Xu Ruolan looked at King Zhao and Princess Zhao, and then at her bewildered husband standing aside, and suddenly she felt a strange feeling in her heart. Did she have a choice?
Xu Ruolan married Dugu Xian because her mother tried so hard to get her to marry her. Because of this, she has been ridiculed and ridiculed by her sisters-in-law in recent years, and she never dared to talk back. Fortunately, Dugu Xian treated her well in the first two years.
There was still a bit of friendship, so she accepted it. But since her mother-in-law and aunties crowded into her room one after another, Duguxian's thoughts were no longer on her, and he didn't even care about the children as much as before. Now.
How much true love there was, she couldn't tell.
At first, she felt that she could not live up to her mother's high expectations, otherwise she would be very sorry for her mother's hard work. Moreover, she also had two innocent and lovely children. When she encountered any injustice, she persuaded herself to endure it. But now her mother suddenly asked:
She, she suddenly felt that she seemed to have a second option.
Asking herself, she has endured so many years in this suffocating prison-like palace, and she is already exhausted, exhausted and tired. If she could leave, she would be willing.
Xu Ruolan took a deep breath, bowed to her mother, and said solemnly: "If mother has a way to save her daughter from suffering, she is willing to obey her mother's arrangements."
Xiahou Mei praised: "As expected of my Xiahou Mei's daughter, she has backbone!"
Upon hearing this, Princess Zhao immediately clapped her hands and said, "Xian'er, did you hear that? Mrs. Xu herself doesn't want to stay here anymore! Why are you still standing there? She quickly went to get a pen, ink, paper and inkstone to write a letter of divorce. After she finished writing, she
Get her out! I never want to see their mother and daughter again!"
Dugu Xian looked embarrassed, looking at his wife with a slightly hurt look. They had been married for many years, and he had always thought that she was gentle, virtuous, and considerate, and she accepted his care and concern as a matter of course. He didn't expect her to be so cruel! However,
It was just a quarrel, so leave him!
Xu Ruolan turned away and avoided looking at her husband. She endured the most miserable days in her life for this man who didn't know how to live or was incompetent. It wasn't worth it!
Xia Houyuan never heard others slandering his sister and niece. He straightened his clothes and said seriously: "I shouldn't comment on this matter, but my brother-in-law is not here and doesn't care much, so I'll just say it for now.
To be fair, if the two children no longer want to be together, then it won’t be your Prince Zhao’s palace divorcing your wife, but a divorce.”
"That's right! It's Heli!" Xiahou Mei suddenly realized it, and looked at his brother gratefully, and continued, "My Ruolan has done nothing wrong. You have no reason to divorce her. You can only negotiate and divorce. Moreover, Heli
After that, you have to return my Ruolan’s dowry intact!"
When she heard that not only she wanted to reconcile, but she also had to return her dowry, Princess Zhao was not happy and immediately said: "Want to reconcile? Bah! What a dream! Our Dugu family is a royal family. There has been no precedent for reconciliation since the founding of the country. Divorcing your wife
Quite a lot. The most we can do is give you a letter of divorce. I wonder how you will see anyone in the future with the letter of divorce! There is also Mrs. Xu's dowry. She spent it all by herself, so why should we pay it back?
"
Facing the slander and bullying from her mother-in-law who had served her sincerely for many years, Xu Ruolan felt extremely cold. They say that the human heart is made of flesh, but some people are afraid that they are made of stone, which is smelly and hard.
Xu Ruolan's face was cold and she said in a cold tone: "It doesn't matter if my mother-in-law doesn't admit it. I've kept an account of every penny you took from me. I have everything I can see. Even if I get into trouble with the government, I still have it."
Evidence! I’m not afraid you won’t admit it!”
Princess Zhao was confused for a while, then she reacted and cursed: "You bitch! You still have this hand! You are so scheming. I really underestimated you in the past!"
Xu Ruolan ignored it. She thought that if she didn't even have this little thought, I'm afraid her dowry wouldn't be able to last until now, and they would have finished it long ago, and there would be no need to talk about raising children.
Xiahou Mei was overjoyed. He glanced at his daughter with admiration and said calmly: "You can only use extraordinary means to treat extraordinary people. Fortunately, my family Ruolan is smart, otherwise your family would have been completely wiped out.
I can’t find any reason to reason!”
Although Princess Zhao is old, her brain is not confused. She pondered for a moment, and immediately became excited again, saying: "So what if you have evidence? You have raised so many people in your house these years, and you don't need any food or clothing."
Money? With your little dowry, how much is left after all that?"
This means that even if you have to pay back the dowry, you don’t need to pay back much.
"What Princess Zhao said reminds me." Xiahou Mei's face was full of excitement after hearing this. He turned to his daughter and said, "Ruolan, since you have raised your children and the concubines in the house all these years,
That's good, you take them all with you. At worst, the child's surname will be changed to Xu, and he will be raised by your eldest brother and younger brother from now on. With me watching, I will definitely not treat them badly. As for those concubines, after they are taken out, they should be sent to work
Send them to work, sell those who should be sold, and stop wasting money on them!"
Xu Ruolan felt that this was feasible, and had already begun to think about who could stay and do odd jobs for fun, who could sell without any hesitation, and which dental shop she could find to negotiate the price.
Princess Zhao rolled her eyes at them, and said sternly with white teeth: "I see that you haven't woken up yet, and you are actually daydreaming. I tell you, Mrs. Xu can leave, and you don't want to take anyone else with you."
Let’s go! The princes, princes and grandsons are all engraved in the family genealogy. How can we allow you to change them at your own request! And those concubines, those who have just gone through the paperwork, are from our Prince Zhao’s Palace!”
Xu Ruolan's intelligence is that she has a clear mind and can act calmly so as not to slip up at critical moments. She thought for a while and said: "No, Xuan'er and Yuan'er are both my children, and they are my children who work hard for every porridge and meal."
They were raised hard, and their mother-in-law and husband never helped take care of them for a day. It would be reasonable for me to take them away. As for the concubines you mentioned, when you forced me to take them in, it was all my money.
The dowry money, so their status and deeds are all in my hands and have nothing to do with Prince Zhao's palace. You can't control me if I take away my own people."
Princess Zhao didn't care about the house and didn't know the inside story, so she looked at the housekeeper Fang and asked: "Explain to me what's going on!"
Fang was so frightened that she forgot to cry when Dugutan was beaten, and now her head was buzzing. When her mother-in-law suddenly asked her, she was stunned for a while, not knowing how to speak.
In order to get Xu Ruolan to pay Duguxian to take concubines, the Fang family promised that all the concubines they brought into the house would sign a deed of sale, and all the concubines would be handed over to Xu Ruolan for safekeeping, and the Zhao Palace would not interfere. Because of this, the Fang family and
His subordinates all agreed that Xu Ruolan should pay for the support of those concubines, and that Prince Zhao's palace would not have to pay a penny. However, these careless Princess Zhao didn't know that, so they were so confident.
Fang originally thought that Xu Ruolan was timid and cowardly, and would never be able to fly out of Prince Zhao's palace in this life. Even if she held several concubines, she would not be able to make a big impact, so she did not take this matter to her heart. How could she have imagined that it would happen?
What happened today. If she had known it would happen, she might as well have gritted her teeth and paid out the money from her husband, or given Dugu Xian less concubines, so that she wouldn't be brought to the forefront now.
Now that the matter has reached this point, it is impossible for her not to admit it, but how should she explain it in order to keep her stewardship?
Princess Zhao had been getting along with Fang's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law day and night for more than ten years. Naturally, she understood Fang's silence and had to do the next best thing. She quickly thought of a countermeasure and said to Xu Ruolan with confidence: "Even if that
The deeds of several concubines are in your hands. It doesn't matter if you take them away. They are just a few low-status concubines. In my eyes, they are not even slaves. I will show off to you in the future.
I want to marry you a good wife and a beautiful concubine! As for the two grandchildren, they are the children of our Dugu family, don’t even think about it!"
"You..." Xu Ruolan was trembling with anger. After all, Princess Zhao would not let her take away the child easily, but the child was her life, and she must not compromise on this. She had to find a way.
It is not easy to snatch a child from the palace. Princess Zhao smiled proudly and looked provocative: Let me see what you can do to me!
"That's not necessarily the case." Xia Houyuan said suddenly.
Princess Zhao glared at her, "What's the matter with you?"
Xia Houyuan didn't even look at Princess Zhao, and said calmly: "When my eldest son was unfortunately killed, the late emperor promised me a wish, but he has not asked for it from your majesty. Today, your majesty pays most attention to filial piety. If I tell him what I want,
I think your majesty will agree to adopt two children from relatives to inherit the incense for my eldest son. If Ruolan is my niece, her children will naturally be regarded as one of our Xiahou family's relatives, so they can be my Xiahou family's children.
Don’t treat them badly.”
Princess Zhao looked at Xia Houyuan in disbelief, and then looked at her husband to verify whether this was really the case.
King Zhao lowered his head and remained silent.
When talking about Xia Houyuan's tragic loss of his beloved son, he will mention the battle with Beiyuan seven years ago. When talking about that battle, he will think of the violent prince Dugu Heng and the palace coup he later launched.
During the palace coup that year, King Zhao was also one of the people who was kidnapped by the ruthless prince Dugu Heng into the palace to celebrate the enthronement ceremony. In order to convince all the officials, the ruthless prince also specially arranged for King Zhao to replace the ceremony official and personally crown him as he ascended the throne. If it were not for the Jin
Wang Duguche arrived in time to turn the tide, but he didn't know how he would be dealt with by the cruel prince. Because of this, he was criticized by hundreds of officials for many years, all because he was a child of the royal family and had no backbone, and he took refuge in the cruel prince to help the emperor.
, almost destroyed the country. Fortunately, after King Jin ascended the throne, he treated him kindly, and those rumors were gradually put to rest.
Now when someone asks, he still feels unwilling. Those who criticize him are just because the knife did not reach their necks and that of their wife and children.
Because Xia Houyuan lost his eldest son Xia Houhui in that battle, the late emperor did make him a promise when he was dying. Soon after the late emperor died of illness, the promise was fulfilled by the present majesty.
If Xia Houyuan really wants to use this promise in exchange for his deceased eldest son, Xia Hou, to have a step-heir, given the situation of so many grandchildren in their Prince Zhao Palace, plus the uncle-nephew relationship between Xia Houyuan and Xu Ruolan, it is really possible that His Majesty will agree.
When Princess Zhao saw the change in her husband's expression, she knew that what Xia Houyuan said was true. However, she would not compromise and still stubbornly said: "We are royal clan members, and your Majesty is not confused. How could you allow us to adopt our children into your family?"
?It’s just nonsense!”
Xia Houyuan didn't like to have verbal disputes with others, especially a woman like Princess Zhao who was hysterical and messy because of her status. He coughed lightly and said unhurriedly: "Are you talking nonsense?"