Chapter 313 Regardless of whether it's marriage or taking a son-in-law into the family, it's always the woman who bears the children, which puts her at a disadvantage!
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Amidst the chaos and commotion of the Li family's unexpected "denunciation" of Li Xiatian, Jiang Huai, who had been seen off by the Li family, had already returned to his small courtyard in Lijiatun.
Once inside, Jiang Huai opened the wardrobe and took out a wooden box.
This wooden box contains all of Jiang Huai's assets, including his house and land deeds in Jiangjia Village, as well as the gold and silver he has accumulated over the years.
Oh, and there are two pieces of jewelry left by his mother: a pair of gold earrings and a pair of silver bracelets.
Jiang Huai thought to himself that although he was going to marry into the Li family, he should be able to live in the courtyard provided by the Li family with a clear conscience.
But Jiang Huai still wanted to buy the courtyard and put it in his own name.
He knew what kind of person Li Xiatian was, and the rest of the Li family were all kind-hearted and easy to talk to;
Li Shiyue is the only one who isn't exactly easy to talk to. Of course, as long as her interests aren't touched, she's quite easy to talk to.
But if you cross her line, she'll strike and your head will roll.
He was afraid that if something were to happen to him and Li Xiatian in the future, he would still need a way out.
In addition, Jiang Huai also had his own little schemes.
"If we have many children in the future, we can choose a boy to take my surname, and that will be enough to live up to my parents' expectations."
"Then we still need to buy this yard; at least in the future, the child will have a place to live."
While Jiang Huai was calculating in his mind how much money he would need to buy the small courtyard, at the Li family home, Li Shiyue asked Li Xiatian a crucial question.
"Sister, Mr. Jiang, how did he agree to marry into the family?"
Didn't he say that?
He's interested in me and wants to grow old with me, but I only want to marry into our family and not get married myself. Doesn't that mean he has to come and be our son-in-law?
Li Shiyue frowned; she could actually see seriousness in Li Xiatian's eyes.
Li Xiatian really thought that way!
Of the whole family, only the slow-witted Stone seemed unmoved; everyone else simply didn't believe Li Xiatian's words.
Of course, it's impossible to say that Jiang Huai dislikes Li Xiatian.
Jiang Huai clearly had feelings for Li Xiatian, but whether those feelings were as strong as Li Xiatian's feelings for him were hard to say.
It's hard to say about matters of the heart. For Li Shiyue, feelings are something that the two people involved need to consider. In her view, the most important issue is only interests, and only interests!
For Jiang Huai, who had received an education in the imperial examinations since childhood, agreeing to become a son-in-law in the Li family as Li Xiatian's request should not have been an easy decision to make!
For example, Li Wangming and Li Shiyang, who both received imperial examination education from a young age, would never become someone else's son-in-law!
On the contrary, if these two had the chance, they would probably act like "phoenix men" (men from humble backgrounds who achieve success), seeking to marry someone of high status, like a powerful official with a daughter.
But marrying into the family?
Absolutely not!
So, why for Jiang Huai?
Why did he agree to become a son-in-law?
Generally speaking, those who would agree to become a live-in son-in-law are the kind of families Li Qiutian mentioned before: poor families, even destitute, whose parents are capable of having children, one son after another, with many brothers in the family. Let alone finding a wife, it would be difficult to even raise her to adulthood.
In such families, the middle son would typically choose to marry into a wealthy family with a daughter.
If one is good-looking, one might be able to find an unmarried woman of similar age;
If he was not good-looking, he would most likely be taken in by a widow who had a son to support and some money.
As for Jiang Huai, no matter how many parents he had, no brothers or sisters, he came from a prominent family like the Jiang family and had the title of Xiucai (a scholar who passed the imperial examinations), he should never have chosen the path of marrying into another family!
This was something that Zheng Meiniang and Li's mother couldn't understand.
Actually, when Li Shiyue told Zheng Meiniang not to worry, that even if Li Xiatian married Jiang Huai, Li Shiyue had no intention of getting married and would still be able to take care of Zheng Meiniang in her old age and see her off in her final days.
Zheng Meiniang had already prepared for the future when Jiang Huai would come to the Li family to ask for Li Xiatian's hand in marriage.
But who would have thought that Jiang Huai would actually agree to marry into the family!
Neither Li's mother nor Zheng Meiniang knew that Jiang Hai had once acted as Jiang Huijun's spy, writing down and reporting Li Shiyue and Lijiatun's affairs to Jiang Huijun.
Thinking about what Jiang Huai had done in the past, Li Qiutian frowned as she looked at Li Xiatian, just like Li Shiyue.
Li Xiatian looked at Zheng Meiniang, then at his mother, and then at Li Qiutian and Li Shiyue.
No one in the family smiled. Li's mother and Zheng Meiniang looked worried, while Li Shiyue and Li Qiutian looked completely puzzled.
"Sister, since Mr. Jiang has agreed to marry into the family, then we should accept it."
Regardless of the specifics or future changes, it doesn't really matter.
It's simply a matter of dealing with whatever comes our way.
In short, as long as you're happy, that's all that matters.
Li Shiyue couldn't figure out why Jiang Huai agreed to become her son-in-law, but just as she had said before, she wasn't afraid of Jiang Huai using tricks. In the face of absolute power, all schemes are just paper tigers!
Seeing her whole family worried about her and Jiang Huai, Li Xiatian finally lowered her head and sighed.
Li Xiatian's sigh made Li Shiyue's eyes widen, after all, given Li Xiatian's personality, it was surprising that he would sigh!
There must be something going on here.
Sure enough, after Li Xiatian sighed, he slowly said, "I told Mr. Jiang that if we have two sons after we get married, then the second son will take his surname."
In this way, his family's lineage cannot be considered to have ended.
"I see!"
Li Shiyue's eyes widened. She knew it! How could someone like Jiang Huai, who had been taught the roles of ruler and subject and father and son since childhood, accept the idea of marrying into another family?
"However, besides what my sister said, there must be other reasons that prompted Jiang Huai to make the decision to marry into the family."
Thinking this to herself, Li Shiyue did not say it aloud.
Instead, what she said was: "Why bother, sister?"
If you truly think highly of Mr. Jiang, then don't insist on having him marry into your family.
You should just marry him.
Mr. Jiang comes from a prominent family and has the title of a scholar. He is also related to the general's wife. Marrying him would not be considered a disgrace to you.
All future children will take Mr. Chiang's surname. This way, they will be close siblings and his sister will have less to worry about.
However, if the goal is to force him to marry into the family and have a son who will be a member of the Chiang family, this would truly be a losing proposition.
Li Shiyue looked at Li Xiatian with a face full of disapproval. Li Xiatian's method had really caused her great losses.
"My dear sister!"
Marriage is one way of life, but if a woman marries into her husband's family, she is actually at a disadvantage, since only she can bear children.
If the man can give birth after being taken in as a son-in-law, then that would correspond to the woman's marriage.
Whether through marriage or taking a son-in-law into the family, it's always the woman who bears the children—that's a disadvantage!
Li Shiyue looked at Li Xiatian with disapproval again, and Li's mother and Zheng Meiniang nodded in agreement, agreeing that what Li Shiyue said was the truth.
"Okay, only women can give birth."
Since you've already taken a son as your son-in-law, why insist on giving one of your sons to the Chiang family?
This surname is not just a surname.
Sister, if a surname is just a surname, then it doesn't really matter whose surname one takes.
It's not as simple as just taking the surname of whoever sounds better, or drawing lots to decide which one you get.
But why did I say to Li Youfu and my eighth uncle that from now on, my Li family would only be my mother's Li family?
Sister, this surname is more than just a surname; it represents the family's affiliation, inheritance, and interests!
Sister, why did you forcefully separate your two sons who share the same father and mother?
Is it just so that Mr. Chiang can be considered to have married into the family?
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