Chapter 239 My biased mother wants me to adopt my younger brother’s son!
There are always parents in this world who are biased to the extreme for unknown reasons, just like the original owner's mother, Zhang, and the Yong'an Marquis and his wife.
Si Yuan had no intention of exploring why the Yong'an Marquis and his wife disliked the eldest son who inherited the title. Anyway, it was enough for him to know that this matter was true.
He secretly intervened and sent such a good candidate to Li, just to let Li find a suitable candidate to marry Ning Rong as soon as possible, so that Ning Rong would not have a relationship with the Ninth Prince as in the original plot. By then, he would have to find a way to deal with the Ninth Prince, and maybe even the Third Prince, who had a deep brotherly relationship with the Ninth Prince, and was the future new emperor.
This is all very troublesome, and Si Yuan doesn't want to create any more trouble.
So Si Yuan wanted Li to marry Ning Rong off as soon as possible, but Li wanted to marry her daughter off into a wealthy and powerful family. Si Yuan wanted to find a wealthy and powerful family that met Li's expectations, but also made it impossible for Ning Rong to live a happy life and use the power of her husband's family to interfere in her natal family's affairs.
The eldest son of the Yong'an Marquisate is a very suitable candidate.
As Si Yuan predicted, Li readily agreed to the marriage and began to arrange the wedding for Ning Rong.
Zhang and Ning Yucheng were very happy when they found out that Li had chosen such a good marriage for Ning Rong.
After all, if you marry a daughter into a wealthy family, she will be able to support her family in the future.
Only the people in the first house were completely indifferent, as if they were unaware of the incident and let the second house enjoy itself.
Seeing this, Li knew that it was impossible to expect the royal family to give Ning Rong a dowry. However, the second house now had very little property, and it was all in Ning Yucheng's hands. Even if all of it was put in, it would not be enough to buy a dazzling dowry.
When Si Yuan forced the second wife to pay back the money, he did not touch the good wood and other dowry that Li had saved for Ning Rong. After all, it was not nice for an uncle to touch his niece's dowry. He did not even touch Li's dowry, let alone Ning Rong's dowry.
No matter how shameless Ning Yucheng was, he would not be so shameless as to use the dowry that Li had saved for her daughter to pay off debts, so the dowry that Li had saved for Ning Rong was still there, but this was just the foundation. She had previously expected the real big payout to come from the prince.
Now the first and second branches have separated, but the second branch is still reluctant to move out. In addition, Si Yuan did not urge them to move out for some reason, which is why the second branch is still able to stay in Duke Cheng’s Mansion.
It’s just that Si Yuan allowed Ning Rong to marry out of the Chengguo Mansion, but that doesn’t mean he would agree to pay Ning Rong’s dowry from the Chengguo Mansion’s public account.
You can understand their attitude just by looking at the fact that Si Yuan and Cheng seem to have no idea that Ning Rong is going to get married.
Li knew that she could not rely on the first wife, nor did she dare to rely on her, so in addition to planning to put all the betrothal gifts sent by the Yong'an Marquis's Mansion into Ning Rong's dowry, she also set her sights on Zhang.
Her own dowry had long been taken by Ning Yucheng to pay off his debts, and there was very little left. She was unable to add a glorious dowry to Ning Rong, so she could only go to Zhang to cry and complain, saying that she had finally found such a good marriage for Ning Rong, and that Ning Rong was married off to a wealthy family. Their second branch was also counting on Ning Rong to support her family after she got married, and they were afraid that Ning Rong's dowry was too meager and would be looked down upon by her in-laws.
Although Zhang disliked Li, she was always good at loving the whole family.
Zhang truly loved her second son's children. Even Ning Chi, who had murdered his own brother, she felt pity for him now that he had recovered. What's more, Ning Rong, who had never made any mistakes and was always favored by her.
Because Cheng and Zhang had a bad relationship as mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, Cheng was somewhat wary of Zhang and seldom let her daughter Ning Fu go to Zhang's place. After all, Cheng did not want her precious daughter to be with Zhang as a match for Ning Rong from the second wife. Given how partial Zhang was to the second wife, Cheng felt it was rare for Zhang to treat Ning Fu and Ning Rong equally.
But treating the legitimate daughter of a duke and the legitimate daughter of a fourth-rank official equally is in itself unfair to Nymph. Cheng couldn't bear to see her daughter suffer this injustice.
Li was different. She knew that Zhang favored the second wife and wished her daughter could get more benefits from Zhang. As a result, Zhang favored Ning Rong more among the two legitimate granddaughters.
Now Li came to Zhang to complain about Ning Rong's meager dowry. Even though Zhang knew Li's intentions, she couldn't help but sigh: "Sister Rong is getting married, and as a grandmother, I naturally have to do my part to show my love."
This means agreeing to help with the dowry.
Li's goal was achieved, and she no longer had a sullen face. She praised Zhang with witty remarks: "Mother is so kind, and who can help but say that you love Rong Jie'er? Rong Jie'er is also a good and filial child. Your daughter-in-law will definitely bring Rong Jie to kowtow to you..."
Li's flattering words did make Zhang feel very comfortable, but not long after, a clear and cold voice broke the atmosphere of loving mother-in-law and filial daughter-in-law: "Mother is indeed a good grandmother who loves her granddaughter. If that's the case, then when Sister Fu gets married, I believe mother will not be stingy, right?"
The person who came was Cheng.
Cheng and Li were old rivals. When she received the news that Li went to Zhang's yard, she knew that Li, who would never come to Zhang's house for no reason, must have gone to Zhang to ask for money.
Si Yuan didn't care to whom Zhang gave her private property. Even if Zhang gave all her property to the second wife, under his plan, the second wife would not be able to keep the property.
Cheng was not so forgiving. She was unhappy to see Zhang daring to openly subsidize the second wife at this time. Her own son was killed by the second wife, and the first wife was also made extinct by the second wife. Although she knew that the matter was not over yet and her husband's revenge was not over, the second wife and Zhang did not know yet. They thought that the matter had been suppressed and the first wife would not pursue it, but as the culprits, didn't they feel guilty at all?
She didn't know how the second wife had the nerve to think about Zhang's private property, and how Zhang had the nerve to continue subsidizing the second wife? !
Now with Si Yuan backing her up, Cheng is extremely confident. Why shouldn't she fight for it? She has to fight for it. There is no reason to be so biased!
Cheng walked in and sat down, as if she was in her own room. She wore a false smile on her face, and did not even look at Li. She only said to Zhang: "I guess mother is not a partial person, right?"
There is an indescribable irony in these words. After all, everyone knows that Zhang has been so biased that she watched the first wife die out and even helped the murderer clean up the mess in order to allow the second wife to inherit the title.
The smile on Zhang's face froze. She was very unhappy, but she didn't show it. She said calmly, "Sister Fu is also my granddaughter. When she gets married, I will naturally add to her dowry."
In fact, Zhang felt that Ningfu was the legitimate daughter of Duke Chengguo, had parents who cared about her wholeheartedly, she had no brothers, and the eldest wife was rich, so she would definitely have a grand wedding when she got married.
Poor Ning Rong from the second house. Not only did she have no money, she also had a brother who inherited the family business. The only way she could have a dowry when she got married was thanks to the fact that Mrs. Li truly loved her as a daughter and the fact that the family Ning Rong was going to marry into was of high status.
Zhang just felt that the first wife was greedy, while the second wife was weak and pitiful and needed her help.
But no matter what Zhang was thinking, Cheng's words had put her in a difficult position. If she didn't want to anger her eldest son again, she would have to spend a lot of money to prepare an equal amount of dowry for Ninfu.
Zhang had been prepared to spend a lot of money to give Ning Fu the same dowry as Ning Rong now, but Cheng insisted, "Same? Mother, not to mention that Sister Fu is the legitimate daughter of a duke, which is a world of difference from Ning Rong, the legitimate daughter of a fourth-rank official. Just say that Sister Fu is the eldest legitimate daughter of the eldest house, and also your eldest legitimate granddaughter. How can the legitimate daughter of the second house who was separated from the side branch be compared with Sister Fu? The dowry should not be the same, right?"
Zhang's face darkened. Did this mean that she should strictly follow the difference in their social status and give Nymph twice as much makeup? She isn't even dead yet, and you're already thinking about her personal belongings? How unfilial!
But she was reluctant to scold her. After all, Cheng's request was not wrong. She just didn't want to treat her two granddaughters fairly.
Li's face became even uglier, not only because Cheng had so blatantly stated that her daughter could not be compared with Ning Fu, but also because Cheng wanted to empty Zhang's private savings.
The couple of the second wife had long regarded Zhang's private property as theirs, so how could they allow the couple of the first wife to divide it fairly with them?
The only thing that the Second House was most proud of, and that could overpower the First House, was Zhang's partiality. If Zhang's private possessions were to be distributed fairly like the family property, with the First House taking the lion's share, then the Second House would not only lose its property, but also lose Zhang's favoritism, which they had always been proud of.
As the wife of the second wife, Li knew best how desperate the second wife was. Zhang's private property was the last property they could fight for. In Li's opinion, Cheng's request was just an attempt to steal the second wife's property.
So Li said quickly: "Are you trying to force mother? This is unfilial! Mother can give her private property to whoever she wants. How can we, the younger generation, have any say in this?"
Cheng sneered, "How can you, a bitch, have the right to speak?" She did not give Li any face at all. After all, she was facing the enemy who killed her son. If she did not slap him, it would be a shame that she was too well-educated to do such a rude thing.
Li's face flushed, and her face turned red and blue. She resented Cheng for not giving her face and calling her a bitch in front of Zhang and the servants, but she didn't dare to curse back.
After all, things are different now. Li also knows that she can't be compared with Cheng, the wife of a duke. She can only look at Zhang with humiliation and grievance, hoping that Zhang will make the decision for her.
Zhang silently avoided her gaze.
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