Hearing her husband's words, Lin Yixuan smiled in her heart, but how could she be happy in the current situation? She frowned and said, "The Jingyang Marquisate cherishes its reputation and will at most ridicule me a few times, but it won't be too much. I'm only worried that you will be wronged, and mother. My brother just went to the battlefield, and I didn't expect that they couldn't even tolerate my mother."
Li Yaonan thought for a while and said in confusion: "Why not let mother divorce." Life in the Marquis's Mansion is so difficult, wouldn't divorce be better? He has read the case files of the Jin Dynasty, and the impact on women's reputation by divorce is not very big. There are many cases in the dynasty.
Lin Yixuan glared at him and sighed, "Divorce is not that simple. If a divorced woman has someone in her family, it's easier for her to marry someone else. At worst, she can be supported by her family. If a woman has no family, how can she live in peace after the divorce without a man to support her? Anyone can bully her. People say that widows have a lot of gossip around them, and divorced women have a lot of gossip around them too, not to mention her mother's family... Alas!"
"What's going on with my mother's family?" Li Yaonan asked curiously, suddenly wanting to know more about his young husband.
Lin Yixuan's eyes showed some helplessness, and after a while he continued, "This has to start with my grandmother. She was born in the Wang family in Shandong. There was only one daughter in the family. She was spoiled since childhood. Later, she was betrothed to Li Jingyuan, the legitimate son of the then Marquis of Wenchang, as his wife. They were sweet for a while after the marriage..."
Lin Yixuan spoke clearly and in a steady tone. After he finished speaking a long paragraph, Li Yaonan was speechless.
It turned out that when my grandmother was pregnant, Li Jingyuan took a concubine, and my grandmother was so angry that she gave birth prematurely and hurt her body. Before she could recover, the news of my aunt's pregnancy hit her head and she was stunned. My grandmother's mood at that time can be imagined. It's not that she didn't cry and make a scene, and it's not that she didn't take action, but she never expected that the wife of the Marquis of Wenchang would protect my aunt, not only allowing her to give birth to a concubine's eldest son, but also bringing the concubine's eldest son to her side to personally educate.
The grandmother hated the illegitimate son and was not very nice to him. She just focused on recuperating in the hope of having another son. However, six years later, she became pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter. It was too late to win over the illegitimate son.
The grandmother had originally planned to pick a maid to take care of the mother and keep the son, and raise the child as the legitimate son to provide support for her daughter. It was a good idea, but unfortunately, things happen unexpectedly and things change unpredictably. Not long after, Marquis Wenchang died of an illness. His wife was too sad and died a few years later. After six years of mourning, Lin's mother was thirteen years old. It was time to talk about other people. The eldest son of the concubine had already become an established figure by then. Even if she gave birth to ten or eight more children, as long as they were not born from her belly, even if they were raised as legitimate sons in name, it would not affect the status of the eldest son of the concubine. From then on, the grandmother gave up the idea and focused on choosing a son-in-law for her daughter.
After choosing and choosing, she took a fancy to the third son of Jingyang Marquis. Not to mention, even though Lin Zhanyun was not good at literature or martial arts, he had a good appearance, otherwise how could Lin Yixuan have such good genes? In the eyes of his grandmother, Lin Zhanyun was born into a noble family and had two older brothers. He had a light burden and did not need to inherit the family business. After the division of the family, he could move out of the mansion, and his daughter could be the master of the house herself.
It can be said that the grandmother was worried sick about her daughter. If she were still alive today, she would feel so regretful if she knew that after all the careful selection, she finally chose such a thing.
In fact, now thinking back, it’s hard to know who to blame for the fact that Lin’s mother had no one to rely on in her natal family.
My grandmother was also a ruthless person. Since she had no son of her own, keeping the things from the Wenchang Marquis' Mansion would only benefit her illegitimate son. So she worked hard to prepare a dowry for her daughter and emptied out most of the Wenchang Marquis' property. The remaining half was naturally left to her youngest daughter.
When Lin's mother first married into the Jingyang Marquis's Mansion, she enjoyed great glory. Even the princess's ten-mile-long red wedding dress was not as rich as her dowry. One must know that the family business of the Wenchang Marquis's Mansion was passed down from generation to generation.
Grandma had arranged everything very well. As long as her youngest daughter got married, she could go without any worries. She knew her own health was bad. She had been sick for many years because of depression. She was holding on for her daughter. But she never thought that a sudden cold would take her life. At that time, Li Wanyi had just come of age and had not yet decided on a husband's family. Grandma died with her eyes open.
At the same time, because of her death, the mess was also made bigger. Before my grandmother died, she did not have time to clean up the things she had done. When Wenchang Bo checked the family assets, he found that except for the dowry of his youngest daughter, there was not much property left in the huge Wenchang Bo Mansion. Wenchang Bo was so angry at the time that he looked up to the sky and cried out, "I married an unvirtuous woman, I married an unvirtuous woman. I will never marry a virtuous woman again."
Needless to say, the grandmother was not kind to the illegitimate son, not to mention the relationship between brothers and sisters. In the absence of a legitimate son in the family, the eldest son should have inherited the family business, but the legitimate mother took out most of the family property to subsidize her daughter. How could he not hate her in his heart
Wenchangbo's relationship with his eldest daughter also became cold, and he was even more unfriendly to his youngest daughter. It was a pity that the youngest daughter had changed from a lively and lovely girl to a cautious one without even saying anything.
A year later, Earl Wenchang remarried, and his young daughter was sent to the Yang family as a second wife. Naturally, there was no dowry, but a lot of betrothal gifts were sent from that family. It was also because Earl Wenchang's family was in financial difficulty at that time. After knowing this, Earl Wenchang acquiesced to his step-wife's actions. The Yang family was not an ordinary family, and marriage would be beneficial to the Earl's family.
Lin's mother's status in Jingyang Marquis' Mansion plummeted. Fortunately, she had given birth to Lin Zhiyuan, and had established a firm foothold in the mansion. She also had a large dowry in her hands, otherwise her life would have been extremely difficult.
It was just a pity for the young girl. Li Wanyi passed away within two years of marrying into the Yang family, leaving behind only a twin girl. That man was Yang Yi. Mother Lin felt sorry for her sister's only child, so she took him in to raise him. With the Jingyang Marquis Mansion as a signboard and Yang Yi having a twin girl, the Yang family did not negotiate any conditions and agreed readily.
When Li Yaonan heard this, he suddenly realized something. He still remembered that last year in Zuixianlou in Yangzhou, Yang Yi told him that his cousin was pitiful and was abused by her stepmother. He thought he was lying and was upset. Unexpectedly, Yang Yi was talking about himself.
Li Yaonan was touched and didn't know what to say for a moment. If his grandmother hadn't been so cruel, Mother Lin wouldn't have been without the support of her natal family. But under the circumstances at that time, it was not like his grandmother was unable to give birth, but the wife of Marquis Wenchang insisted on giving birth to a illegitimate son. How could she swallow this anger
Even if she couldn't have children, she would personally choose a concubine for her husband. Since that concubine climbed into Li Jingyuan's bed when the mistress was pregnant, and got pregnant quickly after taking the contraceptive soup, how could she be a good person? No wonder the grandmother was not kind to the illegitimate son.
I wonder if my grandmother would regret it if she knew the current situation. After she had a concubine's eldest son, she controlled the family even more tightly. Until she gave birth to a little girl, no more concubine's sons were born in the former Wenchang Marquis' Mansion, now the Wenchang Earl's Mansion. Who would have thought that this was originally a means for her to control her descendants, but because of the successive deaths of the elders, the concubine's eldest son's family became the only one in power.
The grandmother must have regretted it at that time, otherwise she would not have been so cruel as to prepare a dowry for her daughter, because the grandmother knew in her heart that there was no room for improvement between her and the eldest son out of wedlock. But she never thought that she would die early. In the final analysis, it was still Li Jingyuan's fault. If he had taken care of his lower body, there would have been no trouble in the family. The eldest son out of wedlock was indeed the source of the family's chaos.
After Lin Yixuan finished speaking, he showed helplessness on his face: "So, if mother divorces, she will not have the support of her natal family, which is worse than the Marquis' Mansion. The current Wenchang Earl is Li Guicheng, who has been at odds with mother since childhood. If he takes advantage of the name of her natal family and arbitrarily deals with her, we will be helpless."
Li Yaonan suddenly understood what was going on. He thought carefully about the laws of the Jin Dynasty and said, "After the divorce, my mother must return to her parents' home. Wenchang Bo is the current head of the family and has the right to deal with anything that happens to my mother, even if it means taking over her property and remarrying her. Others have no right to interfere. After all, this is someone else's family affair."
Lin Yixuan nodded and frowned, "Yes, even if he doesn't want to admit it, Jingyang Marquis's Mansion did give mother shelter." But he and his elder brother were used to the fullest. In his previous life, his mother didn't go to the temple because he had entered the Prince's Mansion at that time, and his elder brother also married a woman from the Yuan family, but now...
Lin Yixuan sighed, feeling a dull pain in his heart, for his mother, for his elder brother, and for himself.
Now that he has escaped from the control of the Marquis' Mansion and his elder brother has gone to the battlefield, his mother has become of no use to him. The Marquis' Mansion of Jingyang has abandoned her and sent her to the temple at will. If his elder brother had not died yet and his future on the battlefield was uncertain, his mother would probably have died of illness, just like in his previous life, when his elder brother had just passed away and his mother had been killed by a collision with the stone lions in front of the Marquis' Mansion.
Lin Yixuan was thinking about something in his mind, and Li Yaonan was also pondering carefully. In this situation, what should they do? They really felt a little bit at a loss. They couldn't really let Lin's mother stay in the temple, but if she returned to Jingyang Marquis Mansion, they would be even more worried. It was a complete mess.
Not long after, they arrived at the Li Mansion. After Lin Yixuan and Li Yaonan unanimously decided, the mansion in the capital was named Li Mansion.
Li Yaonan is the head of the family after all. Now it is not like when he was in Yangzhou, where he has the pressure of the Li family above him. Their home is also the residence of a juren gentleman, so how can it still be called a house
After returning home, the two of them collected their thoughts. This matter could not be resolved in a short time, so they would go to see Lin's mother tomorrow first.
Little Xu'er had been longing for a kiss from his father. When he saw Lin Yixuan waving his little hands, he started fluttering around, and his little mouth was still making sounds of "ah ah".
Lin Yixuan's face softened. All the depression he had felt throughout the day seemed to have disappeared after seeing Xiao Xuer. He became gentler and he quickly hugged Xiao Xuer and started playing with him.
Li Yaonan was jealous again. Why didn't the child stick to him
In fact, he didn't think about it. His hands were stiff when he held the child. Xiao Xu'er was uncomfortable, so naturally she didn't want him.
Li Yaonan made up his mind to let this kid go for now and deal with him properly when he grows up.
That day, after the two men had finished their meal, they chatted for a while and went to bed early. Jingyang Marquis Mansion was indeed not a good place. After only sitting for a few hours, they felt more tired than sitting in a carriage for a whole day.