Title There is a wealthy sister in the family, and the sister stays at home to recruit a poor son-in-law, causing an unfair dispute
During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a merchant named Dou Neng in Mashi Town, Yingtianfu, Nanjing, who made a living by selling silk cotton.
Dou Neng has a total of three daughters, named Jin Lian, Yin Lian, and Yulian, each of whom has its own beauty, which has attracted countless matchmakers to come to propose marriage, and even some people have broken through the threshold in order to scramble.
Dou Neng and his wife have more and more shops, and since they don't have a son, they have long begun to consider the idea of recruiting a son-in-law.
After discussing with their daughter, they found that Jin Lian and Yin Lian both thought that the third sister was the most gentle and considerate and the best at taking care of people, so they decided that she would recruit a son-in-law at home.
Mr. Dou said that in this case, he decided to divide the family property into four equal parts, with each of his three daughters receiving a share and his wife sharing a share.
When they reach old age after a hundred years, the family property will be inherited by the daughter who remains in the family, and the other two shall not object.
Jin Lian and Yin Lian have no objection, because the old lady Wang is weak and often needs to see a doctor to take medicine, and sometimes a ginseng needs one or two hundred taels of silver, even if there is one more property, it can only be used for medical expenses, and there is no substantial benefit to Yulian.
The property is first chosen by the two eldest daughters.
None of them bothered, so they chose silver and gave up the shop.
Three years have passed in a blink of an eye, and Jin Lian and Yin Lian have married one after another, entering a wealthy family with a rich dowry, and are favored by their husbands.
Yulian also chose an orphan, Chen Rong, and planned to let him join him.
Chen Rong has an average appearance, tall and thin, works very hard, is not eloquent, and tries to speak as little as possible.
I don't know why my youngest daughter Yulian took a fancy to him.
Yulian is very satisfied with Chen Rong, although he is silent, he is loyal and honest, confident, and honest in dealing with people.
The first time the two met was at a pharmacy, when she was buying medicine for her mother, Chen Rong rushed in, sweating profusely, saying that it was wrong.
The people at the pharmacy were frightened, thinking that they had given the wrong medicine, and hurriedly asked ** for a mistake.
Chen Rong said that there was a lot of money to calculate.
The person at the pharmacy immediately changed his face and interrupted him by saying that they had never deliberately overcounted the customer's money, and the whole neighborhood knew about it.
Chen Rong said that they gave more money, put a piece of broken silver on the counter, and left.
The atmosphere of the whole pharmacy changed, and the guests present laughed at him, obviously he was a poor ghost in shabby clothes, and he didn't put away the extra money he gave, and he ran back to pay back stupidly, which was really stupid.
Yulian thought about it and asked her personal maid to inquire, only to learn that Chen Rong was an orphan who lived on North Street near the Chenghuang Temple, and lived on odd jobs in the surrounding three towns, and was known for his honesty.
The second encounter was the day before August 15, when she gave mooncakes and clothes to Granny Chen, a lonely old woman, and it happened that Chen Rong came over with a bowl of meat, put down the bowl, nodded to Yulian, and left without speaking.
Yulian thinks that Granny Chen is his relative, but in fact Granny Chen just has the same surname as him.
Granny Chen sighed, this child really has a heart, she gave him a bowl of meat many years ago, he even remembers that after he had the ability to earn money, he would bring her something every New Year's holiday, and occasionally when he got food, he would also give her a portion, even if he had a headache and fever, he would go to the doctor to buy medicine, even if the medicine was very expensive, he didn't care.
Yulian began to think that Chen Rong was a good young man.
Afterwards, she asked her personal maid to inquire, and almost everyone who knew him said good things about him, even the old beggar in front of the temple was helped by him.
There was only one little beggar who had a conflict with him, and the cause was a quarrel over a trivial matter, but the little beggar did not want to say more.
The third time they met, Yulian was molested by several scoundrels who caused trouble on the street, many people only dared to watch from a distance and did not dare to intervene, but Chen Rong took the initiative to stand up to protect her, brandishing a stick to hit the leader, and finally was beaten by the group and caused her nose and face to be swollen but blocked in front of her.
Afterwards, he didn't want her to pay for the medical bills, saying that the injury was not serious and it didn't matter.
After Yulian told her father Dou Neng these three things, she decided to marry Chen Rong.
Dou Neng said that loyalty and honesty are advantages, but for businessmen, it is not necessarily an advantage, because if Chen Rong enters the house, he may not be able to protect the family's business, so wouldn't it be empty?What about the old and young in the family?Yulian disagreed, she said that doing business should be based on sincerity, and Chen Rong's way of dealing with people is enough to make people believe that doing business is not a problem.
Dou Neng considered another problem, he said that many people will become ruthless after being broad, if Chen Rong is the same, what should he do?For the sake of safety, he set a trap, first letting Chen Rong get a small fortune of hundreds of taels, and then letting some helpers provoke him to eat, drink and have fun.
Chen Rong unwaveringly buried himself in his work as before, and when the Qinglou woman pestered him, he quickly fled.
Dou Neng played the last hole card this time, bribed He Yulan, the flower of the Qinglou in the neighboring town, and asked her to dress up as a simple housewife, pretending to sprain her foot in front of Chen Rong to see if he would be tempted.
Sure enough, Chen Rong was moved by her voice of pain, desperately helped her carry her to the hospital, and refused her invitation to invite him to dinner to thank him.
He left her in the infirmary, paid two taels of silver to help, and left.
Dou Neng finally breathed a sigh of relief and nodded in agreement with Yulian inviting Chen Rong into the house.
Chen Rong was very moved and said that he had no parents, and from now on his father-in-law and mother-in-law would be his parents, and he would treat Yulian well for the rest of his life.
It was the first time Yulian heard him say so much, and she was also very moved to respond that they were a family, and she would be good to him in the future.
After they got married, Chen Rong was really good to his family, competing to do housework, washing his father-in-law's feet every night and washing his wife's hair and combing her hair.
Yulian reminded him that there were servants at home, and he didn't need to do these things himself, Chen Rong just smiled and didn't answer, and still did it the next day.
Jin Lian and Yin Lian, who have been married, face to face, but they look down on this brother-in-law behind their backs, and ridicule him for being a servant at the beginning, without the demeanor of a master.
They also laughed at Yulian, saying that she had picked a mediocre person, who didn't know how to pursue a wealthy family, and wasted her beauty in vain, and she would regret it in the future.
A year has passed in a blink of an eye, and Chen Rong has gradually won Dou Neng's trust, followed him to take care of the store, traveled all over the place, was well-informed, taciturn, and did things in an orderly manner.
Dou Neng's business partners also gradually accepted Chen Rong and identified him as Dou Neng's ** person.
When Chen Rong returned from his first trip, he gave a box to the pregnant Yulian, saying that he was so happy on the wedding day that he forgot to give her a gift.
In the box is a carefully selected hosta, and on the head of the hairpin is a magnolia flower that is about to bloom, with high quality and exquisite workmanship, and its ** value can be seen at a glance.
Yulian put it on, smiled and said she liked it, and thanked Chen Rong for giving her a warm home.
But Chen Rong's expression changed, and he said that the boss may have misheard, and he bought a jade lotus flower at the time, not a magnolia flower, so he had to exchange it back.
Yulian said that the magnolia flowers are also very beautiful, and she doesn't need to change them, as long as they are sent by him, she likes them.
However, Chen Rong insisted that this was something that could not be mistaken, and he took off the hairpin, put it back in the box, and left in a hurry.
When he returned that night, he brought back a golden lotus, and he regretfully said that the jade lotus had been bought by a passer-by, so he had the goldsmith make a golden lotus for her.
Yulian poked his nose, laughed and called him stupid, and told him that even if he didn't have it, he could buy it again, why did he have to stay there to be a golden lotus, what a fool.
Chen Rong stuck it in front of her stomach and said happily, baby, your mother said I was stupid, when you come out, remember to help me talk.
Yulian said mischievously, you are a fool.
Soon after, Yulian gave birth to a chubby son, and the Dou Neng family was overjoyed and walked around them, Chen Rong was mainly in charge of the affairs of the store, and Dou Tong, the housekeeper for many years, also helped with ideas.
Chen Rong was careful and handed over the account books to his father-in-law for review every month.
Dou Tong said that he is too hardworking, likes to do it himself, and is busy all day long, and the employees are afraid of him and dare not be lazy.
Chen Rong is busy, and the first thing he does when he comes home every day is to pick up his son and have fun, ask his wife if she needs help, and then accompany the family to eat.
After the meal, he continued to help Dou Neng bring hot water to wash his feet.
Dou Neng said: "You are now the boss, how can there be a boss who squats down to wash people's feet?"Chen Rong smiled and said: "At home, I am not the boss, you are my father." ”
Dou Neng happily praised this son-in-law and said that this son-in-law was so good, saying that his daughter had a really accurate vision and found a baby.
After Chen Rong managed the store, the business got better and better, and at the end of the year, he made 20% more than last year.
Dou Neng completely relieved himself and enjoyed happiness at home with his wife.
The two married daughters were dissatisfied when they heard the news, and went home to find Dou Neng, saying that the income of the store was increasing year by year, and they only needed some silver, which was too unfair, and asked for redistribution.
Dou Neng disagreed, saying that they chose it first when they divided the family property, they were afraid of trouble, so they only chose silver, and now they want to change the store, but did they think that if the store was handed over to them, there would be someone like Chen Rong who managed diligently?Jin Lian and Yin Lian cried, saying that the daughter who married out was the water that was spilled, and they only had henchmen who stayed at home in their hearts, and they no longer recognized their sistersWhen Yulian heard about it, she rushed to persuade her, in order to calm the matter.
But the two sisters didn't let her in the door, saying that they didn't pretend to care anymore, and that they didn't deserve such a rich sister.
Chen Rong went to persuade peace with a generous gift, but when he came back, his body was covered with urine and was splashed by the janitor of Jinlian's family.
He changed his clothes and wanted to go to Yinlian's house, but was stopped by Dou Neng, saying that he should not be humiliated by them anymore, and he didn't want such a daughter.
After two years, Wang was seriously ill and wanted to see his two daughters for the last time before he died, Yulian sent someone to invite them, but until Wang closed his eyes, the two daughters never appeared.
Dou Neng was so angry that he almost fainted, and announced in front of relatives and friends that he had severed the father-daughter relationship with Jin Lian and Yin Lian, and from then on there was only one daughter, Yulian.
After the funeral, several stores of the Dou family encountered problems one after another.
A guy in the silk cotton shop stole the money and fled, the skirt embroidered by the embroidery village for the prefect's wife was bitten by a mouse, and the funeral paper sent by the paper shop to the old lady outside the town was actually mistakenly sent into two boys and girls.
Dou Neng said that it must be the two resentful sisters who secretly bought the guy to take revenge.
Chen Rong said that no matter who provoked the incident, first shoulder the responsibility.
He personally came to the prefect's wife to apologize, paid three times the compensation, and promised to give a more beautiful set of fashionable dresses in Beijing in a month.
The prefect smiled and nodded in satisfaction.
He looked like a filial son, carrying a paper shop guy, carrying all kinds of solemn paper offerings, going to the outside house to apologize, and helping to settle the funeral of Mrs. Tu throughout the process.
Tu Yuan saw that he was sincere and tolerant of him.
On the silk and cotton shop, Chen Rong reported to the official the fleeing guy on the one hand, and on the other hand, he sent manpower to find the guy's guarantor, relatives and friends, and finally learned that he and a woman were getting along next door to his uncle's house.
Chen Rong captured the guy and his friend, but the guy committed suicide in prison, completely ignorant of the whereabouts of the silver ticket he stole, and his friend was just an ordinary peasant girl, who knew nothing about it, and cried when he asked.
Chen Rong relieved himself of the position of the shopkeeper of the silk cotton shop, and personally apologized to Dou Neng, saying that he was overly sad because of the death of his mother-in-law, which led to his poor work, so there were so many mistakes, and asked his father-in-law to go back to the mountain and take charge of running the business.
Dou Neng, who was following Chen Rong's side, had already told Dou Neng about Chen Rong's coping strategy, and Dou Neng felt that his son-in-law had won the trust of customers with his integrity, and he could take charge of it alone, and he was no longer worried.
Dou Neng said to Chen Rong that he did a very good job, and that the mistakes were made by the guys, and that the two people who deliberately framed them were responsible, and that they had nothing to do with him.
He also transferred Dou Tong, who had been with Chen Rong before, home, and completely let Chen Rong be responsible.
After another two years, Yulian's eldest son, Dou Fang, also grew up, and he invited a gentleman to teach him enlightenment.
However, on the first night of enlightenment, Dou Fang ran into Yulian's room crying, saying that he did not dare to sleep alone.
Yulian thought that he was afraid of reading and writing, and gently comforted him.
But Dou Fang didn't give up, and still didn't dare to go back to his room.
Chen Rong was a little impatient and scolded: "It's midnight, you don't sleep, your parents still have to sleep, crying and crying, why are you so useless!."Dou Fang choked up and said, "I'm afraid, afraid of that red-faced woman, she is floating around outside the window of my room!."Chen Rong picked up the pillow and threw it over, scolding him for not reading if he didn't want to, and making up something weird.
Seeing that her eldest son was stunned, Yulian hurriedly took him out, washed his face, drank some hot soup, and then went to his room to check it out.
But she looked around, and there was nothing unusual inside or outside the room.
She thought that maybe her eldest son had taken the nightmare as a fact, so she comforted him again and let him sleep with his younger son.
Back in the room, Yulian persuaded Chen Rong that the child was still young and it was normal to be frightened at night, and he should not throw him with a pillow.
Chen Rong sneered: "Your Dou family spoils children like this, will you be able to endure hardships in the future?"Yulian was angry and amused by his words, patted him gently, and said, "Although his surname is Dou, he is also your son!"You say that, it's too hurtful for children. ”
Chen Rong apologized, saying that he was too tired these days, he was woken up when he fell asleep, he was annoyed, and he lost his words, and hoped that she would forgive her.
And so it passed.
A trace crossed Yulian's heart, and she suddenly remembered many small things that she usually looked at in her eyes but didn't care about.
After the birth of her youngest son, she discussed with her father and asked him to follow her husband's surname Chen, and her husband was so happy that he picked up his younger son and kissed him fiercely every day when he came home, but in contrast, the eldest son was ignored by him.
The surname Chen is his son, isn't the surname Dou too?Yulian decided to find a chance to have a good talk with her husband, the child is still young, and she cares about her father's education very much, so that he can get closer to her eldest son.
However, Chen Rong was too busy, and for the next two months, Yulian never found a chance to chat with her husband.
He has been outside because he accompanied several business partners to Zhejiang to inspect silkworm cocoons.
The eldest son, Dou Fang, often cried at night, and was only unharmed when he slept next to Yulian, and when he slept alone, he always said that he saw a woman wearing a red mask.
Yulian thought that there might be something unclean in the mansion, so she invited a master to do a few rituals, but it didn't work.
Yulian felt very worried as she watched her eldest son quickly change from a lively and lovely child to a thin and sick appearance.
Dou Neng was also worried, he wanted to take his eldest grandson to his room to live with him.
Yulian didn't want to cause trouble to her old father, she said that she could handle it, anyway, Chen Rong was not at home during this time, she could live with Dou Fang.
Originally, the eldest son's question was annoying enough, but the personal maid told her that she met the eldest lady Jin Lian on the street, and Jin Lian told her a secret.
Jin Lian said that Chen Rong had a house on the side of Cuiyuan, in which a woman was raised, a boy and a girl were born, and life was very nourishing.
Two days ago, the woman had a birthday, and Chen Rong set up four tables of banquets for her, and I heard that Dou Tong also went.
Jin Lian said in great detail, Yulian was struck by lightning, at first she thought that this might be the eldest sister jealous of her good life, deliberately spread rumors, but after thinking about it, she still asked the maid to go to Cuiyuan to inquire to see if this really happened, and called Dou Tong.
Dou Tong has been following Dou Neng for more than twenty years, and she has only been with Chen Rong for less than a few years, and she doesn't believe that Dou Tong will betray their father and daughter.
Dou Tong defended that the house was the prefect's outer house, and the woman had a birthday two days ago, and they sent a congratulatory gift.
He said: "Miss, I don't know who deliberately made up this rumor, but Chen Rong is so busy with business for the Dou family that he doesn't have time to take care of family affairs, if Miss believes this rumor and suspects him, he will definitely be very sad." ”
Yulian looked at him, nodded, and let him out.
The maid came back and told her that she had inquired around and had not heard that the house had anything to do with Chen Rong.
Yulian told her to stop inquiring, and told her to find a clever little beggar and secretly observe Dou Tong's wife's clothes and the children's situation.
Two days later, the maid told her that she had inquired with a little beggar she had known before, and that Dou Tong's wife dressed very plainly every time she came to Dou's house, but in fact the family was very wealthy, and she often wore gorgeous gold and silver jewelry.
They also bought a house in the county seat, and their eldest son had already set a fiancée and gave a rich dowry in gold and silver.
Yulian was so frightened that her hands and feet were sore, if Dou Tong had betrayed her father a long time ago, then what he said would be completely unbelievable.
She decided to meet the little beggar and determine for herself what had happened.
The little beggar, who was begging in front of the City God Temple, insisted that Chen Rongyuan did not show that honest and kind appearance, he was dark and vindictive in his heart.
Back then, she just scolded him a few times, but he was beaten when he came to the door and almost died.
The guy who died in prison after stealing Chen Rong's silver may have done something for him and was then killed by him.
In the past few days, Chen Rong was not in Mashi Town, because he took the woman and children from Cuiyuan to Yishou Nunnery in Fucheng to worship Buddha and practice, Yishou Nunnery is like this every year, and the pilgrims go in to practice for ten days, during which they cannot communicate with the outside world.
The woman was originally an Oiran of a Qinglou named He Yulan, and Chen Rong bought her a lot of magnolia-style jewelry.
Yulian was almost stupefied.
She couldn't believe that her husband would do this, and even wondered if the first piece of post-wedding jewelry he gave her was taken back from someone else.
But if what the beggar said was true, then Chen Rong had been planning for many years, and the Dou family's property was almost exhausted by him.
No wonder he wasn't worried about his eldest son Dou Fang being intimidated, it turned out that he already had other sons.
She remembered the way Chen Rong treated Granny Chen, and after getting married, he said that he could take care of her and didn't need her to run back and forth.
Over the years, she really hasn't cared about Granny Chen anymore, and Chen Rong visits her every holiday.
The beggar sneered and said that Granny Chen had died a long time ago, just after she got married.
The situation is urgent, Dou Tong is Chen Rong's messenger, if he goes to report to Yishou Nunnery, it will be very dangerous.
Yulian immediately told her father about it, and Dou Neng didn't expect that he had been in business all his life, and was finally deceived by an orphan.
But Chen Rong has been running a business for many years, and his connections have long become his connections, and he is just a powerless person, what should he do?He thought about it and thought of his two daughters, one married to the brother-in-law of the magistrate, and the other married to the nephew of Li Ge Lao in the capital.
Wealth can shake people's hearts, as long as they promise to give them most of their property, their husband's family will help, and their lives can still be saved.
He tells Yulian that Yulian suddenly feels inappropriate.
Everything she knew so far was through the beggar, Chen Rong may have deceived her, what about the beggar?What if the beggar lies?She recalled that Chen Rong washed her father's feet every day when she was at home, although he said that he was just pretending, but it seemed to be too realistic, right?She asked her father to wait, left the beggar to treat him well, and went to Granny Chen's house to have a look.
Granny Chen is still alive, a little older but in good spirits, she recognized her as soon as they met, took her hand and kept saying good things, praising them for their kindness as a couple.
Yulian went to the temple to inquire about the beggars, but the people next to her told her that he was lazy and sometimes stolen.
Yulian was glad that she had made a few more trips, otherwise she would have been deceived.
She returned home and told her father that the manservant had grabbed the beggar and beat him a few times, and the beggar soon confessed that he had been instructed by Jin Lian to slander Chen Rong.
After Yulian investigated at home, someone exposed the behavior of a male servant pretending to be a ghost to scare Dou Fang, and after interrogation, it was found that Yinlian had asked her to do it.
Yulian wanted to sue the official, but Dou Neng said forget it, and sent the two to their mansion as a warning.
If there is a next time, let Chen Rong take action directly, now he should have the ability to protect himself.
Half a month later, Chen Rong went home and was warmly welcomed, and the eldest son and younger son hugged his legs one left and one right.
He was very happy, and gave his father-in-law a string of Buddhist beads that had been opened by a high monk, two jade bracelets with lotus patterns to Yulian, a set of four treasures of the study room for the eldest son, and two woodcut swords for the younger son.
Do I have that too?"The eldest son, Dou Fang, smiled from ear to ear.
You're my son, of course!"Chen Rong picked up his two sons from left to right, kissed them, and pricked their beards so that they screamed and laughed.
That night, after Yulian finished washing, Chen Rong helped her put on the lotus jade bracelet.
Yulian opened the box, took out the lotus golden hairpin, and asked him if he remembered.
Of course, when I took it back and found that I had made a mistake, I hurriedly ran back to the silver building and bought this golden hairpin.
He said he wouldn't wear it, took Yulian to the bedside, and put down the mosquito net.
When Yulian was lying beside him, she thought to herself, it's okay, I was wrong, hurry up and correct it, I will never tell Chen Rong in my life that I once made such a mistake.
Ten thousand customs in the world