The cousin's family is extremely wealthy; she deserves to be a concubine.

The second daughter's aunt's face paled instantly, "What!"

How could the Xin family be so domineering? They even dared to embezzle their daughter-in-law's dowry. This is far too blatant.

Then, wasn't Xin Yucheng a scholar?

Do scholars not understand that a daughter-in-law's dowry is private property?

She came to her senses and asked again, "Then, are those silver notes and land deeds that I told you to hide in secret, the ones that your father and I secretly subsidized, still there?"

As the second young lady nodded, she took out a handkerchief from her bosom, unfolded it, and saw that it contained silver notes and a land deed.

"Auntie, please keep these for me. I'm really afraid of the Xin family. If I leave these things here, they'll eventually fall into my mother-in-law's hands."

"My son, why must it come to this?"

He Zhihuan nodded angrily, "When my husband and I were preparing to drink the nuptial wine in the room, my mother-in-law was looking through my dowry in the yard."

She went through the tables one by one, and when she wasn't satisfied, she subtly called her husband out.

My husband also complained that my dowry wasn't generous enough compared to his, and in the end, he didn't even share a cup of nuptial wine with me.

He Zhihuan wiped away her tears and sobbed, "I didn't bring any maids or servants with me, so I couldn't win an argument with her. I thought my husband was a scholar, so I should always have some considerations."

To my surprise, the next day, all the new clothes, jewelry, and lipstick from my trunk were on my mother-in-law. She looked disgusted and scolded me for a long time before finally accepting the tea I offered as a token of my respect.

"At the time, to save face for everyone, I said that if my mother-in-law liked it, I would find a few more suitable items from her dowry and give them to her."

"When she heard that, she poured the tea on me and said that I was unfilial for trying to get rid of her with such a worthless thing."

He also said that it doesn't matter if his daughter-in-law is filial to her mother-in-law.

They also said that in the alley where they lived, every daughter-in-law would voluntarily hand over her entire dowry to her mother-in-law as soon as she married into her husband's family.

She said that was the rule of their alley, and since I had married into it, I had to abide by the rules.

She added, "True filial piety means handing over the entire dowry. If I offer her small favors, it's like feeding a beggar; it shows I look down on her."

Listening to He Zhihuan's outburst, her aunt felt a sharp pain in her breasts.

"It's a good thing that my aunt had previously cooperated with that old woman Xin to try and get more dowry for you. I knew she wasn't a kind person, but I never knew she could be so shameless."

"No, you are someone's daughter-in-law and wife. You shouldn't speak up about this kind of misappropriation of dowry."

But I am just a lowly concubine, I don't care about these things. I will go to the Second Madam and ask her to help you.

You've called her "Mom" for so many years; you can't let it go to waste.

He Zhihuan hesitated for a moment, but did not stop her.

Secretly, she also hoped that someone from the Marquis's mansion could stand up for her, so that the Xin family mother and son could see that she was not without support.

The second young lady's aunt went to complain to Madam Zhan, while the second young lady herself washed her face and put on makeup again with the help of her maid before going to the warm pavilion to catch up with her sisters in the mansion.

The room was slightly awkward due to the sudden arrival of the eldest daughter, He Zhiying.

But He San was good at handling things. "This time, if my eldest sister has any troublesome family matters, she can tell my cousin Rong and my second sister."

"The three of you are all married, so you certainly won't be like us younger folks, yawning at the slightest bit of trivial talk."

These words made all the girls in the room laugh so hard they almost fell over.

Even He Zhiying, who had always disliked Hua Sirong, surprisingly gave Hua Sirong a kind look.

"Third sister, please don't laugh at us married women."

You'll understand when you get married that making a living isn't about poetry, songs, music, chess, calligraphy, or painting.

Only the mundane realities of daily life, the cold stares and mutual dislike, constitute the true essence of living.

After saying that, she looked at Hua Sirong again, "Miss Hua looks even more beautiful than before, probably because she is having a happy married life."

He Zhiying then looked at her younger sisters with a lecturing tone, "Look, we outsiders can tell at a glance whether they are doing well or not in their husbands' families."

These words left He Zhihuan, who had just lifted the curtain to enter, frozen in place, unsure whether to go in or back.

The sharp-eyed Eighth Sister spotted He Zhihuan and, before she could even consider backing out, called out, "Second Sister, come quickly! You're the star of the day, we've been waiting for you!"

Although He Ba's words were suspected of putting down Hua Sirong, He Zhihuan did not want to be grateful to her deep down.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, He Zhihuan braced herself and entered the warm pavilion.

After hearing He Zhiying's words, several pairs of eyes stared intently at He Zhihuan's complexion.

You don't know until you compare them, and when you do, it's quite a shock.

He Si got up and pulled He Zhihuan over to sit down. "Second sister, you look a little tired?"

She originally wanted to say that her skin was bad, but considering that He Zhihuan always paid attention to her appearance, she was afraid that saying that would displease him, so she changed her words.

After saying that, she added, "I heard that when you got off the carriage, your second brother-in-law helped you."

It's clear that the second sister's husband and second sister have an excellent relationship.

He Zhiying, the old fox, chuckled first, "Fourth sister, you know how to talk, but you don't know how to talk."

“Our second daughter isn’t just tired, she’s clearly…” she began, keeping everyone in suspense.

Everyone looked on with curiosity, except for He Zhihuan, who was worried that He Zhiying had seen through her secrets and said something that would embarrass her.

Seeing that the atmosphere had been built up enough, He Zhiying then said, "This is clearly a consequence of your second brother-in-law's doting on our second daughter."

After saying that, he laughed to himself.

While He Zhihuan breathed a sigh of relief, she was also extremely embarrassed by He Zhiying's blatantly staring at her legs.

He Zhiying was telling the truth, but not entirely.

She has always felt inferior because of her appearance.

So on their wedding night, she was bewitched and obeyed her aunt's instructions, and in bed she catered to Xin Yucheng in many ways.

He Zhihuan was raised in the Marquis's mansion. Although she was not as beautiful as the sisters in the mansion, her skin was well-maintained.

Having tasted the sweetness of success, Xin Yucheng became somewhat reckless.

If it were just a bit more strenuous at night, that would be fine. He Zhihuan could recover by resting more during the day.

Unfortunately, Xin's mother was unreasonable. During the day, she insisted on using filial piety to pressure He Zhihuan, treating her, a young lady from a wealthy family, like a puppet.

He Zhihuan has been getting through these past few days like this.

They thought the matter would be over and they could at least have a good reputation as a young couple, but then there was Hua Sirong as a contrasting example.

Eighth Sister He Zhimei pointed at Hua Sirong and said, "I don't understand what eldest sister is saying."

"However, I know that when my cousin Rong married into the Jiang family, she brought a maid with her. But when my second sister married into the Xin family, she didn't bring any servants at all."

"I only see how my cousin Rong and my second sister look now; I don't know about the others."

"All I know is that when I get married, I must bring servants with me; otherwise, I'll be the one suffering after I marry into my husband's family."