The Daily Life of a Down-on-Hard-Life Medicine Girl Supporting Her Family

Chapter 122 A Visitor
General Huaiyuan personally requested the Emperor to grant him a marriage. The sight of such a young man seeking to marry a divorced woman from the Wu family made many people envious. It must be said that even the Empress herself felt a bit envious.

General Xia is young and promising, holding a high position and great power. What kind of noble lady couldn't such a man marry? He would even be worthy of a princess. However, he petitioned the emperor to grant him a marriage, saying that he liked her gentleness and virtue and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

"One love for life, to spend the rest of our lives together"—this phrase really hits home!

Others might lie, but General Xia could do it because, even though he was over thirty, he didn't have a single maidservant in his room.

From the age of sixteen, he was a sought-after young man by noble ladies in the capital, yet there were always those who didn't know their place and thus wasted his youth. It's no exaggeration to say that he was a legend in both the border city and the capital. Everything he did was observed and remembered by those with ulterior motives.

Putting aside his fate of bringing misfortune to his wife, he was almost perfect.

"Miss Xiao, your wedding is approaching. If there's anything I can help you with, please don't hesitate to ask." The Empress thought for a moment and said, "Since your family is not in the capital, and your wedding is a major event, I suggest that I send Granny Yao to your estate to help out for a while. After your wedding, you can have her sent back."

"This humble subject is very grateful for Your Majesty's kindness."

This isn't just giving her a gift to help her out; it's about making her look good and prestigious!

Granny Yao is an old hand whom the Empress is used to. Not to mention her status in the palace, even the Emperor has to look up to her. With her helping out during the wedding, let's see who dares to mess with her!
The Emperor bestows a marriage upon them, the Empress bestows a bride upon them, and the Crown Prince secretly adds to their dowry—what an honor this is!

Most importantly, the man she was to marry was General Xia Guangcheng of Huaiyuan.

Suddenly, all sorts of good things happened to her. Isn't that infuriating?
Everyone's tired of saying they're envious.

However, some things still need to be done.

Among them was the Xu family, Xu's maternal family.

"Did you send someone to check on Chunyu, as I asked?"

When Lord Xu returned home from court, he asked his wife about it.

"..." Madam Xu glanced at her husband, but still couldn't help but complain to him: "When the Xiao family had their accident, I felt sorry for Xiu Niang and wanted to go see her, but you said you were afraid of implicating the entire Xu family, so you held back; I couldn't even see her off when she took the children to Shu, and I didn't help her out with a single penny."

“Chunyu was abused and abandoned by the Wu family. I wanted to go to the Wu family, but you stopped me, saying that Chunyu had gone too far and that if I went, I would be going against all the nobles in the capital.”

Madam Xu's face showed a hint of sarcasm: "Yesterday, when you heard that the Emperor had bestowed a marriage upon General Huaiyuan, you couldn't wait to send you to see Chunyu. Do you think Chunyu still needs us to see her now?"

Late acts of kindness are worth less than grass; there has never been a shortage of people who add flowers to brocade, but it is especially precious to offer charcoal in the snow.

As Xiao Chunyu's maternal family, they couldn't find a single member of the Xu family during her most difficult and difficult times. Now that she has broken through the clouds and seen the sunlight, the Xu family wants to take advantage of her. Aren't they ashamed?
"That's just a woman's perspective. I'm only doing this for the good of the Xu family." Lord Xu was quite annoyed by his wife's sharp rebuke. "I've risked my life to climb to the fifth rank. The lives of over a hundred people in the Xu family are in my hands. How can I allow the slightest mishap?"

"Yes, Master has his considerations, and Chunyu has her own thoughts..."

"Regardless of what she thinks, she is going to marry General Huaiyuan. No matter who comes to congratulate her, she has to greet them with a smile."

Madam Xu was taken aback: That's true. When Xiao Chunyu was betrothed to General Xia, she was no longer just Xiao Chunyu, but the general's wife. A qualified matriarch would no longer consider personal grudges, but would put the Xia family and the man's future first.

Regardless of whether they were enemies or relatives in the past, they must all be treated equally in front of the general's wife!
"Find some nice things to add to your dowry, so as not to embarrass the general's wife and her family."

"Yes."

Madam Xu felt utterly helpless. Men only ever considered their own interests, all the while claiming it was for the good of the family. Little did they know that his inaction when the Xiao family was in trouble, and the Xu family's silence when Chunyu was in trouble, had already caused them immense shame.

Human hearts are made of flesh and blood. If even one's maternal relatives are like this, what will Chunyu think?
Forget it, let the eldest son's wife do this shameful thing.

In the village, Xiao Chunyu had already received three groups of guests. The first group was Madam Li, the wife of her grandmother's nephew from the Li family. According to seniority, Chunyu called her her maternal aunt.

She came to deliver additional dowry.

Strictly speaking, everyone who came was there to add to the festivities, and their excuses were all the same: they should have come much earlier, but there were always various things that prevented them from doing so.

Madam Li explained that her mother-in-law, who was also her grandmother's elder sister-in-law, had been ill for two years without improvement. Madam Li was busy taking care of her and managing household affairs, so she couldn't spare the time to attend to her mother-in-law.

The second person to arrive was from her second aunt's family, the matriarch of the Xu family, Madam Xu, who was also Nuannuan's maternal aunt. She held Nuannuan's hand, tears streaming down her face, saying that she missed Nuannuan and the others terribly and that she had been thinking about them day and night and was now haggard.

Seeing her flushed face, Xiao Chunyu didn't bother to expose her lie.

The third is the third wife of the Huang family, the maternal family of the third aunt.

The third wife was a quiet person. After exchanging a few polite words, she didn't know how to continue the conversation. She felt awkward, and Chunyu was also uncomfortable. In the end, she excused herself and slipped away.

Having met with three ladies in a row, and with guests arriving, Xiao Chunyu, who hadn't been able to socialize for a long time, was exhausted.

“Miss, in the future, even more ladies will come to add to your dowry.” Mo Lan said while gently massaging her shoulders, “Miss, you should go and rest. Your body can’t take it.”

These pointless social engagements are really exhausting. Miss's health has always been weak, and if it weren't for the pills brought by the second young lady, she would have collapsed long ago.

What Mo Lan didn't say was: With Miss's health, how can she marry the General? Not to mention the exhaustion on the wedding day, Miss probably won't be able to handle the wedding night either.

"It's good to take a break."

Xiao Chunyu was truly exhausted.

The main problem is that there have been so many things happening lately. She has to be on guard against this and that, and then there's this arranged marriage, and she has to organize her dowry. Now she has to attend social events. She's exhausted, really exhausted.

"Miss, Uncle Ma from the Xia family requests an audience."

This Uncle Ma is the head of the neighboring village, which is also equivalent to a manager.

"Please come in."

What could Xiao Chunyu say? She was destined not to rest. She just had to hold on. She didn't know what this Ma Zhuangtou wanted to do this time.

"This old servant greets Miss." Steward Ma was over fifty years old, but he put himself in a very humble position in front of Xiao Chunyu.

"Uncle Ma, you're too polite. Please have a seat." Xiao Chunyu got straight to the point: "What brings you here, Uncle Ma?"

(End of this chapter)