Chapter 195: Warding Off Disaster for Cheng Zhao

The Mid-Autumn Festival night banquet concluded without a hitch.

In keeping with tradition, the children would normally head out after the family dinner to admire lanterns, stroll around, and keep the streets as lively all night as they did during the Lantern Festival.

This year, however, no one in the Zhou family was in the mood.

After the Emperor and the Crown Prince departed from the Zhou residence, rumors began to quietly sprout.

Nanny Fan reported to Second Madam, "The Secondary Wife got beaten, and it was a caning."

Second Madam was taken aback: "Who gave the order?"

"The old dowager's maids did it," Nanny Fan said. "It's not just about who gave the order. Think about it: which family canes their female dependents?"

Caning was reserved for servants or unruly young masters of the household.

There were plenty of other ways to punish a woman: confinement to quarters, forced kneeling, or even being sent off to a country estate, cut off from everything—effectively imprisonment.

Cheng Zhao and Zhou Yuanshen had gone to the main gate to see off the Emperor and hadn't returned yet.

Second Madam waited at the crossroads.

Soon, the two of them came over.

"...She offended His Majesty," Cheng Zhao told her mother-in-law. "She had no sense of rank. In His Majesty's fury, it could have implicated the entire Duke's mansion. Grandmother had her beaten—a 'self-imposed penalty'—to appease His Majesty's anger."

"Is Mu Jiang out of her mind? I said all along she'd cause disaster one day, and then it would be impossible to clean up," Second Madam fumed.

Cheng Zhao stood in the shadows, keeping quiet.

The sky was clear tonight, with fireworks going off from time to time, yet a dark shadow hung over the Duke's mansion. Cheng Zhao could feel it.

It was like water flowing: it was most dangerous at the narrowest point, but once it broke through, the road ahead opened wide.

The discord within the Zhou family had already grown severe, and a major shift was sure to follow.

What exactly would happen before things settled, however, was anyone's guess. But the storm was already brewing, and it could not be stopped.

Cheng Zhao felt a flicker of excitement. She was thoroughly weary of this lukewarm existence, slowly grinding on. Her situation needed a big leap forward, and she wanted to stir the waters while they were troubled.

But shadows would carry the stench of blood, and people would suffer for it. Her anticipation of upheaval made her feel rather uncharitable.

If her mother-in-law knew she was itching to stoke the fire, the dowager would likely think her terrifying and be disappointed in her.

Cheng Zhao cast a surreptitious glance at her kind-hearted mother-in-law and reined in her emotions.

"Mother, she was raised by Grandmother. Grandmother will handle the rest," Zhou Yuanshen said flatly.

Second Madam remained vexed.

By the next morning, the matter had spread throughout the Duke's mansion. Everyone knew the Secondary Wife had been caned.

"Should we change how we address her?" some quick-witted servants ventured.

Were they still to call Mu Jiang the Secondary Wife?

Or should they now call her Concubine Mu?

After all, she was only a concubine.

"The Dowager Madame is still in a temper. Now is not the time to poke the hornet's nest. And who would you be trying to please by changing her title? The Third Young Madam couldn't care less about these things."

The Dowager Madame wouldn't want to slap her own face either.

So the servants saw no benefit in deriding Mu Jiang by changing her title.

In the course of this talk, the conversation turned to Cheng Zhao.

The Mid-Autumn Festival banquet had gone off without a single flaw. It proved that Cheng Zhao's way of managing the household was more effective.

The stewards who had been given time off—perhaps they had never once in their lives experienced a holiday when they didn't have to work—and had gained plenty of face to boot. How could they not feel grateful to Cheng Zhao?

On the sixteenth of the eighth month, gossip circulated around the Duke's mansion.

On the seventeenth, the Eldest Young Madame, Huan Qingtang, felt unwell and rested for a day. While she was away, the Chenming Hall carried on its duties as usual—indeed, with greater efficiency than when she was there.

By the eighteenth, Huan Qingtang returned to Chenming Hall, her expression none too pleased.

But it was something else that happened inside the Duke's mansion that day.

It counted as a minor matter.

Yet a minor matter could still shock and unsettle people.

"Nanny Qin, who manages the main kitchen, has been dismissed by the Dowager Madame. She's the younger sister of the head steward's wife. Her sister and brother-in-law are both confidants of the Dowager Madame, and she herself had always been highly favored."

It was Nanny Fan who again brought this to Second Madam's attention.

Second Madam of course knew Nanny Qin, who ran the main kitchen.

In the Duke's mansion, well-established senior stewards with strong backing often had more authority than a mistress like Second Madam herself. And Nanny Qin was known for her sharp capability.

"She was a formidable one—hard to deal with. Why would she be dismissed?" Second Madam asked.

The stone cast into the water on Mid-Autumn Festival night sent ripples that had yet to subside.

Second Madam sent word to the Nonghua Courtyard, telling Cheng Zhao to come for supper at Jiangyun Court once she was done with Chenming Hall.

Cheng Zhao didn't come, but Second Master returned from court.

Second Madam relayed the matter of Nanny Qin to him.

Second Master said, "They're all household slaves born into the dowager's dowry household—the Sun family. Their roots run deep and tangled through the mansion. But if she's being dismissed, then she must have committed a grave offense."

She brought up the Sun family and asked him, "Whatever came of that case where the man was beaten to death in the water channel? Has it been settled?"

"Not settled. The Emperor won't discuss it, so it sits in abeyance," Second Master said.

Second Madam: "So Princess Qing'an's husband just stays locked up like that?"

"Mm."

Second Madam was mildly surprised.

Second Master's tone was indifferent, as if making small talk: "That's how the court grinds people down. No conviction, no trial—just keep you locked up for a year or two."

Second Madam: "..."

The old couple talked on like this until Zhou Yuanqi came home from his lessons.

Cheng Zhao hadn't come, but Zhou Yuanqi knew exactly why Nanny Qin had been dismissed.

"...On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, Third Sister-in-Law told me to run into Nanny Qin, find some excuse to accuse her of shoving me, and have her tied up," Zhou Yuanqi said.

Second Madam and Second Master snapped their heads toward their son.

They knew nothing of this, and both looked stunned.

"Why tie her up?" Second Madam asked.

"We didn't hear any such rumor," said Second Master. "You two were too reckless."

"Father, Mother, it wasn't reckless at all. While she was locked away, her underlings kept searching for her, trying to swap the vegetarian broth made from mushrooms for the real chicken broth," Zhou Yuanqi said.

Second Madam: "..."

Second Master: "...Sabotaging the vegetarian fast—what a bold, audacious wretch!"

"But Nanfeng, that mischievous page boy of mine, took the chance to interrogate Nanny Qin. He wanted to bluff some useful information out of her, so that when Third Brother came to ask, he'd have a bit of credit to show off. Father, don't you think Nanfeng is a sharp, scheming little fellow? At his age, he thinks three steps ahead—plans before he even moves." Zhou Yuanqi laughed in spite of himself.

Second Master: "..."

A nine-year-old boy, calling a thirteen-year-old page "at his age," with the air of an old man.

Second Master doubted Zhou Yuanqi would ever find a wife—no mother-in-law or bride would take to such a "little old man."

"You tied up Nanny Qin for no reason, and you interrogated her?" Second Madam asked.

Zhou Yuanqi: "Yes."

Second Madam: "Don't ever go into officialdom when you grow up. With such an addled mind, you'd only bring ruin to the court and to the people."

Zhou Yuanqi frowned, displeased: "But we found out for sure—she really did intend to pour real chicken broth over the vegetarian meal. Later, when her people couldn't find her, they didn't dare act on their own, and when they heard the Emperor had arrived, they gave up the scheme."

Second Madam: "..."

Second Master said, "Well, it worked out in the end. It's lucky you had her tied up—you saved us from a scandal."

"And it saved Third Sister-in-Law from disaster too. If something had gone wrong on Mid-Autumn Festival night, the elder branch and Grandmother would surely have found a way to blame her," Zhou Yuanqi said.

Second Master nodded with satisfaction.