After having this son, no one knew if Second Mother had other thoughts about Shen Lian inheriting the family business.
Third Mother only had one son, Shen Fang.
For some reason, Shen Fang's appearance was ugly, completely different from the scholarly Shen Wanquan. He was very unlikable. When he grew up, Shen Fang caught the bad habits of eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling. He refused to change despite repeated warnings, so he was even less favored.
Fourth Mother gave birth to a son and a daughter, Shen Zhan and Shen Yiyi.
Shen Zhan was very handsome with delicate features. Shen Yiyi also grew up to be very beautiful and was deeply loved by Shen Wanquan.
However, in these few years, Shen Zhan often fooled around with Shen Fang and also got into the bad habits of eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling. This made Shen Wanquan more and more disappointed.
Fifth Mother and Sixth Mother only married in these few years. Fifth Mother gave birth to a pair of twins named Shen Wen and Shen Wu. They were still young, not even ten years old.
Sixth Mother was pregnant and delicate. She was also Shen Wanquan's most favored concubine.
In this big family, the five women not only fought for favor, but also for the rights of their children.
Shen Wanquan knew very well what they were quarreling about.
He had six sons, three of which were adults, Shen Lian, Shen Fang, and Shen Zhan. There was no need to compare carefully. Even a blind person could see that Shen Lian was very outstanding, far beyond Shen Fang and Shen Zhan. Moreover, Shen Lian was the eldest son. No matter how one looked at it, the successor of the family head was Shen Lian.
However, Third Mother's maternal family was the uncle of the prefectural magistrate. They had a strong background and insisted on supporting her son Shen Fang to compete with Shen Lian. They often stirred up trouble in the family and made trouble out of nothing.
Fourth Mother was a fence-sitter. She would listen to the wind and listen to the rain. She was familiar with the situation and leaned towards the side that had benefits.
Fifth Mother and Sixth Mother each had their own thoughts and they followed suit.
Faced with Third Madame's aggressive and harsh criticism, Second Madame's face turned gloomy. She argued, "Recently, Lian 'er has been busy recruiting retainers for the family. It's inevitable that he would spend more money. Third Sister, aren't you making a mountain out of a molehill?"
Third Mother sneered, "Recruiting retainers? Who did he recruit? Why haven't I seen any of them? He's spending money like water. A hundred thousand taels today, a hundred thousand taels tomorrow. There's no end to it. Is this a small matter? "
The Second Mother was exasperated and defended her, "Lian 'er has been intelligent since he was young. He has his own ideas and we will see the results after some time. Third Sister, you don't have to be in a hurry."
Sanniang pursed her lips and said disdainfully, "Aren't you being too protective of Lian 'er? I'm just worried that after a while, the Shen family will go bankrupt. "
Second Mother was so angry that she trembled.
Dong dong dong!
At this moment, there was a knock on the door.
Shen Wanquan, who was resting with his eyes closed, raised his head and looked at the door. "Who is it?"
"Father, it's me," Shen Lian answered outside the door.
"Come in."
Shen Lian pushed the door open and entered. Shen Xiaoshu tugged on his sleeve and followed in. Shen Fang and Shen Zhan followed closely behind with strange expressions. Cuilan cowered behind Shen Lian, as if she hoped that she would be invisible.
"Lian 'er is here. Oh, Little Shu, Little Fang, Little Zhan, you guys are here too." Shen Wanquan could not help but be stunned. He was slightly surprised to see his four children coming together.
The Second Mother smiled and looked over. She smiled and nodded, but her smile was a little stiff. She used her eyes to hint to Shen Lian that he had come at the wrong time.
Sanniang coldly glanced at Shen Lian. Suddenly!
Her pupils suddenly shrank. She looked over Shen Lian's shoulder and stared at Cuilan. Her eyes were almost spitting fire and her face was full of murderous intent.
Cuilan lowered her head and wished that she could bury her face in her chest. Her body was trembling and she was so scared that she could not breathe. She almost fainted from suffocation. It was obvious how scared she was.
The Fourth Mother also looked at the moonlight dress on Cuilan. She seemed to have thought of something and raised her eyebrows. She covered her mouth and chuckled.
Shen Lian saluted, "Father, Second Mother, Third Mother, Fourth Mother, Fifth Mother, and Sixth Mother."
Shen Xiaoshu, Shen Fang, and Shen Zhan also saluted one by one.
Shen Wanquan waved his hand and smiled, "We are all family. There is no need to be so polite. Have a seat."
"Father!" Shen Xiaoshu trotted to Shen Wanquan's side and acted cute. Shen Wanquan laughed heartily.
Sanniang was impatient and said coldly, "Lian 'er, you are becoming more and more like a master of the household. Even the clothes on your maidservants are better than those of us mothers."
Cuilan trembled violently and had to hold on to the back of the chair to stand firm.
The Second Mother frowned. She was nitpicking. She opened her mouth but suddenly saw Shen Lian calmly waving his hand. She swallowed her words.
Shen Lian sat down slowly. He was as calm as water.
Sanniang wanted to take away his power and take away his inheritance. It would be difficult to persuade her to give up.
Shen Lian chuckled, "Sanniang has always been diligent and thrifty. She should be the role model of the Shen family. Since I took over part of the family business, I have been cautious and did not dare to slack off. I have gradually understood that it is difficult to start a business, but even more difficult to keep it. "
Shen Wanquan's heart trembled slightly. He said in surprise, "Well said, it is difficult to start a business, but even more difficult to keep it. Lian 'er, well said!"
In his heart, Shen Lian had always been outstanding.
Recently, he had spent more money than usual. However, compared to the other heirs of the big families, Shen Lian stood out. He never fooled around. His talent in poetry and literature, in particular, added a lot of glory to his reputation.
Sanniang snorted coldly, "Lian 'er has always been good at poetry and literature. His eloquence is better than others. However, the Shen family is not a government family. We are a business family. Just because you are good at reading and talking doesn't mean that you can do well in business."
Shen Lian said, "Sanniang is a person who understands the big picture. I admit that I am not as good as you. In private, I have always taken Sanniang as my role model. Especially recently, in order to deal with the family business, the expenses have been increasing day by day. This has made me anxious and unable to sleep at night.
Only then did I know that it is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality.
Sanniang's worries are not unfounded. Without discipline and diligence, the Shen family may go bankrupt.
After learning from this painful experience, I have decided to learn from Sanniang. I will lead the way to promote the great spirit of hard work and simplicity. It starts with me! "
He turned to Shen Wanquan with a sincere expression, "Father, I hope that you will take back my right to withdraw the family's money at will.
At the same time, I am willing to donate all my monthly allowance to set up a 'crisis fund'.
Although my monthly allowance is small, as time goes by, a little makes a mickle, and sand accumulates into the sea. The crisis fund will continue to increase.
In the future, if the family is in trouble and has no money to use, the crisis fund will be our family's last line of insurance. "
Shen Wanquan raised his eyebrows and said, "Donate all of it?"
This was obviously not realistic. Shen Lian was the eldest son of the family. How could he not spend money to welcome and send people off?
Shen Lian nodded and said, "Donate all of it! Not only that, I suggest that everyone's monthly allowance be halved. The remaining half will be deposited into the crisis fund. "
He stood up and walked towards Second Mother. He asked, "Second Mother is good at managing the family. She has endured hardships and should have enjoyed more happiness. However, Sanniang's words are too reasonable. We have to think about the future. You won't object to my suggestion, right?"
Second Mother smiled and nodded, "Managing the family diligently and thriftily is everyone's responsibility. Lian 'er's suggestion is very good. I agree."
Shen Lian suddenly walked towards Fourth Mother. His gaze was like a tiger, majestic like a mountain. "Fourth Mother, you won't object, right?"
Fourth Mother was shocked. She was a fence-sitter who bullied the weak and feared the strong. In a panic, she blurted out, "Of … of course."
Shen Lian turned and walked towards Fifth Mother, "What do you think, Fifth Mother?"
Fifth Mother saw his attitude and felt guilty. She laughed dryly and said, "Lian 'er is so brave. You gave up the right to withdraw the family's money at will and donated all of it. Of course, Fifth Mother can't fall behind. Fifth Mother supports you!"
Even without Shen Lian asking, Sixth Mother was shocked. She said straightforwardly, "Of course, I support Lian 'er."
Shen Lian immediately walked towards Shen Fang and Shen Zhan. He looked at them apologetically as if to say, "You can't blame me. If you want to blame someone, blame Sanniang. She forced me to do this." He smiled bitterly and said, "Second Brother, Third Brother, you and I are like brothers. We will go through thick and thin together. You won't object to Big Brother's painstaking efforts for the family, right?"
Shen Fang's expression twitched. What the hell was going on? Wasn't the monthly allowance supposed to be increased? Why was it suddenly reduced by half?
Shen Fang couldn't help but stare at Sanniang. She was his biological mother. He was speechless.
"For the sake of the family's future, of course, I will support Big Brother." Shen Fang sighed bitterly.
Shen Zhan was also speechless. He felt that Sanniang's actions were superfluous and spoiled the good thing. He sighed and said, "I support Big Brother."
Shen Lian suddenly turned around and approached Sanniang. He shouted, "Sanniang!"
Sanniang trembled violently. The corner of her eyes twitched. She had never seen such a strong side of Shen Lian before.
However, when she thought that she had successfully taken away Shen Lian's right to withdraw the family's money at will, she felt a little proud. She smiled and said, "Lian 'er is wholeheartedly devoted to the family. How can Sanniang not support him?"
"Good!"
Shen Lian knew that he had won. He slowly turned to Shen Wanquan and said, "Father, what do you think?"
Shen Wanquan couldn't understand his son's manipulation. He smiled and nodded and said, "We'll do as you say."
At this moment, Steward Fan Li came and reported, "Master, ladies and gentlemen, the guests are almost all here. Shall we start the banquet?"
Shen Wanquan stood up and looked at everyone. He said seriously, "Let's go and start the banquet!"
Everyone went downstairs together.
In the hall on the first floor, all the Shen family members were gathered.
At Shen Wanquan's table, only the Second Mother and Shen Lian were qualified to accompany him and the main character, Sun Yuanxiang.
Other than that, there were also the county magistrate and the heads of the three major families. The most important guest was the Wind-Chasing Great Arrester, Bai Lifei.
On Earth, it was no exaggeration to say that Bai Lifei was the combined version of Bao Qingtian and Zhan Zhao. He was so famous that he had fans everywhere!
Of course, he came secretly because of Shen Lian.
After all, he lived in seclusion in Snow Ridge City and didn't want to make a big deal out of it.
Only a few people present knew that he was the famous Wind-Chasing Great Arrester of the Central Plains. The county magistrate was one of them.
However, the county magistrate couldn't invite Bai Lifei. He even repeatedly asked for an audience but was rejected. He couldn't afford to curry favor with Bai Lifei. However, the Shen family invited him.
At this moment, the county magistrate finally had the opportunity to sit at the same table as the Wind-Chasing Great Arrester. However, he was puzzled. It was not something that others could imagine.