After the replacement marriage, I was forced to fight at home

Meng Xiu had just sent off a group of relatives accompanied by Meng Xu's wife. The eldest maid was registering the dowries brought by these people and putting them into boxes.

"Miss Third, there is nothing practical. I didn't even know that the strange stone could be used as a makeup accessory. Do we still need to put it in a box?"

Meng Xiu looked at the strange-shaped stone in the maid's hand, with two red cloth ribbons tied to the base in a bow, and smiled coldly, "Put it on, isn't it said that I asked for it from Master Fang Zhi, and it can bless me with safety, which cannot be bought with silver."

When her dowry was placed in the yard yesterday, Meng Xiu heard more ridicule than exclamation. The nurse couldn't stand it and thought that she didn't plan to come back anyway, so she just went to make a scene for the third young lady.

But Liu scolded her and said that if she was not satisfied, she should go to the third wife. The marriage was arranged by the third wife, so the dowry should be paid by the third wife. As a result, the nanny "accidentally" knocked over the table and her arm was bruised.

Meng Xiu looked at the dowry list in her hand. Anyone who hadn't seen the actual items would be surprised by the things listed there, and would praise the dowry of the concubine's daughter in the Marquis's Mansion as indeed luxurious. However, the old jade ornament was made of jade, a piece of green stone. The gold ruler was only coated with a thin layer, and it felt like the gold powder on it would fall off after a few uses. And the sandalwood box and cage, haha, sandalwood? The paint on them was not even dry.

As for those head jewelry, regardless of their quality, most of them are hollow, and will deflate with a slight pressure. What's worse, many of them are plated with silver. It must have been hard for Liu to put in so much effort.

Meng Xiu thought about Liu coming to her room yesterday and throwing the picture album lightly. She said with great disdain, "Take a look for yourself. If you don't understand, go ask your third aunt. In your heart, I, your stepmother, am probably not as close to you as your third aunt."

Then she took out a handkerchief and gently pressed the corners of her eyes, "Your aunt passed away early, and you are the only daughter of the second house. I really raised you with my hands in my hands, but I didn't expect you to cling to your third aunt, which made others laugh at me, as if I couldn't stand you. Tell me honestly, compared with other concubines' daughters, how am I inferior to you? Let you join forces with outsiders to slap my face. I have raised you for more than ten years, and it is all in vain after all."

After saying that, she stood up and said, "Don't despise that what I give is too little. I originally prepared a generous dowry for you so that you could marry off with glory. It also fulfilled the love between us mother and daughter for more than ten years. Since you don't care about what I give you, then go find your third aunt. I think she will not treat you unfairly." After saying that, she twisted her waist and walked away, and never came back since then.

Meng Xiu picked up the booklet, which showed pictures of little people fighting. Thinking that this must have been the instructions given by her mother personally the night before her wedding, she couldn't help but shed tears.

It was only after her marriage with Wu Zhengda was finalized that she began to suspect Liu and Meng Juan. The two were engaged, so they had to visit each other during festivals. Meng Xiu didn't know whether Wu Zhengda would give her a gift, but she couldn't miss the chance. Besides, she also wanted to make a good impression on Wu Zhengda.

However, one time when she was accompanying her elders out, she suddenly discovered that the pair of shoes she had knitted was actually worn by the coachman. She was extremely surprised and afraid that she had made a mistake, so she asked the maid beside her to identify it. It turned out that they were indeed the pair she had knitted for Wu Zhengda. The maid could not have been mistaken for the pattern and the stitching. It was the pair she asked Liu to bring back.

The girl even specifically asked the servant about the origin of the shoes. The servant said that his mother, who worked in the Third Madam's courtyard, got them from Liu Mama, the housekeeper of Liu's family. He said that because the shoes were too big, the men in the servants' families in the Third Madam's courtyard didn't have feet that big, so he got a bargain. He also praised the shoes for being comfortable and fitting, and said he didn't know who made them.

Meng Xiu heard this and asked Liu indirectly. Liu patted her chest and told her that everything sent to Wu Zhengda was transported to the northwest along with the things sent to Meng Hai. Then she slapped her head and pretended to have just remembered it, and asked the maid to bring a box of dried fruits, saying that Wu Zhengda brought it back for her.

Meng Xiu picked through the dried fruits. They were just some ordinary things, especially the one with the logo of a store in Beijing on the bottom of the box. Her heart felt cold as if it was frozen.

She asked the maid to give the dried fruit to the children in the courtyard, as Meng Xiu did not want to see it at all. But she did not expect that the maid would come back and tell Meng Xiu with a red face that she happened to meet the maid in the courtyard of the Third Madam when she was holding the dried fruit. She stared at the box and asked how it came to be in her hands, saying that it was clearly a reward from the Third Madam, but it disappeared in the blink of an eye.

After taking it away, he was still muttering angrily that the dried fruits were hard and he only asked for them to feed his grandson to eat because he saw that Mother Liu was about to throw them away, so he wanted to take this away too.

After these two incidents, Meng Xiu began to face up to the marriage arranged by Liu Shi for her. Was it for her own good, or was it just to bribe her? Thinking back to the past, every time Meng Juan targeted Meng Qi, it seemed like she was caught in the middle.

For example, the storybook that Meng Qi saw was the one that was discovered by Meng Qi because Meng Juan was pulling her towards that road and she was calling Meng Qi to join her.

For example, when Meng Juan celebrated her birthday in the "Hundred Flowers Garden", she saw Meng Juan holding the eldest daughter of the Hong family and nodding at her seemingly unintentionally. After a while, another daughter of the Hong family began to talk about Hong Zhe, which made Meng Qi blink her big eyes and listen carefully.

For example, when Meng Qi got on Hongzhe's carriage, she noticed something was wrong with Meng Qi. When she saw Meng Qi pulling the maid of Pingxi Marquis's mansion to ask where Hongzhe's carriage was parked, she and Meng Juan were standing not far away. She frowned and didn't know what Meng Qi was going to do. She thought that if she asked Meng Qi, she would definitely not tell her, so it would be better to tell her aunt. But Meng Juan kept pulling her to talk about this and that, and didn't give her a chance to ask Wang.

Of course, there was also the time when Meng Qi fell into the ice water, and that was when I really acted as Meng Juan's thug.

It was obvious that Liu and Meng Juan were targeting me, trying to get me to cover for them, to help them, and to arrange marriages for them. This was actually a disguised form of compensation.

Meng Xiu gently put the dowry list into the box. It was useless to say more now. She felt sorry for Meng Qi. She wanted to explain and apologize sincerely, but she hadn't seen her since her aunt's birthday. She didn't know if she would come to get married tomorrow, and whether she would have the chance to say "I'm sorry".

The eldest maid took the box away and told Meng Xiu what was in the dowry given by the mansion and other people's dowries, as well as how much silver it cost.

Meng Xiu nodded. He didn't have any shop or farm, and he didn't know what business he could do in the northwest. He didn't know whether the capital was expensive or not, so he had to spend the money carefully.

"Miss Third, there seem to be more people outside. There are several of them. I will go and take a look."

Meng Xiu's window is not made of glass, but through the thick mulberry paper, one can just see the shadowy figures of someone coming in from outside.

Ruchun was just putting small furniture such as the washbasin and toilet in place, locking the door of the east wing and turning around, when she saw Meng Wan and Meng Qi helping Wang into the yard.

The last time she went to ask Meng Wan for help, she didn't see anyone, just kneeling in the yard outside.

Ruchun stood there blankly. It had been a long time since she last saw Su Qing, no, it was the second young lady Meng Wan. She looked at her with a faint smile on her face, a rose-red cloak draped over her shoulders, the hood and collar were made of white fluffy fur, which made her pink face even more delicate.

She stepped into the yard first, turned around to help Wang, and told her to be careful, her voice gentle and pleasant.

Meng Wan helped Wang into the courtyard. When she turned around, she saw Ruchun standing there, staring at her.

Meng Qi glanced at Ruchun and sighed softly, "Second sister, I don't know whether it is good or bad for us to be soft-hearted."

Ruchun realized what was happening and hurried forward to greet Wang. Wang had no impression of Ruchun at all and asked with a smile if there was anyone else in the room. Before Ruchun could reply, Meng Xiu had already lifted the curtain and rushed out to greet her.

Meng Wan followed Wang into the house. Ruchun mustered up her courage and whispered, "Second Aunt, I have something to say to you."

Meng Wan thought about it and walked towards the tea room next to him, and Ruchun followed behind.

As soon as I entered the door, I heard a "thump" behind me, and Ruchun fell to the ground, followed by a "dong dong dong" sound.

Meng Wan turned around and looked at Ruchun who had touched the ground with her head. He sighed softly, "Get up. The ground is cold in winter. You still have a long way to go tomorrow. Don't take it lightly."

Chuan'er, who was following behind, came forward and pulled Ruchun up. When Ruchun looked up again, her face was full of tears. "Thank you, Second Aunt, for saving me from the dire situation. Thinking of the past, I dare not mention a word. I may never see you again in this life, but I will never forget Second Aunt's kindness. I can only pray for you every day, hoping that you will live a hundred years and get everything you want. I will repay your kindness by working like a cow or a horse in my next life."