Chapter 16: The Fierce Miss Tang

The head of the Wang family, Wang Kangbo, was 50 years old and served as Minister of Rites. Since entering officialdom his career had been smooth, for his personal talent was secondary to his tact. He was exceedingly shrewd, adept at social maneuvering, offended no one, and had once performed great service. He had saved Consort Xin’s life before, earning considerable face at court. When his family hosted banquets, many people were willing to attend, whether to socialize or cultivate connections, and occasionally members of the royal clan would drop by, showing him much respect.

In such settings, anyone with a bit of sense would not cause a scene. If someone wanted to make trouble, they had to make sure it was for truly legitimate reasons and wouldn’t bring real trouble on the Wang family. Of course, the Wang family wasn’t afraid of trouble either. Thanks to the fact that they had saved Consort Xin once, even if something happened to them it wouldn’t be seriously damaging.

Tang Wanning and Madam Zhou disembarked from the carriage and were escorted inward, but she immediately felt the atmosphere was off. Many people were whispering and pointing… clearly directed at her!

The normally sharp-witted Madam Zhou seemed suddenly blind and deaf, utterly oblivious. She kept a calm expression and a smile on her lips, and gently reminded her, “When you’re a guest, don’t look around too much, it’s not becoming.”

Tang Wanning composed herself and replied, “Aunt, don’t worry. Your niece certainly won’t be disgraceful.”

It was all just the usual orchestrated gossip. Weren’t the rumors spread earlier precisely to have this effect today? She truly wasn’t afraid in the slightest.

Usually people who whisper about others avoid saying it to the person’s face, but today some were not so fastidious. They deliberately raised their voices as Tang Wanning passed by.

“Some people really have no manners, bringing shame to a woman living in the capital city. She was clearly taken by bandits and had her reputation stained, shouldn’t she at least have the decency to hide quietly? How dare she come to an event like this?”

“Doesn’t she ever look in a copper mirror and see how shameless she looks!”

“How disgusting. Never mind the family of a good man, if it were me, I wouldn’t accept her either…”

In two or three sentences, malice was overflowing.

Madam Zhou pretended not to hear those words. Smiling, she pointed to a direction and patted Tang Wanning’s hand. “This area is where the young ladies gather. Go find your girlfriends to amuse yourself. Aunt must go over there.”

At such banquets different people kept different circles: ladies had their social rounds, young misses had their own topics, so they weren’t often in the same group. Most elders would introduce their daughters into the ladies’ circle for a few words, but Madam Zhou had no intention of doing that. After speaking she left quite at ease.

Tang Wanning was perfectly clear inside: this matter was led by Madam Zhou. If she didn’t leave, was she supposed to stay and, due to her elder status, clean up the mess for her niece? The only thing Tang Wanning couldn’t quite figure out was whether Madam Zhou’s actions were meant to make her unmarriageable, or simply to ensure she wouldn’t marry into a good family.

She scanned the scene and sighed. Friends? Over so many years, how could the original owner of this body have any close friends? On any occasion, at any time, she had to consider Tang Wanlan and look after Tang Wanlan, so the friends she supposedly made were, naturally, chosen to suit Tang Wanlan. Since they were friends made for Tang Wanlan’s sake, these girls were basically Tang Wanlan’s friends. They had no relationship with the original owner of this body at all.

Here, Tang Wanning had no one to speak to. But that was fine. Being lonely and transparent meant no one would notice that her core had been replaced.

Perhaps because her expression was too calm and unconcerned, those whispering grew angrier, their voices louder and more cutting, some even staring straight at her. “Truly shameless! Making the family lose face, forcing a sister to make sacrifices to fix it, and you feel no shame. You’re from a good household, how could you be so shameless?”

When Tang Wanning looked back, that girl brazenly glared at her. “What are you looking at? Since some things have been done, don’t blame others for talking about it!”

Tang Wanning searched the original girl’s memories and found this person was named Li Ninghe, fourteen years old, from a good family and pampered at home. They hadn’t spoken much before because Miss Li had a bad temper. The girl was spoiled and wilful, always snapping at people. Tang Wanlan never wanted to be friends with her, whenever they met, she would redirect Li Ninghe’s attention toward the original girl. The original girl was timid and shrinking, so the more she spoke the more she erred. As a result, Li Ninghe naturally disliked her and bullied her each time. This time was no different.

But Tang Wanning was not the original girl who would dodge, retreat, and cry.

Seeing that everywhere had fallen silent and almost all eyes turned to her, Tang Wanning simply stepped forward. “No need to hedge your words,” she asked openly, “If I’m not mistaken, Miss Li, you were talking about me, right?”

Li Ninghe hesitated for a moment. She couldn’t understand why Tang Wanning wasn’t scared, why she hadn’t run away in tears, why she had the nerve to come forward and answer back. But everyone clearly knew about this matter! She quickly regained composure. “Yes, I meant you. So what? You dared to do such a thing, but you’re afraid of what people are saying?”

Tang Wanning smiled. “If I’ve done it, I won’t deny it. However, I have no recollection of what Miss Li just claimed. That gives rise to a few questions I’d like to ask, though I’m not sure whether you dare to answer.”

Li Ninghe sneered. “Ridiculous. What would I be afraid to answer? Ask away!” She intended to expose Tang Wanning’s fabricated lies in public and disgrace her.

“Miss Li is straightforward,” Tang Wanning clapped. “You say I was captured by bandits. When and where, for what reason, who was present at the time; did you see it with your own eyes?”

Li Ninghe said proudly, “I didn’t see it myself, but everyone says so. Surely someone must have seen it with their own eyes!”

Tang Wanning uttered an ‘oh’, followed by, “So there’s no evidence, it’s pure conjecture.”

Li Ninghe glanced around… everyone quietly took a step back. No one was willing to come forward as a witness!

She clenched her teeth in anger. “Stop quibbling! We have no connection with bandits! Where would we even find evidence in such a short time!”

“So are Magistrate Fang Jiwu and his men bandits?” Tang Wanning dropped her smile. The corner of her brow rose and a sharpness hid in her eyes. “There are people in this world who take on duties and work diligently, staying up late into the night, enduring much hardship. If you don’t understand or appreciate that, fine. But to call him a bandit, Miss Li, where is your conscience? Even without conscience, you should know to feel reverence…”

Tang Wanning’s eyes narrowed into a faint smile. “I recall your father last winter oversaw relief distribution, and at the same time enemy raiders harassed the border, the army’s grain shortages were unusually severe… Miss Li, you question the Magistrate like this perhaps because you’re guilty? Is it because you have a feud with him and you’re afraid he’d make trouble for you, so you hope to find a reason to charge him with a crime first?”

Li Ninghe panicked all at once. “Y-you shouldn’t say such things! I didn’t mean that!”

Though spoiled and arrogant, she wasn’t stupid. Trivial matters like young women squabbling might be tolerated and the family could cover for them, but when it came to matters involving the court and her father’s office, she couldn’t act recklessly.

Seeing her adversary lose spirit like a beaten hen and only stammering, Tang Wanning’s mouth lifted high at the corners.

It was only a war of words, what’s there to fear? She hadn’t merely eaten and drank these past days. She had instructed Xiaoman to gather a lot of information. Everyone has weaknesses and fears, so if used properly one can achieve a great victory. She was carefree and unbound, unlike these girls, so she could act boldly.

A girl standing behind Li Ninghe couldn’t bear to see her friend mistreated and boldly chimed in, “Well, even if it’s not rude, when someone is trying to carry out their duties, shouldn’t a young lady avoid casually staying at someone’s house in the middle of the night?”

Tang Wanning was just wondering if anyone else would willingly offer themselves up as a target when this girl appeared. “Oh, I was indeed staying elsewhere that night. The officers were hunting for thieves and it was inconvenient for me to be around. I sympathized with their hardship and voluntarily gave up my place for them to search. They, pitying a young lady like me, arranged a nearby vacant house for me to stay in. Was that also wrong? By your logic, should I have stood aside and made a public show of waiting, or should I have outright refused and obstructed official business?”

The girl couldn’t answer for a moment, and needn’t, really. Tang Wanning smiled again. “What a memory lapse of mine. How could I forget that your family seems particularly fond of making a scene and disrupting others? Didn’t your sister-in-law recently grab a courtesan in the street and beat her, calling her a slut? Your household rules are peculiar. Your family may do whatever they like, but others must not, even though you’re all equally shameless and disregard manners.”

Who was the shameless one here? The double standard was enormous.

The girl burst into tears and ran off, abandoning even Li Ninghe, her so called friend.

Someone in the crowd couldn’t stand it and tried to reason, “None of us here has really done anything to you, do you really have to bully others to this extent? You sound convincing, but who knows if it’s true or not? There were others with estates nearby and they all said they didn’t see anyone in uniform!”

Tang Wanning thought to herself that luckily she had foresight and knew ancient times were unkind to women, so she had been cautious. “Then I must ask this young lady a question: since your family has an estate nearby and you claim the officers weren’t in uniform that night, how could you not know that I announced my name, that Magistrate Fang showed his badge, and that the whole process was witnessed by those present? Are the servants on your estate all blind?”

“Oh, excuse me, I seem to have forgotten again,” Tang Wanning apologized sincerely. “Your father has been deceiving his superiors and falsifying his achievements, it was discovered and he has been running around making connections. If the family head is like that, so the servants will be no better. I see how it is now. One learns from…family.”

“You—” the girl was on the verge of tears.

Tang Wanning’s gaze sharpened. “What, shall we call Magistrate Fang over now and ask him a few questions?”

Still, someone refused to yield and shouted from the crowd, “Then tell us, where did you stay that night! Who owned that estate and what did you do with the people there!”

Tang Wanning locked her gaze on the woman precisely. “Why should I tell you where or whose place that is? Or you could ask Magistrate Fang how he handled it. But…are you qualified to? Your youngest uncle seems to have recently been imprisoned for a crime and your family has been cooking up deficits everywhere. Isn’t your attendance at today’s banquet for that reason? I rather doubt that Miss Yu’s behaving like this can really win anyone over.”

This Miss Yu also ran off in tears.

In a short time the momentum had shifted. The undercurrent among the young ladies turned and the scene became a battlefield of tongues. Tang Wanning stood in the sunlight, graceful in posture, unmatched in presence!

The place fell utterly silent and the young ladies stared in disbelief. This orphan could fight like this? What was going on now? Was it them coming together to bully her, or were they really just rushing forward to get bullied?