Wenren Taibo's second biological brother, Wenren Zhongyong, and his wife, Mrs. Du, had the lowest presence among the five sisters-in-law. This was because she was not very fertile and had three consecutive babies, all of which were daughters. It would have been fine if her mother-in-law disliked her, but her husband wanted a son so badly. The second wife also had a boy, but Wenren Zhongyong was most concerned about status. A concubine was just a toy, and the illegitimate son born to a concubine was not taken seriously by him at all.
Du Shi actually had the intention of raising the illegitimate son as her own. As the legitimate wife, who would be willing to raise the illegitimate son as the legitimate son unless she had no other choice? Wenren Zhongyong disagreed. Du Shi should have been happy, but she was not happy at all.
Wenren Zhongyong only recognized legitimate sons, either his biological sons or his adopted brothers'. He did not have any biological sons. Even if he adopted them, he would only recognize the legitimate sons of his biological brothers. He did not even take his illegitimate brothers into consideration. Their sons were naturally like invisible people. However, when Wenren Taibo wanted to adopt them, the two legitimate sons had already grown up. Besides, Han would not be happy about it. How could the other biological brother, who only had one legitimate son, be adopted by him
It would be impossible for him to pass off a concubine as the legitimate heir and deceive himself and others.
Based on this, Wenren Zhongyong clearly had no regard for Mrs. Du, but he would stay in the main house at least half of the time every month, intending to help Mrs. Du give birth to a son.
It is rare for a woman to give birth after she is thirty, let alone one who is nearly forty.
If she was valued by her husband and the couple loved each other, then she would naturally be envied by others. But Du was simply a joke. To some extent, she was even worse than a concubine. Originally, this should have been the private matter of the second wife. However, living in the same house, how could others not know about it? Especially Wenren Zhongyong, who sometimes did not give Du face even when there were others around. Over time, there were rumors outside, and Du was ridiculed by many people behind her back.
Mrs. Du's health was not good to begin with, and her depression made things worse. She had already shown signs of menopause, and looked very old. Besides, she was not one who could get pregnant easily. Although she had given birth to three children, there were five or six years between them, and she must have taken a lot of medicine, especially for the third child, which nearly cost her her life. The possibility of getting pregnant again was naturally very slim. It was not enough that she didn't like to go out and socialize, but her husband's persistence was what really made her miserable.
Sometimes she even thought that her husband did not kill her, and married another woman to give him a legitimate son, which was already a sign of their love.
Mrs. Du patted her second daughter's hand and said, "Your fourth sister is back. You should spend more time with her in the future."
"Mom!" Wenren Xi raised his voice, which was full of resentment and quite sharp.
Wenren Xi is the second daughter of the second wife, the fifth among the Wenren sisters, and only three months older than Wenren Ying.
"Xi'er, mother knows that you are resentful because your father treats the two boys of the first wife well and always favors them over you sisters. You take your anger out on everyone in the first wife. You must admit that your aunt treats you very well. You must know that your marriage was arranged by your aunt, and even your grandmother agreed. If it was your mother, I don't know how much worse it would be, and your father would have no hope at all."
"That's because my aunt knows that her son has taken all the benefits of our second branch. She is in the wrong. She should find a good marriage for me. She owes us that. Besides, no matter how good my marriage is, can it compare to Wen Renying's? To put it bluntly, it is what she left for Wen Renying. How can this be called good? If it really wanted to be good, my marriage with Wen Renying should be changed."
"Xi'er—" Mrs. Du stopped and looked at her paranoid daughter, feeling pain and hatred. "If you really want to blame someone, blame your mother for not being able to give you sisters a brother. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for not being born into a good family."
Wen Renxi saw her mother's increasingly dim eyes and panicked, "Mom, mom, please don't be like this, it's my fault, it's my fault, I don't blame you, I'm very happy to be reborn in your belly and be your daughter, really, mom..."
"Xier..." Mrs. Du touched her face, "You have been in the Wen family for only more than ten years, and you will spend most of your life in other people's families. Don't just look at the present. The past is not important, only the future is important. This is how my life will be, but I hope you sisters can live a good life in the future.
Your marriage seems to be worse than Wen Renying's, but is it necessarily good to marry into a marquis's mansion? Look at our Wen family, known as a noble family, aren't there few messes? Not to mention the marquis's mansion, your seventh sister was raised by your eldest aunt to be naive and ignorant of the world, it's hard to say what kind of life she will have in the future.
This person should also be content. The world is inherently unfair. If beggars all look up to the emperor, and those who eat coarse food dream of delicacies, then everything will be in chaos. You are much better than many people.
At least, your fourth sister has been living a miserable life for the past ten years."
Speaking of this, Wen Renxi was somewhat contemptuous and gloating, "Mother, didn't you see the clothes that Fourth Sister was wearing? They were rough and coarse. I have never seen cloth that was so bad. It was washed white, frayed, and even patched, but she was still wearing it. Even girls from small families would be embarrassed to wear clothes that they had worn more than a few times. With her condition, you still want me to go out more? Even if she is from the Wen family, it can't change the fact that she grew up in the market. I don't know how coarse and ignorant she is."
Mrs. Du was helpless. Was this all her daughter saw
Regardless of the girl's etiquette and dress, under normal circumstances, she is a nobody, but to her, they are great nobles who are high above her. Shouldn't she be trembling with fear, shrinking, feeling inferior and cowardly
In fact, she was neither humble nor arrogant, had a decent manner, and although she was dressed poorly, people would not really look down on her. When she entered the Wenren mansion, she looked calm and didn't even show any surprise. Only the stupid fourth brother's wife was obviously the one who was asking for trouble.
Mrs. Du explained to her in detail, "… So don't look down on your fourth sister. Besides, etiquette can be learned, as can clothes. Since you are back, how can your eldest aunt do without her? On the contrary, after more than ten years of absence, your eldest aunt will only treat her twice as well.
She just came back and is unfamiliar with the place. She is very nervous. If you get closer to her, she will be happy, and your uncle and aunt will be happy. Your half-brother looks stupid and has no future. Your father doesn't pay much attention to him and doesn't spend time to teach him. Therefore, when you get married in the future, you will still have to rely on your cousin in your mother's family. "