Against the Current - Chapter 16
Chapter 16 - The Reversal
Old Matriarch Lin was in her sixties, blessed with a benevolent expression, a generous figure, and a serene presence akin to a grand Buddha. Her hair, already silver-white, was gathered into a neat bun fastened with a white jade magnolia hairpin, bound with a pearl fillet. She wore a frost-colored soft silk tunic and was rhythmically turning two polished walnut play-things in her palm. Hearing the commotion, she stirred slightly. Xuezhan, standing close by, immediately stepped forward to assist, tucking two autumn-fragrance-colored, gold-woven-python bolsters behind Old Matriarch Lin's back.
In a measured, unhurried tone, Old Matriarch Lin inquired, "What has happened? Get up quickly; young misses like you ought not to be weeping and wailing. Come, speak of it on your feet."
Far from getting up, Cao Lihuan instead pressed her forehead against the floor with two heavy thuds. Her face was stained with tears, yet she wore a stubborn and pitiful expression as she sobbed, "Old Matriarch, I committed a grave wrong just now and displeased the Eldest Aunt. I know my fault, and I beg the Eldest Aunt to punish me, but please... please do not drive me away..." With that, she broke down into loud, mournful weeping.
Madam Qin's voice remained calm and even. "Was it not you who found fault with the Lin family and held resentment toward us? Why are you now saying on every breath that I drove you away?"
Cao Lihuan shook her head violently, her dangling jade earrings striking against her cheeks. "No, no, Eldest Aunt, I spoke foolishly. In your mercy toward my youth and ignorance, please guide me; pity me as a drifting reed without father or mother, having grown up with few to instruct me, which is why I spoke so disrespectfully to my elder..." With tear-filled eyes, she glanced alternately at Old Matriarch Lin and Madam Qin, choking out, "I... I was truly in the wrong... Please forgive Huan'er..."
Madam Wang had a soft heart. Unaware of the altercation that had just transpired, she simply felt that Cao Lihuan was weeping pitifully and intended to intercede for her. Looking over at Madam Qin, she began, "This... Huan'er is still young, she—" But catching Madam Qin's warning glance, she instantly clamped her mouth shut.
A fierce irritation burned inside Madam Qin. Back in the capital, she had already heard that this Cao Lihuan was hand in glove with Zhao Yuechan, conspiring to extract benefits from the Lin family while habitually putting on a sweet and agreeable front before the Old Master and Old Matriarch. Today, witnessing her behavior and speech, she saw that she was practically indistinguishable from a marketplace shrew, which only heightened her disgust. She had been searching for an opportune moment to banish her from the household; she had not expected the girl to be cunning enough to force her way directly into a scene before the Old Matriarch.
Taking a deep breath, Madam Qin asked, "Then tell me, what precisely were you in the wrong about?"
"I should not have talked back to my elders, nor thrown a tantrum and fought with a maidservant, nor made the Madam angry... Eldest Aunt, forgive—"
"You resented the Old Matriarch for treating you like an outsider, complaining that although it was clearly a family banquet, she had two maidservants block your way at the entrance and bar you from entering. You even said that if the Old Matriarch herself acted thus, none of those servants with their eyes turned upward would ever hold you in any regard or treat you with the respect due to a proper mistress. Were those your words, or were they not?"
As Madam Qin leisurely recited the very words Cao Lihuan had spoken earlier, Old Matriarch Lin's expression darkened somewhat. To everyone's surprise, Cao Lihuan's countenance remained entirely composed, as though she had anticipated that Madam Qin would reveal those remarks. Instead, she offered a desolate, tragic smile. "Eldest Aunt, do you know what those maidservants said to me? She declared that the masters, madams, young masters, and young ladies of the Lin family were the true mistresses and masters, and demanded to know what kind of mistress I was supposed to be—saying I was merely a distant relative clinging to the Lin family for handouts, and far inferior to even the servants themselves... Eldest Aunt, every single word of those insults pierced straight to my heart! Even though I am an orphan with neither father nor mother, I at least know the meaning of the word 'shame.' How could I... how could I possibly endure such humiliation..." Cao Lihuan wept mournfully, wiping her tears with her sleeves until all the powder and rouge washed off her face, rendering her appearance all the more pitiful.
A look of sympathy crept across Madam Wang's face, and Old Matriarch Lin also appeared somewhat moved. Xuezhan, anxious as she watched Cao Lihuan attempt to implicate Liubei, cast a worried glance toward Madam Qin.
Madam Qin's face remained utterly unruffled. "And simply because of this, you cast aside all decorum and brawled with a young maidservant, hurling vile abuse and calling her a 'little wretch' at every turn? Let me ask you, where has the dignity of a young lady of a good family gone? I offered you a kind word of guidance, yet you turned your resentment upon me, and upon the Old Matriarch as well. We harbor no expectations of your gratitude for the Lin family's kindness, but neither do we wish to make enemies and forge grudges with you."
Hearing this, Cao Lihuan wept even more violently. Crawling forward on her knees by a couple of inches, she sobbed, "Eldest Aunt, it was all because I was young and foolish; I was blind of heart to utter such things. I do not blame the Eldest Aunt for being angry with me—I hate this temper of mine and this unruly tongue of mine even more!" With that, she delivered two fierce, resounding slaps across her own face.
Startled, Old Matriarch Lin hurriedly waved her hands and protested, "What is the meaning of this! Huan'er, stop this instant!" She glanced back at Madam Qin and called her by her given name: "Ying'er, look at this..."
Madam Qin inwardly cursed. Given Cao Lihuan's current performance, she now appeared entirely innocent and wronged; if she pressed any further, she herself would look like a harsh and detestable elder.
Realizing that the situation had turned in her favor, Cao Lihuan pressed her advantage all the harder. Tears streamed down in a steady cascade, leaving her eye rims and nose reddened as she pleaded in a desolate tone, "Old Patriarch, the Eldest Aunt has every right to be angry with me—all the faults and errors lie entirely with me. I only pray that my elders will take pity on me for being an orphan who has lost both parents. Though I have an older brother, he barely scrapes by on a petty small-scale business and is completely useless to rely upon. I am truly a person with no one to lean on; wherever I go, who doesn't step on me or spit upon me? It is simply because I have a proud spirit and dread being looked down upon by a future husband's family if I were to marry out, that I swallowed my pride and came to seek refuge here—hoping that people might know I was carried out of the Lin gates as a bride and thus grant me some backing so I would be treated with greater respect... Nor can I entirely blame the maids and matrons... After all, I... I am not a proper mistress of the Lin family anyway... I simply could not swallow my pride at the time... I only pray that the Old Matriarch and my two Eldest Aunts will remember my youth and my drifting existence, and grant me a tiny corner to stay in this household. I ask for no monthly allowance from the estate; so long as I have a roof over my head, I shall be more than content..." With that, she threatened to break down into loud wailing, yet managed to choke back her voice so it remained subdued. "I beg of you, do not drive me away!"
As she spoke, she knocked her forehead against the floor repeatedly until a bright red patch bloomed across her brow. Old Matriarch Lin hastily stood up, caught Cao Lihuan by the arm, and said, "Good child, get up quickly. The floor is cold; you'll chill your bones."
Refusing to rise, Cao Lihuan turned her tear-streaked face toward Madam Qin. With a wretched and desolate air, her tall and robust frame even seemed to shrink and hunch over, she whimpered, "Eld..., Eldest Aunt... Huan'er was truly wrong. Even after Huan'er marries in the future... I will frequently return... to show my filial piety... I beg the Eldest Aunt not to drive me away..."
This pathetic display was enough to break the heart of any observer and draw tears from any listener. Madam Wang could not hold back a couple of tears of her own, turning to say to Madam Qin, "Sister-in-law, take pity on her youth and do not cast her out. I see she is not a bad girl at heart, merely lacking in discipline. You can teach her more as time goes on, won't you?"
Madam Qin's face had long since softened into an expression of deep maternal affection. Stepping forward, she took Cao Lihuan's hand, gently tucked her stray locks behind her ear, and spoke in an earnest, heartfelt tone, "You foolish child, when did I ever truly intend to drive you away? It was merely that seeing you refusing discipline just now, I fabricated those words simply to frighten you. We are all family and kin of the same house; how could such words ever pass between us? Even if we told you to leave, had you insisted on going yourself, we would never have permitted it. Why, just a moment ago you even brought gifts specially to welcome us back, and I was so overjoyed that the moment I returned, I sent someone to send some local specialties and trinkets your way. You must remember from this day onward never to squabble with the maidservants again; not only do you needlessly cheapen your own status, but it also pains us to witness it."
Cao Lihuan nodded eagerly like a chicken pecking at grain, her shoulders still trembling with residual sobs. Old Matriarch Lin directed Xuezhan to pour a cup of tea for Cao Lihuan, while Madam Wang had already instructed a maidservant to fetch water for her to wash her face. Madam Qin held Cao Lihuan's hand as they sat together on the edge of the bed, chatting in soothing, intimate tones like a mother and daughter.
In the blink of an eye, the tense, grim atmosphere in the room had dissolved into utter warmth and harmony.
Formidable! Truly formidable! Hiding near the doorway, Xianglan watched with her jaw hanging open in utter astonishment. In her heart, she couldn't help giving Cao Lihuan a mental thumbs-up. No wonder this cousin could run roughshod through the Lin family and glide through life like a fish in water; she genuinely possessed exceptional skills! She had been on the verge of packing her bags and being cast out on the spot, yet with a few turns of phrase she twisted right from black to white—not only securing her right to stay, but also winning the affection and pity of her elders. She could throw a tantrum and make a scene, yet she could just as easily cast away her pride and pull it all back. She was capable of both yielding and pressing forward, possessed a silver tongue, read expressions effortlessly, and even deployed a bitter-flesh ruse—those two slaps she had given herself certainly hadn't lacked force!
Xianglan sighed inwardly, reflecting that none of the stage actors could match Cao Lihuan's eloquence and acting talent.
Yet Madam Qin was no simple pushover either. Knowing full well that Cao Lihuan was sophistically twisting her words to imply that "the Eldest Aunt wants to drive me away," Madam Qin had not panicked or lost her footing. Meeting blow with blow, she had calmly exposed Cao Lihuan's slanderous remarks against the Old Matriarch, grounding every single point she made in absolute reason so that everyone present understood clearly: it was the junior who was throwing an unreasonable temper tantrum with her elders, while the elders refused to crush her with their status.
And when Cao Lihuan finally deployed her bitter-flesh ruse and Old Matriarch Lin's heart melted, Madam Qin executed a seamless pivot. Without a hint of her previous cold expression, she instantly adopted an attitude of boundless maternal warmth, smoothly dismissing her earlier talk of "driving her away" as merely "fabricating words to frighten you." Ginger truly grew hotter the older it got!
Xianglan pondered these events carefully in her mind, and as she looked at Madam Qin again, her gaze was tinged with a faint sense of awe and reverence.
When they finally emerged from Shoushi Hall, Cao Lihuan's radiant, beaming smile instantly darkened into a scowl. Upon returning to Luowu Lodge, she flew into a towering rage and smashed two teacups to pieces. Xianglan caught her reflection in the mirror and saw the stark, chilling fingerprint marks standing out high and swollen on her snow-white cheek. She hid away in the pantry, hunted down some medicinal ointment, and smoothed it over the skin. Old Mother Liu clapped her hands in dismay upon seeing it, muttered a curse against such cruelty, and soaked a towel in cold water for Xianglan to press against her face. As Xianglan let down her hair to re-dress it, she discovered that the white silk mourning flower pinned behind her temple was missing. She could only curse her own wretched luck—that silk flower had been issued by the estate, made of finest white silk with only one allotted to each person. Now that hers was lost and she had no idea where to obtain a replacement, she would simply have to fashion a substitute out of white paper to wear henceforth.
The next morning, Cao Lihuan went to Madam Qin's main quarters to pay her morning respects, but the matrons at the door blocked her path, declaring that Madam Qin was feeling unwell. With just a few terse words, she was sent packing. The formal gift she had prepared for the First Branch was summarily rejected by Madam Qin, who kept only a single set of sewing threads while returning all the remaining precious valuables.