After becoming rich overnight, I handed over the system.

Chapter 253 Confinement

After handing over the prescription, Shen Yunrou returned to the Jiang residence.

Feeling somewhat disoriented, she picked up her needle and thread, just as her mother had always asked her to calm down.

The crabapple blossoms outside the window were in full bloom, their pink and white petals drifting in the wind, a few landing on her embroidery frame.

She stopped what she was doing and stared at the flower petals in a daze.

How did it end up like this?

"Miss, Master wants you to go to the front hall," came the voice of Cuiqing, a maid from the Jiang family, from outside the door.

Shen Yunrou's fingers trembled slightly, the needle pierced her fingertip, and a drop of blood fell on the half-embroidered swallow, spreading a small patch of dark red.

She pursed her lips, placed the embroidery hoop aside, stood up and straightened her clothes, as if she were heading to the battlefield.

"Miss, it's not that I'm criticizing you, but the master is calling you. You'd better hurry up!" the maid said, picking on her.

Shen Yunrou then noticed that this maid was the one who had come to deliver the message last time, but she hadn't given her a reward.

It seems she's still holding a grudge about not giving me a reward last time. It's hard to believe that it wasn't my aunt's doing, since she's just a maid.

Shen Yunrou remained silent; there was still no news from Xiao Yi's side.

In the front hall, her uncle sat upright, while her aunt stood to the side, her expression showing a hint of smugness.

Shen Yunrou walked in slowly, her skirt swaying gently, carrying a faint fragrance of orchids.

"Yunrou greets her uncle and aunt." She curtsied.

"Sit down, Rou'er, there's no need for such formality." Her uncle's voice was somewhat low. "I called you here today because I have something important to discuss."

Shen Yunrou's heart clenched suddenly. Had her uncle really been persuaded by her aunt and abandoned his niece?

“Your aunt told me,” her uncle’s words confirmed her suspicions. “I’ve already agreed.”

"Uncle!" Shen Yunrou suddenly stood up. "My aunt wants me to be my eldest cousin's concubine. Do you really agree to this? How can you do this to my deceased grandparents, and to my mother?"

"Outrageous!" Uncle slammed his hand on the table. "Your mother was restless and insisted on being with your merchant father, which led to her untimely death. Your aunt and I kindly took you in, and now we're even letting you be with your older cousin. What's wrong with that!"

Shen Yunrou bit her lip, her nails digging deep into her palms.

Okay, so that's what her uncle thought of her parents. He kindly took her in, but who would want their kindness in taking her in!

"Uncle, Yunrou will never be a concubine!"

"Unwilling?" Uncle sneered. "You're just a merchant's daughter. How could your cousin possibly marry you! Do you know the status of the Li family, the Vice Minister of Works, in the court? Your cousin's career and the Jiang family's honor all depend on their support. Given your status, your uncle didn't send you away as someone else's concubine, but instead agreed to let you be with your cousin. Isn't that good enough?"

Nonsense, is this really a good thing? This is just what my uncle thinks is good for him. Doesn't he know what he's really after?

Saying she's reluctant to part with it is just that she's reluctant to part with the money she brought with her!

"If Uncle thinks it's good, then he can marry his cousin himself. Anyway, I, Shen Yunrou, will never be a concubine." After saying this, Shen Yunrou turned and left.

"You are insolent!"

Jiang's uncle was so angry at Shen Yunrou's unethical words that he slumped into his chair, his ears ringing.

As expected, the consequence of Shen Yunrou's open confrontation was that she was placed under house arrest.

"Miss, what should we do now?" Tao Hong, the maidservant, asked anxiously.

Why is this master forbidding his young lady from leaving the house? She said before that the Jiang residence was uninhabitable, but the young lady missed her relatives and insisted on staying.

She thought that this master was, after all, her uncle, and someone she could trust. Now look at what kind of people these are.

They actually made her young lady a concubine. No wonder the madam never mentioned her family before.

"Taohong, don't worry, I have my own plan." Shen Yunrou was a little uneasy at first, but after arguing with her uncle, she understood.

Fortunately, she had already given the prescription to Xiao Yi, so now she could only wait.

If all else fails, she can try to run away, but that would be a last resort.

She came to the capital with honor, so of course she should leave with honor.

On the first day of Shen Yunrou's confinement, her maternal aunt, Jiang, came again.

"Rou'er, why are you so stubborn? Hasn't your aunt treated you well in the past? If you get together with your cousin, won't we still be a happy family?" Aunt Jiang was unwilling to give up and continued to persuade Shen Yunrou.

"Aunt, would you consider letting my cousin become a concubine as well?"

"You! That's your cousin, Shen Yunrou, how could you be so vicious!" Jiang was furious.

"Is it vicious of me to make my cousin a concubine? Aunt, you're making me a concubine, aren't you vicious?" Shen Yunrou retorted.

"You're so quick-witted! If you don't become a concubine, I'll tell your uncle to marry you off to someone from some remote mountain village!" Jiang threatened Shen Yunrou.

"That's still more honorable than being someone's concubine!" Shen Yunrou bet they wouldn't be willing to give it up.

Finally, the aunt, furious, had no choice but to walk away.

On the second day after Shen Yunrou was placed under house arrest, her older cousin came to visit.

"Cousin, don't be so stubborn anymore. Be my concubine, and I won't treat you badly," the older cousin said gently.

Shen Yunrou snorted coldly, "Cousin, do you think my future sister-in-law will know if you say that?"

Shen Yunrou's words made her cousin's expression change. "Cousin, don't be stubborn and ask for trouble."

Then his tone softened, "Cousin, as long as you don't tell and I don't tell either, your cousin's wife won't know. After she enters the family, I will naturally take you as a concubine. Your cousin's wife is a lady from a respectable family, and she will naturally agree to such a trivial matter as taking a concubine. Cousin, will your cousin still treat you badly as before?"

Shen Yunrou had truly lost her patience. "Fine, fine, fine my ass! If it's so good, why don't you become a concubine yourself?"

You've barely entered the family and you're already asking her to take a concubine? How will she, as the concubine, survive? My cousin actually thinks he has a peaceful marriage with his concubines and enjoys the bliss of having multiple wives. I'm so sorry!

"roll!"

"Cousin, you!" The older cousin also turned and left.

On the third day of Shen Yunrou's confinement, her cousin came to visit.

"So you've come here to persuade me to become your brother's concubine?"

My cousin blushed after hearing this. She knew what had happened and that her family had done wrong.

Her mother used to say that her cousin would marry her brother, so she would try to get anything she liked from Shen Yunrou, since she would be her sister-in-law in the future anyway.

Now her parents want Shen Yunrou to be her brother's concubine, which her cousin finds inappropriate, but she can't change her parents' and brother's minds.

"No, cousin, I think you did the right thing!" the younger cousin said shyly.