Cultivation Begins with Caring for Sister-in-law

Chapter 863: Chapter 869, 870: Liang Ji’s Persuasion

On the official road outside Tianchuan City.

The August sun was scorching, cracking the earth open a bit. It was noon, the scorching sun hung high, and even the air appeared somewhat distorted.

The carriage moved along the cracked ground, making a "creaking" sound.

Inside the carriage, a middle-aged man and a middle-aged beautiful woman sat facing each other.

The middle-aged man’s name was Zhao Ruhai, his figure was plump, his face appeared prosperous, and there was a touch of scholarly air between his eyebrows.

Opposite him was his wife, Lv Clan.

The Zhao family was just a small household, living off silkworm farming, and Zhao Ruhai was merely a poor scholar. After failing the metropolitan examination several times, he gave up and returned to his hometown to open a private school, teaching children the basics, and then married Lv Clan, whose family was of equal status.

The couple both had good looks, so their sons and daughters were also attractive.

It was precisely because of this that their eldest daughter, Zhao Yushu, was favored by Chu Yi, who was then still a prince, and became his princess consort.

Just as the couple thought they could rise to glory through their son-in-law, they discovered that Chu Yi was then only a poor prince, without power or wealth, no different from a destitute except for having a high status.

But it was also true that if Chu Yi had had any power at that time, Zhao Yushu wouldn’t have qualified to be his wife; at most, she’d be a concubine.

Therefore, when their daughter married Chu Yi, the couple received only vanity in terms of face, and no practical benefits, instead spending a large amount of money.

Later, this poor son-in-law somehow got lucky and became the emperor, making their daughter the empress, and Zhao Ruhai suddenly leaped to the status of the imperial father-in-law.

This time, Zhao Ruhai thought he was finally going to make it big.

In fact, he did, but it was far from what Zhao Ruhai expected. He only became a county magistrate of a small county with less than a thousand households. Although his life was much better than before, people never know contentment.

As a scholar, Zhao Ruhai knew very well that no imperial father-in-law lived as poorly as he did. Comparison was truly frightening, and coupled with the remarks from friends around him, he came to Luonan to find his empress daughter, hoping she would help him secure a high position.

But his empress daughter refused outright, claiming she was powerless.

So Zhao Ruhai settled for less, asking her to secure an official position for her brother, only to be refused again.

At that time, Zhao Ruhai felt that his daughter was a complete failure, unable to accomplish even such a small matter.

As for what Zhao Yushu said then, Zhao Ruhai didn’t believe it.

However, after staying in Luonan for some time, realizing that the emperor was a puppet and that Lu Sheng held the real power, Zhao Ruhai had to accept this fact and obediently returned to his hometown to serve as a county magistrate.

Just as Zhao Ruhai was slowly getting used to the life of a Ninth-Grade County Magistrate.

The situation changed again; Lu Sheng’s regime was actually overthrown by Chen Mo.

The court began implementing new policies, and he, during his tenure as county magistrate, couldn’t be considered a good official, but not a bad one either. Other than being somewhat greedy, he hadn’t done anything immoral.

It was precisely because of this that he was removed from office. However, being the father of the empress, the court did not pursue him but merely confiscated the illicit gains from his tenure.

During that time, Zhao Ruhai was utterly depressed and even contemplated death, but being afraid of death, he eventually accepted this outcome helplessly.

Just when Zhao Ruhai thought the situation couldn’t get any worse.

Recently, a piece of news reached his ears.

The Emperor of Great Song actually abdicated the throne to King Wei, Chen Mo, marking the first page of the Xin Dynasty. The Great Song was no more; it became Great Wei, with Chen Mo proclaiming himself emperor.

That wasn’t all; Zhao Ruhai also found out that before abdicating, Emperor Yong’an first deposed the Empress, then divorced her, and finally, upon leaving the capital, abandoned her, leaving her there.

The person who brought the news also told him that Zhao Yushu accidentally fell into the water on that day, luckily being saved by the Emperor of Da Wei, who took her in.

Now, Zhao Ruhai and his wife were heading to the capital to bring their daughter back to take care of her.

Zhao Ruhai sighed deeply, feeling that his role as imperial father-in-law was shamefully stifling, as others were envied and courted by everyone.

Although some people did fawn over him, Zhao Ruhai felt disrespected in their demeanor.

But let them be disrespectful.

At least with the title of imperial father-in-law, if he couldn’t be a magistrate, he could comfortably be a wealthy man.

But now, not only was the status of imperial father-in-law gone.

Even the status of Duke Menghe as father-in-law was gone.

In the future, even the chances of being a wealthy man might be in question.

Zhao Ruhai didn’t dare to imagine what people might think when he brought his daughter home.

"Alas, I’m worried..." Zhao Ruhai said.

"You’ve been sighing nonstop this whole way, the daughter is fine, yet you keep sighing." Lv Clan complained.

"What does a woman know," Zhao Ruhai sighed again, "I’m worried that when we bring our daughter back this time, gossip is inevitable."

"Let them gossip, what of it? Such gossip was never scarce before," Lv Clan said, "At worst, after meeting our daughter, we’ll just stay in the capital and not return."

"Stay in the capital? Do you know how expensive a house is in the capital? Where do we have the money now? Xian’er is about to get engaged soon, which requires money too. Yushu hasn’t brought money home for years, and there’s no hope this time either; we will even have to spend money to support her." Zhao Ruhai said.