Chapter 4 Fighting the Stepmother

Shen Guannian nodded in satisfaction: "You have always been sensible and obedient, which makes your father very gratified. After you marry into the Prince's mansion, you must continue to be so. You must be filial to your parents-in-law and, when necessary, speak well of me to the Prince. After all these years, your father is still only a fifth-rank official. It's time for him to be promoted."

Shen Guannian had said similar things at least eight or ten times, and Shen Wantang could recite them by heart, yet he kept repeating them, as if he was afraid that she wouldn't speak up for him after she married into the royal family.

Shen Wantang verbally agreed, but in her heart she didn't take it seriously.

In his previous life, Shen Guannian had given Shen Mingxuan the same advice, and Shen Mingxuan actually asked Prince Ning for a higher official position for Shen Guannian.

Prince Ning was furious. Not only did he refuse her request for an official position, he also confined her to her quarters for a month.

But Shen Mingxuan didn't think she was wrong at all. As soon as her confinement ended, she ran to Prince Ning's study and secretly looked at many confidential documents.

Then she copied these secrets down and had someone send them to Shen Guannian so that he could use them to get promoted.

However, the letter was intercepted by Prince Ning. After seeing what was copied on the letter, he was furious and immediately used family law to beat Shen Mingxuan until she was half dead.

After recovering from her injuries, Shen Mingxuan returned to the Shen family and cried, saying that she had only made a small mistake, so why was she punished with family law in public? She was the Crown Prince's wife, not some maid or servant. The Prince of Ning even beat his daughter-in-law; he was simply disrespectful to his elders.

Shen Wantang thought she was brainless. She had only been married to the Prince of Ning for a few days when she asked for an official position. She also sent the Prince of Ning's confidential information home, and even wrote it down in black and white, as if she was afraid that the Prince of Ning would not be able to find evidence. She really thought she had too much time on her hands.

If official positions were so easy to obtain, why didn't Shen Guannian ask Prince Ning for them himself? Why did he have to ask Prince Ning through his daughter? Didn't he consider how inappropriate it was for his daughter-in-law to talk to her father-in-law about this?

Shen Wantang would naturally not make the same mistakes as Shen Mingxuan. What does it matter whether Shen Guannian is promoted or not? What matters is that she herself can live well in the Prince's Mansion.

After accepting two more items, Shen Wantang left Shen Guannian's study.

She handed everything to Dujuan, and the two of them walked together towards their courtyard.

As I passed by Shen Mingxuan's courtyard, I happened to run into Shen Mingxuan seeing Qi Shi off.

Madam Qi stared at what Du Juan was holding, knowing that Shen Guannian had given some of his family's wealth to Shen Wantang again. She was burning with jealousy and said coldly, "What is Du Juan holding? Let me see it."

Du Juan looked at her cold expression and subconsciously took a step back.

Shen Wantang smiled at Du Juan and said, "Take the dowry that my father gave me and show it to my mother."

Du Juan then stepped forward and handed the four items to Madam Qi.

To everyone's surprise, after looking at it, Madam Qi immediately took away the two most valuable items: "The color of this bracelet is too old-fashioned for Wan Tang, and the style of this hairpin is also outdated. I'll get you two more that suit you."

Shen Wantang had suffered the same loss in her previous life. Back then, Qi Shi used the same excuse to take away several pieces of pure gold jewelry left to her by her birth mother, and in return, she only received worthless hollow silver hairpins. Moreover, Qi Shi took away five pieces and only returned three to her.

Having been given a second chance at life, Shen Wantang was determined not to suffer such a loss again; otherwise, her life would have been in vain.

She said calmly, "Mother, this is my dowry from Father. It is his heartfelt love for his daughter. How could I dislike it just because it is old-fashioned? Besides, I don't think it is old-fashioned at all. On the contrary, I like it very much."

As she spoke, she snatched the things from Madam Qi's hands: "I will naturally take good care of the things Father gave me, so I won't trouble Mother. However, if Mother has any suitable jewelry to give me as part of my dowry, I would be very happy. I will definitely tell Father later that Mother also gave me an extra dowry!"

Madam Qi looked at her in disbelief. The illegitimate daughter who used to be quiet, dull, and almost invisible had now dared to talk back to her and even dared to snatch things from her!

She was practically grinding her teeth to powder: "I have no dowry to give you. You're just a concubine's daughter. The dowry your father gave you already exceeds what a concubine's daughter should receive. Aren't you satisfied? Be careful not to overeat and kill yourself!"

Shen Wantang handed the things she had snatched back to Du Juan, saying calmly, "Although I am a concubine's daughter, I am marrying into the Ning Prince's Mansion. If my dowry is too meager, it will not only be my face that is lost, but the face of the entire Shen family. My sister is about to get married, so she is not afraid of losing face. I just don't know if Mother and my two brothers will be willing to marry into our Shen family as daughters-in-law if they lose face."

“If Mother gives me more dowry, you can have a good reputation, right? Of course, it doesn’t matter if you don’t give any. At most, people outside will gossip and say that you are stingy and mistreat your illegitimate daughter, and that you are unwilling to give her a dowry when she gets married.”

Madam Qi was very concerned about her reputation, and upon hearing this, her face turned extremely ugly: "Shut up! When have I ever mistreated you? When have I ever been stingy or mean? Don't you fear that your tongue will rot from talking such nonsense!"

Shen Wantang looked at her innocently: "Why is Mother angry? This is not what I said, it is what outsiders said. Please don't be angry. Outsiders don't know the truth, but I know that Mother has always been very good to me. I have everything that my sister has."

Qi snorted coldly and turned to leave.

Seeing her mother leave in anger, Shen Mingxuan looked at Shen Wantang with a gloomy expression: "Ever since you got engaged to the Ning Prince's mansion, my sister has become more and more arrogant. She even dared to scold you, Mother. I think you don't know your own limitations. You don't think that you'll have a powerful backer after marrying into the Ning Prince's mansion, do you?"

"Sister, you're overthinking it. I didn't think that way."

"Shen Wantang, don't be arrogant. The Prince Ning's Mansion will teach you a lesson. Don't come back crying then!"

Shen Wantang wanted to laugh, and she also wanted to say that the Liao family would teach Shen Mingxuan a lesson, and that she should just not cry then.

However, she didn't seem to need to remind her elder sister, since she wouldn't listen anyway. Right now, she was immersed in the immense joy of her rebirth, arrogantly proclaiming herself the chosen one and looking down on everyone.

Shen Wantang quickly returned to her courtyard with her maid. Just as she returned, Granny Yin, who was by Qi's side, arrived.

She tossed down a box and said sarcastically, "Second Miss, this is the dowry that Madam specially prepared for you. You must be careful when handling it. The hairpins inside are all newly made and very sharp. Don't prick your hand or blind your eye, or you won't be able to marry into the Ning Prince's Mansion. After all, the Ning Prince's Mansion would never want a blind person as his heir!"

Shen Wantang opened the box and saw that it indeed contained a lot of jewelry, both gold and silver. Clearly, the Qi family had really spent a lot of money to protect their reputation.