CHAPTER 362: CHAPTER 356: I AM THE MARQUIS MANSION DOWAGER 45

Mrs. Song is locked in reflection, no longer able to make decisions on behalf of the second branch.

And Tang Zong is clearly someone who cares about his reputation.

Initially, no one mentioned anything, and both his mother and wife insisted on him staying in the main house, so he was unwilling to complicate matters and just stayed there.

Thinking about it, Tang Zong might have known in his heart that it wasn’t right, but since he was the beneficiary and didn’t have to bear any bad reputation, he just ignored it and pretended he didn’t know.

But now that the cover has been lifted, if he has any shame at all, he should move out quickly.

Tang Bai didn’t mistreat the second branch; he picked a few three-entry houses from those copied, and even paid out of his own pocket to buy Tang Zong a five-entry house, and then asked people from Mr. Tang’s side to discuss dividing the family with the second branch.

He had planned it all along, since Mrs. Song couldn’t come out now, he seized the opportunity to divide the household, and even if Mrs. Song comes out later and causes trouble, it would be too late.

Tang Zong was actually reluctant to divide the family, but Tang Bai said it, and Mr. Tang’s side agreed, so he had no choice but to do so.

The two brothers divided their family quite quickly.

After all, there wasn’t much of value left in the mansion now, the money over the years was almost all spent, the remaining all went to cover debts, only some properties and lands were left.

Tang Bai didn’t say anything about uneven division, he just split equally with Tang Zong.

By doing this, many people in the Capital thought highly of Tang Bai’s generous and kind heart towards his brother.

After dividing the family, Tang Bai seemed more spirited and full of vigor.

He was not a foolish person; if he hadn’t been suppressed by Mrs. Song over the years, he might have made significant accomplishments earlier. Now with the obstacle of Mrs. Song gone, Tang Bai naturally wanted to plan well for his descendants.

He first agreed to Tang Pei’s marriage with Princess Shuhui, then started contemplating picking a suitable husband for Tang Yi, and furthermore, he began sending messages to Tang Baoguo’s branch in Jiangnan, establishing communication between the two branches.

At this time, someone from the Zhang Family arrived.

Ms. Zhang’s older brother, Zhang Duan, couldn’t come because he was on duty, so he sent his wife, Mrs. Liu, with their son.

Mrs. Liu, upon arrival, first wanted to see Mrs. Song.

But Mrs. Song was still in reflection, unable to meet anyone, so Mrs. Liu had no choice but to meet Mrs. Li.

Mrs. Li didn’t beat around the bush, directly throwing evidence in front of Mrs. Liu about how Ms. Zhang had stolen from her husband’s family and poisoned Tang Xu: "Our Old Madam is so upset by this that she can’t get out of bed, and was also unfairly rebuked by the Supreme Empress, becoming utterly confused. Our Master also lost face to meet with the Xu Family due to this marriage connection, even Rong’s reputation has been tarnished because of your Zhang family’s daughter; the harm she has done to our Tang family is quite deep."

Mrs. Liu was truly embarrassed.

She felt ashamed to face the Tang family now.

But she had to speak for Ms. Zhang since it was her sister-in-law, "Indeed, there’s no denying it, but don’t we sometimes overlook certain matters for the sake of others? For Ying’er and Rong, we should try to minimize this issue."

Mrs. Liu had a daughter herself, and she knew if Ms. Zhang’s actions got out, her daughter’s reputation would also be destroyed, ruining her future marital prospects, so all she could do was beg Mrs. Li: "Putting other things aside, our Zhang family has married off so many young ladies, if this issue blows up, none of the Zhang family’s young ladies will be able to live it down, Ms. Zhang did commit a mistake, but others are innocent, please consider our two families’ longstanding friendship and show some leniency."

Of course, Mrs. Liu couldn’t just ask the Tang family to let Ms. Zhang off for nothing.

She whispered softly, "Our master has said, the Zhang family’s connections in the palace can be transferred to the Tang family, which might allow Ying’er to receive the Emperor’s favor and possibly be conferred as a concubine, additionally, our Liu family can also help Tao at the Ministry of Revenue to advance further."

Mrs. Li idly picked at her nails, "Our family already has a Supreme Empress, we don’t want Ying’er getting entangled in the palace again, and also, our second young master is just a lively young boy, being a fifth-rank official is already a blessing from heaven, we dare not think further."

Mrs. Liu’s face almost stiffened.

This Tang family was impervious, neither soft nor hard measures worked; she wondered what she should do.

Mrs. Li didn’t make Mrs. Liu too uncomfortable.

After a while, she said, "We can keep this matter from spreading, but your Zhang family must properly compensate the Xu family. Mr. Xu has some matters in Jiangnan, your Zhang family should help out there, and, our second brother and Ms. Zhang can’t continue their marriage, thinking of the children, instead of discussing divorce, let’s separate their properties and Ms. Zhang moves out, from now on, our Tang family will regard her as non-existent."

"Agreed," Mrs. Liu gritted her teeth.

Mrs. Li smiled, "We can’t leave our second brother’s household without a lady to manage, how about this, we’ll find a side wife to help our second brother manage the family affairs, and your Zhang family should stay out of this."

Mrs. Liu nodded, "Okay."

The two settled the matters and Mrs. Li offered to serve lunch, but Mrs. Liu had no appetite and hurriedly left the Tang family with her son.

Meanwhile, inside the palace, Anning meticulously selected a third-rank general to award in marriage to Tang Ying.

This general was significantly older than Tang Ying, but he had a good character and had not been married before.

Previously, he had been solely focused on battling in the military; later, his parents died in succession and he observed six years of mourning, which delayed his marriage.

This person is also quite self-disciplined, and there are no messy relatives at home, let alone any problematic extortive ones, so Tang Ying could take charge of the household after marrying over, making it quite a decent marriage.

But Ms. Zhang fell out with Tang Ying during the time she was waiting to be married after leaving the palace.

Ms. Zhang had been eagerly hoping that Tang Ying would make something of herself in the palace by climbing up the ranks to become a consort of Emperor Yong Guang and then pull Tang Rong up through her connections, gaining glory for her children and herself once again.

But who would have thought that Tang Ying would just come back so dejectedly.

She only met with Tang Ying once, and mother and daughter ended up quarreling fiercely.

After that, Ms. Zhang angrily moved out of the Tang Family and into a small manor prepared for her by the Zhang Family, determined never to see Tang Ying and Tang Rong again.

Tang Ying cried bitterly once, then calmly prepared for her marriage.

Anning saw that Tang Ying was not as foolish as Ms. Zhang, and moreover, Tang Ying’s appearance reminded her of her deceased eldest son, which made her feel quite compassionate towards her.

She also knew that Ms. Zhang took all the dowry when she left, leaving nothing for Tang Ying, and since Tang Zong had not received much money, he couldn’t afford to provide a rich dowry for Tang Ying, so she decided to prepare a dowry for Tang Ying herself.

Seeing that Anning still cared about Tang Ying, Tang Bai also added to her dowry.

After Tang Ying got married, Zhang Feng’er gave birth to a big plump boy for the main branch, and Tang Bai was overjoyed, grinning all day.

Mrs. Li treated Zhang Feng’er much better afterward.

Then it was time for Tang Pei to marry Princess Shuhui, and Tang Yi also got engaged.

It was Tang Pei who found the match for Tang Yi.

Tang Pei had previously studied at Qingxi Academy and had a good relationship with the two sons of the Mountain Master.

The Mountain Master’s eldest son was already married, and the younger son had not yet been engaged.

Tang Pei really liked the younger son’s character, so he later wrote to him about his younger sister, and after some back and forth, the two families decided on the marriage.

As for Wu Lan, Tang Tao also found a suitable match for her.

This person is from Beijing, orphaned, with only an older sister who was already married.

His brother-in-law and sister are straightforward and loyal people, always helping him, and he himself, unlike those who are idle, often helps in the academy to copy books and earn Silver Tael, though poor, he is quite motivated.

Later, he became a scholar, but still acted very prudently.

After observing this man for a while, Tang Tao talked to Anning about it, and after Anning asked Wu Lan, Wu Lan quietly saw him and agreed.

Later, Tang Tao had someone mediate, and helped Wu Lan and the scholar get acquainted; the scholar also met Wu Lan.

Speaking of which, the younger generation of the Tang Family, whether sons or daughters, were all exceptionally attractive.

Wu Lan, resembling her mother, was no exception, and the scholar fell for her at first sight, although he was only attracted to her looks, Anning knew that Wu Lan was intelligent and capable, and after getting married, she would definitely be able to hold on to her husband, so she wasn’t worried for her.

As for Fan Yaofang and Xu Wan, who were still young, Anning wasn’t in a hurry to marry them off and chose to keep them by her side and educate them herself.

These two girls really resembled Anning the most.

Not only in appearance, but their personalities were also very similar, especially Fan Yaofang, who was resilient and courageous, earning Anning’s great affection.

Anning lived with the Emperor in a garden residence, and she was not idle.

She insisted on the Emperor pulling out flowers in a garden to plant rice, and the two began tending to the crops whenever they were free.

The Emperor enjoyed flamboyance and luxury, with utensils that had to be strikingly colorful.

However, Anning acted stably and liked simple things; her everyday apparel looked very ordinary.

She also didn’t care for gold and silver jewelry and hardly wore any.

Even so, the Emperor adored her, treating her like the apple of his eye.

Despite their different styles, they couldn’t bear to be apart and often stuck together.

Anning when farming, the Emperor would farm with her; when the Emperor went out to have fun, Anning would also go along.

The couple thus lived lovingly for many years.

Of course, Anning’s farming also yielded some harvests, not only achieving double-cropping of rice but also improving wheat production.

Because of this, Emperor Yong Guang held his stepmother in very high regard.