After the old lady had finished tidying up, two maids carried her to an armchair and then carried the chair out.
When she came outside, she saw that except for Old Ancestor Chen, everyone else was standing in the yard. They all had gloomy faces and glared at her. Her son was also standing among them, his face gloomy.
The old lady felt a little guilty for some reason, but when she thought of her son being a high-ranking official and these people in the clan being just peasants, she felt relieved. She adjusted the large phoenix hairpin inlaid with red gold and pearls on her head and said to several elders, "I am not feeling well, and I have kept you waiting for a long time. What are you doing standing in the yard? Come in, sit down, have some tea, and chat slowly. Is the clan in trouble again? Don't worry, I will let my son..."
Chen Lao Zu shouted angrily, "Shut up! You evil woman, you have harmed your son to this point, and you still dare to act like a lady."
The old lady was angry and snorted, "I am a royal consort, I don't need to show off. How did I harm my son? My son is still a fourth-rank official."
Old Man Chen didn't want to talk to her any more, so he waved his hand and said, "Ms. Zhao, save those boastful words for later..." Then he loudly told her about the evil things she had done, and punished her to go to a nunnery to practice asceticism until her death.
The old lady was a little scared at first, but when she saw Chen Shiying standing in the middle of them, he had an outstanding temperament and extraordinary style. Compared with those rustic tribesmen, there was really a difference between them. With such a son, what was there to be afraid of?
Thinking of this, she regained some momentum, spat at them and cursed, "Who do you think you are? We are a few clansmen who are three generations apart. We recognize you and you are our relatives. We don't recognize you, so you are not even our relatives. What qualifications do you have for me to go to the nunnery?" She then said to Chen Shiying, "Shiying, they are disrespectful to me. Send them back to their hometown and don't let them stay in Dingzhou Prefecture."
The old lady's words were unclear but her voice was quite loud, so everyone could understand her.
Chen Shiying was so angry that he kept shaking his head. He went over and whispered, "Mom, please stop making trouble. If you really piss them off, they will just go back home and divorce you. Your son won't be able to protect you." He knelt down and said, "Mom, your son has done his best. You can go to the nunnery to cultivate yourself, and you will still be a wife of the Chen family, my father's widow. If you are divorced, you will have nothing."
Jiang and Chen Yulan also knelt down.
"What? You also agree to let me go to the nunnery?" The old lady was incredulous at first, then burst into tears, and cursed Chen Shiying for being unfilial. She was a widow who was unemployed and raised him. She almost went blind from doing embroidery. She let her son become a high-ranking official, but he let the clan members abuse her. He was such a high-ranking official, so he just sentenced those clan members to jail. Let's see if they still meddle in other people's business. She didn't want to go to the nunnery. Life there was hard, she couldn't eat delicacies from the mountains and the sea, and she couldn't wear silk and satin. It was even harder than her life in Zhaojia Village before...
Just as they were arguing, a servant suddenly came to report that the imperial edict had arrived, and asked Old Lady Chen to go to the front yard to receive it.
An imperial edict to the old lady? Not only Chen Shiying was stunned, but even Chu Lingxuan, who was watching the fun, was stunned.
Chu Lingxuan hurried to the front yard to greet the official who delivered the imperial edict. Chen Shiying changed into his official uniform. Jiang and Old Lady Chen put on their phoenix coronet and bridal robe and went to the front yard.
The official who delivered the imperial edict looked at the old lady and said, "Are you Old Lady Chen? Please accept the imperial edict."
When Chen Shiying heard the imperial edict officer address his mother, his heart sank, but he pulled himself together and helped the old lady to kneel on the ground. The old lady was half paralyzed, and two maids had to kneel on both sides to support her.
Seeing that they had all knelt, the herald official opened the imperial edict and read aloud, "The Emperor, in compliance with the Will of Heaven, proclaims that Zhao, the mother of Chen Shiying, the prefect of Dingzhou Prefecture, has bad conduct and is neither virtuous nor virtuous, and is unworthy of being someone's wife and mother. The title of Fourth Rank Respected Lady is now revoked as a punishment. I hope you will sincerely repent in the future. This is my decree!"
As soon as the official finished reading the imperial edict, two people came over and took away the phoenix coronet on Old Madam Chen's head and the shawl on her body.
Other women were stripped of their titles because their husbands and sons were dismissed from office. But Mrs. Chen Zhao became the first woman since the founding of the Dashun Dynasty whose son still held the same official position, but whose title as a mother was revoked.
The old lady fainted at that moment, and Chen Shiying was also so weak that he could hardly stand up. Chu Lingxuan hurried over and secretly stuffed a purse into the messenger's pocket and sent them away.
Old Ancestor Chen was so angry that he cried. He said to Chen Shiying, "Shiying boy, Zhao can't stay. If such a woman stays in the Chen family, how can the daughters of the Chen family find a husband? Listen to my advice. If you still want to protect her, I can only let those unmarried daughters of the Chen family hang themselves at your door."
Several other clan members also advised, "Master Chen, we can't keep Zhao anymore. She has ruined the virtue of our Chen family."
Chen Shiying felt as if his body was drained of energy, and he felt much more miserable than when he was locked up. He looked at his fainted mother, and then at his extremely sad clansmen, and knew that he could not save his mother no matter what.
He said with difficulty, "Okay, listen to the advice of our ancestors and divorce me."
Chu Lingxuan looked at Zhao who was still unconscious after being carried in. He couldn't bear to continue watching the excitement, so he comforted Chen Shiying a few words and said goodbye to go home.
Chen Ahfu smiled when he heard Chu Lingxuan's words. That evil old woman finally got her retribution. And the son of County Lieutenant Ding who forced the original owner to death. Last year, Manager Luo found an opportunity to have people report that the father and son bullied men and women and did all kinds of evil things, and put them in jail. Think about the original owner's spirit in heaven, should it rest in peace?
Three days later in the afternoon, Chen Afu took Chu Hanyan, Li Xuan, Yu Ge'er and Ming Ge'er to the Chen Mansion in a sedan chair.
The elders of the clan will return to their hometown tomorrow. Accompanied by Jiang, she will go to the courtyard where they live and present them with a gift of 100 taels of silver.
Jiang was dressed brightly and in very good spirits.
She told Chen Afu that Chen Shiying had sent someone back to Zhaojia Village to explain the situation, but the people in Zhaojia Village did not dare to accept Zhao. The current patriarch was not the brother of the original Zhao, who was in jail for bullying his neighbors and occupying land.
Not only the clan leader refused to accept the marriage, but even the village head of Zhaojia Village was unwilling to accept the marriage. It was difficult for Zhao's daughters to get married now. If Zhao returned, wouldn't the daughters be even more difficult to get married? They said that Zhao's father and brother were already dead, and Zhao was one of the "three no-gos".
There are three things a woman should not divorce: if she is married but has no place to go, she should not divorce; if she mourns for three years after her husband's death; and if she was poor first and then rich later, she should not divorce.
The Zhao family has all of those three.
The elders of the Chen family discussed for a moment and said, "If the Zhao family doesn't accept it, the Chen family can't stay either. The Zhao family has only two options: one is to become a monk directly, and the other is to die of illness."
Chen Shiying had no choice but to divorce Zhao after much persuasion. However, he did not send her back to the Zhao family. Instead, he asked someone to buy a small farmhouse on the outskirts of Dingzhou Prefecture, settled Zhao there, and assigned a maid to take care of her.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com