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

Chapter 97

Kyoto welcomed New Year's Eve on the tail end of the plague.

The plague has been largely brought under control and will soon be completely over. Most of the people of Kyoto will at least be able to enjoy a peaceful New Year.

However, the Yongning Marquis's mansion was not able to reunite with its family; instead, it was shrouded in gloom and despair.

Liu Manman went to jail, and Qin Shaoze was so depressed that wrinkles seemed to appear on his brow overnight. Qin Xuanrui, upon hearing that he would not see his mother for a long time, cried every day, causing unrest in the mansion.

Old Mrs. Qin felt utterly humiliated to have such a poisoner daughter-in-law. She didn't even dare to leave the house, and spent her days sighing and cursing.

Her only consolation was that after Liu Manman went to jail, she immediately seized all of Liu Manman's dowry, put it in the storeroom, and kept the key herself.

And she said with a straight face: "It will take at least half a year for Lady Liu to be released from prison. The Marquis's mansion cannot be left without someone to manage the household affairs. I will take charge of the mansion for the next six months, and I will also take over her dowry."

Once she takes over, she can forget about getting a single penny back from Liu Manman!

However, with the year drawing to a close, there was no time to prepare anything, so the Yongning Marquis's residence spent the New Year rather frugally.

Moreover, there is a sense of desolation due to the decline of the population.

The New Year's Eve dinner, set up at the banquet table in the main hall, was only attended by a few people, including Old Madam Qin, Qin Shaoze, and Qin Xuanrui; it was a rather quiet affair.

In previous years, there was Qin Shuangya, but now Qin Shuangya has been sent to the Prince of Cheng's mansion as a concubine, and there has been no news of her for quite some time.

Grandma Qin sighed whenever she thought of Qin Shuangya.

"Sigh, I wonder how Shuangya is doing at the Prince Cheng's residence..."

He swallowed his words halfway through.

What can you do? You're still living a life worse than death.

Otherwise, even if a daughter of a noble family were to marry out as a concubine, she would still be respectable and have a high status. It's unlikely that she wouldn't have kept quiet about her family until now.

This only shows that Qin Shuangya must be in dire straits in the Prince Cheng's mansion, and most likely she doesn't even have freedom.

Neither Old Madam Qin nor Qin Shaoze ever mentioned Qin Shuangya. It was precisely because they chose not to help her that she ended up as a concubine to Prince Cheng.

Qin Shaoze looked gloomy and silently downed several glasses of wine without saying a word.

Seeing that the atmosphere of the New Year's Eve dinner was really inappropriate, Qin's old lady's maid Ruizhu came up to ask for instructions: "Old lady, Marquis, should we invite Madam Shen and the young master and the third young lady over? The more people there are, the more lively it will be."

Qin Shaoze immediately frowned and said decisively, "Why call them? Just let them go to Yufei Courtyard on their own!"

He still blamed part of the responsibility for Liu Manman's imprisonment on Shen Lingjun.

Since recognizing her two biological children, Shen Lingjun has become increasingly troublesome, never caring about her husband or the reputation and interests of the Yongning Marquis's mansion.

It made him both angry and resentful, but he was helpless.

Qin Chuyao usurped Qin Xuanrui's position as heir apparent, which made him dislike his son.

This Lunar New Year's Eve should be a time for family reunion, but he had no intention of inviting Shen Lingjun and her two children to have the New Year's Eve dinner together. Firstly, he didn't want to see them, and secondly, he wanted to deliberately ignore them!

Let them know that the Marquis's mansion no longer considers them family!

However, the desolate Yufei Courtyard that Qin Shaoze had imagined was actually filled with a joyful and lively atmosphere.