Chapter 65 Reputation

Chapter 65: Reputation

In the following days, Meng Wan never saw Qin Niang again; she was presumably at home embroidering her wedding dress. It wasn’t until Song Tingzhou actually inquired among his classmates and got news about Scholar Tang.

“He’s actually a scholar in the prefectural school? Class Ding?”

Song Tingzhou explained to Meng Wan that Class Ding was for veteran scholars who consistently ranked low among the scholars, with little hope of passing the provincial exam. If they failed to advance to Class Yi for three consecutive years, they would be expelled from the prefectural school.

Meng Wan said in surprise, “Then the situation really is just as Qin Niang described. Could it be that I was overthinking? But if he’s in the prefectural school, even if it’s Class Ding, it’s still better than having no school at all. What’s there to hide?”

Song Tingzhou sighed. One of his classmates had an uncle who was a teacher in Class Ding of the prefectural school, so Scholar Tang’s circumstances were easily found out. “He really is surnamed Tang, and he really is a scholar, but his home isn’t in the prefectural city. It’s in a village under Guqing County, and he’s already married with children.”

“Ah?”

——

“Is anyone there? Come out and see! It’s this Li family from Liudi Lane who seduced my husband!”

“Oh, Your Honor! A girl from the prefectural city, yet so shameless, carrying on with a married man.”

“Neighbors, hurry and look! It’s that Li girl, disregarding that my husband has a wife and child, throwing herself at him to be his concubine.”

At home, Meng Wan was talking with Song Tingzhou when a woman outside started shouting and wailing in a loud voice. They could hear it clearly in their yard.

Exchanging a glance with Song Tingzhou, Meng Wan said, “Oh no!”

Chang Jinhua was at home kneading dough and didn’t come out. Since it was a matter between women, Song Tingzhou didn’t think it appropriate to show himself either. So Meng Wan and Lu Chunfang went out together. It was just after dinner, and everyone was looking for gossip. Suddenly there was something to talk about, and in no time the lane was packed with people.

Not only the neighbors from Liudi Lane, but also people from other nearby lanes came running to watch.

The Li family’s main gate was tightly shut. In front of the gate sat a woman in her twenties, holding a child of three or five, shouting curses.

Seeing them come out, Aunt Zhou waved them over to her doorstep, where there was an old tree with a stone underneath that could serve as a seat.

Meng Wan went over and sat beside her. “Where did this woman come from? She’s going too far.”

Even Aunt Zhou, who had always looked down on Li Yaqin, couldn’t help but agree with Meng Wan. “Exactly. She was hanging around our lane since noon with her child, asking all sorts of questions. Who would have thought she was here for the Li family?”

Looking around, she lowered her voice and asked Meng Wan, “That scholar Qin Niang was seeing—was he really a married man?”

Qin Niang had worked as a laborer for the Song family, which all the neighbors knew. She didn’t have to come early; she ate breakfast at home, then went over to help wash a few dishes before returning. Whatever pay the Song family gave, it was good as supplementary income. Many people had asked Chang Jinhua about it, and only stopped when they learned the family wasn’t hiring more neighbors.

Since Qin Niang had been coming and going from the Song house, Aunt Zhou thought Meng Wan might know some inside news about the Li family.

Meng Wan’s face was full of surprise. “It can’t be. He’s married and still has the nerve to pretend to be an unmarried man courting a respectable girl?”

His voice wasn’t too loud or too soft, and everyone around heard.

“Exactly. It’s not like he’s from our part of town. How could anyone know if he’s a man or a ghost before marriage?”

“That’s why in marriage matters, you can’t trust those matchmakers. Give them a few taels of silver, and they’ll say whatever suits you.”

“True. It’s better to know each other’s background and have a matching social status.”

The Li family couldn’t let the woman keep cursing at their door. The tightly shut gate finally opened, and out came Li Yaqin’s elder brother and his wife.

“Where did this whore come from, cursing at our Li family gate? You filthy-mouthed bitch, if you don’t shut up, I’ll tear you apart!”

Even though she was angry with her sister-in-law and wished she would leave home soon, it was a matter of the Li family’s reputation. Her son was only three years old. If this woman made it stick that her sister-in-law had seduced a married man, and her son grew up with such an aunt, how would he ever get married?

So she had no choice but to steel herself and confront the woman.

Li Yaqin’s second brother had an even worse expression. He came out holding a woodcutter’s axe and threatened, “If you don’t get out of here right now, I’ll chop you to death and throw you down the well!”

That woman was a sharp-tongued shrew. Hearing Li Erlang’s words, she wasn’t scared at all. Instead, she stuck out her neck and stepped forward. “Chop! Chop! Whoever doesn’t chop is a coward! If you’ve got guts, chop right here! All these people in the lane are witnesses. Your girl seduced my husband, and now you’re committing murder in the street. If you dare touch a single hair on my head, I’ll report you to the prefectural yamen and have you thrown in jail!”

Li Erlang was no match for her sharp tongue. Holding the axe, he was forced back step by step.

Li Erlang’s wife had never seen such a ruffian either. Her head throbbing from the shouting, she simply denied everything. “What does your husband have to do with our Li family? If you can’t keep your man in line, don’t come making a scene at our house. You may not care about face, but I do!”

The woman sneered twice. “So you’re not admitting it, are you?”

She plopped herself down on the ground, and even the child stumbled and fell. She didn’t even look, letting the child cry from the tumble as she herself wailed and screamed.

“Pity me! I served my in-laws back home, gave birth to and raised children, and struggled to get my husband to become a xiucai. And now this city fox has stolen him away! Miss Li, have mercy! Give me back my husband!”

“Oh dear.” Aunt Zhou covered half her face with her handkerchief, unable to bear watching.

“This woman really is pitiful.”

Meng Wan turned and saw that Lu Chunfang was actually feeling sorry for her.

He was a bit at a loss for words. “Regardless of whether this story is true or false, she should be going after her own husband. If her mere words can ruin a girl’s reputation, then no girls and boys in all of Changping Prefecture should ever step outside. This is nothing but unreasonable harassment, with words meant to drive someone to death.”

Aunt Zhou’s daughter-in-law nodded in agreement. “Exactly. Qin Niang was clearly tricked. And now this woman is slandering her like this—isn’t that just driving her to suicide?”

Just as they were talking about death, an elderly lady rushed out of the Li family gate, calling for her son and daughter-in-law. “Er Lang, quickly, quickly fetch a doctor! Qin Niang hanged herself!”

“What!” Li Erlang immediately wanted to go get a doctor, but the woman clung to his leg and refused to let him leave.

“You can’t go! Your Li family must give me justice!”

Seeing Li Erlang entangled and unable to break free, and his wife busy going inside with her mother-in-law to check on her sister-in-law, since the Zhou family lived close to the Li family, Meng Wan and the others could hear everything.

“Sister Chunfang, go quickly and fetch a doctor. The Tongshan charitable clinic is the closest—hurry!”

With life and death at stake, even if he hadn’t said anything, Lu Chunfang would have gone anyway. “Yes, I’m going right now.”

“Sister Chunfang, I’ll go with you.” Aunt Zhou’s daughter-in-law was about to follow.

Her mother-in-law gave her a hard tug, but she either didn’t notice or was too focused on Qin Niang’s plight, so she ran off with Lu Chunfang.

Aunt Zhou smiled awkwardly at the neighbors. “Young people are always so hot-headed.”

Meng Wan said, “Aunt Zhou, usually neighborly quarrels are one thing, but this is a life-and-death matter.”

A woman’s reputation could even determine whether she lived or died. If Qin Niang had had any other way out, why would she have hanged herself?

After all, they had known each other. He couldn’t just stand by and watch a life slip away. She was only nineteen—in modern times, she’d still be carefree in college. Yet in just a few years, she had already endured so many rumors and gossip.

Aunt Zhou fanned herself with her handkerchief. Having been neighbors with the Li family for so many years, it wouldn’t be right not to check in on such a big event. Since her daughter-in-law had already gone to fetch a doctor, she might as well go over herself.

With a flick of her handkerchief, she scurried with quick, small steps into the Li family courtyard. Meng Wan had been waiting for her to make a move, and he followed right behind her.

The Li family had three main rooms and two wing rooms, with a yard larger than Meng Wan’s. There was a well in the yard for their own use.

From one of the side rooms came the sound of bitter sobbing.

“Qin Niang, oh, Qin Niang, you’re taking your father and me with you.”

If you want to die, at least get married before you die. Not only do you disgrace the family, but hanging yourself at home makes others think I, as your second sister-in-law, forced you to!"

"Disaster! Disaster!"

The door was wide open. Aunt Zhou walked into the side room, pressing a handkerchief to the corner of her eye. "Elder sister-in-law, please take care of yourself. Qin Niang, this girl is so foolish."

Meng Wan followed. A long piece of cut hemp rope hung from the beam of the side room, and a pair of scissors lay on the ground.

Qin Niang lay on the ground in white undergarments, her hair disheveled, eyes vacant and fixed on the wall.

The hemp rope was covered in burrs; her neck was bruised purple-red and oozing blood, a horrifying sight.

Her mother sat on the ground cradling her, her wrinkled old face streaked with tears, weeping in utter agony.

Another old man with graying hair, around sixty, stood behind them, eyes closed, and cursed sorrowfully: "Disaster, a real disaster."

Sister Li's face was livid. She wished her younger sister-in-law would just die quickly, yet resented her for dragging down the marriage prospects of the family's children.

Aunt Zhou came in to console the old couple. Seeing this, she shed a few tears herself. She asked the half-dead Qin Niang, "What are you doing? Even if death ends it all, your parents gave birth to you and raised you. Can you bear to let them suffer the grief of losing a child in their old age?"

Sister Li said bitterly, "Does she care about others? For over ten years, my in-laws have doted on her like the apple of their eye. When I first married into the family, even when having a piece of cake, Qin Niang had to eat her fill before anyone else could. Which family's spinster doesn't live by her family's rules? But she acts so high and mighty—if she gets one bite less or one piece less, she throws a tantrum."

"My in-laws have always spoiled you. The past two years, I've been managing the family finances, but haven't they given you plenty of personal savings? You, blinded by greed, gave it all to that Scholar Tang, saying it was to grease the wheels for a government job. Where's the government job? Where's the silver?"

Qin Niang started crying when scolded by her second sister-in-law. Her throat was badly injured, as if rubbed with sandpaper; her words were hoarse, ugly, and broken: "It's me... I'm a bad daughter, I'm sorry to my parents, I'm sorry to the Li family. I'm such... a sinner. I deserve... to die."

Sister Li, eyes red, cursed: "Want to die? Easy. Go throw yourself into the well in the alley. It'll save the Li family's clean yard from being defiled!"

"Fine... I'll... go!" Qin Niang struggled to get up. Everyone around hurried to hold her back, even Aunt Zhou joined in. Only Sister Li and Meng Wan didn't move.

Meng Wan exhaled a long, heavy breath. "Since you're not afraid to die, you should stand up and reason with that woman. It was that Tang who set a trap to cheat you out of your money. I warned you back then—being cheated shows you were foolish, insisting on going down that path. But you're a decent girl, not as vile as she claims. Why let her slander you?"

Qin Niang closed her eyes in pain. "But I... did... get engaged to that Tang..."

"Engaged? Our two families live so close. How come I never heard of it?" Meng Wan interrupted her.

Everyone had only heard Qin Niang say the match was successful. None of the neighbors had ever seen her engagement party where relatives were invited.

Li Yaqin was a woman who had waited too long to marry. Finally finding someone to her liking, the whole family wanted her to marry quickly. A simple engagement ceremony wouldn't look good, so the family didn't publicize it.

Moreover, an engagement requires exchanging birth horoscopes and registering the marriage contract at the government's Household Registry Office. Scholar Tang was already married, with a legitimate wife. How would he dare take Li Yaqin to register?

Therefore, just like Meng Wan and Song Tingzhou back then, they must have had a small or no engagement ceremony, planning to register at the Household Registry Office with the marriage contract after the wedding.

After Meng Wan finished speaking, all the crying in the room stopped.

Sister Li was the first to react. "Right, right! What engagement? Bull! That Tang didn't bring a single coin. Our family doesn't even have a betrothal gift list. What engagement is that? Who saw our family get engaged?"

Meng Wan then suggested to her, "Second Sister-in-law, I heard there's a Scholar Tang in the prefectural school, but that Scholar Tang's registered hometown is clearly Tangjia Village in Guqing County. Yet the scoundrel who cheated Qin Niang claimed to be from Daguan Village. If that woman outside is from Daguan Village, then she should compensate the Li family for the money lost to fraud. If she's from Tangjia Village, she has even less reason to come to Liudi Lane and destroy Qin Niang's reputation in front of so many people. Either way, she must pay compensation!"

"This kind of troublemaker must be made to pay dearly so she learns her lesson. Otherwise, she'll think the Li family is easy to bully and will keep coming back every few days."

After hearing this, Sister Li got it. "Right, Song Fulang is right. They should compensate us!"

Meng Wan glanced at the stunned Aunt Zhou and said meaningfully, "Second Sister-in-law, I haven't said anything today, nor have I heard anything. I just followed Aunt Zhou in to comfort the wronged Qin Niang. Later, when the two of us leave through the door, let's not repeat what was said in this room outside."

Sister Li responded very quickly, "Today, I thank Aunt Zhou and Song Fulang for visiting Qin Niang. This child is misguided. Anyone who badmouths her can get her this upset!"

She then took Aunt Zhou's arm. "Auntie, you and Song Fulang go back first. The house is a mess, so we won't detain you. The Li family remembers your kindness. Another day we'll come to your house to thank you."

Aunt Zhou wasn't stupid; she had wanted to slip away long ago. After Sister Li escorted her out, Meng Wan set his sights on the large water vat in the Li family's yard.

He agilely stepped onto the rim of the vat, reached the courtyard wall adjoining his own house, sat on the wall, and locked eyes with Chang Jinhua, who was working in the yard.

Chang Jinhua rolled up her sleeves, grinding her teeth in anger. "Unbelievable! Your own home isn't enough for you to fool around in; now you go climbing on walls at someone else's place!"