Phi-Fic Chapter 516: Because of Pawning My Wife
Chapter 516: Because of Pawning My Wife
The Tenth Lady shook her head. "I don't know, but when I went to Xianfu Palace, I once saw Concubine Wang looking at Su Da Ying with a look that was not quite...how should I put it, it made me feel very cold."
"Noble Lady Wang? Noble Lady Wang of Qixiang Palace? The biological mother of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Princes?" Wen Yao looked at the Tenth Lady, then shook her head, "Maybe she was a little jealous because she saw that Su Da Ying had snatched her favor, but she is the biological mother of two princes, she wouldn't be so irrational, it wouldn't be her."
This Wang had indeed harmed someone before, but that person had long been sent to the cold palace and died of illness three months ago. However, the emperor conferred her the title of noble lady and buried her, which was also a warning to Wang. Wang had guessed that what she had done had been exposed, so for the sake of the two princes, she would not do it again.
"Concubine Xuan's mother said that Su Da Ying had actually hinted before that she hoped to give birth to a princess and let Concubine Xuan raise her. But this time, a prince was born. Su Da Ying seemed very happy, but Concubine Xuan said that she was not happy." The Tenth Lady didn't understand why she was unhappy. It doesn't matter whether it's a daughter or a son, they are both hers, what's the difference?
"The Eighteenth Prince is now being raised by Concubine Cheng," Nanny Cui He selected two cups of black tea for the two of them and spoke respectfully in a low voice.
The Tenth Lady was a little stunned and looked at Nanny Cui He, "Isn't this normal? In the Qing Dynasty, only concubines and above can raise their own children?" In order to understand all kinds of gossip, she worked hard to learn many rules of the Qing Dynasty.
"It has little to do with this. Concubine Cheng has already made it clear that she will not stop Su Ying from seeing the Eighteenth Prince, and has even agreed to let Su Ying raise the child until he is one year old. The reason why Su Ying is unhappy is actually for her sister, who was born to the same mother. Her biological mother is dead, and now her stepmother is the one who lives here. Her stepmother gave birth to a son, and her position is very stable," Wen Yao sighed heavily as she looked at the teacup in her hand with her eyelids drooped.
In fact, there is a major feudal cancer involved here, and Wen Yao had forgotten about this before!
"What does this have to do with whether she gives birth to a prince or not? Wouldn't it be better for her to have a higher status if she gives birth to a prince, and then benefit her maternal family?" The Tenth Lady was very confused and expressed her incomprehension.
Wen Yao took a sip from the teacup and looked up at the Tenth Lady. "Benefit her mother's family? Perhaps she wants to wipe out her mother's family. She secretly signed up to enter the palace. Do you know who her stepmother married her sister who was born out of the same mother? Do you know that she is also a bannerman? The palace maids who enter the palace are all bannermen, and there will be no ordinary family daughters."
The Tenth Lady speculated, "Marrying down?"
Wen Yao nodded, "Very low, she married the eldest son of a coroner in the county next to theirs. That's not all, that family rented Sister Su to other people, and her sister even came to her parents for help, but unfortunately..."
Wen Yao shook her head, with a hint of anger in her tone, "No one cares, and they say that if you marry a chicken, you follow the chicken, and if you marry a dog, you follow the dog. Your parents can't interfere in your husband's family affairs."
"Wait a minute, I don't understand. What are you renting? Rent her sister? Rent a person? No, rent his wife?" The Tenth Lady didn't understand and widened her eyes. She thought Wen Yao must have said something wrong. "Ninth Sister, did you say something wrong just now?"
"No, they rented her sister. This is common among the people. It's called renting a wife. A wife can be rented to someone else for a few years to have children for that person, but she must return to her husband's home after a few years," Wen Yao said coldly. "After Su promised to become the emperor's concubine, Su promised to arrange for someone to warn her brother-in-law. Soon her sister returned home and compensated the renter twice the money. After all, he was the one who broke the contract."
"It's just that... after returning to her husband's family, Su's sister was not respected by her husband's family. Instead, she was hated by her husband. After all, she had committed suicide with another man... half a year ago." Wen Yao looked at the Tenth Lady, "Su promised to give birth to a daughter, and then bring up the matter of pawning wives, hoping to make pawning wives no longer exist."
"I didn't know about the practice of pawning wives. How could it exist? Doesn't the court care?" The Tenth Lady was also very angry. How could someone treat his wife as a business?
"Pawning wives has existed for a long time, and can even be traced back to the Qin and Han dynasties. However, at that time, there were laws stating that such behavior would be punished, so pawning wives was not made public, but it always happened in private." Wen Yao drank the rest of the tea and handed it to Nanny Cui He. "Pawning wives was really public in the Song and Yuan dynasties. Nowadays, it is not a surprising thing among the people. It just makes many women suffer. They spend the rest of their lives giving birth, and they don't know for whom. After giving birth, they are rented out, and then they continue to give birth."
"I'm so angry! Sister-in-law, I want to help Su Da Ying!" Shi Fu Jin immediately decided, "There's nothing wrong with what Su Da Ying wants to do, it's even a good thing!"
"Do you know that it is not just that? They rent their wives to other people and some even treat them like prostitutes. When one gives birth, they replace her with another. They charge a certain amount of money for each baby, a son, a daughter, and so on." Wen Yao could only say that there was nothing they couldn't do, only she couldn't think of it.
"Bang!" The Tenth Lady slammed the table. "It's already like this, why are you still not doing anything?!"
"But this increases the number of newborns!" Wen Yao chuckled and looked at the sky outside the door. There will always be various reasons to ignore their suffering. Maybe they will even say that sacrificing one will make ten happy. What a good thing!
It's just too ironic.
"In some places, there are chastity arches on one side and pawn houses on the other," Wen Yao said with a more sarcastic smile, "Chastity arches, huh... this is another way to constrain women, Nazi, do you know that if a woman who has been granted a chastity arch is seen having any affair with another man, the only fate waiting for her is death!"
Wen Yao looked at the Tenth Lady, "Don't be angry. If you have heard too many stories like this, getting angry will not help. I am not telling you this to make you feel unfair. You can't get rid of it in a short time. If you speak up, people will say that you are high and mighty and don't understand their suffering."
The Tenth Lady frowned, picked up the teacup and gulped down the tea. "But are we just going to pretend we don't know? I can't bear it any longer."
"Aren't there scholars all over the Qing Dynasty? Sometimes I feel that these scholars are pedantic, but sometimes they are quite useful," Wen Yao looked at the Tenth Lady, "The issue of a woman's innocence can be centered around this aspect, but the issue of the chastity archway."
Wen Yao sighed. She had mentioned it before but there has been no response so far. "The news about Su Da Ying has not spread. If you can't help me, why don't you try to tell Su Da Ying about using the scholars?"
The Tenth Lady's brows relaxed, "Ninth Sister-in-law, your idea is good. We helped, but we didn't get involved. This is good, let's do it this way."