The daily struggles of divorced women in ancient times

It turned out that next door to Sang's house lived a Mr. Cen from the Hanlin Academy. At first, the two families were not familiar with each other. Mr. Cen was a widower who rented a house here with his mother and a divorced sister.

Mr. Cen's hometown was also in Jiangnan. After passing the imperial examination, he stayed in the capital. He was born in a poor family and had no background, nor did he have many opportunities to be sent out, but Mr. Cen was very knowledgeable, so he stayed in the Hanlin Academy to study classics.

Mr. Cen's sister was a miserable person. Mr. Cen's mother was a weak-willed person and could not keep the property left by Mr. Cen's father. After being hungry for two consecutive days, Mr. Cen's sister, Mrs. Cen, became angry and vowed to take her mother and brother to eat.

Later, thanks to Madam Cen, the Cen family lived a better life. Mr. Cen was sensible since he was young, and his sister didn't want him to drop out of school, so he copied books to earn money while attending classes at the academy.

When she was a little older, Madam Cen was about to get married. At this time, the Cen family had become better off, so Mr. Cen exchanged all the money in the family for Madam Cen's dowry.

Later, Mr. Cen passed the imperial examinations and became a juren and jinshi, and he brought his mother to the capital.

The Cen family had no financial resources, and Mr. Cen's salary was not very high. Housing and commodity prices in the capital were high, so Mr. Cen rented a courtyard to live in.

Less than two years after living in the capital, Madam Cen received a letter saying that her husband not only gambled and drank, but also beat his wife. So her husband arranged a divorce for Madam Cen.

After that, Madam Cen lived in the capital with her brother.

Mr. Cen's previous wife grew up with him in his hometown in Jiangnan. They had always had a good relationship, but she was weak and died during childbirth less than two years after coming to the capital.

Mr. Cen was a man who did not believe in fate, so he couldn't help but feel disappointed for a while, and he never looked for anyone else after that.

It was really an accident that Madam Sang and Mr. Cen met. Sisters from Manyue Tower often came to live in Madam Sang's house. Those who were trapped in love would inevitably make a scene after drinking. One day, Sang Hong, a top star in the tower, came to Madam Sang's house to complain because of her lover's disgust. After drinking too much, she even started shouting in the backyard.

Things like "Those who are loyal are usually butchers, and those who are unfaithful are usually scholars", and "From now on, do not miss me anymore, I will never miss you again". At the beginning, they were all curses in a flowery way, but later on, all the names such as "unfaithful man", "heartless man", and "coward" were used to call the lover, making the neighbors around him feel uneasy.

Mrs. Sang couldn't stop the man no matter what, so she had to give the man a calming soup. The next day, Mrs. Sang took some food to apologize to her neighbors.

The status of women in the capital city has not improved much nowadays. People have many misunderstandings about Manyue Tower, and even more misunderstandings about the dancers in Manyue Tower.

Although Madam Sang sent food to several families, she did not receive any good treatment. When she arrived at the Cen family, it was such a coincidence that it was Madam Cen who opened the door.

Madam Sang felt a little embarrassed, but Madam Cen comforted her, "It's not a big deal, why are you so polite? It's hard for women to survive in this world. I just feel sad, but I don't feel disturbed."

It was because of this sentence that Madam Sang and Madam Cen became acquainted with each other.

Later, when Madam Sang saw that Madam Cen had a great skill in making tofu, she recommended her to work in the workshop.

Madam Cen didn't think working in the workshop was hard. Her brother's salary was too low and the prices in the capital were too high. She had been thinking about starting some small business for a long time, but she didn't have enough capital at the moment.

At least she could save some money by working in Manyue Workshop. Besides, there were many women in Manyue Workshop who were just like her or even more pitiful than her. She felt very happy to be together with them every day.

After Mr. Cen learned that his sister was working, he knocked on the door of Madam Sang's house to find her. He inquired about the Manyue Workshop in detail and went to Madam Sang to thank her.

Mr. Cen's attitude was very sincere. He did not have the contempt that men nowadays have for women doing business, nor did he have any misunderstandings about Manyue Tower. This made Mrs. Sang feel that Mr. Cen was an interesting man.

Although Mr. Cen lived a poor life, he was not very stingy. He often gave gifts to Ms. Sang.

Madam Sang is not opposed to love between men and women, but she has no plans to get married again. She has always thought that men will only slow down her sword-drawing speed.

However, Mr. Cen gradually integrated into Mrs. Sang's life in a subtle and silent way.

Ruzhu told the story, Rumeng supplemented it, Xuanxue, Qinghe, Zizhu and Hongling ate melons with gusto. Several people were eagerly waiting for Ruzhu to continue, but Ruzhu suddenly stopped talking.

"Why don't you say anything?" Xia Mianwan urged.

"Yes, yes, why don't you say anything? Come on, tell me..."

"Yes, yes, dear sister, please tell me quickly!"

Ruzhu smiled and said, "It's not that I don't want to tell you, but I don't know what happened next. I think Madam Sang will come to see our wife soon."

Xia Mianwan understood a little bit that it must be Madam Sang who was hesitant and didn't know what to do.

Hong Ling didn't understand, and asked impatiently, "Why did you come to see our young lady?"

Ruzhu smiled and said, "Because Madam Sang rejected Mr. Cen several times. Madam Sang said that she has no intention of having a relationship anymore and just wants to be a rich and idle person."

"Isn't that a pity..." Hongling said with some regret.

"It's indeed a pity..." Xia Mianwan nodded thoughtfully.

Speak of Cao Cao and he will appear. Yesterday, Ruzhu told everyone about Madam Sang, and today Madam Sang came to Pei's house.

Xia Mianwan pretended she knew nothing and smiled as she asked Madam Sang to sit down.

Qinghe, Xuanxue, Hongling and Zizhu were also sitting aside, waiting for Madam Sang to speak and to hear the ending of the story.

Seeing that everyone was looking at her, Madam Sang couldn't help but touch her face and said, "My dear, is there something wrong with my face? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Xia Mianwan glared at everyone and asked all the gossiping maids to leave. The maids felt a little sorry to have no more gossip to eat, but as long as people came, they would definitely know the ending.

"What's the matter today, Sister Sang?" Xia Mianwan asked after the maids left.

Madam Sang has always been generous and forthright, but today she was a little shy, hesitating and not knowing how to start the conversation.

Xia Mianwan said with a smile: "Sister Sang, why should we be shy? When I tell you about the things between Pei Yanxu and I, I have always been generous..."

Only then did Lady Sang realize that Xia Mianwan knew everything, so she asked, "You know everything?"

"I know some, but not many." Xia Mianwan replied with a smile.