered the servants together, Old Zhang had taken leave to visit home, so he wasn’t there to see her.”
Xing Muzheng said nothing. Old Zhang knelt in fear for a long while before Xing Muzheng finally spoke. “Go back. Be more careful next time. If Madam wants to leave alone, report it immediately.”
Old Zhang quickly agreed repeatedly, afraid the marquis might change his mind, and hurriedly withdrew.
Ding Zhang asked, “Master, you’re not going to punish Old Zhang?”
Xing Muzheng flung his sleeve and rose. “Who would I punish?” The servants of the household didn’t even recognize the mistress—wasn’t the one who ought to be punished him, the husband who had disregarded his own wife?
