The wives of the capital officials sighed again and again.
The crowd of onlookers kept growing. Even the officials' wives brought along by the Prince of the Southeast's Heir Apparent's Consort began to feel a faint sympathy for Madam Wu.
Madam Wu was going numb all over.
Even so, she forced herself to hold firm. "Isn't it perfectly normal for men to have three wives and four concubines?"
"I-I'm the mistress of the household! My husband would never favor a concubine and trample his wife!"
Mistress of the household, with all the power in her hands.
That was the goal many women in the inner courtyards spent their entire lives pursuing.
Jian Ruonan stepped forward, took Madam Wu's hand, and sighed. "Mistress of the household? Then I have even more to say."
Madam Wu: No, please, stop talking! I don't want to hear any of it!!
Stay away from me!!!
Not only was Jian Ruonan going to say it, she was going to look Madam Wu in the eye while she did.
Their eyes met, making her look utterly sincere.
She would blind Madam Wu with the dazzling light of her sincerity!
"Madam, not only do you manage the household and serve medicine at your parents-in-law's bedside, you even pay out of your own pocket to find your husband's younger brother a job. After you finally found him one, he complained that the position was too low, and your parents-in-law gave you dirty looks."
"And your husband's younger sister? You sold off your own dowry to add to hers, but she called you stingy. Not only does she constantly mock and sneer at you, she rolls her eyes at you every so often, too."
"Not to mention how every time you run around on behalf of your husband's family, you