The marriage between Lin Wei and Meng Mingchi was finalized very quickly.
Meng’s father, Meng’s mother, and younger sister Meng Zifang were all beside themselves with joy, eagerly looking forward to the wedding.
With the daughter of such a high-ranking official marrying into their family, just how much dowry would she bring along? The whole family would be able to share the blessings and live well!
Lady Gu was so angry that her chest hurt.
Originally, she had a way to cover up and silence the matter from that day, but that dead girl acted as if she was afraid people wouldn’t know, even exposing her own family name and acting in such a manner…
“Hmph, this mother of hers wasted her worries! Since that dead girl is so insistent, just let her wait! I want to see how she regrets it in the future!”
Being ultimately unwilling to let it go, Lady Gu transferred her anger onto Lin Yulan.
The accident on that day had originally been arranged for Lin Yulan, and those men would have been the same no matter which one Lin Yulan ended up marrying.
Never had she expected that Lin Yulan wouldn’t go, but her own daughter would rush over to throw herself into the mix!
This was simply outrageous!
Since her own daughter’s marriage didn’t turn out well, that little bitch Lin Yulan shouldn’t even think about marrying well either. She would carefully find her an even better family!
When Lady Gu was discussing Lin Yulan’s marriage with her husband Lin Daohui, Lin Wei ran over. With a beaming smile, she said, “Father, Mother, wouldn’t it be wonderful to give that marriage into the Marquis of Wuwei’s Estate to Sister? Then Father and Mother won’t have to worry about Sister’s marriage anymore!”
“How can this be!” Lady Gu glared fiercely at her daughter. “Master, Yulan is a concubine-born daughter after all. How could a dignified Marquis of Wuwei marry a concubine-born daughter as his principal wife? Isn’t this humiliating people? When they get angry later, it won’t be making a match, it’ll be making enemies!”
Lin Wei knew very well in her heart that they wouldn’t mind Lin Yulan being a concubine-born daughter at all.
Shao Xun was called the Marquis of Wuwei, which sounded nice, but both his father and mother had passed away. His grandmother was a stepmother who was wholeheartedly partial to the second branch she had given birth to. Day and night, she conspired with the second branch to seize Shao Xun’s peerage, and she was more than eager for Shao Xun to marry a wife who couldn’t stand on her own, had no background, and lacked status.
“Mother, that’s not how you put it. The marriage between the two families was decided by our departed elders and cannot be changed. Even if Sister is a concubine-born daughter, she is still Father’s daughter and a young lady of the Lin family!”
Seeing her daughter righteously speaking up for that little bitch Lin Yulan, Lady Gu’s chest hurt again. “You shut your mouth!”
Lin Wei curled her lips. “Marrying into the Marquis of Wuwei’s Estate also has benefits for our family!”
“Shut up!”
Lin Wei stubbornly uttered her final sentence: “I believe the Marquis of Wuwei’s Estate also respects the wishes of the deceased. Father might as well ask the Marquis’s Estate first.”
Lady Gu was glaring so hard she was too angry to speak.
Lin Daohui stroked his mustache, nodded, and pondered, looking quite approving: “Wei’er has indeed become sensible and improved a lot. Her analysis makes a lot of sense.”
What sense did it make!
Lady Gu gritted her teeth.
In the end, Lin Daohui couldn’t bear to let go of such a good marriage into the Marquis of Wuwei’s Estate, and decided to negotiate further.
The old dowager of the Marquis of Wuwei’s Estate smiled and stated that the marriage between the two families could not be changed. The Marquis’s Estate trusted the family reputation of the Lin family, and even if the one marrying over was a concubine-born daughter, she would definitely be a good girl!
Lin Daohui was overjoyed and, upon returning, praised the Marquis of Wuwei’s Estate to the high heavens.
What a reasonable and kind family!
Lady Gu was extremely sour. “Hmph, if you ask me, it’s also because that Marquis of Wuwei is an unprincipled scoundrel who spends all day cockfighting and dog-racing without doing any proper work; otherwise, this marriage might not have succeeded.”
Lin Daohui was displeased. “Didn’t you say before that the Marquis is young after all, and public opinion is a fearful thing—rumors flying back and forth might not be true? Once he marries a wife and has children, he will naturally improve slowly.”
Lady Gu retorted, “That was because Wei’er is intelligent and a legitimate daughter, so the Marquis would naturally respect her and listen to her advice. Now that a concubine-born daughter has been substituted to marry over—heh, who knows what will happen!”
Lin Daohui grew somewhat angry. “Having such a marital alliance also benefits our family. Not to mention anything else, you should think more about Mohan. Since the Marquis of Wuwei’s Estate is so magnanimous and kind, our family cannot let others look down upon us either. This marriage must be handled splendidly and with dignity, without any mistakes.”
Lin Mohan was the only son of Lin Daohui and Lady Gu, and the brother of Lin Yulan and Lin Wei.
Hearing his son mentioned, Lady Gu’s expression softened slightly. Matters had reached this point, and this marriage had to go through no matter what.
However, she would not let that little bitch Lin Yulan be smug; at least regarding the dowry, she shouldn’t even think about taking the slightest advantage!
Meanwhile, Lin Yulan also learned about the matter.
After hearing the maid Xiaoqu finish recounting it, Lin Yulan felt it was completely absurd.
Living her life over again, she had actually swapped marriages with her legitimate younger sister?
It was one thing for Lin Wei to impatiently “snatch” that ungrateful wolf of a man, but she had actually managed to persuade Lady Gu to give “such a good” marriage to her?
Lin Yulan thought to herself that her legitimate younger sister had truly put in painstaking effort and must have plotted quite a bit.
After thinking it over carefully, Lin Yulan’s heart gradually settled down as well.
If so, this was for the best.
Lady Gu wouldn’t find her anything good anyway; by comparison, this was preferable.
Of course she knew the Marquis of Wuwei’s Estate was also chaotic, but could it possibly be any more chaotic than the Duke of Rongguo’s Estate?
Even if the Marquis was a dissolute scoundrel, it didn’t matter—she would just keep her distance from him, and they could live in peace without bothering each other.
As for the old dowager and the second branch, she would keep her distance from them as well. What they wanted was the peerage, which had nothing to do with her. She wouldn’t be foolish enough to charge into battle on the front lines to fight for the Marquis’s peerage.
In this lifetime, she would peacefully wait until the Marquis passed away, and then request to retire to a country estate to spend the rest of her days. At the estate, the mountains were high and the Emperor was far away; whether to stay or go then would be a matter for another day.
As long as she had silver in her hands, that was all that mattered.
Therefore, the betrothal gifts from the Marquis of Wuwei’s Estate—she was determined to have them!
And as for the dowry from the Lin family, she would fight for as much as she could, and she wouldn’t show any softness.
“Congratulations, Sister, congratulations! Next month, Sister will marry the Marquis and become the Marchioness! Once Sister marries over, you must remember Younger Sister’s kindness. This is a good marriage that Younger Sister managed to persuade Father and Mother to give to Sister after much difficulty!”
With the major matter settled, Lin Wei immediately ran over to flaunt her dominance.
A thought stirred in Lin Yulan’s heart, and her expression immediately turned somewhat poor. “I’ve inquired about it; that Marquis of Wuwei is simply a dissolute scoundrel. No wonder you wanted to pass this marriage on to me.”
Lin Wei bit her lip and smiled cheerfully. “A dissolute scoundrel, so what? He’s still a Marquis after all. For him to match a concubine-born daughter like Sister is already Sister aiming too high. What more could Sister be dissatisfied with?”
“But this marriage was originally yours!”
“Sister, don’t talk nonsense! It hadn’t been finalized before, so it doesn’t count.”
“No, I just feel that this marriage should have been yours.” Lin Yulan seemed to tremble with anger. “I feel I shouldn’t marry him; our marriages should have been swapped instead.”
“Don’t you dare!” Lin Wei’s expression changed, and she became panicked and exasperated. “Lin Yulan, do you have any shame? Big Brother Meng set his sights on me!”
Lin Wei panicked somewhat.
Since she herself could be reborn, it wasn’t impossible for Lin Yulan to have some intuition about the marriage that originally belonged to her.
Otherwise, there was no way to explain why Lin Yulan—who had always been silent, submissive, and dared neither to resist nor contend in front of her—would suddenly have the courage to say such words to her.
What if heaven’s will was hard to defy, and the heavens didn’t allow her to swap marriages?
What if there were other variables afterwards?
No, she absolutely wouldn’t allow it!