After giving up being the wife of a powerful official, Ling Yunlu became a concubine

"What brings you here, my dear relative?" Father Jia raised his hand and bowed.

"Well, I was just passing by and came to see how you are doing." Father Zhao also bowed.

"Thanks to you, I can eat and sleep well." Father Jia led his in-laws into the house.

"By the way, your second son is going to take the imperial examination, right? Is he confident this time?"

As soon as the servant brought the tea, Jia's father couldn't wait to ask.

"That's definitely no problem. A master had told him his fortune and said that he was the God of Literature and he would be the top scholar!"

When Mr. Zhao talked about his second son, his face was full of pride.

"My dear relative, I really envy you for having such promising children!" Father Jia couldn't help but sigh.

"Hey, we are friends. My son is your son. We are one family, so we should not have different opinions."

"Really? Then when the second son passes the imperial examination, don't forget me as your relative, okay?"

"I definitely can't forget it! My dear, to be honest with you, I really put a lot of thought into providing for my second son!"

It was a rare opportunity to have someone to confide his inner sorrows to, so Father Zhao couldn't help but tell Father Jia his own tragic story.

"My dear, don't you know how much money it costs to support a scholar?"

"Don't worry if you laugh at me, but just recently I spent a thousand taels of silver on my child for the autumn exam!"

When Mr. Zhao said this, he couldn't help but wipe away his tears.

"What's money? Even money can't buy you a promising son!" Father Jia patted Father Zhao on the shoulder.

He is not short of money, but unfortunately he lacks a good son.

"I paid this money on behalf of my in-laws. As long as your second son has a promising future, don't forget that we are the Jia family."

As he spoke, Jia's father asked someone to bring five thousand taels of silver and handed it to Zhao's father.

"If it's not enough, just tell me, and I'll send someone to deliver it to you right away!"

Father Zhao's hands were shaking as he held the five thousand taels of silver note.

His original intention was not to ask for money, but to ask his in-laws to persuade the eldest daughter-in-law to take five hundred taels from the public fund to equal the second daughter-in-law's dowry.

He didn't want to ask his in-laws for money, so why does he now feel like he's selling out his second son?

Father Zhao was sent out by Father Jia in a daze, holding the silver bill.

Until he walked into the house, he still didn't understand how things had gone wrong.

After giving the banknote, Jia's father thought of his daughter's spoiled temper and asked someone to pass a message to her.

What he meant was that she must hand over Zhao Jingyan, because in the future their Jia family's business would all depend on Zhao Jingyan to move to a higher level.

By the way, he also mentioned that he gave five thousand taels of silver to Zhao's father.

Jia Mingzhu was furious when she received the message from her father.

After she got married, she realized that her parents-in-law were very partial to her second brother.

Zhao Jingyan was the only one in the family who had silk to wear. Her husband worked hard outside every day to make money and wore ordinary cotton gown.

All the money earned by my husband and father-in-law was used to support my second brother's studies, and everyone else lived frugally.

Unfortunately, this second brother has no gratitude and thinks everything is his due.

Other students knew how to copy books to earn daily expenses, but my second brother was either studying or socializing with classmates all day long, and he was unable to carry anything.

In the first few years after she got married, she thought she would just have to endure it and give up her second brother.

Until one day, Zhao Jingyan asked her to withdraw fifty taels of silver, saying that he had taken a fancy to an inkstone.

Fifty taels? My father-in-law and my husband worked hard for a month, but their monthly salary was only forty taels.

Jia Mingzhu then advised her second brother to change to another inkstone, but she was met with objection from her second brother.

He said that she was a woman in the inner chamber who knew nothing, and that the inkstone was so rare that it was the only one worthy of his status.

She couldn't help but ask, what is the identity of the second brother?

As a result, Zhao Jingyan picked up the teacup in his hand and threw it at her.

He also accused her of being unfilial and saying that not having a daughter-in-law was the worst of the three unfilial acts, and that she was not worthy of being the eldest daughter-in-law of the Zhao family.

She was dumbfounded. If her husband hadn't come and blocked it in time, she would have probably hit her head and bled.

From that time on, she realized that her second brother was an ungrateful person who could never be tamed.

She cried and told her husband about the hardships she had experienced over the years, and then proposed a separation.

She thought that after she and her husband separated, she could just live her own life behind closed doors.

Unexpectedly, my parents-in-law suggested that my second brother get married and then separate them out.

My husband is a filial man. He feels that it is hard for his parents, who are old, to support their younger siblings. Not having children can help ease some of the burden on his parents.

Jia Mingzhu had no choice but to agree.

She didn't tell her father about all this. Her parents were in poor health and she didn't want to worry them about these little things.

However, she didn't realize that her father-in-law was the most cunning one.

Since he couldn't get money from her, he had to ask his father for money?

She knew what her father wanted, but she didn't even have a child, so what use was the size of her family business?

No, this matter cannot be resolved so peacefully! Jia Mingzhu was unwilling to accept this.

Since it is not considered a separation, Shen Yunchu and his wife will have to eat three meals a day with their parents-in-law.

Because Shen Yunchu needed to take care of her pregnancy, the food was brought back by the maid.

"What is this? Could it be some leftovers from somewhere that you took by mistake?"

Chunxiang opened the food box and hurriedly grabbed the maid who was going to get the food.

"No, the lady in the kitchen said this is lunch for our wife."

"What's wrong? Let me see it." Shen Yunchu said curiously.

Chunxiang took it and found a steamed bun, a bowl of millet porridge, a plate of vegetables, and a plate of fermented tofu.

The steamed bun was made from two-grain flour and was made in a strange shape with a piece missing.

Millet porridge has more water than rice, and looks like a watery soup.

The vegetables were fine, but the fermented tofu looked like it had been left out for a few days and had crusts on the outside.

Shen Yunchu looked at it and retched. Even her dog wouldn’t eat this food!

"Go and see what the eldest family eats."

Mother Shen taught Shen Yunchu a lot of things, and this time, she became more careful.

After a while, Chunxiang came back.

"I asked, and they all eat this in the Zhao Mansion. They said they want to save money to prepare for the Master's autumn examination."

When Shen Yunchu heard that it was for her husband, she asked Chunxiang to pass the steamed bun to her, as she was really hungry.

As soon as she took a sip, a sour taste hit her nose and she couldn't help but spit it out.

"Madam, you should eat some cakes. You are pregnant with the little master, you can't eat like this!"

While Shen Yunchu was eating pastries, Zhao Jingyao and his younger brother Zhao Jinghuan couldn't stand it anymore.

Zhao Jingyao threw the steamed bun in his hand onto the table. "Is this dog food? Why do we have to eat this?"

Zhao Jinghuan also followed suit and threw the steamed bun onto the table, but he didn't control the force well and the steamed bun fell into the millet porridge in front of Zhao's mother.

Suddenly, the rice soup flew up and splashed all over Zhao's mother's face.

Jia Mingzhu hurriedly stood up and wiped Zhao's mother with a handkerchief.

"Little sister, isn't your second brother going to take the autumn exam? Your second sister-in-law spent 1,000 taels on your second brother's clothes. Now we have to tighten our belts and save the 1,000 taels to pay off the debt."

"What? One thousand taels!" Zhao Jingyao and Zhao Jinghuan widened their eyes at the same time and looked at Zhao Jingyan beside them.