Lu Lingyun emerged from Lady Liu’s room, her heart brimming with satisfaction. She had exchanged a single box of things for a mountain of dowry items. Her final remark, “Every single item is recorded in a registry,” was intentionally meant for outsiders. While Lady Liu had ultimate control over the amount given, declaring that everything was recorded was a message for those who had given gifts. They would know that they had contributed to Lu Lingyun’s dowry. Given that Lu Lingyun was marrying into the Houfu (Marquisate) and would become the future Lady of the Houfu, everyone was eager to show their favor. This way, even if Lady Liu couldn’t split the dowry items perfectly in half, she could still ensure everyone received something. In the future, they wouldn’t hesitate to remind Lu Lingyun, “We contributed to your dowry when you got married.” In her previous life, Lu Lingyun had avoided such disputes with Lu Han Yi. She had always maintained a policy of “If you don’t provoke me, I won’t provoke you.” Each of them had simply accepted their respective dowry items. But this time, if they dared to create such friction, she wouldn’t hold back. The first step in becoming a capable mistress of the house was to retaliate against those who plotted against her.
The dowry items were swiftly transported to Lu Lingyun’s small house. Soon, the wedding date arrived. The day before the wedding, the Houfu’s betrothal gifts and Lu Lingyun’s dowry filled her courtyard. There were a total of one hundred and eight sedan chairs of dowry. The Lu family, priding themselves on their reputation as upright scholars, would never be seen to be dishonest about their daughters’ dowries. They would return a substantial amount of the betrothal gifts as dowry. To ensure fairness, they had provided each daughter with twenty sedan chairs of dowry. They had also added roughly two more sedan chairs with dowry items. Lu Lingyun, with the six sedan chairs of dowry left by her birth mother, had a total of one hundred and thirty-six. Lu Han Yi had a total of one hundred sedan chairs of dowry, seven from one source, eight from another, and so on.
The Li family, being only a sixth-rank official, had given sixty-eight sedan chairs. The Lu family had provided twenty, relatives had contributed three, and Lady Liu’s private treasury had added nine, bringing their total to one hundred sedan chairs as well. On the surface, Lu Han Yi didn’t fall behind Lu Lingyun. However, many of Lu Han Yi’s dowry items were mere pretense. A single quilt was counted as one sedan chair, a few stools counted as another, and even seven or eight porcelain bowls were considered one sedan chair. Lu Lingyun was well aware of this, knowing that half of the sixty-eight sedan chairs sent by the Li family were hollow. This time around, Lu Lingyun’s dowry vastly exceeded that of her previous life. It was enough to sustain her from the moment she was born to the day she died. If converted to the value for ordinary people, it was enough to support a hundred families for a lifetime!
Furthermore, the Lu family had hired workers to dig a new well at the Houfu and the Li family’s residence. In this era, when a wealthy family married off their daughter, they would not only provide a lavish dowry, covering the woman’s needs for the rest of her life, but also, many reputable families would dig a well for their daughter at the husband’s family’s residence. This was to signify that the new wife would even drink the same water as her husband’s family. It meant that the husband’s family was covering all the necessities for the rest of her life. The Lu family had also dug this new well.
After ensuring Lu Lingyun had everything she needed for food, drink, clothing, and living, the family prepared several maids for her to take as companions in her new home. Lu Lingyun already had a personal maid named Zhi Yan, a rough maid named Shuang Hong, and a wet nurse named Zhang Shi, who was overseeing her estate. Lady Liu had chosen two beautiful and elegant maids to handle Lu Lingyun’s personal adornments and hair, four rough maids for chores, and two elderly maids to serve as chaperones. The elegant maids were, in fact, companion maids, who could potentially be elevated to the position of concubine later on. This was common practice in wealthy families, as they felt more comfortable with those who had been personally chosen and raised by them, whether for the role of concubine or as head of household.
However, the shrewd Lady Liu did not give Lu Lingyun the deeds of these maids. Looking at the new maids brought before her, Lu Lingyun asked, “What are your names?” “My name is Chun Xing,” one of them responded.
Previous Chapter | TOC | Next Chapter