Chapter 978: Imperial Examination Essay: The Evil Mother-in-law (1)

"Auntie Wu, have you gotten used to your daughter-in-law since she married into our family? Is she a bit spoiled and complains about this and that? After all, she is the daughter of the owner of a fabric store in town. She must not be used to living in our countryside, right?" A sneaky middle-aged woman leaned close to Wu Shichu's ear and asked in a low voice, gossiping.

Wu Shichu glanced at her and said, "She is not a rich girl. Her family runs a small cloth shop. She can earn enough to make a living, which is a little better off than the average person, but it is impossible for her to be rich. As for whether she despises our family? If she despises us, why did she marry here?"

The woman nodded when she heard what she said, "You are right. If she disliked it, she would not have married into the family. But your Han Ji is a handsome man, and he is also a good student. He will soon pass the imperial examination. If your daughter-in-law marries him, she may have good luck in the future."

Wu Shichu didn't want to talk to her about his daughter-in-law anymore. He lifted the bamboo basket in his hand and said, "I have to go home and cook. I won't talk to you for now..."

"Hey! You're a mother-in-law now, why do you still have to cook?" the woman yelled behind him, but Wu Shichu pretended he didn't hear her and ignored her.

The original owner was a widow. Her husband fell ill and died early after squandering the family's money, leaving her and her son Han Ji to depend on each other. Fortunately, she was good at embroidery and could barely support herself and her son. However, due to years of embroidery, her health and eyesight were not very good at all when she was only in her thirties.

However, what made the original owner happy was that his son Han Ji had a great talent for studying. He passed the examination for a student at the age of fifteen. He is eighteen years old this year and is preparing to take the examination for a scholar. According to the teachers in his academy, he has a 70% to 80% chance of passing the examination, which is basically 80 to 90% certainty.

What made the original owner even happier was that Zhang Luoyi, the youngest daughter of a fabric shop owner in the town, took a fancy to Han Ji. The fabric shop owner wanted to take a gamble on Han Ji's bright future, so he sent someone to Han's house to discuss marriage.

The original owner had high expectations for her son, thinking that he would definitely pass the imperial examination and become a Jinshi, so her ideal daughter-in-law had to be at least the daughter of a high-ranking official. She would not consider girls from merchant families, so when the Zhang family sent someone to discuss marriage, she did not agree.

However, when his son grew up, he had his own ideas. Han Ji was very happy with the marriage that the original owner disliked. It turned out that when he was studying at the college in the town, he often went to the bookstore next to Zhang's fabric shop to take on some copying work to earn money to supplement his life. As he went there frequently, he naturally met the ladies from the fabric shop. So after a few visits, he and Zhang Luoyi fell in love with each other.

Han Ji was so surprised to learn that the beautiful woman also had feelings for him that he could not refuse. Therefore, he tried his best to persuade the original owner, and finally made the original owner agree to the marriage. He could not wait to marry Zhang Luoyi before the examination for the scholar.

It was the fourth day after Han Ji and Zhang Luoyi got married.

When Wu Shichu returned home, Zhang Luoyi and Han Ji were playing and laughing in his room. It was obvious that the young couple's newlywed life was very sweet.

However, they were sweet, but Wu Shichu felt a little irritable because it was already late, but the kitchen was still cold. It was obvious that they were busy with their sweetness and had no time to cook, so they were waiting for her to come back and cook.

Wu Shichu sneered and put the bamboo basket of vegetables on the cupboard. Then she left the kitchen without hesitation and went back to her room.

There is all kinds of food in her companion space, so no one can be hungry except her. Since no one else cooks, she won't cook either.

It’s not that Wu Shichu is petty or can’t stand seeing his son and daughter-in-law being so affectionate, but because in the original world’s plot, Han Ji and Zhang Luoyi naturally left all the housework to the original owner and never thought about helping the original owner share some of the burden.

Han Ji didn't do housework because he was spoiled by the original owner, because he was a man, so how could he do housework? Moreover, his main task was to study, so in order to let him concentrate on studying, the original owner took care of all the chores.

After Zhang Luoyi got married, she had no intention of helping share the housework because her parents' family had maids who did odd jobs. Her father ran a small fabric shop. Although he was not rich, he had no problem supporting one or two maids to do housework. So she had never done housework since she was a child.

So the original owner had to continue working as a maid. Because her daughter-in-law was newly married, she did not let her work right away. But as the days went by, her daughter-in-law had no self-awareness at all, and she could not stand it anymore, so she finally started to ask Zhang Luoyi to work one day.

This shout stirred up a hornet's nest. Zhang Luoyi said that she had never worked in her parents' home, so why did she have to work after getting married? Isn't marriage meant to enjoy happiness? Why did she have to suffer after getting married? So she cried and complained to Han Ji.

Han Ji felt sorry for his newlywed wife, and thought that if she, a girl who was raised in pampered by her family, had to work after marrying him, wouldn't it make him, as a husband, look useless? So he tactfully hinted to the original owner that Zhang Luoyi was the eldest daughter of the Yue family, who was pampered by everyone, and shouldn't suffer in our family, so it was better for the mother to suffer more for her son...

This is a typical example of forgetting one's mother after marrying a wife. Han Ji thought that it was just housework, how tiring could it be? Didn't his mother do it all the time? Why couldn't she do it after having a daughter-in-law? In addition, Zhang Luoyi's pillow talk made him complain about his own mother.

The original owner never expected that her son would not stand on her side. In order to support her son's studies, she did embroidery day and night, which damaged her body and eyes. But now her son, who was raised by her with great difficulties, does not understand her hard work at all. Instead, he thinks that she wants to show off her power as a mother-in-law and asks his daughter-in-law to work.

So the original owner, who was resentful, could not bear to blame her son, and she resented Zhang Luoyi, thinking that she was a vixen who caused her and her son to be alienated. Therefore, her attitude towards Zhang Luoyi changed drastically. Not only did she force her to work, she also ruined her reputation outside, saying that she was lazy and greedy, unwilling to do anything, and wanted her, as a mother-in-law, to serve her...

Zhang Luoyi had no choice but to learn how to do housework. Gradually, she changed from a young lady who had never done housework when she first got married to a young woman who had learned how to do laundry, cook, raise chickens and feed pigs. However, she did not do these chores voluntarily. Even if she did, she would complain to Han Ji, saying that her mother-in-law was bullying her.

But the original owner was not idle either. Sometimes she had to work in the fields, and sometimes she had to do embroidery with her almost deteriorating eyes to earn money. After all, the dowry that Zhang Luoyi brought was not enough for Han Ji to take the exam to become a scholar.

(End of this chapter)