Take the Father Out, Keep the Child
After once again ruining a matchmaking meeting, the couple Shen Feibai and Xiao Qingqing did not get angry.
They had already anticipated that the Song family was poor and that in the future they would inevitably need to support them to some extent. But before the marriage was even settled, the whole family had already swollen with arrogance and even arranged for the yet-unreceived dowry with complete confidence. That was simply pure provocation.
Even though Master Shen had recently been troubled by his daughter’s bizarre “Three Obediences and Four Virtues” scheme, he would still never allow her to marry such a hopeless failure.
After cursing the Song family’s delusions, Shen Feibai secretly felt a bit pleased as well.
He had always said that good sons-in-law were not so easy to find. When he previously asked around and people said his judgment was poor, now even the matchmaker his wife had found turned out to be unreliable too!
So clearly it wasn’t his problem, it was just that young men nowadays were generally no good!
Xiao Qingqing immediately saw through her husband’s thoughts. While speechless, she also felt somewhat troubled.
If she weren’t so concerned about their daughter’s marriage, she truly would not have realized how difficult it was to find a reliable man.
Although her “Yao Yao” was indeed a bit picky, her standards were reasonable.
The earlier match candidates all had flaws that were more or less unacceptable. Others, when encountering such flaws, would simply accept them as normal, thinking everyone lived that way and therefore endure it.
But who ever said one must force oneself to accept that?
Accepting it does not magically turn those people into suitable matches.
The result of acceptance might simply be a lifetime of unhappiness.
Compared to that, her husband Shen Feibai not only lacked those bad habits but was also willing to tolerate her indulging their daughter’s “Three Obediences and Four Virtues” nonsense. That made him seem all the more precious.
Thinking of this, Xiao Qingqing’s gaze toward Shen Feibai softened considerably.
Shen Feibai had always been attentive to his wife, and he quickly noticed this change. He was both puzzled and pleasantly surprised.
However, the next question from Shen Taohua immediately drew the couple’s attention again.
Shen Taohua said, “…Father, give me a straight answer. Why are you so eager to marry me off? The official arranged marriage age is twenty-five anyway. Our family isn’t short of money to pay the penalty. Can’t you let me enjoy a few more carefree years?”
Shen Feibai coughed lightly. “Since you’re asking, there’s nothing I can’t tell you. A couple of years ago when I was collecting rent in the countryside, I met a fortune-teller. He not only accurately described my past experiences but also knew we had you, our precious daughter. He said it would be best to marry you off before you turn eighteen, otherwise something very bad might happen.”
Shen Taohua took a sharp breath.
That’s it? That’s all!?
She laughed in anger. “You go collecting rent every year. Everyone around here knows our family background. What fortune-teller? I think he was just a scammer! And you actually believed him? Father, don’t be ridiculous!”
“Do you really think I staying at home would harm the Shen family’s interests? Then I’ll leave?”
Shen Feibai immediately objected. “Of course I don’t believe that. It’s just that, without that fortune-teller’s words, you also couldn’t possibly remain unmarried for your entire life.”
He glanced at his daughter, who was in the prime of her youth, and said earnestly, “Right now you can act willfully because your mother and I indulge you. But what about when we grow old? With so much wealth in the family, people will inevitably set their sights on it. If you don’t have a reliable man to stand in front of you then, you’ll be eaten alive without even leaving bones behind.”
At this moment, Xiao Qingqing also said gently, “Everything your father and I are doing is so that in the second half of your life, when we can no longer take care of you, you can still live as carefree and happy as you do now.”
Shen Taohua felt a pang in her heart. “You’re both still young. You can stay with me for a long time. There’s no need to rush this.”
Shen Feibai snorted unhappily. “If we wait until we’re too old to plan for you, it’ll already be too late.”
Shen Taohua pouted. In the end, it all came down to the fact that she was a woman and couldn’t hold up the family, didn’t it?
She simply gave up resisting and said, “Then why not take in a son-in-law? No matter what kind of man you find, there are always risks and concerns. At least with a live-in son-in-law, he’d be under our watch.”
Xiao Qingqing shook her head. “Taking in a son-in-law may not be suitable either.”
Shen Feibai looked at her with a “you’re too naive” expression. “Truly ambitious and capable men would never agree to live as a son-in-law. Those who are willing are usually those who don’t want to work hard and just want an easy life off a woman. How many of those can be any good?”
A man has pride. Even if he willingly becomes a live-in son-in-law at first, over time he will inevitably feel resentful about being suppressed by his wife’s family.
Especially since the children wouldn’t even take his surname, how could he possibly stay comfortable with that?
One or two years might be tolerable, but what about five or ten years?
When the parents are still alive, he might suppress it and endure it. But once they are gone and he’s finally “freed,” wouldn’t he erupt completely?
At that point, if he grew to resent even the children because they bore the Shen surname, seeing them as proof of his humiliation, what if he decided to take another wife and have new children? Wouldn’t their daughter become an eyesore?
After Shen Feibai laid out his reasoning, Xiao Qingqing’s brows immediately furrowed.
Shen Taohua, meanwhile, gave a thumbs-up. “As expected of someone experienced. You’ve really thought this through.”
These scenarios were indeed very possible, one could even say eight out of ten live-in sons-in-law might end up like that.
She couldn’t possibly gamble her marriage on the small chance of one or two good outcomes.
That was also why she had never suggested taking in a son-in-law before.
However…
Shen Taohua’s eyes shifted. “You can’t judge a book by its cover. Even if a son-in-law behaves well, we can’t know whether it’s real or just an act. In that case, why not cut the problem off at its root and solve it from the source?”
The Shen couple looked confused. “Solve it from the source? How?”
Shen Taohua smiled slyly and said something shocking: “Of course, eliminate the father, keep the child!”
Shen Feibai: “……”
Xiao Qingqing: “……”
Shen Feibai: “!!!”
Xiao Qingqing: “!!!”
After processing what she had said, Shen Feibai drew a sharp breath and looked horrified. “What nonsense are you talking about? ‘Eliminate the father, keep the child’? Our Shen family is a proper household!”
Shen Taohua spread her hands. “Throughout history, whether in imperial palaces or noble households, there’s always been the practice of eliminating the mother to keep the child. What’s wrong with me doing ‘eliminate the father, keep the child’? It’s perfectly reasonable!”
Shen Feibai gritted his teeth. “Don’t even think about it! If you really cause a life to be lost, the Shen family won’t be able to survive in this city ever again!”
Shen Taohua simply slumped back into her chair in defeat. “Then I’ll just stay single. That works fine for me.”
Xiao Qingqing pressed her hand to her forehead in headache. “And what about children? Without children, who will take care of you in your old age?”
Shen Taohua immediately replied, “As the ancients said, ‘Children and grandchildren have their own blessings; without children and grandchildren, I enjoy my own blessings.’ Why do I need children? A free and happy life doesn’t require them!”
Shen Feibai said angrily, “What twisted logic is that? ‘The ancients said’? Which ancient person said that? Don’t tell me this so-called ancient just happens to have the surname Shen and be called Taohua?”
Shen Taohua chuckled. “No, it was just some anonymous person. But look at how much you two worry about me every day, doesn’t it sound quite reasonable?”
The couple, about to refute her, exchanged a look and were instantly rendered speechless.
The discussion about taking in a son-in-law ultimately fizzled out, but Shen Taohua’s matchmaking journey did not stop, in fact, it showed signs of intensifying.
After sending away yet another match candidate, Shen Taohua collapsed onto the tea table like a pile of soft mud, her whole body radiating a gloomy, heavy aura that made the surrounding customers subconsciously move further away.
“If you don’t agree to my conditions, this is what you get, endlessly running around on matchmaking meetings. Do you regret your decision now?”
Shen Taohua lifted her head to glance at the person who had suddenly appeared—Xue Yutang, and then flopped back down again. “Not at all. The others aren’t suitable, and you’re not any better.”
Xue Yutang gave a light snort. “If you truly want to marry, you can always manage it. You simply don’t want to.”
Shen Taohua didn’t even lift her head. “I already said I don’t want to. Do I need you to tell me that? I’m already annoyed, stop making sarcastic remarks. You think everyone is like you, not getting married yet still enjoying yourself with a whole bunch of beautiful companions?”
“You’ve got that wrong,” Xue Yutang said as he sat down across from her. “I have my own troubles too. Do you think having many beauties is a good thing? There are more people to please, which means more spending. Do you know I often have to tighten my belt just so I don’t lose face in front of them?”
Only then did Shen Taohua sit up again, a gleeful expression on her face. “Tsk tsk, that ridiculous male pride, suffering just for appearances. Why bother?”
Xue Yutang said, “Even though it costs money to please beauties, at least I get to admire many of them without being responsible for any of them! Compared to hanging myself on one tree, I’d rather keep things as they are. But you, haven’t your matchmaking meetings been even more frequent lately?”
In recent days, he had heard more than one person say they had seen her meeting people in teahouses and restaurants, and every description involved a different man.
Shen Taohua wore a deeply distressed expression. “It’s just that my father is afraid I—”
Seeing her suddenly cut herself off, Xue Yutang pressed, “Afraid you what?”
Shen Taohua pouted. “Nothing.”
How could she say her father was afraid she would be forced, out of desperation, to go down the ‘eliminate the father, keep the child’ route of taking in a son-in-law?
Sigh.
She really shouldn’t have said it in the first place.
Now look at what happened, before, after one failed meeting, there would at least be a gap of three to five days before the next match. Now she was basically seeing one person a day, and they didn’t even wait to see if the previous one had worked out before moving on to the next. Sometimes it got so frantic it felt like she was attending performances, one in the morning and another in the afternoon.
Shen Taohua looked utterly tormented.
Even a millstone donkey wasn’t worked this hard.
She asked a soul-searching question: “Why do people have to get married at all? If you don’t get married, will you die? Those who want to marry should just go ahead and do it, and those who want freedom should be allowed to fly freely, wouldn’t that be great?”
Xue Yutang nodded in deep agreement. “Exactly.”
The two looked at each other, sharing the same exhaustion and utter lack of will to live.
Shen Taohua: “Sigh.”
Xue Yutang: “Sigh.”