Old Lady Sheng's first matchmaking attempt had a good start; Mrs. Kang went to see Changwu herself. Elder Sister Wang, fed up with the conceited, sensual, and incompetent nature of the incompetent scholar, was immediately drawn to Changwu. He had long arms and legs, a dignified bearing, and a warm and generous demeanor. Though not particularly handsome or fair, he possessed a genuine, sunny demeanor. In late spring, the Kang family agreed to the marriage, and given the couple's advanced age, both families agreed to a swift wedding.
While things are going well here, the Yu family is in great sorrow. Although Lord Yu has been retired for many years, he still has connections in the capital. No matter how Princess Pingning flatters her, the situation is not optimistic after several investigations. It really proves Molan's bad words that the second son of Ningyuan Hou is really "eccentric".
Not only has he been arrogant and domineering since childhood, he also often rides his horse to fight and cause trouble in the streets. He often hangs out with the prodigal sons of the dukes and marquises. When he grew up, he even started hanging out with the lowest class of people, sleeping with prostitutes and keeping young actors, which caused a lot of trouble. The Gu family finally found a marriage for him, but the second young master was not satisfied and wanted to cancel the engagement. The old marquis and his wife refused to agree, so he went straight to their house and ridiculed and mocked them in front of everyone on the day when the family was having a banquet. The family was so ashamed and angry that they almost wanted to commit suicide. Naturally, the marriage was ruined. From then on, no respectable family in the capital dared to marry their daughter to him. The Gu family was anxious and extended its claws beyond the capital.
Minglan frowned and looked out the window. Yanran had no one to vent her complaints to, so she invited Minglan to her house every three to five days to talk about the news that Yu Ge Lao had inquired about and her own feelings. The news was like a series of bad news. The latest news said that the guy seemed to have a homosexual habit and was very close to several princes and sons of the capital who were famous for their love of male chauvinism, and they even went to brothels together!
Oh my god! As a professional legal professional, Minglan knew full well that the real world wasn't anything like fantasy. Bad people were bad people; there weren't many prodigals with hidden agendas or who turned over a new leaf. And gay men were gay; it wasn't easy to straighten them out. Haven't you seen the tragic life of the wife of the famous Japanese writer Yukie Mishima? She married him with the beautiful dream of straightening him out, but what happened? Even after giving birth to two sons, Mishima remained a homosexual, a name known internationally.
In the few BL novels I read in my previous life, the love between the male protagonists was beautiful and heart-wrenching, and the female characters were almost all cannon fodder. How many girls who like to read BL novels are willing to marry a gay?
Minglan doesn't want to, and Yanran probably doesn't have this hobby either.
On this day, Minglan was invited to the Yu Mansion again. She hugged Yanran, whose eyes were red from staying up all night, and cried intermittently for a long time. Recently, Yu Ge Lao and Yu Da Ren had been arguing fiercely through letters. Yu Ge Lao wanted to cancel the engagement, but Yu Da Ren refused to agree. He also said that children’s marriages should be decided by their parents, implying that you have nothing to do with it! Yu Ge Lao said okay, parents have the final say on their children’s marriages, right? So he sent a blank divorce letter, saying that his daughter-in-law was disobedient and unfilial, and asked his son to sign and divorce her!
Stepmother Yu was crying and wanted to take her children back to her parents' home, while Old Madam Yu was crying and asking the father and son to stop fighting. Yanran was the ignition point, how could she not be sad and heartbroken? She said straight away: "...Sister Minglan, I am really unfilial. I have caused unrest in our family. I might as well just marry him!"
Minglan tried her best to cheer her up: "Perseverance is victory! Whatever fault I have committed, it's all your stepmother's fault. They've trampled a beautiful flower into the mire. If they want to climb up the social ladder, why don't they use your half-sister as a matchmaker? She's only two years younger than you, so she can talk to someone else, but they're pushing you forward. Isn't this harming others?!"
Yanran had been crying so much these past few days that she almost lost her body. She looked very weak: "Grandfather is old and can't stand the hardship. He has been lying on the sickbed for many days. If anything happens..."
Minglan sighed, "Ah, what's there to be angry about? Your father didn't betray his master or his country. He just wanted to marry into a family and got fooled. Everyone makes mistakes. I even stole the fruit that my grandmother offered to the Buddha and got spanked. After going through this, are we blood relatives going to become enemies? You too, even though things are strained now, as long as you marry well and live a happy life for ten or eight years, you can go back to your parents' home with your husband, children, gold, silver, treasures, chickens, ducks, fish and meat. Can your father still disown you?"
Yanran choked back tears, her heart filled with hope: "Could it really be like this?"
Minglan patted Yanran's shoulder vigorously and said, "Don't worry! When your grandfather was the Prime Minister, he overcame many storms and waves. How could he capsize in a small ditch? Ahem, I'm not saying that your father is a small ditch! You should also cheer up and serve your grandfather well. Don't look so sad, put on a smile! It's not a big deal. First, there is no engagement and no gifts, so it doesn't count as breaking off the engagement!"
In fact, from Minglan's point of view, this matter still has a lot of potential. With Lord Yu so angry, Master Yu in the capital will probably not dare to disobey too much. With the pressure of the divorce letter, Mrs. Yu will not dare to act rashly. Otherwise, if the marriage is set early and then cancelled, it will be troublesome to regret it later! After listening to Minglan's careful analysis, Yanran finally relaxed her mind for the time being.
The matter remained at a stalemate. Minglan was like a beacon of light to Yanran in the darkness. Whenever Yanran was hesitant and wavering, she would pull Minglan over and tell some jokes to comfort her, which could temporarily relieve her anxiety. As Yanran's best friend, Minglan had no choice but to go. As time went by, Lord Yu, the old lady, and even Yu's second uncle and aunt all praised Minglan and said she was kind and honest.
I don't know if it was a blessing in disguise, but the situation started to improve after a few days. It was said that the Second Young Master Gu visited Lord Yu in person with great sincerity and proposed marriage in person. The old marquis also wrote an earnest letter asking for marriage. Lord Yu and the old lady were a little shaken after reading it. After all, he was a son of a noble family. If he was willing to repent, it might be a good marriage.
Yanran was gentle by nature, and she was a little moved when she heard her grandparents say that; Minglan pouted and said nothing.
A cow is still a cow even if it is taken to Beijing. Minglan, who has been attending court and taking notes for many years, believes in what Gu Long, the old drunkard, said: A woman may change for a man, but a man cannot change for a woman. It's just a matter of how long they pretend.
Sheng Hong scheduled Changbai's marriage for the beginning of next year, and the wedding would be held in the capital. As his term of office would be up at the end of the year, the Sheng family began to take inventory of their property and servants again from the end of summer. Some of the purchased land and farms would be sold as needed, and some of the servants and chores bought locally would be dismissed as needed. Minglan also began to talk to the maids in Mu Cang Zhai individually, asking if there was anyone who was unwilling to go with him.
Needless to say, the ones bought from outside were only Xiao Tao Ruomei and three other maids. The Sheng family treated their servants kindly, and Minglan was a good-tempered person, so the maids were reluctant to leave. After asking more than ten girls, only two wanted to stay with their parents.
Then Minglan began to count her possessions. She didn't have much private money. While the old lady gave her plenty of pocket money, she also spent a lot on the maids and servants. That left her with only a few dozen taels of silver. According to current prices, Minglan calculated it was enough to support a family of six or seven for two or three years. It seemed like a lot, but in reality, it wouldn't be enough for an official's household. She had, however, accumulated a considerable amount of gold, silver, jade, and jewelry over the years. The calligraphy, paintings, and books her brother Changbai had given her were truly valuable. Minglan decided to order a book of her belongings, cataloguing them and checking them off one by one.
Before she moved into Mucangzhai last year, Old Madam Sheng had taken out a set of jewelry boxes from her old house in Jinling and sent them to her. The whole set consisted of nine boxes. The largest one was one foot high, with nine layers of forty-nine visible compartments and eighteen hidden compartments. The smallest box was only the size of a palm, and when opened, it actually had nine small compartments. The boxes were nested within each other, and the compartments were detachable. All of them were made of the finest ebony crabapple flower-shaped openwork and inlaid with gold and black mother-of-pearl, and were equipped with nine large double-fish locks of varying sizes and eighteen exquisite half-fish small locks.
Although the whole set looks old, the wood is still smooth and bright, and the white copper and brass are polished to a shine like new, showing a beautiful color under the light. The exquisite and simple Minglan could hardly stop smiling. During the heyday of Tiangong Workshop, several of the best master chefs worked day and night for a month to make a top-quality product - which was one of Old Lady Sheng's dowry!
When this thing was moved into Mucangzhai, Rulan was fine, as she had seen many high-end dowries from the Wang family. She just said a few jealous words and rolled her eyes at Minglan for a few days. But Molan's eyes almost turned red on the spot, and she wanted to eat Minglan alive. She went back and cried to Aunt Lin, and Aunt Lin cried to Sheng Hong.
Sheng Hong spread his hands: "The old lady's dowry, she can give it to whoever she wants, what can he do? To put it bluntly, the old lady had no biological children after entering the Sheng family. If the Yongyi Marquis's Mansion came to ask for the remaining dowry after her death, he would be embarrassed to say anything."
Aunt Lin thought it over and decided to get up where she fell. She wanted to come to Shou'an Hall to pay her respects, but was stopped outside by Fang Mama. Aunt Lin knelt at the door and begged, which attracted everyone in the mansion to come and see. Old Madam Sheng then fell ill on the bed, groaning. The doctor took her pulse and came back with only two sentences: Her heart is depressed and her blood circulation is blocked.
To put it simply, the old lady is unhappy! Sheng Hong hurriedly dragged Aunt Lin away.
At first, Minglan felt guilty, thinking she had provoked Aunt Lin. But Old Madam Sheng acted as if it was nothing unusual and said, "This isn't the first time. Every time she wants something from me, she comes here and makes trouble!"
Minglan was very curious and asked what was going on.
Old Madam Sheng didn't try to hide anything and spoke frankly, "...that year, her affair was exposed. Madam wanted to kick her out, but Master protected her and wouldn't let her in, saying that if she wasn't allowed in, he would take another concubine. Madam refused to drink the tea she offered her, so she came to me and begged, kneeling on the ground for hours without getting up, just begging me to fulfill her infatuation. She begged all day and all night, saying that if I didn't fulfill her wish, she would just hit her head against a wall and kill herself. I was really tired of her, so I dismissed everyone and asked her one question alone, 'Why do you insist on being Master's concubine?' She insisted that it was because she admired Master's talent and character! Humph, if she had just said that she was afraid of poverty and hardship as a child and coveted wealth and glory, I would have swallowed her anger. But she insisted on trying to deceive me with some kind of sincere love! She was just sizing up my previous reputation, so she always talked about true love! Humph, does she know what true love is? True love should be... true love should be..."
"True love is something that cannot be corrupted by wealth and honor, cannot be moved by poverty and humbleness, and cannot be bent by power and force!" Minglan interjected.
"Haha, you actually used Saint Meng's words in this way. Aren't you afraid that the master will beat you with a stick?" The old lady praised in her heart, but pretended to be angry and hit Minglan's palm a few times.
"What happened next?" Minglan asked with sparkling eyes.
"I found it disgusting, so I went to the master and told him face to face that I could help them get married, but he didn't want her to see me again. If she agreed, I would immediately let her in, but she was not allowed to come to me anymore! She started crying and acting like she couldn't agree to both sides, but after a few days of pretending to agree, she finally gave in. I forced my mistress to let her in."
Minglan remained silent. The old lady sighed and continued, "She never meant a word she said. In the years since she came into my house, she's come to me to apologize, crying, begging, kneeling and kowtowing like she was free, asking me to understand her sincere feelings, to forgive her unintentional mistake... So I went straight to your father and told him that if she bothered me again, I would move out and live alone. That's when your father issued a death order not to let her come over!"
Minglan listened for a while and sighed slowly. She had felt a faint and strong emotion beneath the calm surface of Old Lady Sheng for a long time. She was a proud woman who loved and hated fiercely. This kind of absolute extreme often hurt others easily, and even more easily hurt herself.
Recalling the time when Molan came to please her, Minglan gradually discovered that Mrs. Sheng had a strange temper. If someone didn't want something, she would be willing to give it to them. But if someone was deliberately plotting against her, she would refuse to give it to them. When Minglan thought of this, she felt secretly relieved.
Back then, Minglan, in her prime and with a bright future, was swept away by a mudslide. Her next life was plagued by dire employment prospects, leading her to become a complete pessimist. From the day she entered Shou'an Hall, she never asked for anything, viewing everything Old Lady Sheng faced through the most pessimistic lens. Seeing that Shou'an Hall didn't offer snacks like Wang's, she even saved her own pocket money to buy them with Old Lady Sheng, much to Old Lady Sheng's amusement.
Aunt Lin and Molan are good in every way, they are resourceful, scheming and enterprising, but they don't know that what the old lady likes is "not competing".
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