After serving tea to Song Xia, Wu Chunying, the daughter of the Wu family, originally did not intend to pay any attention to Liu Fangniang, since Liu Fangniang was not a proper mother-in-law. However, under the watchful eyes of Zhou Yongli and Zhou Shuqing, she reluctantly served a cup of tea.

Liu Fangniang's face was sour and ugly. She was still unwilling to accept that her son had married such a woman.

After accepting the tea, Liu Fangniang forced a smile and took out a gold bracelet. Ever since Zhou Yongli took her things to cover the Liu family's losses that year, this gold bracelet was the only thing she could show off.

The gold bracelet wasn't as valuable as Song Xia's pure gold headdress, but it was superior in its novel design and exquisite craftsmanship. Zhou Yongli had painstakingly saved money from his monthly allowance to buy it.

Liu Fangniang felt she had given him ample respect, but the new bride, Wu Chunying, refused to accept the gift herself, only saying a dry "Thank you, Auntie" before having a maid accept it on her behalf.

Liu Fangniang was so angry that she almost couldn't catch her breath.

Zhou Shuqing stared intently at Wu Chunying, who flinched slightly before returning the glare without hesitation.

She was still feeling wronged. She was supposed to see Prince Huai, but instead, she was met by the illegitimate son of a vice minister. Her stepmother disliked the man she had married and didn't even give her a large dowry. It was Zhou Shuqing who ruined her life.

Hmph, she's just a concubine, do you expect her to be filial? There's no such rule.

And her mother-in-law is good too. She is both a county princess and the legitimate daughter of the Prince of Cheng's mansion. At least she can marry the eldest brother of the Zhou family. I heard that the eldest brother of the Zhou family is even more handsome than Zhou Shuqing, and has been praised by the Empress many times. His future is definitely not going to be bad.

Unlike Zhou Shuqing, a son of a concubine, who cannot inherit the Zhou family estate and whose future is uncertain, he is nothing more than a scholar despite being called a young prodigy.

So what if her younger sister married Prince Huai? She's just a concubine; how could she possibly control Prince Huai? It's quite possible that the brother and sister plotted against her because they were afraid she would steal Prince Huai's favor after entering the palace.

Wu Chunying grew angrier the more she thought about it. She always felt that she had made a mistake marrying Zhou Shuqing, so she kept causing trouble. She didn't dare to provoke Song Xia, so she went to torment Liu Fangniang and Zhou Shuqing.

On one occasion, Zhou Shuqing couldn't help but hit her, and Wu Chunying cried and went to Song Xia, telling her all about how Zhou Shuqing had never consummated their marriage. She loudly proclaimed that Zhou Shuqing had tricked her into marriage, that he was impotent, and that he wasn't a real man.

Upon hearing this, Liu Fangniang, who had rushed over, fainted from anger again, and Zhou Yongli and Zhou Shuqing's faces also turned dark.

Being scolded by his wife for being impotent would be a great humiliation for any man. If Song Xia hadn't been there, Zhou Shuqing probably would have really hit her again.

"Shut up!" Zhou Yongli hissed through gritted teeth.

Wu Chunying was startled, but then she retorted, "Where did I say something wrong? How can your Zhou family bully people like this? I've been married into this family for so long, and he won't even come into my room. If he can't have sex, what else could it be?"

Song Xia pretended to be hesitant and advised, "Although Chunying's words are a bit harsh, ultimately it is still Shuge'er's fault. If word gets out, it will probably sound even worse."

Immediately, Wu Chunying seemed to have been struck by her words, and raised her head to say, "If you dare to wrong me, I will go to the streets and make a scene, and let the whole capital come and judge who is at fault and who has a problem."

Zhou Yongli and Zhou Shuqing's faces darkened even more, especially Zhou Yongli, whose hands were trembling with anger.

Shu-ge'er is his most valued child, how could he marry such a woman? So rude and vulgar, she's going to ruin Shu-ge'er's life!

"Shu-ge'er, why don't you apologize to Chunying? This was originally just a problem between you two. If it gets out, won't our Zhou family become a laughing stock? It doesn't matter to the adults in the manor, and it doesn't matter if Yuqing is implicated, since he doesn't want to get married right now. But if it tarnishes the reputation of Consort Zhou of the Prince Huai's manor, that would be terrible."

Zhou Shuqing's anger was instantly dampened, as if doused with cold water, while Wu Chunying became even more fearless.

Hmph, if anyone dares to treat her badly in the future, she'll make a scene and see who's more aggressive. Anyway, she doesn't care about the Wu family's reputation.

Zhou Shuqing took a deep breath: "I apologize to you. It was my mistake to hit you. I promise that this will never happen again."

Wu Chunying was smug. Seeing that Song Xia didn't say anything more, she didn't press the matter further. Anyway, there was still a long road ahead. She had come to realize that her father-in-law, Zhou Yongli, was just a paper tiger. His words carried no weight in the household. As for Zhou Shuqing, she was even less capable. She could only get her monthly allowance if she wanted to earn some money. Aunt Fang and the old lady were the same; they couldn't afford any subsidies.

Therefore, in the entire household, only the mother-in-law was the one who truly held the reins, and Zhou Shuqing and the others did not have a good relationship with her.

Not only are they useless, but they can't even pretend to be well-behaved, resulting in no real benefits for the community.

"Go back now. You two should talk to each other properly from now on and never make a scene like this again. There are few heirs in the household. You should hurry up and add an heir to the family."

Wu Chunying curtsied and said, "Thank you, Mother, for upholding justice for your daughter-in-law. I will remember your teachings."

Song Xia observed that Zhou Shuqing's expression was as if he had swallowed a fly, which was understandable. Zhou Shuqing had always been extremely arrogant and had high standards. He was already frustrated by being forced to marry Wu Chunying, and to make him have a child with Wu Chunying would only make him feel worse.

But if he's not in pain, where will she find amusement?

When you were eating human blood buns in your past life, I didn't see you feel the slightest bit of remorse.

"Oh, and don't forget to call a doctor for Aunt Liu."

Aunt Meng made sarcastic remarks: "I wonder if Aunt Liu's illness every few days is real or not. Maybe she's doing it on purpose so she won't have to serve the madam."

"Shut up, what's it to you now?" Zhou Yongli was already annoyed enough by his son and daughter-in-law's affairs, so he was about to explode at the slightest provocation.

But Aunt Meng wasn't afraid of him. She had lost her child, so why shouldn't she be allowed to throw a tantrum?

“Master is so biased. Even though I lost a child, I didn’t suffer the same fate as Aunt Liu.”

When it comes to the unborn child, Zhou Yongli really has nothing to say, but now that Shuge'er and Fangniang are living like this, how can he blame them?

Why can't he just live in peace in this backyard?

Zhou Yongli suddenly remembered the past, when Song Xia didn't care much about his relationship with Fang Niang. What was the reason for this change?

If he had properly restrained his mother and Fangniang back then, and made Shuge and Yingjie more respectful to Song Xia, would Song Xia have not changed his attitude?

Or did Song Xia really find out something? But how could that be? If his mother hadn't let it slip, even he wouldn't have noticed.