Shameless.
The twenty-third of September was Jiang Xuesui's fourteenth birthday.
Lady Zhu had always been extremely fond of this niece, and to curry favor with the old lady, she arranged the celebration at twice the scale of the family's own girls' birthdays. Famous operas such as 'The Peony Pavilion,' 'The Purple Hairpin,' 'The Dream of Handan,' and 'The Dream of Nanke' had all been prepared. Guests only needed to pick from the playbill. Thirty-six banquet tables were set up, each with a standard of sixty taels of silver. Invitations had been sent to the ladies of various families half a month in advance. The three families of the Grand Princess of Chu, Grand Princess of Jin, and Grand Princess of Zhou, along with Prince Chu's Mansion, Prince Duan's Mansion, Prince Xiang's Mansion, Prince Su's Mansion, Duke Yingguo's Mansion, Duke Ningguo's Mansion, Duke Weiguo's Mansion, Duke Zhenguo's Mansion, Duke Liangguo's Mansion, and other imperial relatives and titled families all came.
Recently, Jiang Shaohua had been busy suppressing the bandit rebellion in Jiangnan and had no time to travel to the capital to personally celebrate his beloved daughter's birthday. But birthday gifts arrived at Duke Xiangguo's Mansion that day. There were twelve night pearls as big as eggs, two large Western clocks, two small Western clocks, ten strands each of jadeite, coral, and agarwood bracelets, two cases of precious paintings, calligraphy, and ancient books, two cases of top-quality rouge and powder, one case each of vests, long gowns, round gowns, short gowns, sleeved gowns, flower-and-bird skirts, horse-face skirts, white silk skirts, pleated skirts, pomegranate skirts, and more; sixteen flower hairpins, sixteen walking hairpins, sixteen jeweled hairpins, sixteen gold hairpins, sixteen ornamental hairpieces, six headdresses... The rest of the items are not detailed one by one; the gift list filled more than ten pages. The servants who carried the gift boxes into Jiangxue Residence each received a handful of silver melon seeds as gratuity, one wishing the young lady a long life, another congratulating her on eternal youth... Jiang Xuesui had heard a whole basketful of auspicious words since early morning.
Even Lady Zhu and Lady Yu, who had seen much of the world, were astonished every year by the birthday gifts Jiang Shaohua sent to his daughter. Lady Zhu said, 'No wonder they say Jiangnan is ten parts wealthy, and the Jiang clan of Sujing takes eight parts. Yuanyuan's fate is truly good. If only she could take a liking to my A Yang. Right now, it's rumored that Yuanyuan's father will enter the Grand Secretariat next year and become Grand Chancellor, as soon as the current Senior Grand Secretary petitions the Emperor to retire.' Lady Yu said, 'The ladies who came today have all brought their eligible sons, pushing them forward in front of the old lady, hoping she will take a liking to them as her granddaughter's husband. It's a pity the Jiang family has only one daughter, Yuanyuan. If there were a hundred or a thousand, we could barely share. If my A Xiao weren't so young, I would also compete for Yuanyuan.' Lady Zhu was amused by Lady Yu's witty remark. 'To be honest, I only think our A Qiao's talent and appearance can match Yuanyuan. But Eldest Sister-in-law is so muddled. If I mention this to the old lady, she will surely refute me, and Yuanyuan would end up suffering under a muddled mother-in-law.' Lady Yu also showed a regretful expression. 'Yes, that child A Qiao is truly a pity. Eldest Brother is too upright and always thinks of helping the weaker nephews. A Qiao doesn't need him to worry much, but as a son, watching his father worry about others must not feel good. As for Eldest Sister-in-law, even I find her infuriating. She cares too much about her own face; whenever A Qiao gets something good, she uses it to curry favor, never thinking about who her own flesh and blood is.' Lady Zhu and Lady Yu chatted for a while, then went to attend to the guests.
Lady Sang, who had no authority to manage the household, was glad to be idle. She heard Shuangxi report that Old Madam Wu had brought Wu Zhaodi and Wu Yaozu to congratulate her young lady's birthday. Although no invitation had been sent to the Wu family, since the guests had arrived, how could they be turned away? So she instructed Shuangxi to receive the Wu family at the second gate, and warned her to settle them well and not let Old Madam Wu go to Penglai Study where the old lady might see her and be annoyed. Lady Sang had been thinking about the past these days and felt she had been unfair to her eldest son. She found a divine talisman originally obtained to bless her younger son's success in the imperial exams, burned it to ashes, put the ashes in black chicken soup, and ordered a maid to send the soup to Ximo Pavilion. Hoping that after drinking the black chicken soup with talisman ashes, A Qiao would pass the imperial exams next year and bring her more face.
Just then, Jiang Xuesui had drunk some sweet rice wine flavored with rose syrup in the morning. Thinking Wen Qiao liked it, she sent Huamei to deliver some to Ximo Pavilion. Wen Xiang was carrying the black chicken soup from Lady Sang to the study when she ran into Huamei, who showed her the rose sweet wine. Wen Xiang smiled and said, 'This wine from the young lady suits the young master's taste perfectly. But this bowl of black chicken soup from Lady Sang will go to waste.' Huamei remembered that her mistress had wanted to drink black chicken soup in the morning but couldn't get good black chicken in time. So this bowl of soup could be taken back for her mistress. So she discussed it with Wen Xiang, who agreed, and the two exchanged the red lacquer trays in their hands.
Huamei left Ximo Pavilion and walked to the Wind and Rain Corridor. She saw Xie Nongyu approaching with more than a dozen maids and old servants, so she quickly stepped aside and knelt in salute. Xie Nongyu recognized Huamei as Jiang Xuesui's chief maid, and her eyes fell on the soup bowl Huamei was carrying. 'Ahead is Ximo Pavilion. Did you come from there?' Huamei was resentful that this Princess Shanyang always made things difficult for her mistress. Knowing what Xie Nongyu cared about most, she deliberately lowered her head and said, 'The eldest young master knew my lady wanted to drink black chicken soup, so he specially gave her the soup Lady Sang had sent him. This servant just left Ximo Pavilion and is on my way back.' Xie Nongyu was not polite. She snatched the soup bowl and drank it all in one go, glaring angrily at Huamei. 'Your mistress is nothing in my eyes. Not to mention her soup, I drink it if I want. Even Wen Qiao, whom she usually respects and adores, is nothing more than something in the palm of my hand.' Huamei saw that the other side had many people and didn't want to suffer a loss, so she said nothing and returned to Jiangxue Residence with a belly full of anger.
Just after Xie Nongyu passed the Wind and Rain Corridor, she saw a rustic, not very pretty girl peering toward the entrance of Ximo Pavilion in front of a rockery. Beside the girl, an ugly old woman was constantly urging her on. The old woman was saying, 'Although this eldest young master Wen has no title to inherit, your grandmother has inquired and learned that this Wen Qiao is very accomplished in his studies. You don't have the fate to be a prince's consort anyway. In the future, becoming the wife of a high official and helping your maternal family will be good enough. Hurry into that courtyard and use some tricks to make Wen Qiao fall in love with you.' The girl cowered, waving her hands in refusal. 'Grandmother, don't push me. Even if I offered to be a concubine, they might not want me. Why bother to embarrass myself?' The old woman growled ferociously, 'All you know is to back down! Did we raise you for nothing? When you see Wen Qiao, grab his hand and put it on your chest. Which young man isn't hot-blooded? Be bolder, and if you can cook the rice, I'll go to his mother and make a scene until she agrees to this marriage. Then you won't have to worry about wealth and honor for the rest of your life.'
Xie Nongyu coughed. Only then did Old Madam Wu and Wu Zhaodi notice someone approaching. Old Madam Wu saw that Xie Nongyu's clothes and ornaments were not ordinary, and she was accompanied by many servants who also wore gold and silver. Certain that she was noble, she quickly called Wu Yaozu out from behind the rockery, where he had been playing with crickets. When Wu Yaozu saw a beauty like Xie Nongyu, he almost drooled. He stepped forward and began to speak flirtatiously. Xie Nongyu gave a signal to her maid. The maid understood and slapped Wu Yaozu twice across the face, then spat on him. 'Despicable creature! How dare you offend Princess Shanyang?' When Old Madam Wu heard that Xie Nongyu was a princess, she was overjoyed, her eyes shining even more. She ran over and pulled Wu Yaozu to bow to Xie Nongyu. 'Your Highness, this old woman's grandson has never seen a fairy like you, so he was a bit too enthusiastic. He's not usually like this; he's a promising good child. May I ask what your birth characters are? My grandson's birth characters are excellent. If we match them with yours, it will surely be a heaven-sent marriage.' Hearing that this old woman even dared to think of matching her with that rat-faced, wretched grandson, Xie Nongyu became furious and ordered the maids and old servants behind her to beat Old Madam Wu and Wu Yaozu to death. The martial maids came forward, pinned down Old Madam Wu and Wu Yaozu, and took out long whips, lashing them vigorously until the two cried out for their parents and their skin was torn and bleeding. Wu Zhaodi came over, knelt, and begged for mercy. Xie Nongyu was even more displeased that she had dared to covet Wen Qiao. She ordered the maid to shave Wu Zhaodi's head and send her to a nunnery to become a nun. As for Wu Yaozu, the martial maids used daggers to cut his tendons. Old Madam Wu screamed that she would report this to the authorities. Xie Nongyu laughed. 'I am not without reason. Your grandson offended a superior and spoke lewdly to me. Even according to the laws of Great Zhao, for insulting an imperial relative, I could take his life. Only making him crippled is my act of kindness, pitying you.' Having said that, Xie Nongyu found Old Madam Wu too noisy, so she ordered someone to force-feed her mute potion, only then feeling satisfied.
Everyone was listening to the opera in front of the stage. Since Jiang Xuesui had arrived, she sat with Wen Yuan'ai on her right and an empty seat on her left, which Wen Yuan'ai had specifically reserved for Wen Qiao. When Wen Qiao arrived and had just taken his seat, Xie Nongyu, who was sitting next to the Grand Princess of Chu, came over and demanded to swap seats with Jiang Xuesui. Jiang Xuesui refused to give up her seat and ignored Xie Nongyu. Xie Nongyu grabbed Jiang Xuesui's collar, ordered her to get out, and was about to slap her face. A crisp 'smack'—the slap landed on Wen Qiao's face, who had stepped in front of Jiang Xuesui to protect her. Seeing a clear red handprint on Wen Qiao's fair cheek, Jiang Xuesui recklessly pushed the shocked Xie Nongyu away. Xie Nongyu fell to the ground, suddenly suffering from abdominal pain. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and she vomited everything she had eaten. The Grand Princess of Chu and others hurried over. The Grand Princess of Chu had seen roughly what happened and knew her daughter was again making a scene. Before she could apologize, Lady Sang slapped Wen Qiao across the face and scolded him, 'Shameless little beast! Girls are playing rough; why are you getting involved? Quickly apologize to Her Highness the Grand Princess and Princess Shanyang.' Lady Zhu and Lady Yu both felt sorry for Wen Qiao, knowing he had been protecting Yuanyuan. They quickly pulled Lady Sang away, who, feeling humiliated in front of everyone and both anxious and angry, wanted to slap Wen Qiao again.