Chapter 459 Dilemma
"Princess, the old lady said that the third girl is the princess's biological sister. When the third girl gets married, the princess will go back to accompany the third girl no matter what."
"The old lady also said that there is no quarrel between these sisters. When the quarrel is over, the matter will be over. If you don't say that you hold grudges, you will never have any contact with each other. Princess, you are a noble person and you are tolerant. Don't talk to the third girl. After all, the old lady sent the old slave here specifically to take the princess back to accompany the third girl to the wedding. "
Huh, Xia Ziying was embarrassed, and the Xia family's reputation was almost completely ruined. Mrs. Xia sent someone to pick her up. Did she want her to go back and give face to the Xia family?
Xia Zihan glanced at Mother Fang slowly and said, "I have a lot of things to do here. Grandma is old and in poor spirits. I have to help grandma take care of things at home. If I want to leave, Chu House will have to Messy.”
"As for my business, the assistants and shopkeepers are coming and going. I'm also very busy. I even saved lunch yesterday. The Xia family is already busy preparing for the third sister's wedding. I If you go, it will make you more busy and more troublesome. I stopped going and told my grandmother that I wanted to accompany my third sister when she got married, but I didn’t have the time. However, my eldest maid got along well with her, so I sent her to accompany her. .”
The eldest maid next to the princess has more dignity than half of the young ladies from wealthy families. Mother Fang did not dare to refuse, nor did she dare to say anything, nor was she qualified.
She responded hurriedly and respectfully.
Xia Zihan ordered Chu Cong to go to Xia's house to accompany Xia Ziying.
After Fang's mother led Chu Cong away, Xia Zihan began to think about the affairs of Princess Qinghui and Chu Yuexi.
Yesterday, Chu Yuexi came to her and wanted to invite a matchmaker to propose marriage to the Second Prince's Mansion. However, Princess Qinghui's status was noble and the Second Prince and Princess were worried. He was afraid that they would not agree. He wanted Mrs. Zeng to marry her in person. I went to the Second Prince's Mansion to discuss with Xia Zihan how to open this conversation with my grandmother.
Xia Zihan promised to go to Zeng's place with her when Chu Yuexi came back today, but it was up to Chu Yuexi herself to decide how to speak.
When she went there, she just played the drums on the side, but she couldn't speak for him.
"Princess, Chu Lin is back." Si Cao came in to report.
Chu Lin came back in a hurry to report Xia Ziying's marriage.
"In the morning, not long after Mother Fang left, Mrs. Cao went to Xia's house to find the old lady."
"The Cao family disliked the third girl's small dowry. Mrs. Cao said that the third girl is now a rag. No man would want her even if she were thrown on the street. She was forced by the old lady to agree to this marriage. These three The girl is no longer on the market. If her dowry is no longer on the market, the Cao family will suffer a huge loss.”
"Mrs. Cao said that the third girl must bring a dowry of at least 30,000 taels of silver to the Cao family. Moreover, after the third girl marries into the Cao family, she becomes a member of the Cao family. Once the dowry enters the Cao family, it is also the property of the Cao family. , No matter what happens in the future, this dowry can only belong to the Cao family, otherwise, the marriage will be over.”
"At that time, Mrs. Cao's attitude was very firm."
Is this a way to break up with the Xia family?
If the old lady doesn't agree, and Mrs. Cao really breaks off the engagement, then the Xia family's faces... will be beaten again.
In the case of Xia Ziying and Cao Huajun, if you look at it carefully, it is Xia Ziying who suffers. The girl's family always suffers more in this regard. But when a man encounters this kind of thing, he will at most be called Feng Liu. After a while, the man will... Everything is gone, we can still play and have fun.
But women are different. Women will be accused of being despicable and will be shameless in front of others for the rest of their lives.
That day, Mrs. Cao and his wife were caught by the old lady for a moment. They were confused and worried that the Xia family would send Cao Huajun to the Yamen. So they agreed to the marriage.
But after returning, Mrs. Cao calmed down.
Looking back, she knew that she had been deceived by Mrs. Xia, a thousand-year-old fox.
Her family, Cao Huajun, was a man, so she didn't suffer in this matter. Even if the Xia family sent her to the government office, she was not afraid. Cao Huajun did not rape Xia Ziying, but the two of them had a private meeting. Otherwise, why didn't Xia Ziying scream? Still letting Cao Huajun do whatever he wants?
In this matter, Cao Huajun was not guilty. At most, he lost his reputation as Feng Liu.
But Xia Ziying is different.
Xia Ziying was engaged to someone and had a private meeting with Cao Huajun. This was a serious crime. If a quarrel broke out, Chu Jingwen asked the Xia family for compensation. Can the Xia family get it?
And if the incident breaks out, the Xia family's reputation will be even worse. After all, Xia Ziying has already had this incident, and if it happens again, and the person is not Chu Jingwen, we know how bad the Xia family's reputation will be.
Regarding this matter, the Cao family is not afraid of causing trouble, but the Xia family is afraid of making trouble.
Old Mrs. Xia was afraid of causing trouble, so she forced her to agree to the marriage and sent Xia Ziying, who had a bad reputation, to Cao's house.
As long as Xia Ziying leaves the Xia family and marries, the Xia family's reputation will gradually recover. But if the Cao family marries Xia Ziying, the Cao family will become the object of ridicule.
From now on, for decades, or even hundreds of years, as long as Xia Ziying is in the Cao family, the Cao family will be unable to hold their heads high as a human being.
Even the children Xia Ziying will give birth to in the future will be burdened by her reputation.
A woman's reputation is very important, but she agreed to marry a notorious woman for her son. Wouldn't this destroy the foundation of the Cao family?
It is said that if you marry a good wife, your family will prosper for three generations, but if you marry a bad wife... the Cao family will really be ruined. Even the children born to Cao Huajun and Xia Ziying would be ridiculed, and the people in her Cao family within three generations of Cao Huajun would be unable to hold their heads high as a human being.
After Mrs. Cao thought about the matter thoroughly, she hated Old Mrs. Xia for digging a hole for her, and regarded the Cao family as the ones who supported her Xia family. She was angry with Old Mrs. Xia, so she deliberately used dowry to embarrass the Xia family.
If the Xia family doesn't agree, it will give her an excuse to cancel the marriage. If Mrs. Xia agrees, that would be even better. After Xia Ziying comes over, she will secretly kill her. When she dies, the Cao family will He got a dowry of thirty thousand taels of silver in vain, and Cao Huajun could marry another good wife.
Mrs. Cao's abacus was rattling.
Old Mrs. Xia was not a good person, so she threatened Master Cao's son to break into the house secretly and seize the Xia family's legitimate daughter, and asked the family steward to sit in the teahouse and explain the matter to everyone.
Even if Cao Huajun did not rape Xia Ziying, he secretly bribed the Xia family's concierge to open the door and let him sneak into the Xia family without the owner's consent. For this alone, the censor could impeach Mr. Cao.
In that teahouse, censors often sit there drinking tea, waiting to hear these gossips, so as to find out if there is anything new that can make them stand out.
Although Xia Zihan and Chu Jingwen were caught on the scene, which was very embarrassing, they were an unmarried couple. Even if they broke up, everyone would only say that the young people were angry and couldn't control it...
But when Cao Huajun came to Xia's house, he was stealing someone else's fiancée. This was wrong. He sneaked into Xia's house privately, which was wrong again.
Just these two points are enough for Mr. Cao to drink a pot.
In the Xia family, Xia Zihan's father is Chu Xuanyu's in-laws, and Chu Jingwen is also Chu Xuanyu's nephew. This involves the emperor's affairs with the famous Chu Xuanyu. Even if the censor wants to impeach Xia Shiming, he has to think carefully.
But Mr. Cao is different. Mr. Cao has no backers in the capital. If the censor wants to impeach him, he must impeach him one at a time.
When the old lady said this, the confidence that Mrs. Cao had just gained waned.
After discussion between the two families, Mrs. Xia finally agreed to give her a dowry of eight thousand taels of silver, and then Mrs. Cao went back lazily.
"A dowry of eight thousand taels of silver is actually quite a lot. I heard Mr. Lu say that when Cao Huawen gets married, the Cao family will prepare a dowry of more than six thousand taels of silver." Nuan Yu interrupted.
Xia Zihan was surprised, "Why does Mr. Lu know so much about the Cao family?"
"Mr. Lu and a steward of the Cao family's outer courtyard, I heard that they knew each other before and worked in the same shop before." Nuan Yu said.
Manager Lu has been with Mr. Chu Ge since he was young, and has stayed in the Chu family for many years until now. Before Manager Lu came to the Chu family, he was a boy in a shop.
So, the steward of the outer courtyard of the Cao family is also the boy of that shop?
Such a coincidence?
"It's such a coincidence that last year, Mr. Cao came to pay his respects to the old lady, and he brought the steward with him. When Mr. Cao was led by his mother-in-law to see the old lady, Mr. Lu came out to receive the steward and chat in the side hall."
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"Many years have passed, and the two people didn't recognize each other at first, but when they accidentally mentioned the shop, they felt that each other looked familiar."
So that’s it.
Xia Zihan nodded his head with a look of understanding on his face.
The steward is in the Cao family and is in charge of all affairs in the outer courtyard of the Cao family. Mrs. Cao wants to prepare a dowry for Cao Huawen. How much money is spent has to be collected from the outer courtyard. Naturally, the steward knows this. He is sitting drinking with Mr. Lu and his two brothers. I mentioned it by the way.
Manager Lu recited it to Su's mother, and Su's mother recited it to Mrs. Chu. Then, Qingya was good to Si Cao and the others, so she recited it to Si Cao.
One by one, everyone in the Chu family learned everything they should know.
"Princess, the three girls are getting married, does the princess also need to prepare some makeup?" Chu Lin asked curiously.
Xia Zihan hummed, "I need to prepare one."
No matter how much hatred there is between her and Xia Ziying, she will not hesitate at all to treat her with courtesy in front of outsiders.
"Let's choose a pair of bracelets for her in Cuiyu Pavilion. Nuanyu, you can handle this matter." He handed over the matter to Nuanyu.
There was a sworn hatred between her and Xia Ziying, so she would not go to Xia Ziying to choose makeup in person.
Nuanyu was blessed and retired.
But before Nuanyu could walk out of the gate of Chu's house, the guy from Yusha Pavilion came.
"... It was said that the mother of the princess came to choose the dowry clothes for the third girl, and the servants couldn't stop her. After the selection was completed, the servant asked her for money, and she said to go to Xia's house to get it."
(End of chapter)