Chapter 44: There Is No Need to Celebrate

At this moment, the main entrance of the Tantai Residence was in an uproar, with a brawny and powerful fellow making a scene just like a village shrew.

"My mother is dead! If the arrogant and despotic servants from your prefect's residence hadn't bullied others, my mother wouldn't have fallen at the market and ended up dead! You heartless wretches, return my mother's life to me!" The man made a move as if to charge forward, but was blocked outside by Steward Hu and several manservants.

"Stop making a scene! What kind of place do you think this is, and how dare you run wild here?" Steward Hu stood in the inner circle, glaring at the burly man.

This robust fellow was clearly here to cause trouble. Where on earth was there any logic in a man dragging his dead mother's corpse to create a scene right at the prefect's doorstep? And for a rustic country bumpkin to argue with such articulate reasoning—Steward Hu simply refused to believe that there was no one backing him up from behind.

Yet in the entire territory of Zecheng, there were truly very few families daring enough to raise a ruckus before the prefect's gate!

The burly man seemed to be waiting precisely for Steward Hu's words. He pointed at the surrounding crowd and shouted, "Elderly folks and neighbors, take a look! My mother is already dead from illness, and yet they are bold enough to act like this! My mother died, and I have come to demand justice. What is wrong with that?"

Steward Hu felt sweat beading all over his forehead. If this person had no background, Steward Hu wouldn't have worried at all and would have simply had him beaten away with a few cudgels. But right now, he could not guess what kind of backing this burly man possessed.

Although his master's recent undertakings had been extremely covert, he was, after all, the steward of the outer courtyard; many matters could naturally not be kept from him. Steward Hu knew in his heart that his master had managed to attach himself to some noble personage. In case this burly man was making this chaotic scene at the gates precisely because of the master's clinging to nobility, then the person behind the scenes was someone he could ill afford to provoke.

Steward Hu wiped the sweat from his sleeve and said, "You are remarkably impolite. As I made clear just now, I invited you to sit in the porter's lodge so we could discuss the matter thoroughly, but you refused, and instead accused us of not letting you seek justice?"

"Hmph!" The burly man glanced backward and, seeing the gathering crowd of commoners growing increasingly dense, raised his voice even louder, "Who knows what you would do to me once you dragged me into the porter's lodge? My mother was bullied to death by you lot, and I have to be on my guard against you. Fellow villagers, isn't that the truth?"

"If you have anything to say, say it right here! If you don't give me an explanation today, I... I will go to the imperial capital to lodge a grievance before the emperor!" The burly man seemed unfamiliar with lodging imperial grievances, stumbling somewhat over his words. The commoners failed to notice, but Steward Hu heard it clearly, his brows furrowing even more tightly.

Tantai Shanchang was finally escorted over by a young page. He already roughly understood what had happened—it was nothing more than someone from the estate causing a fatal collision, and now the aggrieved party had come to exact revenge.

Whenever Tantai Shanchang thought about how these domestic affairs of the inner quarters could affect his official career, a surge of rage rose within him. He wished he were a solitary man without so many entanglements, as that way he would naturally be free of burdens and heavy drags.

Tantai Shanchang stepped forward personally, and the area outside the prefect's gate instantly quieted down. After all, nobody wanted to offend the prefect lord, right? Yet they could not suppress their curiosity, for it was truly rare to encounter someone so audacious.

Wishing to sever a tangled hemp with a sharp knife, Tantai Shanchang saw that the crowd outside had been intimidated by his official majesty, and so he spoke with a cold face: "Name the person from the estate who ran into your mother, and this prefect will punish her immediately. Furthermore, I will grant you ten taels of silver for your mother's burial expenses. Since this incident arose from my official residence, I shall give you satisfaction!"

The burly man's eyes darted around as if pondering something. He licked his dry lips and said, "Lord Prefect is an upright and benevolent official, graciously willing to make decisions for this humble commoner. This humble commoner is... overwhelmingly grateful. But this humble commoner cannot be so unappreciative either. The procurement affairs of the prefect's inner quarters are not things that your lordship personally manages; this humble commoner dares not pin the blame on your lordship. It must surely be the fault of the woman managing affairs in the estate, and Lord Prefect need only punish that woman!"

Although the burly man kept repeating the word "woman," Steward Hu finally understood that this matter was not aimed at the master at all. In fact, the person behind the scenes dared not offend the master, but was instead targeting the inner quarters—or more precisely, aimed squarely at the Third Young Miss.

Steward Hu stood quietly with his eyes lowered to his nose and his nose to his heart, feeling much less fear toward the burly man now. The backing behind this fellow most likely led straight back to the Ye Residence!

Tantai Shanchang furrowed his brows slightly. The inner quarters were currently managed by the Third Lass; after all, she was still young and lacked the commanding presence to keep people in check, yet such an incident had broken out, making it known to all of Zecheng. It seemed that having the Third Lass manage the household affairs was perhaps quite inappropriate.

Tantai Shanchang sighed. Remembering the gentle and submissive attentions of Madame Ye over the past few days, could it be that he needed to hand the household management authority back to Madame Ye? No matter what, Madame Ye still possessed the weight to suppress the household.

Just as Tantai Shanchang was hesitating, Tantai Jing walked out, accompanied by Mammy Li. Tantai Jing was currently carrying a head of anger. She had not expected that Madame Ye would go to such reckless lengths merely to suppress her, even sacrificing the reputation of the entire Tantai Residence in the process.

Mammy Li, following right behind Tantai Jing, was burning with even greater fury, wishing she could pounce forward and rake a few bloody scratches across the burly man's face.

Tantai Jing bowed to Tantai Shanchang, and Mammy Li curtsied as well. Then, pointing at the burly man, she said, "Master, this scoundrel is slandering people! It was not this slave who ran into his aged mother; rather, his aged mother threw herself right against us. This slave failed to dodge in time, yet this scoundrel and his mother grabbed hold of our estate's ox cart and refused to let go, stubbornly demanding silver compensation from this slave. This man is clearly here to extort us on purpose!"

Tantai Jing had pondered within the residence for a long while, thinking it over from every angle, and concluded that under no circumstances could she unjustly shoulder this accusation, nor could she allow Madame Ye to regain control of the household finances. Therefore, she had resolutely brought Mammy Li out.

It was not that she hadn't considered the consequences of this action. Madame Ye was probably just hoping for her to step forward like this, so as to let the commoners of Zecheng all know that the person currently managing the household finances was merely a twelve-year-old Third Young Miss—too young to control the servants yet insisting on ruling the inner quarters. With such a reputation spreading abroad, she, Tantai Jing, truly would not need to marry. Not a single mother-in-law in Zecheng would want to take in a daughter-in-law so eager to seize power. If she possessed genuine brilliance, that might be one thing, but to grasp at a task beyond her capabilities without true talent—was that not simply being a shrewish woman?

Yet if Tantai Jing were to hide away in the residence and passively accept this charge, the household management would undoubtedly be handed back to Madame Ye, and how could she ever be reconciled to that?

Since Madame Ye wanted to fight, she would stay and accompany her to the end. If Madame Ye did not wish for her to marry into a good family, then very well—Fifth Young Miss Tantai Xuan and Sixth Young Miss Tantai芷 need not marry into good families either! If Madame Ye would not let her live a good life, then everyone could simply simmer together in this hell!

She, Tantai Jing, was not afraid at all. Could things possibly be any worse than her previous life? If her reputation was ruined, then let it be ruined! She would drag Tantai Xuan and Tantai芷 down with her. If she did not marry, nobody else would ever dream of marrying either!