Chapter 11: Confrontation in the Main Hall—I Won't Kneel!

The two servants soon escorted Wei Nisheng to the main hall. In the principal seat, Wei Mingde’s face was livid. He had not changed out of his official robe, and his belt was drawn tight. Lady Cui wore a look of “concern,” Wei Shouzheng stood with his head high, and Wang Rong knelt on the floor.

Nisheng took it all in. Wang Rong had complained, Shouzheng had stirred things up, and Lady Cui had added fuel. They had set the stage and were waiting for him.

He stepped forward and bowed. “Father.” Then he turned to Lady Cui. “Mother.”

His manners were impeccable, neither servile nor defiant. Mingde, however, greeted him with a shout. “Wretch! Kneel!”

Nisheng didn’t move.

Mingde’s brow knotted. “I said kneel! Didn’t you hear me?”

Nisheng raised his head and met his gaze calmly. “If Father tells me to kneel, I can. But first I want to know what I’ve done wrong.”

“Impudent!” Mingde slammed the table, rattling the teacups. “You dare ask what you did wrong? Is the Wei family’s honorable name yours to use while you humiliate servants at will?”

Shouzheng stepped forward, pointing at Nisheng. “Father, he not only struck someone, he spoke outrageously! Wang Rong says he invoked my name to make this younger brother restrain himself, but my brother said, ‘Even if my elder brother stood before me, I’d still strike with deadly force!’”

He turned to Nisheng, indignant. “I’ve never treated you badly. Why would you insult me this way?”

Wang Rong spoke from his knees, his voice tearful. “Master, please see the truth. I really was sent by the eldest young master to bring things to the side courtyard. But as soon as the second young master saw me, he had that old slave Wei An strike me…”

He raised his head, the five finger marks stark in the candlelight. “Two slaps are nothing to me, but I couldn’t bear to hear the second young master insult the eldest. That’s why I came to report it!”

He sounded utterly sincere, a loyal servant defending his master. Lady Cui sighed.

“Nisheng, you’re young. Perhaps you spoke without thinking. But your brother is about to enter an apprenticeship. At a time like this, if gossip spreads that the brothers are at odds…”

“Mother, don’t speak for him!” Shouzheng said at once. “He did it deliberately!”

Mingde’s expression grew darker. Nisheng waited until they had all finished.

“Father, may I say a few words?”

“Speak!”

Nisheng turned to Wang Rong. “When you came to the side courtyard yesterday, were you really bringing something?”

Wang Rong hesitated. “O-of course!”

“On whose orders?”

“The… the eldest young master’s.”

Nisheng looked at Shouzheng. “Elder Brother, what did you send him to bring?”

Shouzheng faltered. He had given no such order; Wang Rong had gone on his own. But he couldn’t admit it. “I told him to see what you needed and report back to me.”

Nisheng nodded and turned back to Wang Rong. “Then where are the things you brought?”

Wang Rong’s face changed. The food box had overturned and the broth spilled. What could he produce? “They… they spilled.”

“How?”

“When you hit me!”

Nisheng smiled. “Before I hit you, the box was in your hand. I struck you, you fell, and only then did it overturn. Correct?”

Wang Rong nodded.

“Then why did I hit you?” Wang Rong opened his mouth but did not answer.

Nisheng answered for him. “Because you insulted me in public. Do you dare repeat those words before Father?”

Wang Rong flushed and could say nothing. Shouzheng frowned at him; Lady Cui’s eyes flickered.

“As for those other words you claim I said,” Nisheng went on, “I never said them. Wei An can testify, and so can Mother’s half brother Cui Fu. Both were there.” He looked at Mingde. “If you don’t believe me, Father, summon them and ask.”

“In that case…” Mingde began.

Wang Rong suddenly raised his head. “Master! Wei An would naturally take the second young master’s side. Cui Fu is the madam’s brother, but the second young master went out with him yesterday. Who knows what they might have said in private? Their testimony can’t be trusted!”

“That’s right!” Shouzheng immediately agreed. “Father, their words don’t count!”

Wang Rong hurried on. “Master, they weren’t the only people there. Several servants passing by saw the second young master hit me. You can summon them!”

Nisheng’s heart sank. The servant had come prepared; he meant to have all the witnesses arranged in advance.

Mingde sent for the supposedly passing servants. Soon three were brought in and knelt in a row. They were the same people who had watched outside the side courtyard that afternoon.

“What did you see outside the side courtyard yesterday afternoon?” Mingde asked.

The first servant stole a glance at Shouzheng. “Master, I saw the second young master hit Wang Rong. Wang Rong didn’t strike back, and the second young master hit him again.”

“I saw it too,” the second agreed. “The second young master struck hard. One slap knocked Wang Rong to the ground.”

“Why did he hit him?”

“I… I didn’t hear what was said before. I only saw the second young master suddenly strike him.”

The third servant was more accommodating. “I vaguely heard the second young master say something about ‘only having the title of eldest legitimate son,’ and ‘when it comes down to it, he’s a legitimate son too, and neither is beneath the other’… I didn’t dare listen further, so I hurried away.”

The three accounts matched, perfectly confirming Wang Rong’s version.

Nisheng offered no defense. He knew it would do no good. These servants tailored their behavior to a person’s standing. He was the second son hated by the whole family; Shouzheng was the eldest legitimate son, the family’s hope for the future. How could they possibly take his side?