Originally, Zhou Dashan kept Yao Shi locked up at home and forbade her to come out, but Liu Shi said that she had found a girl to serve Zhou Jing'an, so she secretly ran away from home.
Unexpectedly, Ning Huan's words hit the nail on the head, and Yao Shi was immediately furious.
"I've always said you're ill-mannered. I'm your mother-in-law, and you didn't even offer me a glass of water when you came. Instead, you started lecturing me, saying I should be locked up at home!"
"No wonder the four little ones are so ill-mannered. They've all grown up badly because they've been around their mother like you."
Ning Huan ignored Yao's words and stared at her coldly: "Mother, you don't need to care whether I'm well-mannered or not. I just want to ask, are you ever going to stop sending women away?"
Now, not only Yao Shi, but even Liu Shi standing to the side was embarrassed, and Lü Yan's face turned completely red.
"My husband's leg hasn't healed yet, and Mother is already rushing to send one woman after another to his side?"
They didn't expect Ning Huan to say it so bluntly. She should have been more restrained in front of the four little ones.
Seeing that Lü Yan's face was not good, Liu Shi quickly spoke up and said, "Sister-in-law, what you said is too harsh. Mother and I only thought of finding someone to help you take care of Jing'an because we felt sorry for you because you were working so hard at home.
"Taking care of me in bed, right?"
Ning Huan asked coldly, "Then you've really gone to great lengths, sister-in-law, to find such a beautiful concubine for my husband."
Lü Yan was mortified. Her already flushed face turned even redder, resembling a ripe tomato. She then covered her face with her hands and began to cry.
She had never heard such harsh words before. After all, she was a young woman who had never been married and had been pampered by her family since childhood.
Because she was quite pretty, many men would rush to her side whenever they saw her. Ever since she came of age, matchmakers would come to her door every few days, so she didn't have to worry about getting married or marrying a bad man.
If it weren't for Liu Shi constantly telling her how good and capable Zhou Jing'an was, she wouldn't have even considered it.
Along the way, Yao kept saying that although Zhou Jing'an now had a wife, as long as she could get together with Zhou Jing'an, after that woman was kicked out, Lü Yan would definitely enter the family as the legal wife.
That's why Lü Yan was somewhat tempted, but she didn't expect that the four children of this family would chase her away as soon as they saw her, and that her daughter-in-law was also quite formidable, saying such harsh things.
She choked out, "I didn't come here to be a concubine, don't go too far with your words!"
Ning Huan never expected that this girl named Lü Yan would have the courage to talk back to her.
"Do you mean I misunderstood you? You're not going to be a concubine, so you're here really to help take care of the household?"
Lu Yan hesitated and didn't speak again. Ning Huan then looked at Yao Shi and Liu Shi: "Mother, sister-in-law, is she here to help?"
Madam Yao rolled her eyes and nodded, saying, "What else could we be doing? We've already told you you've misunderstood us. Your words are so rude; you're corrupting the children!"
"What an ill-mannered bunch they are!"
Ning Huan ignored Yao's mutterings and simply said to Lü Yan, "According to my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, you came to our house to help out, right?"
"However, it's not impossible for you to stay and help with the work, but you can't enter this room without permission, you can't talk to my husband, and you can't have any contact with him. He doesn't like strangers."
“You don’t need to say anything about being kind enough to take care of him. My husband doesn’t need it. I can take care of him myself.”
Before Lü Yan could say anything, Ning Huan interrupted her, saying, "I'm doing this for your own good. Think about it, you're a young woman who hasn't married yet, and you're taking care of a bedridden man all day long. How much gossip will that cause?"
"If this matter ruins your chances of marriage, and you can't get married, will you have to ask my husband to take you as a concubine?"
Lu Yan was taken aback by Ning Huan's question. She continued, "So you can stay, but you'll have to do chores like carrying water, chopping wood, and cleaning the yard..."
The four little ones standing nearby chimed in, "You still have to wash our clothes!"
"And the piles of weeds in the yard need to be moved too!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Lü Yan's expression changed instantly, and she turned to look at Liu Shi and Yao Shi.
On the way, they only said she would do some servant work, but they didn't say that she was doing all the heavy work.
Besides, she had to think about it many times before she reluctantly agreed to serve him. Serving him closely every day would bring her closer to Zhou Jing'an. In time, wouldn't she be able to stop Zhou Jing'an from caring about her?
But now, according to Ning Huan's idea, she doesn't even have a chance to get close to Zhou Jing'an. Instead, she's being forced to do rough and tiring work. What's the point of staying here? Is she going to be a fool?
When Liu saw Lü Yan turn to look at her without speaking, she knew the girl was definitely unhappy, so she quickly whispered to Yao, "Mother, say something..."
Madam Yao naturally understood, and she said in a sharp voice, "Yan Yan is such a kind young girl, coming to your door to do chores and serve you."
"You're really not being polite, making her do so much heavy work. Do you think that's appropriate?"
Ning Huan really didn't have time to waste with these three people, and somewhat impatiently said in a cold voice, "Then what do you think is the appropriate thing to do, Mother?"
"Does Mother expect me to serve her the best food and drink all day long, keeping her feet on the ground and her body in bed the whole time? Would that satisfy her?"
Ning Huan turned her gaze to Lü Yan, staring intently at her: "Since you said you came to help with the work, what are you doing here if you're not going to work? Are you dreaming?"
Each of her words left the three speechless, and Lü Yan felt extremely uncomfortable. If she had known that Zhou Jing'an's wife was so sharp-tongued, she would never have come over.
Just as Yao was about to unleash a torrent of abuse, she remembered that if Zhou Dashan found out, she would be in deep trouble. So she patiently restrained herself and said to Zhou Jing'an with a wronged expression, "Son, look at your wife..."
"Your mother feels sorry for you. She kindly found a girl to help you, but look at what kind of things your wife has made her do?"
"This is clearly making things difficult for you. What is this called? This is called jealousy! You said that after you recover, you will definitely continue to take the imperial examinations. When you become an official, you will inevitably take concubines and young wives."
"Your wife is so jealous. What will it look like if she tries to stop you from taking a concubine? You should divorce a woman like that. You shouldn't keep her around!"
Hearing that Yao was trying to persuade Zhou Jing'an to send his mother away, the four little ones couldn't sit still.
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