Since the founding of the Nanqi Kingdom, there have been laws that stipulate that a woman's dowry is personal property and can be freely used after marriage, and is not included in her husband's family's property. If a woman lives well in her husband's family and gives birth to children, when the children get married,
The dowry can be transferred to the newlyweds, and it can also be left to the children a hundred years later. If there are no children, or the marriage is divorced, dies of illness, or remarries, the natal family can take the dowry back, and the husband's family is not allowed to stop it or embezzle it, otherwise there will be a fight.
When the lawsuit came, the man ignored it.
Ordinary people knew that a man who used a woman's dowry would not be in the public eye and would be looked down upon. Unexpectedly, a decent man from such a large family in the Zhao family would regard the misappropriation of a woman's dowry as so normal and even feel at ease with it.
Zhong Yuqing took a deep breath, suppressed the anger in her heart, stood up and said to Xu Ruolan: "All of you here are women and members of your family. Why don't we go to your residence to see my two grandnephews."
Xu Ruolan looked shocked. Wasn't it about embezzlement of dowry? Why did she have to go see the child?
Xia Houshu quickly poked Xu Ruolan's shoulder and reminded: "Yes, cousin, it's better to choose a different day than to hit it. We have already given you gifts for meeting, so why not go and see now. I really miss my two nephews."
Xia Houshu had actually only met Xu Ruolan's eldest son once. She was so far away that she couldn't even remember his appearance clearly. It had been several years. She didn't know how tall or big her eldest son was, so where did she miss him?
Xu Ruolan pondered secretly for a while before she realized. There were people coming and going here, and some things were really inappropriate to say here. She nodded quickly and said: "Okay, I will take all the elders there right now."
Zhong Yuqing took Xia Houmei and got up to go to Xu Ruolan's residence. Turning around, she saw Princess Gong and said, "Sister-in-law is also the person in charge of the family. Since we know, why don't we go and have a look too."
Princess Gong nodded gently and stood up.
Knowing that there was a secret official from Prince Zhao's house who could listen, Xia Houshu immediately became interested and acted very actively. He quickly took Xu Ruolan's arm and wanted to follow him.
Zhong Yuqing glared at her and said, "Why do children get involved in matters between adults?"
Xia Houshu was stunned for a moment, and retorted very aggrievedly: "Mother, I gave you all the greeting gifts, why can't I go and see my nephews? And I'm already a hairpin, so I'm an adult. You can't let me do things when I'm young.
Just say I'm an adult, and if you don't let me go, just say I'm still young, right?"
Seeing her daughter's small mouth, Zhong Yuqing was so speechless that she didn't know what to say.
Seeing this, Xia Houshu pointed at the Zhong sisters behind him and said: "There is also the third cousin. She is already discussing marriage, so naturally she is an adult. Although Qingkui is still young, we will all marry into other families in the future.
Go, I have never encountered anything like this in Yanzhong before, so I would like to take this opportunity to gain some insights and learn from the elders how to deal with these embarrassing things."
Xiahou Mei immediately nodded in agreement: "You really need to gain experience earlier to avoid suffering losses in the future! My Ruolan is just too simple, so she was exploited by these evil people for no reason and there is nothing she can do about it!"
For the first time, Xia Houshu felt that her aunt spoke beautifully. She was grateful from the bottom of her heart and immediately echoed: "You see, my aunt is a person who has been here and is an elder. We all have to listen to her words." Then she turned to ask the Zhong sisters.
, "Do you think so?"
The Zhong sisters had long been confused by Xia Houshu's series of jumping around. When they heard Xia Houshu asking for their opinions, they immediately nodded.
Zhong Yuqing was very depressed, but she still held back and said nothing more.
Xu Ruolan led everyone to her residence.
The residence of Prince Zhao was larger than that of the Duke of Yue, but because Prince Zhao had many concubines and heirs, his son gave birth to more than 20 grandchildren after he got married, and even the eldest son of the eldest son was married and had children.
In addition, my daughter and grandchildren would come back to stay for a while occasionally, so the courtyards in each house were really not as spacious as those in the Duke of Yue's mansion.
The courtyard where Xu Ruolan lives is called Lihuayuan, which is located to the west of the inner residence of Prince Zhao. The entire courtyard has a main house with three rooms and two wing rooms with two rooms each. The main house is the residence of Xu Ruolan and her husband Duguxian. The east house is the residence of Xu Ruolan and her husband Duguxian.
The two rooms in the wing house were occupied by her two sons respectively. At the moment, the children were taking a nap while the wet nurse was singing in a low voice. One room in the west wing housed the mother-in-law and maids on duty, and the other room was originally used by Xu Ruolan.
The warehouse where the dowry was kept is now almost empty.
Hearing that the child was sleeping soundly, the group went directly into the main room without disturbing them. Xu Ruolan's personal maid Qiao'er was a clever girl. She quickly made tea and then sat on the pear table at the gate of Lihuayuan with a handkerchief.
Doing needlework under the tree and helping to look after the wind.
Seeing that there were no outsiders in the room, Zhong Yuqing said to Xu Ruolan: "We are all here today. Please tell us the specific situation. Even if I, the aunt, cannot stand up for you like your mother, I can still stand up for you.
You are one of the advisors. You are the daughter of the Marquis of Rongan and the niece of the Duke of Yue. It is impossible for us to sit idly by and watch you live your life in silence."
With these words, Xu Ruolan seemed to have taken a reassurance. Her eyes became even redder, and she swallowed: "When I got married, my mother was worried that Prince Zhao's family would look down on me, so she gritted her teeth and prepared a hundred and twenty for me.
Eight loads of dowry, two shops facing the street, 30 acres of paddy fields, and 40,000 guan of cash were even more generous than my sister’s dowry. I thought at the time that the family of Prince Zhao’s family was so big that they would not be short-changed in terms of food and clothing.
He married me. But after I got married, I realized that Prince Zhao’s Mansion was not as glamorous as it looked on the outside.”
"My father-in-law has many heirs, and none of them have any serious errands, nor are they good at running a business. The whole family lives and squanders every day, and the father-in-law's salary and the profits from the ancestral property alone cannot support it at all." Xu Ruolan said and wiped it away.
Tears, "Later my mother-in-law said, since we daughters-in-law have married into Prince Zhao's Mansion, we are now from Prince Zhao's Mansion. Our dowry naturally also belongs to Prince Zhao's Mansion, so all the expenses for food and clothing have to be paid from various sources."
Take it out of the room and put it in the public house for use."
Zhong Yuqing herself is a woman and has been in charge of the family for so many years. She has never heard such a fallacy. She was very puzzled by this and asked: "There are ten sons in King Zhao's knees, and there are ten daughters-in-law. She is so unreasonable."
Does every daughter-in-law agree to the request?"
Xu Ruolan explained: "Although my father-in-law had many children, only his eldest brother, second brother and husband were born to his mother-in-law. The other concubine brothers were afraid that life would be more difficult after leaving Prince Zhao's house, so they begged and made trouble to let their wives take the dowry.
As for my eldest sister-in-law, she was already running the house when I married her. My mother-in-law relied on her for everything. I heard from other sisters-in-law that she took the father-in-law's money and loaned money outside, and also collaborated with his natal family.
Her brother was outsourcing litigation, and the money she earned could just make up for her own shortfalls, and she even had a surplus. However, she had always been cautious and secretive in doing things, never coming forward on her own, and no one has been able to get hold of her so far. And she is now in charge.
She stayed in the inner house, and no one else dared to offend her at will. The second sister-in-law's mother-in-law's family was originally a wealthy businessman, and the dowry was richer than the rest of us. With constant subsidies from her mother's family, she was not short of money. As long as her mother-in-law and eldest sister-in-law did not make trouble with her.
, she is happy to spend money to buy purity.”
When Xiahou Mei heard this, he felt as if he had experienced his daughter's hardship again. His chest hurt with anger, and he said angrily: "Now you know what King Zhao and Princess Zhao are, right? That's how my Ruolan's dowry was rejected by those two.
You've spent all your money by lying and cheating! Poor my two grandsons, they are still so young, and my son-in-law is also a loser, how will he live in the future!"
King Zhao was not enterprising and liked to squander money to save face, and his sons followed suit. If it weren't for the fact that today he still cares about family ties and rewards many people during the holidays, it would be difficult for the whole family to live. I would like to marry Xu Ruolan.
The generous dowry was almost spent within seven years of entering the family, and within three years at most, the couple would be unable to even raise their son.
But the problem is that these princes and grandsons have become accustomed to relying on the protection and support of Prince Zhao's Mansion. They are like vines wrapped around a big tree. Once they are ripped off the trunk, they will be isolated and helpless, and they will not even be able to survive.
Know how to live.
This is completely an endless cycle!
How can they help Xu Ruolan?
Several people discussed it in the room for a while, but could not come up with an effective charter.
Zhong Yuqing said: "Today is Princess Zhao's big day. Let's not make a big deal out of it for the time being, lest it spread out and it will be bad for everyone's reputation." Then he looked at Xiahou Mei and said, "In a few days, the eldest sister and the Marquis will
You must go to the house in person and talk to King Zhao and his wife about the upbringing of their two grandchildren in the name of visiting their grandsons, and then you can talk about the problems of raising their two grandsons. Let’s wait and see their reactions.”
Xiahou Mei's previous impulsiveness has been mostly eliminated because she has someone to talk to and enlighten her. She also knows that it is not appropriate to confront Zhao Wangfu head-on. After all, after she has said the unpleasant things, she can pat her butt and leave, but her daughter
They and their grandson have to stay in Prince Zhao's Mansion. Prince Zhao and his wife may not have much objection to their grandson, but they will not be merciful to their disobedient daughter-in-law. Then the even worse words and the more difficult situation will be for their own daughter.
Faced.
Princess Gong also felt that what Zhong Yuqing said was reasonable, so she looked at Xiahou Mei, expecting her to nod in agreement.
But Xia Houshu, who had been listening, had doubts in her heart. She thought in her mind and asked: "King Zhao and Princess Zhao dared to blatantly let their daughter-in-law take out the dowry for them to enjoy, and also held a birthday banquet with great fanfare.
That means that no one dares to ask for justice from him. What if my uncle and aunt come by then and King Zhao still prevaricates them with just a few words?"
Everyone was silent for a while.
This is the disadvantage of clinging to high status. Even if you know that you have been wronged, you don't dare to seek justice for yourself casually.
After a long time, Xiahou Mei suddenly said: "We can't just let this matter go!"
Xia Houshu also nodded and said: "I agree with my aunt. Cousin Ruolan's suffering cannot be in vain, and their money cannot be spent in vain. They have to keep it to raise their two nephews! But the question is, what should we do?
"
Speaking of children, Xiahou Mei was anxious and Xu Ruolan was even more anxious.
But what's the use of just being anxious and trying to figure out how to solve it, fight it, and fight for it?