Marrying a concubine and swallowing her dowry? The mistress turns around and marries a high-ranking

Chapter 523

Since Shen Lingxia left, the Yin family has been in a downward spiral.

Yin Bohong and Shen Lingxia have divorced, so of course it's impossible for him to elevate Jian Qingshuang to the status of his official wife. Jian Qingshuang was originally a concubine, and she is still a concubine.

After she married into the Yin family, she and her son, Yin Hancheng, only received sixty taels of silver per month. In the past, that wouldn't even be enough for her to buy a calligraphy brush.

At first, she couldn't shake her extravagant spending habits. She spent all her monthly allowance within a few days and hoped that Yin Bohong would cover for her. However, Yin Bohong didn't give her a single penny. He just wanted her to have enough to eat so she wouldn't starve. He left her penniless and barely survived the rest of the month.

After that, Jian Qingshuang finally learned what frugality meant, but she also lost her former aloof and noble air as a talented woman, and no longer had any interest in playing the zither, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, or songs. She spent her days crying and wailing, pitying her miserable fate, accusing God of injustice, and complaining about Yin Bohong's cruelty and indifference towards her.

Yin Bohong was extremely annoyed by her, feeling as if she had become a completely different person, no longer the talented, elegant and refined Jian Qingshuang he deeply loved.

She's just a resentful woman in the backyard, utterly vulgar.

So when his family arranged a new marriage for Yin Bohong, he did not resist.

After Shen Lingxia stopped managing affairs, the Yin family completely squandered their wealth. Old Madam Yin had no business acumen whatsoever, and the remaining shops, which she managed to open with great difficulty, all suffered losses and closed down within two months.

The salaries of the several civil officials in the Yin family were simply not enough to cover the family's expenses, and they were living beyond their means. As a result, Old Madam Yin had to sell a shop every now and then, but this could not continue.

Forced to set aside his pride and arrogance, he found Yin Bohong a wealthy businessman's daughter.

The entire Yin family considers themselves a scholarly family, and they originally didn't care about people from merchant families. However, the family's financial situation was really difficult. Besides, given Yin Bohong's circumstances, he couldn't marry a decent daughter from a high-class family anyway, so it was better for him to marry a rich woman who could help support the Yin family.

The merchant's daughter, Miss Yuan, did indeed bring a generous dowry when she married into the family, but it did not meet the expectations of the Yin family.

The social hierarchy of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants dictates that the Yin family, considering themselves of the highest class, had married the lowest, and thus placed their airs extremely high. From the moment Miss Yuan entered the family, they subjected her to all sorts of suppression, trying to intimidate her so they could easily control her in the future.

Unexpectedly, Miss Yuan, who had previously pretended to be quiet and gentle, was actually an extremely shrew. The Yin family was really going too far, and on the second day of her marriage, when Old Madam Yin tried to take her dowry, she couldn't help but slam her fist on the table and make a scene.

The Yin family are all scholars, speaking in a refined and scholarly manner. The Yuan family, on the other hand, are commoners who have only become wealthy in recent years; to put it bluntly, they are nouveau riche, and every member of the family is capable.

Miss Yuan has no manners whatsoever, but her fighting spirit is off the charts. She's incredibly fierce, engaging in a verbal battle with the group of scholars, constantly insulting their ancestors. In one go, she has thoroughly humiliated the entire Yin family, winning a resounding victory.

Madam Yin was so angered by her that she suffered a stroke and was bedridden.

The Yin family couldn't believe there was such a lawless daughter-in-law in the world, and they resorted to their old methods, intending to use family discipline on Miss Yuan.

As a result, Miss Yuan went straight back to her parents' home to gather reinforcements. Although the Yuan family were merchants, they doted on their daughter, Miss Yuan, who was the apple of their eye. Upon returning, she gathered a large group of people and started fighting with the Yin family in the street.

Although the Yin family had a few low-ranking civil officials, they had neither power nor influence. Their bunch of pretentious classical Chinese phrases were utterly useless in front of the fierce Yuan family.

This battle was a complete one-sided crushing defeat, and the Yin family was still so humiliated that they couldn't even lift their heads. Rumors also spread that they wanted to seize their daughter-in-law's dowry, becoming the subject of much gossip among the surrounding villagers.

The Yuan family gained fame in one battle, overwhelming the Yin family in both public opinion and momentum. Miss Yuan, accompanied by several strong and capable old women guards assigned to her by the Yuan family, returned to the Yin family in high spirits.

From then on, no one in the Yin family dared to provoke her. She held onto her enormous dowry tightly, living a life of luxury and ease in the Yin family.

If anyone in the Yin family ever gave her the slightest disrespect, she would throw a tantrum, causing a minor disturbance every three days and a major one every five days, until everyone was terrified of her and would avoid her whenever they saw her.

When Shen Lingjun left the capital, he heard that Madam Yin had sold her last shop and the Yin family was now struggling to survive. Apart from Miss Yuan, everyone else in the family was living a very difficult and impoverished life. The several branches of the family were constantly arguing over a few taels of silver, causing chaos and disorder.

Shen Lingxia listened with great interest, but as she listened further, she felt a sense of感慨 (gǎnkǎi, a complex emotion encompassing both emotion and reflection).

Back then, she wasn't even one ten-thousandth as good as this Miss Yuan.

Fortunately, she finally broke free.

Shen Lingjun smiled and said, "Second Sister is doing very well now. By the way, Father has also come to the Northwest. Have you seen him?"

Shen Lingxia said, "No, he's over at Tianfu Pass. He wrote to me once, but I still don't want the army to know I'm his daughter too soon. If my identity is exposed, everything will be different from now on."

Shen Lingjun nodded: "Of course, it's best to rely on yourself. You will definitely rise to the rank of general like your elder brother and become the first female general in Bei Yi."

Then he added, "It's inconvenient for me to stay in the military camp, so I won't stay any longer. I'll take Yao'er for a trip in the Northwest before returning to the capital."

She didn't plan to tell Shen Lingxia and Shen Wei that she was taking Qin Chuyao to Xiqi; it would be too troublesome to explain, so she decided to act first and inform them later.

After bidding farewell to Shen Lingxia, Shen Lingjun embarked on his journey westward to Western Qi.

The border between the two countries is still not peaceful, but in addition to the martial arts expert Red Dragonfly, Shen Lingjun also has two bodyguards accompanying and protecting her, so nothing bad has happened along the way.

After traveling for two days, they arrived at the territory of Western Qi.

Shen Lingjun had already assigned identities to their group, making them pretend to be a small merchant caravan.

Now that the two countries have made peace, trade has flourished, and many caravans travel back and forth across the border. They blend in among them and are not particularly noticeable.

Shen Lingjun and the others made simple disguises and successfully entered the border of Western Qi, continuing their journey to Ancheng, the capital of Western Qi.