Chapter Forty-Four: Holding Ironclad Evidence
Meng Jinyu was initially worried that her mother had really kept Meng Jinyao's birth mother's dowry. She was afraid that her mother had indeed done such a thing. If it caused a big fuss, not only would her mother lose face, but she would also be gossiped about, and it might even affect her marriage.
Hearing her father confirm that the dowry list was fake, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief. But when she glanced at her aggrieved mother, she was filled with rage.
Seeing Meng Jinyao about to speak, she immediately preemptively questioned her angrily, "Elder sister, you've gone too far! When you were still an infant, Mother raised you with great care. And when you were punished by Grandmother, when did Mother not plead for you? Now you listen to what others say and come back to question Mother without even understanding the ins and outs of the matter. It's a pity that Mother thought you missed your family and specially called me and my two younger brothers to come see you."
The youngest, Meng Chengxing, was also indignant: "Big sister, even crows know to feed their parents. It's one thing for you not to understand the kindness of raising children, but you also listened to slander and wronged Mother. If Father hadn't seen through it today, Mother would probably be unable to clear her name even if she jumped into the Yellow River."
Meng Chengzhang looked at Meng Jinyao with nervousness in his eyes. When she returned his gaze, he knew that she was confident of victory today. Sun must have done such a thing, and his father was probably also in the know.
"Believing slander?"
Meng Jinyao scoffed and retorted, "Second sister, third brother, how do you know that you yourselves aren't believing lies?"
As she spoke, her gaze fell on Meng Jinyu's neck. When she saw the necklace Meng Jinyu was wearing, her eyes turned cold, and she sneered, "Second sister, was that necklace your mother put on you?"
Upon hearing this, Meng Jinyu subconsciously touched the necklace around her neck. She liked this necklace very much, and when she wore it to see her girlfriends, they all said it looked good. So she replied, "This is a birthday gift from my mother. Why does elder sister ask about this?"
"Did she tell you the origin of this necklace?" Meng Jinyao asked, then turned to look at Madam Sun. Seeing that Madam Sun's expression tightened the moment she looked at her, she slowly told Meng Jinyu, "This is one of my biological mother's dowry items. This necklace also has a name, called the Silver Gilded Tourmaline Necklace. Your mother really knows how to be generous with other people's money, using her husband's first wife's dowry to give to her daughter as a birthday gift."
The name of the necklace sounded familiar. Meng Dongyuan subconsciously glanced at his second daughter's neck and realized that it matched the name he had seen on the list. His second daughter was wearing the necklace at an inopportune time.
He quickly tried to smooth things over: "Ayao, are you out of your mind? This necklace was made for Ayu by your mother. Besides, this order is fake. Someone made it up and gave it to you not long ago. You've been making a scene for so long, you should stop now. Don't wrong your mother and then go against your own sister."
Alright, your mother and I are very happy that you're back today. Let's not dwell on these things and spoil the mood. Later, your mother will cook two of your favorite dishes for you, and we can have a nice family meal together. After dinner, you can tell your father who was gossiping behind your back and trying to drive a wedge between you and your mother.”
Meng Jinyao chuckled: "Father has a good eye. The list is indeed newly written, but it wasn't written by someone else. I copied it from my mother's dowry list before I came here."
Upon hearing this, Madam Sun's heart leaped into her throat once more. Her mind raced as she tried to figure out who among her accomplices had betrayed her and stolen the dowry list to give to Meng Jinyao.
Meng Dongyuan glanced at his wife subconsciously, noticing her tense expression, then looked at his eldest daughter, feigning ignorance: "Ayao, what do you mean by that?"
Meng Jinyao glanced at everyone present, her gaze finally settling on Madam Sun. She said slowly, "My birth mother died shortly after I was born. All the people around her were dismissed on the grounds that they had done something wrong. In addition, my mother was an only child and had no brothers or sisters. No one told me what my birth mother was like, what the scene was like when she got married, or how much dowry she brought."
But because my mother had no siblings, my maternal grandfather had a backup plan: her dowry list was made in duplicate. One copy was kept by Sun after she married into the family, and the other copy, stamped with his seal, remained with my maternal grandfather's family in case anything went wrong and someone misappropriated her dowry, leaving them with no recourse. Looking back now, my grandfather's decision was wise; someone really did misappropriate my mother's dowry.
Upon hearing this, Sun and Meng Dongyuan were shocked, not expecting that the Zhou family had a backup plan.
The couple exchanged a glance. Meng Dongyuan saw the panic in his wife's eyes and thought to himself that women were useless, always flustered and lacking composure in the face of trouble. He steadied himself and said calmly, "Ayao, you said your mother's dowry list has two copies, but our Meng family has never known of the existence of the other copy, nor have we ever seen it. In that case, even if your maternal grandfather wrote it in the most eloquent way, how can we take it seriously? What if he wrote that all the shops on a certain street were part of your mother's dowry? Are we supposed to make that a fact?"
Meng Jinyao asked calmly, "Father, if you don't trust my maternal grandfather, how much do you trust my paternal grandfather?"
Without hesitation, Meng Dongyuan replied, "Of course, it's a perfect score."
Which son wouldn't trust his father? My mother used to favor my second brother, but my father favored him. Although my father was unhappy that he married Ms. Sun, he was still my father's son. How could a father and son hold a grudge overnight?
Seeing his eldest daughter's confident expression, his heart skipped a beat. He felt that her question was probably a trap, a pit she had dug for him to fall into.
Meng Jinyao picked up her teacup, took a sip of tea, and slowly said, "Since I have come to your door today to demand my mother's dowry, I must have irrefutable evidence and will not wrong Sun Shi. Since Father does not believe the dowry list that my maternal grandfather gave me, then you should believe the letter written by my grandfather himself, right?"
I also have a handwritten letter from my grandfather, which confirms the authenticity of the list my maternal grandfather gave me. It ends with my grandfather's personal seal and his signature. Furthermore, the late Marquis Changxing served as a witness; although he is no longer with us, he signed and affixed his seal to the letter.
Parents love their children and plan far ahead for them.
My maternal grandfather had a plan when my mother got married: to prevent her dowry from being misappropriated later, he destroyed the dowry list. Later, my mother died in childbirth, and Sun married into the Meng family as his second wife.
At that time, Sun Shi appeared to love her very much, but her maternal grandfather felt that Sun Shi was hypocritical and unreliable. Knowing that her grandfather truly loved her and made plans for her in everything, he also regarded her grandfather as a trustworthy person. He asked her grandfather to write a letter to confirm this and asked the old Marquis of Changxing, who was her deceased father-in-law, to be a witness.
My maternal grandfather really considered every possibility for his daughter and granddaughter. Fortunately, he was farsighted, otherwise her mother's dowry would have really ended up in someone else's pocket.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com