Recently, the Shen family was once again pushed to the forefront of public attention. This time, what the common people on the streets were discussing was no longer the disrespect of the eldest young lady of the Shen family towards her elders, but the second wife of the Shen family, who had been harsh to her niece and even instructed the servants in the mansion to falsely accuse the eldest young lady of having a secret rendezvous with a man.
Many common people had witnessed what happened outside the Capital Prefecture Office that day. Naturally, this was more convincing than the rumors based on hearsay. Now, with the news spreading from one to ten and from ten to a hundred, few people in the capital were unaware of this incident.
After hearing about what had happened that day, the common people all cursed Mrs. Shen for her cruelty and then sympathized with Shen Li for her pitiful background.
Jiao Yue would listen to the common people cursing Mrs. Shen outside and then come back to tell Shen Li.
Shen Li would usually let out a soft laugh after hearing this and tell her not to deliberately listen to such things in the future, but Jiao Yue always enjoyed doing so.
After a few times, Shen Li just let her be.
Mrs. Shen was extremely annoyed about this incident. After all, she was the wife of an official, but she had been beaten with a board in public in broad daylight.
She had really lost all her face, not only in the capital but also beyond. Even Shen Junming felt ashamed in front of his colleagues. He had taken three consecutive days off from court and also gave up his usual favorite socializing with other officials.
Half a month had passed since the incident. The wound on Mrs. Shen's buttocks had mostly healed. Even so, she still used the excuse of the wound and didn't step out of the East Courtyard.
Because of this incident, Shen Junming had complained to Mrs. Shen a few times, but each time he was driven out by Mrs. Shen's crying and shouting. The relationship between the husband and wife had also become a bit colder.
One evening, Mrs. Shen smashed two celadon vases in the East Courtyard. All the servants in the courtyard didn't dare to make a sound, afraid that this nameless anger would be directed at them.
"Mother! Why are you so angry! You should also take care of your health!"
After receiving the news from the servants, Shen Miao rushed to Mrs. Shen's courtyard. As soon as she entered, she indeed saw the servants kneeling all over the room and Mrs. Shen with a gloomy face.
This kind of scene had been repeated every two or three days in the past half - month. Shen Miao was already used to it, but she didn't expect that this time the matter would be more serious than she had anticipated.
As soon as Mrs. Shen saw Shen Miao come in, her originally gloomy and vicious face softened a bit. She waved her hand to dismiss the servants in the room.
"Miao'er! Why is my life so hard?" As she said this, tears welled up in her eyes, looking extremely aggrieved.
"Mother! What's wrong? Has something happened?"
When had Shen Miao ever seen Mrs. Shen show such an expression? Even when such an incident happened a few days ago, Mrs. Shen had only secretly shed a few tears. In front of others, she still looked strict and dignified.
"Miao'er! I've had a hard time in my heart! I've married the wrong man in this life!"
Shen Miao was completely confused by what she heard. But now Mrs. Shen was in a sad state and her words were rather disjointed. She could only patiently comfort her.
After crying for a while, Mrs. Shen felt a bit more relieved. She then took out a handkerchief to wipe her face and sniffed softly.
"Alas! I'm already at this age and still making you, Miao'er, laugh at me!"
"Mother! Has something really happened? My father... "
"Pooh! Don't mention your father again! Just because of what happened a few days ago, he has repeatedly blamed me for losing his face and hindering his official career!"
"But he also nodded in agreement when it came to dealing with that slut Shen Li! Now that something has gone wrong, it's all my fault!"
"Today, he went too far. He directly brought two vixens back to the mansion and wanted them to pay their respects to me and be promoted to good - status concubines! Humph! He has really come up with a good plan! Now that he thinks I've lost his face, he wants to find a beautiful woman to earn face for him."
Shen Miao couldn't believe it and asked, "Mother, how could father do this? Maybe he has other difficulties? It's better to ask father to avoid any misunderstandings!"
Hearing this, Mrs. Shen felt even more annoyed. She let out a cold laugh, "Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding could there be? He just wants to take advantage of this incident to get himself some beautiful concubines! After all these years, he still can't change his lecherous nature!"
Shen Miao was shocked to hear her mother evaluate her father like this.
In her memory, her parents had always been very loving. This could be seen from Shen Junming's inner courtyard.
For all these years, in her father's inner courtyard, apart from her mother, there were only two rather old maids - turned - concubines. He didn't have a large number of concubines like other men.
But now, from what her mother said, it seemed that things were not like this.
Mrs. Shen had been married to Shen Junming for more than ten years and had accompanied him for many years. Naturally, she understood him well. Shen Junming was indeed taking advantage of this incident to take in two beautiful concubines.
Today, Shen Junming went to his superior's house for socializing. When the banquet was in full swing, his superior called out two beautiful women and said that he was showing sympathy for Shen Junming, who had no one to accompany him in the inner courtyard for many years. In his words, he also expressed that Mrs. Shen was cruel and not suitable to be the mistress of the house. He felt sorry for Shen Junming and specially bestowed these two women on him.
Shen Junming declined a few times and then accepted them. If this had happened in the past, it would have been impossible!
Although Mrs. Shen seemed generous on the surface, in fact, she was jealous. She often restricted him. But since Mrs. Shen was a tough woman, he had always been very careful and only dared to have affairs secretly outside.
Since Shen Junming didn't bring women back to the mansion and didn't have any offspring with them, Mrs. Shen had just turned a blind eye over the years.
But having endured this for so long, Shen Junming himself felt very aggrieved. Just at this time, since Mrs. Shen had lost so much face, he took this opportunity to take in concubines.
Shen Miao just lowered her head and silently listened to Mrs. Shen complaining about the debts Shen Junming had owed her over the years.
Mrs. Shen paused for a moment. Then, turning to see Shen Miao's sorrowful face, she couldn't bear it and stroked her face, saying, "It's just a pity for my Miao'er!"
"I'm useless as a mother. I haven't given birth to a son for you. In the future, there will be no one to help you."
Shen Miao respected and loved her mother, Mrs. Shen. Hearing her say this, she immediately couldn't bear it and hugged her, "What are you saying, mother! What's wrong with you giving birth to me? I'm already very content with the current situation!"
Mrs. Shen wanted to say something else, but was interrupted by Shen Miao. She just let out a sigh and didn't say anything more. She didn't want to mention those old things anymore.
Shen Li knew that Shen Junming had recently taken in two concubines and that they were quite favored. She was quite happy to see the water in the second branch being muddled and trouble being added to Mrs. Shen.
But in the morning, just after she had finished her meal, a servant reported that the two Concubine Lius had come to visit. She was quite surprised.
After Shen Li tidied herself up, she went to the main hall and saw the two new concubines of Shen Junming sitting in the room.
"The concubine Liu pays respects to the eldest young lady!" As soon as Shen Li sat down, the two concubines said in a coquettish voice.
"Two concubines, you're too polite. Please sit down!"
The two concubines then sat down as she said.