After being forced to leave the marriage, I became the wife of a top scholar.

Chapter 23 Why Can't She Be a Concubine?
The news of Bai Wanqing's remarriage had been circulating for several days. At first, the people in Huai'an County all thought that Chen had made a mistake and no one believed that she was really going to find a husband for Bai Wanqing.

But as more and more people found out, everyone realized that Bai Furong's marriage had fallen through because of Bai Wanqing, so Madam Chen really wanted to remarry Bai Wanqing as soon as possible.

But a divorced woman is hardly someone that respectable families would consider, so they weren't very enthusiastic about Chen's proposal.

Madam Chen had naturally thought of this as well, and for some reason, she felt a faint sense of joy. "Hmph, this girl probably won't be able to marry into a good family in the future."

Just then, Qinglian walked in as Chen was muttering to herself. "Mother, who are you saying can't marry into a good family?"

When Chen saw her daughter arrive, she put away her earlier smugness and said, "Who else could it be but your eldest sister?"

"What? Is there still no marriage prospect for eldest sister?" Bai Qinglian was secretly delighted to hear this news. No matter how virtuous Bai Wanqing was, she still couldn't get married after the divorce!

"No, very few people have responded, and it's probably uncertain whether it will happen anytime soon." Chen couldn't help but feel worried.

Bai Qinglian disagreed: "Mother, this is your oversight."

"My oversight?" Chen blinked.

“Yes! Bai Wanqing is already a divorced woman. If you still try to find her a husband like a daughter waiting to be married, how many families will respond?” Bai Qinglian raised an eyebrow.

Mrs. Chen understood what her daughter meant. "You mean a widower?"

Bai Qinglian added, "It's not just widowers; someone like Master Huang seems to enjoy taking concubines. I heard he recently took his ninth concubine."

“Master Huang, he’s a notorious lecher,” Madam Chen suddenly realized she was in front of her daughter and noticed her words. “You want Bai Wanqing to become your concubine?”

Bai Qinglian nodded, but Chen hesitated. There was no precedent for a daughter of the Bai family to be a concubine. Even if she was a daughter of a concubine, the Bai family would find an ordinary family for her to become the principal wife. "I'm afraid your father will not agree to a concubine."

Bai Qinglian knew her mother was afraid of her father, so she wasn't afraid of provoking her mother and said, "Mother, you also came from the ranks of concubines, so why can't Bai Wanqing be a concubine? Is she more noble than you, Mother?"

When Chen mentioned her days as a concubine, she felt a lot of grievances. But Qinglian was right; if she could be a concubine, why couldn't Bai Wanqing?

Chen shifted her focus from talented young men to widowers and wealthy men who liked to take concubines, and Bai Wanqing suddenly became a hot commodity.

Huang, the wealthy man, was the most enthusiastic. He had heard that Bai Wanqing was a rare beauty with a beautiful face, so how could he let such an opportunity pass by? He was not afraid even if it offended Bai Chenming. Besides, Chen had found him herself, so it didn't really have much to do with him.

Just as Madam Chen was about to finalize the date with Master Huang, she unexpectedly received an invitation to a banquet from Madam Du.

Bai Qinglian happened to come over today to inquire about the progress of Bai Wanqing and Master Huang's marriage, and just then she saw the gatekeeper handing the banquet invitation to Madam Chen.

"Mother, whose banquet is this?" Bai Qinglian was attracted by the paper with its intricately carved patterns. The family that could send out banquet invitations on such paper must be either very rich or very noble.

Her eyes lit up at the thought.

"A banquet hosted by the Du family, Madam Du!" Madam Chen was surprised to receive an invitation from the Du family, since she had no dealings with Madam Du and even less with her husband, the Gu family.

Could it be that Madam Du is now responding to Qinglian's marriage proposal from last time?

"Mother, why would Madam Du suddenly send us an invitation?" Bai Qinglian's voice trembled slightly, unable to hide the little excitement in her heart.

"Perhaps it's because I mentioned you to her before, and she's thought it through now?" Chen Shi's determination was further solidified by the invitation on the invitation to bring her daughter to the banquet.

Bai Qinglian was overjoyed. Everyone knew that Madam Du was arranging a marriage for her nephew, Du Huan. Du Huan was no ordinary person; he was different from the merchants. His mother came from a family of officials, but unfortunately, she died young. Therefore, Madam Du was entrusted with arranging Du Huan's marriage.

Even though his mother died young, it couldn't diminish Du Huan's status; he was destined for a career in government.

"Then, Mother, Qinglian will go and make the preparations!" Bai Qinglian's mind had already wandered away from Bai Wanqing. If she could get married into the Du family, she wouldn't care whether Bai Wanqing married Huang Yuanwai or not.

Madam Chen nodded and ordered someone to put away the banquet invitations. Then she instructed her servants to find a few clothes for her to choose from. She wanted to make a good impression on Lian'er. Even though she was the wife of the Du family, she couldn't let anyone look down on her.

Bai Wanqing was completely unaware that Madam Chen intended to marry her off to Master Huang. In recent days, she had been frequently visiting the Centennial Pharmacy to learn from Doctor Luo.

She was also afraid that Furong would overthink things at home, so she brought her to the clinic as well.

At first, Bai Furong was a little scared when she saw Old Man Luo and always hid behind Bai Wanqing. However, after a couple of days, she found that the old man in front of her only cared about studying herbs and eating, and he didn't care about anything else. She gradually lowered her guard.

“Miss, Madam Du just sent over an invitation.” Ruixin bought some fresh vegetables outside and brought the invitation in. “Madam Du said she sent someone to the Bai residence to deliver a copy as well, but she was afraid you wouldn’t receive it, so she sent another copy to the clinic.”

Bai Wanqing took the invitation, read the contents, and knew that Madam Du was thanking the clinic for saving Gu Zhao.

But why did she only post about herself? It was clearly Doctor Luo who saved her son.

Bai Wanqing glanced at Doctor Luo, who seemed indifferent to everything, not even raising his head. Bai Wanqing sighed; she wasn't used to dealing with such things, but since Madam Du had extended a warm invitation, she still had to go.

Bai Wanqing then prepared to return to the Bai residence, because Madam Du's banquet was the next day, and she needed to go back to prepare. It wasn't that she wanted to wear a particularly beautiful dress, but rather that Madam Du had said a few days ago that her pastries were delicious, and she couldn't very well go empty-handed.

When Physician Keluo saw that Bai Wanqing wanted to go back, he was somewhat dissatisfied, so he followed Bai Wanqing into the street.

"I say, you heartless child, you don't even care about your own grandmaster!" Old Man Luo muttered as he followed behind Bai Wanqing, looking as if he had suffered a great injustice.

Bai Wanqing ignored him. She knew that her grandmaster was a drama queen. He liked to act, so let him act.

Seeing that Bai Wanqing ignored him, Old Man Luo became even more unscrupulous: "Are you trying to starve your grandmaster to death?" He couldn't let Bai Wanqing leave. If she left, he wouldn't be able to eat his fill at the clinic. It wasn't that the clinic was skimping on his meals, but rather that he loved the bowl of noodles Bai Wanqing made, and he always had to have a bite of it at every meal to feel satisfied.

This is why he took Kou as his apprentice.

Bai Wanqing still ignored him. Old Man Luo wiped away his tears and had no choice but to slink back to the clinic.

Because of the cold weather, there weren't many people on the street, but the glamorous man who came to the clinic to deliver medicine still saw this scene.

"How come this woman was playing the hero and saving her sister just a few days ago! And today she's abusing an old man again? What kind of woman is she?!" The glamorous man frowned. He suddenly couldn't appreciate this woman anymore, even though she was actually Madam Bai's daughter.

The man pursed his lips and took the medicinal herbs he had picked to the clinic to exchange them for money.

Old Luo returned to the clinic feeling very down, as he wouldn't be able to eat the noodles his grand-disciple made for him today.

But as soon as he returned to the courtyard, he found food being heated on the stove.

He looked around and, seeing no one, secretly slipped into the kitchen, opened the pot lid, and five bowls of noodles were steaming in the pot.

"This Qing girl is much more sensible than Zi Rou!" Old Man Luo's face lit up with a smile, and he brought out the noodles and began to eat.

In no time at all, the five bowls of noodles were empty, without even any soup left.

Upon returning to the Bai family, Bai Wanqing first escorted Furong back to Furong Garden before returning to her own courtyard. Without saying a word, she went into the small kitchen and made two kinds of pastries to take to the Du family the next day.

"Miss, why did you prepare two kinds of desserts?" Ruixin knew that her young mistress didn't like making these kinds of desserts, and it would be a rare occurrence for her to make even one, but today she actually made two kinds.

"I want to take Furong with me tomorrow, and bring her share too!" Bai Wanqing said as she packed the pastries.

"Are you bringing the second young lady? If the third young lady finds out, she'll come and make a scene again!" Others may not know, but Ruixin knows that the reason the eldest young lady spends all her time at the clinic, besides seeking medical treatment from the old doctor, is because of the third young lady and the young master.

They always find different excuses to cause trouble for the prostitutes.

"It doesn't matter, let them make a fuss if they want to!" Since those two didn't like her anyway, she didn't care. Her power was too small to take care of many people. She only wanted to protect those who cared about her and those she cared about.

Ruixin then fell silent.

After the master and servant finished tidying up, they turned off the lights and went to sleep.

But Liu Feifei, who had arrived in Huai'an County, couldn't sleep at all. She had been in Huai'an County for two days, and Meng Zhan hadn't left the house for several days because of his injury. There was still no sign of her betrothal gifts.

"Meng Zhan, our child is about to be exposed!" Liu Feifei touched her belly. She was scared. The more passionately she loved Meng Zhan back then, the more afraid she was of being exposed now.

She knew her father too well. If anyone found out about her premarital pregnancy before marriage, her father would definitely kick her out of the Liu family.

Meng Zhan's face had only just recovered, and there were still some bruises around his eyes. He had been busy coaxing Liu Feifei for the past two days and hadn't seen Young Master Du for several days. Where was he supposed to find betrothal gifts?

"Give me some more time, it'll be soon!" Meng Zhan tried his best to calm himself down.

Liu Feifei had heard "fast" too many times, and she couldn't wait any longer. "Meng Zhan, I didn't expect you to be so useless. Even this little bit of money takes so long."

One useless answer immediately chilled Meng Zhan's gaze.

Liu Feifei knew she might have said something inappropriate, so she opened her mouth but didn't say anything more.

"You're pregnant, it's getting late, get some rest!" Meng Zhan stood up and was about to leave.

"Where are you going?" Liu Feifei didn't want to have any grudges with Meng Zhan, so she softened her tone. "It's so late, you should stay and rest."

Meng Zhan didn't stop walking. He coldly replied, "If I don't go out, where will I find the betrothal gifts? How can I marry you then!"

Liu Feifei pursed her lips, watching Meng Zhan's departing figure with great anger.

When Meng Zhan returned to the Meng family home, he saw his mother waiting for him in his room. Meng Zhan felt that it was unnecessary, since there were only two rooms in total. Even if Fang Shi did not come to his room, she would know when he would return.

"Mother!" Fang was still a little worried because Meng Zhan hadn't returned for several days, so she waited for him in his room for a long time before going back to rest these past two days.

"Zhan'er, what happened to your eye?" Madam Fang noticed the injury at the corner of Meng Zhan's eye at a glance, and her heart ached so much that she almost burst into tears.

"It's nothing! Just a minor injury!" Meng Zhan was exhausted and didn't want to say anything more.

Fang had her own suspicions. Her son had been staying with Liu Feifei these past few days. Could it be that the two had a fight? Had Liu Feifei hit him?

Liu Feifei was unaware that she had already sown seeds of resentment in Fang's heart before she even entered the house.

Fang could tell that Meng Zhan was indeed tired, so she immediately took out the invitation that Young Master Du had sent. "Zhan'er, a young master sent you an invitation yesterday. I was planning to send it to you if you didn't come back today."

Young Master? Meng Zhan knew who it was without even thinking!
Meng Zhan accepted the invitation from Madam Fang. He was finally receiving good news these past few days. He would go to Young Master Du tomorrow to discuss the betrothal gifts.

Meng Zhan used to be thin-skinned, but lately he's become increasingly thick-skinned.

(End of this chapter)