The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

While undercurrents were surging in the Zeng family, Zeng Suqiu slept very soundly. Before falling asleep last night, she asked Jun Yuexin for paper and pen, wrote down everything that had happened that day, and told Fu Qingsu.

After waking up the next day, the person who controlled the body became the soul from another world.

Fu Qingsu smacked her lips as she read Zeng Suqiu's message. In the end, she couldn't help but ask Jun Yuexin why she was so kind to help her. Did she really just want to have some fun?

Although she is not easy to trust others, once she is sure of the other party's kindness, she will quickly release the same kindness. Jun Yuexin finds Fu Qingsu very interesting. She raised her index finger and shook it: "Do you know how much apology the Anguo Marquis Mansion gave you yesterday?"

"How much?" Fu Qingsu asked, scratching his head.

"The silver at the bottom of the box alone weighs 50,000 taels, and the rest, pearls, gems, brocades, spices, filled eighteen loads..." As Jun Yuexin counted out the contents of the apology one by one, Fu Qingsu's eyes widened.

She couldn't help but say something bad: "I'm here now. The apology gift has been sent to the Zeng family. I'm afraid it will fall into the hands of that couple, ahem, into their hands!"

Seeing Fu Qingsu's anxious look, Jun Yuexin just told her to rest assured: "Marquis Anguo also knew that it was me who took you away, so he did not send the apology to the Zeng family, but to the Yongjia Marquis' Mansion."

"That's good, huh?" Fu Qingsu suddenly realized, "Why is it sent to the Marquis' Mansion?"

"Because the Yongjia Marquisate is on good terms with my family." Jun Yuexin said with a smile, "Well, actually, it's because - the Anguo Marquis did this because, firstly, he didn't want the Zeng family or the Anguo Marquisate's second branch to take advantage, and secondly, he wanted to use you as an excuse to show goodwill to the Yongjia Marquisate."

Fu Qingsu: “…”

She knew it!

In my memory, the Anguo Marquis Mansion never treated Zeng Suqiu as a proper master. The Anguo Marquis, the uncle, would only bring Zeng Suqiu up to ask a question or two during the New Year holidays. At other times, he didn't care much about this orphaned niece. How could he suddenly become so concerned about her?

It's not that Zeng Suqiu belittles herself, but she knows that she is indeed not worthy of the other party's attention. Before taking action, she has imagined many possible cold treatments that Fu Qingsu might suffer based on this.

However, Fu Qingsu's living environment was different from Zeng Suqiu's, and she was not familiar with the interactions between the powerful families of that era. When she heard that she and Zeng Suqiu had obtained so much gold and silver, she was only subconsciously happy. But after Jun Yuexin exposed the subtext behind An Guohou's move, Fu Qingsu suddenly reacted.

"Don't worry, what belongs to you is yours. The Yongjia Marquisate will not hold on to such a small thing." Because the expression on Fu Qingsu's face was so obvious and interesting, Jun Yuexin found it more and more amusing the more she watched. It was a pity that she was about to leave the capital and could not continue to observe this interesting person.

Fu Qingsu came to his senses after a brief moment of shock and quickly shook his head and said, "I just didn't react for a moment. That, Lord Jun, I just want to ask, if I want to open the coffin of a person who has been dead for a long time and do an autopsy, what preparations should I make?"

"Oh?" Jun Yue's mind quickly reviewed the information about the Zeng family, and she understood what was going on. She said, "If you want to open your mother's coffin, it may not be easy. It is not appropriate to disturb the spirits of the deceased. Besides, you are opening the coffin... to find evidence to sue Doctor Zeng, right?"

Fu Qingsu nodded.

"It is unfilial to sue your father as a son, regardless of whether the father is guilty or not, and regardless of your reasons."

"Is it not possible for my mother?" Fu Qingsu asked excitedly.

Jun Yuexin's eyes softened as she looked at her. "If you sue one of your parents, you will certainly be given some leniency. But it will only reduce your punishment, not erase the charges against you. What's more, your last name is Zeng. If your father divorces his wife, then you will be even more at fault."

"How can it be so ridiculous? Even if that old man divorces my wife, my mother is still my mother!" Fu Qingsu felt that some concepts of this era were really unreasonable.

Jun Yuexin said calmly, "Only when the husband recognizes his wife's status can she be the mother of their common children. Once divorced, she becomes a complete outsider, and even her own children no longer belong to her. As a wife, you do not have the right to claim all of your husband's children as your own, unless you have personally raised a child who is not your own. At the same time, you cannot conceal the identity of the child's biological mother. Whoever gave birth to the child should give birth to the child. In the future, when the child has a promising future, the legal mother will be the first to receive the title, but the biological mother will definitely not be left behind."

"...I don't quite understand, how could it be like this..." How could a man regard his wife as a complete vassal of her husband?

Jun Yuexin once again saw through Fu Qingsu's thoughts. Thinking of what Xie Yuzhen had told her, she was finally certain that the girl in front of her was Zeng Suqiu herself, and that it was probably not just a simple case of soul-separation syndrome.

"Don't be fooled by men. They always say that the mistress of the house is more noble and more willful than a concubine. But if it really comes to the point, to those men, she is just a woman who can be manipulated at will. They say a few words to elevate the status of a woman imprisoned in the backyard, and then make her willingly take care of the price of their lust... When something happens, or this wife doesn't do what he wants, he will throw her away and replace her with another one, so that he can still be a clean 'gentleman'."

There seemed to be a slow phosphorescent light flashing in her eyes: "I have traveled to many places over the years, and I found it even more interesting that no matter whether the man is rich or poor, when he coaxes a woman, he always says that she is the mistress of the house. If he has someone else outside, or takes a concubine, he will coax her by saying that his child is her child, and either favor the concubine and kill the wife, or send another woman to the wife to let her vent her anger."

"And some so-called mistresses have no affection for their husbands, but they still serve them comfortably and give them whatever they want. They are no worse than the mother who dotes on her children. They claim to be sober and noble, sitting firmly in the position of mistress while watching other women fawning and fighting for their husbands' favor. But I always feel that it is very aggrieved."

"You are so capable now, you don't have to live like that..."

"I often wonder, if those women could study from a young age like their husbands, broaden their horizons, and could go out freely like those men, whether doing business or taking the imperial examinations, or doing other things, without being looked down upon or even... despised because of their female identity, would they still be easily deceived by the lies of this 'mistress' who completely ignores the reality of suffering?"

Jun Yuexin sighed: "Will I be lucky enough to see such a day while I am still alive?"

Fu Qingsu, whose only impression of women of this era was from romance novels, was stunned.