Chapter 78

Yao Niang had already finished half of the snack plate and was feeling a little bitter in her heart. She used to like peanut crisps, but these peanut crisps were too sweet if she ate too much. No wonder Shen Linfeng told her to eat less snacks, saying that she would get sick of them if she ate too much.

At this time, Lu Shan'er came in. Everyone looked at the door and saw a thin woman in red clothes. She didn't look like a mature woman, but she looked smart. Seeing this, Mrs. Shen stood up, took her hand and said, "What a good girl, you have a good appearance."

Lu Shan'er had not expected Madam Shen to be so kind. She felt a little flattered, and when she heard Madam Zhou introduce her as the eldest lady, she quickly called her "sister-in-law".

Mrs. Shen agreed with a smile, and Lu Shan'er went to pay her respects to Mrs. Shen II. She saw that Mrs. Shen I was wearing a gold and jade hairpin on her head, while Mrs. Shen II was wearing a full set of kingfisher feathers, which made her look much more elegant.

The two sisters-in-law had seen her before. There were four young ladies below. The first one had a completely fairy-like appearance. I only heard Mother Zhou introduce her: "This is our great grandmother."

Of course Lu Shan'er knew this Miss Yan San. It was she who helped paint her portrait when she encountered the flower thief. Before coming to Beijing, Shen Xunfu also told her about the family situation, emphasizing the eldest son of the eldest house, Shen Linfeng, who passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi at the age of eighteen or nineteen, and married the daughter of the Minister of Personnel.

This Miss Yan San is naturally Guan's sister-in-law. Guan has been dead for a long time, and I'm afraid no one remembers her now.

Seeing this Yan again, everyone said that they were beautiful, but compared with her, Yan had more elegance and grace, which could not be achieved by just spending money.

Yao Niang stepped forward, bowed, and called out "Third Auntie" without changing her expression. Lu Shan'er responded with a smile, and then saw Yao Niang stand up and walk behind Madam Shen.

Then, Wang and the two daughters-in-law of the third wife came to pay their respects, and then everyone sat down.

Madam Shen said, "I have already asked someone to clean up the Qingyi Garden where you live. You can go there and take a look later. If it's not good, just tell someone to do it."

"Thank you, sister-in-law." Lu Shan'er was a little embarrassed because she was about the same age as Yan, but Yan was already of the same generation as the nephew's wife, while she was a sister-in-law with Madam Shen, who was about fifty years old.

Yao Niang thought that Mrs. Shen seemed quite considerate towards Lu Shan'er, who had no family background.

Then I heard Madam Shen Er ask kindly, "How is your journey, sister-in-law? I'm sure the journey must be very tiring for you, right?"

"Not bad." Lu Shaner replied.

She was calm, but Grandma Qing and Mrs. Shao felt uncomfortable. They thought that the two aunts were too nice to the third wife, Mrs. Lu.

Shao was fine. The only thing she was worried about was Han Ruohua. Her husband had lived in Han's house when he was a teenager studying in Nanjing. Now Han Ruohua came to Beijing. She had seen the two of them reading a book together. She had no evidence, but knew for sure that the two of them were having an affair, which almost drove her crazy.

However, Mrs. Qing was looking at her with a scrutinizing gaze. Lu Shan'er was not stupid, so of course she could see it.

Then Mrs. Shen said, "You should stay at home for a while this time. I wonder if Sanlang has come back? I want to see him later."

Sanlang Shen Linyun is a simple and honest child. Mrs. Shen feels sorry for her nephew. Her own son actually snatched her nephew's wife away, and she also has this intention.

As for Yao Niang, Shen Sanlang was stage frightened and gave up because of his poor academic performance. Shen Linfeng initially refused for the sake of his family, but later rose to the challenge. The two of them were destined to be together.

But after all, the relationship between Shen Sanlang and herself was awkward. Shen Xunfu had a total of six sons, and four sons came back this time, so she should treat them equally. In this regard, Mrs. Shen was not as good as Zhen, who did a good job on the surface.

Shen Mo smiled and said, "Mother really loves Sanlang, and have you forgotten about your three cousins?"

Mrs. Shen then said, "It's my fault. I just think your third brother is most like your third uncle. He was raised by me for a few days when he was a child, so I miss him."

In fact, Shen Mo was smarter than Mrs. Shen. She found that when her mother said something, her sister-in-law never tried to smooth things over and always watched coldly.

In her opinion, if a daughter-in-law wants to be recognized by her mother-in-law, she must work hard silently and keep giving, and her mother-in-law will naturally see your sincerity. But the eldest sister-in-law Yan did not do so. Instead, she was very distant from her mother.

Before Lu Shan'er figured out the Shen family's connections, she mostly kept silent and was taciturn.

Only after Mrs. Shen had someone take them to the third bedroom's residence did she really relax.

She had just come to the territory of the eldest wife's family. There was a passageway leading out from the west gate. After changing carriages, she arrived at the Qingyi Garden in about a cup of tea's time. It was said that the old lady loved the third son the most back then, so she specially left her favorite Qingyi Garden for Shen Xunfu.

Lu Shaner discovered that the Qingyi Garden was truly filled with colorful flowers and gurgling streams. If she wasn't paying attention, she would have thought she was in the south of the Yangtze River. Everything was so exquisite, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Yao Niang and the others dispersed first, and Shen Linfeng came back in the afternoon.

When he saw Yao Niang, he took out a few stacks of banknotes from his sleeves. Yao Niang took them and looked at them, and saw that there were actually three thousand taels. She couldn't help but exclaimed: "Where did you get so much money? I don't dare to accept it."

"I earned it at the brokerage." Shen Linfeng said with a smile.

Yao Niang really didn't dare to go to a place like the Brokerage Bureau, mainly because she thought it was too risky. Only those who had a strong grasp of economics and career could make money from it. Otherwise, her mother told her that there were a lot of crazy people standing outside the Brokerage Bureau.

After Yao Niang accepted it, she smiled and said, "I really didn't expect you to give me so much money."

"What's the big deal? I don't know if I will have time to go to the exchange in the future. In fact, there are still two thousand taels here. I asked my uncle to invest some shares, and we can just take the dividends when the time comes. After all, I am an official now, and it is inconvenient for me to do business." Shen Linfeng also had his own considerations.

Yao Niang only knew that Shen Linfeng's family was rich. His family was indeed rich, and he was generous and lavish. But she had no idea that he could make money from money.

Yao Niang hugged him and said, "You are so kind, but you don't have to worry too much about your livelihood. I still have a lot of dowry." Her father said that part of her dowry was originally to be given to Shen Linfeng.

Shen Linfeng was somewhat moved when he heard this. He knew that Yao Niang really didn't care about these things. She was still young and was sincere to him, so he hugged Yao Niang and said, "Okay, I will rely on our sister, the Goddess Consort, from now on."

"Don't be so greedy, let's clean up, we have a family dinner today." Yao Niang said.

This was the second family dinner after meeting the male elders of the Shen family on the first day of marriage. Mrs. Shen said to Shen Linfeng and Yao Niang, "You two should go and pay your respects to your third uncle."

Shen Xunfu was a handsome man with a great appearance. He was good at speaking: "Brother and sister-in-law, you have a wonderful son and wife. You two are so lucky."

Mr. Shen smiled and said, "This marriage is indebted to you, my third brother."

"Yes, if it weren't for the third brother, how could they have formed the Alliance?" Mrs. Shen said with a smile.

Shen Xunfu then praised Shen Linfeng: "I said, our Linfeng is such a talent, even if the person he wants to marry is from a high family, if it is not possible, I will definitely not agree. But the girl from the Yan family has a first-class temperament, talent, and character." After that, he said to Yaoniang: "My nephew's wife, if Linfeng does anything wrong and bullies you, just tell me."

Shen Linfeng and Yao Niang were very happy to hear him praise them like this. They both said they dared not do it and then retreated again.

Shen Xunfu thanked Madam Shen again: "Linqing and Linjiang have troubled my elder brother and sister-in-law to take care of them, especially my sister-in-law, who has worked hard and made great contributions."

Mrs. Shen also waved her hand and said it was nothing.

Shen Xunfu had nothing to say about his two daughters-in-law. He only said that they managed the household well. It was obvious that Grandma Qing and Grandma Jiang were very happy.

Finally, Shen Xunfu said to Yao Niang, "My niece, your grandfather will probably arrive in the next few days. You must go home to see him when the time comes. The old man has been working hard in the wind and rain. It's very hard."

"Thank you, uncle, for telling me." Yao Niang thought it was no wonder that when the old man and old lady of the Shen family were alive, they loved the youngest son the most. Her father-in-law was a little too upright, not serious, but a little boring. Her second uncle was famous for his dark face and didn't like to smile much. Only Shen Xunfu was not only smart in speaking, but also very tactful.

The fact that Shen Xunfu values ​​herself so much among so many young wives is enough to show that he has good taste.

Then Mr. Shen said to Shen Linfeng, "We will also invite Mr. Zhushan to come to our house in a few days."

Shen Linfeng quickly responded.

The female family members sat at two tables. Lu Shaner and Madam Shen sat at one table, while Yao Niang and several daughters-in-law sat at another table.

Although it is said that one should not talk when eating or sleeping, Second Madam Jiang's frequent vomiting still attracted the attention of the elders. Even though Lu Shan'er was young, she did not dare to say more. It was Madam Shen who said, "What's wrong with you? If you are not feeling well, go downstairs and rest. Our family is not the kind of family that tortures people."

Madam Jiang went down with a red face, and Madam Shen smiled and asked, "Could it be that you are pregnant?"

Yao Niang certainly knew what being pregnant meant. In a family, a mother is honored by her son, so a mother with a son is certainly better than one without one. But at the same time, a mother is honored by her son, so a legitimate child will receive more attention than a concubine's child.

In fact, she didn't want to have children at all. She was too young now. Just like my mother said, Guan was too young when she got married. She herself got married too early. Yan Jingzhao survived, but she got injured later and lost her two children. Li got married at the age of 17 and got pregnant at the age of 18. She was a little older and didn't suffer much when she was pregnant.

Her complexion looked okay because she and Shen Linfeng had not yet consummated their marriage. Although Grandma Pianqing forced a smile, her hands were shaking slightly, revealing her thoughts.

However, soon, someone around Jiang Ernai came to announce the good news that she was pregnant.

Shen Linfeng and others also congratulated Shen Linjiang. He thought the same as Yao Niang and was not that looking forward to having a child. Of course, it was not that he did not like children, but what he wanted now was to hold his sister, the Goddess Concubine. However, the Goddess Concubine felt it was too hot and liked to lean against the bed alone.

Shen Linjiang showed a look of joy on his face, and Shen Xunfu immediately said to his son: "Go back and take a look."

"Father, why should I abandon my elders and go back for such a trivial matter?" Shen Linjiang shook his head quickly.

Shen Xunfu disagreed: "We don't need you to accompany us here. You should go and have a look. Go now. Don't be so nagging. No one in my family blames you, and neither will your two uncles."

Shen Linjiang then left happily with quick steps.

Originally, Shen Xunfu and his wife were the protagonists, but in this family dinner, Second Grandma Jiang suddenly received the most attention because she was pregnant.

Lu Shan'er also stayed in Qingyi Garden. Although she didn't understand the intricacies of a big family, she knew that she had to build good relationships with the people above her wherever she went. Thanks to Guan's blessing, she was able to become the daughter of the Lu family. Her father taught her to read and write, and her mother treated her as her own daughter. If it weren't for the fact that Lu was in poor health and couldn't be an official, and wanted to find a marriage for her, she wouldn't have found Mrs. Chen to fulfill her parents' wish.

How could she have known that the marriage that Madam Chen had found for her was actually with the family of Shen Xunfu. Originally, it was heard that it was the third son of the Xunfu family, but Lu Shaner found out that Madam Chen's daughter came back crying, and it seemed that the Ye family wanted to drown her because she gave birth to a daughter. Even a family like the Governor could be so unfaithful.

Madam Chen also explained that since ancient times, the Wei Dynasty has attached great importance to the custom of lavish dowries. Therefore, many wealthy families who had daughters were afraid of having to give them lavish dowries, so they simply drowned their daughters. Such bad habits made Lu Shan'er shudder. She thought that Guan also contracted a strange disease due to pregnancy and was sent to such a lonely place by the Yan family to recuperate. Guan even secretly told her that Yan Jingzhao might just want her to die.

In this case, she might as well marry Shen Xunfu. First, she had no dowry. Although Instructor Lu had been an instructor, his family was quite poor. Madam Lu had to take medicine all year round and could not give her those things. Even if she married into the family, she might be the weakest among the five sisters-in-law. Secondly, she wanted to find out whether Yan Jingzhao was really bad to Guan. In order to deal with Guan, she also needed someone like Shen Xunfu, the wife of a high-ranking official, to use.

However, she was weak in the Shen family, so she had to find someone powerful to support her wherever she went, and then become independent.

Madam Shen is this thick thigh. She can see that Madam Shen has the most respected status in the family and is a kind person. She thinks she might as well hold Madam Shen's thigh first.

During the days when Lu Shan'er came, Yao Niang also heard that her grandfather had arrived in Beijing. Of course, she asked Shen Linfeng to pick her up in person. However, before Shen Linfeng could pick her up, she heard that her grandfather had listed a total of ten people on the river as the top ten corrupt officials, and many minor officials were also on the list. He also asked the emperor to punish corrupt officials. According to the rules set by Emperor Taizu when the Wei Dynasty was founded, anyone who embezzled more than 50 taels of ink would be skinned.

The capital was in an uproar, with countless people asking for favors. The emperor was also furious when he heard the news.