Wenren Zhongyong was the second brother of Wenren Taibo and his wife was Du Shi, who held the lowest status among the five wives of the brothers. This was because she had given birth to three consecutive daughters, and if her mother-in-law disapproved, that would have been bad enough, however, her husband’s obsession with having a son made matters worse.

He was determined to produce a male heir at any cost. In reality, his second wife had given birth to a son. Unfortunately, Wenren Zhongyong placed great emphasis on social status and viewed the illegitimate son of a concubine as nothing more than an amusement. The idea of raising such a child never entered his mind.

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 did not agree, and Du Shi should have been happy, but she was not.

Wenren Zhongyong only recognized the legitimate sons, whether biological or adopted from his brothers. He did not even consider the illegitimate ones. He had already considered adopting the sons of his two brothers. However, Wenren Taibo’s two legitimate sons, when he wanted to adopt them, were already grown up, besides, Han Shi would not be willing to do so. The other legitimate brother had only one legitimate son, making it impossible for him to consider adoption. To elevate an illegitimate child to a legitimate one would be self-deception. It would not work in his case.

Based on this, Wenren Zhongyong was clearly not convinced that Du Shi’s nose was a nose or that her eyes were eyes. He stayed in the main house for at least half the days of each month, intending to make Du Shi’s old oyster produce a pearl*, so that he could have a legitimate son. However, Du Shi was over thirty years old, even approaching forty, way past the age of childbearing.

(TL: birthing a son at an old age)

If a woman is valued by her husband and they are a loving couple, of course, she is enviable to others. However, Du Shi was a joke in this regard. In a way, she was even worse than a concubine.

This should have been a private matter of the second wife, but since they lived in the same compound, others couldn’t help but know about it. Even Wenren Zhongyong, who was usually reserved in the presence of others, sometimes made fun of Du Shi in front of others, and over time, rumors had spread outside the compound.

Du Shi didn’t know how many people mocked her behind her back. She was already in menopause, and her body was in poor condition. Her heart was burdened, and she had the appearance of an old woman, which was made worse by the fact that she wasn’t fertile. She had had three children, but there were five or six years between each one, and she took a lot of medication each time. She almost lost her life with the third one, so the chances of her getting pregnant again were slim. She didn’t like to go out and didn’t socialize, but her husband’s persistence was what really made her miserable.

She sometimes even thought that her husband not killing her, marrying another woman and having a son with her was a sign of his affection.

Du Shi patted her second daughter’s hand and said, “Your fourth sister is back. You should spend more time with her in the future.”

“Mother!” Wenren Xi raised her voice, sounding resentful and sharp. She was the second daughter of the second branch, the fifth young lady of the Wenren household, and was only three months older than Wenren Ying.

“Xi’er, mother understands that you are upset because your father treats the sons of the first branch as if they were his own sons and doesn’t show any concern for you and your sisters. You must admit that you harbor resentment towards the first branch and everyone in it. At the same time, you should acknowledge that your aunt has always been kind to you. You should be aware that it was your aunt who arranged your marriage, and even your grandmother agreed to it. If it were up to your mother or father, who knows how much worse the situation would be.

“That’s because Aunt knows we’ve been cheated out of all our rightful benefits by her sons,” Wenren Xi responded hotly. “She is the one who should make up for it. She found a good match for us as she should. After all, she owes us. And besides, even if my marriage were good, can it be as good as that of Wenren Ying? It’s not fair at all.”

“Xi’er——” Du Shi stood still and looked at her obstinate daughter with pain and resentment. “If you really want to blame someone, blame your mother’s weak stomach for not being able to give birth to a brother for you and your sister. If you really want to blame someone, blame yourself for not being born into a good family.”

Wenren Xi saw her mother’s eyes becoming even darker, and she panicked. “Mother, Mother, don’t be like this,” Wenren Xi pleaded urgently. “It’s not your fault, it’s not your fault. I’m not blaming you, I’m really happy to have been reincarnated in your womb, to be your daughter. Really, Mother…”

“Xi’er…,” said Du, stroking her face, “you’ve spent more than ten years living with the Wenren family and will likely spend the rest of your life with other people’s families. Don’t just look at the present; the past is not important, and the future is what matters. My own life has been like this, and I hope you sisters will have a good life in years to come. Your marriage may seem less than perfect, but is marrying into the Marquis’s family necessarily a blessing? Look at our Du family, supposedly noble yet plagued by messy affairs; the Marquis’s household is even more troubled. Your seventh sister has been raised by your great aunt, naive and unaware of the world’s ways – so who knows what the future holds for her?”

She continued, “This person too should be content. The world isn’t fair, and if beggars look up to kings and even the poorest people dream of feasting on delicacies, then things are truly out of order. You’re better off than many others by a long shot. Think of your fourth sister who has lived a miserable life for the past ten years.”

When she said this, Wenren Xi had a hint of condescension and gloating. “Mother, have you seen the clothes that fourth sister wears? They’re coarse and rough, and I’ve never seen such poor quality fabric. They’ve been washed white, have frayed edges, and even had patches sewn on; yet she still wears them out in public. Even the daughters of small families can’t bring themselves to wear their clothes more than a few times. Just look at her, Mother. How can you expect me to walk around with her like that? She may be a member of the Wenren family, but she was raised in the slums and is as ignorant and crude as they come.”

Du Shi sighed inwardly; was her daughter really seeing only this?

Regardless of the girl’s etiquette and clothing, before now, she had been an ordinary person, and they were great nobles to her. Shouldn’t she have trembled with fear, been timid, self-abased, and cowardly? In fact, she was neither humble nor arrogant, and her manners had been decent. Even though she was dressed shabbily, people would not really look down on her. When she entered the Wenren mansion, her eyes were calm, and she didn’t even look surprised. Only the fourth brother’s stupid wife had been unruly, and was asking to be punished.

Du Shi explained this to her in detail, “So don’t underestimate your fourth older sister, and besides, manners can be learned, and clothes and such. Since she is already back, what can your aunt do without her? On the contrary, after being absent for more than ten years, your aunt will only treat her even better. She’s just come back, and she’s not familiar with the place, so she’s nervous. If you get close to her, she’ll be happy, and then your uncle and aunt will be happy too. Your half-brother, who’s not a legitimate son, is dull and has no future, and your father doesn’t pay much attention to him or spend much time teaching him, so in the future when you marry, you’ll still be dependent on your aunt’s family, and not your father’s.”