"Get married?" Shen Rui couldn't help but be startled when he heard this.
For a family like the Shen family, which has always had a high reputation, how could there be a "mother-in-law"? Even if the wife is not virtuous, there is still a family temple to accommodate the orphans and widows of the family. If not, she may die of illness. . You must know that marriage is a marriage between two people. If there is a divorce, although the in-laws of the two families are broken up, they will not break up in the end. If the dispute reaches the point of "divorcing the wife" and leaving the wife, the two families will fall out. Become an enemy.
Why has he never heard of such a big thing?
Seeing his puzzled face, Shen Jue raised his eyebrows and said, "Don't think about it. How old are you? Of course you haven't heard of this. That was sixty years ago. Not to mention our generation, just Uncle Yuan." Not many people in my generation have heard of this. I only found out about it when I overheard my grandfather and father chatting."
Sixty years ago, when he thought that Erfang's direct descendants moved to the capital at that time and had almost no contact with Erfang's concubine who stayed in Songjiang, Shen Rui was moved in his heart and said: "Sixty years ago? It was the home of Erfang's late great-uncle... …elder?"
Shen Jue nodded and said: "That's my uncle's stepmother, Shao. She is a vicious and unkind woman. When she entered the second house to fill in the house, the old man in the second house had a wife and left three legitimate children. This Shao was extremely virtuous in front of others and treated her well. The older eldest grandpa and the second grandpa were extremely polite and considerate, and treated the younger third grandpa as if they were his own children. It wasn't until she got pregnant that something unexpected happened."
Perhaps there are many kind-hearted stepmothers in this world, but there are also many people who are cruel enough to do evil for the sake of their own flesh and blood.
That year there was a Japanese disturbance in Songjiang, and the Japanese pirates often went ashore to plunder, and every household in Songjiang Prefecture stayed shut. The old man of the second house happened to have gone to Nanjing on business and was not in Songjiang. The Shaw family had the third house hidden and falsely called him After being abducted, they led the clues to the outside of the city, coaxing the eldest grandfather, and the second grandfather went out of the city to look for him. As a result, the two princes encountered Japanese pirates outside the city, and they were killed by the Japanese pirates along with the young man and the elders they led. After all, the corpse of the second prince was thrown into the river by the Japanese pirates, and no bones were left. The old prince lost two legitimate sons in a row, so he wanted to investigate, but nothing was found. In those years, the Japanese pirates did a lot of evil, and many people died in Songjiang Mansion, so there was no trace of it. Treat it as an accident.
Shaw was pregnant for ten months and gave birth to a daughter. She became closer to her third grandfather. The third grandfather was only six years old at the time. After the death of his two brothers, he cried loudly and stopped talking about it. Others thought he was too young to forget about it. The great-grandfather devoted himself to studying since he was a child. He passed the Boy's Examination at the age of thirteen and passed the imperial examination at the age of fifteen. Within a few years, the Shaw family had a second daughter. There was no hope of having a child, so he became even more kind to the third great-grandfather. When he heard the news that the third great-grandfather had won the imperial examination, Shao He was so proud that he planned to give his niece to the third prince as his wife.
However, the Third Grandpa secretly detained the Shao family's wet nurse and roommates, and asked about the old events nine years ago. The Third Grandpa did not go to find the old master, but went straight to the patriarch. At that time, the current patriarch, the Grandpa, was still a young man, and the patriarch was Shen Jue's great-grandfather. After hearing about such evil things, I naturally wanted to seek justice for the third master, and ordered the second wife to deal with the Shao family and pay for the lives of the Shen family heirs.
When the second wife heard the truth, she hated her for being cruel. But after all, they had been married for more than ten years and had two daughters. After scolding her, he couldn't bear the loss of her life, so he wrote a letter of divorce and sent her back to the Shaw family. She didn't want the Shaw family to I had a reaction when I returned to my parents' home and was already pregnant.
No matter how improper the Shao family acted, the heir was the most important. The Shao family asked someone to make peace, and the Shao family also sent a letter to express their regrets. The two girls born to the Shaw family also cried for their mother. The old man of the second wife was in deep sleep for half a month, and he was soft-hearted in the end. , for the sake of the birthright of the child in Shaw's belly, he deliberately brought Shaw back.
When the Third Master heard the news, he went directly to his biological mother's cemetery and knelt in front of his biological mother's mausoleum all day and night.
The old man from the second house felt guilty and wanted to persuade his son to come back but was too embarrassed to do so, so he begged the clan leader to come forward.
The clan leader knew that the Third Master was grievances, but he still advised him to step back. Although the Shao family was hateful, she still had the blood of the Shen family in her belly, so she couldn't be born outside with no name and no status. If she hadn't taken into account the two sisters she gave birth to, she would have been killed directly.
She deserves to be demoted to a concubine. Even if she is allowed to come in again, there is nothing to worry about. When she gives birth to the child, she will be allowed to go to the Buddhist hall to pray. The third prince never spoke, and the patriarch Taiye again advised that even if the Shao family was harmed
I have chosen the first two, but after all I am kind to the Third Taipa. If the Third Taipa pushes too hard and outsiders don’t know what is going on, they will inevitably think that the Third Taipa is too mean and is detrimental to his reputation.
The Third Master finally nodded dumbly, agreeing to take Shao back, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Although the Third Master was only fifteen years old, he already had a reputation as a civil servant and was decisive in his actions. No one dared to kill him.
Look at it like a child. If he doesn't nod, even if Mrs. Yang takes her back, it will be difficult for the second wife to live in peace.
Before the old man of the second house sent someone to the Shao family, he got the news that the third old man had dug up the grave of his biological mother. When the old man of the second house and the clan leader hurried over, the third old man had already burned the body of his biological mother and was kneeling on the ground to put it into the porcelain jar.
Ashes. His eldest brother's grave was also dug up, and the urn containing the ashes was taken out and set aside.
The old man of the second wife was frightened and angry, and wanted to teach his son a lesson. The third man then handed over a document in which he voluntarily gave up his title and inheritance rights as the legitimate son of his second wife, and wanted to move out of his household registration to have a separate household. The old man was shocked and asked him why he had to make such a fuss.
At this point, the Third Master held two urns and said: "The old man is no better than the new man. It is hard for the dead to compete with the living. Others can forget, but the dead are my mother and my brother. I cannot avenge my brother. I cannot bear to be my brother. I only hope for my flesh and blood."
reunion."
The old man from the second house immediately became speechless. After all the troubles, the third man failed to set up an independent household as he wished, but he left Songjiang and went to the capital with two jars of ashes.
The old man from the second house was seriously ill, so someone sent the Shao family a sum of money and a house deed, and no longer mentioned the matter of bringing Shao back. The following year, the news that the third house won the second-class Jinshi reached Songjiang, and the Shao family came to Songjiang.
The natal family had given birth to a son early, and the Shao family came to visit again. The old man still did not let go. Instead, he immediately took stock of the property, divided two portions into dowries for his two daughters, and the rest passed to the legitimate son's name. In order to prevent the Shao family from using the Shao family's son in the future.
During the dispute over the property, the old man made a special trip and asked the clan elders to be witnesses, leaving behind a handwritten note: "The woman's life, death, wealth, and honor have nothing to do with the Shen family. She will not be included in the Shen family tree when she is born, and she will not be included in the Shen family cemetery after she dies." This is the son of Lian Shao.
The identity of the Shen family bloodline was denied. The Shao family and the Shen family completely turned against each other.
The old man of the second house arranged the property for the second house, entrusted his two daughters to the clan house, and then left quietly. Some people said that he was disheartened and was abducted by monks and Taoists to become a monk; others speculated that he was seriously ill and the root of the disease was in the oil.
When the lamp died, he didn't want his son to be blamed for his unfilial piety, so he hid in an unknown place and waited to die. No matter what the story was, the old man never came back, and there was no news.
A few years later, the two daughters left behind by the Shaw family reached the age of marriage. The eldest brother was like their father. The whereabouts of the father of the two girls was unknown, and their biological mother was divorced. The marriage matter should be decided by the elder brother, the third uncle. The patriarch wrote to the third uncle and mentioned it.
Regarding this matter, the Third Master sent someone two thousand taels of silver and a letter, saying that he had no intention of angering his two sisters because of Shao's actions, but he was just worried that the two sisters would be considerate of him because their biological mother was divorced. It would be better for the brothers and sisters to stay away from each other.
, since the old man had entrusted the affairs of the two girls to the clan, he asked the clan chief to take more trouble. He also said that since the old man had already prepared the dowries for the two girls, he could use the two thousand taels as additional dowry. After another two years, the Shaw family
He was seriously ill and couldn't afford it, so he sent someone to Beijing to deliver a letter, begging the Third Taiye to allow his son to enter the family tree, but the Third Taiye dismissed him by saying, "Father's orders cannot be violated."
Due to the "running away" of the second-fang old man, the clan elders had already criticized the third master. No matter how wronged he was, the current situation of the second-fang's family being broken up was really ugly. Besides, he was cold-faced and cold-hearted, and he had nothing to do with him since he came to Beijing.
According to the news, he took care of all major marriage matters by himself and did not inform the clan, so there were many complaints. Now seeing that he does not miss the kindness of the Shaw family in raising him for more than ten years, and treats his half-brothers and sisters as enemies, the elders of the clan are even more worried about him.
I'm not happy.
The concubine branch of the Second Household, who had been divided, was very angry when they saw that such a large property of the Second Household had been given to the Third Taiye alone, so they encouraged the Shao family to seek for the property of the Second Household by taking advantage of the Ming Dynasty law that "property is divided equally among all sons". After all, Shao
Even if the son is not included in the Shen family tree, as evidenced by the date on the midwife and divorce letter, he is a bloodline of the Shen family. Even if he cannot be named as a descendant of the Shen family, he can only be regarded as an "outside son" who is not included in the family tree.
, is also eligible to share part of the property of the second family. As for the handwritten note left by the second family’s old master, it mentions the genealogy and the cemetery. There is no order prohibiting the Sun family from interfering with the Shen family’s property. The elders wanted to suppress the third master’s “disrespect”, so they
Didn't stop this.
The late grandpa of the fourth house and the grandpa of the clan were classmates in clan school, and they were also cousins of a great-grandfather. Brothers were the best friends. The two sent people to deliver letters to the capital, so that the third grandpa knew about it.
While the clansmen were waiting to watch the excitement, the Third Master sent people back to Songjiang, quickly disposed of all the property, and moved the household registration to the capital.
Because there is still no news about the life and death of the old man of the second house, although the second house cannot clearly divide the clan, it will actually be almost the same from now on.
After hearing this nonsense, Shen Rui was not very moved, but he didn't expect that the "one ear" Shen Jue mentioned was actually the reason why the second wife moved to the capital. Moreover, the second wife's grandfather also had an old relationship with his late grandfather.
Yes, this also solved an unsolved mystery in his heart.
The number of people in the second house was withering, and Shen Rui's great-grandfather was a gambler, so the family fortune was almost ruined. However, Shen Rui's grandfather died early, leaving behind an orphan and a widowed mother. Logically speaking, even if the property in the fourth house can be preserved, in the clan
China has long since lost the right to speak.
But the patriarch personally pulled the strings and married his fourth wife to a woman with a rich dowry. However, Shen Juren had not been an official for half his life, his family was rich, and he lived peacefully for many years.
,
The reason why Sifang is what it is today is not only because of a "virtuous woman", but also because of the remnants of the late old man...