Chapter 378: Chapter 378: The Golden Phoenix Sheds Its Feathers
Although Aunt Kang had spent half the day outside, cursing and screaming that she’d make her son divorce Du Caizhu the moment he woke up.
But now that Ji Liantang actually wanted a divorce, she was the one who hesitated.
"Liantang, Mother knows you’ve suffered. Just bear it a little longer..."
"Mother! That Du Caizhu is a living Yaksha! She’s going to beat me to death! How can you ask me to bear it?"
Aunt Kang glanced out the window and lowered her voice. "Putting all that aside, we have to get our hands on those twenty acres of land first. Otherwise, how will you ever pass the exam to become a Scholar?"
’She had assumed the deed for the twenty acres came with the dowry. It didn’t matter if Du Caizhu refused to show it; the land itself should belong to the Ji Family, right?’
So Aunt Kang decided to go take a look around.
She deliberately shouldered a hoe and went to ask Du Caizhu where the dower lands were located, saying she wanted to help by weeding and tidying up.
But Du Caizhu claimed the deed wasn’t with her. Her father had said he would only transfer the land over after she had a child.
At the time, Aunt Kang’s face went pale with rage. She slammed down her hoe and stood in the yard, cursing indirectly for half the day. When she was done, she started nagging Ji Liantang to work harder—she wanted to be holding a grandson as soon as possible.
"Besides, that Old Du is getting on in years. It doesn’t look like he has much time left. Du Caizhu is his only daughter, so when he kicks the bucket, won’t his massive fortune all belong to you, his son-in-law? Just bear it for a few more years. Once you have the inheritance in hand, *then* you can divorce her..."
She kept saying the man didn’t have long to live, without stopping to think that Master Du was only in his early fifties and had plenty of good years ahead of him.
It would have been better not to bring that up. At the mention of it, Ji Liantang’s face twisted with grief and indignation.
It was because his mother had told him that Du Caizhu’s rich dowry would fund his studies and that the Du Family’s entire fortune would one day be his to inherit.
’Otherwise, why would I ever have stooped to marrying such a vulgar, uncouth woman?’
But they had all been deceived! Deceived by the Du Family, and deceived by Du Caizhu!
"There are no twenty dower acres!"
Aunt Kang’s eyes flew open. "What do you mean, there are none? It was all agreed upon during the marriage negotiations! How dare the Du Family go back on their word?!"
"It’s not that they’re going back on their word, it’s that even if they had it, they wouldn’t give it to Du Caizhu! Go to West Village and ask around. That Old Du had a son back in the first month of the year! The family fortune will naturally be left to his son. There won’t be anything for me!"
Aunt Kang couldn’t believe her ears. ’Old Du has a son?’
’How is that possible?’
’He’s only had one daughter for decades. He’s an old man now, how could a son just suddenly pop out of nowhere?’
"Who told you that? This sounds completely baseless. How old is your mother-in-law? Is she even still able to bear children?"
"Who said it was my mother-in-law who gave birth?" Ji Liantang struggled to sit up. "It’s a good thing I went to the Chunyi Building. You have no idea what’s really been going on..."
Now, Old Du was a man famous for two things. The first was his notorious stinginess. The second was his unwavering devotion to his wife; he had never been a philanderer.
Even though his wife had only given him a daughter, he never spoke of taking a concubine.
Things had gone on peacefully like this for decades. But last year, a business meeting took him to the Chunyi Building. At the banquet, he drank too much, and things went awry.
None of the courtesans at the Chunyi Building gave the shabby old man a second glance. He reeked of the countryside, and even if he had a bit of money, he was still just a rural parvenu. They would pour his wine and flatter him, but none of them ever thought of trying to swindle him.
But Cuizhi, a close friend of Linghua’s, was more ambitious. After finding out about Old Du’s family situation, she took advantage of him one night when he was tipsy and waited on him.
Two months later, Cuizhi showed up at the Du Family’s door, causing a scene and claiming she was carrying Old Du’s child.
Now, Cuizhi was a "clean official"—a courtesan who had yet to begin formally receiving clients. The first man she had ever been with was Old Du. With her now pregnant, the identity of the father was as obvious as a louse on a bald head.
That night, Old Du had indeed been drunk, but not so drunk that he was unconscious—otherwise, nothing would have happened.
And it was precisely because he remembered certain details that he had no way to deny her claims.
Cuizhi was bought out of the brothel and brought into the Du household. The news so angered Old Du’s wife that she took to her bed, refusing all food and drink.
Old Du knelt by her bedside and swore a solemn oath: he would keep the child but not the mother. As soon as Cuizhi gave birth to a son, he would send her far away.
But as the saying goes, once you’ve tasted the marrow, you know its flavor. For a man who has broken his vows, there is no turning back.
No matter how high a wall he built around his heart, it was just an empty facade. A woman needed only to touch him with a single finger to shatter all his defenses.
’If I had never touched another woman,’ Old Du asked himself, ’I could have spent my entire life content with just my wife.’
’But now I have. I’ve had a taste. Especially when she’s such a delicate, charming beauty who so eagerly throws herself into my arms... How could anyone’s heart remain hard against that? One night as husband and wife creates a bond of a hundred days.’
And it was more than just one night. Cuizhi truly lived up to her brothel origins. Even while pregnant, she had endless ways to please a man, and she served him with incredible attentiveness.
And so, while Old Du harbored guilt toward his wife, he secretly continued his affair with Cuizhi.
In the first month of this year, Cuizhi gave birth to a big, healthy boy.
With his family line now secure, Old Du was overjoyed. He began spending more and more nights in Cuizhi’s courtyard, never again mentioning his promise to send her away. His guilt toward his wife was gradually drowned out by the joys of his new family.
Even his own daughter, once the apple of his eye, became an object of his growing annoyance thanks to Cuizhi’s pillow talk. That was why he had so hastily married her off.
Seeing the Du Family now falling under her control, Cuizhi grew smug. It was inevitable that she would want to show off to her old friends.
When the two of them met, how could Linghua not find out who Ji Liantang had married?
She hadn’t wanted to see Ji Liantang at first, but he came bearing silver. Besides, she had already begun formally receiving clients—one man was the same as any other, wasn’t it? So, she let him stay the night.
Sleeping with him was secondary; she was mostly interested in hearing the gossip about Du Caizhu.
As they talked, the conversation inevitably turned to Cuizhi.
Linghua’s voice was tinged with unconcealed envy. Old Du might have been a bit homely, but Cuizhi had finally "made it ashore." She was pampered and spoiled by her man, didn’t have to defer to the first wife, and now, with a son, her future was secure.
She also told Ji Liantang that when Old Du bought Cuizhi’s freedom, the brothel madam had extorted a huge sum from him.
Cuizhi had a younger brother who loved to gamble. In fact, her family had sold her to the brothel in the first place to pay off his gambling debts.
Between last year and now, Cuizhi had gotten goodness knows how much money out of Old Du, all of which she gave to her brother to gamble away.
The reason people called him Master Du, and rarely "Squire," was that while he had some wealth, he was a far cry from the truly established squires with deep-seated family fortunes.
And now he had Cuizhi, who was single-mindedly siphoning his wealth off to her own family... Word was that he had already sold off many of his fields, and those that remained were all earmarked for Cuizhi’s son. None of it had anything to do with Du Caizhu.
How could Ji Liantang not be reeling from this news? That was what had finally jolted him out of his tender reverie and sent him storming home, demanding a divorce the moment he walked through the door.
It was like a clap of thunder on a clear day. The shock sent Aunt Kang collapsing to the floor.
"Then... then we married Du Caizhu for nothing?"
’We thought we were marrying a Golden Phoenix, but it turns out she’s just a plucked chicken?’