Chapter 642: Chapter 259 My Mother-in-law is a Loyal Servant (Part 3)_3
Finally, He Tiantian took a look at her surroundings.
The earthy road was compacted, with forests or farmlands on both sides.
In the fields and forests, villagers dressed in short clothes were farming and hunting.
It made sense when she thought about it; this mission’s world was a fictional feudal dynasty, and the road beneath her feet was probably a government road.
He Tiantian turned her head slightly and looked back into the distance.
The passing carriage stirred up a fine layer of dust, and at this moment, it was high noon, with the sun exceptionally harsh.
The glaring sunlight and the rising dust made the distant scene seem like a somewhat blurry painting.
At the far end of the road, within He Tiantian’s field of vision, she could vaguely see a group of people slowly approaching.
But the light was too dazzling, making the figures seem elusive.
Combining what the dark and thin man had said, He Tiantian, even without assimilating the original host’s memories, could roughly deduce the current time point—
This should be during the time when Marquis An Nan’s Mansion was falsely accused of conspiracy, and the present Emperor Chengtai, enraged beyond measure, ordered the whole mansion to be escorted to the Capital City.
Gu Xiuniang’s mother-in-law, the future well-known loyal servant Nanny Zhao, was Marchioness Zhang’s close confidant. With the mansion’s downfall, as a slave, she naturally had to follow Marchioness Zhang to the Capital City.
Gu Xiuniang’s husband, Feng Zhongliang, had been freed from slavery early on by Mrs. Zhang to become an ordinary citizen.
Mrs. Zhang did this, firstly, to reward Nanny Zhao’s loyalty, and secondly, to have Feng Zhongliang manage her dowry shop outside.
True to his name, Feng Zhongliang was loyal to Mrs. Zhang and also a kind and honest person.
However, during his time in the Southwest, with the mighty Marquis Pingnan’s Mansion to back him, the clear-headed Feng Zhongliang managed the shop prosperously.
In public and private, people would respectfully refer to him as "Old Master Feng" or "Store Manager."
Although his mother was still a slave, one must consider whom she served.
The wife of a First-rank Marquis and the War God’s wife in the Southwest—it was quite an honor for Nanny Zhao to serve such a distinguished person.
As Nanny Zhao’s only son and a person valued by Mrs. Zhang, Feng Zhongliang held quite a respectable position.
Thus, when it came time for him to marry, daughters from families of scholars and even Scholars were willing to marry him.
Even some minor officials sought to become in-laws with Nanny Zhao.
However, Feng Zhongliang ultimately took a fancy to the daughter of a down-and-out scholar’s family, that is, Gu Xiuniang.
The reason was simple: Gu Xiuniang was beautiful.
Her skin was fair and clear, and she appeared delicate with a melon-seed face, slender willow-leaf eyebrows, almond-shaped eyes, and a small yet exquisitely shaped nose and mouth.
With her slender figure, she looked so pitiable that it struck a chord in people’s hearts.
Nanny Zhao initially looked down on the Gu Family’s social standing, but she couldn’t overrule her son’s wishes.
The Gu Family, despite being impoverished, was nevertheless a respectable family.
Gu Xiuniang seemingly had a lot going for her on the surface, and she also possessed excellent embroidery skills.
It was said to be a hereditary skill; the ancestors of the Gu Family were once a family of renown Embroidery experts in Jiangnan.
It was Gu Xiuniang’s great-grandfather who had become a Scholar, gradually shedding the identity of merchant and craftsman to become a respected scholar.
Since then, the Gu Family changed their social standing completely; the men focused entirely on their scholarly pursuits while the women learned Embroidery.
Alas, it seemed that the Gu Family lacked scholarly talent, as besides that Scholar ancestor, not one respectable scholar emerged in the next two or three generations.
Gu Xiuniang’s grandfather only attained the title of Scholar, while her own father was even worse off. After spending twenty or thirty years taking exams and bringing the family to the brink of financial ruin, he was nothing more than a child student.
If it wasn’t for Gu Xiuniang and her several sisters toiling away at embroidery all night to earn money, the Gu Family likely couldn’t have even kept the pot boiling.
Yet Gu’s father was still determined, a man nearly in his fifties or sixties with greying hair, still trying for the title of Scholar but failing time and time again.
Gu’s father didn’t think it was a lack of ability on his part; rather, he blamed his misfortune and considered the examiners to be blind.
Gu’s father was also tyrannical within the family; outside he might be mocked as an old child student, but at home, he was the absolute Ancestor, the one whose word was law.
Gu Xiuniang’s abhorrence of gender discrimination and her odd way of thinking, which led her to read until her mind went numb, owed a lot to her obstinate father!
Initially, when Nanny Zhao sought Gu Xiuniang’s hand in marriage for Feng Zhongliang, Gu’s father was somewhat reluctant.
After all, their Gu Family was a family of scholars, while Feng Zhongliang, although a citizen, had a mother who was still a slave.
Gentle and lowly were not supposed to intermarry, and even if one were a servant of a noble family, that was still branded with a "lowly" status.
However, the Gu Family was truly struggling, and Gu’s father’s backbone couldn’t stand up to the cruel realities.
Besides, Nanny Zhao was the reputable servant of Marquis Pingnan’s Mansion, a local tyrant in the Southwest.
If they could establish a connection with the Mansion, perhaps in the future, when taking the imperial examination—
And so, Gu Xiuniang wed Feng Zhongliang, embarking on her brand-new life as the villainous sacrificial lamb!