Chapter 6 A Bed
Qi cursed angrily, "You old hag, talking nonsense! I've lived all these years and never heard such rubbish!"
Shen Mingxuan said resentfully, "She is indeed talking nonsense. Youhe has great fortune and will become a high-ranking official in the future. It is impossible for him to lose his fortune just because of consummating the marriage. However, Youhe is very filial and does not want to disobey his mother. So he still sleeps with his two younger brothers, while I sleep with his two younger sisters and his mother."
"What?!"
Madam Qi could hardly believe her ears; she slammed her fist on the table in anger.
When she was choosing the Liao family, she intended for Shen Wantang to marry into it, so she went for the worst possible family.
She had specifically asked around and found out that Liao Youhe had a very formidable mother whose fierce reputation spread throughout the county. He also had four younger brothers and sisters to support. Although Liao Youhe himself was somewhat talented, he was blindly filial and let his mother make all the decisions.
Shen Wantang would naturally not have a good life after marrying into such a family.
But she never expected that the person she married would be her own daughter.
She never expected that Liao Youhe's mother would forbid her son and daughter-in-law from consummating their marriage, and that Liao Youhe would actually listen to her!
She knew the Liao family was poor, but she never imagined they were so poor they didn't even have a house, and that their newlywed daughter-in-law had to sleep with her mother-in-law and two sisters-in-law!
There's no such logic in this world.
"No, I have to send someone to the Liao family to teach that old hag a lesson! How dare she bully you like this, it's outrageous!"
Shen Mingxuan waved her hand and said, "Mother, don't be angry. I may be having a hard time now, but I will enjoy a good life in the future. In the future, everyone in the capital will envy me for marrying such a good husband!"
Madam Qi felt that she had gone mad and couldn't help but cry, "This is more than just a little bitter, this is the most bitter thing imaginable! Why do you have to marry him? Even if you don't want to marry into the Ning Prince's family, marrying a son of a Beijing official family who is a good match for us would be better than this!"
"I raised you with the utmost care, not so you could be married off and mistreated like this!"
Shen Mingxuan gritted her teeth: "Hmph, what do you know? I'd rather marry Liao Youhe than anyone else! Things will get better in the future; the current suffering is only temporary."
"Alright, enough of that. Do you have any snacks? I haven't eaten much for three days. Get me something to eat!"
Madam Qi was startled again. She hurriedly ordered some refreshments to be served, and then asked anxiously, "You can't even get a meal at the Liao family's house? Didn't I give you a lot of dowry? If your mother-in-law won't let you eat, just secretly have someone go out and buy some for you!"
“I had someone buy them, but my mother-in-law took them all and gave them to my brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law. I didn’t get any! A lot of my dowry was also taken by them!”
Shen Mingxuan gritted her teeth and said, "I had a fight with their whole family yesterday, and we even got into a physical fight, but they were all like scoundrels. They clearly stole my things, but they still insisted that they didn't steal them!"
Qi felt dizzy as she listened: "Shameless! Utterly shameless! Report this to the authorities, this must be reported to the authorities! The dowry is your private property, they have no right to take it away!"
Shen Mingxuan shook her head: "I can't report this to the authorities, otherwise I'll completely offend Youhe, and I'll have to rely on him to live a good life in the future! But even so, he didn't say a word to me last night or this morning, and he's still angry with me."
"He still has the nerve to argue with you? His whole family stole your dowry; he should be protecting you!"
Liao Youhe said that his younger siblings were the most sensible and would never have stolen my dowry; it must have been my maids or nannies who stole it.
Upon hearing this, Qi felt a wave of dizziness.
She burst into tears: "My poor daughter, what kind of man has she married!"
Shen Mingxuan continued to brainwash herself: "I'm not suffering at all! I'll be the enviable Mrs. Liao in the future! Everything I'm doing now is worth it! Shen Wantang is the one who's suffering!"
At this moment, the unfortunate Shen Wantang was sitting in her small courtyard enjoying the cool air, eating grapes while listening to her maid Dujuan vividly recount Shen Mingxuan's affairs in the Liao family.
"The eldest young lady's dowry was all taken away by the Liao family. Not only could Shaoyao and the others not get it back, but the Liao family also turned around and accused them of stealing the eldest young lady's dowry, framing the Liao family. The Liao family's old lady even wants to sell Shaoyao and the others!"
"As soon as Peony and the others came back, they rushed into the kitchen, crying and stuffing food into their mouths. Miss, you didn't see it, but they looked like they hadn't eaten for days and nights."
"Even old women like Granny Fang cried when they came back, saying that the young lady had suffered too much over there, having to share a bed with her mother-in-law and sister-in-law at night."
Peony and Granny Fang were both maids assigned to Shen Mingxuan by Madam Qi. In addition to the two of them, there were several other maids and nannies. The original intention was to let Shen Mingxuan bring more people with her so that she could establish her authority at her mother-in-law's house.
It seems that Shen Mingxuan's authority has not been established; instead, she has been manipulated.
Shen Wantang smiled. She had always said that Shen Mingxuan was stupid, bringing so much dowry and servants, yet she had managed to live such a miserable life.
She only brought two maids and one nanny with her when she was a bride, but she managed to keep Old Madam Liao in line. Liao Youhe's four younger brothers and sisters all respectfully called her sister-in-law and competed to do things for her.
Children from poor families are actually easy to bribe. She only needs to make a list of things they need to do and indicate the amount of silver they will receive for completing the tasks, and they will all rush to do the work.
The day after she married into the family, she sent her nanny to buy timber.
That evening, the Liao siblings made a sturdy canopy bed for her according to the drawings she had made.
The children never expected that they could actually make a bed. They all gathered around the bed, grinning from ear to ear. The moment they saw the finished product, their sense of accomplishment reached its peak.
In addition, Shen Wantang, the sister-in-law, rewarded them according to their contributions, and the children were as happy as if it were New Year's Day.
Originally, Old Mrs. Liao disliked her for spending money recklessly and for making her children do hard labor as soon as she got married. She wanted to scold her, but all the children spoke up for Shen Wantang and even argued with the old lady. With four mouths speaking at the same time, the old lady was immediately silenced.
That night, Shen Wantang slept in her new bed, instead of sharing a bed with the old lady and her sisters-in-law.
After seeing her drawings and the finished bed, Liao Youhe became much more polite to her. Others might not know the value of the drawings, but he was educated and knowledgeable, and he knew their significance.
Making a canopy bed requires more than just a basic structure; it also requires mortise and tenon joints. Even if an ordinary person has seen how others make beds, they would never be able to draw up blueprints, let alone instruct others to make beds.
Just from the bed, Liao Youhe knew that Shen Wantang must be an extremely intelligent and wise woman.
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