Chapter 194 A Stingy Family
However, Sun was ultimately disappointed.
Meng Dongyuan subconsciously ignored what she had said before, and only listened to her question. He then started to complain to her, his words full of resentment: "Today I originally wanted to have a good talk with this son-in-law, but who would have thought that he would go and discuss academic matters with the younger generation in front of the other guests, saying that he didn't want to disturb us elders from chatting. He's already this old, what kind of academic matters can he discuss with those teenagers? I think he's deliberately avoiding me."
"And that rebellious daughter, she only sent me one summer outfit, saying it was handmade and the material was decent, but the color was dull, like something a forty or fifty-year-old man would wear. I suspect she just bought one from a clothing store to appease me, she had no sincerity at all, she didn't even buy one that I could wear at my age."
"By the way, Gu Jingxi gave me a tea set. I thought it was something valuable, but it turned out to be just an ordinary tea set, only exquisite in its appearance. Gu Xiuming was the same; he only gave me a painting of a hundred longevity characters that he wrote himself. The birthday gifts they gave me were not as good as those given by other guests. For a noble family to give such things, it's unbelievable that they would dare to do it. It's like giving alms to a beggar. Fortunately, I had the foresight not to show it to my relatives and friends."
"Do you think they don't respect me at all, which is why they're belittling me like that?"
Upon hearing this, Sun's face was a mixture of emotions, and she felt a tightness in her chest. She hadn't expected that her husband would only care about his own happiness and wouldn't care at all about her current health.
However, she wasn't too surprised that Meng Jinyao's family was so stingy. They didn't give expensive gifts because they didn't want them to make a fortune. These three birthday gifts were also impeccable. If the elders went out and talked about it, people would ridicule them for being greedy.
Meng Dongyuan muttered under his breath, "What an unfilial daughter! I raised her all these years, and now that she's married into a good family, she doesn't even know how to be filial to her father. The whole family of three is stingy and deliberately trying to belittle me. They're truly birds of a feather!"
Sun agreed with her husband's words, but he was not attentive to her now, and she did not want to please him. She did not intend to go along with his words, but said, "Husband, don't be angry. It is a small gift but a big sentiment. It is the child's good intention. How can we, as parents, dislike it? And what my son-in-law said is also right. He is a junior and should stay with his peers."
Upon hearing this, Meng Dongyuan was speechless. At first glance, there seemed to be nothing wrong with what he said, but it was extremely offensive. He asked impatiently, "Madam, are you on my side or theirs?"
Madam Sun said softly, "Husband, of course I'm trying to help you. Why are you getting angry with them? They are the younger generation, and we, as elders, should be more magnanimous and not hold it against them. Ayao is still young; she will understand in the future."
Hearing these words, Meng Dongyuan felt as if he had a breath stuck in his chest and couldn't get it out. Looking at Sun's face, which had aged considerably, with wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, slightly sunken eye sockets, and a dark blue color, her face was pale and her weariness was hard to hide even with makeup. It was as if her whole spirit had been sucked dry by a ghost. He suddenly felt unlucky and wondered what Sun had done to attract such a ghost.
He said calmly, "Madam looks very tired. Please get some rest. I have other matters to attend to."
After saying this, he left without waiting for Sun's response.
Seeing him leave like that, Madam Sun felt very aggrieved and couldn't help but complain to Granny Qiao, "How could I have ever fallen for him in the first place? I even did it for him..."
She stopped mid-sentence. The fewer people who knew about Zhou's death, the better. Although she trusted Granny Qiao, she couldn't bring herself to say it. She only said, "If I had known this would happen, I should have listened to my father. I thought marrying him was a good thing, but I never expected that I would not escape the fate of losing love as my beauty faded."
Before she was married, her father said that Meng Dongyuan was of mediocre talent and would not amount to much in the future, only having a noble title to show for it. The young man her father had chosen for her was the second-place scholar in the imperial examinations, second only to the top scholar, and had already entered the court as an official, and would have a bright future.
Unfortunately, she only had eyes for Meng Dongyuan. After Zhou's death, she married Meng Dongyuan as his second wife. Now, more than ten years have passed. The second-place scholar from that year is now a fourth-rank official, while Meng Dongyuan only holds a dispensable sinecure. He really only has a noble title to show for himself.
She guessed that Zhou's father had chosen this marriage for her because he thought that Zhou would not have any brothers or sisters to support her in the future. If she chose a powerful family, she might be bullied. So he chose an ordinary son-in-law, but one with a noble title. Even if he fell on hard times, he would still be a noble. The Zhou family had also given Zhou so much dowry that it could guarantee her a life of comfort.
Hearing the undisguised regret in her tone, Granny Qiao was momentarily at a loss for words. She could only comfort her, saying, "Madam, the Second Miss and the Young Master are both so grown up. You should look to the future. Once the Second Miss marries into a good family and the Young Master is successful, everything will be alright. Even if the concubines are favored by the Earl, they are still just concubines who cannot be brought to the table. If you don't want them to have children and cause you distress, just make them drink contraceptive soup."
Sun knew this made sense, but she just couldn't accept it. Ever since she could see ghosts, her husband's attitude towards her had clearly changed; everything had been fine before. But after thinking about it carefully, she wondered if it was just her imagination, but it seemed that not long after she lost her dowry, her husband seemed to become less attentive to her.
Granny Qiao changed the subject: "Madam, you just mentioned going to a temple to get an exorcism talisman. I think Lingyun Temple is quite good, but I don't know when Madam will be going?"
After thinking for a moment, Madam Sun set a date: "Let's do it in two days. It'll be the fifteenth of the month, perfect for going to the temple to offer incense. We can stay for a couple of days. I don't believe Aunt Du's ghost can still cause trouble at the temple."
Granny Qiao's eyes flickered, and she replied respectfully, "Then I will give the order later to arrange the trip two days from now. You've been working hard all day, why don't you take a nap first? I'll wake you up at dinner time."
"Don't wake me up, let me get some sleep."
After saying this, Madam Sun stood up, turned around and went into the inner room to sleep fully clothed. She was so tired that she fell asleep shortly after lying down.
Seeing that she had fallen asleep, Granny Qiao left the room.
As night fell and darkness descended, the room was brightly lit. By late at night, the servants had all gone to bed, but Madam Sun was still fast asleep and showed no signs of waking up anytime soon.
Granny Qiao was guarding inside the room when she saw the young woman dressed in white, with disheveled hair and a frighteningly pale face, standing there expressionless, which was quite eerie. She swallowed hard, quickly stepped forward to greet her, and whispered, "Miss Chan'er."
Chan'er asked, "Is there something you need, Granny Qiao?"
Granny Qiao lowered her voice and replied, "Miss Chan'er, Madam is going to Lingyun Temple in two days and will stay there for two more days. Please mention this to the eldest young lady and see if she has any other plans during this time so I can cooperate."
Chan'er nodded: "I will tell my mistress tomorrow. You can leave now."
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