Chapter 178

Chapter 178

As mentioned before, the Quyang Han clan's standards for choosing daughters-in-law had always been intelligence and beauty, in addition to comparable family standing.

Thus, the Han clan's children were mostly clever, refined, and strikingly good-looking.

And back then, Han Jiu had been the most beautiful one in the entire clan.

But he was also a cunning one—not only did he drive the young masters of Quyang Prefecture to utter infatuation, but even the young ladies and gentlemen of various families couldn't bring themselves to dislike him.

In short, he was the kind of person who was a true heartthrob—appealing to everyone, men and women alike, not just to men!

However, no one's perfect.

This Ninth Grand-Uncle did have a flaw: he was also shallow when it came to looks, favoring those who were good-looking.

So when it came time for marriage, Han Jiu picked and chose until he settled on the Fourth Young Master of the Zhong family, who was equally renowned for his dashing good looks.

The two came from similar backgrounds and were both exceptionally attractive—calling the match well-suited and made in heaven wouldn't be an exaggeration.

Alas!

It wasn't true that a beautiful wife or husband could keep a man's heart faithful. Taking multiple wives and concubines was the norm of the era, and those who truly managed to remain devoted to one partner for life were few and far between.

Unsurprisingly, the Fourth Young Master Zhong began straying not long after the wedding.

By the time the Han family fell on hard times, he'd gone so far as to be bewitched by his "true love" outside and foolishly plotted to have his original husband, Han Jiu, "die of illness"!

But Han Jiu was no pushover—how could he just sit and wait to die?

After learning that his husband wanted him dead, he decided to take the initiative and kill the man first instead.

And right there in the mourning hall before his husband's coffin, he consummated his relationship with his brother-in-law, who had long harbored feelings for him—the man who would later become the Zhong family patriarch.

Han Jiu was stunningly beautiful, their relationship was forbidden, and to top it off, they were right before the dead brother's spirit... With so many layers of thrill stacked together, how could the Zhong patriarch, who had long coveted his younger brother's husband, not be reduced to a lovestruck fool?

Afterward, Han Jiu pretended to be a victim of coercion, running to the Zhong matriarch in tears, throwing fits and wailing about wanting to die.

Then he clung to her side, spending his days pitifully calling her "sister" while seducing her in every way imaginable, weeping and wailing for half a month.

The Zhong matriarch successfully "discovered" that she had never hated fox-spirits—she simply hated that the fox-spirit hadn't been seducing her instead...

Now that Han Jiu was calling her "good sister" at every turn and seducing her, she couldn't help but commit the mistake that all men in the world were prone to—perfectly normal, right?

And so, what happened afterward was known to everyone.

With both the patriarch and the matriarch as his protectors, and having borne children for the Zhong family, who in the vast Zhong household dared to bully him in the slightest?

Even the patriarch and matriarch's own biological children had to treat him with the utmost respect as their "little father, little mother"!

In short, Han Jiu's life was so comfortable that he was just one step short of ruling the Zhong family like a king.

As he spoke,

Han Jiu's performative nature kicked in, and he began to act again, lamenting:

"Alas, relying on beauty to serve others never lasts. Now that I'm old and my looks have faded, Zhong Lang and Sister Fang no longer treat me with the same warmth as before..."

"If you younger brothers hadn't returned, Ninth Brother here would truly be left to wither away in neglect, with no one even bothering to ask after me."

Everyone: ...

If they remembered correctly, when this Ninth Grand-Uncle had arrived earlier, it was the Zhong couple themselves who had personally escorted him over, right?

Besides, at their age—grandparents already—even if they wanted to be "warm"... their old bones wouldn't allow it.

Everyone smiled awkwardly.

But seeing Ninth Grand-Uncle cry so pitifully, Grandfather Han and the others couldn't help but offer comforting words:

"Ninth Brother, don't grieve. From now on, with our Big Brother backing you, no one will ever dare to wrong you again."

Han Jiu immediately looked up, tearful eyes fixed on Han Zhang, and called out plaintively, "Grand-nephew..."

Han Zhang understood instantly and vowed solemnly: "Ninth Grand-Uncle, rest assured. Your grand-nephew will surely honor and care for you well in the future, and will never let anyone slight you in the slightest!"

"Ah, what a good child..."

Han Jiu finally held back his tears and nodded with satisfaction.

This was the treatment a beauty deserved!

Shen Qinglan watched from the side, eyes sparkling, as if a whole new world had opened up before him.

Ninth Grand-Uncle was truly amazing—he decided right then that he would visit Ninth Grand-Uncle often to learn from him. He wanted his husband to keep him at the center of his heart even in old age!

After each of them had finished recounting their experiences over the years and properly poured out the joy of reuniting with loved ones,

Only then did they turn to the serious matter of ancestral rites.

Since the Han ancestral home and shrine had been meticulously maintained by Han Jiu and the others all these years, Han Zhang and his party didn't need to go through the trouble of rebuilding tombs or constructing shrines—they merely needed to select an auspicious day and hold the ceremony, which wouldn't take much time.

The real focus lay in revising the clan genealogy.

Not every Han daughter or young lad who had married out had fared as well as Han Jiu—in fact, most had ended up in dire straits.

Some had been "died of illness," some divorced, some separated by mutual agreement... and many of their children had been cast out along with them.

Later, these women had their children change their surnames to Han, claiming publicly that the children were already members of the Han family, but they had never been officially recorded in the true Han genealogy, leaving their status somewhat illegitimate.

Now that Clan Chief Han and the others had returned, revising the genealogy was an absolute necessity.

To this, Clan Chief Han didn't hesitate and nodded directly:

"These are married-out daughters and sons, but since their husbands' families couldn't accommodate them, and those children all carry Han blood in their veins, we naturally must take them back and settle them properly."

"Not just the children—the names of every Han aunt and uncle must also be entered into the genealogy, ranked alongside our Han sons in proper generational order, and recorded in their own separate section."

"At present, the Han clan is thin on numbers. We need the whole family to unite in purpose before the clan can flourish once more. In extraordinary times, extraordinary measures must be taken—our Han daughters and young lads should also have the qualifications and standing to stand on their own!"

These words were spoken with great righteousness and fervor.

Though Clan Chief Han's private motive was to expand the pool of capable family members for Han Zhang's rebellion cause, it did indeed bring tangible benefits to the Han daughters and young lads.

Seventh Aunt Han and the others were both shocked and overjoyed, rising excitedly to their feet:

"Yuan-di, do you truly mean what you say?"

It must be noted that although women and young masters are recorded in the family genealogy these days, the manner of recording differs greatly from that of men, often with only a few words such as "so-and-so's eldest daughter" or "so-and-so's second daughter."

Moreover, after marriage, even such brief records are often crossed out entirely, replaced by "wife of so-and-so" in the husband's family genealogy, without even leaving a full name behind. (This detail is based on online research and shouldn't be examined too closely.)

Thus, it was only natural that Seventh Aunt Han and the others were so overjoyed and excited upon hearing these words.

Seeing the delight on his elder siblings' faces, Han Clan Chief smiled and nodded: "Of course. Seventh Sister, Eighth Sister, Ninth Brother, I am now the clan chief, and these rules are for me to decide."

"That Sun family has treated Seventh Sister poorly. Seventh Sister, you should divorce him and return to your natal family with your two grandchildren. Our clan will support you!"

Hearing this, Seventh Lady Han could not help but weep again, though this time it was tears of joy: "Good, good, good..."

She had a family to return to—she was no longer adrift with nowhere to go.

Her grandchildren would have support too. She no longer had to worry about those heartless people in the Sun family pulling rank as elders to control her grandchildren after she was gone.

Once the tears of joy subsided, both sides discussed the detailed arrangements for the ancestral rites. Only then did Han Baniang and Han Jiu return to their residence to get ready, while also dispatching people to notify the other married Han daughters and their husbands of this wonderful news.

Meanwhile, Han Zhang and the others escorted Seventh Aunt Han back to the Sun residence to sort things out!

When the Sun family heard the request for divorce, they naturally refused.

The reason was simple.

According to custom, when a woman divorces, she takes her dowry with her.

When Seventh Lady Han had married into the Sun family, the Han clan was at the height of its power, and her dowry was a full "ten-mile red dowry"—a lavish display of wealth.

If the Sun family were still prosperous, they would not covet these things for the sake of face. But now that the Sun family had declined, how could they possibly give up such a vast fortune?

With such enormous interests at stake, Sun Kangsheng could no longer afford to worry about anything else. He immediately started shamelessly twisting the facts:

"Divorce? Not a chance. Seventh Lady Han, we have been husband and wife for decades, and now we have grandchildren around us. Divorcing now would make the whole town laugh at the Sun family!"

"If you truly cannot bear to stay in the Sun family anymore, fine—I'll give you a letter of repudiation! After all, during your years in the Sun family, you failed to be filial to your in-laws and couldn't get along with anyone else in the household. You're jealous and petty. Repudiating you is fully justified under the seven grounds for divorce!"

After all, this was the Sun household. His parents were dead, so whether his wife had been filial was entirely up to the Sun family to claim.

Having said this, Sun Kangsheng then looked at Sun Xingwang and his younger sister: "As for these two children... they're the Sun family's own flesh and blood. There's no reason to let outsiders take them away."

He wanted to keep both Seventh Lady Han's dowry and her grandchildren in the Sun family.

That way, the Han clan would be hesitant to act, afraid of harming their own people, and would not dare to retaliate against the Sun family!

Otherwise, given what the Sun family had done to Seventh Lady Han over the years, he couldn't bear to imagine how the Han clan would retaliate.

Concubine Dai, watching from the sidelines, couldn't help but gloat with petty spite:

"Why must you be so upset, Sister? The master is right. At your age, making a fuss over divorce—won't people laugh at you if word gets out?"

"Xing Wang and Qian Jieer staying in the Sun family will have their own bright futures. Why must you insist on taking them away, inviting outsiders to gossip about them having a divorced grandmother?"

"You... the two of you..."

Seventh Lady Han trembled with rage at the shameless words of these two, who played off each other like a well-rehearsed act.

Sun Xingwang and his sister clung tightly to their grandmother's hands, glaring daggers at their self-righteous grandfather and that smug concubine.

"Heh..."

Just as the standoff reached its peak, Han Zhang, who had been standing to the side, suddenly let out a soft chuckle.

The laugh was soft, but it made Sun Kangsheng's heart jump with alarm.

He forced himself to remain calm and looked at Han Zhang, asking nervously: "What does my esteemed grand-nephew mean by that?"

"Nothing much."

There wasn't a trace of anger on Han Zhang's face. In fact, he wore a modest smile and said, slowly and deliberately:

"I just think what Grand-Aunt's husband said earlier is very reasonable. You and my grand-aunt have been married for decades, with deep affection between you. If you divorced now, it would truly be a shame."

"So let's set aside the divorce matter for today. I'll first take Grand-Aunt and my two younger cousins back to the residence to reunite with the family elders and enjoy some family time."

"Another day, I'll pay a special visit to Grand-Aunt's husband to discuss family matters in detail."

With that, without waiting for Sun Kangsheng's reaction, he turned slightly and said gently to Seventh Lady Han: "Grand-Aunt, let's head back to the residence first."

Since this grand-aunt's husband refused to take the path of the living, he'd have to "kindly" send him down the road of the dead instead.

Didn't want to give back the dowry?

Fine, then.

As long as the man died and his cousin inherited the Sun family, those things would naturally not have to be returned.