The old lady was exactly the old lady that Chen Afu had seen in the Yuqilin Silver Shop in Dingzhou—Chen Shiying’s mother.
The day before yesterday, Chen Ahfu specifically pulled Manager Luo aside to talk for a while, asking about Chen Shiying's family. Her reason was that only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you be on guard.
Manager Luo also thought so, and told everything he knew about the Chen Mansion without reservation.
Chen Shiying has one wife and two concubines. His wife, Jiang, gave birth to a daughter and a son. The daughter is the second child, named Chen Yuqing, thirteen years old. The son, Chen Yulan, is eleven years old and is also Chen Shiying's only son. Tang is a concubine and gave birth to a daughter, the eldest, named Chen Yuhui. Another concubine is Lu Yi Niang, who was once Jiang's maid and gave birth to a daughter, who is only seven years old this year, named Chen Yuxia.
Back then, it was Aunt Tang's father who took a fancy to Chen Shiying. When Chen Shiying was still in Shi'an Prefecture in the provincial capital, he found Chen Shiying's mother's cousin, who is now Zhao Lizheng.
I don't know what Tang's father and Zhao Lizheng said to Old Madam Chen, nor do I know how they forced Wang, but Wang actually agreed to go back to her parents' home. After returning to her parents' home, stepmother Ding forced Wang to get married within half a month. Wang not only agreed, but also took the initiative to choose Chen Ming, who was dying of illness... Fortunately, Wang chose Chen Ming, because Ding had already found the next one. If no one wanted Wang, she would be sold to a foot merchant in Lingnan...
I don't know how much money the Tang family gave to Lizheng Zhao and Ding, but in the following year, Lizheng Zhao's family bought 200 mu of land and successfully deposed the original Lizheng, and he became the Lizheng. Ding not only bought 10 mu of land, but also renovated the thatched house into a large tiled house...
More than half a month later, Chen Shiying returned home and found out that his mother had driven Wang away and verbally arranged a marriage with the Tang family. He was furious. He ran to Wang's parents' home to take her back, but Wang had already remarried. Chen Shiying couldn't do anything to his mother, but he angered the Tang family and was determined not to marry Tang. Chen's mother threatened to die, forcing her son to marry Tang.
At this time, Lord Jiang, the prefect of Xiangzhou in Hunan Province, asked Lord Wu, the magistrate of Sanqing County, to arrange a marriage for his second daughter Jiang Xiaoyu. When Chen's mother heard that it was the prefect's daughter, she was overjoyed and did not force her son to marry Tang, but agreed to marry Jiang's daughter instead.
After weighing the pros and cons, Chen Shiying also felt that marrying a girl from the Jiang family would be of great help to his career. Besides, Wang was already married to someone else, so he agreed to marry into the Jiang family.
Perhaps Chen's mother had done something to be controlled by the Tang family, so Chen Shiying finally agreed to take the Tang family's daughter as a concubine. The Tang family knew that they were a merchant family and could not compete with the government, so they compromised and agreed to let their daughter be a concubine, but she had to be a noble concubine.
So, the Chen family used the extra money to buy a four-story house in Sanqing County. Three months later, his beautiful wife and concubines came into the Chen family one after another... Later, Chen Shiying went to the capital to take the imperial examination, and surprisingly made a big splash, being selected by the emperor as the third place in the imperial examination...
Chen Ahfu said incredulously, "At that time, Chen Shiying was just a poor scholar. How could Lord Jiang tolerate him taking a concubine at the same time?"
Manager Luo continued, "I heard that Lord Jiang's second daughter, now Madam Chen, had two fiancés killed before. In addition, she was plain-looking and still hadn't been engaged at the age of seventeen. The whole family was very anxious. When Lord Chen was taking the imperial examination in Shi'an Mansion, Lord Jiang happened to be in Shi'an Mansion and met him. Afterwards, Lord Jiang asked his classmate Lord Wang to inquire about it. If Lord Chen was not married but his character was good, he would help to find a partner..."
It was also said that Mrs. Chen had a good reputation. Although she was plain-looking, she was dignified and virtuous. She treated the handsome and elegant Chen Tanhua as an equal, and the couple followed each other. Because the Chen family had few children, she took the initiative to give her maid to Mr. Chen as his concubine...
Mrs. Chen's father, Lord Jiang, is also a successful official. He now serves as the third-rank Minister of the Imperial Household Department in the capital.
…
Chen Afu gathered his wandering thoughts and walked towards the house.
Old Madam Chen wore a dark brown jacquard brocade long cotton gown, a pea green skirt, a pair of jasper hairpins in her grayish white hair, and a pine flower-colored pearl headband. Her thin lips were pressed into a line, which made her nasolabial lines appear deeper, and she looked more serious and powerful.
Below her sat a girl of about fourteen years old, who she had also seen in the silver shop. She should be the eldest daughter of the Chen family, born to Concubine Tang, the fourteen-year-old Chen Yuhui.
Sitting below Chen Yuhui was a woman with a head full of pearls and jade. This woman was about thirty years old and should be Aunt Tang.
Aunt Tang was not ugly, and could even be said to be quite pretty. Chen Yuhui, on the other hand, did not inherit the good looks of his parents, and looked especially like Old Lady Chen. He had a long face, small triangular eyes that tilted slightly upwards, and drooping mouth corners. Even with makeup and makeup on, and dressed up very brightly, he could barely be considered average looking.
There were two people standing behind the old lady, one was a woman in her forties and the other was a girl in her teens.
Chen Ahfu ignored the people standing there in a daze and asked Chen Ming directly, "Dad, are you okay?"
Chen Ming stood up and walked to Chen Afu, whispering, "Dad is fine, that..."
An extremely dignified voice sounded. It was Old Madam Chen. She frowned and said, "Ah Fu, you don't even know how to behave when you see me. How did Wang teach you?"
Chen Ahfu ignored the old lady and whispered to Chen Ming, "Don't be nervous, Dad. I'm here, nothing will happen." Then he whispered in his ear, "Where's my mother?"
Chen Ming glanced towards the bedroom, meaning that Wang was in the bedroom.
Chen Afu nodded. She didn't want Wang to be humiliated in front of Old Lady Chen.
Afterwards, Chen Ahfu turned his head to the old lady and said, "My parents taught me very well. Others praised me for my talent and beauty, as well as my kind heart and good character."
Hearing this, those people all curled their lips.
The old lady was so angry that she choked and was about to curse, but when she thought of the purpose of today, she suppressed her anger and said, "Afu, do you know who I am?"
Chen Ahfu said, "This is the first time I see you, how can I know who you are?"
The old lady continued, "No wonder you didn't know. This is the first time we, the grandparents and grandchildren, have met. I am the mother of Mr. Chen Shiying, the prefect of Dingzhou, and your grandmother. Ah Fu, you should call me grandma." After she finished speaking, the expression on her face became kind.
In her opinion, a girl from a poor family would be overjoyed when she first knew her origin, and would immediately kowtow to her and acknowledge her ancestors... When she saw the little girl coming in, she was also shocked that her appearance was 80% similar to her son. She was too impatient at the beginning. If such a good-looking girl was really paired with a peasant, it would be a pity to waste such a good chess piece.
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