Chapter Seventy-Four: Strike First

The second Madam Xie entered Lady Xue’s courtyard bristling with anger and full of haughty assurance.

The courtyard was broad and spacious, with the reception hall set in the east side room.

Mammy Jiang had only just raised a hand, but Madam Xie and her nursemaid had already swept in like a gale. Mammy Jiang had meant to stop the nursemaid, then thought better of it and let her hand fall. A moment later, she hurried after them as well.

Madam Xie had already made up her mind. Though she was a younger woman and could not openly scold Lady Xue, once she saw the old lady she would make her summon Xue Sixth Miss and let her have a proper tongue-lashing.

She strode in determinedly, but before she could even speak, she saw an old woman facing a young man bound hand and foot. His clothing was in disarray and his hair had come loose, as though he had been robbed. Yet his face was unhurt, pale and distinct, and it was none other than their own Xie Sixth Young Master.

“Sixth Young Master? Sixth Young Master!” Only on the second cry did Madam Xie realize this was her own flesh and blood, and she let out a shriek. Then she turned on Lady Xue. “What does this mean? Why have you bound my Sixth Young Master?!”

Xie Sixth Young Master had been gagged and could not speak. Lady Xue’s face was dark, and her voice cold with displeasure. “Madam Xie has quite the nerve to ask me that. Your young master was behaving improperly, scaling the wall to lay hands on a young lady of my Xue family. I had not even gone to your side to demand an explanation, and yet you have come to me first. What a joke!”

“You say Sixth Young Master meant to lay hands on your young lady?” Madam Xie suddenly recalled the shouting she had heard moments ago in the corridor—someone crying about a lecher, then a scream. Could it be that the one they had captured was her own son?

How dared the Xue family do this?

Madam Xie was no easy mark. Since the two sides had already torn all pretense away, she no longer bothered with the courtesy due an elder. She snapped, “Nonsense! What kind of young lady does my Xie family lack that he would need to climb a wall in search of one of yours? It must be your family’s daughter who was unchaste and tried to seduce my Sixth Young Master, and now you dare slander him besides. If you do not give me a clear account of this today, then I care not whether you are kin to the Grand Matriarch or not. Even if the Emperor himself came, I would not let this rest!”

“When the Emperor himself truly comes, you’ll be frightened half to death. Where would you find the time to boast here?” said a voice suddenly from the doorway.

Madam Xie turned back and saw a girl with large eyes and a round little face, fair and still childlike, sweet as a bowl of glutinous rice balls. If it was not Xue Fanzhi, the girl she had seen in the Grand Matriarch’s room that day, then who could it be?

And compared with that day, the little wench seemed to have grown even taller, and was prettier besides.

Of course, her mouth seemed sharper too, and all the more detestable.

Aside from that one occasion in the Grand Matriarch’s room, Madam Xie had never been contradicted so rudely by a junior.

She barked, “What are you? Since when is it your place to speak here?”

“This is my home, so of course it is my place to speak,” said Xue Fanzhi. “As for what I am, you are the one who is nothing.”

Heavens, she was actually insulting someone. Insulting someone! Their Eighth Miss was actually hurling abuse!

The servants in the room stared at Xue Fanzhi as though they had seen a ghost.

Madam Xie did the same.

Xue Fanzhi could not be bothered with such shocked and disapproving looks. Of course she could speak as she pleased in her own home. If one could not speak freely in one’s own house, then what was it for?

Once she had gotten that off her chest, Xue Fanzhi did not continue trading barbs with Madam Xie. Instead, she went before the old lady and knelt to offer a respectful bow. “Grandmother, I came late. I let someone bully you.”

Though her intentions were kind, Lady Xue did not approve of her arrival or of her rebuke of Madam Xie. Madam Xie was already of that age; if she wished to behave like a shrew, the damage would be limited, and at worst her own family would be shamed along with her. But Xue Fanzhi was a delicate young girl. If people came to think of her as sharp-tongued and fierce, how would she ever find a good marriage?

Lady Xue frowned slightly and asked, “Why have you come?”

How could Xue Fanzhi not come? This entire setup had been her doing, prepared especially for Madam Xie, to avenge the way Madam Xie and Fifth Miss had bullied Sixth Miss in their former life.

They could not allow Madam Xie to go on rampaging through the house. When all else failed, the best defense was offense. So she had arranged for Xie Sixth Young Master to seek out Xue Fifth Miss, then had him seized before he could make the first move.

The men who helped provide the necessary hands, naturally, had come from Xiao Yi.

So this time, Xue Fanzhi had thrown caution to the wind and set a trap with no regard for face or reputation. The best part of the show was happening now. She had to be here. And if she were not, it was obvious her side would suffer the loss. In her former life she had eaten well enough, but in the end she had swallowed only losses. In this life, she would eat everything—except losses.

Fearing that Lady Xue would refuse to let her stay, Xue Fanzhi knelt beside the old lady, wrapped an arm around her, and wheedled, “Grandmother, just let me stay, will you?” As soon as she said it, even she felt her own face grow hot. She curved her lips and looked at the old lady, both adorable and sly.

Though Lady Xue had only acknowledged Xue Fanzhi for half a month, she had never truly been treated like this before.

Or rather, she had never known what it felt like to have descendants delighting beneath her own roof. So this was how it felt? Something that ought to have made one angry, yet when done by a beloved granddaughter, it no longer felt like anger at all, but rather softness and warmth. It was not bad.

Lady Xue patted the back of Xue Fanzhi’s hand affectionately. “You little imp. If you stay, then behave yourself. Do not speak rashly.”

Xue Fanzhi did not care in the least about a reputation for being fierce or unruly. In her former life her name had been infamous enough, and yet she had still become empress. As for women, whom one marries is all a matter of fate.

In this life her reputation was still decent, and being a little sharp was no great matter.

Xue Fanzhi had her own calculations and only answered perfunctorily, “I know. Your granddaughter will obey Grandmother.”

Lady Xue nodded in satisfaction.

By this point Xie Sixth Young Master could hardly lie still any longer. He was gagged and making muffled cries, eyes fixed on Madam Xie in plea. Madam Xie, seeing her son in distress, cried out, “What are you doing? Putting on some farce of grandmother and granddaughter harmony? Release my son at once!”

At a time like this, they still had the leisure to play such games.

Xue Fanzhi did not want to say too much at the start, so she lightly nudged Lady Xue with her elbow.

Lady Xue was not one to be bullied by a child. She did not even need the reminder; the smile that had remained on her face only moments earlier because of her granddaughter’s obedient flattery vanished instantly at Madam Xie’s words.

In a cool voice, she said, “It is not impossible for me to release Xie Sixth Young Master, but he must first apologize to the young lady of my household, and he must promise that he will never again come to harass her.”

“Apologize?” Madam Xie had practically heard the greatest joke under heaven. Given the standing of the Xie family, even warming her son’s bed was not fit work for a daughter of the Xue family, and now they wanted an apology? Dream on.

Madam Xie said, “It is your family’s young lady who tried to seduce my young master. And still you will not release him? If you delay any longer, I shall report this to the authorities!”

Her father-in-law was a Chancellor. She did not believe for a moment that the Xue family would not fear the law.