Did the third place winner regret it today?

Chapter 31

Most of the conflicts within a family are caused by money. And the old saying "It is not the lack of wealth that is worrying, but the inequality of wealth" is an irrefutable truth.
It doesn't mean that wealthy families will no longer quarrel over money. If that were true, there would often be undercurrents between sisters-in-law in wealthy families.
This time, the old lady had a quarrel with the old man over Yin Shi's dowry.

In fact, this was not the first time that the old lady had quarreled with the old man. They had quarreled once more than 20 years ago.
Back then, the old lady's biological daughter Sanniang and illegitimate daughter Siniang, now Mrs. Shen, married separately, and the dowries prepared by the old master for them were different.
Mrs. Shen's dowry was much richer than that of her eldest sister.
The silver in the dowry alone amounted to an extra one thousand taels.

The old lady started to make a fuss at that time.
But the old man beat the old lady and told her: "Do you think this money is for Si Niang? This is for the Shen family."
The old lady cried loudly, feeling sorry for Sanniang's miserable life.

Back then, the Yin family was just a small merchant family. Now, twenty years have passed, and with the support of their in-laws, the Shen family, the Yin family's wealth is no longer what it used to be.
Nowadays, when girls get married, they all receive a dowry of two thousand taels of silver, and that's just the money given by the public. As for how much their parents give themselves, it depends on how generous they are.
But this time it was Yin Shi's turn. The old man waved his hand and gave him an extra ten thousand taels of silver in addition to the two thousand taels of silver as a dowry.
The old lady exploded.

But now the Yin family has become a wealthy family in Huaixi. They can no longer close the door and smash plates and beat their wives and children like they did in the past. Moreover, the old lady is so old and has great-grandchildren. The old man can no longer beat her up. He can only order the maids and servants: "Hold her up!"
Now that she has a wealthy family and a large fortune, the old woman is still sitting on the ground, slapping her thighs and crying.
Shame!

The three daughters-in-law, the first wife, the second wife, and the fifth wife, all went up.
The third and fourth wives of the two concubines gathered behind and acted pretentiously. Especially the third wife, who was making a lot of noise but hiding behind the fifth wife to prevent the old lady from twisting and kicking her in the chaos.
In short, it was a mess and a mess.

The old man was furious. He slammed the table and yelled, "Da Lang!"
Master Yin stepped forward quickly: "Dad!"
The old master glared and said, "Your uncle still owes us five hundred taels. Go and collect it back immediately!"

The old lady cried out and got up, stiffening her neck and saying, "Why are you bringing this up! He's the child's uncle!"
The old man sneered: "Brothers should settle accounts clearly, let alone uncles."
The old lady was pinched at the vital point, and she immediately became short of breath, and her voice was not as loud as before: "Speak properly."

"Hey, why don't I speak properly?" The old man laughed angrily.
The old lady covered her face and cried, "I just feel sorry for Sanniang. Sanniang had so little dowry at that time, and Siniang had one thousand taels more than her, and there were so many things. Now, you want to give her ten thousand taels, a little girl, and this is just silver, is there anything else? She is not the only child in my family, how can it be so unfair!"
These words expressed the thoughts of several legitimate daughters-in-law, especially the Second and Fifth Ladies.
In particular, everyone knows that when Mrs. Shen returned, she had many more boxes and cages than when she came, and the boat's draft had become deeper.
I wonder how much the old man gave to Mrs. Shen in private.

The old man sneered.
When he did this, the old lady became afraid and dared not make any sound. She just kept crying.
The old man was intimidating without getting angry: "Shut up, who are you letting laugh at?"
The old lady didn't even dare to cry. She sobbed and leaned against the eldest lady.

The old man glanced at the messy people in the room and said, "Everyone, sit down. This is a good opportunity to talk to you."
Everyone walked around in a mess and took their seats.
The eldest lady helped the old lady to sit at the top seat before she sat down herself.

After sending away the maids, the old master slowly said, "When Fourth Lady got married, I gave her an extra 1,000 taels of silver, along with some raw silk goods, and took them to the Shen family. At that time, I told your mother that this was not for Fourth Lady, but for the Shen family. But the old woman would not listen and did not understand. She may not understand, but you cannot."

Master Yin nodded: "Yes."
He was the eldest son and would inherit most of the family business in the future, so he knew the situation best. So when his mother was making a fuss just now, he did not support her at all and even winked at his wife.
Only the second and fifth families were stupid enough to add fuel to the fire, making the chaos even more serious.

"Da Lang has been traveling with me since he was young. He has seen a lot and knows a lot." The old man said to his other sons, "You guys can't do that."
"Back then, before we married into the Shen family, did our family have a mulberry garden? How many fields did we have?"
"It's just a few dozen acres of thin land, but I worked hard to save it. At that time, the whole family depended on me to take Dalang on the business trip and earn hard-earned money. When I was away, I would be away for three to five months at the shortest, or a year and a half at the longest. Your mother was pregnant before I left, and you were born when I came back. If you didn't come back for too long, you would have died outside."

The old lady quickly said "Pooh" to get rid of the bad luck.
The old man continued, "My dream back then was to have a mulberry garden of my own. Now, how many good fields and mulberry gardens do we have? You all live in luxury at home. Who needs to go out and walk in the wind and rain like I did back then? It's the shopkeepers who work outside to make money for my family."
"Such a huge fortune, do you think it fell from the sky?"
"Pooh!"

When the old man spitted, his face turned slightly towards the old lady, as if he was spitting at her.
The old lady was embarrassed and annoyed, but she didn't dare to lose her temper. Her face turned red and then white, and then white and then red again.

The old man called out "Da Lang" and said, "You come and tell them how we have been walking outside since Si Niang married and went to the capital!"
Master Yin coughed lightly and told everyone - mainly his mother and several brothers and sisters: "After Fourth Mother got married, we used Uncle Shen's name card to go out. Later, when Uncle Shen passed away, we used my brother-in-law's name card to go out. This way, we can avoid a lot of exploitation. When doing business, people know that you have someone behind you, so they dare not cheat too much. If you meet Uncle Shen and my brother-in-law's classmates, classmates, old friends, it will be much more convenient."
"In this way, we accumulated wealth step by step and built our current family business."

The old man knocked on the table with his knuckles and cursed loudly, "Both your father-in-law and son-in-law are Jinshi. Your nephew is a top scholar, and he is a Tanhua scholar! He was chosen by the emperor! He is only a few years old, and his future will be brighter than his father and grandfather. They are willing to marry us, so don't be shameless!" "Do you think you can get all those conveniences just because you have a daughter? If you are stingy and unpresentable, do you think the Shen family will be willing to associate with this relative!"

"I said it back then, that the one thousand taels were not for Si Niang, but for the Shen family."
"Now, any dowry of the young lady that exceeds that of her sisters will not be given to her, but to the Shen family."

"What are you fighting for? Put away your little thoughts, go to fewer brothels, and if you have the energy, go out with the shopkeepers more often, see the world, and meet people! It's better than anything else!"

The sons and daughters-in-law were scolded so much that they lowered their heads and dared not say a word.
The old lady held it in for a while, then covered her face and burst into tears: "My third mother has a miserable life——"
The old lady had three sons and one daughter who survived in infancy, and the third aunt was her only biological daughter.
If she were to say, when the Shen family proposed the marriage, they should have directly betrothed Sanniang, the daughter of the first wife, to the Shen family! But the old man insisted on letting Shen Bo see it for himself.

It is said that one should marry a virtuous wife, but how can a concubine's daughter be more virtuous than the wife's daughter? But men say nice things and act like decent people, but in their hearts they all love beautiful women. Shen Bo was immediately attracted by the fourth girl.
Poor Sanniang, her good marriage was snatched away by Siniang. She became a widow at a young age and suffered for half her life.

Master Yin couldn't bear to watch it any longer, and said, "Mother, it's not that I don't feel sorry for Third Sister, but you've seen Shen Bocheng like that before. Third Sister, well, Third Sister is really..."

Why didn't his father just marry his eldest daughter Sanniang to Shen Bo?
Shen Bo was young at that time. He experienced many hardships in the place of exile. He studied hard without slacking off. When he returned, he was full of poetry and books, with a restrained brilliance and clarity like jade.
He was born with bright eyes and sparse eyebrows, and when people saw him, even if he was wearing a blue shirt and a white robe, they would feel ashamed of themselves.

Old Master Yin rescued his father because he loved this young man.
When men admire other men, they often have a very common quirk, which is that they can't help but want to marry their daughters or sisters to the other man.
But Sanniang Yin picked up the flaws of her parents and had an ordinary appearance. The Shen family wanted to marry the daughter of the Yin family to repay their gratitude. How could Old Master Yin bear to let Sanniang, who was not good-looking, marry Shen Bo, and wrong the young man like a pine tree.
This led to the emergence of Fourth Niang, who looked like her aunt and was very good at growing up, and later became Mrs. Shen.

The old lady understood it, but it would be fine if Sanniang was living a good life, but Sanniang became a widow at such a young age, which really made her mother feel unacceptable.
Hearing her own son say this, not at all on the side of his own sister, the old lady became even more sad and sobbed.

"Okay! Although Sanniang's life is a little hard, you send money and gifts every year, and her brothers take care of her. No one will lack her food and clothing. Maybe she can even earn a chastity arch in the future. Stop crying. I'm old and can't stand hearing such depressing things."
The old man looked around and said, "Little Di's dowry is different from others. Don't tell me that! This is paving the way for the rest of your life! If you can't figure it out, get out now!"
Everyone said, "Yes."
"My son/daughter-in-law doesn't dare."

The old man glanced over again, this time looking directly at the Third Madam.
The third wife was not a shrewd person, and her emotions were clearly shown on her face. Seeing the old lady being humiliated, even though she tried hard to keep her mouth straight, the corners of her mouth still couldn't be kept straight, and the old man saw it at a glance.
"The third wife." The old man called out their names directly, which scared the third wife.
The third wife bowed her head and said, "Dad."
The third master also lowered his hands: "Dad."

The old man said, "Don't worry about the dowry. I'll take care of it. You all should keep your mouths shut. No one should go and say anything to the young lady and disturb her mind."
"A child like Jiyun cannot tolerate people with dirty thoughts."
"Girls need to be raised carefully and not let them get involved in these things, so that they can have clean eyes."

Because of the old master's words, no one in the mansion dared to gossip about the dowry money in front of the fourth daughter of the third room, Yin Shi, for fear that the smell of money would taint her.
The aunt, Madam Bian, was ordered by the old man to call Yin Shi to her side every day to teach her how to manage household affairs, and she never talked to her about the dowry.

Preoccupied with her private savings and future meal tickets, Yin Shi quietly spent a few months of peaceful time, which were also the last days of her girlhood.
In the twelfth lunar month, when snow was falling and Yin Shi was burning a charcoal basin and huddled up in a coat with a pale blue brocade outer layer and a gray squirrel fur lining, the old man called her to his study.

After living here for so many years, this was the first time that Yin Shi entered the old man's study. This was the old man's absolute territory.
The old man handed Yin Shi a folded leaflet and said calmly, "Take a look."
It looks quite thick.
This thing is directly related to her future quality of life.
Yin Shi took it carefully and unfolded it gently.

(End of this chapter)