Chapter 245 My biased mother wants me to adopt my younger brother’s son!
After Ning Fu got married and returned home three days later, Si Yuan once again brought up the topic of having the second branch move out of Duke Cheng's Mansion.
Seeing that Si Yuan had not urged the second wife to move out of the mansion, Zhang had thought of pretending to be ignorant and delaying the matter for a while until Ning Rong's wedding date was approaching, and then letting Ning Rong marry out of Duke Cheng's mansion. However, she had never expected that Si Yuan would start urging the second wife to move out so soon.
Zhang said to Si Yuan tentatively, "Sister Fu has just gotten married. Isn't it a bad idea to ask her uncle to move out so soon?"
Zhang now only dared to use Ning Fu as an excuse to plead for Ning Yucheng, and did not dare to show her favoritism towards the second house, for fear of angering Si Yuan further and making the situation worse for the second house.
Si Yuan said calmly, "Fu'er's return to her parents' home is over, and my second brother has already separated from me. If I keep dragging my feet and not moving, it's inevitable that outsiders will say that my second brother doesn't want to move out because he covets the wealth and glory of the Duke of Cheng's Mansion."
Zhang used Ning Fu's reputation to make Si Yuan hesitate, so Si Yuan used Ning Yucheng's reputation to threaten Zhang.
Zhang thought to herself: If you hadn't taken the initiative to add fuel to the fire, how could outsiders interfere in our Ning family's affairs?
But Zhang also knew that Si Yuan meant that if the second branch was not allowed to move out of the house as soon as possible, he would spread rumors to damage Ning Yucheng's reputation.
Zhang had no choice but to compromise.
Zhang was of no use, and Ning Yucheng and Li had no face at all in front of Si Yuan. They couldn't even see Si Yuan and were kicked out directly.
Ning Yucheng dejectedly sent people to clean up the house that Zhang had previously subsidized him, and then moved out with his wife, concubines, children, and the few remaining servants who were willing to follow their second branch.
Ning Yucheng and his family moved very quietly, trying their best not to let outsiders know the news.
But the second wife is willing to keep a low profile, but the first wife is not willing to give them this opportunity.
Cheng soon spread the news that the second wife had moved out to live alone.
As the saying goes, while the parents are still alive, the family remains intact. When the old lady Zhang of Chengguo Mansion was still alive, her two sons had already divided the property and family.
There must be other tricks here, especially since the second house looks a bit shabby. Considering that it was a distant cousin who carried Ning Fu to the bridal sedan at her wedding, rather than her cousin Ning Chi, it is enough to prove that the brothers Ning Yucheng and Si Yuan must have fallen out.
It is a very obvious choice to choose between the powerful Duke Cheng Guo and the expelled Ning Yucheng.
Ning Yucheng's position as a fourth-rank official was originally an idle position. He had not moved for many years and had no chance of promotion. The reason why Ning Yucheng was respected by others over the years was thanks to his good elder brother who was in a high position and had great power.
Now, not only have he and his good elder brother separated, but their relationship seems to have also become strained. If he makes a good deal with Ning Yu, not only will he lose his relationship with Duke Cheng, he might even offend Duke Cheng.
As a result, many of Ning Yucheng's friends became estranged from him. Those who thought that he had no chance of making a comeback went even further and simply cut off all ties with him.
Ning Yucheng is not the kind of person who would shamelessly flatter others to get close to them. He has an inexplicable sense of arrogance. After discovering that these friends are distancing themselves from him, he would only scold them behind their backs for being short-sighted, opportunistic, rude at first and servile later, and then resent Si Yuan for kicking him out, without reflecting on himself at all.
Yong'an Marquis Mansion.
After learning that the second branch of the Ning family was separated from the Chengguo Mansion, Marquis Yong'an and his wife were both in a bad mood.
Although he knew that the relationship between the second branch and the first branch of the Ning family was not harmonious, even if he married Ning Rong, the eldest daughter of the second branch of the Ning family, for the sake of his eldest son, he would most likely not be able to gain a relationship with the Duke of Chengguo.
But they just wanted to prevent their eldest son from having this relationship and prevent him from suppressing their beloved second son.
However, the couple still hoped that the second branch of the Ning family could still live in the Duke Chengguo's Mansion. Then, they could use this marriage relationship to go out and use the name of the Duke Chengguo to make others look up to the Yong'an Marquis Mansion.
Although one is a marquis's mansion and the other is a duke's mansion, and the difference does not seem to be that big, this is only in terms of title. In fact, in terms of real power, the Yong'an Marquis's Mansion is not even worthy of carrying shoes for the Chengguo Duke's Mansion.
The Yong'an Marquisate withdrew from the center of power since the generation of the previous Yong'an Marquis. By the time of the current Yong'an Marquis, only an empty title remained. The family's personal connections have been almost exhausted, and even operating a nominal position is difficult.
Even the financial situation of Yong'an Marquis Mansion was in trouble and difficult to sustain.
How could the Yong'an Marquis and his wife not know about their own family's situation? No matter how immersed in past glory, they would not be completely blind to the current predicament. Otherwise, no matter how much the Yong'an Marquis and his wife disliked the eldest son, he was still their own son, and they would not look down on Ning Rong, the daughter of a fourth-rank official.
It's because they can't marry those noble ladies from high-class families, and they feel ashamed to marry a lady from a low-class family. They think Ning Rong is more practical.
Ning Rong's father held a low official position, but her uncle was powerful and had a decent reputation, so it was not shameful for the Yong'an Marquisate to marry her.
But now the second branch of the Ning family has been separated from the mansion, and everyone knows that Ning Rong will no longer be able to benefit from the title of Duke Chengguo. So what benefits can they get from marrying such a legitimate eldest daughter-in-law into the Yong'an Marquis Mansion? You might also offend Duke Cheng!
The Yong'an Marquis and his wife discussed this matter in their private conversation in the middle of the night, and the Yong'an Marquis's wife even suggested canceling the engagement.
But Yong'an Hou rejected it with one word: "No, isn't it obvious that you despise the Ning family girl? If you cancel the engagement, you will really offend the Ning family."
The wife of the Marquis of Yong'an also came to her senses. She only thought that marrying Ning Rong might offend Duke Cheng, but she forgot that if she broke off the engagement with Ning Rong, the reputation of the entire Ning family would be affected. Duke Cheng has only one daughter! If this incident affected the reputation of Duke Chengguo's daughter, I'm afraid Duke Chengguo would be offended to death.
The wife of Yong'an Marquis said somewhat unwillingly: "Then shall we continue to fulfill the engagement?"
Yong'an Hou sighed, "What else can we do? If we find other reasons to cancel the engagement, do you think others won't talk about us behind our backs? Reputation is important."
The wife of Marquis Yong'an had no choice but to give up in disappointment, but she decided to choose a wife for her beloved second son carefully, a lady from a noble family who could help her son's future.
After all, the eldest son can inherit the title in the future, and the second son who cannot inherit the title will be so pitiful. If she, as a mother, does not make good plans for him, what will happen to him in the future!
It's a pity that the succession to the title must be based on the system of primogeniture, and the head of the family cannot choose a crown prince as he wishes...
The son of Marquis Yong'an also couldn't sleep in the middle of the night. He was ridiculed by his younger brother today. He thought that he could marry the niece of Duke Chengguo and have a capable wife's family in the future. But who would have thought that the second branch of the Ning family would be kicked out by Duke Chengguo so quickly. Not only might he not be able to borrow the help of his wife's family, but he would also be more of a burden.
With a wife like this, my parents will probably dislike him even more.
Feeling that his position was in jeopardy, the Prince of Yong'an completely lost his sleep.
Ning Yucheng couldn't borrow the influence of his elder brother, so he moved out of the Yong'an Marquis Mansion, his future in-laws' house.
But he didn't know that the title was not everything.
The Marquis may seem noble, but in fact he has no real power. The title is just a nice word. Few officials with real power really take them seriously. These nobles without real power are just rich and idle people kept by the court.
Even the title of Duke Chengguo would not be worthy of many people's fear if it did not have real power. The reason why Si Yuan, the Duke Chengguo, can make the emperor, the prince and other officials fear and respect him is not because of the title of Duke Chengguo, but because of the real power in his hands.
Even if Si Yuan did not have this title, he would still be the powerful Lord Ning Si Yuan.
Ning Yucheng, however, only thought that his elder brother could be so successful because of the title inherited from his ancestors.
Now that Ning Yucheng had brought up the Marquis of Yong'an to gain power, those people simply laughed at his ignorance and stupidity. However, his actions had made those people too lazy to continue targeting him. After all, for a fool who couldn't even see the most basic situation, targeting him would be like lowering their own status to the same level as him.
Ning Yucheng thought that it was because his future relative-in-law, Marquis Yong'an, was so prestigious and powerful that these people gave up targeting him.
In fact, it was only because of his exposed stupidity and ignorance that people were unwilling to target him, and he was simply marginalized even more.
Ning Yucheng had also been marginalized before, but only at work. He lacked the ability to do things, and neither his superiors nor his colleagues liked to ask him to do things because he always did things wrong, making it more troublesome for others to redo the work. So they simply marginalized him and gave him some unimportant work to do.
However, they were all very nice to Ning Yucheng, and Ning Yucheng enjoyed the feeling of being respected and valued.
But now he has been completely marginalized. Everyone treats him as if he doesn't exist, ignores him, and no longer targets him.
This kind of cold violence made Ning Yucheng feel even worse than when he was targeted before. No one wanted to pay attention to him. He was like a nobody in the air, which made him feel like going crazy.
But he couldn't blame others for anything. After all, he couldn't blame others for not talking to him, right? Are we not allowed to have others who are too busy at work to have time to chat with him?
After Ning Yucheng was marginalized by such cold violence for a period of time, he didn't want to do it anymore and wanted to resign.
But Ning Yucheng knew clearly in his heart that this official position was his last amulet. If he resigned, he would become a complete commoner. He would have to bow his head and salute every time he saw a small juren. This was simply intolerable to him.
So Ning Yucheng, who didn't want to really resign, but also didn't want to be subjected to cold violence, started to make trouble to attract the attention of his superiors and colleagues.
Ning Yucheng first used his authority to interfere in the work of his subordinates, making a mess of it, and then he pointed fingers at his colleagues, successfully attracting everyone's attention.
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