The Good Concubine of the Qing Dynasty [Red Mansion]

At first glance, the Song family doesn’t feel it sounds too bad. After all, he is not old enough to be their daughter’s grandfather. But what about the others?

She asked hurriedly, “Chang’er, are there any rumors about the prefect’s backyard? What’s his personality like?”

Yun Chang shook his head: “It is said that the prefect is not interested in women, and there are no messy rumors. I need to ask people for more details.”

Yun Shuyao didn’t think for long before she spoke: “Mom, I am willing.”

Even if she had not read the masterpiece Dream of the Red Chamber, she knew who Lin Ruhai was—he was Lin Daiyu’s father.

When he appeared in the book, he was a high-ranking official. He had a son, but the son died young, leaving only his daughter, Lin Daiyu. In the end, she lived a life of sword and frost in the Jia family and died in the Jia family. All the property of the Lin family was taken over by the Jia family, and the family was wiped out. She didn’t know any more details.

She doesn’t have much time to read extracurricular books and is busy doing part-time jobs in her spare time.

Now that she has come to this world, she can either get married or become a nun. If this Lin Ruhai is still the Lin Ruhai she understands, then joining the Lin family is also a good choice.

If she could give birth to a child, no matter whether it was a boy or a girl, the Lin family, who lacked heirs, would not treat them unfairly. If she could not give birth, she could find a way to get away when the time was right.

She can also take advantage of her time with the Lin family to hone her supernatural powers. When her level is higher, it will be easier to escape.

Furthermore, there was no such thing as a mistress at this time, and there was no need for any moral pressure. As for fulfilling the responsibilities of a concubine, Yun Shuyao felt that she would not suffer any loss.

Being able to give birth to someone like Lin Daiyu, and is also a third-place winner in the imperial examination, he can’t be that bad.

As for the infighting in the backyard, Yun Shuyao didn’t worry too much.

She is not a pushover. She will not offend anyone unless they offend her. But if someone offends her, she will, of course, retaliate.

Song shook her head and held her daughter’s hand: “Why are you in such a hurry? Let your elder brother go and ask around first, and we can discuss this matter slowly.” What if she was in a hurry to agree to something? What if the Lin family was in a hell of a lot of trouble?

Yun Shuyao held Song’s hand in return.

This hand was very cold and was still trembling slightly.

Yun Chang went out to find out more information, and Song waited anxiously.

One is waiting for news from Yun Chang, and the other is also waiting for news from her husband.

Nanny Wang said that she had written a letter and that her husband was wrongly accused. Perhaps he is on his way back now?

Yun Chang went out to inquire and got some more specific information, but not much.

For example, he knows the age of the prefect. He is twenty-seven years old this year and is already a fourth-rank prefect. Accompanying him to take up the post are the old lady and the prefect’s wife, who are the only legitimate masters. Also, two months ago, the old lady took a concubine for the prefect, who is the illegitimate daughter of a cloth merchant, and it is said that she was married into the family because of her horoscope.

In addition, it is said that he has two concubines. All in all, the prefect has four women in total. Considering his status, this number is really small.

He had never heard that the magistrate’s wife had a bad reputation. He only heard that she was a talented woman who loved poetry and books.

After hearing this, Mrs. Song breathed a sigh of relief.

As the prefect, the number of people in the backyard is really quiet. Will she agree?

Song didn’t dare to nod and waited for her husband to come back.

But she felt that if her husband came back, he would be more likely to agree.

As a small family like them, do they have the right to refuse the prefect?

Song was worried, but two days later, she saw her uncle coming back with her husband.

“Sister-in-law, we are back.”

Hearing her uncle’s voice, Song flew over to open the door.

Seeing a mule cart parked at the door, the uncle stood beside it and lifted the curtain to reveal her husband lying inside, “Sister-in-law, my second brother is back.”

Song looked into the car, and Yun Qingliang also looked over and smiled. As soon as she saw him, Song burst into tears and choked up, “Husband…”

His face was extremely pale, and one of his legs was clamped with a wooden board. He must have been in so much pain.

Song quickly wiped away her tears, “Husband, your legs…”

Yun Qingliang touched his leg with a wry smile and comforted his wife: “It’s okay, the doctor has already fixed my bones; I just need to take care of it.”

This is… a broken leg?!

Song gasped: “… Let’s go home, let’s go home.”

Yun Qingliang could only smile bitterly.

He is out now, but two days ago, he really thought he would die in the cell.

Yun Qingpeng carried his brother back to the room, then went out to talk to his son, leaving the space for the couple.

Yun Qingliang: “I see.”

He was released, but he didn’t know the reason, and he only found out now.

He leaned against the head of the bed, called his daughter in, and looked at her: “Yao’er, what do you think? If you don’t want to be a concubine, Dad will refuse. Perfect Lin will not do anything just because our family refuses. He is a good official.”

Life for the wealthy and powerful is not easy.

His original intention was to let his daughter marry a man of similar family as his legal wife.

Yun Shuyao looked at his pale face and shook her head: “Dad, my daughter is willing. This is also the best choice for our family.”

If he knew that their family and the prefect’s family would have no relationship in the end, what would Wu Peng, who was hurt and humiliated, do?

He is not an open-minded person.

Even if they don’t dare to do it openly and want to do something secretly, their family has no good solution.

She also walked around the government office. Even though she didn’t see it very clearly, she had a general impression that it was worth marrying Lin Ruhai.

Yun Qingliang stopped talking and clenched his hands into fists in his sleeves.

He is still… too weak.

He will not be able to take part in this year’s autumn examination, and the next one will be in three years.

When he gets back on his feet, if his daughter isn’t living well, they will support her.

If he can’t get up, his daughter will suffer, and she won’t even be able to come home.

Yun Qingliang thought about it, and his jawline tightened.

The Lin family received a reply and quickly invited a matchmaker to come to their house.

Yun Shuyao is the eldest daughter of a legitimate scholar. Although she is not marrying as a wife but as a concubine, she still has to follow the corresponding procedures.

The procedure cannot be compared with the complicated three matchmakers and six betrothal procedures for marrying a wife, but it is not something that can be easily completed by a maid carrying a concubine and offering a cup of tea.

The Lin family sent a matchmaker to the Yun family’s house with betrothal gifts and betrothal money and also picked an auspicious day nearby, giving the Yun family less than a month to prepare.

The betrothal gift is five hundred taels of silver.

This may not be a big deal for the Lin family, but for them, these five hundred taels are more than their family property.

Song became busy taking care of her husband, who was lying in bed recuperating from his leg injury while preparing a dowry for her daughter.

If she were to fall out of favor after entering the Lin residence, her daughter would still have these dowries to accompany her, and they must be prepared to perfection.

She and her husband had discussed it and decided that all the things sent by the Lin family would be given to their daughter as dowry. The dowry they had prepared for their daughter, except for some inappropriate items, would also be given to her.

She had originally considered using the five hundred taels to buy two shops in the city and collect rent every month for a stable life, but her daughter suggested that she wanted to buy an unused hilltop in the village.

Yun Qingliang didn’t understand: “Yao’er, why do you want to buy mountain land? There is nothing to produce on mountain land. Villagers will just go and dig wild vegetables, cut grass, and chop firewood. There is no future in buying it.”

As for the good farmland with promising potential, it has already been owned by someone else, and no one is willing to sell it.

Yun Shuyao: “I’m thinking of planting some fruits, flowers, and plants there and raising some poultry. I’ll have my uncle help me keep an eye on them, and selling them will also be a profit.”

She has the ability of wood power and is only at level one now, but with more training, she will slowly upgrade. Once she has a hill, she will have more opportunities to train.

Yun Qingpeng nodded without hesitation. He was in the village and knew all about this. “Uncle will help you keep an eye on it. It’s okay to raise some poultry. The mountain land is not valuable. Go talk to the head of the village. You can get it for more than 1.5 ounces per mu.”

It’s different for good farmland. The best paddy field costs more than ten taels per mu.

It would only cost a few dozen taels to buy the hilltop and hire two people to take care of it. The rest of the money could be used to buy a shop. You could buy a bigger one in a better location so that you can get a higher rent.

Ever since the people from Magistrate Lin’s family came to visit and the news spread, the Yun family suddenly became lively.

When Yun Qingliang got into trouble before, his classmates and friends avoided him. Now that they knew he was related to the prefect, their attitude suddenly became warmer, and they came to congratulate him with gifts.

Yun Qingliang accepted it with a smile and did not say that he would break up with them, but he had his own thoughts in his heart.

Yun Shuyao learned more news from those who came to congratulate her.

The Lin family members are very tight-lipped and dare not say much about their master’s affairs, but it can be speculated that the old lady and the prefect’s wife should not be on good terms.

Because marrying a girl from a good family from outside is a very embarrassing thing for the main wife.

If the wife is unable to give birth, a maidservant will usually be chosen from her side. If the maidservant’s status is considered too low, a suitable person can be chosen from the woman’s clan. In this way, the bloodline born will have the woman’s family bloodline.

But now the old lady of the Lin family has first hired the daughter of a merchant, and now she has hired the daughter of the Yun family.

She was the legitimate daughter of a scholar, and in terms of status, her position was higher than that of a merchant’s daughter.

This is definitely not a good thing for the first wife.

Song guessed: “The wife of the prefect has been married into the Lin family for ten years. She has had no children in ten years. The old lady must be very dissatisfied. But Yao’er, you must respect the wife of the prefect now that you have entered the family. Do you understand? Her father is the Duke of Rong. Although the Duke of Rong has passed away, he should not be underestimated.”

She repeatedly reminded her: “You mustn’t neglect the old lady. You are good at sewing. Do some more sewing for the old lady as a token of your appreciation.”

The two younger brothers are thirteen and eleven years old, and they can no longer be considered children in this era. In two years, the older one will be able to get married.

Yun Heng felt very uncomfortable: “Sister, we will study hard. In two years, I will be able to take the exam for the scholar. I will definitely support you in the future.”

All these things happened in the family, and as the eldest son, his parents never hid them from him from beginning to end.

He felt deeply powerless.

Something happened to his father, and he couldn’t do anything. Now his sister is going to enter the prefect’s house. If she is bullied, he will also be unable to do anything.

Yun Shuyao couldn’t help but gently pat the thin shoulder of the handsome boy: “Sister believes in you.”

“I won’t be home anymore. You are the oldest in the family. You have to take good care of your parents. As for your father, you need to take care of him and don’t let him suffer too much.”

My father broke his leg this time and missed this year’s autumn examination. He has been preparing for the next one. He never puts down his books while lying in bed every day.

Originally, he had the attitude of “if I pass the autumn examination, it’s good luck, if I fail, it’s fate.” If he failed, he planned to become a teacher for the children of wealthy families. Now his attitude has changed and he is much more positive.

In addition, Wu Peng came to apologize and give gifts.

He said there were some misunderstandings, and now everyone is laughing it off.

If the Yun family had not agreed to the marriage, would he have come?

Not to mention an apology.

If they don’t accept it, they will not give in thinking about the Yun family.

Yun Qingliang returned most of the expensive gifts.

If he wasn’t so weak, he wanted to throw it all back at his face.

The day before her wedding, Song came to her daughter’s room in a secretive manner and gave her a fire avoidance map.

Her face was bare, and she looked left and right, but she didn’t dare to look at her daughter: “…Here, take a look. Don’t be afraid when the time comes. The prefect…he knows what to do. It will be painful at first, but you will be fine if you bear with it…”

Yun Shuyao took a look at the somewhat distorted and concealed spring gong picture and lowered her head in a shy manner: “Mom, I know.”

Upon hearing her reply, Song breathed a sigh of relief and couldn’t wait to leave. Oh, it was so embarrassing to say this to her daughter.

Yun Shuyao raised her head, looked at her back, and picked up the fire avoidance map with amusement to look through it.

To be honest, she and Lin Ruhai are of the same age.

Moreover, although she was very busy in her previous life and had little free time, she had been in two relationships and was not unfamiliar with matters between men and women.

She has already experienced the life of a corporate slave deeply. If she hadn’t worked too hard, she wouldn’t have gotten into a car accident on her way home from work so late at night. She also wouldn’t have gone on a tour of the extreme survival map. Now she has to enter the backyard of the Lin Mansion. In a sense, this is her new job.

Food and accommodation are provided, and there is a monthly salary.

As for the specific working atmosphere and difficulty, she will have to wait until she joins the company to find out.

If possible, she planned to take it easy while in the office and be a dull and inactive salted fish; she hasn’t had enough rest yet.

On the second day, when the auspicious time arrived, Yun Shuyao, who was dressed up and wearing a pink wedding dress, was carried by Yun Heng into the wedding sedan chair and was carried all the way to the Lin Mansion.

The prefect is getting married today and has set up several tables for a banquet.

This has nothing to do with Yun Shuyao; she doesn’t need to entertain guests.

She just needed to sit on the bed in the room with a veil on her head, listening to the faint sounds of talking and laughing coming from outside, waiting for the arrival of the male host.

Nanny Wang, who had come to propose marriage, was waiting beside her, along with another maid. The room was quiet.

Until she heard the little girl outside the house calling out joyfully: “Here he comes, the master is here!”

The atmosphere in the room suddenly became lively.

“The master is here.”

“Master, please come this way!”

“Tread, step, step…”

Hearing the footsteps getting closer, Yun Shuyao silently tightened the handkerchief in her hand.

She is about to meet her new boss. I wonder what kind of person he is and whether he is easy to get along with.