She believed it was several daughters being reborn into their family, blocking the path for her son. The last daughter was one she demanded be drowned, to scare away any female infants trying to be reborn into their household, so she wouldn't give birth to any more girls!
Later, when Gao Ming was born, she would often bring this up to boast, quite proud of her decision back then.
So when Mrs. Han gave birth to her third daughter, the old woman almost took the baby to drown her. Fortunately, Mrs. Han rescued her daughter in time.
"This wretched old hag is truly evil!"
Gao Ming felt he was different from his father. His father had nothing but twenty acres of land, five of which were his mother's dowry, and no other wealth, so he couldn't afford to abandon his wife and marry another.
But he held his wife's dowry in his hands; he had the capital!
His parents were also afraid Mrs. Han would keep having daughters if she continued, so they agreed for their son to marry again, yet they couldn't bear to part with the comfortable life their daughter-in-law's wealth had brought.
Especially his father, being called "Old Master" by everyone, truly started to believe his daughter-in-law's dowry belonged to their family!
How could they possibly spit out such a juicy piece of meat once it was in their mouths!
The Gao family wanted to divorce the wife but couldn't bear to part with the money, until one day Gao Ming heard about a good-for-nothing in the neighboring village who often beat his wife, and whose wife had run off with a peddler.
Gao Ming was thus inspired and suddenly had an idea.
"Did that good-for-nothing's wife really escape her misery?"
No, she, like Mrs. Han, was falsely accused. Gao Ming had secretly investigated this matter and confirmed it, so he decided to copy the method.
He conspired with his parents to poison his wife to death and bury her in their own backyard, even copying the exact location from that good-for-nothing.
Later, after he passed the provincial examination and became a provincial graduate, he arranged for the good-for-nothing to die by drunkenly falling into the water.
"He thought of everything, even silencing the one person who might know the truth!"
Exactly. This Gao Ming was meticulous enough. He didn't even dare hire someone to push the good-for-nothing into the water; he had his own father do it personally.
However, this was overkill. In the villages of this era, whenever it was said a young woman or wife had run off with someone, eighty percent of the time they had met with foul play, and the perpetrators were mostly their own closest family members.
Regarding the story of Gao Ming's former wife Mrs. Han running away, their relatives and friends, familiar with the character of Gao Ming's parents, pretty much understood what had happened.
They were wary of Gao Ming being a scholar, and after he became a provincial graduate, they dared not speak up even more. This became an unspoken understanding in the closed-off village.
"Didn't Mrs. Han's family suspect anything?" After all, wouldn't her parents know the character of the daughter they raised?
Of course they suspected, but they couldn't find any evidence. Moreover, the Gao family still had Mrs. Han's three daughters—these were ready-made 'hostages'. For the sake of their granddaughters' future, they couldn't afford to completely break with the Gao family.
Later, when Gao Ming passed the imperial examination and became a jinshi, as mere landowners, they were even more powerless against him.
"Wasn't it said Mrs. Han ran off with one of Gao Ming's classmates? Did this classmate actually exist?"
He did indeed have such a classmate named Qu Zheng, whose talent and learning were even superior to his own. In the academy, Qu Zheng always firmly held the top spot, leaving Gao Ming perpetually in second place.
"Is this man dead too? Gao Ming's doing?"
Qu Zheng was first pursued and attacked on his way back to the academy, sustaining serious injuries. He could have survived if treated promptly.
Unfortunately, his luck was bad. Although he managed to escape his pursuers, he collapsed from his wounds in a roadside grove, right where Gao Ming happened to pass by on his way from home to the academy.
When Qu Zheng saw his classmate, with whom he usually had a decent relationship, he thought he was saved. Little did he know, Gao Ming had long wished for his death.
Gao Ming first pretended to be concerned, and after hearing the situation, didn't hesitate much before finishing off Qu Zheng on the spot.
"He acted decisively enough! What a ruthless man!"
Everyone silently edged further away from Gao Ming. This man usually seemed amiable to everyone; who would have thought he was such a ruthless character.
However, he didn't expect that Qu Zheng had lied to him. Qu Zheng hadn't been robbed on the road; he was being pursued because he possessed something others wanted.
And because of today's events, Gao Ming had already become entangled in the affair.
"Did Qu Zheng have some other identity?"
He did indeed, and it involved a secret scandal within the Dayan court. Gao Ming also got entangled in a rebellion plot because of this.
Let's not talk about Qu Zheng's story today, only about Gao Ming. This man killed Mrs. Han, slandered her for running off with someone, and put on an act of being heartbroken, focusing on the imperial examinations and not remarrying for three years.
It wasn't that he didn't want to remarry; he just hadn't met a girl from a good enough family. Later, after becoming a jinshi, he was spotted by the big fool Official Gu Yutong, who took him as a son-in-law.
"Doesn't Official Gu have eyesight problems? This Gao Ming isn't even average-looking and is a married man with three children.
Among all those jinshi on the list, how could he pick him at a glance? Was his daughter willing to become a stepmother the moment she entered the household?"
Here, it's all about parental orders and matchmaker's words. Girls don't have a say themselves, unless they come from families that truly dote on their daughters.
Official Gu obviously took a fancy to Gao Ming's 'talent' and married his daughter into a pit of fire.
Gu Yutong's face now turned pale then red, both terrified by Gao Ming's involvement in the rebellion and blushing with shame from being scolded by the two ancestors above.
Since the Divine Artifact said it was a pit of fire, his third daughter must have had a miserable life, wearing old clothes from before her marriage, never wearing her valuable jewelry again...
What made Gu Yutong even more uneasy was suddenly remembering the Divine Artifact's mention of his bleak old age. Could it be related to Gao Ming's rebellion?
"The Gu family really secured a 'wonderful marriage'!"
So wonderful that the whole family was implicated, their descendants exiled to remote posts, and his old age was bleak and desolate!
Gu Yutong thought to himself, just as he suspected. The other shoe had dropped, and he actually felt a sense of relief, as if things were finally settled!
Fortunately, it wasn't too late. Gu Yutong clenched his fist. He would have his daughter seek a divorce as soon as he returned!
In the following days, gossip about the Ministry of Revenue Secretary Gao Ming spread throughout Dayan, from high officials and noble ladies down to the common folk in the markets.
As Yue Fuguang put it, Gao Ming was the number one trending topic in the capital, suddenly becoming famous overnight!
First, rumors spread that Ministry of Revenue Secretary Gao Ming not only spent his wife Miss Gu San's dowry, but his mother also constantly tormented her daughter-in-law, even forcibly taking her clothes and jewelry.
After the Gu family learned of this, they stormed the Gao residence. In the end, they 'failed to reach an agreement', and Miss Gu San returned to her family with the only daughter she had with Gao Ming, having divorced him.
Not many days later, the family of Gao Ming's former wife went to the magistrate's office to accuse Gao Ming of murdering his wife!
Prefect Bao Yuanjun, the old magistrate, personally presided over the case. Finally, Mrs. Han's remains were dug up from the old Gao family homestead.
With the crime exposed, Gao Ming and his parents were thrown into prison. Without much interrogation from Old Magistrate Bao, both Gao father and mother confessed everything.
However, their confessions didn't match. In Gao father's confession, the mother was the mastermind; in Gao mother's confession, the father was the mastermind.
Gao Ming became the white lotus in the mud, the 'filial son' forced by filial piety to help his parents hide the corpse.
