Chapter 4 Heaven is about to bestow a great responsibility upon this person: Upon their first meeting, let alone ten taels of silver, even a hundred taels wouldn't have uttered a single word from Shen Wanqing. ...

Upon first meeting, let alone ten taels of silver, even a hundred taels wouldn't elicit a peep from Shen Wanqing.

She asked this simply because she wanted to know how Yu Lang usually spent money on rewards. Now that she knew, she felt her future was even bleaker. He was so extravagant; he had no sense of proportion when it came to spending money in the manor.

However, this was not the time to worry about that. As soon as she entered the main courtyard, Shen Wanqing tensed up. For her, today's event was not about meeting her mother-in-law and her in-laws, but about meeting her boss and superiors, who would be with her for a long time to come.

Putting everything else aside, just dealing with those two layers of relatives—mother-in-law and aunt—if not handled properly, it's hard to say whether others will suffer, but you yourself certainly won't have an easy time either.

Yu Lang was the eldest grandson of the eldest son's family. When the two entered the house, everyone in the main room was already there.

The elderly lady, Madam Tongjia, sat at the head of the table, dressed elegantly and brightly. Over her dark blue shirt with pine and crane patterns, she wore a brocade vest with an unbroken swastika pattern, and two inches of bright red satin were turned out at the cuffs, with a gold thread fretwork along the edge. It was clear that she had dressed up carefully for her eldest grandson, Yulang, to get married.

However, the women sitting on either side of Tongjia seemed a bit off. The woman on the lower right looked quite young, perhaps only in her thirties. She wore a silver-red shirt with a rose-purple embroidered peony jacket, and her head was adorned with kingfisher feather ornaments, making her look every bit the wealthy lady.

The woman on the lower left looked older, wearing a dark blue shirt with a cloud pattern and a matching cloak, as deep and heavy as a deep pool. The plain silk cuffs were embroidered with only a crimson-purple meander pattern along the edge.

He held a long string of Buddhist prayer beads in his hand; the material was indiscernible, but it was undoubtedly something he used daily for chanting. The warm, lustrous sheen made Chen Wanqing envious. She herself lacked that kind of patience; all the prayer beads she bought were just gathering dust at home. She wondered who benefited from all that stuff since she came here.

Judging from her seating arrangement and age, this person must be the original owner's mother-in-law, Niohuru. She was from the same clan as Consort Wenxi. Her great-grandfather and Consort Wenxi's grandfather were brothers. Consort Wenxi's branch was the eighth son, while Niohuru's branch was the eldest son.

Niohuru came from a distinguished family. Her maternal grandfather, Chen Tai, had died in battle as the General of Dingxi, and her mother, Ma Ma'erse, had served as the General of Xi'an, stationed in the Northwest. Niohuru was the second child in her family. Although her biological mother was a concubine, she grew up in the courtyard of her maternal grandfather and the old lady.

Later, the marriage arranged by his family, Erhe, as the eldest son of Shuai Yanbao, had already entered the Imperial Guard as a third-class guard before the marriage, so his future prospects were by no means bad.

No one expected that Shuai Yanbao wouldn't live a long life; he passed away before he was even forty-five. But that was alright; the family still had Erhe, the eldest son, to carry on the family line, and everyone felt that in a few more years, the Hesheli branch of the family would regain its former glory.

But fate is unpredictable. Before the three-year mourning period for Shuaiyan was over, Erhe also died. His death took away most of Niohuru's vitality. If she hadn't discovered she was pregnant after the funeral, she probably wouldn't have survived.

She survived, but only half of her soul remained. This half of her soul was enough to keep Niohuru alive and watch over her children, but she no longer had the will to do more.

Even though she was a new bride entering the house, she was barely holding on, and her weakness and exhaustion were obvious to everyone.

Shen Wanqing couldn't help but steal another glance at the two of them, and roughly guessed their identities. Sure enough, the younger one was Shumulu, the aunt of the second branch of the family. Her father was also a hereditary captain in the Plain Yellow Banner. Her marriage to He Yi was the most well-matched among the Eight Banners, completely opposite to that of Yu Lang and Shen Wanqing.

Meeting her elders for the first time, Shen Wanqing offered them tea in turn. Beside Niohuru sat a little girl who looked about eight or nine years old, and next to her sat an even younger boy who was sitting obediently.

These are Yulang's younger sister and brother. His sister will be nine years old in two months, and his brother is five years old this year. Even in today's world where people come of age and start families early, they are still two little children.

One was younger than the other, and Shen Wanqing, who had already felt incredibly unlucky, suddenly stopped complaining about how she hadn't even been born into a decent family. With a family like this, Yu Lang had no right to refuse the second wife's request to move back in.

The children were all very polite. After their sister-in-law, Shen Wanqing, served tea to the elders, they stood up one by one to greet Shen Wanqing.

As the eldest sister-in-law, Shen Wanqing was naturally entitled to receive greetings from her younger sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law. However, at this moment, a fragment suddenly flashed through Shen Wanqing's mind: the many things that Xu Shi, the original owner's mother, had said to her in her room the night before last, the day before the original owner was to get married.

She talked a lot and about a variety of things; as a mother, she wanted to teach her daughter all the principles and ways of dealing with people that she had learned in one night. One of these things was to repeatedly remind the original owner not to act arrogantly as the eldest sister-in-law after entering the Hesheli family.

Although several decades have passed since they entered the Central Plains, there are still differences between the Manchu and Han banners. Nowadays, although more and more people from the Manchu and Han banners are marrying within the Eight Banners, the Hesheli family is still of the same lineage as the Yuan Empress.

To put it bluntly, in terms of seniority, Yu Lang is actually the current Crown Prince's cousin. Marrying into such a family is a huge step up for the Shen family, so they shouldn't act arrogantly.

Madam Xu had her reasons, but unfortunately, Shen Wanqing wasn't naturally a very obedient person. She could pretend to be well-behaved, but she absolutely couldn't be expected to grovel.

As the eldest sister-in-law, Shen Wanqing accepted the gifts from Hesheli's two wives and their younger brothers-in-law before returning the courtesy.

When the new bride entered the house, she had to prepare a gift for everyone in the household. After everyone in the house had exchanged greetings, Shen Wanqing glanced at Chunxian and Qiuwen behind her. A short while later, two burly old women carried in a box.

The gifts for visiting one's husband's family are not as simple as Shen Wanqing thought. A small embroidered pouch or two pairs of shoes would be enough to express one's feelings. These things are prepared in advance according to the social status and rules, and anything less is unacceptable.

For example, among the things prepared for the old lady, Tongjia, were a Buddha statue specially brought back from the Yellow Temple and a string of amber prayer beads, which alone cost nearly two hundred taels of silver.

As for the mother-in-law, Lady Niohuru, two old ginseng roots were prepared, each of superior quality to the tribute items, and were brought directly from Liaodong. There was also a sandalwood screen inlaid with various treasures, which was also transported from the south.

He Yi was on duty at the palace today and not present, so he and Shumulu's gifts were given together. Among them, a waist knife and a pair of coral earrings were the most eye-catching, neither of which were of the northern style. Especially the waist knife, which made Yu Lang look at it again and again, clearly coveting it.

Among those who were envious was her own aunt. She seemed like a very honest child, but for some reason she took a liking to the painted wooden horse that Shen Wanqing had prepared for the two boys of the second wife. Her eyes were always fixed on the wooden horse.

The two households inevitably bumped into each other from time to time, and as a result, their children also learned to compete. It wasn't that they had any real grudges; they played together regularly, but they just couldn't stand any trouble. No matter how big or small the matter, they would compete with each other.

Huizhong, the second son of the wife, was only six years old. Although he had started school, he was still very young. Children can't keep secrets. Seeing Fangyi staring at her rocking horse, he tugged at Shumulu's sleeve and hummed, "Mother, I want my eldest sister's treasure box."

After saying that, Huizhong deliberately snorted at Fangyi. Children are innocent yet worldly-wise. He had known for a long time that his mother (meaning grandmother in Manchu) favored him and his brother. Now, in front of so many people, his newlywed sister-in-law would definitely try to give him another treasure box.

“But there’s only one treasure box.” But Shen Wanqing wasn’t one to fall for that. Before Tongjia Shi, who had been watching her grandson’s tantrum with amusement, could speak, she interrupted, “You can’t just take your eldest sister’s treasure box, can you?”

Shen Wanqing's tone was full of coaxing a child, much like a caring older sister on a cartoon channel. But even a child knew not to agree to what she said; if they nodded and said they wanted it, they would get a beating when they got back to the West Courtyard.

"Then what should we do?"

"Why don't we wait for Huizhong's second brother to marry a sister-in-law to Huizhong? Then we'll have a new treasure box."

The eldest and second wives, living in the same mansion, still maintained their order of seniority even after separating. Yulang was the eldest, Tu Nan, the eldest son of the second wife, was the second son, Huizhong was the third, and the posthumous son of Erhe, named Pusa Bao, was the fourth son.

Fangyi is the eldest among the daughters. The second wife has had two concubine daughters in the past two years, neither of whom are yet a year old. At present, the family only calls them the second daughter and the third daughter, but they have not yet been named.

To outsiders, this arrangement makes them appear as a close-knit family. But behind closed doors, how could they truly be completely indifferent to closeness and kinship?

The child's brain is only so big. As soon as he heard Shen Wanqing say that his second brother was also going to marry his sister-in-law, his attention was immediately diverted. He then clung to his brother and kept asking when his sister-in-law would enter the house, and that he wanted a multi-treasure box.

However, the younger children didn't think much of it, but the adults all had their own thoughts.

Shumulu's expression remained unchanged, but the nanny serving behind her looked somewhat forced in her smile.

In the past two years, there have been rumors both inside and outside the family that the eldest son's wife is not up to the task, and even more rumors that the second son's wife is suppressing the eldest son's wife and has ulterior motives. Now, the newly married eldest daughter-in-law suddenly says this, making it hard not to think about it.

The old lady, Madam Tongjia, smiled. She had agreed to the marriage arranged by her second son to Yulang because the daughter-in-law was a practical and reliable person from the Shen family. However, she did not expect that the girl from the Shen family would be so unyielding in both temperament and personality.

Tongjia thought it was a good thing that her granddaughter-in-law was not giving in, especially when she turned to look at her eldest daughter-in-law sitting to the side, still as still as a stagnant pool. She vaguely felt that the future of the eldest branch of the family probably depended on Shen.

Shen Wanqing had no idea that she had been given such a heavy burden by heaven. She pretended to be obedient and ate lunch in the main courtyard before following Yulang out.

"What happened just now was because Fangyi and Huizhong were being unreasonable. They always want to win every argument, and they weren't targeting you."

"I know, they glanced at me several times during the meal, looking like they wanted to talk to me but didn't dare. It was quite amusing."

In fact, Shen Wanqing doesn't like children at all. In recent years, she has been even more decisive and efficient at work. She spends her days either mingling with the burly construction workers on the project or bowing and scraping to the client and partners.

The only opportunity I had to interact with children was when I bought Lego for the child of the leader in charge of approving the loan for the client, and I even specified that it was a limited edition.

Shen Wanqing ran to several shopping malls in one night to finally get her hands on this item. After she bought it, she sat on the square outside the mall, too exhausted to even be angry.

He was just being perfunctory at the moment, but little did he know that Yu Lang possessed an innate ability to see through people's hearts. At least for now, he could tell whether Shen Wanqing was telling the truth or lying.

On the way to the main courtyard, she took the initiative to ask how much she had given the matchmaker as a reward. In the main courtyard, she then distinguished between close and distant relatives in front of the whole family. Whether this Shen Shi was good or bad was still hard to say, but Yu Lang secretly stamped Shen Wanqing's name in his heart: This person is stingy.

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I forgot to send out red envelopes in the first chapter, so I'll make up for it in this chapter.

A red envelope will be given away in the comments section of this chapter. Thank you all for your support! [kissing emojis]