novelraw Chapter 281 Extra 1: I Really Had the Plan to Leave the Father and Keep the Son
Chapter 281 Extra 1: I Really Had the Plan to Leave the Father and Keep the Son
My name is Tong Yuqing. I was born into a declining Manchu noble family. At that time, my family wasn't particularly wealthy, but we were comfortable enough to eat and wear. From a young age, I received feudal ethical education that women should abide by the Three Obediences and Four Virtues. However, I was born rebellious and never believed that those things were right.
Because my grandfather owed the Guo family a favor, he arranged a marriage between me, who was only three years old at the time, and Guo Yunkai, the only legitimate grandson of the Guo family. At that time, the patriarch of the Guo family was still in office, and his descendants were not particularly outstanding. The Guo family was not large, and although the Tong family did not have much influence in officialdom, they were quite influential in the business world.
Haha, this must be a typical marriage between an official and a businessman, right? To put it bluntly, it's collusion between officials and businessmen to make money together!
They thought it was a good marriage, and no one asked the parties involved. Of course, the opinions of two three-year-old toddlers were also unimportant. Who knew their good intentions would backfire, turning a well-intentioned couple into a bitter feud that escalated to the point of life and death?
My mother raised me to be a proper young lady, and I studied very hard. By my teens, I had become a well-known talented woman in aristocratic circles. In fact, the title of "talented woman" was largely undeserved. At that time, young ladies from various families no longer put much effort into playing the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting. What I learned was merely passable, only slightly better than the average level.
I don't enjoy learning these things. My efforts are only to give my parents something to be proud of in front of others, so that they can still maintain the ideal bubble of being "aristocrats and descendants of noble families".
I longed to be a man, a warrior, a hero who protected my country. So I secretly practiced martial arts with my cousins and often dressed up as a boy to help run the family shop.
My father was not good at business and was obsessed with passing the imperial examinations and entering officialdom. He spent the first half of his life studying, wanting to uphold the Tong family's tradition of being a "scholarly family." Unfortunately, the imperial court later abolished the imperial examinations, and his hopes of passing them were dashed. This left him feeling dejected, and he often sighed deeply while holding his certificate of a successful candidate in the county-level imperial examinations.
I am the eldest daughter in my family, and my two younger brothers are still young and in school. The family business was affected by various factors, and when I was around ten years old, we not only failed to make money, but we also incurred debts, to the point where we had to sell our property to pay off the debts.
At this point, I had to step up and start helping my mother manage these things. My mother was a virtuous wife and loving mother, but she really didn't know how to do business. So she and my father became my bodyguards, and I took charge of negotiating business deals.
Later, my father gradually recovered from his disappointment and took my younger brothers to learn business from me. Because of some past relationships and common interests, we sought opportunities in the cracks, and after several years of hard work, our family finally became wealthy again.
I encouraged my younger brothers to study abroad and learn new technologies. I also asked my father to invest in the family's younger generation in maritime business. Before I got married, the Tong family was considered a well-known wealthy family in Yanshi.
I disliked this marriage very much and was thinking of ways to break it off. At that time, the Guo family had fallen on hard times. After the old master passed away, the Guo family divided its assets, and the direct descendants lived off the ancestral property. Guo Yun Kai, being the only son, was spoiled rotten by his mother and was a notorious playboy!
I disliked him since I was a child. He was annoying and cowardly. He was clearly a good-for-nothing, but he liked to pretend to be cultured. He took a fancy to a beautiful woman with a heart as sharp as a sieve and made a fuss about breaking off the engagement.
Oh dear, I really hoped he would make this a big deal!
Of course, the old lady of the Guo family was unwilling, because I can earn money, manage the household, and have good skills. These are the most important abilities of a matriarch. She would never give up this daughter-in-law!
So, before Guo Yunkai started his hunger strike, Old Madam Guo did it first. After two or three days of this, Guo Yunkai temporarily gave in and stopped demanding the annulment of the engagement.
I even secretly sent someone to advise him to run away from home for a few days. His mother felt sorry for him and agreed to break off the engagement. But this coward couldn't stand the hardship of not having a life of luxury for more than three days and came back home!
After returning, he reached a compromise with his mother: he and I would marry as planned, and once we had a legitimate eldest son, he would take the woman he liked as a concubine.
What is this? Where do you put me? I gave you all the tricks, and you can't even do this trivial thing? Guo Yunkai is truly a useless piece of trash!
I was furious about the Guo family's wicked plan, so I changed into my night clothes, covered my face, grabbed a rolling pin, and went to ambush the place this kid frequented. When he came out, I didn't say a word and started hitting him on his limbs and back!
I won't hit his head, so as not to kill him instantly, or make his already muddled brain even more confused!
Guo Yunkai screamed in pain, collapsed covered in bruises, and was carried back by his servants. Only then did I feel a little better.
Guo Yunkai lay in bed for several days after returning home; his leg bone was fractured, but not broken. This shows I'm very good at handling things carefully!
Of course, that wasn't the end of it. I also insisted on breaking off the engagement, but my father firmly disagreed. Firstly, he didn't want to bear the reputation of being "ungrateful," and secondly, he thought that if I broke off the engagement, people would criticize me and think I wouldn't be a suitable match for anyone.
My father tried to comfort me, saying that Guo Yunkai was still young and would be better when he got older. He also said, "If I marry someone else, can you guarantee he won't take a concubine?"
When Grandma Guo heard that I wanted to break off the engagement, she personally came to apologize and brought out the Guo family's most treasured possession as a gift. She promised that after I married into the family, I would be in charge of the Guo family and I would be in charge of everything.
She also promised that if Guo Yunkai were to favor his concubine over his wife in the future, she could divorce him with her children, and take her dowry and half of all the profits from her business, including the profits from the Guo family's ancestral property.
At the time, I thought, since I didn't have anyone I liked anyway, I might as well just consider myself married to a blockhead! At worst, I'll just leave him to his father and keep the child!
After all, I was going to get married eventually, and things might not be any better in another family, let alone with a mother-in-law who would offer such generous treatment. So I nodded and agreed to marry her!
My married life would have been incredibly smooth and fulfilling without Guo Yunkai. The Guo family had accumulated a considerable network of connections over the years, and I was skilled at managing them, so soon everyone in the Guo family followed my lead.
The Guo family went from being superficially prosperous but struggling to make ends meet to becoming a truly wealthy family with both substance and prestige.
I became pregnant soon after the marriage and gave birth to a son. The day after I learned of my pregnancy, Guo Yunkai couldn't wait to bring that woman home. My mother-in-law suppressed this, and the woman didn't enter the household as a concubine until my son was 100 days old!
I ignored her, didn't offer her a banquet for taking a concubine, and didn't drink the tea she served. I simply told her: "It's best if we keep to ourselves and live our own lives. I will treat her as she deserves and won't target or torment her. I just hope she doesn't do anything rash!"