Zhang Shixun was slightly surprised and asked, "She's just a concubine. With the mistress of the house here, even if she has a bad temper, she wouldn't dare do anything to you, right?"
"Oh! Don't mention it. My father was a military supervisor for Liu Zhongwu back then, and that concubine's father followed him. He treated him with filial piety as if he were his own father, and was very much appreciated by my father. When my father became the commander-in-chief of the Palace Guards, he also transferred her father to the capital and assigned him a sinecure in the Palace Guards."
The phrase was a bit confusing, with so many "fathers" on the left and "fathers" on the right, but Zhang Shixun still understood it: "Oh! Her father is willing to marry his daughter to you as a concubine in order to continue to curry favor with General Gao, right?"
Gao Yanei nodded: "It's a long story."
"Then let me make it short. There's no need to go into so much detail."
"One time I went to his house and happened to see his daughter. When I saw her, my heart skipped a beat, then skipped a beat... it kept skipping."
"Stop jumping and continue talking." Zhang Shixun was both angry and amused.
"She's so beautiful. She's... how do I describe her? Oh, now I remember, she's as beautiful as a flower and as pretty as the moon."
"So you were tempted by her beauty and set your sights on her?"
"Such a beautiful woman, any man would be tempted by her."
"Not really... go on, what happened next?"
"Ever since I met her, I've lost my appetite and have been running to her house every few days. After a while, I ended up..."
"Just what? You won't bring disaster to the girl, will you?"
Gao Yanei glared at him and said, "Although I fell in love with her at first sight, I'm not that impatient."
"Oh! I underestimated you. You, a playboy, can actually keep your composure."
Gao Yanei was unhappy. "Before her, I only had one wife. Where did you get the idea of a playboy, brother?"
"I'm not wronging you. You usually hang out in brothels and red-light districts, pursuing women everywhere. If you're not a playboy, what are you?"
"Brother, are you teasing me on purpose? Look at the Song Dynasty. Whether they are high-ranking officials, wealthy businessmen, or rich young men, there are so many people who go to places like that for entertainment. Are they all playboys?"
Zhang Shixun almost forgot that this was the Song Dynasty.
In this era, it is common for rich people to spend money in such places, and it is not a moral issue at all.
Seeing Zhang Shixun remained silent, Gao Yanei perked up: "Among the sons of officials in the capital, I, Gao Chengzong, am an upright man. Everyone can see that."
"Alright! Alright! You know exactly who you are, Gao Yanei. Anyway, I think you're just a playboy. You can't handle big things, and you can't handle small things. You're useless."
"So what if I'm a playboy? Anyway, I'm not a playboy." Gao Yanei suddenly raised his voice eight degrees, "What do you mean by 'useless'? In your eyes, you're the only one who can do things, right? Bah! Whether I can do things or not, it's not your turn to judge."
"Are you not convinced?" Zhang Shixun asked.
"Of course I'm not convinced!"
"In a few days I will make you believe how powerful you are." Zhang Shixun sneered and thought to himself: Let me see how I will deal with you.
Gao Yanei was not stupid. He knew that he was talking about training. He felt really uneasy about this.
"The topic has gone off track. Let's stop talking about these irrelevant things and continue talking about your concubine."
Gao Yanei cleared his throat and continued, "Although his father is honest, he also saw that I like his daughter, so he went directly to my father and expressed his willingness to marry his daughter to my family as a concubine."
In this era, the status of concubines was very low, because the women who became concubines were all from humble families. Men did not need to pay any betrothal gifts to take a concubine. At most, they would give some property to the woman's family, which was called "the money to buy a concubine." A concubine was just a purchased item. If a man did not like her, he could sell her or even give her away at any time.
According to legend, the eunuch Liang Shicheng and the Hanlin scholar Sun Di both claimed that they were born to the concubine Su Dongpo gave away.
However, even if such things are true, the descendants of the Su family will not admit it, and historians will not record these things for the sake of the respected person, and they even call it: keeping secrets for the sake of the respected person.
Marrying as a concubine means that there will be no chance for success in this life. Even if the wife dies unexpectedly, the man will find a new wife and will not promote the concubine to be the wife.
A concubine is a concubine and can never be promoted because this is not the officialdom.
If a concubine wants to improve her status, she can only give birth to more children in this life. If the children are promising, the concubine's status will be improved.
However, the offspring born to a concubine can only recognize the legal wife as their legal mother, and their biological mother can only be their stepmother.
"Yanei, your concubine's father has a problem with his character. In order to curry favor with his superiors, he is willing to push his daughter into the fire pit. It is really speechless."
"Brother, you were so mean today. How did our Gao family become such a hell of a mess?"
"I was just saying it casually, so don't be picky about the words. Just keep going."
"My father asked again and again, and when he saw that he was sincere about marrying his daughter to him, he agreed."
Zhang Shixun muttered, "A pig has eaten up a piece of cabbage."
"What?" Gao Yanei didn't hear clearly.
"Nothing, just keep talking."
"This concubine is beautiful, there's nothing to complain about. I happily married her into the family, hoping to treat her with tenderness and love...Alas! I never expected to bring a tigress into the house."
Zhang Shixun was surprised and asked, "What do you mean?"
"Although she is as beautiful as a flower, she doesn't like needlework, but prefers to wield spears and sticks."
"People have different hobbies. No one says women can't practice martial arts."
"I don't care what she likes, as long as she treats me well, but...but..."
"But what?"
Gao Yanei hesitated for a long time before gritting his teeth and saying, "Damn it! How dare she hit me?"
Zhang Shixun burst into laughter, it was so hilarious.
"I'm sorry to have brought shame upon my family and my brother." Gao Yanei wished he could dig a crack in the ground and crawl into it.
Zhang Shixun finally stopped laughing and said, "She hit you, there must be a reason, right?"
"Well... of course I'll find a reason. Otherwise, my parents won't tolerate her."
"Oh? Your parents knew she beat you?"
"Don't even mention 'beat'; it sounds terrible... If my parents hadn't tacitly approved, how could she have dared to be so arrogant?"
Zhang Shixun had a vague idea of what was going on. This guy wasn't telling the truth, and there must be something hidden.
"She's pregnant now. Even if I wanted to do something to her, I'd have to endure it for now... Honestly, my wife hasn't given birth yet, and that's become a real worry for my parents."
Zhang Shixun said, "There are three kinds of unfilial behavior, and the worst is to have no descendants. They want to have grandchildren, and their feelings are understandable."
"Ever since she became pregnant, she has been lawless. Even my wife gives in to her and speaks for her everywhere, not to mention my parents." Gao Yanei said depressedly.
"Isn't there anything good about her?"
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