Lu Lingjiao sat down next to Lu Linglin, her words full of pride: "This is what my mother-in-law gave me. Are you jealous, sister? If you ask me, we should plan for ourselves. Otherwise, who are you going to marry?"
"We are both concubines. To put it nicely, we are the daughters of a marquis's mansion. To put it bluntly, who would take you seriously? You are not even as good as the daughter of a fourth-rank official."
"The other person's father is a fourth-rank official, yet he can marry a marquis as his equal wife. So, who are you, the daughter of a marquisate, going to marry in the future? A marquisate of equal status? Who would be interested in a daughter born out of wedlock? Marrying up is out of the question. Marrying down? Who are you going to marry?"
"A poor scholar, or a poor scholar? After ten or eight years, can you pass the imperial examination and become a Jinshi? Even if you become a Jinshi, when will you be able to make a name for yourself? By then, you should not make wedding clothes for others. I will marry the third young master of the Chang'an Marquis's Mansion. With the help of the Marquis's Mansion, we can have enough food and clothing. How wonderful it is."
"Or, sister, do you want to marry someone else and become a stepmother? Since ancient times, being a stepmother has been difficult, sister..."
"Don't bother me about that, sister." Lu Linglin frowned as she listened to her words. When she couldn't bear it any longer, she interrupted her, "As a daughter-in-law, you should still serve your mother-in-law well."
Lu Lingjiao snorted softly, thinking Lu Linglin was jealous. She smiled and said, "My mother-in-law treats me very well, so don't worry, sister. As soon as I got married, my mother-in-law handed over all the affairs of our courtyard to me. And now, I'm the only daughter-in-law in the mansion. I'm afraid that soon, my mother-in-law will let me share the burden of the family and let me run the household."
Lu Linglin quietly watched Lu Lingjiao talking nonsense. She grew up in the Pingyang Marquis Mansion. Didn’t she know who would be the housekeeper and who would need the financial support?
If she were to go to a good in-law family, they would only let the daughter-in-law run the household instead of providing financial support. But is Wei from the Chang'an Marquis Mansion a good person?
If he was a good person, why would he force his original wife's son away and hastily marry his stepdaughter to a businessman?
Lu Linglin lowered her eyes and smiled: "Then congratulations, sister, on marrying into a good family."
"Hmph." Lu Ling snorted proudly, thinking she had hidden her dissatisfaction very well. "Sister, no matter how envious you are, you can't envy me. After all, my husband is hard to find in this world."
Lu Linglin couldn't bear to listen any longer. Who had said she was going to marry the Second Young Master? She looked at Lu Lingjiao's smug look and poured cold water on her without mercy: "Have you finished counting your dowry, sister?"
The bride's dowry is dried in the sun, and she has to count her own dowry after she gets married. Naturally, she has to carefully compare the dowry contributed by each family, as well as what the dowry from her parents' home is, and whether anyone has stolen the dowry while it is being dried in the sun.
But there was a deeper meaning behind what Lu Linglin said.
After all, more than half of Lu Lingjiao's dowry came from the Chang'an Marquis' Mansion, and these betrothal gifts had to be returned to the Chang'an Marquis' Mansion! In other words, these twenty-two loads of betrothal gifts were lent by the Chang'an Marquis' Mansion to the Pingyang Marquis' Mansion to save face.
Since it was a face-saving gift for someone, and it was Wei's first time to marry a daughter-in-law, the betrothal gift prepared was very substantial.
When these betrothal gifts arrived at the Lu family, they were divided into 44 parts. At the bottom of each part, there was a dowry prepared by Old Lady Lu. The upper part was the bright and beautiful betrothal gifts, and the lower part was the makeshift dowry, which was only for the purpose of looking good when the dowry was displayed.
Lu Lingjiao had no right to interfere with her own dowry. She only saw the dowry list and thought it was very generous. But on the wedding day, after the betrothal gifts from the upper-class Chang'an Marquis Mansion were taken away, she saw only a dowry with a bright name but very shabby items, which made her cry.
Therefore, that night, Young Master Qian San did not stay in her room, but went to the maid's room. The next day, the maids who served Young Master Qian San came to serve her tea, saying that Young Master Qian San had made them concubines.
These concubines have been serving Young Master Qian since they were young, and they also help him understand the human affairs, so their status is very special.
Lu Lingjiao was reluctant and wanted to send them away. After a while, she would send her own maidservant as his concubine.
Young Master Qian went straight to call Wei without saying anything. On the second day of Lu Lingjiao's wedding, before she even recognized her relatives, she was punished to kneel in the ancestral hall.
Now, whenever she thought about it, Lu Lingjiao's knees would ache. She resisted the urge to touch her knees and rolled her eyes at Lu Linglin: "Sister, you really bring up something irrelevant!"
She threw the handkerchief away and left, then turned around and went to Old Lady Lu again, holding her arm and acting coquettishly: "Grandma, my sister bullied me."
Everyone here is from the Lu family, so Old Lady Lu wasn't very polite to Lu Lingjiao. She pulled her arm back and said coldly, "You'll be someone else's wife, someone else's daughter-in-law in the future. You need to be mature in your words and actions. Don't act like a little girl and get jealous at home!"
"What you should do now is to remember that you are a daughter of the Lu family. Only when the Lu family is well can you be well. Look at your brother. He is now in a high position and has great power. No matter how dissatisfied the Chang'an Marquis' Mansion is, they dare not neglect you. So, do you know what you have to do?"
Lu Lingjiao nodded heavily. "I will make them respect my brother and me! My brother has given me the confidence to walk all over my husband's family! Grandma, don't worry, no one will dare to bully me."
Old Lady Lu glared at her, "Nonsense! Is that what I meant? Your brother is respected by many people, so how can the Chang'an Marquisate be left out? I want you to remember that if there are any good things happening to the people who come and go in the Chang'an Marquisate, don't forget to support your brother."
Lu Lingjiao only realized now that she was being asked to take charge of the future of her brothers at home!
Seeing her dazed expression, Old Lady Lu sighed heavily and said, "Your second and third brothers' jobs were arranged by their wives' families. This is enough to bring shame to our Pingyang Marquisate. Naturally, we can't let the wives' families contribute to the future of the seventh and tenth brothers."
"Otherwise, people will think that we, the Pingyang Marquis's Mansion, are using the name of marrying a wife to actually marry into the family."
Old Lady Lu was right. The second and third sons of the Lu family treated their father-in-law and mother-in-law more affectionately than their own aunt. In the eyes of these two children, Old Lady Lu was like a blade of grass by the roadside, and they wouldn't even glance at her unless necessary.
If the situation did not allow it, these two people could bring their aunt and live directly in their father-in-law's house.
Lu Lingjiao's face was very unhappy: "Seventh Brother and Tenth Brother, aren't they still young? They are still studying. Why do they need to find a job?"
Old Lady Lu snorted coldly: "Are you trying to shirk responsibility?"
"Granddaughter doesn't dare." Lu Lingjiao quickly lowered her head.
Old Lady Lu tapped her forehead and lectured her, "Look at your mother-in-law. She made plans for her two sons long ago, and then she just threw them to your eldest brother. Your seventh brother and tenth brother have met their end in the past two years. If they don't do well in the imperial examinations, do they have to study for the rest of their lives?"
"You should find a way to get them jobs, or see if your mother-in-law has any connections and find a good academy for them to study. If they pass the imperial examination and become Jinshi with their own abilities, then you, as their older sister, will be greatly honored!"
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