Shen Zhaoshu said: "If you live well, you may not know who is the laughing stock."
Shen Yu cried, "I can't live anymore. You are not me. If you were in my situation, you wouldn't be able to survive either."
Shen Zhaoshu said: "When I got married, I was only a teenager, and my younger brother Zhaoming's life or death is still unknown.
Because of your words, my father took out another ten percent of my only thirty percent dowry and gave it to you. He didn't even say a word of blessing or advice to me, his daughter who was about to marry far away. He was worried about you and left in a hurry and panic.
My mother was trapped in Yunlan Temple by my father's men and was not allowed to send the bride off because we refused to admit the false accusation.
I boarded the ship alone, looking at my father's back without looking back, feeling desolate.
You said your father didn't love you, but you had always had his full love from childhood to adulthood until a month or two before he died.
You got it, you owned it.
Auntie didn't follow your elder brother just because you are insignificant.
She was spoiled because she relied on the favor she received. She broke into my mother's yard and wanted to hide something in my mother's room. As a result, she found those letters and knew that my mother was Zhong Qin. She was so scared that she left in a hurry.
At that time, my mother and several older maids went out, and the maids who stayed behind took turns to go to the big kitchen to eat. Although there was a gap, some of the maids, big and small, still saw my aunt.
She was afraid that her crime of harming others would be exposed, and she was also worried that she would end up in a miserable situation because she had deceived her father for so many years. In addition, her son's death was caused by her own planning. She couldn't bear it because of all the worries and fears.
In fact, she was worrying too much. My mother had never thought of revealing her identity to win favor. My mother no longer had that kind of affection for my father.
So you see, you once had more than I did.
Can you please have some backbone? After all, you are from the Yongding Marquis Mansion.
Your father loved you so much, and he was also a formidable figure on the battlefield. Don't lose to his fame."
Chen Yu said: "If I were still a teenager, I wouldn't be afraid.
But now I’m old enough to have grandchildren, what else can I do?”
Shen Zhaoshu said: "As long as you are in Rongguo Mansion, you are the wife of a dignified Duke. As long as you are in Yongding Marquis Mansion, you are the daughter of Yongding Marquis. What are you afraid of?
Count your dowry and see how much you have left. Keep an eye on it. This is the capital for your livelihood. Don't let anyone cheat you again.
Make a list of all the houses, fields, shops, jewelry, and valuables you remember asking for from your father and then tricking your son and husband into giving to their mistresses, and tell me about them one by one."
Chen Yu said, "I remember everything they wanted to take, but I need to check whether it was transferred to the concubine's name."
Shen Zhaoshu said: "Tell me everything, I will check it out."
Shen Yu cried, "Sister, will you help me?"
Shen Zhaoshu said: "Isn't this already helping? Pull out these two lists, one for each of you and me.
To prevent your dowry from being swindled away again. Although my father wanted to hide the amount of your dowry from me before, since he finally gave me the management of the Yongding Marquis Mansion, I already know everything.
Let me see how much you have left. If you are willing to divorce, I will help you get it all back.
If I can get back the thing that was transferred to the concubine, after deducting the expenses, half will be returned to the account of the Yongding Marquis' Mansion, and the other half will be given to you.
The condition is that you divorce Duke Rong. Then you can take the dowry and get back half of it, which is enough for you to become a rich woman and live a good life.
I don't know how happy I am, why should I suffer this anger?
Without you to support them, how could they, father and son, still think they could live a comfortable life? Once all the things are taken back, he will be able to support his mistress and his mistress's daughter on his own.
A duke, using his wife's money to support a mistress, is truly shameless!"
But Shen Zhaoshu didn't know that Shen Yu was sometimes clear-headed and sometimes confused.
Shen Yu made a list and told Shen Zhaoshu the whole story of each big product changing hands.
Shen Zhaoshu asked the chief clerk with the fastest pen to take notes.
It took nearly two days to finish this part. Then Shen Zhaoshu went to the business office to check how much of the money had been handed over to Dong Rouer and her son.
Chen Yu counts her dowry at Rongguo Mansion.
Comparing the dowry that Shen Yu has left now with the dowry list of Shen Zhaoshu, it is naturally much less.
Upon inquiry, it was found that whenever the daily expenses of the Rongguo Mansion were tight, including the monthly salary that could not be paid on time, they would come to Chen Yu for it, and thus subsidize the expenses of the Rongguo Mansion.
Over there, Duke Rong and his son, along with his wife and grandson, stayed at the concubine's house for four or five days. Seeing that Chen Yu did not come back, the wife discussed with her husband, "Let's go back. This young woman seems to be increasingly disgusted with us living here."
Our son is also the legitimate eldest son and grandson of the Rongguo Mansion. Yesterday, he just had a bowl of rice cooked with glutinous rice and jade beads, but Dong Rouer actually turned her face away and said that it was a big deal for a child to eat so much.
When her son was concentrating on eating, she said that it was the time for him to grow.
"From the mansion to the ornaments, clothes and jewelry, everything came from the Rongguo Mansion and from my mother. You even asked for this mansion for her, and yet you look at her shameless behavior! She's even turned her back on us!"
Chen Yu's son said, "But father won't let us go back. He said that he wants mother to be humble and come to ask for permission. He also wants mother to apologize to Dong Rouer and promise not to provoke me again in the future before he will let us go."
The daughter-in-law said, "Isn't this a bit too much, Father? He and Dong Rou'er slapped Mother three times, and now he wants Mother to apologize?"
"But if my mother doesn't give in and apologize, how will this matter end?"
"What does father mean? Is he going to take this concubine? Doesn't that require mother's consent?"
"This young woman is quite formidable. She told me she's comfortable living outside and doesn't want to move in. She's also relieved to have the money in her own hands. Don't think my mother can control her.
But she wanted her father to take her son back home to recognize his ancestral home. She also wanted her father to raise her son in his yard after taking him back, saying that she was afraid that his mother would harm her son.
She told her father that as long as her son could return to his roots, she didn't care. Her father was so moved that he wanted to satisfy her.
The daughter-in-law said, "If she doesn't come into the mansion as a concubine, and she wants her son to recognize his ancestral roots, then won't he be registered under his mother's name?
Then this child is the legitimate son.
Would your mother agree? And your father already has a legitimate son, so your chances of becoming the crown prince are over, right?
We have been trying to please your father in vain, giving away this large house and all that money, which were originally given to you by your mother. If your father were to deceive us like he deceived your mother, we would be a laughing stock.
"How can it be so easy? To establish a clan temple and return to one's ancestral home, how can it be accomplished without a mother recognizing the child?
I've thought about it. If my father wants my mother to agree, I'll ask her to ask for me to be crowned the Crown Prince. Once I become the Crown Prince, she can recognize the other child."
The daughter-in-law said, "You treat mother like this now. First, you cheated her out of her house and money to please me, and today you pushed her out. You even praised me in front of her and said that mother was vulgar, rude and unreasonable. Will mother endure this for you and recognize the concubine?"
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