Nanny Jiang sighed and helped her sit in the tub. While she was wiping her body, she continued, "Madam, this is truly out of helplessness. I thought the prince would understand her difficulties."

She talked about some past events of the Fu family in the southern border.

The Fu family is the richest family in the southern region. Old Master Fu has a son and a daughter. Shen Xu's mother is Fu Yechang, the eldest daughter of the Fu family.

At a business banquet in the southern border, she met the spirited young general Shen Liang.

At that time, Lord Shen was handsome and youthful, while Miss Fu was talented, beautiful, intelligent and cheerful.

The two hit it off and became good friends.

That year, the young general marched to the southern border to suppress a rebellion, and Miss Fu opened up a trade route in the wild land. The two helped each other in times of trouble, fell in love with each other.

Love did not make them lose their minds and forget their mission. The two cooperated tacitly and jointly quelled the rebellion of the local officials on the southern border. They also incorporated the northern part of the neighboring Cloud Kingdom into the territory of Yanyang Kingdom.

The young general expanded the territory and suppressed the rebellion, while the young lady opened up trade routes to stabilize the economy. This is how the eight prosperous and affluent southern states came to be.

Originally, the Tingnan Marquisate, with its golden waist and purple robes, looked down upon women from merchant families, but they could not stand up to Chen Liang's repeated insistence, nor could they stand up to the influence of the Fu family in the southern border.

The two eventually fell in love, got married, and had their first child, Shen Yi.

As the eldest son who was highly expected, Shen Yi had an amazing talent for martial arts. He could use swords, spears, and halberds with just a touch, and he could understand martial arts techniques at a glance, which earned him great love.

The rich and peaceful life soon welcomed their second child. However, at this time, Miss Fu's younger brother, the only heir of the Fu family, disappeared after quarreling with Mr. Fu.

The old man couldn't accept it for a while, he was furious and seriously ill in bed. The huge family business was without a decision-maker for a while. All the clan members were eyeing the position of the person in power, and they were fighting openly and secretly for this position in order to disperse the Fu family's wealth.

Seeing the legacy of her ancestors on the brink of destruction, the pregnant Miss Fu returned to the southern border to care for her gravely ill father. With swift and decisive action, she decisively dealt with several clan members who attempted to divide the family fortune, and secured major transportation and mining contracts with several major chambers of commerce, resolving the family crisis.

The members of the Southern Territory Chamber of Commerce all supported her to take the position of the head of the Fu family and also asked her to take on the duties of the president of the Chamber of Commerce.

So, Mr. Fu simply passed the position of heir to his daughter, but this move was opposed by his clan members.

The elders of the family believed that a married daughter, no matter how capable she was, was not worthy of becoming the heir to the Fu family.

In desperation, Mr. Fu had to personally write a will, passing the position of heir to his grandson, Shen Yi. In order to prevent the clan members from raising any objections to the choice of heir, Miss Fu finally persuaded Lord Shen to change their firstborn's surname to Fu.

This move was strongly opposed by the old Marquis Tingnan. The Shen family had always been royal relatives, and the mistresses they married were either royal princesses or the daughters of ministers. Now, the Marquis Tingnan, who had made many military achievements, not only married the daughter of a merchant, but also wanted his eldest son to change his surname to his mother's. This was a great shame and humiliation for the Shen family.

The old Marquis of Tingnan insisted on asking his son to divorce his wife, and the Shen family also kept putting pressure on the couple, demanding that they bring back the prince.

But Lord Shen was very protective of his wife. Not only did he change his son's name against all odds, he also personally sent him to the Fu family in the southern border to train Fu Yi as the heir of the Fu family.

With Shen Yi's change of surname, Mr. Fu's condition also improved, but Miss Fu's missing brother seemed to have evaporated from the face of the earth and never appeared again.

Because several leading members of the Fu family were expelled from the Chamber of Commerce by Miss Fu, they were so angry that they sold the defense information of the southern border to the Kingdom of Cloud in the south.

The Cloud Kingdom wanted to regain its lost territory and launched a large-scale invasion.

Lord Shen had no choice but to lead his troops out again to resist the invasion. But by that time, Miss Fu was about to give birth.

In that battle, Lord Shen experienced the most dangerous battle in his military career. Heavy winter rains caused floods from the mountains, flooding the towns behind the fortress and causing severe damage.

Lord Shen made a decisive move, abandoning the fortress and evacuating the army and civilians overnight, barely saving the army and civilians. Later, the Cloud Nation seized the border fortress and sent heavy troops to guard it, prolonging the war indefinitely.

When Miss Fu was about to give birth, the southern border merchant caravan was suddenly attacked, the sea transport team's goods were seized, the contract was overdue and delivery could not be made, resulting in heavy losses.

Miss Fu, overworked, finally helped the family and the Chamber of Commerce overcome their difficulties. However, during a difficult period, she suffered a difficult labor and hemorrhage, nearly losing her life. By the time she was rescued, she was no longer able to bear children.

However, her second child was a girl.

Miss Fu thought that her father would eventually grow old and the family business in the southern border would eventually need an heir. It was impossible for Fu Yi to return to the Marquis' Mansion and become the eldest son.

But the Marquis's Mansion also needed an explanation, so she dressed her daughter up as a boy, brought her back to the Marquis's Mansion, and announced to the public that she and Marquis Shen had a son.

"Madam had a particularly difficult time back then. She had just given birth to you and was weak. The Marquis was away at war, leaving no one to take care of her. Yet, she was still worried about Old Master Fu and the family's business, and often traveled back and forth between the capital and the southern border."

Nanny Jiang sighed and said with heartache, "If the Second Master hadn't been so rebellious and ran away from home, my wife would probably have lived with the Marquis forever and wouldn't have let him down."

The war with the Cloud Kingdom finally ended with Lord Shen capturing the fortress and fighting until the enemy was unable to fight back, but it lasted for a full three years.

During these three years, Lord Shen had not seen his family. The two of them had been communicating through letters. Lord Shen would send a letter almost every ten days, and would also send back some children's toys.

"When he returned to the court to report, you, Prince, had already become a well-behaved and obedient little girl. Your features and eyebrows were particularly similar to the Marquis's, and he loved you very much. He held you in his arms all day long."

Speaking of Lord Shen, Nanny Jiang couldn't stop praising him, and also sighed for his marriage, "Lord Shen is truly a perfect husband, loving his wife and filial to his father-in-law. He is loyal to the emperor in court and loves the people in the wild. At home, he treats his wife with respect and is loyal to his love. He doesn't even have concubines in the backyard."

Ye Wanqing listened and nodded in agreement. In this regard, Shen Xu's father was indeed a thousand times better than her own father.

Her mother was fighting with the concubine in the backyard of the general's mansion until her death. Originally, Ye Qingshan had four concubines, but none of them could beat her second mother.

After Er Niang was promoted to a co-wife, his three concubines were kicked out of the house and she became the only mistress of the general's mansion.

In the final analysis, it was because the mother was too weak, unlike Shen Xu's mother who was strong and managed both the harem and the business in an orderly manner.