Chapter 380 Advantage of Identity
The entire Jiang family stood frozen in place, not even bothering to greet Xie Wanniang according to custom, and none of them even moved themselves from their chairs.
Clearly, they don't want to follow the rules or abide by the law.
However, Xie Wanniang was not angry at all at their contempt and offense towards her. On the contrary, she was very happy that they had given her a ready-made handle to use against her.
According to the etiquette and rules of the Great Wei Dynasty, if the Earl, his wife, and their children refuse to bow to the Princess, it is considered a violation of etiquette and the punishment will be determined according to the occasion and attitude.
In short, if a prince were to be disrespectful for the first time at a regular ceremonial occasion such as a court assembly or a banquet, he would be impeached by the official in charge of etiquette. If the offense was not serious, he would generally be fined half a month's salary or ordered to reflect on his mistakes in seclusion. If he still refused to perform the proper etiquette after being reminded, he would be fined three to six months' salary and would also be reprimanded by the emperor.
As a lady of the house, the Ministry of Rites would issue an edict reprimanding her and record it, affecting her eligibility to participate in important occasions such as palace banquets and investiture ceremonies.
Their sons without official positions would be personally admonished by officials from the Imperial Clan Court or the Ministry of Rites, who would then order them to perform the necessary rituals for the princess.
If someone insists on not changing their ways even after reaching this point, they will be judged as "disobeying etiquette and violating regulations," and the punishment will be escalated once again.
Taking Jiang Tong as an example, he would be demoted, stripped of his salary, or stripped of his honorary rank, while his wife would be stripped of her title of "Empress Dowager" and reduced to the attire of a commoner.
His sons were not spared either. They would be sent to the Imperial Academy or the Imperial College to study etiquette for six months, during which time they would be prohibited from participating in clan or court-related activities. If they were the eldest sons, their eligibility to inherit the title would be temporarily revoked.
This is only in ordinary occasions; if one defies the rules on important occasions, it will be considered a crime of "great disrespect".
In the Great Wei Dynasty, "great disrespect" was one of the ten heinous crimes. Although it would not lead to the confiscation of property and extermination of the clan like rebellion, at the very least, the person would be stripped of their title, demoted to a commoner, escorted back to their hometown, and forbidden from entering the capital.
If the circumstances are serious, they may even be sent to the border to serve in the army.
Jiang Tong was one of the founding heroes. Although his achievements were limited and he was not a trusted minister of the retired emperor, and was not even well received by the emperor and his son, the emperor should not exile his family to the army in consideration of his past merits. However, it was inevitable that he would be demoted or stripped of his title.
In particular, their family committed this impolite behavior within the princess's residence.
In that era, the princess's residence represented the outward extension of the imperial majesty.
Based on this, anyone who overstepped the bounds and acted improperly in the princess's residence would generally be considered to have "disrespected the imperial family." This crime could be serious or minor, and the punishment depended entirely on the emperor's personal will.
Jiang Tong and the others were unwilling to perform the proper etiquette, but Xie Wanniang was not angry at all.
She instructed Cunyu, "Go and summon all my officials."
Princess residences typically have subordinate officials such as the Household Steward and the Director, who are responsible for overseeing etiquette within the residence.
Before today, Xie Wanniang was not very willing to support "idle people" including these subordinates, but now it seems that their existence is not entirely useless.
She still had the leisure to think about all sorts of things, while Jiang Tong and the others had completely changed their expressions.
They actually know very well what they should do and what the consequences of not doing it will be. The reason they are so stubborn is ultimately because they are unwilling to give up.
They were unwilling to go from being the ones looking down to the ones looking up, and even more unwilling to see those who were once in a much worse situation than themselves now become people they could never reach.
The awkwardness in their hearts prevented them from acting according to the rules. Only when Xie Wanniang started to take things seriously would they be forced to give in again due to the circumstances.
Jiang Tong was the first to stand up, and he also helped Han Shi, who looked incredulous.
This was the first time Han had been humiliated by Xie Wanniang. Although she had regretted Jiang Yuan and Xie Wanniang's rise to prominence before, as a woman in the inner quarters, she was perfectly capable of burying her head in the sand.
She didn't care whether Jiang Tong could hold real power, nor did she care whether the Earl's Mansion could advance further; she only wanted to hold onto everything the Earl's Mansion already possessed.
To achieve this, she doesn't need to seek it from the outside.
That's why she kept burying her head in the sand, pretending that she didn't have a son like Jiang Yuan.
While it was ostensibly because Jiang Tong had given the order, she herself had secretly longed to come.
Unlike Jiang Tong, she did not want Jiang Yuan to acknowledge his ancestors and move back to the Earl's Mansion.
Although her second son was useless and had not yet gained Jiang Tong's approval to become the heir of the Earl's Mansion, Madam Han always felt that the only person she could rely on in the future was her second son, whom she had raised herself.
As for Jiang Yuan, a child who was forced to leave them shortly after birth, wandered in the countryside, suffered greatly, and was even refused to be recognized by them after growing up, Han Shi did not think that he would be close to her or truly filial to her.
With this thought in mind, Han prayed day after day for years that Jiang Yuan and Xie Wanniang would stand firm to the end and not let Jiang Tong get his way.
This is why Xie Wanniang never tried to mend her mother-son relationship with Jiang Yuan before she became a princess.
However, after Xie Wanniang obtained the status of a princess, Han's thoughts suddenly changed 180 degrees.
After Xie Wanniang obtained the status of a princess, she and Jiang Yuan had to move to the princess's residence.
Therefore, even if Jiang Yuan acknowledges that he is Jiang Tong's son, it is impossible for him to move back to the Earl's Mansion.
Furthermore, Jiang Yuan had also been promoted. With his current power and status, as well as the wealth of his family, Madam Han was finally willing to believe that he genuinely looked down on the now-empty Earl's Mansion, rather than putting on an act.
She figured that since Jiang Yuan really didn't intend to compete with her second son for the position of heir, then she naturally didn't need to help her second son keep a close watch on Jiang Yuan anymore.
She even felt that she could turn the tables and use her mother-son relationship with Jiang Yuan to give her second son a strong bargaining chip in the struggle for the position of heir.
That's what she thought, but she didn't want to change her attitude immediately.
It's impossible that one day she was firmly against Jiang Tong recognizing Jiang Yuan, and the next day she suddenly became eager to recognize Jiang Yuan.
While it's true that all her thoughts and ideas are driven by self-interest, aren't all aristocratic families like that? They may prioritize self-interest in private, but in public, they still need to maintain a facade to justify their actions, lest people gossip behind their backs and call them greedy opportunists.
Especially since Han needed to depend on Jiang Tong for her livelihood and please him in order to gain more benefits for herself and her second son, she couldn't let Jiang Tong think she was only after profit.
After all, even though Jiang Tong himself was a profit-driven person, he still didn't like having people around him who believed in prioritizing profit above all else.
Or to put it more precisely, the more someone prioritizes self-interest, the more they want to be surrounded by naive and innocent people who treat money like dirt and power like air.
Just as Han was struggling with how to reasonably change her attitude, Jiang Tong greeted her and insisted that she come to the princess's residence with him.
Now that's settled, Han doesn't need to hesitate anymore; she can just come along, half-heartedly.
None of them thought to send an invitation or give prior notice to the princess's residence; the whole family just came to their door without warning.
This behavior is certainly very impolite, and it's only natural to be turned away.
If Xie Wanniang hadn't been curious about what kind of trouble they were up to, they would never have been able to enter the princess's residence.
However, this family clearly did not realize this. They were not even willing to politely send out invitations and wait for a reply, let alone pay their respects to Princess Xie Wanniang according to the rules.
In this era, state gifts take precedence over family gifts, and with very few exceptions, no princess would willingly position herself as a submissive wife.
As for Xie Wanniang, although she was a princess who came to the palace later in life, her every move still represented the face of the royal family.
Even if Jiang Yuan didn't consider himself a member of the Jiang family at all, even if he had now acknowledged his ancestors and returned to the clan, Jiang Tong and Madam Han would still have to pay their respects to Xie Wan Niang.
Needless to say, their younger relatives all had to respectfully greet her.
But the current situation is that the whole family is sitting quietly, and no one is showing any intention of bowing to Xie Wanniang.
If Xie Wanniang doesn't teach them a lesson for taking advantage of her kindness, then she wouldn't be Xie Wanniang.
Jiang Tong was clearly not stupid; as soon as he saw that Xie Wanniang was going to get serious, he immediately became pragmatic.
On the contrary, the other members of the Jiang family, including the Han family, all looked as if they had swallowed five hundred flies.
If it weren't for Jiang Tong, the head of the family who held their fate in his hands, staring at them menacingly with his eyes, suppressing and warning them, they would probably still be sitting there with their necks stiff.
In order not to anger Jiang Tong, all the other members of the Jiang family, including Han Shi, reluctantly followed Jiang Tong and bowed to Xie Wanniang.
Jiang Tong even suppressed his anger and apologized to Xie Wanniang with a forced smile for his family's rude behavior.
"Please forgive us, Your Highness. It is my family and I who have not yet gotten used to your change in status, and we have been somewhat impolite."
Xie Wanniang first accepted their greeting with great respect, then smoothly skipped over Jiang Tong's nonsense and asked them, "May I ask what brings Lord Jiang and his family to our door so abruptly?"
She deliberately emphasized the words "rashly," clearly expressing her displeasure at their unannounced visit.
After being forced to perform the ceremony, the Jiang family dared not treat Xie Wanniang with such disrespect again.
Jiang Tong forced a smile that was three parts kindness, three parts affection, and four parts guilt. "To be honest, Your Highness, my family and I have come to apologize."
What he actually wanted to say was that his family had come to reunite with their relatives, but after what had just happened, he inexplicably became hesitant to directly state his purpose.
Xie Wanniang said "Oh?", "I wonder what you've come to apologize for?"
Jiang Tong choked.
He can't possibly list all the bizarre things he's ever done, can he?
But Xie Wanniang got angrier and angrier as she listened, and in the end she kicked them out.
How could he then say the rest of the things he was going to say?
Just as he was struggling with his decision, Xie Wanniang said again, "That's enough, you don't need to say anything more."
Jiang Tong was overjoyed, thinking that Xie Wanniang was finally willing to take pity on him and let him go. However, Xie Wanniang's next words were, "Anyway, no matter how eloquently you speak, A Yuan and I will never have anything to do with your Jiang family."
Jiang Tong: ...
Other members of the Chiang family: ...
The reception hall was deathly silent. Xie Wanniang was waiting for them to leave, while the Jiang family was completely at a loss.
It's not surprising that Xie Wanniang could guess their purpose, but they never dreamed that Xie Wanniang would speak so bluntly, decisively, and without any mercy.
In that instant, Jiang Tong realized with a start that Xie Wanniang herself was far more difficult to deal with than her subordinates who had previously dealt with the Jiang family.
The Jiang family stood there dumbfounded, but Xie Wanniang had already lost interest in dealing with them any longer.
She had thought these people had changed their ways and their ways, but she never imagined that their so-called changes were so insignificant and superficial.
She stood up, walked towards the door without looking back, and as she passed the servants guarding the door, she said indifferently, "See the guest out."
"Yes!" the servants responded loudly, turned and walked into the flower hall, outwardly polite but inwardly firm, signaling the Jiang family to leave as soon as possible.
Jiang Tong tried to call out to Xie Wanniang, but Xie Wanniang didn't turn her head and ignored him completely.
Han felt that her dignity as Xie Wanniang's mother-in-law had been offended, and subconsciously wanted to raise her voice and scold her, but she couldn't organize her thoughts as fast as Xie Wanniang could walk.
By the time she finally figured out what words to use to scold Xie Wanniang, Xie Wanniang had already disappeared from sight.
The Jiang family was thus slinked out of the princess's residence. Even before the gates of the princess's residence closed, they learned another piece of bad news from the gatekeeper.
It turned out that Xie Wanniang not only sent people to drive them away, but also sent a message to the doorman saying that they no longer needed to accept invitations from their family, nor did they need to inform him that anyone from their family was coming to see them.
To put it simply, the Chiang family has been blacklisted by her as people she refuses to associate with.
Apart from Jiang Tong, the other members of the Jiang family could no longer hold back. Even before they arrived at the princess's residence, they had already begun cursing Xie Wanniang.
The gatekeeper of the princess's residence, with his sharp ears, overheard the Jiang family cursing their princess and immediately retorted with equally sharp words.
The Jiang family members were both ashamed and angry, and in a moment of impulse, they wanted to curse back.
Fortunately, Jiang Tong was quick-witted. He immediately glared at everyone and shouted, "Shut up, all of you!"
He mounted his horse first, and without turning his head, Jiang Tong ordered his attendants and rear guards, "Return to the manor!"
Seeing this, the other members of the Chiang family hurriedly mounted their horses or got into their carriages.
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