Carrying the little lucky star, leading the villain on the road to exile

Bai Suihe's ears perked up; he was also very curious about this skinny horse.

"A 'thin horse' like that doesn't come cheap. Madam Lin has really gone all out." Madam Li couldn't help but glance at Concubine Yu again. "Such a beauty, how much silver must she cost?"

"Hehe, that's because you haven't seen any prettier ones. Someone like Aunt Yu would cost at least a hundred taels."

"Goodness, these aren't even the prettiest ones. What would the most beautiful ones look like?"

"Ha! That's beyond our reach."

However, I heard that those were prepared for the nobles in the capital, and only those in the inner palace could protect them.

Madam Lin isn't stupid; someone like Concubine Yu is more than a match for Master Lin.

"That's true, but she really spent so much money to find such a beauty for her husband. I couldn't afford that."

"That's because your master hasn't yet caught fire. If it were someone like Lin Dali, who would disregard his legal wife and children for a widow, would you be willing to do that?"

"It seems that Madam Lin has spent a lot of money this time, but she doesn't realize that this is actually helping her sons to protect their family business."

"But couldn't Widow Ma also have children?"

Bai Suihe could tell from the lady who asked the question how ignorant she was of the law. From her recent study of the law, she could also see that the authorities were relatively protective of the direct descendants. The legitimate sons would receive 90% of the property. If there were no legitimate descendants, when the family fell from power, the government would take charge, with most of the property going into the national treasury and a small portion becoming family property.

This was also to prevent the clan from squandering their inheritance. However, upon closer examination, the one who ultimately benefited was the national treasury. The person who set up this law was incredibly clever, no wonder the authorities strongly supported it.

That's why Widow Ma, oh no, I mean Aunt Ma, didn't draw up a contract; it was just wishful thinking...

"Your life is too comfortable. Has no one ever talked to you about the law?" Madam Li asked in surprise.

The woman looked completely bewildered and said, "The virtue of a woman's lack of talent—is this something we should be concerned with?"

Everyone looked at her with strange eyes, except for Madam Qian, who looked completely at ease.

Bai Suihe asked quietly, "What's going on?"

Even if you're ignorant, you can't understand it that way. You may not understand, but you can't lack common sense.

"Her father was a pedantic scholar who only managed to pass the imperial examination in middle age. However, he was extremely old-fashioned. In their family, women had absolutely no status."

Their saying that "lack of talent is a virtue" means taking pride in being illiterate.

"Is that how it's interpreted?" Bai Suihe quickly lowered her head, concealing the surprise in her eyes, and asked in a low voice, "But it's still too ignorant. Didn't her husband's family teach her anything?"

"She's only been married for a short time, and this time she came out with her sister-in-law to make an appearance. See? The one sitting next to her is her sister-in-law. She's quite surprised herself; she probably never expected her new sister-in-law to be so understanding."

Madam Jiang, standing nearby, added, "I know a bit about their family. They believe that women should never leave their homes. Their daughters don't even step out of their own homes until they get married. Now it seems that this kind of education is really harmful." Bai Suihe asked, "Which family is it?" He needed to find out so he could avoid this family in the future.

“Speaking of which, this family lives quite close to you, just two houses away,” Madam Qian said to Bai Suihe.

Bai Suihe thought for a moment, "Just tell me about the family at the end of our street, I think their surname is Zhu."

“Yes, it’s their family,” Madam Qian whispered in her ear. “They also own dozens of acres of land on the outskirts of the county town, and a shop in the county town for rent. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to afford to support a scholar. It’s hard to describe what kind of person this family is.”

Apart from a few men who would go out with everyone, the women in their family never went out.

So it's normal that you don't remember their family. To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that Zhu Xiucai had an official title, no one would be willing to associate with him.

Whenever you're with him, you'll hear him spouting off all sorts of classical Chinese phrases, leaving you completely bewildered. And if you say anything, he can launch into a long, rambling argument, drawing on ancient and modern times to spout a whole bunch of fallacies.

Even though the law has already stipulated it, he insists on giving you Confucius's saying, "Confucius said that a woman's virtue lies in her lack of talent," which is also a tradition passed down in his family.

Honestly, it's a good thing she didn't send any of her women to deal with us, otherwise we'd have to give them a good talking-to. What kind of nonsense are they spouting?

After saying that, he looked meaningfully at the Zhu family woman opposite him, "She doesn't even understand such laws. If her in-laws and husband are a little more ruthless, you can imagine what will happen to her."

Bai Suihe glanced at the lady next to the Zhu family woman who had just spoken, "That's not the case. I think that lady takes good care of her sister-in-law. The fact that she brought her out today probably means she wants to change her."

Madam Li was somewhat incredulous. "How could sisters-in-law go to such lengths? It's already good enough that they didn't frame each other."

I also have sisters-in-law. Before we separated the family property, they were always eyeing our meager savings, and everyone was wary of each other.

Bai Suihe smiled. She also had sisters-in-law, and each of them was shrewd in their own way. "That's true, but if we follow Zhu Xiucai's teachings, and this Zhu family girl is controlled, what do you think her situation will be as a daughter-in-law of the same family?"

These words were a wake-up call. Everyone's gaze towards the lady opposite them changed; she was the truly shrewd one.

It turns out that this sister-in-law had already sensed something was wrong and made preparations in advance.

However, this Zhu family girl doesn't seem to be very bright, otherwise she wouldn't have asked this question so foolishly.

When Bai Suihe looked over again, she saw that the Zhu family girl was being explained in detail by her sister-in-law and wife.

Judging from the shocked look in her eyes, these statements have probably overturned her worldview, which shows the importance of education from one's family of origin.

"Can this be changed?" Bai Suihe asked with some concern. If she married a woman like this, wouldn't her children's future be ruined? "How did our two families even become related?"

"That's a good question," Madam Qian said, seeing that no one on the other side was paying attention to them. She began to whisper to Bai Suihe, "The two women on the other side are the daughters-in-law of the Xiao family. They are quite compatible. The patriarch of the Xiao family was also educated when he was young and wanted to bring honor to his ancestors. However, he was not very talented and did not even pass the preliminary examination."

However, he also greatly admired these scholars and enjoyed associating with them, believing that absorbing their scholarly atmosphere might improve their family's feng shui. (End of Chapter)