This chapter has been brought to you by me, Adnana, and Vivie.
Chapter Fifty-Eight: End of The Matter
Hearing that Xian Wang had come, Assistant Minister Zhou was first shocked and then felt that this was to be expected. With Xian Wang Fei present, it was not strange that Xian Wang Ye would make a trip.
It was just as the people of the Zhou Family expected. After Xian Wang was welcomed in, he exchanged greetings with his brother-in-laws and his cousin-in-law before sitting together with Xian Wang Fei. Their hands were together and he would occasionally bend down to speak to Xian Wang Fei.
“What is going on?” Yan Jin Qiu smiled thinly at Zhou Yun Heng who was kneeling on the ground. He then turned and said to Assistant Minister Zhou, “Assistant Minister Zhou, what great crime has this noble master committed?”
Assistant Minister Zhou did not dare to state it. A moment later he said, “This lowly official was not good at teaching the son, and feels great guilt.”
“Assistant Minister Zhou is of good conduct and a rare good official; there is no guilt to speak of.” Yan Jin Qiu looked at Zhou Yun Heng who was kneeling obstinately on the ground. “However, this young master of yours really has been absurd in conduct. The news that he has favored the concubine and neglected the wife, causing his wife to miscarry, has spread through Jing. Tell me, how will this matter be resolved?”
Assistant Minister Zhou felt helpless and guilty. He said to Hua Qing Mao and Hua Chang Bao, “This lowly official will teach this prodigal son. I will have people send away all the concubines in the fu. Please…”
“I do not think that it is necessary. Otherwise, in the future, it will become that the daughters of my Hua Family have no tolerance.” Hua Qin Mao put down the teacup heavily and then pressed, “My sister has no fate with your son. Our Zhou and Hua families have had a friendship for so many years, but we need to part amicably. Please, agree to my sister divorcing from your son, and at least, save some face for when we meet in the future.”
The words were slightly threatening. If the Zhou Family was not willing to have a divorce, then the Hua Family would not rest. But the Zhou Family really did not want to divorce. If there was no divorce, the Hua Family would be constrained in their actions because Hua Yi Liu was still at the Zhou Family. If Hua Yi Liu left the Zhou Family, then the Zhou Family would not have anything to rely on.
“If Assistant Minister Zhou wants to make this matter a dispute, then we can only meet in the court of the Jing Administrator. I think that a divorce is possible.” Hua Chang Bao had seen what the Zhou Family was thinking, so when Assistant Minister Zhou hesitated, he threw out, “My Hua Family is not an able one, but for our misses, we are willing to go through some trouble.”
Hua Chang Bao who was the eldest of this generation of the Hua Family had spoken. This meant that the Hua Family was already very discontent about this matter. Assistant Minister Zhou also knew that the matter had passed. Unless his daughter-in-law was unwilling, a divorce was certain.
“Young Mistress has arrived.”
Assistant Minister Zhou was joyful. When he turned and saw his daughter-in-law whom he had not seen for many days walk in, she was extremely thin, as though she would fall with a gust of wind. His brow creased. How had his furen abused this daughter-in-law—why hadn’t she thought of this daughter-in-law’s status?
“Bam!” The teacup was smashed onto the ground and shattered. Hua Qing Mao stood from the chair. Pointing at Zhou Yun Heng on the ground, he said, “Your Zhou Family is outrageous!”
The concubine kneeling on the floor shuddered. She wanted to get closer to Zhou Yun Heng, but she was pressed by two servants to the ground. There was also a handkerchief in her mouth that prevented her from speaking.
Zhou Yun Heng looked at how his favored concubine was being treated but did not dare to speak. He buried his head lower and wanted this matter to pass quickly. It would be fine even if this little concubine had to be sent away. Even if this one was gone, he could find one better.
“This lowly servant Hua shi greets Xian Wang, Xian Wang Fei.” Hua Yi Liu’s cheeks were concave from being too thin. It caused her to look older than her years. When she looked at Hua Qing Mao, she had a complex expression in her eyes. Her eyes slowly turned red as she called, “Didi.”
“Jie.” Hua Qing Mao walked in front of Hua Yi Liu. Looking at her ashen complexion and thin body, he was so angry he wanted to strangle Zhou Yun Heng. He said with a cold smile, “Your Zhou Family is outrageous to treat my sister so!” After he said this, he started to pull Hua Yi Liu and walk towards the exit. “Let’s meet at the court of the Jing Administrator.”
The Zhou Family naturally did not dare to let Hua Qing Mao leave like this. They apologized and Zhou Taitai even knelt down in front of Hua Yi Liu. She gave countless promises and even said that the Zhou Family would only have one mistress, Hua Yi Liu, and there would not be any concubines.
“Ha.” Hua Yi Liu looked with a cold smile at Zhou Taitai kneeling in front of her. “You think your son is so good that I will stay with him even if I die? What women he has in the future has nothing to do with me. You are a woman yourself yet you abuse a daughter of another family so. Such a malicious mother-in-law—if I stayed here, not even my bones would remain.”
After saying all this, Hua Yi Liu knelt with a bang in front of Yan Jin Qiu and Hua Xi Wan. “Hua shi is a victim of a crime. Please, Wang Ye, Wang Fei, help me. Ever since qie married into the Zhou Family, this one has been filial to the in-laws above and cared for the younger sisters-in-law below. Even if the husband is one that plays around, qie has never complained. But qie never expected that he would cause qie to lose the child. Qie was also prevented by this family from going out. It has been long since qie has seen the light of day. Please, help give justice to qie.”
The Zhou Family was astounded. They almost seemed to have never thought that the usually gentle Hua Yi Liu would do such a thing. She actually directly entered a conflict with the Zhou Family using her future as the stake.
It was not a major matter if a woman divorced and married again, but if one reported the in-laws, it would not be so easy to find a match in the future. No family would be willing to have a daughter-in-law like this—maybe one day, they would also be reported.
But Hua Yi Liu did it and did not give herself any retreat. It was as though she wanted to drag the Zhou Family into death with her.
Zhou Taitai was afraid, but in front of Yan Jin Qiu, she did not dare to make any actions that would be offensive. She could only wring her wrists in distress about her past actions. Inside, she thought, if she knew that this would happen, she should have thought of a way to kill Hua Yi Liu when she miscarried. That would be better than the present situation.
“If that is the case, then let’s make a trip to the Jing Administrator.” Yan Jin Qiu put down the teacup and looked at Hua Xi Wan who had not spoken. “Let ben wang’s attendant accompany you there.”
Now that things had become like this, it was a matter between the Hua Family and the Zhou Family. As a wang ye, there was no reason for him to manage the affairs of another family’s inner compound, and this also applied to Hua Xi Wan. It really wasn’t worth a wang fei making a trip to a place like the court of the Jing Administrator.
Hua Qing Mao also knew this. Also, it was very generous that Xian Wang was willing to send an attendant with them. If Tangmei was not so loved by Xian Wang, Xian Wang probably would not do such a thing.
Hua Yi Liu looked at her embroidered slippers. When she heard that Yan Jin Qiu would not accompany them to the Jing Administrator, a trace of a grimace came onto her lips. When she had married Zhou Yun Heng, she should have ended this thought. Not to mention that, with her present ghastly state, she really was a world away from the beautiful Hua Xi Wan.
It was already a great favor that Hua Xi Wan was willing to put away her honor as a wang fei to argue with the people of the Zhou Family. There were not many cousins who would be willing to do such a thing. Even if she, Hua Yi Liu, was jealous of Hua Xi Wan’s present life, she was clear that she owed Hua Xi Wan a great favor.
If Hua Xi Wan, the wang fei, was not here today, the Zhou Family would not be so afraid. Xian Wang would not pay attention to this matter, and only the Heavens knew what her outcome would be.
Yan Jin Qiu had spoken, so no one dared to stop Hua Yi Liu. Consequently, they proceeded smoothly out of the gates of the Zhou Family, with a line of scared Zhou Family members behind them.
When they came out of the gates, Hua Yi Liu found many onlookers outside. The moment she appeared, many people exclaimed in shock. It was just that the present Hua Yi Liu looked frightening. There was only a skeleton and a layer of skin left on her body. With a glance, it could be seen that she had been abused.
People liked to sympathize with the weaker side, so even though the Hua Family did not say anything, people already assumed that the Zhou Family had favored the concubine, neglected the wife, and also abused her.
In the eyes of the liberal Great Zhao People, if the two did not like each other, they could just divorce. There was no need to reduce a person to something like this. They also heard that this wife had been forced into a miscarriage. Was it that the abuse was too much and caused the miscarriage?
Hua Yi Liu watched as the carriage from Xian Wang Fu left. She slowly moved her gaze away and got on the carriage of the Hua Family.
When the Jing Administrator received the case, he immediately called people into his court. Inside, he found this a hard task. Assistant Minister Zhou was a monarchist, but the Hua Family was a prestigious family of a few hundred years. With a Xian Wang Fu at the back as support, this matter was troublesome.
Most importantly was that the Zhou Family was really in the wrong and brainless. Had they thought that if the Hua Family discovered what they did, they would act as though it did not happen?
Sitting at court, the Jing Administrator recognized a certain person standing at the side was an attendant of Xian Wang Fu. Seeing that Hua shi had really been abused to a state beyond recognition, he already had a decision.
When it was not good to offend either side, he should judge according to the facts. The matter of the Zhou Family favoring the concubine and neglecting the wife was known throughout the entire city. He did not want to become a bad official whom all of Jing scorned. The Hua Family already decided to publicize this matter. If he helped the Zhou Family, that was seeking death.
As Hua Yi Liu’s accusations came out, the Jing Administrator’s expression grew uglier. After Hua Yi Liu stopped speaking, he said towards the Zhou Family, “Do you have any defense?”
The Zhou Family was tongue-tied. They wanted to say that Hua Yi Liu’s words were slanderous, but they did not have the confidence. Adding on the fact that the attendant of Xian Wang was present, in the end Assistant Minister Zhou had to come out and apologize to Hua Yi Liu. He had to agree that Hua Yi Liu could divorce his son. The Zhou Family had to repay three times Hua Yi Liu’s dowry, and would not take the bride price back.
In the end, based on the good attitude of the Zhou family, the Jing Administrator only sentenced Zhou Yun Heng to twenty blows and a divorce for him and Hua Yi Liu. Other than the repayment of the dowry, the little concubine was also exiled to a poor place.
As Hua Yi Liu listened to Zhou Yun Heng’s wails, a trace of a smile came onto her face. With her thin face, it seemed slightly dark and evil.
Translator Ramblings: I really like the Jing Administrator for punishing Zhou Yun Heng with more than just a slap on the wrist. Hua Yi Liu really gambled with her future. If she had failed … … it is pretty much death.
Thanks for the chapter!
The whole chapter felt good, until the very last sentence. I had to re-read it a couple times to make sure I didn’t read wrong. Cold sweat. Hope she doesn’t become twisted…
Hope she doesn’t become a future enemy.
It doesn’t matter if she’s twisted. As long as she doesn’t become the enemy, she can turn against the whole world for all I care
**“My Hua Family is not an able one, but for our misses, we are willing to go through some trouble.”**
I feel a tear. This family really is loveable. Damn the arrogance of that Zhou woman to treat her daughter-in-law like that. She even had the gall to think that it would have been better if she found a way to kill her during the miscarriage. That’s one horrible woman.
I’m so happy she’s free of that family. I don’t consider myself as a cold-blooded person but I’m eager to see the fallout of that family. What a terrible son they have. Worse, Hua Yi Liu had the misfortune to be the daughter to another vile woman. To favor a son over a daughter may have been the norm but to treat your own child who was in the brink of death is just a different level of file altogether. I hope her husband divorces her too.
The whole ordeal did leave a bad taste because of the ugly way Hua Yu Liu was treated but I’m glad that’s over with. I hope she lives well. She seems like a smart girl – a common trait I’ve seen among the family. Anyway, she needs to keep her head down for awhile. Need to recuperate and all that.
Thank you for the chapter. Though YJQ did show up, he didn’t really need to do much at all. The fact that he and HXW was there though made for a more peaceful end to this ugly marriage.
Have a good day to you guys! Great work 😀
I’m glad she got out of this situation. However, she is still a jealous person and lusts after her cousin’s husband. Will she cause a lot of problems for the OTP later on?
that is my concern. What happened to her is what she wanted for Xin Wan.to move in as consort and take her place, now even though she is free I fear she will use every opportunity to interfere with Jin Qiu and Xin Wan’s relationship.Thank you for the chapter
I think she won’t. Hua Yi Liu is capable of learning. She has been completely ignored by Yan Jin Qiu more than once, and she never was the great beauty that Hua Xi Wan is. Moreover, she is older, and has had one miscarriage, and thus some may think she will have difficulty bearing children in future, so she knows no prince is going to marry her, especially not a super hottie like Xian Wang.
She may envy, but she already does not wish to harm her cousin. When she is being rational, which is most of the time, she doesn’t want anyone to come between Wangye and HXW.
She will probably have a harder time getting anyone’s family to accept her as a daughter-in-law after this, but she is alive. Where there is life, there is hope.
Thanking for another translated update straight after chapter 57 that sat on cliff. Thanking you for not letting your readers sitting on the cliff for too long.😜
Hua Yi Liu is really pitiful to have a mother who pretty much sold her to the devil family with a very cruel mother-in-law n husband. I still think the punishment that Zhou Yun Heng is not severed enough because he not only abused his main wife but also killed an innocent unborn baby. Although it is still a fetus form but it is still an innocent life that had been lost.
After the divorce what will Hua Yi Liu life going to be like, will she remarry to a good home or just live at her parents’s home?
She may be will try to seduce xian wang. It seem she still is a jelous person even after hxw help her.
Unlikely since even she understood she stands no chance. It’s clear she envies her cousin’s marriage. She’s not actually interested in Xian Wang other that he makes her cousin so happy. She’s just hurting not stupid.
Even in her bleak situation she can still think about stealing her benefactor’s husband.
The grass is always greener on the other side and human is always one with greed~ ╮(╯_╰)╭
May we find peace with whatever we have in our hand~ ヽ(ˇヘˇ)ノ
Thank you for the new chapter!
It is a gamble she has to take. I hope she remembers the debt she has for HXW and how she had helped her from her own in-laws AND MOTHER. I hope she will not be back to cause trouble or lust for YJQ, I can understand her jealousy but not taking it into action.
And really so many disgusting people in this story, the Zhou Furen is also really despicable and an idiot.
Finally..she is free. Their Mom needs to be sent away
This made me smile a lot to see that justice has been served. Thanks for this update.
I think it’s relatively normal and human of her to be jealous of HXW for having such a good husband after all the abuse she had to endure.
At least, she was able to reprimand herself internally for harbouring such thoughts instead of shamelessly blaming everything on HXW. In that sense, she’s already better than QBL and QYS from To Be A Virtuous Wife.
I just hope her own mother won’t make her suffer even more than she already has. It’s a pity to think that they had already seen the signs that ZYH was a scoundrel since before the marriage and yet they still went through with it, resulting in this rather messy affair. Well, better late than never. Too late for the unborn child, but not too late for her to get a second chance at life. Hopefully she’ll be able to lead a more peaceful life after this.
only 20 blows eh?
It sounds really lenient, right? Depending on the implement swung and the muscularity of the recipient, 20 blows could kill a man. Sometimes people die at 10.
The greatest lenience is that the ministerial position appears to still be theirs, and the husband is still alive. The family could be half bankrupted by the penalties, and they still have the reputation for abusing the daughter-in-law, so there’s little chance anyone will be willing to wed their daughter into that family. Sad for the cousins who would have had zero say in what happened in this marriage and to this woman, as they will be painted with the same brush.
I hope this cousin of hers won’t be affected by her mother when goes home.
Thank you for the chapter ۹(˒௰˓)۶fu
Well xian wang is watching, plus all the other citizens who knows the story. The administrator can’t afford to slight saint jin qiu, a member of the imperial household beloved by all, for some assistant minister. Thats just bad investment.
Thank you for the chapter.
I admire how the Hua family appreciates their family bond. Especially between siblings. It’s such a rarity to see such a held-together family in this
*in this type of novel. Urgh, typing on phone can do this to u😥
Welp, I just hope Hua Yi Liu won’t forget her IOU to Xi Wan😑.. those feelings she has seems quite dangerous to me😒
Thanks so much for the updates!!
I’m really glad she had the support of her brother and cousins. Of course, the deciding factor was definitely Xian Wangye+fei. Sadly, I don’t think she will appreciate in full what HXW did for her. If anything, I’d expect she would stop being jealous of HXW after this.. she seems to have intentions towards Wangye and it makes me uncomfortable.
I’m really curious about how her mother is going to react to all this (especially when she sees how her daughter looks now) – sheesh..she is truly despicable.
Oh man oh man, what a pleasant surprise! Extra chapters! Thank you
Thank you for the chapter~
She must have been treated horribly….
This is always the best day of the week. Thank you for translating.
Poor Assistant Minister Zhao, got ruined by his own family
In this case I really don’t understand the evil mother-in-law. Hua Yi Lui was willing to live there without making trouble even as her husband favored others so why did she have to be so abused? Why send her maids away and remove all her dignity? What purpose did it serve the mother-in-law? If the child had been born that would have been all for the better for the husband’s family and make everything appear good on the outside even if it wasn’t so why go through so much trouble to make the house unlivable for the wife? I just don’t understand this. They act like the son was forced into marriage with an undesirable family. Such unreasonable evil is truly hard to accept.
I am just sorry that the show of love from her family doesn’t seen to have gone far in healing the wounds in Hua Yi Lui’s heart. I also hope she doesn’t become twisted and stuck in hate. But it seems she did throw away any possibility of a second marriage by charging the husband’s family publicly. She chose revenge over any possible future marriage. Perhaps this is because she has no faith that her mother wouldn’t make another bad match for her I don’t know but I think it makes it hard for her to fully heal her heart if she has cut herself off from the possibility of love and children.
To answer you second point first, she hasn’t cut off all possibility, just greatly limited the probability. It was necessary in order to obtain a clean divorce that she make the accusation public. If she did not have a divorce, she was stuck in that house until the husband sent her away, or she died; death was already looming closer than it should. She is currently too angry and tired together to think much of a future family, or anything beyond escape and justice.
To answer the first point, Zhou furen is certainly beyond stupid. She seems to have the same “my son > everyone else” mentality taken to some pretty extreme levels. As far as letting the son carry on with the concubines and humiliate the wife, and anger her, this is the only possible explanation. As far as sending away the daughter-in-law’s servants, as well as confining the daughter-in-law, this is simply to keep the previous criminal behavior of her beloved idiot boy a secret; the maids far far away (or possibly dead) can’t alert anyone (such as her powerful family) to daughter-in-law’s plight. Confining her means nobody sees the evidence of neglect, and perhaps she’ll wither away peacefully, leaving behind the ties of inter-marriage to the powerful family, plus all that dowry.
This woman is a… I was going to say realist, but she is entirely blind to the faults of her son and herself in raising the piece of crap. She’s unrealistically pragmatic; kill the daughter-in-law with the miscarriage and nobody is the wiser…
I kind of don’t know why people think that HYL envy is bad. It is natural feeling since for her. HYL is actualy reasonable girl this time: she doesn’t have real antogonism over her younger cousin and knows that HXW helps her because they are family. Please, don’t create something big from something so small. Currently HYL don’t have any feeling for Wangye – she just envious about HXW situation.
But I kind of do not understand Zhou furen actions like many others here. Your daughter-in-law has powerful family behind her which additionaly known to be very protective over their daughters. Why did you mess up with that girl in favor for your own stupid son? HYL is freaking boon for Zhou family, naturaly you should at least make her content with her position as official wife. Pretend to side with your daughter-in-law during fights but keep favoring your son. Keep things neutral and teach concubines that your daughter-in-law should be respected at least face-to-face. Why so HULK methods? =_=
I didn’t like Hua Yi Liu for her pettiness against MC, however, it’s really pitiful that she has to marry so that her brother has a chance to land on ranking. Why the hell would that Zhou family do that to her…it’s fine if that scum has concubine but why would they even allow those two to come face to face with the Hua Yi Liu. Like helloo……regardless she’s still the main wife.
I hope she’d be able to move on from this mess even if she doesn’t want to take another husband or have another kid. She’d still be free from her mother and husband.
I really like Hua Chang Bao especially when he said, “My Hua Family is not an able one, but for our misses, we are willing to go through some trouble.” But seriously, Zhou furen is probably dumb, in the previous chapter, when she visited the Xian Wang fu, when YJQ was just promoted to a wang, it’s like, she’s using HYL as a stepping stone in order to gain favor from her cousin HXW. She probably think, just because her husband would be the examiner in the spring examination, the Hua family would bow their heads to them for their sons, which is why, they think they won’t bother them about HYL’s matter. HYL is lucky to have such cousins as her backing, and a younger brother, who hates the idea, that her sister suffered for his future.
Twenty blows is not enough ha. Thanks again <3
Her mother in law is surely something, she even wants her dead, that meant her entire family would join her in her grave or is she too stupid to comprehend a single thing?
This MIL…regrets her past actions – not that she should have been nicer to the DIL, but that she should have killed her. That’s a sterling character right there. This family isn’t going to last long with geniuses like this in charge. Wouldn’t she have wanted her son to have a legitimate child?
On a side note, I feel sorry for all the servants in this period. They disappear or are beaten to death so easily…