"You vile woman! You wretched beast!"
Back in her courtyard, Madam Wang flew into a frenzy, smashing everything on the table to pieces, even her Buddhist Prayer Beads. She chanted sutras all day to find peace, yet her fury only grew.
She turned to her son, who stood there like a block of wood, and berated him:
"You ignorant little sinner! Can't you give me something to be proud of?!"
"Please calm your anger, Mother," Jia Baoyu said, stepping forward to comfort her.
"Didn't the eunuch who read the decree say it? The emperor himself spoke. His golden words and jade pronouncements were a one-time favor. A fifth-rank Imperial Mandate is the most she'll ever get in her life!"
"Get out!" Madam Wang erupted, lapsing straight into abuse.
"Having a concubine raised to the rank of equal wife is humiliation enough! Your mother can never show her face outside again! And you, a shiftless, rotten-bellied wastrel-look at the rouge and powder on your face! I could slap you!"
Indignant, Jia Baoyu declared firmly:
"Let that scoundrel enjoy his triumph for now. The qilin lies dormant, awaiting its spring cry. Just watch me astonish the world with a single call! Mother, you need only wait to be proud!"
With that, he took to his heels and ran to Old Madam for comfort.
"Such a temper?"
Madam Xing walked in holding a handkerchief, casting a sidelong glance over the wreckage.
Madam Wang's face was livid. Her dignity had been trampled again and again; how could she still care about appearances?
"Of everyone in the two mansions, that mother and son are the most smug!" Yet Madam Xing sounded nothing like she was gloating. Instead, she sided with the mistress of the second branch.
Before this, she had delighted in the second branch's