Chapter 237 My biased mother wants me to adopt my younger brother’s son!
Si Yuan had no idea that Ning Yucheng had received a large subsidy from Zhang.
After all, the second branch of the family has been separated out, and the old lady Zhang has become ill and low-key because Si Yuan has repeatedly disrespected her and so many things have happened.
Therefore, the servants of the Chengguo Mansion all knew who the real master of the Chengguo Mansion was and who they should be loyal to.
It was not difficult for Si Yuan to eavesdrop on the conversation between Zhang and Ning Yucheng, as he had spies among the servants around these two people.
Si Yuan didn't care about the benefits Ning Yucheng got from Zhang. His revenge on Ning Yucheng was not over yet. The property Ning Yucheng got now would be doubled in the future.
There was no need for him to kill Ning Yucheng at this juncture when the family was just divided. This would make people think that he could not tolerate his own younger brother and affect his reputation.
In this spiritless ancient world without supernatural powers, as long as Si Yuan had no intention of rebelling and becoming emperor, it would be beneficial for his future life in this world to build a good reputation.
Si Yuan allowed Zhang to subsidize Ning Yucheng, but no matter how much Zhang loved Ning Yucheng, her second son, she only wanted to leave all her private property to Ning Yucheng after her death. She never thought of subsidizing Ning Yucheng with all her private property while she was still alive.
Therefore, the subsidy Ning Yucheng received from Zhang was not small, but compared with all of Zhang's private assets, that amount of subsidy was not much.
Ning Yucheng embezzled all the subsidies he received from Zhang and did not tell Li.
But later the second wife had to move out of the mansion, and Ning Yucheng didn't want to live in the house near the outskirts of Beijing, so he took out the house deed that Zhang had subsidized him. This house was Zhang's former dowry. It was a large mansion with five courtyards, located in the inner city, not too far from the Chengguo Mansion. It had a good geographical location, and the surrounding neighbors were all officials' families.
Most people would be reluctant to sell a good house in a location like this. The Zhang family was able to give such a nice house to Zhang as a dowry because they thought Zhang would marry into the Chengguo Mansion as the Duke's wife, so they spent so much money.
As soon as Li saw the address on the title deed, she knew that this house was not something Ning Yucheng could afford.
When the family was divided before, Si Yuan did not treat Ning Yucheng unfairly and gave him the full 30% of the property. However, because the deficit of several hundred thousand taels of taels of the second house had not been made up, at least half of the 30% of the property that Ning Yucheng received was used to make up for the deficit. The remaining half of the property, which Si Yuan gave to Ning Yucheng, was basically properties in other places, and very little of it was properties in the capital.
It cannot be said that these industries are worthless, but the distance is too far. Unless Ning Yucheng is sent to serve as an official in other places in the future and does not develop in the capital, there will definitely be many inconveniences.
Li knew clearly that the only house Ning Yucheng got was the one near the outskirts of Beijing.
Now Ning Yucheng took out the title deed of a mansion in a good location in the inner city. Li quickly guessed that it should be a subsidy from her mother-in-law Zhang.
Li knew that Zhang could not have subsidized only one house, and must have subsidized other things as well. However, Ning Yucheng was unwilling to tell her, nor was he willing to give it to her. Even though Li had some objections, she did not dare to say it.
After all, Li is not as confident as before. Her two legitimate sons, the second legitimate son is dead, and the eldest legitimate son is separated from her, leaving only a legitimate daughter who knows nothing.
She was also charged with the crime of murdering two illegitimate sons and the heir of the main house. If it weren't for the fact that Ning Chi murdered Ning Ji, which shocked Ning Yucheng even more, and Si Yuan didn't reveal the whole story for the sake of his plan, and Zhang kept the matter quiet for the sake of her reputation, Ning Yucheng would definitely not have let Li off so easily.
Although no one openly held her responsible, Ning Yucheng already knew about these things, and he could use them to hold Li hostage at any time.
In addition, Li's dowry was used to fill the deficit caused by her corruption. She had little money and even less confidence.
Now Li is like a housekeeper to Ning Yucheng, not a legal wife.
Li realized that her status had declined, but she was helpless and could only swallow her anger, hoping that after the family division, she could restore the mother-son relationship between herself and her eldest son Ning Chi, help Ning Chi find a wife, and let Ning Chi give her a grandson.
Li no longer has the confidence, but she also has the confidence that Ning Yucheng will not dare to divorce his wife. After all, Ning Yucheng cannot have another child, and Ning Chi is his only son. Ning Yucheng cannot let his only son have a divorced mother, right?
Li calmly took the house deed that Ning Yucheng handed out, sent people to clean the house, and started preparing to move.
Li really didn't want to move out of Duke Cheng's Mansion, even though she had to always be on guard against retaliation from the eldest wife's side. But it was better than becoming the wife of a fourth-rank minor official after moving out of the Mansion.
Since she lived in the Duke Chengguo Mansion, she could still socialize outside under the name of the Duke Chengguo Mansion. The ladies of wealthy families would accept her as the wife of a minor official for the sake of the Duke Chengguo Mansion.
But the second house was separated, and the head of the family became Ning Yucheng, a small official of the fourth rank. She was just the wife of a small official. Who would take her seriously?
Even her children's marriage prospects in the future will be several levels lower.
Li was dithering in preparing to move, not wanting to move out too quickly.
She began to look for a marriage partner everywhere. Her two children had reached the age to get married. She wanted to take advantage of the fact that the second wife had not moved out of the Chengguo Mansion yet and outsiders did not know about the division of the Chengguo Mansion, and use the name of the Chengguo Mansion to arrange the marriages of her two children.
After the engagement, even if the second branch moved out of the Chengguo Mansion, the in-laws would not regret it even if they knew the truth. After all, the second branch had only separated from the Chengguo Mansion, not severed ties. If they broke off the engagement after the engagement, they would offend the entire Ning family.
After Si Yuan noticed Li's movements, he directly spread the news of the separation of the first and second branches of the Chengguo Mansion.
Even though the second branch had not yet moved out of Duke Cheng's Mansion, basically all the prominent families in the capital knew that the two families had separated.
Li's plan to use the reputation of the Chengguo Mansion to find a high-class marriage for her children is no longer feasible.
After all, families who want to marry into the Chengguo Mansion can focus on Ning Fu, the legitimate daughter of the Chengguo Mansion. Who would look at the children of the second wife who were separated?
It’s not that there aren’t families who want to marry into the Duke’s Mansion through the second branch, but the Li family doesn’t think highly of these families.
Although Ning Yucheng was only a minor official of the fourth rank, during the nearly twenty years that she had lived in the Duke Cheng's Mansion, Li, who had been the housekeeper of the mansion for many years, had already developed high aspirations and vision. She felt that her son could marry a princess and her daughter could marry a prince, so she would never look down on the children of minor officials of the fourth or fifth rank.
Li's eyes were too high and she only cared about the children of officials of the first or second rank or those who held great power.
But those people also look down on her children.
Li was often rejected and ridiculed for revealing information to such families.
Li was indignant, but helpless.
Cheng went out to socialize. As the wife of a duke, her social circle was naturally the top social circle of powerful and wealthy ladies, which was also the circle that Li wanted to marry into.
Naturally, a lady who knew her told Cheng the news that Li was looking for a wealthy wife.
Cheng's face showed an undisguised sneer of sarcasm: "My sister-in-law has always been arrogant and unwilling to be mediocre."
When the other ladies saw Cheng's attitude, they knew that there must be something fishy about the sudden separation of the first and second branches of the Chengguo Mansion.
Considering the fact that the sons of the first and second wives of the Duke of Chengguo's Mansion died one after another, although they did not know the truth, these ladies who had experienced many domestic intrigues guessed that there must be some secret intrigue behind it.
They didn't want to be curious about the secrets of the Chengguo Mansion. They only needed to know that the second branch of the Ning family, which was separated, had a bad relationship with the first branch of the Chengguo Mansion, so there was no need to be afraid.
So after Cheng expressed her stance, those ladies from wealthy families who had originally wanted to politely decline Li's marriage proposal became rude and directly ridiculed Li, who was too ambitious and wanted to marry into a rich family.
Even Ning Yucheng's situation in the court became much more difficult. Those superiors and colleagues who had originally treated him kindly now all liked to make things difficult for him.
This made Ning Yucheng secretly resentful. When he was still living in Duke Cheng's Mansion, he was treated gently, politely and courteously. But now that he was separated, his attitude changed immediately. He was respectful at first but arrogant later. How hateful!
Ning Yucheng deeply suspected that it was his elder brother who was behind these people making things difficult for him.
Otherwise, if there was no conflict of interest, why would his superiors and colleagues make things difficult for him?
Ning Yucheng had no idea that this was the result of his good wife looking for a wealthy and powerful family to marry into.
Not every one of these officials who had made things difficult for him was approached by Li who wanted to form a marriage alliance with him, but at least every one of them had received hints from the wealthy and powerful families that had been approached by Li, and they helped to vent their anger on Ning Yucheng.
Anyway, they got the news that Ning Yucheng had offended his own elder brother to death. They excluded and embarrassed Ning Yucheng, and they were not afraid of being hated by Duke Cheng.
Ning Yucheng still had no idea how he had offended someone.
It was not until Ning Yucheng gave a generous gift to his direct superior in order to improve his situation that his superior reluctantly gave him some advice.
Ning Yucheng, who finally realized how his situation had deteriorated, went home angrily to settle accounts with Li.
"What on earth have you done? You have caused me to be ostracized by my superiors and colleagues!"
Li originally wanted to find Ning Yucheng to complain about how those wealthy families turned their backs on their second branch, but she didn't expect that before she even opened her mouth, Ning Yucheng started to scold her.
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