Happiness Consist in Contentment - Chapter 18

Chapter 18 The Scholar’s Wife

“Good, I can eat by myself, I don’t need you to serve, go down and have a rest.”

“Okay, Miss. You eat first. The servants will come and clean up later.”

Shu Mo and the others were also tired all day, and it was not easy to drag them. After all, they still have to watch the night today.

“Yes.”

After Shu Mo and the others went out. Liu Fang sat at the table and ate slowly: a bowl of shredded chicken noodles and a few salty snacks were all to her taste, so she was very satisfied.

After Liu Fang had finished eating, Shu Mo brought people over to clean up, but Yang An has not come back.

It wasn’t until Liu Fang fell asleep that Yang An returned to the room reeking of alcohol.

After washing and changing clothers, when Liu Fang supported Yang An to lie down on the bed, she was pulled into Yang An’s arms all of a sudden: “My wife…”

Liu Fang closed her eyes. What should come still has to come, she was mentally prepared.

This night, it was destined to be hot that burn the heart

    …..

The Yang family has no elders, so the next day, Liu Fang and Yang An only need to open the ancestral hall to worship their ancestors, and then write Liu Fang’s name on the family tree. Then go to the teacher’s house to pay a visit to thank him, and to recognize the relatives along the way.

Throughout the day, Yang An clinged to Liu Fang, and his sister⎯⎯Yang Hui followed them all the time, which made Yang An a little depressed.

Liu Fang had many dowry servants.

Therefore, the whole Yang family was already having a hard time just putting her dowry and housing these servants.

On this day, Liu Fang hurriedly sorted out her dowry, arranged the errands of the dowry servants, and asked them to do what they should do.

In this way, the dowry servants were reduced by two-thirds.

There was a quota for the dowry in the Duke Liu Mansion, but because Liu Fang was the youngest, she gets the most dowry, and her dowry was the richest.

However, most of them are fixed assets such as farms, shops, and houses, and there are also some silver notes at the bottom of the box, and other cloth, calligraphy, painting, antiques, jewelry, etc., which were packed in boxes.

Some were betrothal gifts, some were used by Liu Fang since she was a child, some were given by relatives, and some were custom-made to add make-up…

Yang An has nothing to do, so he helped tidy up.

While tidying up, he was startled: Is the Duke Liu Mansion so rich?

Seeing his expression, Liu Fang knew what he was thinking. She looked at the dowry list and said, “It’s because I met the good time. When the eldest sister got married, there were not so many good things to accompany her. I still remember that when the seventh elder sister got married, life in the mansion was still very tight. That is, when the eighth and ninth elder sisters got married, the mansion was much better. At that time, the eldest brother had already established a foothold, although the official position is still low, but at least he showed his face in front of the emperor, and let everyone see his talent. Later, the eighth elder brother went to the border, earning merits with all his life, and was named a general. It’s really getting better.”

Liu Fang smiled, full of nostalgia, looked at Yang An, and said, “You probably can’t imagine that when I was young, there were not many snacks in the house. Because there was no money. Only When there are guests visiting, the kitchen will make some pastries to entertain the guests and maintain the dignity of the Duke Liu Mansion. However, in daily life, I am a greedy cat who drools when I see candied haws on the street. At that time, Every day my little brother counts his small monthly pocket money, counts the copper coins, and buys me a candied haw every day, and then the two of us share it together. Oh, yes, there is also the seventeenth elder sister. She was also greedy, and the monthly allowance is not enough to spend. So, every time the little brother bought candied haws, she would come and fight for one.”

Yang An really didn’t expect it, “I thought, you are of noble birth, you must have a very good life.”

Liu Fang shook her head and said with a smile, “It’s not a bad life. It’s just that there are many people in the house. It was not an easy task to maintain a decent life. Not to mention anything else. Every time I and my elder sisters went to attend a banquet, we have to spend a lot of money, making new clothes, new jewelry, etc. It is not that our family likes extravagance, but the world is like this. In such a position, we cannot lose the dignity of the Duke’s Mansion. Therefore, we live a simple life at home every day. In fact, we have no shortage of the things we use and food. We still grew up in rich clothes and fine food. It’s not as difficult as you might imagine. Relatively speaking, only cakes and snacks, my mother strictly controls us and doesn’t allow us to eat as we please. Secondly, the mansion really extraordinarily frugal in this aspect. That’s why I was so greedy when I was a child. It was fine after I grow up. This is my nature, and it’s not a big deal. At least I live a much better life than ordinary people’s families. I don’t have to worry about food and clothing. There are fish and meat every day, and there are servants to serve.”

Yang An didn’t know what to say. Should he say that he had a better life than her when he was a child?

When his parents were alive, Yang An really lived a very carefree and happy life. At least at that time, he would not be greedy for a candied haw and had to share it with his elder brothers and sisters.

Seeing that he still looked distressed, Liu Fang couldn’t help laughing.

She really didn’t feel bad about her life.

When she was young, the mansion had successively experienced the elder brother marriage, the elder sister getting married, the second elder brother getting married, and so on. The dowry and bride prices were all spent, and the younger ones like Liu Fang grew up every year, and it cost a lot.

When Liu Fang was five or six years old, the eldest brother has a son, her nephews, from the servants to daily food and clothing expenses, didn’t this cost money?

Besides, in those few years, there were weddings in the mansion, all kinds of banquets and so on, and later there were expenses for elder brothers for taking up the official posts, etc. Even if Duke Liu was good at business and Madam Liu was good at management, that was just to maintain everyone’s life, and the rest was actually not too much.

Moreover, it can be said that Duke Liu Mansion has been holding a wedding one after another. After all, there were a lot of children, the one here was getting married, and the one over there has grown up, and should be engaged…

So, even if the Duke Li Mansion has money, Madam Liu has to count and use it wisely. Otherwise, when the time for the children to get married, they can’t even afford a decent dowry gift.

Because of this, Liu Fang seemed to have a miserable life when she was a child. But in fact, her food and clothing were still the standards of a first-rank young lady and it was definitely not worse compared with the concubine daughters of other high-ranking families.

Who made her have a good mother.

Yang An accompanied Liu Fang to organize her dowry for a whole day.

The next day when the third day of returning home, Yang An accompanied Liu Fang back to Duke Liu Mansio early in the morning.

Because there were only two siblings remain in the Yang family, Liu Fang took Yang Hui back directly.

Madam Liu had breakfast early in the morning and kept changing jewelry in the room. Cuiying opened her storeroom and found a lot of good things, planning to let Liu Fang take them away later.

Duke Liu was sitting in the side hall eating while listening to Madam Liu’s busy, he shook his head helplessly, and said, “For what? Isn’t it just little Anfang coming back, what is the big fuss?”

Jin Bao, the servant who served him, reminded him in a low voice, “Master, please don’t say anything, in case Madam overhears…”

Duke Liu glared at him with an annoyed expression, “You’re the only one who is noisy.”

Jin Bao didn’t care at all and said with a smile: “It’s not that you don’t know. Now that the eighth master and the others have returned to the capital, there must be something important. Madam knows it well, so don’t make trouble. Besides, today is the eighteenth lady returns home, you should hurry up and choose something so that the eighteenth lady can take it back later. Otherwise, what would you say if Madam asks?”

Duke Liu sighed and said, “Well… in such a position, it was impossible if our family want to be righteous alone in a community where the general moral tone is low. Forget it, I don’t care. Listen to you, I’ll go to the warehouse and send my newly-made gold and jade to little Anfang, so that she can live the same way in the future The house is full of gold and jade!” 

The corner of Jin Bao’s mouth twitched: … Master, as long as you are happy!

Back home that day, Liu Fang seemed to have just gone shopping and returned home, without the slightest feeling that she was married and already a guest.

It was rare for the whole family to get together, and after a lively day, Yang Hui also played very well with Liu Fang’s nephews, very happy.

When she left, she finally had a sense of reality that she was married and was no longer a young lady from the Duk Liu Mansion, but the wife of the Yang family.

Madam Liu’s eyes were wet, and she waved her hand, “Go back quickly, it’s getting late, if you have free time, come back to visit more, anyway, it’s not far away.”

Liu Fang nodded, “Well, mother, my daughter will. “

Anyway, they lived in the capital. Even if the outer city was a bit far from the imperial city, she can go home at any time.

Yang An helped Liu Fang into the carriage, saluted Madam Liu, then got on the horse, and left the Duke Liu Mansion with the carriage.

Madam Liu stood at the gate and watched them walk out of the Duke Liu Mansion. Her eyes were wet and hot, and she said to Angeng who was standing beside her, “Let everyone wait for me in the study room.”

“Yes, mother.”

Madam Liu looked up at the sky: This time, she will never let herself lose! Never compromise either!

    …………

Liu Fang was sitting in the carriage, holding her forehead and closing her eyes, Shu Hua was sitting on one side hugging Yang Hui who was already fallen asleep, and Shu Mo was sitting on the other side and poured Liu Fang a cup of hot tea.

“Madam, it’s cold, drink some tea to warm you up.”

Liu Fang opened her eyes, took the teacup, stared at the tea, and said softly: “Shu Mo, mother is going to do something, right? “

Liu Fang almost died from the cold when she was four years old. Since then, she has been with Madam Liu, who took care of her until she grew up.

Therefore, she knows Madam Liu very well.

Liu Fang knew that Madam Liu was a very gentle person with a soft heart. But she was also a very strong, very proud person.

She was wise, intelligent, and broad-minded. She was gentle and fair, but she was also decisive. She was also impartial, and incorruptible, and she can be extremely cruel and merciless!

Just like before, regarding Liu Fang’s nanny.

Not long after Liu Fang turned one year old, Madam Liu found out that the nanny had secretly withheld her monthly allowance, clothes, various small jewelry, and small toys. Madam Liu caught her, beat the nanny half to death, and threw her out of the house in front of the nanny’s children, husband, and parents-in-law.

It was said because the nanny’s reputation was ruined, no one dare to employ her anymore, her family was also implicated by her, and was bullied by neighbors and even local hooligans.

Although Madam Liu Guogong didn’t beat the nanny to death, nor did she specifically ask someone to torture her. But such a simple beating and being thrown out of the mansion in public was enough to ruin the nanny’s family.