Chapter 180: Seizing the Dowry
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation.
Jiang Yun Jin sat on the floor, unable to collect her thoughts for a long time.
Shock and confusion clouded her face, mixed with a trace of humiliation.
What made it worse was Lu Jing Huai suddenly gagging violently.
“Ugh…”
“Stay away from me!” he shouted between retches, his temples bulging in a terrifying display.
Jiang Yun Jin felt utterly humiliated. “What do you mean by this? Do I disgust you?”
Her body trembled as if struck by a thunderclap, her chest aching fiercely. It felt like her heart had leaped into her throat, choking her breath.
Her face burned with shame as if someone had slapped her hard.
All she had done was touch him, yet Lu Jing Huai was retching uncontrollably.
“You find me revolting, so why did you ask to marry me? Lu Jing Huai, what is the meaning of this?” Jiang Yun Jin had never endured such an insult. On their wedding night, she had only kissed him once.
And then, he vomited.
It nearly shattered her.
The maidservants outside, hearing the commotion, pushed open the door to see an utterly bizarre scene.
The bride sat on the floor, devastated and humiliated.
The groom, huddled in a corner, dry-heaving in revulsion.
Lu Jing Huai’s skin prickled with goosebumps. He couldn’t bear touch, nor could he handle proximity. Forcing down his nausea, he struggled to speak. “Yun Jin, I truly didn’t mean to insult you.”
“I… I’ll make it up to you, I swear…” His voice faltered, as though even uttering the words required immense effort.
Jiang Yun Jin buried her face in the maid’s arms and wept.
For any woman, to have a man vomit because of her touch was a crushing blow to her pride and dignity.
Seeing Lu Jing Huai stammering with no real explanation, Jiang Yun Jin’s spirit began to unravel.
“If you wanted to torment me, did you have to humiliate me like this?” She bit her lip, her watery eyes filled with hurt.
“I betrayed Lu Yan Shu for you, abandoned him to become an ungrateful traitor, and this is how you repay me?”
“If I had known—” She abruptly stopped mid-sentence.
The guilt on Lu Jing Huai’s face froze.
“So, that’s your truth, isn’t it?” Lu Jing Huai scoffed coldly, pointing at her in a fit of rage.
“Do you regret it now? Regret marrying me?”
“You’re the one who despised a cripple. What right do you have to criticize me?” Furious, Lu Jing Huai stormed out of the room.
Jiang Yun Jin let out a low, heartbroken sob.
The maidservants exchanged awkward glances. On their wedding night, the newlyweds had devolved into bitter arguments. What kind of situation was this?
“How could he find me disgusting…” One maid helped Jiang Yun Jin to her feet, who then threw herself onto the bed, crying.
“That heartless man, he deceived me.”
Shuang Er bit her lip, visibly angry. “And that’s not even all of it…” she muttered, her indignation simmering.
“I can’t hold it in any longer!” Shuang Er finally exploded. “The Lu family is truly disgraceful. They’ve gone too far. Miss, they nearly snatched your dowry away!”
Custom dictated that the bride’s dowry was her private property, but it wasn’t until the second day of the wedding that it was customarily accounted for.
“Any respectable family wouldn’t interfere with their daughter-in-law’s dowry. Do they have no shame?”
“This afternoon, when I went to check on your dowry, Madam Pei had already sent people to move it into the family’s storeroom. If I hadn’t stopped them in time, it would’ve been gone!” Shuang Er’s words left the group stunned.
What reputable family would seize their daughter-in-law’s dowry?
“While you were sharing sweet words with the young master, I couldn’t bring myself to interrupt. Madam Pei claimed she was helping you ‘manage’ it…” Shuang Er trailed off awkwardly.
“Outrageous! Simply outrageous!” Another maid, face flushed with anger, exclaimed.
“A dowry is personal property! How could they stoop so low? If word gets out, people will point fingers and shame them!”
Even Jiang Yun Jin was taken aback.
Madam Pei, who always presented herself as reasonable and considerate, had actually tried to claim her dowry?
“She said you’re young and inexperienced, not yet capable of managing estates, so it’s better to merge it into the family accounts,” Shuang Er added bitterly.
The room fell into stunned silence, their disdain for the Lu family growing with each passing moment.
“Rumor has it the Lu family was impoverished in the past. It was the late Madam Xu’s dowry that supported them. Even…” Shuang Er hesitated before whispering, “Even Madam Pei and the young master lived off Madam Xu’s dowry for eighteen years.”
“When you sent back the engagement gifts, they even demanded them returned to give to Madam Xu.”
“After Madam Xu divorced and left, the Lu family’s finances collapsed. Today, I asked around…” Shuang Er’s resourcefulness had unearthed many secrets.
“Apparently, they’re even behind on paying their servants’ wages.”
The others could hardly believe their ears. The Lu family’s situation was appalling.
Jiang Yun Jin, tears still staining her cheeks, was stunned. “They wouldn’t…”
“Would they use my dowry to sustain the entire household?” Shuang Er murmured, her words sending a chill through the room.
“They’ve done it before.”
A heavy, eerie silence filled the air. The weight of it was deafening.
After a long pause, Jiang Yun Jin asked softly, “How much of the dowry remains? How much did they take?”
“A third is gone. The rest is secured in the private storeroom and accounted for.”
“Hand me the key to the private storeroom.”
Jiang Yun Jin knew she would never recover what was lost, but she was determined to safeguard what remained.
She understood the Lu family’s struggles—Madam Pei came from neither wealth nor status—but she hadn’t imagined things were this dire.
Her mind buzzed with the enormity of it all. Yet she had no escape. From the moment she publicly annulled her engagement to Lu Yan Shu and chose Lu Jing Huai, there was no turning back.
At that moment, Lu Jing Huai’s personal servant entered, wearing a sycophantic smile.
The maidservants greeted him with cold expressions.
Unbothered, the servant addressed Jiang Yun Jin. “Young Madam, the young master asked me to inform you—”
“The household has been bustling with activity these past days, and the young master hasn’t been able to rest. He caught a cold and, after today’s wedding, worked up quite a sweat. His symptoms worsened—dizziness, nausea…”
“The physician just came by and diagnosed him with a high fever. He forced himself to endure it to receive the bride, but his condition has taken a toll.”
“He didn’t want you to worry, which is why he kept it from you.”
Jiang Yun Jin’s heart softened slightly despite her lingering grievance.
“Could he not explain this himself?” she muttered, clutching her chest as the ache lingered.
“The fever is severe. He’s worried about passing his illness to you and dares not approach,” the servant explained.
“Is he seriously ill? Has the physician prescribed medicine?” Jiang Yun Jin asked quickly.
The servant breathed a small sigh of relief as her anger began to subside.
“He’s delirious with fever. The physician has prescribed medicine, and with a few days of rest, he should recover.”
Internally, the servant lamented. Why does the young master avoid consummating the marriage? How long can this go on?
Meanwhile, outside the mansion, the plaque bearing the title Marquis Zhongyong’s Manor was quietly removed.
It was replaced with one reading Lu Residence.
Lu Yuan Ze knelt before the gate, his tears soaking the ground as he clutched the removed plaque.
He was the sinner of Marquis Zhongyong’s lineage, the shame of the house.
What had he done so wrong?
Not far away, Lu Chao Chao, her belly round from the wedding feast, stood at the street corner, holding the leash of a dog.
“Eee-hee, let the storm rage on!” she giggled, her eyes gleaming mischievously.
“You better hold out!”