The prefect's wife stepped forward and said aggressively, "Then I'll give you a reason. I feel disgusted whenever I see them. Every day, just thinking about you lying next to them makes me feel suffocated and I wish I were dead."
"You couldn't bear to send them away, but you were willing to hurt me. You once said that you would only love me for the rest of your life and would never take a concubine. Did you keep your promise?"
"For decades, I have cooked for you every day and raised three children. Even now that we have servants, I still cook for you, just because you said you like my cooking."
"But how have you treated me? Taking a concubine, lying next to someone else, completely forgetting your vows to me. Have you forgotten, or do you simply not want to remember? I'll give you two days. If you don't send them away, we'll divorce after our daughter's wedding." With that, he turned and left.
After finally getting to the bottom of things after so many years, I feel much better. I remember what An Shuren said: "I would never wrong myself!" Those words are so touching.
For decades, she has pretended to be generous and wronged herself even though she didn't like it. Thinking about it, she is really a failure. She is only 46 years old now, two years younger than An Shuren, but she looks older than her.
I remember ten years ago, when I saw An Shuren and Xia Shuren, they were older than me. But ten years have passed, and they are getting younger and younger, while I am getting older and older. I deserve all of this.
If she had strongly objected when her husband brought those two women back, even if it earned her a reputation as a shrew, wouldn't things be better than they are now? Unfortunately, it's too late. Fortunately, she still has a chance now.
For the rest of her life, she didn't want to compromise herself. To hell with husbands and concubines.
Watching his wife leave, Magistrate Xiao was shocked. He hadn't expected to hurt her so deeply. Why didn't she say anything? If she had, he would have definitely sent her away.
This was the first time he had ever met such a domineering wife. Looking at the courtyard in the distance, he thought, "Fine, I'll just do as she says."
Summon the steward and have him take some silver to Hua Niang and Liu Niang, along with a letter of release from their concubine status. "Let them leave Jinnan City and never come back. They may marry other men."
The steward looked at the decree for releasing the concubine in his hand. "Yes, sir." Although he didn't know why his master wanted to do it, he could only comply.
An Shuyi probably never expected that just because of her words, the prefect's wife would stand up for herself and send away her two concubines. But even if she knew, she would applaud it.
After the official media found the man, they gave him a few taels of silver and promised to handle the matter perfectly.
With the official media confirmed, all that was left was to arrange for someone to come and buy things the next day. When I returned to the village, it was just in time for dinner, so I told the villagers about it.
No one expected that their village would be celebrating another happy event so soon. Although their village often holds happy events, this one was clearly different.
“Sister-in-law, do you think Wan’er will look down on us? We are just farmers, and now we’re related to the prefect by marriage. I don’t even want to think about it,” said Xie, Wenfan’s mother, from the side.
An Shuyi turned to look at her, "What are you afraid of? You've met Wan'er a few times. That girl is not bad and won't look down on people. Besides, you are her mother-in-law, why would you be afraid that she will look down on you?"
"As long as you don't think about establishing your mother-in-law's authority or want to arrange for Wenfan to take a concubine, she will be respectful to you. People are reciprocal. If you treat me well, I will treat you well. If you don't treat me well, I will treat you the same way."
Madam Xie nodded, "I know what you're saying, but she's from an official family, so I'm worried." She had only just heard about her son's upcoming marriage.
That brat, he'll have to give him a good talking to when we get back. How could he not tell her about something so important? Although she's happy that her son is getting married, she's worried that he won't be able to get along well with his wife.
“Don’t worry, she’s the daughter of an official, and you’re the mother of a fifth-rank official, so you’re no worse off than her. But I’m telling you all here, the villagers of Peach Blossom Village do not take concubines,” An Shuyi said.
Looking at the others, he said, "Now there are already twenty people in the village with official positions. When you take office, you may have to socialize and deal with those officials. They will then send you women."
“You can’t refuse, so you have to bring them back. If you’re not married, it’s fine to bring them back. As long as you’re from a respectable family, we can arrange a marriage. But if you’re already married and bring them back, then you’ll have to be expelled from the clan.”
"Auntie, don't worry, I won't!" Wenzhu was the first to say. If he had someone he liked, it could only be one person, and there would be no one else.
Seeing Wenfan get married, he also wanted to, but he hadn't met anyone he liked.
“Auntie, I don’t know how either!” Huaixu chimed in.
"None of us would either," the others chimed in, not wanting to be left behind. "We don't even have wives yet, how could we possibly be thinking about taking a concubine?"
An Shuyi nodded, "It's good that you don't know how. Not only you, but everyone else does too. Hurry up and eat. Wenfan, go with your parents to buy the betrothal gifts tomorrow. We can't let the girl suffer."
When the children in the village got married, she and Huahua would each give a chest full of gifts, all of which they had stolen from the bandits. They would keep the gold and silver, but the other jewelry and paintings would be piled up in the house. Whenever someone in the village got married, regardless of whether it was a man or a woman, they would give a chest full of gifts.
There are still many rooms in the left and right wing rooms. Even if dozens more children get married, it will be enough.
Moreover, because the workshop was doing well, the clansmen had a lot of money, and each dowry and betrothal gift was quite substantial, with the minimum being more than ten loads, which was considered quite good even in Jinnan City.
If a girl is getting married, her dowry will be twenty or thirty loads, all brought by the groom's family, and the girl will take it with her. As for boys in the village getting married, their dowry is usually more than twenty loads.
Some families will keep some and add a little more, while others won't keep any and will let the girl take it all back.
Madam Xie hurriedly said, "Don't worry, sister-in-law, I'm not a stingy person. I'll definitely prepare the betrothal gifts beautifully." Even if her sister-in-law didn't say anything, she would still prepare them.
Wen Fan is her eldest son, and her legal wife is from a respectable family. How could she not be happy? She would go back tonight, have Wen Fan write down the things she had prepared, and buy them tomorrow.
And those wedding quilts, please ask the nieces in the workshop to make more of them, all made of silk, so that the daughter-in-law will have face. You know, the wives and young ladies of the officials in Jinnan City all like the quilts from the village.
If she knew that her daughter-in-law's wedding quilts were all from their workshop, she would probably be very envious. And she even has a courtyard. Tonight, she will move to the side courtyard and let her daughter-in-law live in the main courtyard. From now on, she will be in charge of the household.
Although it seems that no one in the village takes care of the household, and everyone eats together and keeps their own money, it is a matter of attitude and cannot be neglected.
Snap
"Ouch, Dad, why did you hit me?" Wen Fan rubbed his thigh, looking pained.
The others also heard the loud slap and looked over with curiosity.
Lin Changyuan laughed heartily, "I was hitting my own target, but I didn't expect to hit the wrong one. Son, you're amazing! Now you're not only a fifth-rank official, but you'll also be getting married soon to the daughter of the prefect."
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