The senior maid hurried out to fetch the messenger. When the report was delivered, the old madam flew into an instant rage.
“Has she lost her mind? I never realized it before, but Madam Yu is not just petty—she’s utterly shameless!”
Furious, Old Madam Lin didn’t even wait for the maid to finish her vivid account. She slammed her palm onto the tea table, sending the teacup rattling into the air.
Ignoring the mess, she raised a hand to summon her eldest daughter-in-law to support her.
“Come, let us go,” she snapped. “I want to see for myself just how much trouble this woman thinks she can cause!”
…
How much trouble?
Yu Fanfan intended to cause as much trouble as she pleased.
With no family backing her in this feudal era where women held little power, she had to play by the local rules. She couldn’t force them to change the divorce letter into a mutual divorce agreement, nor could she bring down the entire Cheng Manor in one fell swoop to make the culprits pay for the original host’s death with their lives.
Even so, she could still rip away the manor’s veil of respectability, expose them to public scorn, and drag their reputation through the mud.
More importantly, she had to secure the compensation she was owed.
Supported by Duchess Li Jiayu and trailed by a sprawling entourage of maids and servants, the old madam stepped through the grand gates, only to find Yu Fanfan still holding high the white funeral banner.
Yu Fanfan banged her brass gong between lively recountings of her grievances against the Cheng Manor, holding the thrilled, eager crowd of onlookers spellbound.
The spectacle turned the old madam pale with rage. Her chest heaved violently as she pointed a trembling, pudgy finger at Yu Fanfan, her voice rasping with fury.
“Silence, Madam Yu! Do you have no sense of decency? You unfilial, rebellious wretch! Our Xie family cast you out for your own misconduct, but you were the Xie Family’s eldest young madam for years, and I was your grandmother-in-law. How dare you commit such outrageous disrespect and slander your elders?”
“Did your parents teach you nothing of basic human decency?
“You truly are the product of a petty, bankrupt family!
“You ignorant, unbred fool! My poor Brother Yan had his best years wasted on you, suffering your disgrace upon our noble house…”
“I knew all along that ruined families like yours could never raise anything decent! Even if it killed me, I should never have let you cross the threshold of the Xie Manor!
“Oh, Lord Duke, look at this! Look closely! This is the ruined wretch you insisted on protecting, the one you were so determined to marry to our eldest grandson! If your spirit is watching from the heavens, open your eyes and see what your eldest grandson’s wife truly is! A brood of lowborn scum, utterly unworthy of our dukedom! Madam Yu, you deserve to die!”
The old madam was driven mad by Yu Fanfan’s theatrics, but even more so by her late husband’s long-standing tyranny.
One glance outside showed an audience spanning every rank—from high-ranking officials and noble dandies down to gentry, peddlers, laborers, and even the wretched servants of their rival households. Every last one of them was gathered at the gates, treating her family’s misfortune like a spectacle and sneering contemptuously as they pointed fingers at them all.
Compounding her rage was years of simmering resentment over her husband’s stubborn decision to marry their eldest grandson to such a lowly, uncouth peasant girl who hadn’t even scrubbed the barnyard dirt from her chin. He had completely ignored her wishes, looking down on her maternal family and scorning the grandniece she so favored.
Long-suppressed fury finally stripped away the veneer of grace and benevolence old madam prided herself on, laying bare the true nature she had tried so hard to conceal.
What the old woman failed to realize, however, was that her frenzied tirade did not achieve its goal. Instead, it thoroughly provoked Yu Fanfan, who had already vowed to avenge the original host.
That remark about having a father to sire her but no mother to raise her struck a nerve. Remembering the original host’s tragic background, the former agricultural science researcher saw red.
A verbal sparring match? As a modern woman seasoned by internet memes and weaponized cynicism, how could she possibly lose to an old matriarch?
True, she was isolated here, and this was far from an equal, harmonious modern society, but Yu Fanfan was no easy target either.
She ignored the finger pointed at her nose. With a predatory glint in her eyes, she clutched the massive white mourning banner firmly planted beside her. Her inner drama queen instantly took over, and her voice rose in a shrill, grief-stricken wail.
“Ah, Grandfather! Father! Elder Brother! You were all honorable men who shed blood defending this country! How is it that in the mouth of the old madam of the Duke of Cheng’s Manor, you’ve become vile, lowborn paupers?”
“Judging by her tone and attitude, grown, honorable men like you aren’t even worthy of carrying the shoes of an idle old woman!
“How tragic that your loyalty and devotion—as imperial officials carrying out the sovereign’s orders to guard the borders, protect our people, serve the court, and stay true to His Majesty—mean nothing to her. In the eyes of an old woman who does nothing but indulge in pleasure, how did you become such worthless, lowborn wretches?”
Her words struck a chord with the crowd. Several people began nodding in agreement, particularly the scholars and spirited young literati, finding no fault in what she said.
More intriguingly, even the profligates like the toung prince looked at the old madam and the other women standing proudly on the high threshold of the Cheng Manor. His eyes darted around, betraying a shift in his thoughts.
No matter how wild he was, as a member of the imperial clan, he understood full well the dangerous implications beneath the surface, both spoken and unspoken.
Seeing the various reactions from the crowd, the old madam felt her heart drop.
Her emotions surged in panic, and she scrambled to defend herself.
“You—you! How dare you, Madam Yu! What glib, deceitful tongue! You make it sound so grand, but your grandfather, father, and brother are merely low-ranking fifth- and sixth-rank soldiers. How dare you compare them to me, an honorable Super First-Rank Noble Lady personally titled by His Majesty!”
“What is wrong with being a fifth- or sixth-rank soldier? Are soldiers not human? Are they not court-appointed officials, loyal subjects serving His Majesty?
“My grandfather, father, and brother may hold modest ranks, but they are all the Emperor’s subjects, loyal men devoting their lives to the throne. They are indeed martial men, but they are loyal warriors guarding the borders for His Majesty, the court, and the people. Even as a Super-Rank Noble Lady, you have no right to trample and insult them as you please.
“After all, your exalted status comes entirely from the shadow of your husband’s favor, not from any great contribution you ever made to this country, the court, or the Emperor. Contrast that with my family and the millions of soldiers holding the front lines.
“While you wear fine silks, live in luxury, drinking and listening to plays, they are bleeding on the battlefield.
“While you order servants about, wearing fresh flowers and jewelry every day, they are protecting the nation at the border.
“Without their sacrifice, without their blood and sweat, where would your life of ease and indulgence come from?”
“If they hadn’t held the Tartar barbarians beyond the border passes, defending our land and keeping the enemy from advancing a single step, where would your overbearing arrogance come from today, old madam?
“What right do parasites like you, who care for nothing but pleasure, have to look down on His Majesty’s loyal subjects? What right do you have to despise the soldiers who bleed on the battlefield and return only in body bags—men who cannot go home, who leave behind wives, children, and parents they can no longer protect? And what right do you have to look down on my grandfather, my father, my brothers, and me?
“Do you think I didn’t want them alive to raise me, protect me, and watch me grow?
“Do you think the men of my family who died in battle didn’t want their children to have a warm, safe home—one where no in-laws would ever despise an orphaned girl?
“Did my grandfather, my father, and my brothers not want to live? Did they not want to bring honor to their wives and secure a future for their sons? Did they not want a warm home and a caring wife of their own? Did they not want to stay alive and raise their own children? Tell me, did they not want all that?
“What gives you the right to look down on my family, on the soldiers who bled for this country, or on me? By what right? Speak, old madam! What gives you that right? Is it simply the Super-Rank Noble Lady title you obtained on your husband’s coat-tails?”
“Well said! Young lady, your grandfather, father, and brothers are true heroes!”
“Exactly! By what right does she look down on you?”
“Heh, she’s nothing more than a bully riding on someone else’s coattails!”
“So this is the great aristocratic elite—polished on the outside, but utterly rotten underneath. Truly disgraceful! And to think she looks down on this lady. In my humble opinion, she and her entire family are upright, loyal subjects!”
“You’re right! Men of unyielding integrity who defended the realm and served His Majesty with devotion. Why should they be sneered at by such pampered, snobbish women?”
…..
Perhaps because Yu Fanfan spoke with such raw, impassioned conviction, her voice rising with each defense of her family and every praise of the border soldiers, the reasonable onlookers in the crowd found themselves nodding in agreement. She was entirely right.
After all, their peaceful lives were possible only because soldiers like Yu Fanfan’s grandfather and brothers were guarding the frontiers. Without them, the brutality of the Tartar barbarians would have left no peace to speak of.
The oldest generation still remembered the fall of the previous dynasty, having witnessed firsthand the horrific atrocities committed when the invaders breached the pass, burning, pillaging, and slaughtering across the land. Because of that bitter history, their respect for the men who defended their nation was deeply felt and genuine.