Chapter 81 Chapter 81 I, Lu Xusheng, am determined to surpass my father-in-law...

Chapter 81 Chapter 81 I, Lu Xusheng, am determined to surpass my father-in-law...

The eldest wife did not come from a good family. The Tang family was originally from the military. At that time, Lu Chang's father, Old Master Lu, was a dull person. When he saw Old Master Tang, who had a similar temperament, he agreed to the marriage. At that time, the Lu family was just an ordinary official family in the capital. The Tang family relied on the Lu family to bully others and act powerfully in the local area for many years.

During the years when the eldest wife was in charge of the family, she gave a lot to her parents' family. Now she has fallen on hard times. Her parents' family can no longer get the fat piece of meat from the Lu family, so they are secretly worried and come up with this plan.

This Miss Tang, whose given name is Ling, is a girl who doesn't have a strong opinion. Normally, she wouldn't dare to go west when her mother told her to go east. But when she was sent to the Lu family by her mother, she naturally did whatever her aunt told her to do. "So what is my aunt going to do?"

The eldest wife looked at her. There were many girls in the Tang family, so why did they choose Tang Ling? It was because Tang Ling was good-looking and had a good figure. With Cheng Yian as a role model, if she was not outstanding enough, Lu Xusheng might not like her.

The eldest wife beckoned at her, "Come here and listen to my instructions."

If they went to discuss it seriously, it would be impossible to get through given Cheng Yian and the second wife's prejudice against her, so the first wife decided to use a clever method.

After hearing her words, Tang Ling just nodded timidly.

Lu Xusheng left the court early or late every day. When he had nothing to do, he would go to the second wife's room to pay his respects. The first wife had observed for the past few days and found that since Cheng Yian became pregnant, Lu Xusheng would return home before dawn and would visit the second wife's room most of the time.

This was his only chance to get into the backyard.

Enter from the Chuihua Gate, go east through a garden, and you will arrive at the Second Wife's Mingxi Hall.

Tang Ling followed her aunt's instructions and waited in the garden.

Among the Second Wife's children, only the youngest daughter Lu Shuzhi's marriage has not been settled. The youngest son Lu Jisheng finished his studies at the Imperial College this year and entered the Ministry of Rites to observe government affairs. Although he is not as capable as the eldest son, he has a job to make a living. Recently, Lu Shuzhi has reached the age, and many families have come to propose marriage. The Second Wife thought about asking Lu Xusheng's opinion, and asked the nanny to go outside and find out when Lu Xusheng will be back.

The nanny left and came back soon with a suspicious look on her face.

"Madam, I saw the cousin from the Tang family strolling around the yard."

The second wife was stunned. "Why is she hanging out here?"

The maid replied, "I asked her a question, and she said that she had lost an important handkerchief here while playing with some of our girls during the day, so she came to look for it."

The second wife felt that something was fishy. She hated it most when a girl used a handkerchief to make trouble. She had two sons in her family, both of whom were popular. Who knew if there were some short-sighted people who were plotting against them? Thinking of Tang's character, the second wife felt that this girl had bad intentions. Suddenly, she sneered, stood up with the table, and

"Let's go and have a look!"

The second wife led her people to the small garden in a hurry, and saw Tang Ling pretending to look for a handkerchief on the ground while peeking at the corridor. It was obvious that something was wrong, so the second wife shouted coldly,

"What are you looking for?"

Tang Ling was startled when she heard the shout and turned her head back immediately. Seeing that it was the Second Madam, she hurriedly saluted.

"Greetings to the Madam."

"What are you looking for?" I asked.

Tang Ling pointed at the flower beds and stammered, "Today, when I was playing with my sister Shuzhi, I passed by here and dropped a handkerchief, so I came here to look for it."

"Since you lost your handkerchief, you could have just asked a maid to look for it. Why did you come here yourself?"

Tang Ling's scalp tingled under the Second Wife's sharp gaze. "That handkerchief was given to me by my mother as a gift. I was worried that the maid wouldn't be able to tell the difference..." She couldn't continue her story.

The second wife looked at her coldly, sneered a few times, and then winked, signaling the maids to arrest her. Two maids rushed over and grabbed Tang Ling's wrists on the left and right. Tang Ling was shocked when she saw this, "Madam, what did I do wrong? Why do you want to arrest me like this? Madam, you are from a famous family, is this how you treat guests?"

The second wife refused to argue with her and ordered someone to take Tang Ling straight to the first wife's yard. The first wife's housekeeper saw them and hurried in to report.

The first wife came out quickly and saw the second wife had already brought people into the hallway. At the second wife's signal, the maid threw Tang Ling to the ground.

The second wife scolded the first wife without any politeness.

"Tang Meiying, what do you think of my son? You're sending any nobody to him? Look at the behavior of your Tang family. I feel ashamed for you. I feel embarrassed even if you go out and say that you are my sister-in-law."

The first wife had never expected her niece to be so useless and to be taken away by the second wife so quickly. She was so angry that her sides ached, but she could not admit what had happened.

"I don't understand what my second sister-in-law is saying. My niece is just looking for a handkerchief, why are you slandering her with so many nonsense? She hasn't even married yet, don't ruin her reputation for nothing!"

The second wife paced back and forth in front of the hall, examining her aunt and nephew. "What about reputation? I see how these two words are written. You guys in the Tang family don't know it, right?"

The first wife and the second wife had been fighting for many years. They usually disliked each other. Today, the second wife scolded her to such an extent that the first wife could no longer suppress her frustration for months and angrily shouted,

"What's so good about your Wang family? Your grandson has already married, and you're still planning on marrying someone else!"

The second wife's face turned pale, "What are you planning? What nonsense are you talking about!"

"What does it mean that your Wang Yunyi is still unmarried? If you have the ability, don't bring her to Lu Xusheng."

The second wife was furious. "I took your fault, but you are so good, framing me for no reason. My daughter of the Wang family has her own reasons for getting married. It's better than you sending her to my son without any status or status."

The first wife said unhappily, "What are you sending to your son? Has she seen Lu Xusheng?"

"Hey, I haven't even mentioned Xu Sheng yet, and you're already showing off?"

The eldest wife choked.

The second wife pointed at Tang Ling, who was crying on the ground, and said, "Since you don't admit it, I will take her to trial!"

The eldest wife knew her niece's personality very well and would be able to get the truth out of her in no time. She quickly stopped her,

"Okay, stop showing off. Your daughter-in-law is pregnant, and your son has no one to take care of him. I just want to ask for a favor. If you don't want to, forget it. But on the other hand, don't let me refuse you and then make arrangements for you."

This is because he himself has failed and cannot bear to see others succeed. The Second Wife has never seen such a rude and unreasonable person.

"You are really capable. It is none of your business whether my son has someone to serve him or not. Just take care of your own little piece of land."

The second wife was finally so angry that she said, "Alright, alright, if you want to make a big fuss, go ahead. Let's go to the front hall and wait for Xusheng to come back and let him handle it."

The first wife was panicked when she saw this. "Hey, what do you mean? If your wife knew about this, wouldn't she be very angry?"

The second wife said angrily, "You also knew that she would be angry? She just got pregnant, and the fetus is not yet stable, and you are making trouble for her. It is obvious that you have no good intentions. Since you have no good intentions, you must not let her go."

"Someone, take Tang Ling to the front yard."

If they were taken there, the Tang family would lose all face, and the eldest wife would not be able to tolerate it. The two rooms started arguing fiercely when someone from the front yard came and said that it was Lu Xusheng who asked them to go there.

Everyone came to the front hall in twos and threes without any commotion.

Lu Xusheng was drinking tea in the front hall, holding a pile of documents in his hand and looking very busy. When he saw them come in, he stood up, bowed slightly, and sat down again.

"What is this for?"

The second wife pointed at Tang Ling who was nestled in Tang's arms and said sarcastically, "Well, your eldest aunt is very kind-hearted. She wants her niece to serve you because your wife is pregnant."

Tang Ling was so ashamed that she hugged the eldest wife's knees and sobbed, not daring to show her face.

The first wife dared not admit it in front of Lu Xusheng, and said dryly, "No, it's a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding..."

Lu Xusheng looked at the first wife expressionlessly.

"Aunt, you are having a hard time yourself, and you don't want others to have a good time, right?"

There is a concubine room in the eldest master's yard.

The first wife looked embarrassed and said, "It's nothing..." Since she had exposed the truth, she simply explained it in front of Lu Xusheng.

"In the wealthy families of our capital, every master has three wives and four concubines. Before marriage, there are concubines who are knowledgeable about other people. After marriage, they still need concubines. The eldest aunt thought that it is better to have someone from her family who knows her background well than someone from outside, so she came up with this idea."

Yan Che pried her niece's face from her knees, intending to show it to Lu Xusheng. Seeing that she had not given up, the second wife in the room became furious and grabbed the teacup in her hand and threw it at the feet of the first wife.

"Do you have any shame? What is my son's status? He is a first-rank minister and a senior official in the inner cabinet. Do you Tang family members think you are worthy of him?"

The eldest wife was also angry, "He doesn't like our Tang family, but he likes your Wang family, right?"

"Why do you always have to involve our Wang family!"

"You're talking about the Tang family, why don't I talk about the Wang family?"

The second wife couldn't argue with her any more, so she covered her chest and said to Lu Xusheng,

"Xu'er, you decide."

"Your mother-in-law will come to your house from time to time, so you should take good care of her."

The implication is not to let the first wife go.

Wang had always been proud and arrogant, and didn't want Xia Fu to criticize her if she did something wrong. She had never bowed her head in front of others in her life.

During this time, the eldest son Lu Yunsheng and Liu, as well as the third son Lu Jisheng and Bai, all came over. Liu knelt in front of her mother-in-law and complained that she had done something dishonest and brought harm to the whole family.

The third wife in the room also rushed over upon hearing the news.

Soon the main hall was full of people.

Lu Xusheng looked at the room filled with black smoke and remained indifferent for a long time.

There is no order without rules, and this is how family traditions are corrupted.

Thinking of the atmosphere of the Cheng family's main branch and then looking at the Lu family in front of him, Lu Xusheng shook his head.

He waited until the room quieted down, then suddenly spoke,

"Butler Hang."

"Yes." Butler Hang came in from the corridor.

Lu Xusheng said,

"From now on, we will add a new rule to our family rules: men in the Duke of Lu's mansion are not allowed to take concubines."

As soon as these words fell, the three ladies were shocked.

The second wife glanced at the pregnant Bai and asked, "Xusheng, this is inappropriate, isn't it? If a woman can't have children, we can't just watch her die without any offspring."

Lu Xusheng stroked the teacup in his hand with his slender fingers and said without raising his head, "No room for negotiation."

The second wife was anxious. She glanced at the third wife. The third wife's son, Lu Xisheng, had just been engaged, and she had to leave a way out for her son. So she whispered, "Xusheng, this idea is not bad, but you have to change it a little bit. Don't be so harsh. For example, a man can only take a concubine if he is 40 and has no children. What do you think?"

Lu Xusheng slowly raised his eyes and looked at her, "Auntie, I have the final say in the army, and no one dares to bargain with me."

The third wife glanced at the first wife unhappily, thinking that it was all her fault.

The eldest wife was also a little panicked. She had already been like this in her life, and she still had to consider her grandson. "Xusheng, auntie is wrong. If you are angry about my behavior today and set such strict rules, then I, auntie, will be a sinner of the Lu family."

Lu Xusheng was really amused by them, "The three ladies are also women, why are they so keen on finding concubines for their men?"

"I'm not interested in taking a concubine, I'm just thinking about my offspring." The second wife thought of the Cheng family and laughed dryly, "Xu'er, even your father-in-law, Cheng Shoufu, didn't set such a rule, which shows that this rule is not very practical."

Lu Xusheng replied, "In this case, doesn't it prove that the family tradition of my Lu family is better than that of the Cheng family? I, Lu Xusheng, am determined to surpass my father-in-law."

The second wife thought he was just insulting them and was in a dilemma.

"Xu'er, I'm not joking with you."

Lu Xusheng said, "I wasn't joking with you either." At this point, his narrow eyes suddenly narrowed, revealing a deep smile.

"Why, you think it's a good thing when it happens to my father, but you are unhappy when it happens to your daughter-in-law?"

"How about you take charge of this family from now on, and my wife and I will go to the Cheng family?"

The second wife was completely choked.

The Third Wife was still worried and said, "Xu'er, you have such a thought. Don't you think it's strange and admirable? Aren't you worried that they can't do it?"

"If you can't do it, get out!"

After these words were spoken, no one dared to say a word.

Seeing that Lu Xusheng had made up his mind, no one had much to say.

The Third Wife tried to smooth things over for herself, "That's fine, that's fine. When our Lu family arranges marriages in the future, the nobles in the capital will look up to us based on this."

Good family traditions are accumulated bit by bit.

The Lu family is no longer what it used to be. It is time to select their in-laws and not have a mixed bag like in the past.

With this rule, the family that marries into the Lu family will also be a noble family.

Daughters-in-law like Liu and Bai are welcome.

Its success.

The first wife saw that the matter was a done deal and simply let it go. Then she changed her mind and realized that all the women were the beneficiaries, so she became more cheerful.

"Then Xusheng, do you think your uncle's concubines should be sent away?"

Lu Xusheng found that this aunt was really a wonderful person, who took advantage of every opportunity.

"You let him in, and then kick him out when he's no longer needed. Do you think that's appropriate?"

The first wife didn't hold out hope either. "I'm just asking."

"You don't need to ask," Lu Xusheng stood up and looked at Butler Hang and said, "From now on, whenever someone from the Tang family comes, we will call them out and announce to the outside world that our Lu family will no longer have any dealings with the Tang family. There is no need for the outside world to expect the Lu family to give face to the Tang family."

"Tell a few stewards to pack the luggage for the first wife and the first master and send them back to their hometown. They are not allowed to return to Beijing without my order."

The first wife immediately slid down from her armchair when she heard this, terrified.

"Xu'er, Xu'er, you can't do this. Auntie was wrong. Auntie will never dare to do it again..."

Unfortunately, Lu Xusheng left after saying this.

The second and third wives looked at each other and were secretly shocked.

Although the Second Wife felt relieved, she also sensed a threat.

The Third Madam thought to herself, if their room did anything that displeased Cheng Yian in the future, would they also be sent away?

Lu Xusheng left the complaints in the courtyard behind him and returned to Ningji Hall. He saw Rulan picking flowers under the corridor and asked her,

"Has your master heard about what happened outside?"

Rulan nodded gloomily.

Lu Xusheng rubbed his brow and walked into the room. Cheng Yian was napping on Luohan's bed, staring straight at the window, as if he couldn't muster up any energy.

"Don't be angry, I've already taken care of it. This kind of thing will never happen again."

As soon as Lu Xusheng entered the door, he handed in his letter of surrender.

Lu Xusheng actually wanted to keep it a secret from her, fearing that she would get angry and become ill, but now that Cheng Yian was the head of the household, he couldn't keep the affairs of the rear house secret from her.

Cheng Yian came back to his senses, "It's rare that Madam is taking the lead today."

Lu Xusheng said nothing and held her in his arms, "Those people are not worth your anger."

Cheng Yian vomited again today and had no time to get angry. "I'm not angry. What's there to be angry about?"

In his previous life, Fan Yulin even managed to save his child, so Lu Xusheng's little trick was nothing.

More importantly, she believed that Lu Xusheng would not let her down, otherwise, both of them would be reborn in vain.

Lu Xusheng paused and stared at her eyes, "Are you really not angry?"

"Don't be angry. I'm pregnant now and I can't get angry easily." Cheng Yian looked at him blankly and seriously.

Lu Xusheng responded in a muffled voice.

Cheng Yian always felt that Lu Xusheng was a little emotional, "What's wrong? I'm not angry, shouldn't you be happy?"

Of course it's not good to get angry.

But I'm not angry at all, nor is it anything to be happy about.

Lu Xusheng didn't say anything. Seeing that she was weak, he asked, "Since you are not feeling well, how about I ask my mother-in-law to come and check your pulse?"

Cheng Yian felt nauseous and turned around to hug him, clinging to him like a kangaroo, and said listlessly, "I want to sleep."

The next morning, Lu Xusheng went to the yamen. Sister Ming came into the room to greet Cheng Yian and whispered to her,

"Second Madam, someone from the Cheng family is here."

Cheng Yian asked in surprise, "Who?"

Sister Ming smiled and said, "Two maids came and said they wanted to remind you to choose a shop for the princess."

Cheng Yian was stunned for a moment, then slowly came to her senses. She had been suffering from morning sickness recently and had no time to take care of other things. Her mother said there was no rush, and it was inconvenient for her to go out, so the matter of choosing a pharmacy was put on hold. Now someone from the Cheng family came to remind her of this matter, and it was obvious that they wanted to use her name to pick up her mother from the house.

Needless to say, it must be my father's work.

It was hard to imagine that such a serious head of the family would have such a time when he was racking his brains. Cheng Yian was extremely curious about how her father and mother got along. If she hadn't been pregnant yet, she would have definitely followed them and made trouble.

"Then you can take someone to the palace in person to see if my mother is willing to come out."