Chu Linlang lifted her head to look at Chu Huaisheng, whom she had not seen for a long time. She took a deep breath, swallowing back the curses that rose to her lips.
Before her marriage, she had often defied him, never fearing beatings or scoldings. But in the end, it was always her dependent mother who bore the brunt of his anger.
For her mother, Madam Sun, she could ignore Chu Huaisheng’s words, treating them as nothing more than foul wind.
Following Madam Sun upstairs, she bowed respectfully and asked, “Father, is your health well?”
Chu Huaisheng assumed the airs of a patriarch, sitting in a chipped old armchair at the inn, blowing the tea froth in his cup as he sneered: “Well or not, you unfilial girl don’t care. Now that you’ve become an official’s wife, you’ve grown arrogant. If I hadn’t come, you would have forgotten you still have parents above you!”
Chu Linlang kept silent, enduring his scolding. Madam Sun, anxious, pursed her lips and finally trembled out: “Master, please calm your anger. Linlang has come to see you, hasn’t she…”
Chu Huaisheng glared at Madam Sun, and she shrank like a frightened quail, not daring to speak further.
Fortunately, he remembered the real purpose of his trip to Liancheng, so he stopped his tirade and began to ask after Chu Linlang’s situation—though his words always circled back to her husband, probing for news of Zhou Sui’an.
Chu Linlang, fearing her father’s ill intent and that he might cause trouble for Zhou Sui’an, quickly cut him off: “The Sixth Prince has come to Liancheng on imperial orders. All the officials are anxiously waiting at the yamen. My husband has not returned home for several days, so he cannot meet you. He asked me to prepare extra gifts for you instead…”
At hearing that Zhou Sui’an could not come, Chu Huaisheng’s beard and brows drooped. He slapped the table: “So this isn’t the same poor scholar who tricked my daughter! Now he’s a petty official, and he dares to put on airs before his father-in-law? If that’s the case, I’ll go to the yamen myself, let his colleagues know the disgraceful deeds he committed back then!”
Because Chu Linlang and Zhou Sui’an had not married through formal matchmakers, Chu Huaisheng had always held this against them. Though both families tacitly accepted it at the time, it was neither honorable nor illegal. Now that Zhou Sui’an was an official, reputation mattered—and Chu Huaisheng knew this was leverage.
After his threat, he waited for his daughter to bow her head and plead.
But Chu Linlang remained unmoved, calmly replying: “Father, you must have seen the scene at the city gate this morning—dozens of heads rolling like melons, blood flooding the street, taking half a day to clean. Do you mean my husband should risk losing his head just to come greet you? I fear nothing else, only that your rashness might offend a noble. Then Mother and I would have to pick up your head from the street…”
That morning, the prince’s would-be assassins had been executed publicly. Chu Huaisheng had passed by and seen enough to lose his appetite. Now, hearing Chu Linlang’s words, he could not refute her, nor did he dare storm the yamen.
But stung by her retort, he cursed again: “Bah! You dare curse your own father! If he won’t come, then at least send word. Your elder brother has been idle at home too long. See if your husband can arrange some easy post for him.”
This “elder brother” was Chu Renfeng, Chu Linlang’s half-brother—the very one who had once urged their father to send her as a concubine.
Though named “Renfeng” (Dragon among men), he was useless, a wastrel skilled only in drinking and pleasure, incapable of real work. When he once helped with family business, he lost money repeatedly, then blamed Chu Linlang, who managed the accounts, causing her to be beaten unjustly. Later, he schemed for connections and gained a minor post in Jiangkou, but was caught in an affair with his superior’s concubine and beaten nearly to the point of being crippled. Only Chu Huaisheng’s money saved his legs.
Now idle at home, Chu Huaisheng sought to use his son-in-law’s position to raise him again.
Chu Linlang, knowing her brother’s disgraceful history from her mother’s letters, only sneered: “My husband is but a minor magistrate. Personnel matters belong to the prefect. Any idle posts are already filled with the prefect’s kin. Besides, those who pull strings at least have scholarly rank. Tell me, has my brother earned any degree these past years that my husband could use as an excuse?”
Chu Huaisheng was silenced again, his face burning. To save face, he cursed Chu Linlang as selfish, caring only for her own honor while ignoring her brother’s plight, and insulted Madam Sun as low-born, incapable of raising a good child.
Chu Linlang, enraged, wanted to argue back, but Madam Sun gripped her hand tightly, preventing her.
After a long tirade, Chu Huaisheng grew tired. His craving for opium flared, so he summoned his new concubine to help him back to his room.
At last, Chu Linlang could return to her mother’s quarters and speak privately.
From her mother’s lips she learned that Chu Huaisheng had not come merely to exploit her, but also to settle a business deal in Lianzhou.
Seeing that he had brought the aging Madam Sun along, Chu Linlang realized this was no sudden whim, but a long-planned attempt to control his third daughter born of a concubine.
“Mother, bear with it for now. I’ll find a way to force him to release you. Then I’ll buy you a house of your own, so you won’t suffer his filth anymore!”
Though comforted, Madam Sun sighed: “He is still your father. In the Chu household, I want for nothing, and you still have a family to rely on. If I leave, people will think I was cast out for misconduct. At my age, if I were dismissed, your reputation would suffer too. Your mother-in-law would despise you even more…”
Madam Sun vaguely remembered that she had once been the daughter of a prosperous family. As a child, her family’s courtyard seemed vast, with servants always trailing behind her. Unfortunately, she was separated from her family at a young age, abducted by traffickers, and sold to a pleasure boat as a courtesan-in-training. Before she was even put on display, she was noticed by Chu Huaisheng, who bought her as a concubine.
Her temperament was gentle and timid, never one to quarrel with others. Yet unexpectedly, such a meek nature gave rise to a daughter bold and fearless.
From childhood, Chu Linlang dared to argue back with Chu Huaisheng for her mother’s sake, like a little barking dog standing guard in front of her. Madam Sun felt both comforted and saddened by this. She thought to herself: her life was already set, as long as she did not burden her daughter.
Chu Linlang knew her mother was cautious and fearful of authority. She did not bother to persuade her further; she only resolved firmly in her heart that one day she would act on her plans. Since the time had not yet come, there was no need to argue.
So mother and daughter leaned against each other on the bed, speaking intimately.
Madam Sun, more at ease before her daughter, spoke freely, though she worried that Chu Linlang had yet to bear children and wondered if she suffered mistreatment in her husband’s household.
Chu Linlang, however, reported only joys and not sorrows, speaking of cheerful matters.
The two chatted about the current state of the Chu family. Madam Sun sighed: “The two legitimate daughters of the family married early, but neither fared as well as you. Your elder sister and her husband went to the capital to make a living, but they were swindled, lost money, and even used her dowry to pay off their debts. Unable to manage, she returned to borrow silver, only to be scolded harshly by your father, who is now forcing her to divorce.”
Chu Linlang frowned: “Divorce?”
“Yes. Your father has even arranged another match for her, though the main wife seems unwilling and quarrels with him.”
Chu Linlang fell silent. What good match could Chu Huaisheng possibly find? Among the three sisters, only the eldest was gentle, always kind to Chu Linlang and Madam Sun, and showed some sisterly affection. But gentle souls were easily manipulated.
Chu Huaisheng judged sons-in-law only by wealth and power, never by character. Even though her elder sister had borne two children, he still forced her to divorce—not out of concern for her, but out of fear of losing money.
Madam Sun continued: “Your second sister’s household is somewhat better. Her husband serves as a naval officer, but he has a bad temper, loves to drink, and even beats her. Your stepmother is displeased and often inquires about your situation. She says you have no children yet, and keeps mentioning a suitable niece from her family…”
Chu Linlang immediately understood her stepmother’s scheme and said firmly: “The affairs of my household are not hers to meddle in. Tell her that matters of concubines are for my mother-in-law to decide, not me.”
Madam Sun also disliked the main wife meddling in her daughter’s household. The main wife’s two daughters had unhappy marriages, while the concubine-born daughter’s household was harmonious and prosperous—no wonder she was jealous.
Thinking of her daughter’s childlessness, Madam Sun often lost sleep at night. Stroking Chu Linlang’s hair tenderly, she said: “You were mischievous as a child, like a boy, always fighting. I worried your temper was too hard and you’d suffer after marriage. Luckily, you’ve softened, and Suian is a scholarly, gentle man. I’m reassured. Remember, a woman’s life is never perfectly smooth. Some grievances must be endured. A temper too fierce is never good. That madwoman in Jiangkou was a lesson… sigh…”
Chu Linlang had long forgotten the madwoman her mother mentioned, only vaguely recalling that when they rented a house in Jiangkou, there was such a woman next door, shouting wildly in the streets every day.
Unlike the fools and lunatics wandering the streets, she, though disheveled, was not filthy. Though she sat slumped in the mud at street corners, the next day her face would be clean again. Curious, Chu Linlang asked: “I forget—how did she go mad?”
As a child, she had asked before, but her mother always brushed it off. Now grown, Madam Sun explained: “She shouted constantly about a faithless husband, regretting that she had urged him to seek rank and title. It seems she could not tolerate him taking concubines, so she went mad and was cast out by her husband. Cruel as he was, he even drove out her son with her. Fortunately, the boy stayed by her side, caring for her, with servants hired to help. But such a small child, suffering alongside his mother—it was pitiful.”
Chu Linlang remembered that boy clearly.
Without his mother’s care, his thin face was marked by oversized eyes. What left the deepest impression was his ferocity when defending his mad mother against bullies.
Chu Linlang had witnessed it once as a child—those skinny arms lifting a heavy stone and smashing it onto a man’s head, blood and flesh splattering, while his large eyes did not blink even once.