Chapter 18 Min Qiao's Nemesis
Seeing her mistress's expectant look, Granny Guan was both amused and exasperated. She couldn't help but advise, "Madam, you'd better take it easy. Madam Qiao is not someone to be trifled with. If you gloat in front of her, she'll really fly into a rage."
"Her? And she threw a tantrum in public?"
Madam Zheng curled her lip in disdain. "She's just an old fogey. The reputation of the Marquis of Xuanping's mansion and the rules of noble families are more important to her than her own life. She thinks she can argue with me in public? Tch, I bet she'll just glare at me at most."
Granny Guan was amused by her old lady's words, "You know, why do you always provoke people? I think you're just taking advantage of the fact that Madam Qiao is too proud to mess with you."
Madam Zheng curled her lip again, "I just can't stand her pretentious attitude. She's clearly from a merchant family, and was promoted from a concubine to the principal wife, yet she acts like a proper noble lady. And she has the nerve to talk to me arrogantly about 'family scandals shouldn't be aired in public'! Bah! We, the Duke of Jin's mansion, can handle our affairs however we want. Who has the right to speak for us?"
As Madam Zheng spoke, she grew increasingly angry, and by the end, she was almost jumping up and down in a fit of rage.
Granny Guan was also helpless.
Back then, after the old Duke passed away, the Duke's mansion was in a state of chaos for a while.
Because of the fierce fighting between several concubines and Madam Zheng, the principal wife, in earlier years, Madam Zheng's only son was killed.
The old Duke felt guilty, having kept several concubines in check all these years, without having a legitimate son or even granting any of his illegitimate sons the title of heir.
A few years ago, the old Duke suddenly passed away due to a cold, without leaving a single word.
With the old Duke's death, his illegitimate sons began vying for the Duke's title and estate. His concubines, in particular, conspired to kill Madam Zheng.
In this way, when their son becomes the Duke, they can become the matriarchs of the Duke's mansion.
It doesn't matter if the imperial law doesn't recognize it, or if they don't have an imperial title, as long as Madam Zheng dies, they can enjoy the same treatment as a madam in the mansion.
Since her son's death, Madam Zheng had suppressed her inner weakness and had been wary of her concubines and illegitimate children, preventing anyone from succeeding in taking advantage of her.
The next day, she made the matter known to everyone and even threatened to beat the Shenglong drum and sue her illegitimate son for being unfilial.
She then contacted the branch of the old Duke's younger brother and proposed that one of their grandsons be adopted by her son to inherit the Duke's title.
That branch naturally agreed with great joy. Then they helped Madam Zheng contact relatives, suppress the illegitimate sons and daughters and several concubines, and finally, by leveraging the power of the clan, drove all the illegitimate sons out of the Duke's mansion.
However, the story doesn't end there.
After Madam Zheng successfully drove away the illegitimate son, she kept her promise and adopted the grandson from that branch of the family into her son's name. She also readily submitted a memorial requesting that the child be named the heir of the Duke's mansion.
Madam Zheng was cautious and only requested the title of heir apparent, not the full title.
The explanation given to that branch was that the child was only three years old and not yet fully established; many children died young these days. They argued that the child should wait until he was six or seven years old before formally inheriting the title.
If a three-year-old toddler were made a duke, someone with a weak enough life force might not be able to handle it.
Everyone agreed that this made perfect sense.
And so the matter was temporarily settled.
However, in less than two years, before the baby had even become the Duke of Jin, his parents, the nephew and niece-in-law of Madam Zheng, were already interfering in the Duke's affairs, treating the Duke's mansion as if it were their own.
Despite repeated warnings from Madam Zheng, the couple did not restrain themselves and instead advised Madam Zheng not to take themselves too seriously.
They even said that the Duke's mansion would eventually belong to their son anyway. And what belongs to their son is also theirs.
Madam Zheng did not argue. She immediately submitted a memorial to abolish the infant's position as heir and adopted a nephew from the clan who was orphaned, had no relatives, was not well-liked, but was of good character.
The branch of the old Duke's brother then got anxious and the whole family came to make a scene.
Madam Zheng immediately stated that either her nephew should be adopted into her family to inherit the Marquisate, or she would submit a memorial to the Emperor requesting the revocation of the Duke's title, ensuring they wouldn't even have a chance to claim the title.
Seeing that Madam Zheng was adamant, the clan elders were afraid that she would really lose the title of Duke's mansion, so they stepped in to help suppress the branch of the old Duke's brother.
With the help of the clan, the adoption went relatively smoothly. This time, Madam Zheng did not do anything more and directly requested that the child be named the new Duke of Jin.
Fortunately, this time, Madam Zheng's judgment was correct.
Although the young Duke of Jin was not very capable, he was honest and kind, and very filial to Lady Zheng.
Later, Madam Zheng helped him find a virtuous wife, who then gave birth to two intelligent and adorable sons.
Madam Zheng's suffering has finally come to an end.
After these two major incidents, Madam Zheng has become quite famous.
The once unassuming and weak woman, who couldn't even protect her own son, has transformed into a synonym for fierce and shrewish.
People in the upper echelons of Beijing despised her for airing her dirty laundry in order to achieve her goals. Yet, in their hearts, they admired her immensely.
Therefore, Madam Zheng was a remarkable figure in the upper circles of the capital.
Many people talk about her behind her back, but there is only one person who truly has a falling out with her.
That person was Madam Min Qiao, the Dowager Lady of the Xuanping Marquis's Mansion.
Unlike Madam Zheng, who acted recklessly and arbitrarily for her own pleasure, Madam Min Qiao was the complete opposite.
She never showed the slightest excessive emotion in front of outsiders, always maintaining the dignity of a noble family, smiling, calm, humble, and composed, never making the slightest mistake.
At the slightest sign of trouble in the Xuanping Marquis's residence, she would step forward to whitewash the situation. It was as if she couldn't bear to hear even the slightest slander against the Xuanping Marquis's residence.
The two could have lived peacefully together. But when the incident at the Duke of Jin's mansion came to light, Madam Min Qiao personally came to their door and told them, "Family scandals should not be aired in public."
Madam Zheng was furious and from then on she was at odds with Madam Min.
Every time they met at a banquet, Madam Zheng couldn't help but make sarcastic remarks towards Madam Min.
As time went on, everyone in the capital knew that the two were at odds.
But in Granny Guan's view, when everyone was avoiding the Duke of Jin's mansion and Madam Zheng like the plague, Madam Qiao clearly came with good intentions.
Unfortunately, Madam Zheng was too sensitive at the time to appreciate Min Qiao's good intentions. She only remembered Min Qiao's admonition that "family scandals should not be aired in public."
In fact, over the years, Granny Guan had realized that their matriarch had long since come to her senses, but she was too ashamed to reconcile with Madam Qiao.
He spoke ill of Madam Qiao, but in his heart he was worried about her.
Just now, she was so angry that she wanted to jump up and down, but when she turned her face, she couldn't help but ask her, "Tell me, what's going on with Madam Min this time?"
"It's just a broken engagement, why are you making such a big fuss like someone died?"
"How could someone as capable as Madam Min have let things escalate to this point?"
Granny Guan said with a sigh, "Who would know?"
"Don't forget to send someone to the Marquis of Xuanping's residence to ask if the Prince of Chang'an's residence has sent invitations to their entire household," Madam Zheng reminded them again.
She would ask Madam Min herself when the time came to find out what really happened.
Looking at her own awkward old lady, Granny Guan couldn't help but smile. "I'll arrange for someone to go to the Marquis's residence right away."
He clearly cared about the person and wanted to send someone to the Marquis of Xuanping's residence to find out some information, but he insisted on using a lame excuse that sounded like gloating and rubbing salt into the wound.
Tsk tsk, awkward!
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