Caught Off Guard
After hearing this, Shen Taohua didn’t feel the least bit surprised.
On the contrary, Ping’an became somewhat excited. “I told you he was all ambition and no ability! How could the Song family all be blind and still support him? See, I was right!”
Shen Taohua nodded.
Mother Song was indeed blindly confident that her son would surely top the imperial examinations, but the eldest branch of the Song family was clearly much more realistic.
On the surface, the eldest son’s couple did hard labor and embroidery work, and the money they earned from washing clothes for others all went to Mother Song for Song Fugui’s studies. In reality, Liu Mao had found several people who had seen the eldest Song brother or the Song daughter-in-law secretly taking their daughter out to eat meat buns.
If they hadn’t hidden private savings, how could a family of three be secretly eating extra food on the side?
It was clear that the eldest branch of the Song family also had their own calculations.
Thinking about it, it made sense. Song Fugui had already failed the imperial exams twice, did they really expect Song’s eldest brother to believe his younger brother was some heavenly genius descended from the Literary Star? Don’t be ridiculous.
Even if they could benefit in the future, who knew how long that “future” would take?
Should they have to sacrifice their present meals just for a future that might never come?
Besides, there was no certainty they would ever benefit at all, wouldn’t all their present suffering then be wasted?
No one was foolish enough to leave themselves without any fallback.
The worse off people were, the more realistic they tended to be.
Talk of ideals and empty promises meant nothing; only tangible benefits mattered.
At the end of the day, people care most about themselves.
Just like how Song Fugui believed his entire family fully supported him, it was nothing more than a self-soothing illusion he created so he could accept the fact that his family was suffering to fulfill his ambitions.
Aside from that, one of Wen Tie’s subordinates had also managed to find the manor guards and asked them to pass on a message.
This subordinate lived right next door to the Song family, so he had easily overheard them discussing how, once Shen Taohua married in, they would control her dowry, what they would buy for the family with it, and how they would “teach her to be a proper obedient daughter-in-law,” and so on.
Shen Taohua only laughed coldly upon hearing this.
Previously, out of consideration for her mother, she hadn’t made things difficult for Song Fugui. But now, she had changed her mind.
After Liu Mao relayed the message that Shen Taohua wanted to meet Song Fugui again, Mother Song, who had already started feeling uneasy, was instantly energized.
She clapped her thigh and said, “I told you, no one can resist my son’s charm!”
Song Fugui, who had originally been somewhat uneasy, also relaxed his brows.
Earlier, he had vaguely felt that Shen Taohua looked down on him a little, but since she had invited him out again, it must have just been his misunderstanding.
As his mother said, he was so outstanding, how could Miss Shen possibly look down on him?
With the thought that things were already halfway settled and that Shen Taohua was already essentially his future wife, when he arrived at the restaurant and saw that she had ordered another full table of dishes, he couldn’t help but start commenting while eating.
“You ordered so much last time and didn’t finish it. How can you spend so extravagantly again? Do you know that every grain farmers plant comes from hard labor? Even if the Shen family has money, you shouldn’t waste it like this.”
Shen Taohua: “?”
She thought to herself: I haven’t even started yet, and you’re already acting up?
I’m a landlord’s daughter, wouldn’t I know how hard farming is?
If I can’t finish the food, I’ll pack it up and take it home. How is that wasteful?
Last time, I even let him take the leftovers because I considered his family’s poverty, he already benefited from it, and now he’s here preaching?
She let out a cold laugh. “My father doesn’t even think I’m wasting money, what right do you have to lecture me? Are you my long-lost father or something, to be meddling this much?”
Song Fugui froze on the spot.
Shen Taohua continued, “I’m not spending your silver, and our marriage isn’t even settled yet, you’re already worrying about the Shen family’s money? Aren’t you a little too eager?”
Song Fugui’s face immediately flushed red. “Miss Shen, you’ve misunderstood. That’s not what I meant.”
With a “bang,” Shen Taohua put down her chopsticks.
“I don’t care what you meant. I just like ordering this much, so what? My family has money, and I have the ability to enjoy good food and drink. Why shouldn’t I? My father worked hard to build this fortune, not so I could live on plain tea and coarse meals.”
The nearby diners, who had been listening in, subconsciously nodded.
That did make sense.
If they had the Shen family’s wealth, they’d also order a full table of fine dishes every time, no hesitation, just “not short on money.”
Song Fugui’s face darkened from being refuted.
Shen Taohua glanced at him and snorted. “Forget it, let’s talk business. Last time I forgot to ask you, if this marriage actually happens, will I have to do housework in your family?”
Song Fugui nodded as if it were only natural. “Of course. My mother and elder sister-in-law have been managing the household all along and have worked very hard. Since you become a daughter-in-law of the Song family, you should naturally help share the burden of serving your mother-in-law and sister-in-law.”
Shen Taohua let out a knowing “heh.”
“So what you’re saying is, once I enter your household, I stop being a pampered young lady and become someone who serves others instead?”
Song Fugui frowned. “A woman serving her mother-in-law after marriage is only proper and natural.”
After speaking, he suddenly thought that since Shen Taohua had been raised in luxury since childhood, she might not be able to endure hardship. So, as if making a concession, he said, “Once I pass the imperial exams, I’ll buy a few more servants to help with chores so it won’t be too hard on you.”
Again with “after I pass the exams.”
Shen Taohua asked directly, “You keep saying ‘after I pass the exams this and that’, are you really that confident you’ll definitely pass?”
Song Fugui straightened his posture and said proudly, “I study diligently every day. Heaven rewards hard work. Effort will naturally be rewarded. My mother also says I have talent, I’ve loved reading since I was a child—”
Shen Taohua interrupted him. “So your mother says you have talent and you just believe it? Of course she wouldn’t call her own son useless. She praises you a couple of times with her eyes closed and you lose yourself completely, you don’t even know your own worth anymore, do you?”
Song Fugui’s expression darkened as he retorted, “The imperial exams are not something you can pass overnight. Many people study until their hair turns white and still don’t give up—”
Shen Taohua cut in, “If you can’t pass, then you can’t pass. Don’t make excuses. Do you know what that’s called? Overestimating yourself and underestimating your ability. Big ambitions, small talent. Shooting too high…”
“Hiss—”
The diners around them, who had been eavesdropping, drew in sharp breaths. She really wasn’t holding back at all.
Shen Taohua continued sharply, “Studying until your hair turns white? So marrying you means I should be mentally prepared to suffer until I’m on my deathbed without ever enjoying a good life?”
Before Song Fugui could argue again, she nodded and added, “But then again, if you don’t fail seven, eight, nine or ten times, how would you even know how incapable you really are?”
Song Fugui finally exploded, standing up abruptly in anger and humiliation. “Miss Shen, why do you have to humiliate me like this? In the end, you’re nothing more than someone who covets wealth and pleasure and looks down on the poor!”
Shen Taohua did not deny it. “Who would willingly suffer if they could enjoy a good life? Especially when I already have money.”
The diners nodded in agreement.
True enough. Making money was for enjoying life, after all.
Song Fugui trembled with anger. “You are vulgar! Covered in the stench of copper coins!”
Shen Taohua laughed. “As if your studies don’t cost money. Do you think that by saying scholars shouldn’t talk about money, you can ignore the fact that your own incompetence forces your family to tighten their belts and live on coarse food every day? And then feel at ease about it?”
“Everyone already knows your family, before even marrying in, was planning how to use my dowry, buy a big house, eat and drink well every day, and even set rules for me? You think I’m here to be disrespected by you?”
What was even more ridiculous was that, according to the system’s information, given his family’s debts and his two consecutive failures in the exams, Song Fugui actually had a hobby of visiting brothels, utterly outrageous.
Song Fugui’s expression changed drastically. “How do you know all this?!”
Then realizing he had slipped up, he quickly pressed his lips together. “That’s a misunderstanding. Don’t believe slander from others.”
Shen Taohua said coolly, “Whether it’s slander or not, you know best. You accuse others of being money-obsessed, but in the end, the most foul-minded ones are your own family. And yes, the imperial exams might take years and years to change one’s fate, but marrying a wealthy wife lets you skip twenty years of struggle. Who wouldn’t be delighted by that?”
The surrounding diners’ expressions turned subtle.
Everyone knew marrying into the Shen family meant skipping twenty years of struggle, but no one expected the person involved to say it so directly.
Shen Taohua spoke bluntly: “It’s a pity you want to leap straight to success while I refuse to be the sucker footing the bill for your whole family. Don’t talk to me about ‘sharing hardship and prosperity as husband and wife’, I’m a vulgar person. I can only share prosperity, not hardship. My dowry is mine. I won’t give it away, and no one should even think about taking it!”
Song Fugui, now agitated, couldn’t help but point at her and criticize her loudly: “How can a person be so vulgar and shallow in life, seeing only money with no higher aspirations at all!
And don’t just criticize me, you should look at yourself too! As a woman, once you marry you should bear children for your husband’s family and properly manage the household. That is your duty. Yet you’re always out in public showing your face—”
Shen Taohua shot back, “Then scholars obtaining office through the imperial exams is also their duty, so why have you failed the exams several times and still can’t even become a xiucai? Didn’t you just not want to?”
Song Fugui: “!!!”
The surrounding gossiping diners: “Pfft.”
That was a verbal killing blow.
Shen Taohua proudly put her hands on her hips. “Besides, what’s wrong with not having ambitions? I have servants to serve me, food brought to me, I earn over a hundred taels a month effortlessly, my parents dote on me, and everything in the Shen family will belong to me in the future. You could say I’m so ‘poor’ that all I have left is money. What more could I possibly want?
Sometimes I also think this kind of life without any challenge is boring and dull, but what can I do? People can’t choose their birth.”
Song Fugui: “!”
The gossiping diners: “!”
Damn it!
She really showed off!
They also wanted such a boring life!
If she didn’t want it, they did!
Once you’re living like that, what more do you even need to strive for?
Isn’t the point of life just to eat well and live comfortably?
Song Fugui imagined the life she had just described, and completely broke down.
At this point, he finally realized he had been wrong from the beginning. Shen Taohua had never intended to go through with anything with him at all!
But if that was the case, why had she specifically invited him out to meet?
Was it just to humiliate him?
He couldn’t help but ask the question in his mind.
Shen Taohua replied matter-of-factly, “Your family was already eyeing my dowry and trying to control me, am I not allowed a little verbal retaliation?”
Song Fugui’s face turned pale with anger. “You, you, truly are a woman and a petty person that are hard to deal with!”
After saying that, he turned around furiously, ready to leave.
Shen Taohua quickly said, “Wait! Don’t go yet!”