The second master was so angry that Li's appetite was getting bigger and bigger. She thought that the fifth-rank official was the big white cabbage. He was not polite and slapped her several times.
He beat Li because Li wanted to ruin Chu Zhen's marriage with the fourth son of the Liu family. She went out and said a lot of bad things about the Liu family, which made the Liu family angry and wanted to cancel the marriage. Later, it was only after the second master begged the third wife to go to the Liu family to apologize that the Liu family endured the anger. That matter has not been settled yet, and she came to talk about this matter again, and she even dared to say that the eldest brother was selfish. Now, even the second master knows that his eldest brother is suspected by the emperor, and Li dared to make such a request.
Li was already feeling uncomfortable, thinking that Chu Zhen was the legitimate daughter of the Marquis's mansion, and Chu Ling'an was the legitimate son of the Marquis's mansion. One had not found a good marriage, and the other had a bad future. Not to mention that they were far inferior to the legitimate sons and daughters of the first and third wives, they were even worse than a bastard son of their family.
Now that the Second Master hit her, she let out all the anger she had been suppressing in her heart, and fought with the Second Master. The Second Master lost an arm, and his body was hollowed out by women. Li was so angry that she scratched the Second Master's face with many bloody marks in a few rounds.
The second master was so angry that he yelled, "Go away, go back to your parents' home, I want to divorce you!"
Li was frightened when she heard this, and she immediately stopped, crying and begging for forgiveness from the Second Master, and was willing to give him two thousand taels of silver so that he could buy a popular girl in Yihonglou that he had long admired, and then buy a house to settle down in. Neither the old Marquis Chu nor the Marquis Chu would allow a prostitute to enter the mansion as a concubine.
In the past ten years when Li was in charge of the mansion, she had embezzled more than 50,000 taels of silver, all of which she used as her dowry. Before that, the second master had spent more than 10,000 taels of silver on her, and she had also added some real estate for herself and her son and daughter, so she now had more than 30,000 taels left.
When the Second Master heard this, he stopped talking about divorcing Li. Most of the money Li had embezzled was spent by the Second Master, so even if the Second Master was angry with Li, he still tolerated her until now.
This matter was heard by the old marquis, Chen Afu and others. The old marquis was so angry that he called the second master to scold him.
Seeing his son's clown face, and thinking of Xiao Wushuang, whom he bought as a concubine, the old marquis was furious and slapped him twice. He gritted his teeth and said, "You and your wife are both troublesome. Forget it, forget it, wait until the third son and Xuan'er come back, and then we will split the family."
The second master was so frightened that he knelt on the ground and said, "How can the sons divide the family property while their father is still alive? This is unfilial. Besides, the court has a law that states that the family property cannot be divided while the parents are still alive."
He said so, but he was eager to split the family. Although the eldest branch would get the most, the second branch would also get a lot. My father lived a self-disciplined life and only had three sons, unlike other families who had a lot of legitimate sons and illegitimate sons, so there would not be much left after the division. If my father had pity on my poorest branch and given me some private money, the family property I would get would not be less than 100,000 taels. This money would be in my hands, and I could spend it however I wanted, and I would not have to suffer the anger of this woman just to get a little money from Li.
The old marquis knew his son's thoughts and said helplessly, "Although the court has laws, there are also exceptions and precedents. When the third son and his family come back, he will move to the Xijin Marquis's mansion. He is the Xijin Marquis, and the court awarded him a mansion, which is his home. Xuan'er will inherit the title, and the eldest son and I will live in the countryside. It's not good for your family to live in my nephew's house forever." He waved his hand and said, "You go, if you don't appear in front of me, I can live a few more days."
After the second master left, the old marquis went to Anrong Hall and called the chief steward to discuss the division of the family with the Marquis Chu. After that, he asked someone to invite the third wife and Chen Afu to Anrong Hall.
The old marquis said that they would divide the family property first, and when Chu Guangkai and Chu Lingxuan came back, they would go to the government office to file and completely divide the family property. He and the old marquis calculated and decided to give the second and third wives 50,000 taels of silver, 5,000 acres of good land, three farms, two shops, and some furniture and ornaments.
The third wife wondered, "Father, why are you dividing the family now? My master and I both want to show our filial piety to you, and we are not in a hurry to move to Xijinbo's mansion."
Thinking of the division of the family, the old man's eyes turned red, and he said helplessly, "There is no other way. The second son and his wife can't figure it out. When the eldest son and I move to the countryside to live for a long time, I am afraid that Xuan'er and his wife will not be able to control them, which will only add to their troubles."
Chen Ahfu was a person of the previous life, who liked to live a quiet life and was eager to separate the second branch of the family. But he still said a few polite words, "Grandpa, you don't need to consider us. We want the younger generations to be filial to you, so that it will be lively."
The old marquis shook his head and said, "Those who are filial are happy in front of me. Those who are not filial will make me angry in front of me."
After he said this, no one else could say anything.
The old marquis said, "The second branch is the weakest, so I will give them another 10,000 taels of silver. Both of your families are wealthy, so I won't give them anything this time. When I die, you can divide the remaining private property among your families." He also said to Marquis Chu, "The Li family has taken more than 50,000 taels of silver from you. Alas, just because the second branch is disabled, give it to them."
Lord Chu and the Third Lady quickly expressed their agreement.
The third lady was straightforward and muttered, "With so much family property, I don't know how long the second uncle can use it."
The old marquis snorted coldly, "If I give it to him, he will squander it all in ten years. Then, my great-grandchildren will be in trouble. I have already thought about it. I will hand over these silver and properties directly to An'er on the grounds that the second son is in poor health and Li is not virtuous. An'er and his wife will be the managers. Moreover, if the second son wants to use a large amount of silver, An'er must report to me first. I will also give Qi'er the share that was given to him. He is a good child and cannot be controlled by Li."
The Third Lady and Chen Afu both laughed. They didn't expect the old man to be so treacherous. He completely cut off the Second Master's thoughts. If the Second Master wanted to spend money comfortably in the future, he would have to squeeze out the money that Li had embezzled.
The old marquis asked the third wife to quickly arrange marriages for the second master's concubines Chu Lin and Chu Bi, and it would be best to settle their marriages before the official division of the family, as he was worried about the two concubines falling into the hands of Li. In addition, he also allocated 6,000 taels of silver from the second house's property to the third wife for safekeeping, so that she could buy dowries for them when they got married.
The third wife nodded in agreement. She had already picked out several families and was negotiating with them. She helped the two girls not only because she was kind-hearted, but also because she didn't want them to be controlled by the Li family after the family split up. If they fell into the hands of the Li family, not to mention the generous dowry, they might even be sold.
Afterwards, Marquis Chu had all the money and property in the mansion gradually handed over to Chen Afu.
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