Reborn as the Crippled King's Beloved-Chapter 160 - : Filial Piety Heavily Oppresses Murong Man

Chapter 160 -160: Filial Piety Heavily Oppresses Murong Man

Second Lady and Third Lady were kicking up a fuss, refusing to agree to the annulment of the marriage, spouting all sorts of unpleasant words.

They had already been upset and angry due to the sudden turn of events.

In truth, they wanted to scold Murong Man even more because it was their eldest branch that got into trouble, and because of Lady Wang’s vile actions, the second and third branches were implicated.

But since Murong Man had gained the favor of the Second Prince and was to become a concubine of his, how dared they offend her?

Yet they hadn’t expected that the previously agreed upon marriage would suddenly be annulled. This caused all their pent-up fury to burst forth, and when they hurled insults, there was a meaning of cursing by implication.

The servant boys from other families found their faces growing uglier as they listened to them being called “dog slaves” repeatedly.

One of the servant boys from the Chen Family sneered, saying:

“We may be dog slaves, but what does that make your Murong Family? Now in Capital City, who doesn’t know Lady Wang is full of evil and awaits execution after the autumn, and your family has been raided to the point where you can’t even produce a single coin from your pockets? You’re even worse off than this slave of mine! Besides, my family has a clear and clean lineage!”

After speaking, the servant boy threw the token on the ground and walked away without looking back.

The other servant boys also scoffed a few times, dropped their tokens, and added, “You’re no longer worthy to aspire to marry our young masters. Better to know your place.”

It wasn’t just Second Lady and Third Lady who had unsightly expressions—Murong Man’s face turned extremely ugly as well.

The marriage with the Chen Family and others had only recently been settled precisely because she was bestowed the title of the Second Prince’s Consort; these people all wanted to ingratiate themselves with the Marquis Mansion.

But now they had outright torn off the mask of civility, implying they were afraid of being implicated by the Murong Family.

One could easily imagine how much the reputation of the Murong Family in the Capital City had declined during the course of the day.

So much so that they were unwilling to even consider the feelings of the Second Prince.

Moreover, she wasn’t the Principal Consort but just a Concubine, and with Lady Wang as her infamous mother, her reputation was sure to be far from commendable.

Whatever reputation she had as the talented beauty of the Capital City, the cold Beauty, all of her efforts over the years had been destroyed in a single day.

When people mentioned her, they just thought of her as someone with a vile mother like Lady Wang.

They also thought of her half-sister Fu Baozhu, born of her mother’s secret affair with the steward!

Murong Man’s hands hidden in her sleeves were trembling slightly.

In a single day, she felt as if she had plummeted from the heavens to the ground.

She wanted to find the Second Prince.

But she was still clear-headed enough to realize that the Second Prince must also be very annoyed at the moment; had Fu Baozhu’s identity not been exposed, the Emperor would have already arranged the marriage for Na Kesi and Fu Baozhu, and the Emperor would have started to doubt General Fu.

She couldn’t seek out the Prince while he was angry. She needed the Prince to see her as pitiful, to bring her to the Second Prince’s Mansion ahead of time.

Murong Man clutched the two hundred taels silver note tightly in her hand, deciding to first purchase a small residence. It was impossible to really let a whole family live in an inn and incur more unnecessary expenses.

She certainly couldn’t afford the houses in the eastern market, where a residence could cost several hundred to a thousand taels, lived in by the nobility. The western market, inhabited by commoners, was comparatively cheaper.

In the end, they did not manage to buy a residence. They spent eighty taels to rent a large house in the western market for three months.

The reason was that there were simply too many of them. The main family members alone totaled dozens, plus those born into servitude amounted to over forty people.

Two hundred taels of silver were not enough to buy a large house that could accommodate so many people.

But although the rented house was large, it paled in comparison to the Marquis Mansion. They were crammed together, not enough beds to sleep in, servants all had to sleep on mats on the floor.

Murong Man decreed that Second Lady and Third Lady should sell all the servants in the mansion, which could probably bring in an extra hundred taels of silver.

After all, a family had to spend money on food and drink.

All the bedding and kitchen utensils must be bought.

Second Lady was the first to disagree, “How can this be! All the servants who didn’t have a service contract have run away, and now we are only left with about ten home-born slaves to serve us. If we sell all of them, who will serve us in the future!”

Third Lady disagreed as well.

Having been served by slaves all their lives, their fingers had never touched spring water, and doing the work themselves was simply impossible.

Murong Man’s expression turned cold:

“Second Aunt, Third Aunt, do you have the money to feed so many mouths? You’ve seen the situation at home. If we don’t unite and work together now, will there ever be a chance to turn things around?”

The two did not dare to say anything in response. Despite the resentment in their hearts, they dared not voice it. After all, with the state of the Marquis Mansion, they had to rely on Murong Man for support in the future.

Second Lady could only reply, “Manman, it’s not that we don’t want to unite and work together, it’s just that we don’t know how to do anything. How about this, we only sell a few slaves, then I will go back to my parents’ home, and Third Aunt will go back too, to see if we can gather some silver.”

Murong Man’s face softened slightly.

However, not long after Second Lady and Third Lady returned to their parental homes, they returned empty-handed.

It turned out that as soon as the Marquis Mansion had begun to decline, the two had frequently visited their parents for handouts, and over the years had taken plenty of silver to cover public debts.

It was only because their fathers and mothers saw them as pitiful that they quietly handed over some silver for them to hide away and secretly spend later.

Murong Man was unaware of their schemes, as she was busy taking care of the Old Madam at the time.

After receiving acupuncture and drinking medicinal soup at the clinic, plus a few more prescribed treatments, it was Murong Man who paid the money for the Old Madam’s return.

The Old Madam seemed to have aged ten years, her face wrinkled and her cloudy eyes filled with a resentful expression.

She cursed Lady Wang incessantly.

All sorts of curses poured out endlessly—the kind filled with vehement detestation.

Murong Man bit her lip, her face alternating between green and white, yet the Old Madam insisted on being served only by her.

“That damned mother of yours has brought so much misery to our Murong family, even the Old Marquis was taken by her schemes. You are her daughter; you should atone for her sins! From now on, should you become the Second Prince’s Concubine, it will be your duty to serve me diligently, as filial piety dictates!”

With one mention of “filial piety,” Murong Man was crushed under its weight.

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She valued her reputation the most and dared not neglect her duty; otherwise, she would have left on her own that very day, unconcerned with the welfare of those left behind.

In the past, the Old Madam had used filial piety to press Murong Jiu into spending money on the Marquis Mansion, and now Murong Man was the one being exploited.

“Grandmother, Lady Wang is not worthy of being my mother. I hate her just as much. Serving you is my willing duty, so please get well soon.”

Murong Man said softly, hoping the Old Madam would not be too harsh on her.

But the Old Madam would not be placated and snorted coldly, “You will soon go to the Second Prince’s Mansion. Do you think once you leave, you won’t have to deal with this mess? Let me tell you, don’t even think about it!”

Murong Man’s face drained of color.

And at that moment, a knocking sound came from outside.

In the Marquis Mansion, the sound from outside the main gate would never reach the master’s residence, but here, in the rented courtyard, even the street vendor’s cries from the alley could be heard.

“Open the door! Open it quickly! I am Fu Baozhu, I’m looking for my sister Murong Man! If you don’t open the door, I’ll stay right here at the doorstep today and not leave!”

The person knocking was none other than Fu Baozhu!

The Old Madam’s teeth clenched in hatred, “Well, well, that little vixen dares to come knocking at our door! Watch me beat her to death!”