This evening, Jiang Yazhu was found by a servant in the brothel, “Please go back! Today the wives of the family had a gathering and had some conflict. Madame Miao and Madame Tao Junior were hit. Madame Dou Junior even bled. Madame Sheng was also caught up in the conflict!”
“What?!” Even though Jiang Yazhu used to go to the brothel before marriage, but he didn’t have many nights of getting drunk and not going home. It was mainly because he was an illegitimate son. And his official mother even told everyone to not spoil him, so he didn’t have much money to spend. If it hadn’t been because he had a good relationship with Jiang Yadan, so he earned some money from him, he wouldn’t have been able to visit the brothel very often.
But after he was married, he became worse. He didn’t have money, so he pawned the things that the family arranged for him when he was married!
It showed how much he was unsatisfied with his wife, Sheng Shishui!
So, he was bummed out when he first saw the servant coming to get him. But now hearing such a serious thing happened in the family, he couldn’t sit tight any longer. No matter how unsatisfied he was, he had to admit that his position was even lower than some servants in the management level. So, it was not a big deal that he was not successful or he offended other people because the Jiang Family was quite prestigious right now. No matter what, they would still defend him for the Jiang Family’s grace!
The ones that he couldn’t offend were the people in the Jiang Family!
“How are you behaving as a daughter-in-law?!” Jiang Yazhu rushed back to his residence. He found Sheng Shishui in the garden. She was feeding a red-crowned crane relaxingly. Jiang Yazhu had a bad look. He walked over and yelled directly, “Didn’t I tell you to respect your elder sisters-in-law? And be modest to your younger sisters-in-law? You already offended someone days after you’re married? Who do you think I am? Jiang Qizheng or Jiang Yashuang? Do you think I am adored by my grandmother and grandfather and the whole family doesn’t dare to offend me?! Let me tell you! You can mess with anyone outside the family. The Jiang Family will take care of it! But in the family…”
Sheng Shishui listened quietly to his scolding. After a while, she said, “It’s none of our business. Second sister-in-law hit eighth sister-in-law. Qiu Yelan hit Second sister-in-law!”
“Qiu Yelan dared to hit Second sister-in-law?” Jiang Yazhu who was gushing out words to scold her was dazed, “She is too bold! Aren’t she afraid of getting cast off and sent home before she’s married for a month?!”
Sheng Shishui looked at the water and smiled, “How’s that possible? Grandmother asked me and eighth sister-in-law to get our story straight and blame everything on the third branch and the first branch. Especially eighth sister-in-law, she was asked to go to her room, lie on her bed, and yell that she had a headache. She is not going to get up until this thing is over! Grandfather just asked about this. It is said that after he heard it, he didn’t say anything to Qiu Yelan. He instead called Jiang Yashuang who just came home and said a few words. He also told Jiang Yashuang to come back earlier these days and teach Qiu Yelan the rules of the family. In case she was tricked by some ill-intentioned people since she was just married!”
Jiang Yazhu immediately smiled coldly, “So you’re jealous of Qiu Yelan? Do you think I’m useless? Not as good as Jiang Yashuang?!”
“You’re thinking too much.” Sheng Shishui said calmly, “She only got off easily because of Jiang Yashuang this time. It’s not because of her ability. Why would I be jealous of her?”
Jiang Yazhu said sarcastically, “Because of her ability? You sound like you have such integrity! But let me tell you, in this family, it’s not because of ability! It’s all fate! Jiang Yadan is legitimate and the eldest son. So even though he is disappointing and constantly gets into trouble, the elders would get him an official job and clean up after him each time! Jiang Yashuang is legitimate, so when he and Jiang Qizheng were sent back to Jing City, grandmother immediately abandoned me and focused on taking care of them. Then eighth sister-in-law married into our family. Grandmother was so relieved that she basically couldn’t wait to throw me to eighth sister-in-law to raise…”
His face went purple because he was too emotional, “Now grandmother says every day that ‘Jiang Qizheng and Jiang Yashuang are raised by me’. Clearly, she had forgotten herself that before Jiang Qizheng and Jiang Yashuang were back, the one who served her to keep her entertained was me!!! I was so sweet and docile at then. I saw her as my real grandmother. I massaged her every day. What nice things did she say? ‘The luckiest thing that happened to me is you. You have to be here for me forever!’ Then Jiang Qizheng and Jiang Yashuang were sent back because they couldn’t get used to Beijiang. Before they came, when they were still on the way, grandmother started planning and discussing with Mom Hu, hoping to raise them by herself!”
“For that, she even coaxed me to tell grandfather that I was lonely and wanted to grow up with a brother and a sister!” Jiang Yazhu’s smile was cold and desperate, “She promised that she would never abandon me even if she had Jiang Qizheng and Jiang Yashuang. She said, ‘Of course, you’re my favorite. It’s for you that I want to raise Jiang Qizheng and Jiang Yashuang. Otherwise, you won’t have anyone to play with you, right?’ Then…”
He started choking with sobs, “Then Jiang Qizheng and Jiang Yashuang, they were only taken under grandmother for a couple of days before I was thrown to the wet nurse. She then said, ‘You’re the elder brother. You need to be tolerant of your sister and brother’. Then it was, ‘This is your eighth sister-in-law. She is the eldest in your branch. They say that the eldest sister-in-law is like your mother. From now on, you can just live with your sister-in-law. Is that ok? You see, I’m quite old. How can I take care of you three? You go with your sister-in-law. She will adore you’. She did! But she’s a sister-in-law who was bullied by other wives. Comparing to the wife of Marquess, who is more prestigious is way too obvious!”
“If I were like Jiang Yashuang and have the care of grandmother and grandfather, I would be Tanhua, haha!” Jiang Yazhu vented for a while and finally calmed down. He looked at Sheng Shishui angrily. He gritted his teeth and said, “So don’t talk about ability! The Jiang Family is not a place where you can be on top if you have the ability!”
“If so, how did grandfather start up his career?” Sheng Shishui looked at him and asked calmly.
Jiang Yazhu was dazed. When he was about to say something, Sheng Shishui said again, “You know well about my background. When I was in the Lu Family, only my grandmother thought I was innocent and took care of me. The others, none of them wanted me alive, especially the one from the Yang Family, the one who committed suicide in the Ding Family two years ago, Yang Yishi. She pushed me into a pond once! When I came out alive, she told everyone that it was a shame that a bastard like me wasn’t drowned!”
Her tone was flat without any up and down. This kind of narrative tone was so bland that it could be called bored. But Jiang Yazhu followed subconsciously, “And this is just the niece of the Lu Family! The ones in the Lu Family, because of my grandmother, they all acted politely to me on the surface. But what do they think in their deep heart? I’ve heard the servants. People headed by my aunt wish to marry me to an old rich man. Using their words, raising a prostitute in the brothel costs the same as raising me. How can they not take back the cost?”
“But Yang Yishi who they thought came from a prestigious family and had a boundless future committed suicide! And I married into the Jiang Family. Who would have thought that?” Sheng Shishui looked at him indifferently, “I know you don’t like me! And you think low of my background. But even so, my cousins are still envying me! They all said I had a good life. But Madam Shao didn’t just have me as her only student in Prince’s Mansion of Xihe. Why didn’t she recommend anyone else? Even that Wang Qingqian has a better background than me. It’s because I was the best. If I didn’t study well, how can I get picked by Madam Shao?!”
Jiang Yazhu smiled coldly, “So you think you became my wife because of your ability? Let me tell you. No! It’s because of my official mother…”
“You’re so clever. You should know whether it is true.” Sheng Shishui said calmly, “No matter how your family ignores you, I’ve never heard of any elders who don’t want their kids to be successful! Even me, who have brought shame to the Lu Family and the Sheng Family for years. Since we were engaged, these two families couldn’t wait to tell others about their kid who married into the Jiang Family! Let alone you’re the blood of the Jiang Family!”
“…” Jiang Yazhu fell silent. Madame Zhuang didn’t want to let him marry someone who came from a prestigious family. Madame Tao didn’t want to offend her daughter-in-law. So, she picked Sheng Shishui who had a problematic background but was quite competent. Before the marriage, Madame Tao specially called him over. She cried and apologized for abandoning him after Jiang Qizheng and Jiang Yashuang came. She then specially explained this marriage.
“I know you hate me. And I didn’t treat you well enough! But I was thinking about you for not raising you! Don’t you know your official mother? If I raised you up like Jiang Qizheng and Jiang Yashuang, your official mother will try all the ways to hurt you! She had three kids, Jiang Yadan, Jiang Qizheng, and Jiang Yashuang. Even if she did something to you, for their future, do you really think the family would do anything to her? Kid, it’s not your fault that you’re illegitimate, but this is your destiny!”
At then, Madame Tao cried and said, “Your official mother barely tolerated you because you’re ignored by the family these years! Do you think I’m not hurt when I see you being ignored? How many times I wanted to hug you and tell you this when you were watching on the side! But… But you were so young. If you slip out, I can get blamed, but what will you do?”
“Then you grew up. Thinking about how you were wrongly treated when you were young, I couldn’t bring myself to tell you. Now that you’re going to get married, I’m afraid that you misunderstand your wife, so I want to make it clear for you!”
“You think I was three years old? When you cry and say something nice, I’ll believe you with joy?” Jiang Yazhu cried with her back then. But his heart was cold, after all.
Now after Sheng Shishui asked him, he was lost for a while. Then he said tauntingly, “You think my official mother would tolerate me being successful?”
“Jiang Yashuang is not twenty this year. And he is in the Hanlin Academy.” Sheng Shishui stared at him closely and asked, “Even if you get Number One Scholar next time, he will have already finished getting experience in Hanlin Academy and gone out. Maybe he’ll go to the Northern Army and goes on the road that his father chose for him! In a short time, how can you be more successful than him?”
Seeing Jiang Yazhu keeping silent, Sheng Shishui again said, “All I know is that since I was born, many people hated me, blamed me, and looked down on me. I sometimes feel that even though I’m not bad-looking and have some talent, I would never be better than them because of my background! I’ll get laughed at for my whole life. No one from the official family would marry me. But if I just give up because of all these, I won’t take it! I already have a bad background. If I don’t learn things well, then my chance of marrying into a prestigious family is even lower!”
She smiled at Jiang Yazhu. Her smile was gentle and hopeful that Jiang Yazhu had never seen before, “How do you know that if you start studying now, one day you won’t be better than Jiang Yashuang? When grandfather was just starting up, the Tao Family was the most prestigious family. But now if the Tao Family doesn’t rely on the Jiang Family, they can’t even be called prestigious. If you don’t fight for things, how do you know you’re not destined to be something?!”
“…” Jiang Yazhu kept silent. At this moment, a lot passed through his mind. In his foggy memory, he clearly remembered his official mother’s cold look, the warmth of being raised by Madame Tao, the desperateness after being abandoned, and his brother who could get everyone’s attention no matter where he went…
These scenes passed through quickly. In the end, it was his wife’s hopeful face.
He had been married for some months, but the family still didn’t arrange any job or management work for him.
He didn’t need to think to know this was his official mother’s idea or the elders were too busy. Anyway, one way or another, he had been forgotten again.
No matter whether he was moved by Sheng Shishui today or how much he was moved, he had to admit one thing: besides his wife, his decadence would not scare anyone but would be welcomed by many.
Now his parents had not returned, even if his official mother had written back to ask them to continue suppressing him, he would have had more chance comparing to directly being under her. He should just take the chance and do something. When his official mother came back, even if he had wanted to, he wouldn’t have had any chance!
After a while, he suddenly smiled. He pretended it was nothing and said, “Since you advised me in earnest. I’ll try it!”
Sheng Shishui was relived. She said in her heart, “At least he’s savable!” She showed a surprised expression on her face, “Sweetheart! That’s wonderful!” And she fell into his arms.
While Sheng Shishui was trying her best to advise her husband, Qiu Yelan was busy in the small kitchen.
Jiang Yashuang who just came back from Marquess Qin’s place changed into casual clothes and insisted on helping her.
But since he came in, his eyes never left this pot in front of him. The green leaves were floating in the red soup. Some white slices of fish came up once a while. Qiu Yelan claimed that she was good at cooking. It was not a lie. Just looking at this pot of improved boiled fish would make people feel hungry. The delicious smell was pervaded. Let alone him who was standing by the pot, even Su He who was standing in the near distance was swallowing her saliva!
Jiang Yashuang couldn’t help it but looked back and asked the maid for a spoon. When Qiu Yelan was not looking, he scooped up a spoonful of soup and a slice of fish meat. He couldn’t wait but put it in his mouth!