Chapter 124
124
Just like in his previous life, Xia Xiaowu only passed the imperial examination and was assigned to be a county magistrate in a remote and poor county.
He was quite glad that the more remote the place he was assigned to, the less likely he would meet Cheng Yeran.
If he became the top scholar and went to Beijing to be an official before Cheng Yeran, he would definitely suppress and retaliate against Cheng Yeran. He felt that if he did so, Cheng Yeran would do the same.
The place he went to was poor and prices were low, so he easily bought a big house. However, the decoration of the house was not as grand as those in the capital, but slightly better than those in the village.
But their family was already very satisfied, and they were proud of themselves in the village, scaring those villagers who had once mocked and insulted them half to death.
After arriving at the small county town, Xia Xiaowu thought that he finally didn't have to endure it anymore. He just found an excuse to kill Shen Yunfeng. Shen Yunfeng's family was so far away, could they still be his support? Make the decision for him?
But something happened at this time, just like in the previous life, the prefect said that he admired him very much and wanted to marry his daughter to him.
The news that his daughter was unable to have children was spread by a doctor in the city, and the doctor was killed by the prefect to vent his anger. However, the gossip had already spread and the whole province knew about it.
When he told Xia Xiaowu that he would marry his daughter to him, Xia Xiaowu was also aware of it.
He didn't want to marry someone who couldn't have children, but the prefect advised him that anyone could have a child, the most important thing was who raised the child. If a country boy had a child, the child would be raised as a wild country boy. Their daughter was proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and her every move showed wealth. If the child grew up with her, he would also be destined to be rich.
Xia Xiaowu also understood what the prefect meant. If he became the prefect's son-in-law and climbed up this big tree, he would become rich and powerful in the future. If he did not agree, he would be afraid that the prefect would make things difficult for him.
Moreover, he was looking for an opportunity to get rid of Shen Yunfeng, and the prefect gave him a chance.
But now he has to go back to calm Shen Yunfeng down, and wait for Shen Yunfeng to give birth to the child, and then he can get rid of Shen Yunfeng.
He returned home with a sad face, and Shen Yunfeng asked him worriedly what happened. Are you encountering any difficulties?
Now Shen Yunfeng regrets marrying him. In his previous life, he married Cheng Yeran. Xia Xiaowu was a county magistrate, and he envied his cousin for being the county magistrate's wife.
But in this life, Cheng Yeran entered the Hanlin Academy, while Xia Xiaowu was still a county magistrate. In comparison, Xia Xiaowu was nothing.
He often regretted why he had lied to his cousin to do the laundry. If he had still done the laundry himself, he would have been the one to marry the lazy man. He could now go to Beijing and live a rich and prosperous life with Cheng Yeran.
Now seeing Xia Xiaowu coming back with a sad face, he was not worried about Xia Xiaowu, but was afraid that this idiot Xia Xiaowu had made some mistake and lost his official position, and they would have to go back to the village again.
Before leaving the village, he had offended everyone he could and scolded many people. He didn't want to go back to the village in disgrace.
He asked Xia Xiaowu several times. At first, Xia Xiaowu said nothing. Later, after asking more, Xia Xiaowu said that the prefect wanted to marry his daughter to him, and if he did not agree, he might not be able to keep the position.
Xia Xiaowu hugged Shen Yunfeng's waist and said, "I don't want his daughter, I only want you. Don't worry, I didn't agree. We will go back to the village in a few days, and we will be a lifelong couple."
When Shen Yunfeng heard this, his head buzzed. He had finally become an official's wife, so why was there someone competing with him for her?
Moreover, the other party is the daughter of the county magistrate. Once she enters the mansion, even if they are both wives, the other party can still suppress him because of her status.
But if he disagrees, Xia Xiaowu will not be able to be an official. He rolled his eyes and came up with a good idea. He would take the power of housekeeper into his own hands in advance. Then even if the prefect's daughter came, what would it matter? The servants in the house were all his people. How could the prefect reach out to their backyard?
Xia Xiaowu concealed the joy in his heart, "You are so good to me. I will never forget your kindness in my life. I will give you whatever you want."
"Give me everything I want. I want the power to be the housekeeper of the family. I have to take care of all the affairs of the family, big or small, and your salary. After she gets married, the power cannot be transferred to her." Shen Yuntang took the opportunity to take over the power from his mother-in-law.
Xia Xiaowu agreed without thinking. Ever since the last incident, Shen Yunfeng had been ordering their family members to do this and that every day, like a big boss who did nothing. However, he had never done anything that was detrimental to their family. With the housekeeping power and the money in his hands, he couldn't cause any trouble, and it would only take a year or two.
He went to discuss it with Xia's mother. Xia's mother was very opposed at first. She had finally had a son who became an official, and the family bought a lot of servants. Her daily hobby was to order these servants to work, and they could not rest for a moment. When they rested, she would whip them. She felt very happy when she saw the servants suffering but not daring to resist.
This old lady hasn't satisfied her addiction yet, how can she hand it over to Shen Yunfeng?
Xia Xiaowu explained the whole cause and effect. After listening to it, Xia's mother was extremely happy. Not only could she get a good marriage, but she could also take Shen Yunfeng's life. The thought of it made her even happier.
She handed over the housekeeper's power to Shen Yunfeng. After Shen Yunfeng got the power, he was not so strict with the servants. He treated them nicely and won the hearts of the servants. Everyone listened to him. Most of these people were locals. They told Shen Yunfeng about the situation of the prefect's daughter and said that she could not have children.
When Shen Yunfeng heard this, he felt a little scared. She couldn't have children, so if he did, wouldn't he have to give the child to her to raise? Can I still survive?
He could think this way because he put himself in her shoes. If he had such status and position and could not have children, he would definitely do the same.
Not only does he want to snatch the child, he also wants to kill the biological mother. Otherwise, after he raises the child, the child will turn around and be filial to the biological mother, and all his hard work over the years will be in vain.
The reason that made him most certain was that he remembered that his cousin in his previous life died of childbirth complications. He thought it was an accident and that his cousin had a weak fate and could not handle such a great blessing, so he died of childbirth complications.
But now think about it, a woman who couldn't give birth to a child married into the Xia family, and then my cousin died after giving birth. This is too much of a coincidence.
My cousin was too naive and believed everyone. He deserved to die, but I was smart and couldn't die.
He felt that he had to make plans early.
He asked his most loyal maid to go out and find out what was going on.
The maid quickly found out some things.
After the news that the prefect's daughter could not have children became a hot topic in the city, everyone paid close attention to her. Every little thing that happened to her would be spread out and talked about, let alone the fact that she had killed someone.
Shen Yunfeng was frightened when he heard that she had killed someone before. He thought that since she had experience, it would be easier for her to kill himself, so he asked her what happened.
It turned out that two servants in her family had an affair, and one of the maids was pregnant.
Originally, she wanted to kick the maid out, but someone told the maid that the young lady wanted to beat her to death.
The maidservant yelled in horror, saying that the young lady must be jealous of her ability to have children, so she wanted to beat her to death.
Later, when the young lady heard this, she was so angry that she grabbed her and brought her to her. She used a knife to cut open her belly and said, "You can give birth, right? Then give birth right here and show me."
It would have been fine if she had let someone else do the killing, but she did it with her own hands. Although the person killed was a servant in their family and it wasn't considered a crime, it would ruin her reputation if the news got out.
Shen Yunfeng learned that she had a bad temper, and not just ordinary bad temper. When she heard someone say that she couldn't have children, most people might curse and beat them back, but she killed people with her own hands. It was very scary.
The prefect's daughter soon came in. Unlike what he had imagined, she did not use her status to suppress him. She even served him tea on the wedding day and pretended to be submissive.
Three days after she entered the house, she sent him a lot of gifts and took the initiative to talk to him. She was very respectful when she spoke to him, as if he was the eldest in the family and she put herself in the position of a concubine.
This made Shen Yunfeng more certain of his guess. He even deliberately said some unpleasant words to anger her, but she still behaved very gently and never got angry with him. She also spoke well of him in front of Xia Xiaowu and asked Xia Xiaowu to go to his room more often. She would not be jealous.
Nanshan
of.
Shen Yunfeng felt that her actions showed that she was pretending and that she would not live long.
He was all alone here, and the Xia family might have colluded with her, so it would be difficult for him to escape. Besides, this was the county magistrate's wife whom he had obtained with great difficulty, so how could he be willing to run away?
It happened that she was pregnant at that time, and the whole family was very happy, especially the prefect's daughter. Only Shen Yunfeng was frightened to the point of feeling cold all over.
He pointed at Xia Xiaowu in front of the whole family and said in a deliberately unreasonable tone: "I need to take care of my baby during this period. You must stay with me. You are not allowed to go to her place, not even to look at her."
Xia Xiaowu knew that he would die if he gave birth to a child, so he naturally coaxed him, "What I love most is you and our child, how could I do this."
The prefect's daughter also showed great generosity, "Pregnant women have big mood swings, I understand, my husband can go live with you, don't worry about me."
After that, every day after Xia Xiaowu came back from work, he would go to Shen Yunfeng's room and never go to the courtyard of the prefect's daughter. Shen Yunfeng also wouldn't let him see his parents or leave the house, so he could only stay in his room to accompany him.
Xia Xiaowu felt annoyed, but the plan was about to succeed. Besides, Shen Yunfeng was about to die. He had been wronged for so long, so this request had to be met.
While Xia Xiaowu was out on business that day, Shen Yunfeng asked the maid to send two pieces of clothing to his mother-in-law. The clothes were brought by the maid from outside and were wrapped in a bundle and given to his mother-in-law.
The maid also told her mother-in-law that it was given to her by the magistrate's daughter, and asked her not to tell anyone and just give it to her. If she told anyone, she was afraid that it would make Shen Yunfeng angry, because Shen Yunfeng hated her being nice to his mother-in-law the most.
After hearing this, the mother-in-law thought that Shen Yunfeng was almost dead and was causing so much trouble. However, it was only a matter of a few months, so she didn't care and put on her clothes nicely.
The maid went to the magistrate's daughter again and said that the clothes were given to her by her mother-in-law. She used similar rhetoric. In order not to make Shen Yunfeng angry, she told her not to tell anyone and just said that she made the clothes herself.
After delivering the gifts, the maid left the house and never appeared in public again.
A few days later, my mother-in-law and the magistrate's daughter both contracted smallpox, and my father-in-law was also infected because he stayed with my mother-in-law.
The rest of the family moved out. Xia Xiaowu was particularly concerned about his children, so he brought Shen Yunfeng out as well.
Although the prefect loved his daughter, there was no way to deal with smallpox in that era. Nine out of ten people who got it would die. He did not dare to visit her, and when he called for a doctor, the doctor did not dare to go in.
In the end, the three of them had no choice but to die in the mansion.
The personal maid of the magistrate's daughter luckily survived. She cried and said that it was the old lady who gave the dress to the young lady, so she contracted smallpox. She wanted to go back and report to the magistrate.
When Xia Xiaowu heard this, his face turned pale, but Shen Yunfeng remained calm and asked someone to shut the maid up.
Shen Yunfeng held Xia Xiaowu's shaking hand and said, "You don't want the prefect to know that his daughter was killed by our mother, right? If you want to keep this secret, get rid of her quickly."
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