Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Shen Jingzhi and I had been married for three years, and because we had no children, he compensated me with a hundred taels of silver.

His mother had raised him for twenty-four years, and he compensated her with five hundred taels.

I had been heartbroken and furious, the words I wanted to curse him with already at the tip of my tongue, but the moment I saw the silver ingots, all my anger vanished.

A hundred taels!

I had grown up barely ever seeing even loose silver. A hundred taels of silver was enough to buy several women like me.

I couldn’t help grinning from ear to ear.

Shen Jingzhi’s face filled with contempt.

My mother-in-law was, after all, a mother. Ever since Shen Jingzhi revealed his true background, she had been in a daze, lost and bewildered.

Five hundred taels of silver still hadn’t moved her.

“Jingzhi,” she said, “I think the General’s Mansion should look into this again. What if it turns out later that he isn’t who they think he is? Wouldn’t that be embarrassing?”

Shen Jingzhi snapped, “Mother, this is the last time I’ll call you Mother. I know you can’t bear to part with me, but you can’t just open your eyes and tell lies! Do you really think a country woman like you could give birth to someone with my looks and bearing?”

My mother-in-law rolled her eyes.

Then Shen Jingzhi went on, “In a few days, word of my death will spread. From now on, just pretend I’m dead. Cuiniang should find someone else and marry him.”

He had prepared for this long ago.

Even when he returned home today, he had come in disguise under cover of the deep night.

Other than me and my mother-in-law, no one knew he had come back.

Sure enough, a few days later, someone delivered Shen Jingzhi’s ashes.

“It was an acute illness. It’s contagious, so we had no choice but to burn the body.”

I cried myself unconscious.

My mother-in-law played the madwoman. “Nonsense. This isn’t my son. My son isn’t dead.”

The older ginger really was spicier.

With that one move, my mother-in-law got away without having to fake tears.

Unlike me, who had to cycle through soapberry powder, mint, and ground pepper until my eyes were swollen shut and my throat had gone hoarse.

But I got a good reputation out of it, too.

Everyone said I was deeply devoted to my late husband, a loyal and kind woman.

After the funeral, my mother-in-law asked me what I planned to do.

To be honest, even though I was a widow in everyone else’s eyes now, I was still very much in demand.

Several families were waiting for me to finish my six-month mourning period so they could come propose to me again.

But I didn’t want to remarry.

Shen Jingzhi was considered one of the finest men in the surrounding villages. If even he turned out like this, how much better could the others be?

My mother-in-law sighed. “It’s all because you’re too honest. Jingzhi went to the capital to sit for the exam and was gone for more than half a year. If you hadn’t been able to hold out and found yourself a lover, by now you would’ve already been carrying a child. Then you could’ve said it was a posthumous baby, and no one would have doubted it. What a pity…”

I stared at her, dumbfounded. Was that really okay?