Transmigration: From Farmer To Empress
Chapter 850 - 852 Bridal Gifts (5)

Chapter 850: Chapter 852 Bridal Gifts (5)

Miss Du Wanqiu always held herself in high esteem, believing only men like King Qin and Huo Yuan, who had talent, looks, and status, were worthy of her. That was why she remained unmarried at seventeen. The gap between Jin Dapeng and King Qin Huo Yuan was not just a matter of one or two grades; even if Jin Dapeng hadn’t been castrated, she would never marry him, let alone now that he had become a notorious eunuch known throughout the whole capital. Therefore, no matter what means she must employ, she had to escape!

Arguably, when the eldest daughter of the home was to be married, Lady Guo should have wholeheartedly taken care of her daughter’s marriage affairs. However, ever since her eldest son and grandson had passed away, and the Second Young Master had mysteriously been made impotent, Lady Guo fell ill. Her illness became grave, leaving her gasping for breath, unable to speak, and incapable of managing her daughter’s marriage.

Old Madame Wang was now bedridden with paralysis and completely useless. With no one else to take charge in the house, Du Ruohai decided to handle Miss Du Wanqiu’s marriage, entrusting Second Lady Wang with the arrangements.

Second Lady Wang never got along with the main branch, so why would she help earnestly? She was only thinking about how to skim some benefits for herself. Thus, using the excuse that the family had just held a funeral, she claimed it wouldn’t be proper to make the wedding too extravagant. Consequently, everything was done half-heartedly, with the dowry procession totaling only thirty-two bearers, most of whom carried old items from storage to make up the numbers. Even the chambermaids included in the dowry were not purchased from outside; instead, several older girls who served beside Miss Du Wanqiu were made to fill in.

Miss Du Wanqiu had never intended to marry Jin Dapeng; naturally, she was indifferent to matters of the dowry and chambermaids. However, her indifference did not mean others would overlook it.

The main branch of the family, besides Miss Du Wanqiu, also included a legitimate daughter, Miss Du Wanying, who was only fourteen years old but famously unruly. She had never approved of Second Lady Wang managing Central Distributions, and now that the second room was handling her older sister’s dowry, Miss Du Wanying kept a close eye on matters and secretly learned the details of her sister’s dowry list.

When she discovered that Lady Wang had provided her older sister with mostly old and unused items from storage, she flew into a rage!

The bridal gifts involved in a bride’s dowry reflect her future status in her mother-in-law’s house. Brides with meager dowries are despised, and their family’s reputation similarly suffers. Miss Du Wanying didn’t care whether her sister would be scorned or whether the Duke An’s Mansion would suffer in reputation. What mattered to her was that due to her sister’s scanty dowry, people might think the main branch couldn’t provide a respectable dowry and be deterred from proposing marriage to her. Therefore, she was determined not only to fight for her sister’s dowry but also to ensure her sister was married off in style and grandeur!

As for whom her sister was marrying and whether she would find happiness in the future, that was beyond her scope of concern...

According to the rules of Duke An’s Mansion, when you are married, the dowry shall be provided half by the public fund and half by the private fund of the family, meaning that half of Miss Du Wanqiu’s dowry would come from the Duke An’s state coffers, and the other half from their main branch.

Miss Du Wanqiu’s dowry had been prepared by Lady Guo four or five years earlier and had been stored at home ever since. Although not extravagantly luxurious, it was definitely befitting of a daughter of Duke An’s Mansion; however, the portion of the dowry coming from the public fund had its secrets.

For example, twenty sets of clothes for each of the four seasons. Although the public fund made no mistakes in the quantity, the quality of the eighty sets of clothes was highly questionable. The fabric used, old satin that had been stored for ten or twenty years, was not only outdated in pattern but also faded. They looked worn, hardly resembling the bridal clothes of a new bride.

Then there was the matter of the bridal shop. Every legitimate daughter of Duke An’s Mansion took with her a manor and a shop when she married. The shop included in her sister’s dowry was a soybean oil workshop on the outskirts of the city. Despite the workshop’s considerable size and dimensions, properties on the outskirts were essentially worthless. The entire workshop, including land and buildings, was worth less than five thousand taels.