Chapter 171 His Wife Intends to Disobey

Chapter 171 His Wife Intends to Disobey

As soon as these words came out, the daughters-in-law of the Zhu family no longer objected. It was obvious that Mrs. Zhu's pancakes were very tempting.

Not only the wives of the Zhu family were interested, but also the sons of the Zhu family and Old Man Zhu.

"If... that's the case, then this marriage is indeed a great one. However, Mei's father came to our house and made a scene, and the relationship is strained now. I'm afraid it will be difficult for him to agree to this."

"Dad is right. The third daughter-in-law stole the cloth from the second daughter, and they have come to our house to make trouble. Now we want to marry Mei girl. Will they agree?"

"You don't have to worry about this." Old Mrs. Zhu's eyelids drooped, hiding her thoughts.

He just asked, "Who among you boys is willing to marry Mei? Now that we have decided, I will ask a matchmaker to go to the Gu family to propose marriage. Mei's father has already found a matchmaker. If we are late, we may get nothing!"

Zhu Lao Da and Zhu Lao Er looked at each other. Both brothers wanted to agree to this. They winked at their daughters-in-law, indicating that they should ask for this marriage.

Qin and Ding still had some concerns, as the excuses given by the two sisters-in-law were not just nonsense, but were true.

The boys in their room really don't get along with Gu Mei. Even now it's still the same. The boys look down on Gu Mei and ignore her.

If I agree to this marriage without asking them, there will definitely be trouble later.

Thinking of this, the two sisters-in-law turned around to glance at the boys behind them. Sure enough, the boys kept shaking their heads at them.

They don’t want to marry Gu Mei!

What about a two-liang silver dowry? According to what grandma said, the dowry was to be divided among the brothers, not all left to one of them.

Calculating this way, it makes no difference whether they marry Gu Mei or not, as it does not prevent them from enjoying the benefits of the two taels of silver dowry.

If that's the case, why would you marry a girl you don't like?

Once they get the dowry, they can find a girl of their choice to marry.

If the sons can think of these things, mothers can naturally think of these things as well.

Qin and Ding stopped forcing him, pinched their men secretly, and smiled and refused again.

"Mother, you've seen that our two boys and Mei girl really don't get along. Even two taels of silver as a dowry can't sway them. Why don't you ask my second brother's family about this?"

"Sister-in-law, what you said is not polite. Your boy doesn't get along with Mei girl, and my boy is the same. They both like girls with good looks. You also know this. How can you push it to our side?"

Ding said a few mildly scolding words, then changed the subject and pushed the matter onto the third room: "The boy in my room has a hot temper. I can't make the decision on their marriage. It's not like my third brother's wife. The boy in her family is the most worry-free and obedient. As long as my third brother and his wife agree to this, Youshou will not say no!"

Qin's eyelids twitched and she glanced at Ding, speechless.

Is the second brother's wife crazy? How dare she push it to the third wife!

After a pause, Qin looked towards Yan again. Surprisingly, she did not see Yan's rage.

Yan lowered her head and said nothing, fiddling with her fingers, and no one knew what she was thinking about.

Old Mrs. Zhu's eyes flashed twice, as if she was mentally prepared for Qin and Ding to refuse again. She was not angry, but only asked Yan who remained silent.

"Third wife, you heard what your eldest and second sisters-in-law said. What do you think? Do you agree with this?"

Hearing her mother-in-law calling her, Yan finally raised her head. Instead of replying to Old Lady Zhu, she stared at Old Third Zhu.

If we were to say who knows Yan family best, there is no one else in the entire Zhu family except Zhu Lao San.

As soon as he met Yan's eyes, Zhu Laosan understood what his wife meant.

This means I am moved and want to agree.

But his mother just said that Mei's two taels of silver as a dowry should be divided among the boys in the family.

Even though he said it so clearly, his wife was still moved. There was only one possibility, that is, she was planning to pretend to obey him but actually disobey him.

Get the dowry first. Once it is in his wife's hands, no one can ask her to take it out again.

Not to mention sharing it with the kids at home, don’t even think about it.

Zhu Laosan sighed. His sister had caused his wife to miscarry two children in succession. Now that his sister's daughter had married in with a dowry, this karma was settled.

Once the dowry is sold, the family will have a lot more money saved.

As for the Gu family, Gu Lianshan's second daughter is a capable earner, so Gu Lianshan certainly has no shortage of money. With the eldest daughter marrying into the Zhu family, the relationship between the two families can be reestablished and continue.

Whenever you need money in the future, just ask Gu Mei to go back and borrow it.

Your own daughter comes to you to borrow money, and as a father you have no shortage of money, can you say no to the money?

If you don't lend it, will your daughter still have face in her husband's family? Will she still be able to hold her head high?

Just for the sake of making my daughter's life better, as long as she asks for money, I have to give her some!

With this in mind, Zhu Laosan said to Yan: "You have always been the one in charge of our family. Whether I agree or not is up to you. You have the final say."

Yan's dark eyes brightened up, and she agreed immediately: "My family has a birthday gift!"

Old Mrs. Zhu breathed a sigh of relief.

But before she could relax, Mrs. Yan made another request: "The first and second wives should also benefit from the dowry brought by Mei girl. In the end, Youshou from my family will suffer the most! The family must compensate!"

Old Mrs. Zhu frowned, obviously unwilling.

The same thing happened to the first and second wives, whose faces looked grim.

Mrs. Yan's face turned cold: "Why? You guys have taken all the benefits, and our Third House can only take the blame for you?! If this is the case, my family will not marry you! It's all in vain!

Let Mei take her dowry and marry into another family. The boys in our family will have to rely on their own abilities in the future. Those who can find a wife will marry, and those who can't will become extinct families!"

The three words "extinct family" had enormous destructive power. Except for the third branch of the Zhu family, the other two branches all changed their attitudes.

Mr. Zhu was even more anxious, and he rarely spoke to Mrs. Zhu: "I know you are a careful budgeter, but can you be careful budgeter at this time? With our family's wealth, at most we can find a wife for one boy! What about the other boys? Do you really want to make them 'extinct'?"

For the men of this era, if the boy in the family really becomes a childless person, it would be a great disgrace to their ancestors!

I don't even have the face to be buried in the ancestral grave after I die! I don't even have the face to see my ancestors!

Therefore, Zhu Lao Da and Zhu Lao Er also became anxious.

"Mom, just listen to my third sister-in-law and give her some compensation."

"Yes, yes, yes! Mother, what my third brother's wife said is right. For a girl like Mei to be paired with our Youshou is indeed unfair to him. She deserves compensation..."

Qin and Ding also followed suit and gave a few words of advice. Although they were dissatisfied, they still knew which was more important when thinking about the two taels of silver as a dowry.

Old Lady Zhu's face was dark. She picked up the bamboo bowl on the table and threw it to the ground, pointing at everyone and cursing, "A bunch of black-hearted people! Don't you know how much savings the family has? They gave it all to the third wife. How can this family survive?!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere in the room changed instantly. Except for the third room, everyone else looked away with a timid look on their faces.

Old Mrs. Zhu was not trying to fool them. Everyone in the room could roughly calculate how much the Zhu family had saved.

Although the Zhu family is large, none of them has a way to make a living and the whole family relies on renting land to survive.

The men of the Zhu family could not hunt and had no skills. They did not dare to go to Bei'an City to find work. They worked in the fields during the busy farming season and stayed at home doing nothing during the slack farming season.

The women in the Zhu family were the same. They had no skills and no courage. Apart from working in the fields during the busy farming season, they usually stayed at home to take care of the family.

It is conceivable that under such circumstances, what else could the Zhu family save? At most, they could only afford one or two hundred copper coins, which was not enough to support two meals a day.

Even these cannot be used.

After the beginning of spring, it is the time when there is a shortage of food. Every year, we have to use these copper coins to buy food, otherwise we will starve.

Just as Old Mrs. Zhu said, if this money was given to the third wife, they would have a hard time living like this.

Yan didn't care about all this. She only knew that only things held in her own hands belonged to her.

She fearlessly painted a rosy picture for Old Lady Zhu: "What are you afraid of? When Mei girl marries in, how much of the betrothal gifts can the boys use? Isn't the rest all yours?

Besides, I don't ask for much. When my son gets married, you should make him a new set of clothes, a robe, a pair of trousers, and a pair of shoes and socks made of fine cloth. Just buy these, and I won't ask for anything else!"

A set of clothes made of fine cloth is indeed not much.

When the boys from other families in the village got married, they would be given a set of fine cloth clothes to wear on the wedding day, which would bring honor to both families.

But the Zhu family was too poor to afford such a set of fine cloth clothes.

Old Mrs. Zhu relaxed her expression and told Yan the truth, "I won't hide it from you. There are only two hundred copper coins in the family. Half of it must be used to betroth Mei, and the remaining one hundred copper coins must be used to prepare the banquet on the wedding day.

Even if you don't want compensation, if we want to maintain our current situation at home, we still have to wait for Mei's dowry to supplement our income."

Yan's brows were furious and she wanted to say that she would not marry him.

Old Lady Zhu knew her temper, so she took a step back before she could speak. "I have half a piece of cloth in my room, also made of fine cloth, but it has been stored for a long time and the color has faded a lot. If you don't mind, cut half of it and make a piece of clothing for Youshou."

Mrs. Yan was not satisfied: "How much is half a piece of cloth? It's faded, even if you gave me all of it, it wouldn't be enough. You only gave me half?!"

Old Mrs. Zhu choked on her breath and her anger flared up again.

Before she could continue arguing with Yan, Mr. Zhu at the side actually agreed: "Okay! I'll give you half of it."

These words made Old Mrs. Zhu so angry that she glared at him and was about to explode.

Old Master Zhu stopped her and patiently explained to her: "This is the first marriage of our Zhu family's grandchildren. Outsiders are waiting to see our family make a fool of itself. If your grandson doesn't have decent clothes on his wedding day, will you look good?"

Old Mrs. Zhu's face was very long. She had already thought about this. With Yan around, her grandson would not let her down!

Yan was well-known for loving her son so much that she had already saved up the cloth that would be needed for her son's marriage.

Not to mention the distant past, let's just talk about the recent past. With the cloth that Yan stole from the Gu family, except for making two sets of clothes for Mei girl and Lai'an boy, Yan didn't use a penny of the rest. That was enough to make clothes for Youshou.

Yan had the cloth in her hand but didn't want to use it, so she had to take it from her. Yan did it on purpose.

Yan would not use the cloth she took from her to make clothes for Youshou. She would probably sell it and then choose another piece of brightly colored cloth to make clothes for Youshou.

We have lived together for more than ten years, so we don’t know each other.

Knowing this, she was unwilling to give all the cloth to Yan. Yan would sell as much as she was given, and the copper coins she earned would not be given to her family, but would all go into Yan's hands.

Seeing that his wife was silent and had a sullen face, Mr. Zhu sighed and whispered, "Don't look at anything else, just look at your longevity. After all, we owe the third house..."

Old Mrs. Zhu paused, feeling a tightness in her chest.

Glancing at Zhu Youshou behind Yan, a trace of sadness welled up in his heart.

After a moment of silence, he got up and went to the east room.

Not long after, Old Lady Zhu came out holding a piece of dark blue cloth, with a drooping face, and threw the cloth into Yan's arms.

Yan hurriedly took it and smiled happily: "Thank you for the cloth, mother! My son Youshou is a filial son and will definitely remember your kindness!"

While talking, Yan's hands were not idle. She quickly turned the cloth over a few times and found that the color had indeed faded a lot and some places had turned white.

Yan would not use this kind of cloth to make clothes for her son to wear when he got married. She planned to keep it for the time being and then buy it for copper coins when she had the chance.

Seeing that his wife really got the benefit, Zhu Laosan's face looked much better when he faced his mother, and he urged her to find a matchmaker quickly.

"Since it's all settled, mother, you should quickly find a matchmaker and have him go to the Gu family tomorrow morning. Right now, the news that Mei girl has a dowry hasn't spread yet, so we can still go to their house. Once the news spreads, I'm afraid we won't even be able to squeeze in!"

These words woke up Old Lady Zhu and she stood up and was about to go out.

There is a matchmaker in the village. You can just go and invite him. After the matter is done, the matchmaker's gift will be indispensable.

Just as she was about to take a step forward, Old Lady Zhu remembered something and quickly stopped, retracted her foot, turned back and sternly warned Yan.

"We have taken Mei's dowry, so you can't order her around in the future! If I find out that you order her around, or if you try to bully her, don't blame me for not giving you face!"

Yan curled her lips, her hatred was still there, but she smiled and nodded: "I'm not that cruel. Over the years, Mei girl has often come to our house. Have you seen me torment her?"

Come to think of it, it is true that the third son's wife has never tortured Mei Yatou in the past ten years or so.

Old Mrs. Zhu put aside her worries and quickly left the house.

After everyone left, Yan happily returned to the west wing with her husband and son.

The sisters-in-law Qin and Ding watched Yan leave with the cloth. They were so jealous and felt very unwilling.

When their sons get married, they will also ask their mother-in-law for half a piece of cloth!

They are all grandsons. Yan’s son has new clothes to wear when he gets married, and their sons also have to wear new clothes when they get married!

The mother-in-law must be treated equally!

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