The wicked mother-in-law doesn't try to whitewash herself; she only abuses her awful children.

Although Mrs. Lu did not admit that she had embezzled Min Baozhen's dowry, Mrs. Su did not believe a word of it.

At the beginning, the two of them worked together to steal a lot of good things from Min Baozhen. Old Mrs. Su insisted that Lu had taken the lion's share of the money.

Min Baozhen had a lot of dowry, and even though they had taken away a lot of it together, there was still a lot left, which was later taken back by the Min family.

Old Lady Min and the mighty General thought that the missing dowry was voluntarily donated by Min Baozhen to the Su Mansion, so they did not ask for it back.

Old Lady Su, along with the housekeeper and maidservants, ran to Lu's room, rummaged around and found Min Baozhen's dowry that Lu had coveted.

Two boxes of jewelry, two farms in the suburbs of Beijing, three shops on East Street in Shengjing, fifty acres of good paddy fields, and five thousand taels of silver notes.

"You're still a little naive if you want to hide it from me. After being mother-in-law and daughter-in-law for so many years, I still don't know your methods?"

Old Lady Su not only knew Lu's methods, but also knew where Lu hid her private secrets.

Otherwise she wouldn't be able to find it.

Mrs. Lu threw herself on the dowry and cried bitterly, unwilling to let go.

These were all left to Su Chengji by her.

Now she has been taken away by Old Lady Su to please Gu Taohua. How can she bear this? She will have no way to save some property for Su Chengji in the future.

No matter how much Mrs. Lu begged and cried, the dowry was still ruthlessly taken away by Old Lady Su.

Then, Old Lady Su sent the housekeeper to deliver it to Tong Huaqiong's home without stopping.

"This is the betrothal gift that our old lady from the Su family gave to Miss Taohua." said the housekeeper.

Tong Huaqiong and Gu Taohua looked at the betrothal gifts list and didn't understand what tricks Old Lady Su was playing. One moment she sent Lu to the house, and the next moment she sent betrothal gifts.

Since the gift had been delivered to the house, there was absolutely no reason to carry it out, so Tong Huaqiong accepted it on behalf of Gu Taohua.

Considering Tong Huaqiong's current family situation, this betrothal gift is indeed a bit too little.

Tong Huaqiong took the betrothal gift list to ask for advice from Old Lady Min.

As soon as Mrs. Min saw the list of betrothal gifts, she started scolding.

"I was wondering why Baozhen's dowry was so small? I thought she was stubborn and used the small amount to subsidize the Su family. It seems the small amount was taken away by the old woman."

In this case, Gu Taohua doesn't need to feel guilty about accepting the betrothal gift.

Originally, all of Min Baozhen's dowry was added by the Min family to the betrothal gift that Su Chengmin gave to Gu Taohua. Now it is just returning to its original owner.

Tong Huaqiong said, "How could that old woman be willing to spit it out?"

Old Madam Min sneered and said, "She thinks Su Chengji is unreliable. Su Shihang doesn't have any other children now, so she wants to cling to Chengmin. She knows Chengmin only wants to marry Taohua, so she is trying to show her favor to Chengmin."

"The old woman is so cunning. She didn't spend a penny of her own money, but used Baozhen's dowry as a favor. Wait, on the day Chengmin gets married, I'll invite her to a banquet and make her jealous."

Old Mrs. Min cursed.

Upon learning that Tong Huaqiong had accepted the betrothal gift for Taohua, Old Lady Su hoped that Gu Taohua and Su Chengmin's marriage would be held at the Su Mansion.

Su Shihang's legs were able to move again.

The first thing he did was to find Su Chengmin and try to persuade Su Chengmin to get married in the Su Mansion, but Su Chengmin refused.

However, Su Chengmin did not go too far and said that if Su Shihang was willing to attend his wedding, he would not refuse.

Su Shihang was so angry that he cursed Su Chengmin for being a rebellious son, but in the end he was reluctant to sever ties with his son.

When Old Mrs. Su learned that Gu Taohua had taken her betrothal gift, but neither came to thank her nor showed any intention of holding the wedding at the Su family, she was very angry.

With different moods from all parties, the day of Gu Taohua and Su Chengmin's wedding arrived.

Long before Gu Taohua's engagement, Tong Huaqiong had already sent word to the elders and peers of the Gu family who were on good terms with her. Gu's second uncle and aunt, along with several young men from the clan and Gu Xiaocao and her sisters, came to Shengjing to see Gu Taohua off on her wedding day. The village chief of Qinghewan came, Han, the mother of Magistrate Liu, came, and Master Huang came.

Mr. Lu arrived on the first day of the wedding.

Mr. Lu made an extraordinary move and gave Gu Taohua an additional 20,000 taels of silver.

Tong Huaqiong knew that Mr. Lu admired Gu Taohua and had once wanted to match Gu Taohua with Lu Zhaoyang. She also knew that the Lu family was wealthy and had no shortage of money, but these 20,000 taels of silver were indeed a huge sum of money.

Gu Taohua's marriage was the first big happy event after Tong Huaqiong came to Shengjing.

These days, all the Shengjing merchants and noble families who were on good terms with Tong Huaqiong came to congratulate them.

The entire Gu family was extremely lively.

Even the emperor bestowed a jade ruyi, which was delivered personally by the crown prince on the wedding day.

The Crown Prince's arrival to attend Gu Taohua's wedding instantly set the whole city ablaze. Almost all the court officials, whether they had any dealings with the Gu family or not, followed suit and sent gifts.

As soon as the sky was getting light, Gu Taohua was dragged up and forced to put on her makeup in front of the mirror by the matchmaker.

"Apply powder thinly and less blush."

Tong Huaqiong directed the bridesmaid.

This is bridal makeup, not matchmaker makeup. She doesn't like Gu Taohua being dressed up with two red eggs floating on a pale background.

Gu Taohua was still sleepy, dozing off with her eyes slightly closed while letting the matchmaker dress her up.

While helping Gu Taohua adjust her hair crown, Liu Yue'e said, "Sister, you're really generous. You're about to get married, but you act like nothing happened."

Aunt Gu said, "Only at my parents' home can I relax like this, sleep whenever I want, get up whenever I want, and eat whenever I want. After I get married, I have to serve my parents-in-law, support my husband, and teach my children. I have to manage everything inside and outside the house, so it's not so easy."

After hearing this, Tong Huaqiong felt melancholy.

When she first came to this world, Gu Taohua was only fourteen years old. According to her current age, she would be in college in the future, and she would have to get married and have children here.

Fortunately, Gu Taohua got married later than most girls.

And she doesn't have to serve her parents-in-law, she can live her own life with Su Chengmin.

Even so, Tong Huaqiong was still unhappy and reluctant.

After so many years of getting along, she had already regarded Gu Taohua as a blood relative, and she felt sad when she thought that she could not see Gu Taohua all the time.

Her little girl had grown up, which also meant being away from her.

Tong Huaqiong couldn't help but burst into tears.

"My sister is marrying someone she loves, and given her personality, she won't tolerate any bullying. Plus, with all of us backing her up, she'll have a great life ahead of her. On this happy occasion, you should be happy."

The attentive Gu Baishuang noticed that Tong Huaqiong's eyes were red, so she handed her a handkerchief and comforted her quietly.

Tong Huaqiong took the handkerchief and wiped the corners of her eyes.

Zhao patted Tong Huaqiong's arm. She understood Tong Huaqiong. When her two daughters got married, she also felt the same joy mixed with reluctance.

Gu Taohua put on her makeup, and Chen Sufen and Liu Yue'e helped her change into her wedding dress.

She walked out surrounded by her sister-in-law and sisters such as Gu Xiaoxue, looking like a fairy concubine.

"My little aunt is so pretty."

"There is no bride more beautiful than peach blossoms."

(End of this chapter)