Chapter 43 Shu Erniang's Education
Such a banquet was extremely boring to Shu Wan, but she still forced herself to cope with it.
Especially since there were some people she didn't want to see at the banquet, she felt even more uncomfortable.
For example, Shu Erniang.
Shu Er Niang is wearing red and green today, and she wishes she could wear all her wealth on her head to tell the world how well she is living.
But in fact, the Li family's financial situation is not particularly good.
When Shu Erniang was thirteen years old, she had an affair with Li Zhong, the groom of the Shu family, and had a child. She had no choice but to marry him. The groom's family was poor, and all the expenses of the marriage were paid by the Shu family, even the betrothal gifts were paid by the Shu family, just to save face.
In order to make Shu Er Niang's life a little easier after marriage, her parents supported her and her husband to start a business. However, Li Zhong was lazy and addicted to gambling. He ignored the business and spent all his time in the gambling house. Within two years, he lost all the money, farm and shop that Shu Er Niang brought.
Being so poor that they could barely make ends meet, they began to set their sights on their father-in-law's family. Over the years, the Shu family had given them a lot of money, but he was like a bottomless pit. After Madam Shu passed away, the Shu family was unwilling to interfere anymore.
Li Zhong was also a scoundrel, and upon seeing this, he pretended to sell his wife and daughter to the brothel in exchange for silver.
There was no other way, so the Shu family beat him up and gave him some money to start a timber business. They also warned him that if he gambled again and lost the family fortune, Shu Er Niang would divorce him and keep the money in their own hands.
Shu Erniang really had no business sense. She spent more money than she earned and was struggling to make ends meet. However, Li Zhong continued to indulge in drinking, whoring and gambling. Not only that, he even assaulted her when he was drunk.
Because both of her children were daughters and her mother-in-law did not help take care of the children, Shu Er Niang was overwhelmed and the family's living expenses could not be maintained for a time.
It was not until the third time that Shu Erniang gave birth to Li Zihao that her mother-in-law was satisfied and willing to hold the child. When her two daughters grew up and her mother-in-law helped take care of her son, she focused on her business.
But she only relied on the Shu family's relationship to make a living, and her business was not big at all, so she turned her attention to her natal family, trying every means to get money from her natal family to subsidize her husband's family, using the name of Shu's relatives. If it's not to say that she was swindling, she was also cheating for many years! Shu Erniang is a typical example of playing a good hand badly, and no one laughed at her.
So she was eager to show the world how well her life was, and she wore a head full of pearls and jade every time she went out.
Today, a family like the Li family is not qualified to attend this banquet, but she is Aunt Shu Wan, so she can only send her an invitation.
She spent a lot of time and effort dressing herself up, thinking that she was covered in jewels and precious stones, hoping that others would look at her more.
Unfortunately, for many years, she had been interacting with people living at the bottom of society, and she could not integrate with these ladies from aristocratic families (Note: there is no intention to belittle the working people at the bottom of society here, the author himself is a genuine rural person). She could not get a word in when others were talking.
Whenever she said something, she would be looked down upon by the people around her. However, since she was Shu Wan's aunt, others did not dare to be too obvious.
It even made those unmarried young ladies blush.
When the women sit together, they can't help but discuss which family's son married a good girl, and which family's girl was unfilial after marrying into her husband's family.
So Shu Erniang thought she could tell everyone a big gossip she had heard.
"Let me tell you, there's a family in our area with the surname Zhou who raised a daughter but didn't teach her well." Shu Erniang spoke in a loud voice with an exaggerated expression, as if she was afraid that those present wouldn't be able to hear her before going to bed. "Before they got married, she was deflowered by someone, and then the man ran away. The family simply couldn't live happily anymore. To me, it's really pitiful. This daughter was raped before she even got married..." She became more and more excited as she spoke, but the faces of the people around her became more and more ugly.
How could anyone with a little bit of manners casually say dirty words like "breaking virginity"!
(End of this chapter)
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