"Fellow Daoist Hu, please don't be angry."
Lady Tang spoke gently. "With your status, how could I truly treat you like some ordinary man hired to help a household? I only used that phrase to let you understand my current circumstances.
Fang Shu narrowed his eyes slightly and sneered. "Oh? What sort of circumstances? Is Lady Tang's partner bedridden at home, leaving the whole clan dependent on you alone, while your daughter needs to focus on cultivation—so you hope to find someone to help you shoulder the burden of this overbearing Tang Family?"
A "hired hand" was a man who joined a commoner's household when the master was gravely ill or unable to work. The woman of the house would take in another man to serve as labor, and they would live together.
To put it bluntly, he was an unnamed, unofficial lover and hired hand. To put it nicely, he was a temporary master of the household.
Lady Tang's expression didn't change at all under Fang Shu's barbed words. Instead, a hint of sorrow crossed her face. "I should let you know that my partner died many years ago. Now, in the Tang Family, only my daughter and I remain of the main line.
"Our Foundation Establishment cultivators have dwindled to this state as well. I'm the only one left who can still keep up appearances. That's why my heart stirred when I first saw you, and why I was somewhat forward."
She immediately bowed to Fang Shu, then took the initiative to tell him all about the Tang Family's circumstances.
After listening, Fang Shu realized that the Tang Family was in even worse straits than it appeared. If not for a little ancestral legacy, it would be poorer than many of the small Foundation Establishment households in the