Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

The situation in the capital became increasingly severe, and even Changbai's wedding was scaled back and no grand ceremony was held.

But it is not just the Sheng family that does this. Most other families in the capital who have happy events choose to keep a low profile, especially the low-level officials.

When Changbai got married, many people from his hometown of Youyang came to congratulate him. Shulan had already married a young scholar named Sun. The Sheng family gave Shulan a large dowry, but Shulan's younger sister Pinlan could not help but show her concern for her sister Shulan in front of Molan, Rulan and Minglan without telling anyone.

"...You don't know how difficult Mr. Sun's biological mother is!"

Molan couldn't help but sigh after hearing this: "A widowed mother whose son has become successful is most likely to bully her daughter-in-law. They don't think that marrying a daughter-in-law of high status with their son is a step down. In fact, the better the daughter-in-law's family background, the more dowry she has, and the more knowledgeable and well-mannered she is, the more capable they will think their sons are!"

"As for the daughter-in-law who is obviously marrying down, in their hearts, she is naturally 10% inferior to her son. If the rules are not set at the beginning, the daughter-in-law will be bullied a lot later."

As soon as Pinlan heard this, she knew that this was the truest portrayal of her sister Shulan today. "But my family originally saw in Sun Xiucai that he passed the imperial examination at such a young age, and he might have a bright future in the future..."

Rulan said, "A mere scholar actually took advantage of Qiao. Perhaps he is too ignorant and doesn't know what the current situation of our Sheng family is. That's why he dares to harass Sister Shulan."

Minglan thought for a moment and asked Pinlan, "Hasn't Great Grandmother and Great Uncle thought of a way to help Sister Shulan?"

Pinlan's usual sunny and lively temperament was mostly shrunken. She smiled bitterly and said, "Sister Shulan is married after all. If there is nothing special, my family can't even visit her frequently..."

As soon as these words came out, the girls fell silent.

After a while, Molan looked at Pinlan and said, "I have a way to make sure Sister Shulan will not be mistreated by the Sun family mother and son in the future. But it depends on whether Sister Shulan can make up her mind to change."

Pinlan quickly held Molan's hand and asked her what she had come up with. Molan asked the maids to stay away and watch over her. Then she said to her sisters, "Mrs. Sun has been a widow for many years, so she thinks too much of Mr. Sun. No matter who she marries as her daughter-in-law, she will only think that the other party has robbed her son. She will even personally intervene to alienate the relationship between her son and daughter-in-law."

Rulan, Minglan and Pinlan didn't think that Molan's words were exaggerated, and even thought that what Molan said had left room for the mother and son of the Sun family.

Molan continued, "So, Sister Shulan should either get a divorce and completely sever ties with the Sun family, or beat up Mr. Sun. If Madam Sun makes things difficult for her, she will go and cause trouble for Mr. Sun and let him negotiate with Madam Sun himself, thus alienating them from each other."

To be honest, Rulan and Minglan never expected to hear such words from Molan, especially the latter part about asking Shulan to beat up Mr. Sun, which was really unorthodox.

Pinlan weighed the options for a while, then smiled and said to everyone, "Both options are difficult. Regarding the divorce, Mr. Sun and his mother may not want to give up Sister Shulan's dowry, and the latter option requires Sister Shulan to have great determination and ability."

"But I am more inclined to choose both options. First, I will severely teach Sun Xiucai a lesson and alienate his mother and son. Then, after Sister Shulan has completely vented her anger, I will propose a divorce and never stay in that huge pit of their family again."

Although it was difficult, there was hope at last. Pinlan soon put Shulan's affairs aside and concentrated on touring various places in the capital with the company of several sisters, especially the most famous Fanlou and Daxiangguo Temple. How could she only go there once or twice!

However, nowadays it is not easy for women of certain status to go out alone. This "alone" does not mean going out alone without maids or servants, but specifically means going out without the company of a nanny or elders.

Changbai's wedding date is just around the corner, and Changfeng, as a brother, certainly cannot sit idle. Besides, he is also an official and has to be on duty every day, so he has no time to go out with his sisters even on holidays.

Although Shi Ying couldn't help much, he was also an official and stayed with the official family every day, so he had almost no time to spend with Molan.

With this in mind, Lin Qinshuang had no choice but to bring up Zhou Xuenniang, but Madam Liu from Wang Ruofu's side was too busy to do anything. So it was Old Lady Sheng who, for Minglan's sake, sent Madam Fang out to accompany the Lans for a stroll.

As Lin Qinshuang's absolute confidant, Zhou Xuenniang has of course also participated in the management of many of Lin Qinshuang's industries over the years.

She was originally a servant of the Lin family, and later got married when she was old enough. Unfortunately, her husband seemed respectable at first, but later became addicted to gambling. She was abused and lost her only child.

Later, she became a widow and returned to the Lin family to work. When she arrived at Lin Qinshuang's side, she happened to encounter the fall of the Lin family. Finally, she followed Lin Qinshuang and her daughter wandering on the streets for a while, and finally accompanied Lin Qinshuang to find Old Lady Sheng. Her life experience can be said to be extremely rich.

By the time Lin Qinshuang had established herself in the Sheng family and had two more children, her loyalty and devotion to Lin Qinshuang had been slightly divided, but most of it was still with Lin Qinshuang. So when Lin Qinshuang followed Molan's advice to open a shop and run a farm, she contributed a lot to it, and she was even the one who was in charge of all the external liaisons and management at the beginning.

Zhou Xueniang doted on Molan, and Lin Qinshuang loved her even more, so every time she went out, she had to bring several hundred taels of silver with her. Molan spent a lot of money, and even Rulan, who had seen her extravagant spending, could not help but be amazed.

As for Mother Fang, of course she would tell everything she saw to Old Lady Sheng. Old Lady Sheng only knew that Sheng Hong had left a lot of property to Lin Qinshuang and her two sons, but she didn't know how much effort Lin Qinshuang put into running the business with Zhou Xuenniang, Molan and Changfeng.

She only knew that Minglan was outshined by Molan, and it was even possible that she had lost face in front of Pinlan, so she loved and cared for Minglan even more, and even harbored some resentment towards Molan and Rulan. Sometimes she even felt a little shaken about Minglan's marriage to He Hongwen.

Molan and Rulan had no idea that Old Lady Sheng had hated them again. They just thought that going out shopping, watching plays and going to restaurants were very happy things. Especially Pinlan got a lot of inspiration from it. She was going to go back and have a good talk with her sister Shulan, insisting that Shulan change her mind and not waste the best years of her life for the unworthy mother and daughter of Mr. Sun.