Chapter 5 I, the Lu family, am going to the yamen to submit a petition for divorce.
Corridor.
Lu Zhaoruo remained calm, adjusted her hemp cloak, and walked straight past Li Chunyan.
Li Chunyan was stunned. The mistress who used to greet her with a soft voice and lower her head when she saw her was now not only ignoring her but also not even glancing at her.
She spat under her breath: "Pah! So what if my brother from my maternal family passed the martial arts exam? He's still just a dead widow in the Shen family!"
Central Hall.
Shen Rongzhi's father, Shen Qingshu, lay in a chair, coughing.
Back then, it was he who sent Shen Rongzhi to the Lu family's private school, and it was he who personally carried the betrothal goose to arrange the marriage between their children.
At that time, he was gentle and modest, and treated Mr. Lu with great respect...
After Lu Zhaoruo married into the family, since the marriage was arranged by him, he would always give her a slight advantage in matters concerning the Shen family's reputation. However, he would leave all other minor matters to her.
In her past life, Lu Zhaoruo remembered how he had brought them together and served him medicine every day, personally preparing and preparing it. However, she never expected that he also knew about Shen Rongzhi's despicable deeds, yet he kept it a secret from her.
Looking back now, Lu Zhaoruo realizes that the so-called good match was nothing more than Zhang Shuqing valuing her father's knowledge and wanting Shen Rongzhi to occupy a good school.
As for why Shen Rongzhi didn't go to the capital to take the imperial examination?
When Shen Rongzhi was twelve years old, he was recommended as a child prodigy for his essay "Ode to Winter Frost" written by Lu Zhaoruo. Everyone praised him. However, the truth was discovered by Li Yanei, the son of the county magistrate, who publicly ridiculed him as a "nepotism prodigy." Shen Rongzhi then crippled Li Yanei, thus ending his path to the imperial examinations.
Afterwards, he blamed Lu Zhaoruo instead: "It's all your fault! If it weren't for you, would I have been laughed at? Do you think you're so talented that you look down on me? I don't like studying, and I don't want to pursue any fame or fortune! You forced me to study."
At that time, she was only focused on apologizing, without realizing how cold-hearted her words were.
"My lord, you must discipline her according to family rules! Last night she heartlessly refused to raise that poor baby, and this morning she was too lazy to make breakfast, and even allowed that damned stray cat in the room to scratch Ayi's neck!"
While wiping away her tears, Zhang glared fiercely at Lu Zhaoruo.
Shen Qingshu said with a stern face: "Lu family, kneel down!"
This time, his anger was mostly because Lu Zhaoruo had not adopted his biological granddaughter.
Lu Zhaoruo stood ramrod straight, not bending an inch.
Zhang gritted her teeth and said, "Send her straight to the authorities! Accuse her of disobeying her parents-in-law and bullying her sister-in-law. Let her get a few lashes first!"
Lu Zhaoruo raised her eyes and smiled gently: "Then let's go to the county government together. I was just about to submit my petition for divorce to the magistrate."
Shen Qingshu's face suddenly turned pale, and he coughed several times.
Thinking she had misheard, Zhang hurriedly asked, "What did you just say?"
Shen Lingyi, her flabby body jiggling, blurted out, "Mother! She actually threatened to go to the county government to file for divorce!"
Zhang laughed so hard she almost fell over, her face crinkling with laughter: "You used to cling to my son, practically licking the soles of his shoes clean, crying and wailing if you didn't see him for a day. Now you're putting on airs and want to file for divorce? Without my son, you can't even breathe properly. What will you use to knock on the county government's door?"
Lu Zhaoruo produced a 'letter of request for separation' and said calmly, "Then I'll go now and let you see with your own eyes what I'll use to knock on your door."
"presumptuous!"
Shen Qingshu slammed his hand on the armrest, pointed at Lu Zhaoruo, and scolded her sharply, "I have always thought of you as gentle and virtuous, and I have never held your sordid deeds before marriage against you. Now that my son is away working hard, you dare to go to the county government to ask for a divorce while he is not home?"
Lu Zhaoruo's expression was calm, and her words were clear: "According to the 'Household and Marriage Law' of the Great Jurisdiction, if a husband goes away for three years and does not return, and there is no news of him, the wife may file a petition for divorce."
Shen Qingshu noticed that she was no longer as meek as before and sneered, "What a silver tongue! He's risking his life to build the family business, while you're enjoying a life of leisure at home. Now you think you can leave the Shen family with just a 'three-year hiatus'?"
Lu Zhaoruo remained neither angry nor impatient, her back ramrod straight as a bamboo shoot, her voice clear and cold: "Three years, one thousand and ninety-six dawns and dusks, your sons have sent neither letters nor entrusted anyone with their words, nor even a single copper coin..."
"The rice in the jar, the charcoal in the stove, the tiles on the roof, even the food in everyone's mouth and the cloth on their bodies, were all earned by my own hands."
She looked up and stared directly at Shen Qingshu: "May I ask, Uncle, is there any evidence whatsoever to support the claim that he 'risks his life to build the family business'?"
She feigned doubt: "If he really risked his life to build the family business, then where is all that hard-earned money now?"
Upon hearing this, Shen Qingshu was so speechless that his face turned purple and he couldn't utter a single word in response.
Zhang coughed dryly, not knowing what to say.
Shen Lingyi, however, raised her fat chin and sneered, "Isn't this just enjoying a life of leisure?"
Lu Zhaoruo chuckled softly: "I'm just enjoying a life of leisure at home?"
Her gaze swept over Zhang Shi, Shen Lingyi, Li Chunyan, and Shi Tou, the servant who was close to Shen Qingshu.
Her voice rose slightly, and the caregiver outside could hear her clearly: "I am just a woman who married into my husband's family, but I have taken on all the responsibilities that men should bear. Not only do I earn money to support the family, but I also do all the sewing, cooking, and cleaning.
Her cold gaze swept across everyone's faces: "May I ask, what about the firewood under the stove, the water bucket by the well..."
She paused slightly, her tone still gentle, yet each word sharp: "Will there ever be a day when someone else chooses for me?"
Although the family felt guilty, they still stubbornly refused to admit it.
Shen Qingshu's close servant, Shi Tou, lowered his head in shame.
Li Chunyan leaned against the door, twirling a handkerchief between her fingers, glancing sideways and pursing her lips, letting out a low sneer.
Lu Zhaoruo took in her behavior and looked at Shen Qingshu, still with a gentle demeanor: "May I ask, Uncle, what is the meaning of the phrase 'enjoying a peaceful and happy life'?"
Shen Qingshu's face turned purple. Despite being an elder and the patriarch of the Shen family, he had been thoroughly humiliated by his daughter-in-law...
The two elders remained silent, but Shen Lingyi, who was standing to the side, jumped up and shouted, "You, Madam Lu, how dare you speak to your own mother-in-law like that! You are extremely unfilial!"
Lu Zhaoruo smiled lightly: "Unfilial? I helped the Shen family before I was married, and on the very night of my wedding, Shen Rongzhi ran off with the money, leaving me with an empty house..."
She looked down at their feet: "Even the shoes and socks on your feet, from cutting the pattern, sewing the soles, stitching, to attaching the ribbons, were all sewn by my own hands, stitch by stitch."
She glanced at Zhang and said, "Go ask around in Jizhou City, whose daughter-in-law can serve her parents-in-law so well that their feet are covered in flowers? And ask yourself, when you were a daughter-in-law, did you ever sew your parents-in-law's shoes and socks until your toes bled?"
Zhang tried to speak, but couldn't utter a single word.
Lu Zhaoruo took a breath, nodded slightly, and smiled coldly: "Since Madam Shen has accused me of being 'unfilial,' then let me ask you, before you were married, did you ever sew a single stitch for your parents? After you were married, you couldn't change your gambling habit and were divorced. I gave you ten taels of silver to buy you a dignified 'divorce.' Since you returned, have you ever served your parents a cup of tea?"
"You even stole your parents' money and belongings to gamble..."
Shen Lingyi lowered her head, knowing she was embarrassed.
Shen Qingshu's expression darkened further, his brows furrowed more deeply, and he let out a heavy sigh.
In her haste, Zhang grabbed her daughter's sleeve, her fingernails digging deep into her flesh through the fabric, as if trying to wake her up from her misbehavior.
Shen Lingyi stammered, "Why are you dragging me into this? Who told you... to make your body so filthy? This is what you owe the Shen family."
Lu Zhaoruo's eyes narrowed slightly, her voice still gentle, yet carrying a hint of coldness: "Indeed, my innocence was tainted the day I entered the Shen family, but you were the ones who carried the eight-bearer sedan chair, you were the ones who wrote the marriage certificate. If you had told me earlier that my body was not pure..."
She smiled and said, "I, Lu Zhaoruo, will not cross this threshold."
“But why didn’t you say so sooner? If you had, I would have known you were here to be a maid, and I certainly wouldn’t have married you.”
Shen Lingyi took this opportunity to vent her anger for her parents, straightening her thick back: "Back then, you were clearly willing to be their slave, and now you want to blame my father and mother?"
Lu Zhaoru smiled and gave a soft "Oh": "Since you're 'willing,' then let's stop here."
She stood regally, her voice gentle yet unyielding: "I ask the Shen family to come with me to the county government now. I, Madam Lu, wish to present this—a petition for divorce!"
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