When Liu's father found out that Concubine Chai was sitting outside crying, he did exactly what Liu's mother had expected and had Concubine Chai dragged back to the third room. If Concubine Chai made a fuss, he would stuff a rag into her mouth.
Aunt Chai didn't expect to be treated like this, and she didn't expect the visitor to directly say that this was the Marquis's intention.
"If you do this again, you will not be allowed to stay in this town anymore." The housekeeper said this deliberately. "The Marquis' Mansion is not a place for you to act recklessly."
"You..." Aunt Chai took the rag out of her mouth, opened her mouth, but did not dare to continue.
Aunt Chai was afraid that they really couldn't stay in the town any longer, and she couldn't go back to Shiyuan Village. Even though Shiyuan Village was close to the town, it was still a small village.
"As a concubine, if you don't want to stay here, you can go to the family temple." The housekeeper said what Liu's father said, "The Marquis said that even if the family temple is gone, it can be rebuilt. This is just not the capital, so we won't build it specifically for you. At most, we'll just have two more people keep an eye on you."
How is it possible for a concubine to cause such a commotion?
Father Liu and Mother Liu had already given them face by allowing Concubine Chai and the other concubines to move out with their son. If they continued to cause trouble, Father Liu would certainly not give them face any longer.
After the housekeeper left, Liu Yanyuan hurriedly helped Aunt Chai to sit next to him.
"Mom, are you going to the main house again?" Liu Yanyuan asked, "You'd better not go there anymore."
"I'm not going." How could Aunt Chai dare to go again? This time she was dragged here directly, so what about the next time? Would she be thrown directly into the village? She was afraid that if she was thrown back to the village, there would be people watching her.
Aunt Chai knew that the ancestral temples of wealthy families were basically used to deal with and punish the women in the family. Once a woman entered the ancestral temple, she basically had no hope of leaving.
Concubine Chai didn't dare to think about herself being imprisoned in the ancestral temple. Even if there wasn't a ancestral temple, Father Liu had people watching her, definitely not to serve her. She was afraid that those people would still make her work and wouldn't treat her so well.
"I won't go." Aunt Chai muttered a few more words, "The Marquis is really cruel."
"If my father wasn't so cruel..." Liu Yanyuan didn't continue.
Liu Yanyuan also wanted to work together with the first wife again, but he didn't dare to say it, nor did he dare to get close to the people from the first wife's family, because he knew that Liu's father was not a kind person.
Just because the stepmother is usually kind and amiable doesn't mean she is willing to let them go back.
Liu Yanyuan was afraid that they could not even have their current life, so he did not dare to act rashly. He did not stop Aunt Chai because he thought that if Aunt Chai succeeded, they would benefit.
It doesn’t matter if Aunt Chai fails.
"It's better not to go there in the future." Liu Yanyuan said, "There's a lot going on in the shop."
Liu Yanyuan thought that Concubine Chai was useless and his father would never let her go back to serve him, so she should just work more in the shop. Liu Yanyuan was willing to split up the family business and was unwilling to pay more to support his father, which showed that he was not a very filial person.
So it is normal that he intends to let Aunt Chai do more work.
But Aunt Chai didn't think about these things. She certainly didn't want her son to be too tired. Besides, the business in the shop was not that good, and it was difficult to hire people. She had to do something.
Aunt Chai didn't talk about her son, but about her daughter-in-law, "Where's your wife? Is she hiding?"
"She'll go wash the dishes." Liu Yanyuan said, "We'll have to run the shop later, so we need clean dishes."
"Yeah." Aunt Chai nodded, but then thought, this isn't right. "Are dishes and chopsticks as important as me? I'm in this state, and she, as my daughter-in-law, doesn't even bother to show some concern for me."
"..." Liu Yanyuan didn't say much. What was he concerned about? There were so many dishes that hadn't been washed, and he didn't want to wash them. He didn't ask Aunt Chai to help wash the dishes. At least he couldn't let Aunt Chai get too angry now. He had to slowly let Aunt Chai do more things.
In the Liu family's main house, Liu Yulian was not surprised to learn that her father had Chai's concubine dragged away. Chai's concubine was so troublesome, and her father could not tolerate it forever.
If my father continues to endure, how will others see him?
The dignity of the head of the family will be lost!
"In the future, if you get married..." Mother Liu wanted Liu Yulian to be patient, but when she saw her daughter's lively eyes, she couldn't bear to say it. She was afraid that her daughter's lively eyes would gradually lose their luster. How many women in the harem were so lively at first, but in the end they were basically cast in the same mold.
"What's wrong?" Liu Yulian asked when she saw that her mother didn't continue.
"When you need to be patient, you still have to be patient." Liu's mother said, "You know what? In the backyard, many things are the fault of the mistress of the house."
What could be wrong with those concubines? They just knew how to serve men and wanted men to spend more time with them.
This is what men think. Many men don't think there's anything wrong with having a concubine. Concubines can act like spoiled brats and say some rude things. At most, men will say a few words to concubines, and some even think it's a little fun.
Mother Liu, a veteran, understood this deeply. Even if Father Liu respected her, she knew it was because she had always carefully managed the backyard. If there was even the slightest problem in the backyard, it was her fault.
Originally, Liu's mother hadn't gone to the other rooms to lend money for usury, so how could she possibly care about what her husband's illegitimate brother's wife was doing? Everyone had their own livelihood, and those things didn't happen in the inner house, so of course Liu's mother didn't know.
But Liu's mother knew that Liu's father might have some resentment towards her. After her house was raided and on the way to exile, Liu's mother had always been very kind to Liu's father, and said that she did not care much about the other families.
Mother Liu said that to preemptively avoid Father Liu's resentment. A poor couple suffers from many sorrows; no one can guarantee they will live in poverty, so Father Liu has no other ideas.
As the mistress of the house, Liu's mother has thought very carefully about every aspect.
"When you get married, bear with it if you can, and forget it if you can't." Mother Liu knew that not everyone could endure for a lifetime. She endured it, and Father Liu had no other concubines around him, but Mother Liu could not guarantee that Father Liu would not take those young girls as concubines in the future.
During this period of time, there were indeed women who wanted to be Liu's father's concubine. Liu's mother even tried to test Liu's father, but he said he didn't want to take a concubine. Liu's mother didn't take a concubine for him, but she was not sure how long Liu's father would not take a concubine.
"No one from the Third House tried to stop Chai, allowing her to do whatever she wanted. They might have other ideas in mind," said Mother Liu. "When judging people or things, one should not just look at the surface."
"Yeah." Liu Yulian leaned on her mother's shoulder, feeling a little sad.
Outside the house, Father Liu originally wanted to carry his granddaughter inside, but after thinking about it, he decided to carry his granddaughter to another place first.
Father Liu heard the sadness in his wife's words and knew she was teaching their daughter. He didn't want to go in at that moment, so he left.
"Grandfather." Xiao Liujia asked, "Why don't you go in?"
"I'll take you to eat some pastries." There was no way Father Liu would tell Little Su Nu why he didn't want to go in. "Is your stomach growling?"
"No, no." Xiao Liujia gently patted her belly. It was soft, her clothes were soft, and her belly was soft too. "Then eat a little."
After hearing what her father said, little Liu Jia wanted to eat some cakes. Being a child, she quickly forgot what had happened before and didn't ask why her grandfather didn't carry her in.
Liu Yulian wasn't an ancient native, but rather a time traveler. Even though she was born a time traveler and only recovered her memories of her past life last year, that didn't mean she could accept a man having three wives and four concubines.
It's unfair. Women can't have three husbands and four concubines, but men can have three wives and four concubines, and the mistress of the house has to take care of those women.
Just thinking about it, Liu Yulian felt that she couldn't do it.
"Mom, if it doesn't work out, I'll divorce you." Liu Yulian said, "I have hands, feet, and a dowry, so I can survive."
"If you really want to divorce, then you can come back home," said Liu's mother. "But forget it. If you go back home, your brother will remarry. No matter how good your sister-in-law's temper is, it's bound to cause conflicts if you stay at home. It's better to live on your own."
Liu's mother was not doing this for her son's own good, nor was she thinking about not letting her daughter trouble her son. Her daughter had done so much for the family, and even if they, as parents, were gone, Liu's mother believed that Liu Yanjing would definitely treat Liu Yulian well.
But when Liu Yanjing gets married again and has other people at home, the feeling will still be different. Who can guarantee that Liu Yanjing will not say a few words to Liu Yulian and force her to marry?
People in the world are harsh on women. Unless a woman is a widow, they think she should get married.
Liu Yanjing didn't want his sister to marry into a bad family again, but wanted her to marry into a better family. But it's not easy for a woman to remarry. Maybe they thought Liu Yulian was too picky, or something else.
Women cannot expect men to understand them too much. If men cannot understand them, they can understand themselves.
"Live on your own and take care of yourself. Others won't have to say much." Mother Liu touched her daughter's head. "That's what suits you."
"It's so hard to be a woman. You have to learn so much." Liu Yulian said.
"Then let you be a man?" asked Liu's mother.
"No, I will continue to be a woman in my next life." Liu Yulian shook her head. She was used to being a woman and had never thought about being a man.
Being a woman has its advantages, and being a man has its advantages. If Liu Yulian said she wanted to be a man, wouldn't that be tantamount to denying her existence as a woman?
If even women think that way, instead of fighting for women's rights, they think about being a man in their next life, this is a very scary thing.
"Okay, then in your next life, you'll still be a woman." Mother Liu said, "In your next life, you must have a powerful mother."
"What? You don't want to be my mother?" Liu Yulian asked.
"No, it's just that mother is too useless." Liu's mother thought that she had not taken good care of her daughter and had to let her daughter do so many things.
"No, you're fine." Liu Yulian didn't think her mother was useless. Her mother was very powerful.
In Shiyuan Village, Liu Yanqing had just returned from the town with a handful of melon seeds in his hand. He excitedly went to talk to Lin Xiaowan about the third room.
"You didn't see it. She was stuffed with rags and dragged from the main room back to the third room." Liu Yanqing said, "Madam Chai is really shameless. She's even more shameless than me."
Liu Yanqing thought that he did not run to the main house, at most he just stood in the distance and looked at the door of the main house.
"She sat crying at the door of the main house, thinking everyone else was stupid and wouldn't touch her," Liu Yanqing said. "I even followed her to the third house. I stood outside and heard the housekeeper say that if Concubine Chai didn't obey, she would be sent to the family temple. We don't have a family temple now. At most, we have someone keeping an eye on her."
Lin Xiaowan watched Liu Yanqing eating melon seeds and took some seeds directly from Liu Yanqing's hand.
"Aren't you afraid of being discovered?" Lin Xiaowan didn't expect Liu Yanqing to eavesdrop.
"What are you afraid of? I'm not sitting at the door of the main house crying." Liu Yanqing wanted to take the melon seeds from Lin Xiaowan's hand. How could Lin Xiaowan take so many melon seeds at once? He failed to take any, and was slapped by Lin Xiaowan and glared at. "I listen to you and don't dare to ask for anything from the main house."
"We already took a lot when the family was divided. They don't want us to pay alimony now, which is good enough." Lin Xiaowan said, "The rise of the eldest wife didn't rely on us, but mainly on my younger sister."
"That's also my little sister." Liu Yanqing said.
"Oh, yes. When your younger sister caught a cold, you were clamoring to split up the family business." Lin Xiaowan looked at Liu Yanqing with a half-smile, wondering if he wanted her to take out a rolling pin.
"It's my fault." As soon as Liu Yanqing saw Lin Xiaowan's expression, he knew something was wrong. "I'm not a human being. I'm worse than pigs and dogs. I'm just a beast. My little sister is so nice, she's a fairy. How can someone like me get away with this? Don't you think so?"
"..." Lin Xiaowan's mouth curled up slightly. Her husband was really adaptable.
"You said that people like me are more suitable to rely on their own hands, so I will water the strawberries." Liu Yanqing said, "I left home so early this morning that I forgot to water them. I will go now."
Liu Yanqing ran away, no longer daring to stand in front of Lin Xiaowan.
Lin Xiaowan was in charge of the people in the Fourth House, and she wouldn't allow Aunt Zhao and Liu Yanqing to go to the First House. They weren't powerful people to begin with, and if they went there, they would just be living off the family, so it was better not to embarrass themselves.
Just then, Widow Zhang knocked on the door.
Widow Zhang had a good impression of Lin Xiaowan. Lin Xiaowan was very capable and strong. Widow Zhang thought that if she had a granddaughter-in-law like her, she would smile in her dreams.
"We still have some culture medium in the manor. Would you like some?" Widow Zhang asked. "It's fifty cents a jar."
Widow Zhang worked at Liu Yulian's farm, and her family managed the farm in the town. Liu Yulian had said that after using up this batch of culture medium, if there was any left, they could sell it and make another batch.
Widow Zhang is a smart person. Although the main branch of the Liu family is not very close to these branches, those people are all members of the Liu family. It does not mean that the main branch of the Liu family does not want these people to live a better life.
So Widow Zhang thought of the fourth branch of the Liu family. If the fourth branch of the Liu family wanted to buy the culture medium, she would sell it to them. If the fourth branch of the Liu family did not want it, Widow Zhang planned to let her family members buy it.
"Yes." Lin Xiaowan nodded. "We still have so much land at home, and we've grown some fruits and vegetables. I need several jars."
"Okay, how much do you want? I'll ask my son to bring it to you," said Widow Zhang.
Since there was nothing happening at home recently, Widow Zhang asked those people to do more work.
After asking, Widow Zhang left and waited until the items arrived before collecting the money. Widow Zhang knew that Lin Xiaowan would pay, and if Lin Xiaowan didn't pay, Widow Zhang wouldn't come over.
After Widow Zhang left, Aunt Zhao came out and happened to see Widow Zhang walking away.
"What is she doing here?" asked Aunt Zhao.
"They're just asking if they need culture medium. I guess it's what's left over from the farm," Lin Xiaowan said. "If we didn't buy it, I'm sure other families would have rushed to buy it."
"That's true." Aunt Zhao nodded. The culture medium prepared by Liu Yulian was indeed very good, better than that prepared by the imperial court.
Many people wanted to buy the culture medium prepared by Liu Yulian, but Liu Yulian didn't make a living by preparing culture medium. Moreover, Liu Yulian couldn't make much money by preparing culture medium all the time. Liu Yulian was a princess, so why would she need to work so hard?
"The family has bought so much land, it's time to use it." Aunt Zhao had long understood Lin Xiaowan. Lin Xiaowan planned to live a serious life here and had no intention of returning to Beijing at all.
Lin Xiaowan had no intention of returning to the capital. She was originally an unfavored concubine, and with no one caring about her, she didn't have anyone to care about. So, it wouldn't matter if she stayed in the northwest. Even if she did need to return to the capital someday, she could still sell the land.
But Lin Xiaowan thought it would be better for them to stay in the northwest. If they returned to the capital, there would be many powerful people there, and land and houses would be expensive, making life difficult. If they stayed in the northwest, land would be less expensive, and the county magistrate and others here would know that they were members of the Liu family, so they would not be able to make things difficult for them.
Later, they would let their sons study hard and take the imperial examination to enter the capital, that would be enough. If their sons were not good at studying, they would just become local rich men in the northwest.
"My husband just said that Concubine Chai was dragged back to the third wife's shop." Lin Xiaowan said, "My father ordered it. He also said something about the family temple and asked someone to keep an eye on it."
"..." Aunt Zhao was a little scared when she heard this. No woman would like to be sent to the ancestral temple.
Aunt Zhao thought to herself that it was a good thing that she didn't follow Aunt Chai in making trouble. Aunt Chai liked to say those things to Aunt Qing, but she never saw Aunt Qing make trouble, and it was Aunt Chai who went to make trouble more often.
Concubine Qing was just waiting for Concubine Chai to succeed before she could follow up, and Concubine Zhao knew it. Because Concubine Zhao was also waiting to see what Concubine Chai would do, so they were the same.
"She's confused," Aunt Zhao said, "but our family is not."
Aunt Zhao was glad that she didn't make trouble, otherwise, she would be the one being dragged down.
"I'm glad you know." Lin Xiaowan didn't say much. She couldn't let her husband and mother-in-law go to the big house to make trouble.
After returning from the Liu family's fourth branch, Widow Zhang calculated how many jars of culture medium were left after the Liu family's fourth branch had requested them. She asked her brother to buy some, as the culture medium was good stuff.
There were people at her brother's house, so she didn't have to ask her son to deliver the things over.
"Go, tell your uncle to bring some money tomorrow and go to the farm to buy culture medium." Widow Zhang immediately called her son over, not caring whether her brother would agree or not. If her brother did not agree, then it would mean that her brother was stupid.
She is willing to take it flying, but they still don't want to fly. Maybe they want to ruin it.
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