"What are you thinking?" Shui Qing really wanted to ask, "You're so shameless!" But she eventually changed to a more polite way of asking.

"But...but I gave her the position of the principal wife and the power to manage the household. These should have been Rou Rou's original roles." The pained expression on Ling Ce's face disappeared as he hurriedly explained.

How did it become his responsibility? He resisted, but he just didn't succeed.

But Hu Shuiqing's words made some sense. The Zhu family might have also objected, but since it was an arranged marriage, she, as a woman, couldn't resist...

Shui Qing was even angrier when she heard this. Besides, she couldn't stop now that things had come to this point, so she decided to go all the way and continued, "In your understanding, is being the principal wife and having the power to manage the household a favor to a woman?"

"But if Lingran's mother doesn't marry you and instead marries someone else, she won't be the principal wife? As far as I know, none of the families are in dire straits; they don't need their daughters to become someone's concubine."

Ling Ce shook his head. In fact, although his father-in-law was a military general, he had made great military achievements. Unless his daughter married into the royal family, she could not become a concubine in any household.

When my grandfather proposed the marriage, my father-in-law agreed because he valued the Ling family's scholarly tradition and his own character.

"Having power in the household sounds good, but it means getting up early every day to distribute cards, check accounts, and make all the decisions, big and small, inside and outside the home. Making decisions means worrying and working hard. If the husband and wife work together, it's okay, at least they can make life better."

But her husband wasn't on her side, and he had a 'true love' outside. Wouldn't that be exhausting? One of them was a man who worked every day, dealt with a lot of social obligations, and served his parents-in-law morning and night, setting rules for them... while the other could just be all lovey-dovey with his sweetheart and live a quiet life in the courtyard. If you had to choose, which would you choose?" Shuiqing asked rhetorically.

Ling Ce wavered.

Rou Rou often said that for him, she could give up the title of the principal wife and suffer the injustice of staying outside. She and his child could not enter the ancestral hall. He only saw Rou Rou's grievances. After hearing what Hu Shuiqing said today, it seems that he thinks that the favor and face given to the Zhu family is not so good.

It can hardly be considered a blessing.

If this is not a blessing for the Zhu family, then haven't he been indebted to them all these years?

But, "Why didn't she say so? She must want to and value the Ling family's social standing, otherwise she wouldn't be staying with the Ling family!"

Shui Qing was furious when she heard this: "Don't you know that a woman has no family after she gets married? If she doesn't stay in the Ling family, where else can she go? Besides, she already has a child."

Even in China, many parents would rather die than agree to their daughters getting a divorce, considering it a shameful thing; how much more so here!

Ling Ce wasn't naive or ignorant; he just didn't care. He kept making excuses for himself and his childhood sweetheart. After all, it's hard to admit your own mistakes, but it's easy to shift the blame to others and make it all their fault!

The forced marriage was due to his grandfather, his inability to resist was because he was filial, and then there was the problem with Ling Ran's biological mother, who shouldn't have married him.

He and his childhood sweetheart were a pair of star-crossed lovers, separated by fate and only able to be together after his wife died.

No wonder Ling Ran looked down on his father, who was a second-rank official, and was willing to give up everything to escape. If it were her, she wouldn't have looked down on him either!

He's just an irresponsible and incompetent man, only he holds a high position.