In the Ye mansion.

"You have to understand that she's pregnant Qingmei, you should be virtuous and stop being jealous!" Scholar Ye scolded his wife sternly.

"I've been virtuous all my life. It is you who went and filled the backyard with concubines after clearly promising me you wouldn't take one unless we were childless! Those concubines even had the audacity to plot against my children! You should know that was my bottom line! My reputation was ruined because your man-eating family forced me to act, but instead of protecting my reputation, you went out and made it worst by criticizing me as an unvirtuous wife!" Madam Ye yelled at Scholar Ye who was blocking a young girl behind him. Those words immediately caught the attention of the people who were watching the drama go down. They immediately looked at scholar Ye disdainfully and shook their heads. How could a man be so greedy?

"Now you even dare sleep with one of my maids right under my nose and expect me to be calm? I'm not pregnant, I'm not sick, and for sure am not dead! Your family is just as audacious as you! You guys are nothing but a bunch of nobodies who are living on my dowry but still has the audacity to order me around, call me unvirtuous, and to even criticize me as if I was some slowly animal beneath their feet, but let me tell you something, I quit! I will divorce you today and will empty out all my dowry and I want you to pay back all the money I spent on the debts of your and everything else that belongs to me should also be returned!" Madam Ye continued excitedly.

"Ye Qingmei!"Scholar Ye yelled, startled by Madam Ye's words.

"It's Lu Qingmei now!" Madam Ye yelled back. "Li Tingting go get the documents from my father inside my chambers and don't forget my dowry list." Madam Ye ordered with a stern voice.

"Yes madam!" The maid, Li Tingting happily complied.

"What a good wife you have Baolin!" Mother Ye yelled angrily.

"A woman dares to make such ruckus! How did you discipline her?" Father Ye echoed as he looked at Madam Ye disdainfully.

"Ye Qingmei are you not embarrassed making such a ruckus?" Scholar Ye yelled with a red face.

"I guess I complied so much with your ridiculous demands, you forgot who I am!" Madam Ye sneered. "I'm Lu Qingmei of the Lu mansion, the only daughter of third the richest merchant of the empire, and niece of Madam Zhang, wife of the Left prime minister, so how dare you bunch of lowly dogs bark at me?" Ye Qingmei declared coldly.

This was like a slap that woke up the Ye family. They forgot that Ye Qingmei wasn't your average daughter-in-law. Yes, they looked down on her because of her background as the daughter of a merchant, but they were so caught in their ego and pride they forgot that this merchant wasn't a normal one.

Merchant Lu was a son born to the second wife of General Zhou, Fang Enya, but unfortunately, his mom passed away early and left him and his sister to fend for themselves. The first wife, Chen Anhe hated the second wife and her children, so she plotted against them with every chance she got, but the children were a strong pair. Fang Enya's daughter, the third miss, Fang Meijuan became one of the most respectable ladies in the empire, she held the title of the 8th most beautiful woman in the empire, and her talent for music was impeccable. At the age of fifteen, she married the number one scholar who came from a poor background and became the most ridiculed woman in the empire, but they were quickly silenced when her husband quickly rose to the ranks and became the left Prime Minister.

She gave birth to three children and her husband never took in a concubine, he doesn't even pay attention to other women other than her. Fang Meijuan became the spoiled wife of the left Prime Minister. Her brother was also successful. When Fang Haitao became seventeen he asked to be separated from the family, and the first wife happily complied while General Zhou had no opinions. The whole empire thought Fang Haitao was stupid for leaving the Zhou family and thought that he couldn't live on his own, but he proved everyone wrong when he came back with a boat full of treasures from his trip and claimed the title of the third richest merchant of the empire.

He married a princess from a small country and took in three concubines in which he only favored one. His main wife princess Zhao Yajin, his first concubine Qiang Yan, his second concubine, Huang Yujia, and his third concubine, Lin Jingzhi. Out of all these concubines, only one was married voluntarily. Huang Yujia was pushed onto him by his stepmother Madam Zhou under the guise of his last act of filial piety, after digging deeper they found out it was Huang Yujia who came to Madam Zhou and proposed the idea, so Lord Lu ignoring her was justified. Lin Ligzhi was even more shameful. She drugged Lord Lu and then blamed him for taking her innocence. They knew who was at fault, but the law was the law and so he had to marry her, but her life in the Lu manor was not so smooth sailing.

Despite all that drama the married couple was still happy and were even happier when the only daughter of the Lu manor was born. Since Zhao Yajin gave birth to four sons she was more than happy to spoil Lu Qingmei. You could say the same for Fang Meijuan and her husband who's always wanted a daughter, so Lu Qingmei became the pearl of both the Lu manor and the Zhang manor of the left Prime minister.

The Ye family was so caught in their little world that they forgot all about Lu Qingmei's origin. Even the onlookers were surprised. They were so used to hearing bad things about Lu Qingmei that they forgot that she wasn't just the daughter of a merchant and that she even had a princess as her legal mother, a noble lady as her mother, and the wife of a high ranking minister as her aunt. Even her children were surprised by their mother and immediately ordered a maid to go call their brothers.

"Q- Qingm-" Scholar Ye tried to call out with a shaky voice, but was cut short by Lin Tinting who came back.

"Madam here's the documents and dowry list." Li Tingting reported respectfully.

"Mother! What's going on?" The Ye manor's first young master, Ye Chianfan ran to his mother and asked breathlessly.

"Mother is divorcing Scholar Ye." Ye Shang squealed as her eyes sparkled.

"Really?" The third young master of the Ye family, Ye Shuchang asked even more excited than his sister.

"Why are you happy? It will be difficult to get married after Madam Ye divorces my dad you know?" The second young master of the Ye family, Ye Lixin said arrogantly.

"Are you stupid? You should be worried about your wedding when my mom takes away her dowry. All the good clothes, jewelry, and money you have will be returned to her. I have my grandmothers, my great aunt and uncle, my uncles, my grandfather, and my mother to support me, so I don't have to worry about finding a great family for my marriage, but you? Your father is a joke in the capital, your mother is a lowly dancer who climbed her way up into somebody else's husband's bed, and you are nothing but an arrogant illegitimate child." Ye Shang ridiculed coldly.

"I don't normally like to insult people because of their birth, but you? You took the fact that you were favored by the Old Ye couple and Scholar Ye for granted. All the servant girls you sexually assaulted? The servant boys you mistreated? The disrespect towards my mother? It will all come back to you. After my mother leaves with her dowry the Ye family will be poor and all these servants can sue you, your mother will most likely go to prison for her debts, and your father's prestige and source of money for his education will be cut off. So who do you think will suffer more, me or you?" Ye Shang sneered coldly.

"I'm your father!" Scholar yelled at Ye Shang, his face pale from her words.

"You didn't act like my father fifteen years ago, and I won't need you to act like it now!" Ye Shang yelled back with anger laced in her voice.

"You-" Old Lady Ye opened her mouth to yell but was cut short by Lu Qingmei.

"Enough! I need you to sign here so we can get over this, and if you don't then you're directly refusing the emperor's imperial edict." Lu Qingmei said coldly making the Ye family shiver at her words.

"Madam, please forgive me! I didn't mean to offend you in any way!" Concubine Yun, the mother of Ye Lixing apologized with anxiety in her voice. She truly never thought things would go downhill like this. Ye Shang's words scared her. She was used to living a glamorous life so she always bought on credit when she didn't have the money and she accumulated some debts. She knew the Ye family didn't have any foundation or money and that it was Lu Qingmei that was supporting the family, so her leaving now meant she was really going to prison if she couldn't pay back her debts.

"Well, you should've thought of that when before you did what you did." Ye Qingmei responded coldly as she looked at the maid that was hiding behind Scholar Ye.







Hello lovelies! Here's an update!

Question of the day.

What's your favorite restaurant?(fast food included)