Chapter 439 Taking a Concubine
With the help of others, Dan Niang successfully escaped the Sun family and divorced her daughter. She also had a place to live and was able to work and earn money. Her life was back on track, and everything was developing in a good direction.
But things were still a mess for Shen Lizhu. (Chapters 432-434 are available now. Thank you! Chapter 434 was revised three times before it was finally released! Go read it if you haven't already!)
In the stillness of the night, Shen Lizhu lay on the bed with her eyes closed, next to Gong Huaifeng, whom she had known since childhood, and who was her childhood sweetheart and had been married to her for five years.
Shen Lizhu knew that Gong Huaifeng knew she wasn't asleep, but even now, after five years of sharing a bed and being diagnosed with a hidden illness, he still managed to hold back from saying a single word.
This made Shen Lizhu somewhat sad.
It's as if all of this can be ignored as long as it's not mentioned.
However, in this world, the pressure of childbirth is mostly placed on women. Who would dare to stand up and say to the outside world, "It's not that my wife can't have children, but that I have a hidden illness that prevents me from giving birth"?
How many men would dare to openly admit their shortcomings, unafraid of being ridiculed, but only afraid that their wives would be misunderstood?
A surge of resentment welled up inside her, making Shen Lizhu feel as if her chest was about to explode.
"Fenglang, let's adopt him."
After saying this, Shen Lizhu fell silent.
After a while, Shen Lizhu felt Gong Huaifeng's arm around her shoulder, and his warm breath on her neck.
Once Shen Lizhu had figured things out, she truly did. She genuinely gave up the idea of having a child with Gong Huaifeng and instead asked the old woman beside her to inquire about which family in the Gong family had many children and if there were any suitable two- or three-year-old toddlers.
"What's wrong, Granny? Why do you look like that?"
Shen Lizhu looked at Yao Mama, who had nursed her and accompanied her to the Gong family as her maid, and asked with a hesitant expression on her face.
With a single glance from Granny Yao, the two maids inside bowed and left.
"Zhu Niang, you're asking this little boy if you want to adopt him into your family?"
Shen Lizhu nodded, naturally wanting to choose a good one to sit on.
As Granny Yao approached, Shen Lizhu pulled Granny Yao to sit down next to her so they could talk.
Granny Yao held Shen Lizhu's hand and whispered, "Zhu Niang, you are only in your early twenties. It's not too late for you to get a divorce and remarry now."
Our eldest and second sons only have you as their younger sister. And our eldest son is an official in the Ministry of Revenue. Even if you remarry, you can find a husband who has never been married before. Why do you have to adopt someone else's child?
Even if someone isn't your own child, there's always a distance between you and them.
Although it's said that distant relatives shouldn't interfere with close ones, I don't think Third Master Gong would appreciate someone as sensible as his wife.
Shen Lizhu looked up and glared at Granny Yao, "Granny, did you hear something going on in this family?"
"My lady went out yesterday, and I didn't know that yesterday at noon, her mother-in-law, Madam Gong, brought her fifth daughter from her maiden family home."
Shen Lizhu suddenly remembered that Gong's mother had previously spoken to Shen Lizhu about how there were relatives in the Gong family who were unable to have children, and that she had specifically spent her dowry money to help her husband take a concubine.
"Is this a concubine prepared for Feng Lang?"
"We don't know for sure. Maybe they just invited their niece to stay at their house for a while?"
"Why don't you ask Gong Sanlang, my lady?"
Shen Lizhu understood that since Granny Yao could say it out loud, she must have already found out that this was the concubine that the Palace Mother had prepared for Gong Sanlang.
"My concubine, haha, haha."
Shen Lizhu chuckled twice, then lowered her head, seemingly lost in thought.
Gong Huaifeng didn't return until dinner time.
Shen Lizhu noticed the lingering smile on Gong Huaifeng's face. "Fenglang, why are you so happy? Is there some good news?"
Gong Huaifeng sat down, picked up a cup of tea and took a couple of sips before slowly explaining to Shen Lizhu, "Zhu Niang, Mother didn't tell you because she was afraid of disturbing your recuperation. My fifth cousin from my maternal family came to stay at our house for a while."
I just got back from my cousin's. She's a little rascal; she made my mother and me laugh for a long time.
"Oh."
Shen Lizhu's ambiguous soft chuckle froze the smile on Gong Huaifeng's face, causing it to vanish quickly.
Gong Huaifeng noticed Shen Lizhu's displeasure and immediately said, "Zhu Niang, what are you thinking?"
My fifth cousin is only sixteen or so; she's still a young girl.
Tomorrow I'll introduce you to my fifth cousin; you're sure to fall for her.
As Shen Lizhu watched Gong Huaifeng talking to himself, she thought to herself, "Cousin? Sixteen?"
This is the concubine your mother prepared for you!
"If you don't tell your mother that you have an illness that prevents you from having children, then your mother will secretly prepare a concubine for you without my knowledge!"
That night, Shen Lizhu didn't say anything more to Gong Huaifeng.
Sleeping in the same bed but dreaming different dreams, this is the way of the world; the closest of kin are husband and wife.
The next day, after getting up, Shen Lizhu tidied herself up and went out with Granny Yao to return to the Shen family.
Facing her mother, Shen Lizhu could no longer hold back and burst into tears, hugging her mother.
"My son, my son, don't cry, don't cry, your crying is breaking my heart."
"Mother, my heart is bitter, my heart is aching. Why did I have to encounter such a thing? Mother, I am in pain."
Seeing the tears on Shen Lizhu's face, Shen's mother, who only had this one precious child in her whole life, felt both pain and anger.
Shen's mother held Shen Lizhu in her arms, stroking Shen Lizhu's back again and again, just like when she was a child.
“Zhu Niang, let’s not go, let’s not go. Why should we suffer such humiliation in the Gong family?”
"It's today. I'll send someone to the government office right now to call your elder brother home. We're leaving the Gong family; we'll get a divorce and go home. Your mother will find you a better one."
At this point, Shen Lizhu raised her tear-streaked face to look at her mother, muttering something but not daring to say it aloud.
"At a time like this, what is there that you can't tell your mother?"
You are flesh of my flesh; if you suffer even a little, your mother will suffer tenfold.
"Mother, I haven't decided yet."
When faced with her mother's gaze, Shen Lizhu avoided it, muttering to herself with her head down, no longer speaking the truth.
"Granny Yao has already told me about your idea of adoption."
If you feel you can continue living with Miya Saburo, it wouldn't be a bad idea to pick a clever young man from the Miya family to raise.
But you can't bear the stigma of infertility!
"Mother!"
Faced with her mother's stern gaze, Shen Lizhu lowered her head and dared not say anything more.
"Firstly, you are the daughter of my Shen family, and you should not suffer such injustice."
Secondly, if you take the blame for infertility upon yourself, what will the other women in the Shen family do?
Your sixth sister will be of marriageable age in six months, and although your ninth sister is young, she will also get married in the future.
“Mother is right, I know, I know.”
Mother Shen pulled Shen Lizhu's hand and patted it: "Also, have you ever thought about it? If you said that Gong Sanlang couldn't get pregnant because of a hidden illness, would Mother Shen still be able to bring that damn cousin from his maternal family into the Gong family?"
"Does Madam Gong still dare to allow Gong Sanlang to take a concubine?"
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