The three women bickered back and forth, giving Wu Xiong a headache.
Earlier in court, he had spoken up several times, but no one echoed his sentiments.
Colleagues who had once shown him some courtesy now watched coldly from the sidelines, secretly mocking him.
What was even more humiliating was that his birthday was approaching, yet no one had sent word to congratulate him.
For the first time, Wu Xiong felt a sense of panic.
The Zhongbo Marquis Manor appeared prosperous on the surface.
But without Jiang Xiu managing his connections for him and using her dowry to fill the manor’s coffers, he would soon be exposed for what he truly was.
But to bow his head to her? Why should he?
He had only taken away her authority over household management, and now she dared to throw such a tantrum. Did she really think he couldn’t do without her?
At this thought, Wu Xiong’s expression grew even darker.
“Enough!” Wu Xiong slammed the table. “Where is she?”
A servant cautiously replied, “Madam… is in the courtyard of the two young masters.”
A flicker of disgust passed through Wu Xiong’s eyes. Those two useless sons again.
He rose, flicking his sleeves. “Let me see how long she can keep up this stubbornness.”
When Wu Xiong arrived at the side courtyard, it was quiet.
The afternoon sunlight slanted through the window lattice, spreading a soft, golden glow over the blue brick floor.
The door to the room was half-open.
Wu Xiong immediately spotted Jiang Xiu sitting by the window.
She wore a simple, everyday dress with little makeup, holding Fu Fu in her arms as she gently patted the swaddling clothes. Wu Zhan leaned against her knee, while Wu Che sat at a small table nearby, head bowed, intently arranging a few wooden blocks.
It was just an ordinary scene of a woman caring for her children.
Yet, for some reason, Wu Xiong’s steps faltered slightly, and a strange feeling inexplicably arose in his heart.
This feeling made Wu Xiong extremely uncomfortable.
“Madam seems quite at leisure.”
Jiang Xiu looked up. “The Marquis has come.”
At the sight of him, Wu Zhan froze, his small hands clutching Jiang Xiu’s sleeve tightly.
Wu Che also timidly lowered his head.
Jiang Xiu’s heart turned cold. This was their father—even before he approached, the children were already this frightened.
Wu Xiong’s face darkened. “I heard you’ve been staying in the side courtyard these past few days, not even returning to the main residence?”
Jiang Xiu replied calmly, “Fu’er is still young, and Che’er and Zhan’er need someone by their side. It’s only right that I spend more time with them.”
Wu Xiong sneered. “The manor is in chaos, yet you pay no attention. Mother can’t sleep from worrying about managing the household. As the lady of the manor, how can you stand idly by like this?”
Jiang Xiu looked at him. “Wasn’t it you, Marquis, who ordered me to hand over the household keys to Mother? Now that she’s overworked, how has it become my fault?”
Wu Xiong was left speechless.
Jiang Xiu continued, “Or does the Marquis think that even after handing over the keys, I should continue using my dowry to fill the manor’s coffers as before?”
Wu Xiong’s expression darkened further. “Jiang Xiu, how can you say such things now?”
Jiang Xiu retorted, “Which part of what I said does the Marquis find incorrect?”
Nestled in her arms, Fu Fu inwardly cheered.
[Finally, Mother has found her voice!]
[She used to give that scoundrel too much face, making him think he was some great, upright man.]
[Pfft.]
Jiang Xiu glanced down at the little bundle in her arms, her heart softening.
Fu Fu was staring with wide, dark eyes, her expression unusually serious.
Wu Xiong knew she spoke the truth, but hearing her say it to his face felt like a slap.
He said coldly, “As the lady of the manor, using your dowry to support the household is only natural. Could it be that after ten years of marriage into the Wu family, you still think of yourself as a member of the Jiang family?”
Jiang Xiu’s fingertips tightened slightly. In the past, he had always known how to wound her with such words, making her blame herself.
But hearing them now, she found them utterly absurd.
She raised her eyes, speaking each word clearly: “If I had forgotten that I am a daughter of the Jiang family, on what grounds would the Marquis have commanded respect in the court all these years?”
Wu Xiong’s expression changed abruptly. “Jiang Xiu!”
Jiang Xiu did not stop.
“For the Marquis’s birthday celebrations, it was the Jiang family who managed the guests on your behalf. For your promotions, it was the Jiang family who smoothed the way with connections. When the Marquis’s household could not make ends meet, it was my dowry that filled the gap day after day. The century-old ginseng Mother consumes, the cloud-patterned silk dresses Jiaojiao wears, the monthly wages for the servants in the estate, the wine and dishes served to guests in the front courtyard—which of these did not come from my hands?”
She looked at Wu Xiong. “How is it that in the Marquis’s words now, it has all become something I ought to have done?”
The room fell deathly silent.
Wu Zhan stared blankly at Jiang Xiu, his eyes gradually reddening.
So Mother had endured such hardship all these years.
Cornered, Wu Xiong’s face turned pale and then flushed with anger. Enraged to the extreme, he let out a cold laugh. “Fine, very fine. It seems all these years, I have been too indulgent with you.”
Jiang Xiu said calmly, “If the Marquis believes I am in the wrong, you may return all the silver I have subsidized into the Marquis’s household over the years.”
Wu Xiong’s sneer froze.
Return? With what could he return? The Zhongbo Marquis’s household could not even afford a proper birthday banquet now.
Humiliated and enraged, he could only vent his anger on the children.
He looked at Wu Che and Wu Zhan, his disgust unconcealed in his eyes. “One a fool, the other a mute—they have utterly disgraced the Marquis’s household!”
Wu Che shrank back in fear, calling out in confusion, “Mother… Mother…”
Jiang Xiu’s heart ached.
Fu Fu’s little face scrunched up in anger.
What nonsense! If not for you and that wretched old woman forcing bowl after bowl of poison down Mother’s throat, how could Elder Brother and Second Brother have ended up like this?
What dignity of the Marquis’s household? How much is your dignity worth? Throw it into the mass graves, and even wild dogs would find it too hard to chew!
Jiang Xiu’s eyes grew hot.
Wu Zhan also heard his sister’s inner voice.
Since childhood, he had feared Wu Xiong but had always longed for his father to like him a little more.
He thought his father disliked him because he could not speak.
But the reason he had become like this was because his father and grandmother had poisoned him, bowl after bowl.
The pitiful filial affection he had clung to in his heart was completely extinguished.
Yet Wu Xiong continued to berate him. “Especially Wu Zhan. Since you cannot speak, you ought to keep to yourself. Hiding in the side courtyard reading all day—what kind of behavior is that? In a few days, I will have someone send him to the estate in the countryside, lest outsiders see him and say that my Zhongbo Marquis’s household—”
“No.”
Two words, extremely soft and hoarse, suddenly rang out.
Wu Xiong jerked his gaze toward Wu Zhan.
Wu Zhan’s little face was deathly pale, his eyes red, but he clung tightly to Jiang Xiu’s sleeve.
Those two words seemed to have been painfully ground out from his throat.
Jiang Xiu nearly shed tears. “Zhan’er…”
But in Wu Xiong’s eyes, there was no joy, no heartache—only suspicion after shock.
“You can speak?”
Wu Zhan flinched under his gaze but did not retreat.
Wu Xiong’s expression darkened.
—I gave him so much poison. Why can he still speak?
If he could speak, why has he remained silent all these years?
He sneered. “Well, well. So you can speak. Why have you been pretending to be mute all this time?”
Wu Zhan’s face turned ashen, the faint light that had just sparked in his eyes instantly dimming.
Jiang Xiu trembled with rage. “He is your son! He has finally found his voice, and instead of asking if he is in pain, instead of asking how much suffering he has endured all these years, your first words are to accuse him of pretending to be mute?”
Wu Xiong, flushed with anger and humiliation, snapped, “A child who couldn’t speak for six years suddenly starts talking right after you hand over the household authority. Jiang Xiu, dare you say there’s nothing strange about this?”
Jiang Xiu’s fingertips turned icy cold, but her heart grew even colder. She finally understood that Wu Xiong held not a shred of familial affection for the child.
Wu Xiong suddenly shouted, “Someone!”
A servant outside immediately responded.
Jiang Xiu looked up warily. “What does the Marquis intend to do?”
Wu Xiong said coldly, “The second young master’s condition is unusual, so naturally we must have a doctor examine him properly. Take the second young master to the front courtyard.”
Wu Zhan shrank back in fear, burying himself in Jiang Xiu’s arms.
Jiang Xiu shielded him protectively. “I’d like to see who dares!”
Wu Xiong’s face turned ashen. “Jiang Xiu, how much longer are you going to make a scene? He is also my son!”
Jiang Xiu held Fu Fu in one arm and shielded Wu Zhan with the other, her voice as cold as ice. “So now the Marquis remembers he is your son?”
The words struck Wu Xiong like a slap across the face.
The servant at the doorway stood frozen, unsure whether to advance or retreat.
Everyone could see that the lady was truly angry this time.
Just then, a soft, delicate voice suddenly drifted in from outside.
“Why must the lady be so angry?”