Chapter 205 How Much Do You Add to Qingyan's Wedding Dowry?
Seeing that the old lady was making an exorbitant demand, Su Chengniang said without hesitation:
"Madam is joking. It's not like I'm ignoring Qingyan's dowry. Such matters are always the responsibility of the matriarch of the household. Isn't Qiao Shi in charge of our household?"
I thought that since Madam Qiao was preparing a dowry for her own daughter, she would naturally do it wholeheartedly and there shouldn't be any problems. But from what the old lady said, Qingyan's dowry wasn't generous enough. Could it be that Madam Qiao didn't try her best?
As Su Chengniang spoke, she looked at Qiao Shi with a mixture of suspicion and questioning.
Qiao's eyelids twitched under her gaze, and she quickly denied it:
"How could that be? I have done my best to provide Qingyan's dowry; sister, Mother was referring to the fact that you, as the legal mother, should provide additional dowry for Qingyan, not anything else."
"After all, my elder sister is the legal mother; it's only right and proper for her to contribute to her daughter's dowry. Could it be that my elder sister is unwilling to provide those things Mother mentioned?"
Qiao didn't want Su Chengniang to get sidetracked like that.
Su Chengniang looked at Qiao Shi and said bluntly, "The old lady is getting old and a little confused. Are you confused too, Qiao Shi? If I really took out what the old lady just mentioned, it would be enough for several daughters of the Earl's Mansion to get married."
Are you implying that the Earl's mansion is so impoverished that even marrying off a daughter requires the stepmother's personal savings?
Upon hearing Su Chengniang's words, the expressions of the group immediately changed. Madam Zhang said, "What nonsense are you spouting? Bah! Don't curse our Earl's Mansion. We're just asking you to take out some money to add to Qingyan's dowry. What kind of talk is this?"
Su Chengniang: "In families like ours, since ancient times, the dowry of a concubine's daughter has been paid by the family. As the legal mother, the amount of dowry she contributes is always traceable. It's not like I have to give whatever amount you ask for; that kind of logic doesn't make sense anywhere."
Besides, I don't have control over the household affairs of the Earl's Mansion. If there are any problems with Qingyan's dowry, you can only ask the person in charge of the dowry. As for me, the legal mother, how much I give to my illegitimate daughter is entirely up to me. Even if I don't contribute any money, no one can say anything against me.
However, as her legal mother, I should certainly offer her a dowry as a token of my appreciation. I had planned to present it to her in person when they came to Mingyue Residence to pay their respects to me, their legal mother, but unfortunately, they haven't come even once in so long.
After she finished speaking, she looked at the two sisters with loving eyes.
Yu Qingyan lowered her head quickly, feeling guilty, while her teammate Yu Qingying muttered resentfully:
"Paying respects to you? Dream on!"
The sound wasn't loud, but I heard everything I needed to hear.
Madam Qiao was still angry that Su Chengniang kept calling her a concubine's daughter, but she was startled by her youngest daughter's words and quickly scolded her:
"Shut up! What nonsense are you spouting?"
After saying that, she turned to Su Chengniang with a smile and explained, "The child is ignorant, it's all my fault for spoiling her too much, please don't mind, sister."
Su Chengniang's face also turned cold: "Qingying is almost of marriageable age, and can be considered a young lady now. Such unrestrained speech is really unruly."
I don't care that she disrespects me, her legal mother, but if a daughter is raised like this, won't she bring shame to my Nanping Marquis's family when she marries into her husband's family?
And then there's Qingyan. She's going to marry into the Cheng'an Prince's Mansion. The rules there are definitely stricter than in our Earl's Mansion. In my opinion, the most important thing right now is to quickly hire a good governess for the two maids and give them a proper lesson in the rules of aristocratic families, so they won't embarrass themselves in the future.”
These words made Yu Qingyan almost turn pale and cry, while Yu Qingying's face turned bright red.
After all, it was the sisters who broke the rules first, and they couldn't find any words to refute them at this moment.
With a stern face, Madam Qiao scolded Yu Qingying, "You ill-mannered brat! Has all the upbringing I gave you since you were little been wasted? Hurry up and admit your mistake to Madam."
Yu Qingying dared not say anything more, biting her lip as she knelt before Su Chengniang and whispered:
"Your daughter knows she was wrong, please punish her, Mother."
Su Chengniang waved her hand magnanimously: "Get up. It's good that you know you're wrong. I'll just say one thing: a young lady must be careful with her words and actions. She should weigh what she should and shouldn't say, lest people laugh at my daughter for being ill-mannered."
Yu Qingying was so scolded that she couldn't even lift her head.
Madam Zhang, unable to bear it any longer, said to Su Chengniang, "Alright, both girls have been carefully raised since childhood, and their manners are excellent. It's just that they've encountered someone without manners that they've become like this..."
"Mother!"
Qiao hurriedly interrupted, and then gave Zhang a wink. Zhang realized that important matters were more important.
So he said to Su Chengniang, "Alright, everyone, say less. Su, we were just talking about the dowry. I think you should bring out the dowry for Qingyan as soon as possible, so you won't be caught off guard later."
Madam Qiao: "Yes, sister. When Qingci was married from the Earl's Mansion, it was a real ten-mile-long red procession. We didn't treat her badly in the slightest. It's just that the dowry was originally prepared for Qingyan, so now that it's Qingyan's turn to get married, we can't gather the things that should be there. Sister should make some compensation to Qingyan for the sake of the two children. Outsiders will praise you for being kind and compassionate, and impartial."
Su Chengniang: "Since it was Qingyan's dowry, why didn't we just let Qingyan marry into the family in the first place? Qiao Shi, are you going to argue with me about the substitute marriage back then?"
Mr. Qiao: ...
She absolutely dared not respond to that, so she could only look at Madam Zhang.
Madam Zhang: "Alright, let bygones be bygones and let's not bring it up again. Just tell me how much you contributed to Qingyan's dowry when she got married."
Su Chengniang turned to Yingge and instructed her, "Go and fetch the box that I put on the antique shelf in the room."
Yingge accepted the order and left.
Zhang and Qiao exchanged a glance, unsure if Su was really that easy to talk to.
Madam Zhang: "That's right. A family should live in harmony. This time it's Qingyan's wedding. In the future, when Qingyun gets married and Qingying gets married, you should use your own money to subsidize them. If the children can have a grand wedding, you, as the aunt, will also have a respectable face when you go out."
Su Chengniang: "Mother is right. I will pay what is rightfully mine according to the rules, and contribute to Qingyan's dowry—"
Su Chengniang deliberately dragged out her words, causing Zhang Shi and the others to crane their necks to wait for her to continue.
Su Chengniang smiled gently: "The Lord has seen it and is very satisfied."
Zhang: ...
Yingge returned quickly, carrying a rather large vermilion wooden box.
Yingge presented the box to Su Chengniang, who, without looking up, gestured for it to be placed on the table in front of Zhang Shi.
Qiao stepped forward and opened it in front of everyone. Inside was a complete set of red gold headdress, including hairpins, hair ornaments, hair combs, hair ornaments, hair clips, earrings, necklaces, and even a pair of heavy red gold bracelets inlaid with small diamonds.
The entire set of jewelry emitted a faint metallic luster under the light, and it looked quite substantial and valuable.
Such a dowry would be considered a grand gesture for the stepmother of a wealthy family.
When a matriarch of a noble family adds to the dowry of her illegitimate daughter, it's usually just a matter of making a show by throwing out a pair of bracelets or a hairpin. So, even if Su Chengniang only took out any piece of jewelry from this box as part of her dowry, logically no one could say anything wrong with it.
However, the contents of this entire box of gold jewelry were far below what Zhang and the others had expected, so Zhang was immediately aroused again upon seeing it.
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