Chapter 171.2: Jin Wang Dotes on His Concubine Ch. 171 Pt. 2
Translated by gingercat
Edited by gingercat
It was rare for Wu-shi to express her anger so blatantly. Su Xiucai was probably caught unprepared as he instantly wilted.
He had also heard them say how Yaoniang was a concubine who couldn’t even raise her own child and how tough her life was. His expression became complicated. After all, she was his own daughter. After raising her for over ten years, how could he not feel distressed?
“If she listened to us obediently, why would she have come to this step?” What he thought inside was different from what he said with his mouth. Part of it was because Su Xiucai refused to show weakness, and part of it was because he really thought so in his heart.
“Listen to you? Listen to you and let her be Master He’s concubine? What’s the difference?!”
“It was Yucheng’s wife who told me this matter. Go ask her. Back then, given her situation, finding someone willing to take her in as a concubine was already hard enough. Don’t tell me you hoped she wouldn’t marry. Then she’d be criticized for the rest of her life!”
“In the end, you only care about your own reputation. What’s the use of your stupid reputation? You can’t eat it. All you do is hold on to it.” Wu-shi’s rage wasn’t small.
Who would’ve thought that before they even said why they were here, the old couple would start arguing like this?
Seeing the current situation, Su Yucheng’s face didn’t look very good. “Since you’re not living well, come home.”
“Yes, yes. Let’s go home. Second daughter, come back home with mother.” Wu-shi wiped away her tears and went to pull Yaoniang.
Su Xiucai didn’t say anything, but Zhu-shi anxiously asked, “What do you want to take her back for? With our current situation, how can we still support another person? She has such a terrible reputation. Father, would you have the face to go out and meet people in the future? Mother, do you want others to be mocking you behind your back?”
She turned and yelled at Su Yucheng, “If you take her back, you’ll have to take on rough labour to earn money to support her!”
One must admit this Zhu-shi was very good at manipulating people’s hearts, at least the hearts of those in this Su Family. She understood them well and knew what the other party cared about the most.
Su Xiucai cared about his reputation, while Wu-shi was scared of being gossiped about by the women in their neighbourhood. Su Yucheng was used to being idle, so making him take on rough labour was worse than killing him.
Su Xiucai and Su Yucheng immediately stopped talking and Wu-shi began to look a little hesitant.
Zhu-shi added, ” Do you think those concubines from a big family could leave whenever they want to? They have all signed a contract, so they must use money to redeem themselves. Even if they have the money, they still don’t redeem themselves. Do you know why? It’s because since they joined the family, they belong to the family when they’re alive and become their ghost when they die. For those from a wealthy family, even if they were beaten to death, their families still can’t take their remains back.”
Zhu-shi originally wanted to make the rich families sound powerful and abominable, to dispel any remaining thoughts of taking Yaoniang back with them. To put it bluntly, the Su Family were ordinary people who were afraid of stirring up trouble. What she never expected was that these words would arouse Wu-shi’s disgust and fear instead.
According to Wu-shi, it didn’t really matter where her daughter was as long as she could live and have food to eat. But large families sounded terrifying. What if the consort who couldn’t have children deliberately tortures her daughter to death, just to raise her children legitimately?
“We don’t want the children. Just come back with mother. Mother will support you. Even if your father and your brother don’t care about you, you still have your mother. If mother’s not enough, there’s still your sister… Let’s go home. We won’t stay here anymore…” Wu-shi went up to hold Yaoniang’s arm. In the beginning, Yaoniang’s tears had been from acting, but now, they were completely real. “Mother, I…”
“Mother will go beg His Highness. Since he is such a powerful official, he definitely wouldn’t fuss about matters with people like us. If he doesn’t agree, mother will keep begging him. You don’t need to be afraid…” Although Wu-shi’s eyes flashed with anxiety, she still said these words.
This was the nature of a mother.
While both the father and the brother hesitated, only the mother rushed out without hesitation.
In the past, it wasn’t that Wu-shi loved Yaoniang any less, but there wasn’t much she could do. Back then, Zhu-shi always found fault with everything at home, and Wu-shi had an attitude of ‘if it was possible to endure it, then endure it’. It wasn’t easy for them to get this daughter-in-law. She had also said the same to Yaoniang. So when Huiniang said that she could take Yaoniang with her to lighten the burden on their family, she agreed.
Who would’ve thought that such a thing would happen to Yaoniang? It would be a huge scandal for the family to have their daughter get pregnant before marriage. Not only would it be a huge scandal but their family also couldn’t afford to raise another child. Yao Cheng felt guilty, and Huiniang was furious, so she took Yaoniang away. After the child was born, they tried to find someone willing to marry Yaoniang. In the end, they did find someone, but he was only willing to take Yaoniang in as a concubine. However, given her situation, being a concubine was better than being criticized for the rest of her life, so Wu-shi didn’t protest.
People always held a ‘what if’ attitude towards things that didn’t happen. What if doing this could’ve improved the situation? What if doing that would’ve been more beneficial? When Wu-shi saw her daughter in such a state, she couldn’t help having such thoughts.
She was uneducated and had limited knowledge. She didn’t understand the gravity of the situation and simply wanted to take her daughter away to protect her under her weak wings. Realizing all this, Yaoniang couldn’t help crying for real.
Yaoniang had always had a grudge in her heart, angry that her parents ignored Zhu-shi’s attempt to sell her off as a concubine. She was also frustrated that her mother kept telling her to endure Zhu-shi. It had reached the point where Zhu-shi began to take advantage of all this power to act as a tyrant.
Although she lived a better life now, she was reluctant to have any contact with her family. But if her family was actually cruel, they would’ve beaten her to death already for getting pregnant out of wedlock. How could she have had the opportunity to go to her sister’s home to give birth?
Even if her father and her brother don’t love her anymore, she still has a mother…
“Let’s go! This old man will go and beg His Highness. Since His Highness is so wise, he definitely knows that it’s fruitless to force matters.”
“Father…”
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