Zhan Bei Wang, feeling somewhat helpless, said, "Why must you make things difficult for yourself? This is an imperial edict, and even after Yi Fang enters the house, you will each reside in separate quarters. She won't compete with you for control of the household affairs, Xixi. What you value, she disdains."
"Do you think I value controlling the household?" Song Xixi retorted. Managing the General's residence is no easy task. Just the medicine from Physician Dan for the old madam costs dozens of taels of silver each month. Not to mention the food, clothing, and other expenses, as well as social interactions, all require money.
The General's residence is a hollow shell. Over the past year, she had to use a lot of her dowry to make up for the shortfall, only to end up with this result.
Zhan Bei Wang finally lost his patience. "Enough, I won't talk to you anymore. I just needed to inform you. Whether you agree or not doesn't change the outcome."
Song Xixi watched coldly as he left, feeling even more bitter.
"My lady," Baoshu, who was crying beside her, said, "The young master is really too much."
"Don't call him that!" Song Xixi gave her a light look, "He and I haven't consummated our marriage. He doesn't count as your young master. Go get my dowry list."
"Why do you need the dowry list?" Baoshu asked.
Song Xixi knocked on her forehead. "Silly girl, why should we stay in this kind of household?"
Baoshu covered her forehead and whimpered, "But this marriage was arranged by your mother. Before he passed away, the Marquess also said he hoped you would marry and have children."
Talking about her mother brought tears to Song Xixi's eyes.
Her father did not take concubines and only married her mother. They had six sons and one daughter. All her brothers followed their father into battle and never returned from the war in the southern frontier three years ago.
She was born into a family of military commanders, and although she was a girl, she had been practicing martial arts since childhood. At the age of seven, her father sent her to Mount Mei to study martial arts under her master and to read military books and stratagems.
It wasn't until she came down from the mountain at fifteen that she learned her father and brothers had died in the southern war the previous year.
Her mother cried until she went blind, holding her and saying, "From now on, you should live like a noble lady in the capital, find a good husband, get married, and have children. Live a stable life. You are my only daughter."
It felt like a piece of her heart was cut out, so painful that she couldn't even shed tears.
Then she spent a year learning the virtues of a good wife and the skills to manage a household to make her mother happy.
As the legitimate daughter of the Marquess of Zhenbei, many suitors came to seek her hand because of her extraordinary beauty. Her mother chose Zhan Bei Wang because he vowed to her mother that if he could marry Xixi, he would never take a concubine.
Half a year ago, the entire Zhenbei Marquess family was slaughtered. Everyone, including women and children, was killed. Even the servants were not spared. Each body had 108 knife wounds, leaving their corpses dismembered and broken.
Her youngest nephew, just two and a half years old and her third brother's posthumous son, also perished.
The Jingzhao Prefecture and the patrol battalion arrived and captured a few people, who turned out to be spies from the Western Capital.
With the frontlines strained, Western spies exposed their identities just to annihilate the entire Marquess household. The method of killing seemed like an act of revenge.
When she returned to the residence, she saw the dismembered bodies of her grandmother and mother.
The entire residence was stained with blood, and everyone died terribly.
Now, Song Xixi was the last member of the Zhenbei Marquess family. Reviving the Zhenbei Marquess seemed impossible, at least to outsiders.
After all, everyone thought she was just a fragile woman.
Yi Fang, on the other hand, is different. She had made military achievements, becoming the first female general in the dynasty, and had been praised by the Empress Dowager. With Yi Fang supporting Zhan Bei Wang, his path would be more secure. Therefore, it was natural for the Zhan family to agree to this marriage.