FID – Chapter 390

Chapter 390: Fear That She’d Be Disobedient

  Matriarch Li was moved by her words, so she prompted her, “Go ahead.”

  ”Although the Wang family is a prestigious family in the city and is top-notch in wealth and status, Wang Jinhui is only eldest son of the second branch of the Wang family. He has an elder brother from the first branch above him, so their family’s assets will never be in his hands. In addition, it is known throughout the city that he is uneducated and unskilled. Master Wang has long given up on him. As long as he does not cause trouble, they’ll just give some silver for him to squander, but when it comes to their family matters, he has no room to speak. Marrying such a person is of no use to our family at all, except for a better name.” 

  ”And so?”

  ”I have a better candidate in mind.”

  ”Who is it?”

  ”Liu Zhiqiu of the Liu family of Xinghua Village.”

  ”Ridiculous! That’s just a small peasant family! They have no family heritage! Yet you’re comparing the Liu family to the Wang family?” Matriarch Li snickered.

  ”Grandma, please listen to my detailed explanation. The Liu family might lack family heritage, yet their prospects are unmatched in the entire Yunzhou City.” Li Junyue was already getting breathless, but she still gritted her teeth to hold on. She was unwilling to let go, unless she get the results she wanted!

  ”Liu Yusheng of the Liu family is now a County Lady, and her rank is equivalent to the County Magistrate. Moreover,  rumors of Liu Yusheng and the King of Nanling have long been spread to Yunzhou City, so I’m certain Grandma has heard of them.  This point alone is unrivaled in Yunzhou. The Wang family are mere merchants. Since ancient times, merchants have ranked at the bottom behind scholars, farmers and artisans. The Liu family, on the other hand, are likely to be promoted to officialdom and become influential officials. Wouldn’t they be comparable to the Wang family in the future?

  Even without Liu Yusheng, the Liu family also has Liu Zhixia, the scholar who won the first place in the provincial examinations and the apprentice of Elder Yao, the great Confucian of Nanling. In the future, he is also bound to enter officialdom after the imperial exams. As long as he enters the officialdom, the status of the Liu family will closely follow and rise with the tide.

  The final point is, the Liu family partnered with the second richest family in Nanling, the Qians, and their Xinghua Village wine can bring immeasurable wealth. In terms of wealth, the Lius are definitely on equal footing with the Wangs. The Lius already has the potential to soar to the sky.

  Once Liu Zhixia enters officialdom, officials can’t run businesses, and he can’t touch the foundation of the Liu family. Liu Yusheng is a woman, and she’ll be married sooner or later, but she can’t take away the Liu family’s assets either. Then, there is only Liu Zhiqiu who can take over the huge family properties accumulated by the Liu family. If I succeed and marry him before the Liu family soars to the top, it’ll be a marriage beneath my station. I will definitely subdue him, then as long as I offer a little guidance, do we still have to worry that he will not support the Li family?”

  After finishing this long speech, Li Junyue completely lost her strength to support herself and collapsed to the floor weakly.

  ”Zhang-momo, help Fifth Miss up, and have the maids prepare medicine to heal her wounds.”

  ”Yes, Madam. I’ll immediately go and convey your orders.”

  After Zhang-momo helped Li Junyue up next to Matriarch Li, she retreated.

  Matriarch Li looked at the girl whose face was as white as gold paper, sighed lightly and took her hand; “Yue’er, don’t blame me for punishing you harshly. You have indeed done something wrong, and if I don’t teach you strictly, and you don’t realize your mistake, it will only be harmful to you. It is said that spoiling a child is like killing him, so you should understand my painstaking efforts, right?”

  ”I understand,” Li Junyue smiled weakly, like a flower about to wither, causing people to pity her.

  Matriarch Li patted the back of her hand comfortingly: “It’s great that you understand.What you said just now is very good. You have analyzed things more thoroughly than I did. I did not expect you to have such insight at a young age, and it makes me very happy. On the Wang side, since you don’t want to marry, I’ll cancel it. Fortunately, we haven’t exchanged Gengtie yet and received the bride price. A verbal agreement can still be changed. If you have something in mind in the future, talk to me and don’t always keep it in your heart. Even if you have many ideas, I don’t know them, which can easily cause misunderstanding. “

  ”I know the mistake. I will correct it later.”

  ”Alright. Drink your medicine later and rest well when you go back. I will give you two months. If you and the young master of the Liu family’s matter is settled, I will personally prepare a dowry for you. If it doesn’t work out, we can’t delay any longer. By then, I will find a good home for you.”

  ”As you wish, Grandma.”

  Li Junyue’s long eyelashes trembled.

  Two months; it was just in time for this year’s spring exams.

  Her grandma wanted to see if Liu Zhixia could successfully enter officialdom without a hitch. If he could, the Liu family would have another cornerstone. By then, her marriage could be discussed again.

  After giving Li Junyue the wound medicine, a maid helped her retreat. Matriarch Li sat on the main seat and chuckled, smiling meaningfully. “Unexpectedly, there’s a girl in the third branch who can’t be underestimated.”

  ”Old Madam,” Zhang-momo frowned, “Now it seems that Fifth Miss has been hiding all along, and I’m afraid she’s ambitious. If we really let her out and let her marry to the Liu family as she wished, will she still be obedient in the future?”

  ”No matter how ambitious she is, she is just a little girl. As long as the Li family still has things that concern her, she will not be able to escape from my palm.” The old lady’s eyes flashed cold and cynical: “Yao’er hasn’t come home from school yet, right? When he comes back from the academy, ask him to come to the main courtyard. It’s time for me to establish a good relationship with him.”

  ”I understand.”

  It was inappropriate to use the Third Master and Third Madam of the third branch. If speaking of someone that the Fifth Miss was still worried about, it would be her brother, who treated her well. 

  The Old Madam was going to seize her weakness, so no matter how high and far the Fifth Miss could go, there was no fear of her disobedience.

  The village started to quiet down very early at night.

  Back in the room, Liu Yusheng sat in front of the window and took out a bunch of silver tickets that Qian Wanjin handed to her.

  It wasn’t that she hadn’t seen silver bills in the denomination of 10,000 taels before, nor that she lacked it.

  Squared off italics were written in the middle of the bill and stamped with the Great Seal; there was nothing special about it.

  However, this carried the breath of someone, so in her eyes, it became different.

  She’d been busy, and there had been very little time for her to think of him.

  But the moment she was free, or late at night, thoughts about him would pour in like a tidal wave.

  It had been three months since they parted, and she had no idea what his situation was in the capital.

  He was probably busier than her, though.

  ”Nannan, it’s time to go to bed. It’s late.” Outside the window came a reminder from Wei Hong.

  When there were no distinguished guests in the inner courtyard, she would stay there to accompany and protect Liu Yusheng in close proximity.

  She also had an additional task of keeping an eye on her for the elders of the family every night to keep her from sleeping late.

  Liu Yusheng often refined medicine in the room, so whenever she was immersed, she would forget the time. Working until midnight was a common thing for her.

  It was the elders of the Liu family who placed the ban.

  She was forbidden to sleep beyond the eleventh hour.

  ”Aunt Hong, has there been a letter from the capital?”

  ”No, didn’t I just deliver a letter to you yesterday?” Did she still want to receive letters every day? She really couldn’t understand. It was just a few words, and their letters were all about business. What was there to look forward to?

  Liu Yusheng’s cheeks twitched slightly, and she coughed. “I’ll go to sleep soon, Aunt Hong. You also rest early.”

  She put away the silver bills, crawled back to bed, and pulled several flattened small letters under her pillow. She read the words written on it again, word by word, before turning out the light and covering her face to sleep.

  Her business in the city was basically done. She was just waiting for the new brewery to produce their first batch of wine. She would personally inspect them, and once they pass, everything could proceed on the right track.

  By then, she would depart for the capital to accompany her elder brother for the spring exam. 

  Then they could see each other. He said that thinking about her was like madness, and she also had such intense emotions.