Song Yaoyao: [Heh, walk by the river often enough, and how can your shoes stay dry?
Surely she knew that?]
Guagua: [Of course she did.
She was just hoping she could get away with it. She never expected us to catch her red-handed this time.]
Song Yaoyao: [Exactly.
By the way, Guagua, tell me about Jiang Yunxin.
She must have some ability to have lent money at usurious rates for so many years without being discovered.]
Guagua: [Yes, this woman certainly had some ability.
Then let's start from the beginning.
Back then, Li Fengyang was only a fifth-rank official.
An Qiyue, the legitimate daughter of Minister of Shangshu An Ruizhang, had suffered from a heart condition since childhood. When she reached marriageable age, plenty of people came to propose matches, but the An Family rejected them all because of her health.
Madam An felt that her daughter's health really made her unsuited to marrying into those great, powerful households.
Those households had complicated family relationships and many rules. If her daughter encountered a difficult mother-in-law, her already frail body would never withstand the harassment and torment.
Besides, many of those coming to propose matches were after their family's power and status, rather than sincerely wanting to marry her.]
Song Yaoyao: [What happened next?]
Guagua: [Madam An planned to find her daughter a minor official from a humbler background with a simple household, so her daughter could take charge of the household as soon as she married into it.
With the An Family watching over her, her daughter wouldn't be bullied after marriage, either, and her life couldn't turn out too badly.
And so, Madam An eventually chose Li Fengyang.
Li Fengyang had only a widowed mother at home. Madam Li was gentle and easy to get along with, which fit