Chapter 2008
The Prodigal Son 2
Liu Tong: "The daughter of an official has many servants around her. Even if she meets a man outside the family, how can she maintain contact with him? Won't the mistress of the house find out?"
Liu Tong: "That scholar's money for the imperial examinations was all funded by the woman's family, which shows how poor they are. I'm afraid they don't even have a dowry. After marriage, won't they have to rely entirely on the young lady's dowry to support the family? What's so good about such a gigolo?"
Liu Yuer: "..."
Liu Yuer picked up the other half of the storybook and started reading, only to be met with another barrage of criticism from Liu Dong.
In short: "Such a ridiculous plot is only meant to fool naive young girls!"
Liu Yuer: "..."
Liu Yu'er stormed off in anger.
Liu Tong touched her nose, feeling a little embarrassed.
While other young girls pass the time by reading storybooks, he has even ruined that one of their hobbies.
Liu Tong sent his servant to find two failed scholars with good writing skills. He gave them the outlines of two stories and asked them to write them down.
After the story was written, Liu Tong had someone send it to Liu Yu'er.
Liu Yu'er received the apology and forgave Liu Dong.
Time passed quickly, and Liu Yu'er finished all her homework.
The female tutor who taught her accepted the generous gift from Liu's mother and left the Liu family.
Then, Liu Yuer went out for a social engagement with her mother.
Princess Yunhua hosted a flower viewing party, inviting noble ladies from various families to attend with their sons and daughters.
This is essentially a disguised matchmaking event.
Liu's mother started preparing half a month in advance, making new clothes and buying jewelry for Liu Tong and Liu Yu'er.
On the day of the flower viewing party, Liu Yu'er dressed up beautifully, and Liu Qiu also changed into new clothes.
Upon entering the gate, a servant greeted them and led the family of four into the garden.
This is not the residence of the eldest princess, but a garden that she purchased specifically for holding flower-viewing banquets every year.
Liu Tong saw his playboy friend waving at him.
Liu Tong told his mother and walked towards his playboy friend.
His playboy friend was named Li Zhui, the second son of the Marquis of Pingning.
Although he was the second son of the legitimate wife, he actually had two older brothers born of concubines, making him the fourth son in the family.
With an elder brother who had already been granted the title of heir apparent and two other brothers who were of decent quality born of concubines, the Marquis did not pay much attention to his youngest son.
Like the original owner of this body, Li Zhui was spoiled growing up. He was pampered by the Lady of the Marquis, which made him unambitious, addicted to pleasure, and lecherous.
However, he is not a bad person at heart, otherwise he would not have become friends with the original owner of this body.
The two ran up to the second floor of the bamboo house, and from there they could see most of the noble ladies.
Li Zhui: "Hey, look at that one, isn't it pretty? And that pink dress, it's like a peach blossom... That pale yellow dress is the prettiest..."
Liu Tong: "That's my sister!"
Li Zhui: "Your younger sister is really beautiful! What do you think of me being your brother-in-law?"
Liu Tong: "Get lost!"
There were other people upstairs while the two were commenting on the beauty.
They also took the opportunity of climbing up to see the beautiful woman.
One of the people overheard Liu Dong and Li Zhui's conversation and his eyes flickered.
"Hey, look! They're having a secret rendezvous."
Li Zhui excitedly pointed in a direction, and Liu Zhui and the others who heard him looked in the direction he pointed and found a man and a woman embracing.
Everyone: "..."
Although the separation of men and women was not as strict in this dynasty as it was in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and men and women could meet and women could go out to play, it was still a bit excessive for men and women to embrace. Everyone marveled.
"Whose young master and young lady are these? How dare they be so bold?"
Someone recognized the man.
"Isn't that the heir of the Duke of Cheng's mansion?"
"It's him?"
Everyone squinted and looked closely, and finally they all recognized the man.
The Duke of Cheng was stationed on the border for many years, accompanied by his eldest son from a concubine.
In the capital, there was only the Duchess, the heir apparent Lu Zhiyuan, and a concubine's daughter.
The Duchess was very strict with her son, forbidding the maids from coveting him and forbidding other women of lower social standing from getting close to him.
Li Zhui asked Liu Dong, "Do you think that woman's family background will satisfy the Duchess of Cheng?"
Liu Tong: "Probably not. Otherwise, Prince Lu would have already had the Duchess of Cheng come to propose marriage, instead of taking advantage of the flower-viewing banquet to have an affair with that girl."
Someone nearby chimed in, "I know that girl."
Everyone looked at him.
The man didn't care at all that revealing the girl's name would damage her reputation. In his view, since she had already been having an affair with another man, what reputation did she have to speak of?
The man said, "That woman is the third daughter of a junior official in the Ministry of Rites. She is said to be born out of wedlock."
Everyone understood.
No wonder Lu Zhiyuan wanted to secretly meet with this girl. It turns out that this girl not only comes from a lowly family but is also an illegitimate daughter. The Duchess of Chengguo would definitely not allow this girl to enter the family.
The group was talking quite loudly, and the sound carried downstairs to the ears of passersby.
That's how the story spread.
After a while, Liu Tong and the others saw the Duchess of Chengguo angrily go to "catch the adulterer".
The Duchess of Cheng immediately had her son bound and said to the wife of the Assistant Minister who had heard the news, "I'll give you two choices. First, marry this shameless daughter off far away and forbid her from staying in the capital. Second, I'll force-feed her a potion to prevent pregnancy, and then carry her into our Duke's mansion, but not as a noble concubine, but as a lowly concubine who signs a contract of servitude. You choose!"
The wife of the official in charge of the official duties: "We'll choose the first one."
She actually wanted to choose the second option and send this troublesome illegitimate daughter to the Duke's mansion to suffer.
But if they actually chose the second option, their family's reputation would be completely ruined.
She also has a daughter who needs to get married.
Every bit of reputation that can be salvaged is a loss.
Lady Cheng nodded: "In that case, I'll give you three days. If she's still in the capital after three days, don't blame me for being ruthless."
"Yes." The wife of the official hurriedly agreed, ordered the maids to cover the mouth of the concubine's daughter, and dragged her away.
After both parties left, the onlookers, who had been enjoying the gossip, began discussing the matter.
Lu Zhiyuan was originally quite popular in the Beijing marriage market, but after this incident, most families were no longer willing to marry their daughters to him.
Everyone thought Lu Zhiyuan was incapable of distinguishing right from wrong when it came to women, and they were afraid that he would favor his concubines over his wife in the future.
Lady Cheng was so worried about this that she aged several years. She locked her son up because Lu Zhiyuan kept insisting on going to see his little lover.
If one is not careful, Lu Zhiyuan could really run out of the mansion.
Lady Chengguo didn't want others to see their family's misfortune any longer.
Lu Zhiyuan started a hunger strike, and the Duchess of Chengguo said fiercely, "Let him go on a hunger strike. I want to see if he has the guts to starve himself to death."
The personal maid said worriedly, "What if the young master really, really has the heart to starve himself and gets sick from it?"
Lady Cheng: "Have the kitchen prepare rice porridge and force-feed it to him." (End of Chapter)