Chapter 248 My biased mother wants me to adopt my younger brother’s son!
Ning Rong tried to make the Prince of Yong'an wake up from his self-deception and stand on the same front with her.
Because she knew too well what kind of predicament she was in, with her parents-in-law partial to her and her husband foolishly filial, and she was left alone and helpless. But unfortunately, if the Prince of Yong'an could have changed over the years, he would have changed long ago. Why would he still be begging for his parents' favoritism even though his parents had favored his younger brother for so many years?
The Prince of Yong'an was stubborn and refused to believe that the Lady of Yong'an would do such a thing to deliberately plot against him and his wife.
Ning Rong was helpless. In order to make her husband wake up, she took over the matter when the wife of Marquis Yong'an tried the same trick again, and then came back to ask the son of Marquis Yong'an for money.
This time, the Prince of Yong'an refused to give it and only asked Ning Rong to ask the wife of Yong'an for money.
However, the wife of the Marquis of Yong'an found all kinds of excuses to refuse to give the money. If Ning Rong didn't want to fall out with the wife of the Marquis of Yong'an, she couldn't make it too clear. She could only pay for it with her dowry money herself.
However, Ning Rong had already seen the precedent of her aunt in the Chengguo Mansion, and she knew how important the dowry was to her, so she refused to use her dowry to make up for the shortfall. She just kept asking the wife of the Yong'an Marquis and the Yong'an Marquis's son for help and money. She would rather lose face and say that she was useless and couldn't do the job than use her dowry to make up for the shortfall.
The wife of the Yong'an Marquis and the Yong'an Marquis's son failed to achieve their goal and were embarrassed by Ning Rong. They were both angry and ashamed: It's just a small matter, such a small amount of money, your dowry is so generous, what's wrong with using your own dowry to make up for it? Do you really want to cause unrest in the family?
Of course, they would not say these words directly, but Ning Rong could sense the implicit meaning in their words. She smiled bitterly in her heart. Her dowry was flashy and not as generous as they imagined. This door must not be opened. If it was opened, she was afraid that she would have to use her dowry to support the entire Yong'an Marquis Mansion.
So even though the wife of Marquis Yong'an and the prince of Marquis Yong'an thought she was too selfish and stingy and had a lot of complaints about her, she still held on to her dowry tightly and refused to let go.
In a fit of rage, the wife of the Marquis of Yong'an directly deprived Ning Rong of the right to participate in the housekeeping.
This actually made Ning Rong feel relieved. After all, if the housekeeper just wanted her to add some money to the dowry, she would rather not have the power of housekeeper.
But after she lost her power as housekeeper, the Prince of Yong'an also began to ignore her.
Ning Rong's situation had fallen into a slump not long after she got married.
She had anticipated this situation as early as when she realized that the wife of Marquis Yong'an had set her sights on her dowry, so it was not surprising. She had the dowry and the servants, as well as the chips to live her own life behind closed doors.
It's impossible that Lady Yong'an won't allow her to return to her parents' home just because she doesn't want to use her dowry to fill the gap in the public treasury, right?
When Ning Rong no longer cared about her husband's family's dissatisfaction with her, she pretended not to hear the intentional or unintentional warnings from the wife of Marquis Yong'an, and directly took people back to her parents' home.
Ning Rong went to her mother, Li, to cry and complain. She could only cry to Li: "Mother, they are really bullying me too much. My mother-in-law asked me to be the housekeeper because she has bad intentions and is eyeing my dowry. My husband also sits there and does nothing. The Marquis is also partial to my younger brother-in-law just like my mother-in-law..."
Ning Rong's crying words made Li feel very distressed, but the more she listened, the more she felt that the situation in Yong'an Marquis' Mansion was somewhat familiar.
Why does it feel like déjà vu for the Duke Cheng’s Mansion back then?
Back then, the old lady Zhang of the Chengguo Mansion was also partial to the second son and was very dissatisfied with the eldest son's wife and made things difficult for her.
However, as the second legitimate daughter-in-law, Li was the one favored by her mother-in-law. Before Si Yuan traveled through time, Li had always had the upper hand and enjoyed unlimited glory. She had never personally experienced the situation of her eldest sister-in-law Cheng.
Unexpectedly, her daughter, who had married into the Yong'an Marquis's Mansion, was in the same embarrassing position as the Cheng family of the Chengguo Duke's Mansion.
Li had an unhappy expression on her face, and said very annoyedly: "Mother never expected that the wife of Marquis Yong'an was actually biased. I thought that after you married the prince, you would definitely be the mistress of Marquis Yong'an's mansion in the future. Who would have thought..." Who would have thought that the current wife of Marquis Yong'an is another Zhang.
Li felt so heartbroken just thinking about how her daughter Ning Rong would have to live the same life as her eldest sister-in-law Cheng in the early days, being bullied by her mother-in-law, distrusted by her husband, and bullied by her brother's wife. Even after becoming a lady in a marquis's mansion, she was still suppressed by her brother's wife.
But now that the Second House has been separated from the Chengguo Mansion, it can no longer benefit from the Chengguo Mansion, and it does not even have the ability to use the power of another to put pressure on the Yong'an Marquis Mansion.
If Ning Yucheng were told about this, I'm afraid Ning Yucheng would ask Ning Rong to be more humble and patient. After all, he was not the one who was wronged, and he still needed Ning Rong, the wife of the prince of Yong'an Marquis's Mansion, to support him.
Therefore, Li never thought of telling Ning Yucheng about the matter and asking Ning Yucheng to step forward. After all, that waste Ning Yucheng could not support her daughter.
As for her son Ning Chi, not only did Li have an unresolved grudge against him, but Ning Chi was just as useless as Ning Yucheng, and even more unlucky. He did not have a capable father like Ning Yucheng who could get him a fourth-rank official position.
If Ning Chi fails to pass the imperial examination, he will most likely be a white-collar worker for the rest of his life.
Li was panicked because she found that her daughter was wronged in her husband's family and no one could stand up for her. Her husband was unreliable and her son was unreliable. Did she want her daughter to ask for help from the eldest wife?
It’s not that Li is unable to bow her head for her daughter, but if she bows her head and begs the first wife, will the first wife help her? Given the feud between the two families, she has not yet suffered the crazy revenge from the eldest wife, which she herself finds incredible. She doesn't think that the eldest wife will help her daughter despite the hatred of killing her son.
Then there is only one person left to turn to - Zhang.
Although Zhang can only live as an old lady in the house in the Duke Chengguo's Mansion and her every word and action is under the surveillance of the servants sent by Si Yuan, she is still the biological mother of the Duke Chengguo and the old lady of the Duke Chengguo's Mansion in name.
The Yong'an Marquis' Mansion is still unaware that Zhang has lost power in the Chengguo Duke's Mansion, and Zhang can still borrow the identity of the old lady of the Chengguo Duke's Mansion to bully others.
So Li took Ning Rong to the Duke Cheng's Mansion to pay her respects to Zhang.
Neither Si Yuan nor Cheng stopped the second wife from coming to Chengguo Mansion to pay respects to Zhang. After all, if they stopped her, it would be tantamount to preventing the second wife from being filial to her mother, which would affect her reputation if it got out.
Moreover, Si Yuan was also happy to let the second house constantly bring bad news to Zhang, complain to Zhang, and let Zhang know how difficult life her beloved second son was living. This made Zhang feel more painful and heartbroken than doing it himself.
For someone like Zhang who is biased, revenge on her is far less painful than revenge on the people she cares about.
To kill someone, you have to destroy his heart.
In fact, Si Yuan's strategy of killing people and destroying their hearts did work very well on Zhang.
First, she watched helplessly as her beloved second son and his family were kicked out by Si Yuan. She even had to be sneaky and cautious when giving subsidies to her beloved son, not daring to give too much. She had been worried and anxious since the day the second son moved out of the house, and she looked much older.
After Ning Rong got married, Zhang was worried about whether her beloved granddaughter would live well in her husband's family after getting married. She was also worried about what would happen if her only grandson Ning Chi could not marry a good lady from a well-off family. She was also worried about the difficult situation of the second wife and her beloved second son being excluded and isolated in the officialdom...
Zhang had too many things to worry about, so when Li brought Ning Rong to visit Zhang, Ning Rong, who had not seen Zhang since she got married, was shocked to see her once elegant grandmother now with completely white hair, loose skin and an old look. "Grandma..."
Zhang is now over sixty years old, but she has taken good care of herself and lived a life of luxury. Even though her hair has turned gray, she still dresses elegantly and appropriately, and her skin is well maintained, not too sagging or with obvious wrinkles.
But now, Zhang's mentality has changed. All the servants around her have been replaced by Si Yuan. She lives under surveillance all the time. Si Yuan also sends people to tell her how difficult life is after the second branch moved out of the mansion. Zhang is worried and has no time to take care of her health. How can she not get older?
His skin was sagging so much that it looked like a layer of it was about to fall off, his wrinkles were deep enough to kill a mosquito, and even his attire was several notches lower than before, revealing a sense of desolation.
Li came to Duke Cheng's Mansion many times to visit Zhang, but she was not surprised by Zhang's change. Deep down, she did not care about the health of her mother-in-law Zhang. She regarded Zhang more as a protective umbrella and safe deposit box for the second wife.
But Ning Rong had been raised by Zhang for several years and had truly felt her grandmother's true love, and she also had a sincere affection for Zhang.
So Ning Rong was very sad to see Zhang in such an old state: "Grandma, we haven't seen each other for a while. How come... Grandma, are you feeling unwell? Or is it uncle..." Ning Rong didn't dare to say anything more, "Grandma, please ask uncle to invite the imperial physician to come to the house to see you."
Zhang touched Ning Rong's face with relief, sighed slightly, and said, "That's not necessary. I know best how the old lady is doing. This is the first time that Grandmother has seen you since Rong'er got married. How is your life after marriage?"
Ning Rong was originally brought by Li to Zhang to complain and ask for Zhang's help. How could she be willing to tell her sufferings and make the already elderly Zhang even more worried about her?
Ning Rong subconsciously reported the good news instead of the bad news: "Rong'er is fine, my husband treats Rong'er very well, grandma, don't worry."
Li looked at her daughter Ning Rong with disappointment. She didn't really bring her daughter Ning Rong here to visit Zhang.
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