The next day after Mi Niang returned home, she took the children back to her parents' home again. Fang Wei Yan also said that he would go to Lao Taishan's house for dinner in the evening, which made Mi Niang even happier.
"Remember to pick us up in the evening. Don't go back on your word."
Fang Weiyan laughed to himself: "Don't worry, I will also go to visit my parents-in-law. I have been away from home for a few years, so I have to say hello to the elders."
After saying this, Fang Weiyan saw Mi Niang and her son get into the car, and he also went to the yamen.
After returning to her parents' home, she naturally felt much more relaxed than at her husband's home. Compared to three years ago, Aunt Ding had not changed much. On the contrary, her skin had become better and she had become a little plumper.
Not to mention how happy Mrs. Ding was to see her two grandchildren, she felt a little embarrassed when she heard Mi Niang say that she had gained weight: "After coming to Kyoto, you know that people in Kyoto eat a lot of noodles. I don't know if it's because I eat too much noodles that I've gained weight."
Mi Niang quickly shook her head: "What do you mean you've gained weight? I think you're fine the way you are. I always thought you were slim, but too thin. Now you're fine."
Mrs. Ding Er smiled and said, "At my age, it doesn't matter to me. But I think you have lost weight."
Of course, she was proud of the fact that she would take time out to dance every day to keep in shape, but it was difficult to tell this to Second Madam Ding, so Mi Niang said, "It's because they gave birth to little boys. It's hard for me to take care of them."
Others might have believed this, but Second Mistress Ding didn't believe it at all: "Don't play tricks on me. You have so many servants to take care of me, and my aunt has such a good temper. There's no need for you to do anything."
Seeing that she was exposed by her own mother without hesitation, Mi Niang smiled and took the arm of Second Madam Ding. Second Madam Ding was very happy for her daughter to see how cute she was, but she reminded her daughter in an instant: "Now that you have been promoted, you should also change your temper. Look at the Empress Defei who is usually so humble, but she also made the emperor unhappy because of her wrong words. Although her position has not been reduced, it is already very serious to reprimand her in person."
"It's nothing, but I'll just swallow my anger. It's common to fall out of favor occasionally. Couples in ordinary families will quarrel, let alone the royal family. How you fall out of favor is not important. The most important thing is to regain favor quickly. She is older than me, and it is very difficult to be favored in the harem. She also has two sons, so she has to think about how to improve her status as soon as possible."
This is what Mi Niang is like. She never thinks about what happened in the past, but what will happen in the future?
Second Mistress Ding sighed, "It's not that easy to regain favor. Now that the Empress has not been appointed, I don't think Concubine De has a chance of winning. Although Concubine Zheng is a concubine, her status is low. Moreover, although Concubine Guo Jin has an eldest son, she is not favored. But if we appoint another one from outside, her qualifications will not be enough to satisfy the public."
Speaking of which, he seems to be very concerned about the country and the people.
Mi Niang smiled and said, "Mother, let the emperor and the ministers handle this matter. After all, we have a say in it."
With ministers like Fang Weiyan around, she wasn't worried at all. It might not be a bad thing for the emperor to be a little weak.
Besides, Emperor Yonglong was not stupid. He was a truly intelligent man and he must have had a plan in mind.
Second Madam Ding also suddenly realized: "Yes, it would be great if we girls could enter the government. It's useless to talk so much now. Your father will be transferred to Lingnan as an official this year. I'm afraid I will have to follow him. Unfortunately, your two younger brothers are studying in the academy, so you have to take care of them."
"Daddy wants to be a foreign official. Oh, that's right. I wonder what position it is?"
"It's nothing more than the co-magistrate. Now that he has a son-in-law, who dares not give him face? It just so happens that your father and son-in-law are here today, and he still wants to hire a staff."
After talking a lot of things, Mi Niang learned that her two younger brothers had already gone to the academy to study. Yu Heng and Yu Han were in the inner dormitory and the middle dormitory respectively. They only came back during the holidays.
Now Yuheng is sixteen years old and Yuhan is thirteen years old, and they are both adults.
Mi Niang couldn't help but mention their marriage, but Second Mistress Ding smiled and said, "Don't rush, wait until after the imperial examination before talking about it. Otherwise, getting married so early will distract you."
"That's true." If he relied on Fang Weiyan and her, he would certainly be able to find a good wife, but if Ruoyu failed the exam for a long time, wouldn't she be despised?
This is different from Fang Weiyan. There were very few people who passed the imperial examination at the age of 20.
Men nowadays either get engaged early and marry off the girl no matter what, just like the Guo family. They will marry Wang Sumin no matter what she is like and treat her seriously. Otherwise, they will wait until they become successful and marry into a wealthy family.
There are also many scholars who are still unmarried at the age of 30.
Otherwise, abandoning one's wife is shameful.
Of course, there are many people who are negative about studying.
Ruan Jiading and his second wife both felt that their son was not even a student, so there was no point in thinking about marrying a rich and powerful woman. It would be better for him to concentrate on studying first.
Mrs. Ding Er smiled and said, "When Yuheng is killed this time, I'm afraid we will have already gone to Lingnan. We'll leave them in your care."
"Mom, why are you still being so distant with me? If our family splits up——"
Before Mi Niang finished her words, Second Mistress Ding frowned and said, "Why are we dividing the family? Is it your brother's wife who is causing this?"
How can we divide the family while our parents are still alive?
If this gets out, it may not be a good thing.
Mi Niang said hurriedly, "It was the Fourth Master who said he wanted to split the family. You don't know that my eldest uncle betrothed his daughter to the family of Concubine Guo Jin. Outsiders don't know our relationship and must think that the Fourth Master wants to support the eldest prince. Under such circumstances, the Fourth Master has no choice but to split the family. However, he only said it to me in private. I'm afraid it will be very difficult to really split the family."
"It's like this when a family gets big, everyone has different ideas, but the kinship is inseparable." Sometimes Second Grandma Ding feels that the world is impermanent.
Most of the dishes for lunch were cooked by Second Grandma herself. Many of them were traditional Jiangling dishes, especially the glutinous rice cake with fish and white rice cake. The taste was still the same as before, and she ate an extra bowl of rice.
The two sons were left unsupervised at their grandparents' house, running around and playing without anyone to stop them.
At dinner time, Fang Weiyan came over and had another round of nice words with Ruan Jiading. Although these two were father-in-law and son-in-law, they were also peers. Ruan Jiading talked to his son-in-law about some personnel changes in the capital.
Although Ruan Jiading was one of the top students in the department, his future was far inferior to that of his son-in-law. He could not help but want to give his son-in-law some advice at the dinner table. Upon hearing the music, Fang Weiyan only said that he would help him when he was transferred back. Ruan Jiading was overjoyed, and the father-in-law and son-in-law drank a lot of wine.
This is what it means to be an official if you have someone in the court. You have ability, but no one speaks for you in front of the emperor, or someone is chewing maggots on your behalf. You may be left idle for many years, while most people may not even live to see that time.
It would be better to ask his own son-in-law for help than to ask anyone else, and this was also why Ruan Jiading was not shy.
Of course, if he left such a big tree alone and instead asked others for help, what would Fang Weiyan think?
After returning from her mother's house, Mi Niang had someone prepare some sobering soup for Fang Wei Yan, and Fang Wei Yan obediently took it and drank it all. He was like this, rarely going crazy even when drunk, especially in front of Mi Niang, he was always very well-behaved, like Tang Ge'er.
"Mi Niang, let's take a rest." He waved to Mi Niang with a flushed face.
The servants around couldn't help but cover their mouths and laugh, and lowered their heads. Mi Niang was also a little embarrassed: "You take a rest first, I'll come later."
"Come on, come quickly."
He seemed to be stubborn and wanted her to come. Mi Niang had no choice but to let the servants go out apologetically and she went over. Fang Weiyan immediately grabbed her hand and pulled her to sit on his lap: "Mi Niang, I miss you so much. I miss you all day long. I miss you when I'm happy and I miss you when I'm unhappy."
Mi Niang gently pressed his temples and said with some concern: "What's wrong? Is there something wrong?"
"No, everything is fine." Fang Weiyan leaned on her chest.
Mi Niang patted him gently from time to time, as if coaxing a child, and soon he seemed to fall asleep. But even when he was asleep, he kept holding her hand, as if he was afraid that she would run away.
After he fell asleep, Mi Niang went out and Chun Tao came over at the right time.
"What's wrong?"
"Fourth Madam, Chen Kang said today that he went to all the pawnshops to ask around, and it seems that both the first and second wives stole some items from the pawnshops."
Mi Niang nodded: "Okay, I understand."
Chun Tao couldn't help but ask: "What are your plans for this matter?"
"You guys just quietly redeem the things first, and I'll give them to the old lady. As for the rest, I won't tell you." If he had made a scene before, it might have shocked everyone in the mansion and told them not to come here in the future. But if he was preparing to divide the family now, it would have been like doing a favor.
It's easy to explain why the first and second wives stole things. Although Yu had a lot of dowry, her widowed mother, brothers and sisters all depended on her. She had no children and had to take care of the house, so it was common for her to not be able to do things right. Not to mention Yu, Chang Yuzhu only gave her a share, not a bit more. But the second wife's children had grown up, and the family didn't divide the property, so they could only take advantage of others.
Chuntao went down quietly.
Chang Yuzhu already knew about the affair between Yu and Yu. She smiled and said, "It's good that it's exposed. The first and second wives wanted to marry off all their children while the Marquis is still here. They also wanted to live a life of luxury. That's just a dream."
Chang Yuzhu has long been impatient with the large number of people in the family and the need for pomp and circumstance. She is now pregnant. If things continue like this, when her son grows up and sets up his own family, she will have no place to stand.
Juanbi helped her sit down and said, "That being said, will the Fourth Wife make a fuss? They just came back from Dengzhou. Although Dengzhou is not rich, the Fourth Wife has been a prefect for three years and has 100,000 silver coins. How can the Fourth Wife be short of money? I'm afraid she won't mind those things."
"Well, having said that, my fourth sister-in-law is a shrewd person. I heard that almost everything in her yard is registered. There are as many as seven or eight missing things. Although they look insignificant and not rare, she still doesn't mind it at all." Chang Yuzhu had discovered this matter a long time ago, but she didn't expose it directly because of this incident.
The Marquis always thinks about everyone's well-being, but there are few officials in his family and many people who eat at home. Everyone wants to be well-dressed and well-fed, so where can he get enough?
The eldest wife has eight grandchildren, the second wife has about the same number, and although the third wife has only one, the expenses are also not small. The fourth wife now has two as well, and there are younger brothers and sisters in their generation, who will also get married in the future, which will also be a considerable expense. All this money will have to be paid by her.
They want it to be lively and respectable, but where can we get so much money in the mansion?
Xu knew Chang Yuzhu's problem very well, so when she saw Mi Niang quietly delivering the money, she sighed slightly, "Your second sister-in-law has been eating ginseng all year round, and the family is not like in previous years. Your third brother also wants to make connections, and each of these things costs money. But I didn't expect them to become thieves. You didn't make a fuss, which was also a cover-up for them. How can you not cover up for this family?"
Mi Niang nodded, "My eldest sister-in-law is the second wife, and she has not had a child for so many years. She still has a widowed mother and younger brothers and sisters, so she is probably short of money. My second sister-in-law is also unlucky, and I will not blame them. If you are poor, you should take care of yourself, and if you are rich, you should help the world. This is also the way it should be. My third sister-in-law is asking my Min brother to study with our Xian brother. In addition, although the two nephews of the first wife are studying in the Shen family, they are our family after all. If they come to the Fourth Master for help, he will not be able to refuse."
This was quite true, but Mrs. Xu was very unhappy. She and Aunt Ding had no gratitude but only resentment. Not killing her was already an act of exceptional kindness on her part.
The son is kind, but they are all impolite.
Xu couldn't help but say, "There's no need to agree to them."
"That being said, we live under the same roof and see each other every day. If we are too heartless, how will others view us? Oh, by the way, the fourth master is going to rent a house near the Hanlin Academy, so that he can meet colleagues and entertain fellow townsmen."
"Can't we do it at home?"
Mi Niang smiled and said, "Some scholars have that kind of temper and don't want to marry into a rich family. Even when the fourth master meets his peers, he only wears casual clothes, for fear that others will say he thinks highly of himself."
Xu also knew that her son was older now and had his own team, but there were many people in the family and she was afraid that this was the reason why they had to entertain guests outside separately.
Of course, Mi Niang couldn't say anything about dividing the family. If the parents didn't divide the family, it would be detrimental to her reputation.
So the most important thing is to let Xu know the disadvantages of not dividing the family.
After this incident, the family was peaceful. Ruan Jiading and Second Mistress Ding were both going to Lingnan, and Mi Niang went to see them off. To be honest, she thought she would be able to see her parents often this time when she came back, but she never thought that when she came back this time, her parents would leave.
But that's how life is, eight out of ten things are not as you wish.
The two younger brothers were introduced to Xu by Mi Niang. Yu Heng and Yu Han were both good-looking and honest people, which made Xu very happy. At the same time, she looked at Mi Niang again. It seemed that all the beauty of the Ruan family was possessed by her alone.
However, Mi Niang knew that her elder brother was fine and was the kind of person who had his own rules no matter what happened. It was said that he and Fang Weiyan agreed that it would be fine if he passed the exam, or he could go home and be a cowherd if he failed.
But Yu Heng is definitely talented and knowledgeable. Fang Weiyan even thinks that his mentality is a good thing, and once it starts, it will be extraordinary.
It is also said that Yu Han is different. He was naughty when he was a child, but when he grew up, he was very serious about the imperial examinations. He was studious and smart, but he was very concerned about gains and losses.
However, due to their family education, these two never took advantage of their status as children of government officials and behaved like other students in school.
After meeting with Mrs. Xu, she said, "They both only come back once every six months. I don't think we need to bring them back. After all, they are old enough. Although they are not capable of being the head of the household, they can still establish themselves. It would be good for my daughter-in-law to come home more often to take care of them."
Xu naturally knew why. Yu's two younger sisters were now living in the mansion, both of them were as beautiful as flowers. Ruan Yuheng and Ruan Yuhan did not get married at this time because they wanted to have a good reputation in the future and be able to find a better marriage.
Now, she herself feels more and more inconvenient.
Especially since Chang Yuzhu brought the account book again, the daughter of the eldest wife Fang Weichang was getting married, and she was marrying into the Guo family, so the dowry was naturally indispensable.
She said with a sad face, "I hope my niece's dowry is as much as possible, but the harvest this autumn is not good. The old lady's funeral was completed earlier, and the account has finally been slowed down. I'm afraid that all the harvest this season will have to go to Sister Sheng."
"Besides, my sixth brother is not young anymore, so he can reduce the amount a little. Aunt Mei said that my brother needs to start learning and live in a yard, and my daughter-in-law is jealous of my brother who has a yard next door--"
Xu thought silently, that was reserved for Min Ge'er.
Housekeeper Chang Yuzhu has already saved a lot of money, but it is still not enough. When Old Madam Weng was alive, Xu had already noticed this, but now it is very difficult to deal with.
However, Fang Weiyan also talked about this problem with Dong'an Hou and Xu Shi at the end: "I heard that the mansion is already running out of money. It's good for the older ones like us to get married and start a family, but what about the younger brothers and sisters?"
Dong'an Hou said: "This is not something you should worry about. Your mother and I are both here, so how can we divide the family? You brothers are all together, even if life is not as good as before, you can just reduce it as appropriate."
From the perspective of a parent, I naturally hope that all my children are well taken care of.
Even robbing the rich to help the poor is justified. As long as the family is not divided, the young masters and young ladies in the mansion can rely on the name of the mansion to marry into good families. This is a win-win situation for the mansion.
Fang Weiyan immediately stood up and bowed: "This is my son's fault."
Xu quickly spoke up for her son: "Don't blame him. This time, a lot of things were missing from the room. He and his wife were trying to cover it up. Now it's like this. In the future, the brothers will turn against each other."
She had already decided that dividing the family was the best option. After the family was divided, with Fang Weiyan's filial piety, this son would still be her son and Fang Weijun's brother. But if he remained in this mansion, her son would have to run errands for those little bitches.
"Is there anything else?" Marquis Dong'an frowned.
Fang Weiyan sighed, "This tree needs branches when it grows big. My son thought that if we divide the family now, we can keep each other's dignity, which is better than making a mess in the future. My son has already entered the government, and his share can be given to the second wife, and Ruan and I can live in the official residence. In addition, the issue of the country's foundation is getting more and more serious, and more and more people are asking for favors. My son is deeply involved in it, and it is hard to understand how it feels."
Because the emperor has not appointed a crown prince, although Fang Weiyan is the Junior Secretary of the Chancellery, his main job is still in the Hanlin Academy and he is now a Hanlin scholar. Naturally, many people will come to visit such a close minister of the emperor. In the future, the Guo family, the Cui family and even the Hanhai Mansion will come to visit. It will be bad to offend any of these people.
Seeing his son in such a dilemma, the Marquis of Dong'an said, "You are now a close minister to the emperor, and you should know your limits. If that's the case, let's split up the family. But you don't have to live in the official residence. It's not that serious."
Now the son has the highest official position in the family, and he is still very young. According to common sense, he will have at least another 30 years of official career. As long as he is around, the entire Dong'an Marquis Mansion has nothing to fear.
Fang Weiyan knelt down and kowtowed several times to Marquis Dong'an and Xu.
The news of the division of the family spread quickly. Mi Niang listened to Fang Wei Yan and did not fight for anything. She knew that Fang Wei Yan was her greatest treasure, and his presence was better than anything else.
Except for Chang Yuzhu who thought it was good news, the other families were all in a state of panic.
Although Yu from the first wife's family did not have a smooth life in the mansion, after all, she was not the marquis's biological daughter-in-law. Her husband's title was a prince, but it was inherited by her mother-in-law's son. But her mother-in-law was still okay. Her family still needed her for financial support, and she also had a place to live in the marquis's mansion. Now that the family was divided, what could she do?
Yu from the second house was crying even more. Her husband was exiled, and she had suffered a lot. At least she was taken care of by the Marquis's Mansion on weekdays, and their lives were much better. What about the future division of the family? What should the sons do?
How can my daughter propose marriage to someone else's family?
Not to mention those children of the marquis's mansion who have not yet married. They are all afraid that they will be kicked out of the house after the family is divided. It was Xu who came out and said that those who have not yet started a family should live with them, and they can separate from the family after they find a wife.
In fact, from Mi Niang's perspective, she herself was born into a branch of a prominent family. She knew very well that after being separated, if her great-grandfather and father had not been able to pass the imperial examination and become officials, they would probably have been nothing more than farmers. Those like Ruan Shiyi who helped their hometown look after the ancestral tombs and property were already doing quite well as relatives.
Of course, everyone can hang out together as a family, but in the future I'm afraid that the legitimate branch will be eaten up by the illegitimate branch, so let's just play together.
Only when you are the head of the household do you know how expensive money is. The Yu branch was expelled from the family tree that year. She thought that her expenses were reduced, but in fact, the supplements her branch ate for a month were enough for a wealthy family to live on for a lifetime.
"Mi Niang, I think we have just moved out. If we live in a house that is too big, it will not be beautiful. How about this house? It is just big enough for our family to live in, with Xiao San moving in." Fang Weiyan said.
When the family is divided, it is the men who do the dividing; women are not allowed to participate at all.
He discussed it with me in advance and it was he who proposed to divide the family property, so he would definitely get less on the surface.
Mi Niang smiled and said, "What's the big deal? We have lived in this courtyard for several years. I think it's pretty good. You don't have to worry about me. Since ancient times, the strong have always preyed on the weak. No one can guarantee anyone's life. We also have our own way to go. If they want to blame someone, they can blame the injustice of this world. If we were in their place, we might be even worse off."
If Fang Weiyan was useless and Fang Weichang was the crown prince today, how could they survive?
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