CHAPTER 52

Over the years, Shen Lin has always been respectful to Old Man Shen and Old Woman Shen. He would give them silver as a subsidy after the harvest every year. Not only would he serve them food and drinks on weekdays, he would also always help the two with their work.

But Old Man Shen and Old Woman Shen still spread rumors about Shen Lin’s unfilial behavior.

Now, Shen Lin is spending money to pay for Mrs. Shen’s medical treatment, which is also an act of filial piety, but in the eyes of Old Woman Shen and Old Man Shen, it is completely useless.

It turns out that what they call filial piety is only filial piety when it is beneficial to themselves.

Shen Lin didn’t say anything. He was extremely disappointed with his grandparents.

At this moment, Mrs. Shen came out of the house. Originally, Mrs. Shen had been ill for the past two years and had no strength to walk out of the house. But at this moment, Mrs. Shen came out of the house without a cane or anything. Her complexion was not as weak as before but had a rosy glow.

Shen Lin spoke slowly, “Grandfather, what you just said about treating my mother is useless, but it’s wrong. Although I spent all my savings on this trip to Qingzhou Prefecture, my mother’s illness has been greatly cured. How can you say that it was a waste of money?”

Old Man Shen and Old Woman Shen were a little shocked. They originally thought that Mrs. Shen would not be able to recover, but they didn’t expect that Mrs. Shen looked much more energetic at this moment.

Mrs. Shen originally respected her parents-in-law very much, but through chatting with Su Wan these days, she also realized that she could not keep her parents-in-law warm. No matter what she did, her parents-in-law would label Shen Lin as unfilial.

Since being filial or unfilial will both result in being labeled as unfilial, it would be better to do nothing. Originally, Mrs. Shen was still a little hesitant, but after listening to what Su Wan said along the way, Mrs. Shen was determined not to bother with her parents-in-law in the future.

Old Man Shen and Old Woman Shen did not continue to talk about Mrs. Shen’s illness but continued to scold Shen Lin, “You unfilial thing, when your father died, we asked you to give us the house and land deeds, but you held them tightly in your hands, as if they were going to kill you.”

Mrs. Shen spoke slowly, “Father-in-law and mother-in-law, when my husband passed away, he left this house and land for Lin’er to marry a wife. We have already been given your share of filial piety. How can we give away Lin’er’s wife’s share as well?”

Although Mrs. Shen had not recovered yet, she was able to finish this sentence without taking a breath.

After hearing what Mrs. Shen said, Old Man Shen said disdainfully, “Since this house and land are reserved for Shen Lin to marry, it’s fine for us two old people to keep them here. Hurry up and hand over the house and land deeds. When Shen Lin marries, I will give them to you, so that you won’t ruin the house and land deeds when you are young.”

Mrs. Shen and Shen Lin were naturally very clear that once the house deeds and land deeds were given to Old Man Shen and Old Woman Shen, it would be like throwing meat buns at a dog, and there would be no return.

Shen Lin asked, “Grandpa and grandma, when I get married, you two will let me decide on the house deed and the land deed myself.”

When Old Man Shen heard this, he thought there was hope. Originally, he didn’t think he could get the house and land deeds, but after hearing what Shen Lin said, he would hand over the house and land deeds now as long as he promised Shen Lin that he would give them to him when he married his wife.

Old man Shen’s expression eased a lot. “Of course, when you get married, I will give you your house deed and land deed so that you can marry your wife in style.”

Old Woman Shen spoke out of place, “That should also be given to us two old people and your uncle.”

“Shut up.” Old Man Shen was afraid that Old Woman Shen would ruin things, so he quickly interrupted her.

Shen Lin said, “If that’s the case, then there’s no need for Grandfather to ask for the house and land deeds, because I’ve already thought to get  married. Su Wan and I are engaged, and if I want to marry Su Wan, I’ll have to have a gift, but I’m broke, so I had no choice but to give Su Wan the house and land deeds as a gift. So now, I live in Su Wan’s house, and I’ll be farming Su Wan’s land in the future.”

Old Man Shen stared at Shen Lin in amazement, then began to curse, “You unfilial thing, how could you hand over the house deeds and land deeds? You, you, you… And when did you get engaged? How could you get engaged without the approval of me and your grandmother? Your engagement doesn’t count at all.”

Old man Shen looked at Su Wan again and said, “Your engagement with Shen Lin doesn’t count. Hurry up and return our Shen family’s things, or I will go to the government to sue you for cheating our Shen family’s property without reason.”

Old Woman Shen also said, “That’s right, we are going to sue you at the government office.”

Su Wan had a nonchalant look on her face. In fact, Su Wan had always wanted to go to the government with Old Man Shen and Old Woman Shen. As long as they went to the government, the government would be able to decide whether Shen Lin was filial or not, instead of letting Old Man Shen and Old Woman Shen just talk nonsense.

Su Wan pretended to be a little scared. “Grandpa Shen, Grandma Shen, please don’t go to the government to sue me and Brother Shen.”

Old Man Shen became more and more excited. He immediately called Old Woman Shen and threatened to go back and ask the eldest son of the old family to write a lawsuit to accuse Shen Lin of being unfilial and that it was Su Wan who took their property by cheating them.

Shen Lin and Su Wan looked at each other tacitly. According to the rules of the Great Zhou Dynasty, descendants could not sue their elders unless it was a major event like treason, but elders could sue their descendants.

Since it is a lawsuit, the government will make the final decision. Shen Lin is certain that if he goes to the government to argue, he will not be labeled as an unfilial person.

Old Man Shen and Old Woman Shen went out, and Shen Lin did not stop them. He thought that a short pain is worse than a long one. If his grandparents kept pestering him like this, he would never have a good life. In that case, let his grandparents sue him. Going to court might not be a bad thing.

After Old Man Shen and Old Woman Shen left the house, Shen Lin, Su Wan, Mrs. Shen, and Shen Yaya all came into the house.

Mrs. Shen was a little worried. “Will they ruin your marriage?”

Su Wan said, “It’s okay, aunt. In the Zhou Dynasty, when we get married, we need the parents’ approval, but we don’t need to refer to the grandparents’ approval.”

Only then did Mrs. Shen feel relieved.

Fearing that Mrs. Shen might have other concerns, Su Wan told Mrs. Shen about some cases in the Zhou Dynasty where elder generations sued younger generations. Such lawsuits were all judged according to the law. Shen Lin did nothing wrong, so naturally he was not afraid of being sued by his grandparents.

On the other hand, Su Wan discovered that as long as Old Man Shen and Old Woman Shen were around, Shen Lin would never be able to live a good life. Even if the government ruled that Shen Lin was not at fault this time, the two of them would inevitably be entangled in the future. If Shen Lin made money in business in the future, the two of them would still haunt him.

Su Wan had previously suspected whether Shen Lin’s father was the biological child of Old Man Shen and Old Woman Shen. If not, why would they treat Shen Lin’s father so harshly while treating Eldest Shen like pearls in the palm of their hands? There was no evidence for this matter, but since it was going to court, Su Wan decided to make a fuss about it. Although it was not a final conclusion, it was interesting to make such a fuss.

Old Man Shen and Old Woman Shen came out of Shen Lin’s yard angrily, remembering that their eldest grandson and second grandson were still in school and could not write a petition for them. So, Old Man Shen and Old Woman Shen went around and told people about Shen Lin’s unfilial behavior, saying that Shen Lin got engaged without the consent of his grandparents and gave the house deed and land deed to Su Wan, which was extremely unfilial.

Shen Lin and Su Wan were engaged, but no one in Qingshi Village expected it.

Originally, the people in Qingshi Village looked down on Su Wan. Originally, Wang Luoxue was the ideal daughter-in-law for the people in Qingshi Village. But since Su Wan came back, she has changed a lot. Not only is she as beautiful as a fairy, but she is also a good cook. Not only that, Su Wan can also make money by making candied haws from wild fruits. Families with sons of marriageable age also secretly want to get Su Wan.

But the problem is that Su Wan was looked down upon in the past. Everyone had laughed at Su Wan before. So, if his family went to propose marriage to Su Wan first, they would easily be laughed at.

If they waited a few more days, everyone’s previous impression of Su Wan would fade, and they could just spend some money to get Su Wan and let her work for their family to earn money.

Su Wan has no father or mother, so it certainly wouldn’t cost much money to propose to Su Wan. Unexpectedly, Shen Lin actually used his own house deed and land deed to propose to Su Wan, which was something no one had expected.

Old Man Shen and Old Woman Shen waited until night, and finally their eldest grandson and second grandson came back. Old Man Shen and his family were indignant and wrote a petition and submitted it to the Qingyun County government office. The servant of the government office went to Qingyun County to pass on the message that the court would be opened seven days later.

Everyone in Qingshi Village knew about this matter.

As one of the gossipy women, Mrs. Wang also heard about it. She was so shocked that she almost fainted. At that time, someone even teased Mrs. Wang , “Su Wan doesn’t like your Luosheng anymore and wants to marry Shen Lin.”

Mrs. Wang got angry when she heard this: “What kind of person is Su Wan? How could our Luosheng be interested in her? Our Luosheng wants to marry a girl from Qingyun County. And Shen Lin is a poor bastard. Compared with our Luosheng, one is in heaven and the other is on earth. How can he be compared with our Luosheng?”

There were many people gossiping, and they passed the word around, comparing Wang Luosheng and Shen Lin. They came to the conclusion that although Shen Lin looked better than Wang Luosheng, Shen Lin was so poor, while Wang Luosheng had a bright future. It was easy to tell who was better.

If a girl wanted to marry, she would naturally marry the promising Wang Luosheng instead of the poor boy Shen Lin.

Naturally, all these words reached Su Wan’s ears. Su Wan didn’t take them seriously. Shen Lin and Wang Luosheng were two very different people in terms of character, knowledge, and ability. It’s just that Shen Lin was overshadowed by Wang Luosheng’s title of scholar.

If Shen Lin studied hard, he would be many times better than Wang Luosheng.

Wang Luosheng naturally also heard about the engagement of Su Wan and Shen Lin. After hearing this, Wang Luosheng immediately went to find Su Wan and told her not to act on impulse. The whole village knew that Shen Lin was unfilial, so Shen Lin was not someone she could entrust her life to. In fact, he had always planned to marry Su Wan.

After these days, Wang Luosheng could also feel that Su Wan was of some help to his studies. For example, she packed his clothes and books for him, which saved him some trouble. Besides, Su Wan was beautiful now, and he could accept her.

Su Wan asked Wang Luosheng in return, “Brother Shen Lin is not someone I can entrust my life to, but Brother Luosheng is, right? If I break off the engagement with Brother Shen, will Brother Luosheng marry me?”

After hearing this, Wang Luosheng thought to himself that Su Wan really still had him in her heart and was impulsive in getting engaged to Shen Lin.

However, he naturally could not marry her. His wife could only be Yang Yunyan. Although Su Wan was not bad now, she could not compare with Yunyan.

Wang Luosheng hesitated, “If you want to marry me, you have to work at home.”

Su Wan mercilessly exposed Wang Luosheng, “You want me to be a concubine who works for you, right? People say that it is better to be a poor man’s wife than a rich man’s concubine, and you are not rich.”

Wang Luosheng was furious. He had never spoken to Su Wan in such a humble way before. He just spoke to Su Wan nicely, but was treated like this. Wang Luosheng frowned and said, “If you marry Shen Lin, you will suffer and be poor for the rest of your life.”

At the same time, Wang Luosheng was certain that Su Wan still liked him but just couldn’t stand being a concubine. However, given her status, it was wishful thinking for her to want to be his wife.

It seems that I need to get closer to Yunyan to stimulate Su Wan and let her feel how painful it is to see him like someone else.