bookrandom Chapter 38 Asking for dowry
Chapter 38 Asking for dowry
The Qi family heard from Qi Wan that the second son of the Ding family, together with the third prince, had won a large sum of money from Qi You. They all understood that this was a trap set by the third prince to have leverage over the third wife and make her obey his orders.
Qi Ze said coldly, "I don't know what benefits the Ding family got from this."
Qi Yuan said indignantly: "The Ding family is really a piece of shit. They actually colluded with others to frame their own cousin."
When it comes to the Ding family, Pei doesn't know what to say.
She said, "As soon as the news of the third wife's death reached the capital, the Ding family came to ask for the third wife's things."
Several uncles of the Ding family, along with seven or eight servants, came to the gate of the Qi residence in a threatening manner, shouting, "My sister is dead, return her dowry to us, and give us all the things from the third room."
After hearing the news, Butler Qi immediately rushed to the door, looked at the people from the Ding family, and laughed angrily, "You, the Ding family, are really bold!"
The uncles of the Ding family looked at each other, and one of the older ones stood up and said, "Butler Qi, there is no one in the third house now, so these things should naturally be returned to our Ding family."
"The old lady is still here, what dowry are you asking for?"
Butler Qi waved his hand unceremoniously, "Go, go quickly, or I'll have someone beat you to leave."
"You dare! We go into the mansion to carry things, but if we are late they will move them away." The eldest uncle of the Ding family had a fierce look on his face and wanted to take the lead in rushing into the Qi Mansion to steal things.
Butler Qi raised his voice, "Someone come."
Twenty servants armed with swords rushed out of the mansion.
Butler Qi said, "The old lady is not dead yet. What qualifications do you have to come and ask for things? If you are dissatisfied, go to the government office and file a complaint."
The Ding family realized that they couldn't enter the Qi Mansion and couldn't get anything.
They shouted, "We are going to the other courtyard to see our old aunt."
"My old aunt must have been killed by you. Your Qi family coveted the two dowries from our Ding family."
"It's funny. How much do you have in your Ding family that is worthy of our Qi family's covetousness? The dowry our eldest lady gave her when she married off her eldest maid was much richer than that of your Ding family." The housekeeper laughed.
With a look of disgust on his face, he waved his hand and said, "Go, leave here quickly. If you make trouble again, don't blame me for asking someone to beat you up and leave!"
The people of the Ding family were unwilling to be driven away like this. They tried to argue with Butler Qi, but Butler Qi did not give them any chance and simply had someone push them out the door.
When the people from the Ding family left, they were still cursing. They didn't dare to make trouble at the gate of the Qi Mansion for too long. They couldn't win the argument or the fight, so they could only leave in shame.
When Pei said these words to her husband and sons, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Qi Yuan couldn't hold back any longer after hearing this and laughed out loud, "What dowry does the Ding family have? The Third House's current wealth was all obtained from the greedy Gongzhong and our first and second houses! Ding Shi still has the nerve to ask for it. In my opinion, the Third House's things should be distributed to the servants instead of to the Ding family."
Pei frowned and said hesitantly, "Is this a good idea? After all, they are relatives, so why not just give it all to them."
"I can't give it to them." Qi Wan shook her head and said firmly: "Mom, no matter how much you give them, they won't be satisfied. They will still gossip and scold us. It's better not to give them anything."
She paused for a moment, then suggested a solution: "Aren't the Ding family asking for little Ding's dowry? Well, let them bring the dowry book first, and have the officials from the government office present as witnesses. Then, three people will face off against six people, and we will count according to the dowry book, and we won't give any more."
Qi Ze and Qi Yuan looked at each other, smiled softly, and agreed in unison: "Sister is right."
Qi Lu looked at Qi Wan with satisfaction in his eyes. He nodded slightly, indicating that he agreed with his daughter's statement.
If the Ding family hadn't come to make trouble with such disgrace, the eldest branch of the Qi family would not have wanted anything from the third branch.
Because the accident happened suddenly, only three bodies were found out of the three wives' family of four. The Qi family wanted to do their best to find Qi Jiao's whereabouts, and never thought about dealing with the three wives' dowry.
What if Qi Jiao is still alive?
The third wife’s property should belong to Qi Jiao.
However, when the Ding family heard that Qi Fu's family had died, they did not go to the funeral or ask about the circumstances. Instead, they could not wait to come to the Qi Mansion to demand a dowry, and the relationship between the relatives became bad.
After Qi Lu and his son learned that the Ding family and Qi Fu had joined forces with the third prince to plot against the first and second branches of the Qi family, they gave up their plan to look for Qi Jiao.
The Third House has been acting more and more shamelessly lately, colluding with the Third Prince to destroy Qi Wan's reputation. The Ding family dared to come and take advantage of the Qi family, did they really think the Qi family was a soft persimmon?
The Qi family would not give the Ding family an extra ounce of silver.
Qi Lu said, "Do as A Wan said. Send someone to notify the Ding family, get the dowry book, and invite the government officials to come and count the dowry for little Ding."
"It's better not to have this marriage."
"Yes, I don't want this marriage." Pei raised her head and obeyed her husband's decision.
Qi Wan chuckled. She really wanted to see what the Ding family could gain by fighting for little Ding's dowry.
Housekeeper Qi received the order from the master and sent a servant to the Ding residence to inform him, "Tomorrow afternoon, take the dowry book and ask the officials from the government office to come to the Qi residence together to count the dowry for little Ding."
When the Ding family heard this, they started to make a scene. "How can that be? Our daughter of the Ding family has given birth to children in the Qi Mansion, and how can we only return a small portion of the dowry?"
They know exactly how much dowry a girl in their family gets when she gets married.
The servant of the Qi Mansion said, "If you don't come, we will throw the third lady's dowry to the beggars." After saying that, he ran back.
The young master of the Ding family was left behind, jumping up and down and cursing, "Asshole, how dare the servants of the Qi Mansion insult our Ding family like this."
"Don't worry, I have a good way to clean up the Qi Mansion."
The old lady Yin of the Ding family came up with a good plan for her children and grandchildren, "You should negotiate with the Qi family first, asking them to give us 500,000 taels of silver in addition to returning the dowry."
"If they don't agree, you'll do as I say."
"Mom, what are you talking about?" the eldest son of the Qi family asked hurriedly.
"Your old aunt, the old lady of the Qi family had a stroke and is now recuperating in Dongshan. You said in front of the government officials: The Qi family is unwilling to observe mourning, and the old lady died without announcing the funeral, and lied that she was in Dongshan."
This behavior is a serious crime of filial piety, and the entire Qi family was convicted, which can be said to be a vicious plot.
Uncle Ding asked in confusion: "What if she is not dead?"
"You are so stupid. She is not dead, but she is mad at me!" Madam Ding clapped her hands. "Isn't this a case of death without evidence?!"
Her plan was that the Qi family would never admit that Old Madam Ding was dead, so they would send someone to bring back a living person to prove it.
People from the Ding family would stop the carriage halfway and shout something.
A person who had suffered a stroke, after hearing these words, "Your son was killed by the eldest son of the family, and all your descendants and grandchildren are dead." It would be strange if Da Ding was not angry to death.
After hearing this, the Ding family's children and grandchildren clapped their hands and praised, "Our ancestors are still smart and wise."
This plan kills several birds with one stone. In order to prevent the Ding family from filing a complaint, the eldest branch of the Qi family will pay a huge sum of money to keep the Ding family quiet.
The entire eldest branch of the Qi family has to observe mourning.
In order to prevent the eldest daughter from not being able to get married, the eldest son of the Qi family will marry her off with filial piety. Who else would she marry except the third prince?
The Ding family can also get benefits from the third prince: several men become officials and one woman becomes a concubine.
The next afternoon, a crowd of people gathered outside the gate of Qi's mansion, all of them came to watch the fun.
"Let's see how much dowry the Ding family gave."
"When old Mrs. Ding was still alive, the Ding family couldn't wait to ask for the dowry. I'm afraid they are so poor that they don't even want the marriage with the general's mansion."
An old man stroked his long beard and shook his head, saying, "Whenever this happens, it means that there is a powerful backer."
Many people here asked: "Who is who?"
"Who did you rely on?"
A young man smiled and said, "Do you know about the incident involving the vixen? The girl is the daughter of the Ding family."
Someone who understands said, "Oh, that's how it is."
Some people who don't understand the fox spirit incident pulled others aside and asked, "What is it? Tell me quickly."
Each one only pointed out the direction, not saying who it was, "There was a fox spirit over there in the middle of the night one day."
Later, the news that the Ding family had a daughter given to the third prince as a concubine spread among the wealthy and powerful families.
Soon, more people were sent to watch the Ding family's dowry. Even the crown prince and the second prince sent servants to watch.
All fourteen men from the five branches of the Ding family came, along with more than twenty servants, young and old.
Butler Qi was standing at the door with a dowry book and a team of servants.
A team of officials from the government office arrived.
The leader was Mr. Yuan, who glanced at the people from the Ding family with contempt in his eyes.
Butler Qi bowed and said, "Sir, thank you for your help."
The official smiled at Butler Qi and asked, "Can we start the inventory?"
"Yes, sir."
A servant named Li flipped through the dowry book and began to read: "One willow bed, one willow table, eight quilts, eight wooden boxes..."
Li Yayi thought the same thing, and the people from Qi Mansion carried out an item and placed it in front of the Ding family.
The thin dowry book was read out quickly and the onlookers burst into laughter.
Someone shouted, "It's at most twelve loads of dowry, and there's not even a shop. It's too shabby. Are you asking for this too?"
"Hahaha, it turns out that my dowry of thirty-six loads is several times more than that of the third lady of the Qi family." A woman laughed loudly.
Everyone burst into laughter again, "Hahaha..."
The official said, "Now that the dowry has been counted and taken away, we will go back to report." He turned around and prepared to leave.
Ding Luo, the eldest son of the Ding family, stood up and said loudly, "Wait, don't leave. I have something to say."