Chapter 1064 Being a Concubine Without a Dowry
“Marry you? What about your current wife? Is she going to give up her position to me?” Madame Dong sneered and said, “If I become your concubine, a dowry won’t be necessary!”
A concubine didn’t have the so-called dowry. If she could afford it, she just needed to bring one or two loads. Otherwise, she might as well move into her husband’s house with a parcel. Such a trifling matter was usually beneath notice, so it would be a lavish affair if she took this shop as the dowry.
“Lady Ming, she is still my Madam, but you will not be an ordinary concubine. You’ll be my secondary legal wife. Moreover, Xiuer will become a legitimate daughter in my mansion. A secondary legal wife is also a wife marrying into my mansion, and your dowry will still be yours in the end. Do you think I will take your dowry?” Wei Dahai said with a gloomy face.
“Since it’s mine, it should be fair enough for me to notarize it in case the owners.h.i.+p is unclear in the future.” Madame Dong refused to give in. It seemed that if Wei Dahai did not agree to it, she wouldn’t take his advice.
“Lady Ming, why are you so stubborn? If you are like this, my Madam won’t let you marry me as the secondary legal wife,” Wei Dahai argued, stamping his foot in frustrated rage.
“Your Madam is unwilling to do that?” Madame Dong looked at him and asked, “But didn’t you say that she was very virtuous and wholeheartedly devoted herself to you? She likes everything that you’re fond of, doesn’t she?”
Her questions rendered Wei Dahai speechless. After a long pause, he reluctantly explained, “At first, she only allowed you to be a concubine, but I told her it was inappropriate for you to be a concubine because you would bring a large dowry. In the end, she agreed. Lady Ming, I need you to understand me. Although I want you to be my legal wife, I can’t make a mess in my family and become a standing joke in the capital. If I dote on a concubine and treat my wife harshly, imperial censors will impeach me.”
“Do you mean that I can only be a concubine?” Madame Dong smiled, and the look in her eyes got colder.
“It’s not like that. I mean, you have a dowry. How can you be a concubine…” Wei Dahai was angry at Madame Dong’s unbending att.i.tude, but he had to coax her.
Madame Dong interrupted him rudely, “That is to say, I can be your secondary legal wife if I bring a large dowry. But without this shop, I can only be your concubine!”
Her sharp and straightforward words humiliated Wei Dahai, who became furious from embarra.s.sment and flushed with anger. He glared at Madame Dong with a sullen look and began to threaten her. “Lady Ming, this is the capital city, not the small place where you used to live in. If you want to run a shop here, you need money and background. Without anyone backing you up, your shop will be someone else’s sooner or later. See? Princess Chen had come to force you to give up your shop today. If you marry me, I have the right to protect you and your shop. It’ll benefit both of us. Why don’t you understand?”
Behind the screen, Dong Xiuer could no longer hold back her tears and started sobbing silently.
What she heard was utterly different from what Wei Dahai had told her. This man was her so-called father. Sure enough, she was just a child raised by her mother alone. She grew up without a father and did not want to have such a father!
Madame Dong stood up, walked to the door, and pulled it open. “If I have to sell my shop, I would rather transfer it to Princess Chen than a villain like you who tried to get it by a dishonest marriage. Lord Wei, please leave!” She deliberately faced outside when saying all of this.
Her voice was not low, so everyone outside the accountant’s office could hear it. Many people looked into the office with astonishment and saw Wei Dahai.
Wei Dahai sprang to his feet and growled with a red face, “Well… well, well. Lady Ming, you… since you are so stubborn, you’d better take care of yourself!”
Then, he flicked his sleeves and strode away.
“Who is this?” A female guest asked curiously.
“Lord Wei. I heard he was our shopkeeper’s ex-husband. He abandoned her and married another n.o.ble lady. I don’t know what he is up to now.” A shop a.s.sistant curled his lips and said. Recently, Wei Dahai frequently sent his people to deliver gifts, and he himself would also come over to please their shopkeeper. Everyone in the store knew this.
“So, he betrayed her. Why would he come back to her?” An old maid coming here with her master inquired further out of curiosity
“Of course, it’s because he knew she was managing this shop and thought he could gain something from her.”
“How could he do that to her? Shame on him! How could he have the cheek to come here? And did he even want to grab his ex-wife’s property? a.s.shole!”
“A real b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”
“Whoever marries such a man will be unlucky to the extreme!”
The b.u.t.terfly Clothing Shop mainly sold women’s clothes and accessories, so most of its guests were women. When they heard that Wei Dahai was such a despicable man, many people couldn’t help cursing.
When any woman met such a greedy and cold-hearted man who coveted her possessions, she would choose to be alone than marry him. These customers felt even more sympathetic to Madame Dong.
At the moment, Madame Dong seemed to be in an unfavorable situation. If she fell out with Wei Dahai, he, who didn’t seem to be a good person, might play dirty tricks behind her back. How much power could a woman have to support a large shop? Then something terrible might happen to the b.u.t.terfly Clothing Shop.
While everyone was talking, Madame Dong closed the door and returned to the office.
“Mom!” Dong Xiuer came out from behind the screen, her face full of tears.
Madame Dong’s nose twitched. She bore dreadful hards.h.i.+ps and brought up Dong Xiuer alone. Outsiders couldn’t understand her sufferings, but she didn’t feel bitter as long as her daughter could understand her.
“Mom, I was wrong!” Dong Xiuer walked to Madame Dong, knelt down, and burst out crying with her hands around her mother’s legs.
She had thought her biological father was sincerely repentant. However, he actually tricked her. There was no need for her to accept such a father.
“Mother, I’m sorry. It was my fault. I shouldn’t have imagined that he was a good person and would treat us wholeheartedly… Mom, I was wrong!” Dong Xiuer choked with sobs and felt very regretful.
Madame Dong couldn’t help shedding tears. She reached out to pat Dong Xiuer on the back and sobbed, “It’s best if you can understand me. Today, I let you hear it because I wanted you to know… he has never been a good man… I was afraid he would deceive you.”
“Mom, don’t worry. His tricks won’t fool me, and I won’t believe his words anymore.” Dong Xiuer wiped away her tears and said resentfully.
Madame Dong pulled her up from the ground, wiped away the tears on her face, and said with tears in her eyes, “Xiuer, you are my only daughter and my only support. As long as you can understand me, no matter how hard it is, I will move on!”
Dong Xiuer, hugging her mother, sobbed so much that she couldn’t get the words out.
“Mom… then… what about this shop? Princess Chen, what was her purpose…” Dong Xiuer cried for a while and finally remembered why she had come here, so she lowered her voice and asked.
This shop initially belonged to Princess Chen. What did she mean by making such a scene today?
“Princess Chen wanted me to sell the shop to her openly. On the one hand, she would like to support me aboveboard. On the other hand, Wei Dahai would give up. Without the shop, he would never take me in as his secondary legal wife. She made an unpleasant scene here only to help me keep this shop.”
Madame Dong also wiped away her tears and whispered to Dong Xiuer, “You don’t have to worry about this matter. Just do whatever you should do. If Wei Dahai comes to bother you again, you can say that you can’t make the decision, telling him that Princess Chen is more powerful so that I must give this shop to her!”
“So, in that case, won’t he bother you anymore?” Dong Xiuer nodded repeatedly, and her eyes brightened.
She didn’t want to recognize him as her biological father nor see Wei Dahai interfere in her mother’s affairs. There were many benefits for her mother to do so. She could get a powerful master and make Wei Dahai give up the idea forever.
Dong Xiuer had hoped to become a daughter of the Wei’s Mansion, an official family, but her mother mattered the most to her. She had lived a solitary and poor life with Madame Dong for much of her life, so how could she not understand Madame Dong’s misery?
“I’m not sure about it. You must be careful before him and pretend to be entirely ignorant of what is happening. As long as you are fine, I can rest a.s.sured. Princess Chen will take care of the shop, so you don’t have to worry about me,” Madame Dong said.
Princess Chen meant Wei Dahai wouldn’t leave the matter at that. Madame Dong wasn’t entirely convinced but took it with a pinch of salt.
Princess Chen had always been intelligent and had never made a wrong judgment. But how could Wei Dahai dare to confront Princess Chen?
The daughter and mother cried in each other’s arms. Hearing them weeping inside the office, many female guests secretly sighed with emotion, thinking that the shopkeeper was a wretched lady. Since her ex-husband was such a sc.u.m and an official, she might not keep her shop…
After returning to the Prince Chen’s Mansion, Shao Wanru entered the Palace from the side door to see the Empress Dowager.
The Empress Dowager specially granted her the right to visit her in the Palace at any time.
When pa.s.sing by a courtyard on the way, Shao Wanru surprisingly saw Zhaoyi Di again. She looked at her from a distance, her kind face radiating with smiles. Shao Wanru smiled back and continued walking forward.
They pa.s.sed each other and looked back. After this brief encounter, they moved on separately.
The Empress Dowager and Nanny Wei were chatting and laughing in her Palace of Benevolent Peace. No one else was in the hall, so the master and servant were at ease as if they were enjoying a simple and happy life.
Hearing that Shao Wanru had come over, the Empress Dowager quickly asked someone to invite her in.
After a while, Shao Wanru walked in and curtsied to the Empress Dowager first.
The Empress Dowager waved her hand with a smile and motioned for her to sit aside. She looked Shao Wanru up and down and learned that although Shao Wanru looked a little weary, she was not exhausted.
“You’ve recovered? How have you been lately?”
“Imperial Grandmother, thank you for your concern. I’m fine now. I accidentally caught a cold. Nothing serious. I’m sorry to have worried you!” Shao Wanru answered softly with a smile.
“Chen’er is not with you. You have been the only master in the mansion, and you are young. Anyway, you should look after yourself.” The Empress Dowager reminded her.
She was indeed a little worried because Shao Wanru was too young. At first, she wanted to put off their marriage for a few more years. However, since Chu Liuchen insisted on marrying her, the Empress Dowager could only listen to him and even let him marry before his two elder brothers considering his health condition.
“Imperial Grandmother, I’ll be careful.” Shao Wanru nodded and said in a silky tone.
“Your Highness, Her Majesty has been worrying about your health. If I hadn’t stopped her, she would have come to see you,” Nanny Wei said, smiling.
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