In the room, Madame Zou spoke with such genuine emotion that she moved herself to tears.
Outside the room, wet nurse He was so angered that she wanted to curse.
Listen to these words, clearly it was the Zou family's shamelessness, forcing their betrothal gifts into their young lady's hands, and now they expect their young lady to be overwhelmingly grateful and work like a beast of burden for their family?
Oh, your Zou family's son is a son, and my Ji family's daughter is meant to be defiled by you?
Bah!
Listening to Madame Zou's words, Jian Qiu felt both amused and speechless.
This Madame Zou appeared to be reasonable and amiable, but the arrogance and pride ingrained in her were revealed in every word.
To put it nicely, she wanted her young lady to continue serving in the palace after marriage; to put it bluntly, it was simply the Zou family's desire to have their young lady bring glory to the Zou family by entering the palace.
With these strict rules, one might think the Zou family had the throne to inherit.
Even among the princes in the imperial palace selecting concubines, there weren't as many rules as in the Zou family.
Just then, movement was heard from the entrance of the courtyard.
Jian Qiu and wet nurse He looked over, and saw Qing Zhu and Lian Ju carrying two large chests.
Before the two wet nurses from the Zou family could react, Jian Qiu and wet nurse He lifted the curtains, letting Lian Ju and Qing Zhu enter the room.
"Bang bang—!"
The two heavy chests were placed in the room.
This startled the still-talking Madame Zou.
Zou Si Yan sized up the two chests, raised an eyebrow, and said, "I thought it was a dowry, but is this all you have to show off?"
Madame Zou did not care about Ji Zi Zhao's betrothal gifts. She held her daughter's hand and looked at Ji Zi Zhao, saying, "Our Zou family is marrying a person, the amount of dowry is unimportant."
Ji Zi Zhao smiled and said, "In that case, Madame Zou would accept any dowry?"
Madame Zou nodded naturally, "That is for sure."
Hearing this, Ji Zi Zhao got up and walked to the chests, signaling Lian Ju and Qing Zhu to open them.
Madame Zou and Zou Si Yan both craned their necks curiously, eager to see what was inside those chests that Ji Zi Zhao was so proudly displaying.
Lian Ju and Qing Zhu lifted the lids of the chests, and as the lids fell, the contents were revealed.
In the flickering candlelight, the two lacquered red chests were filled with all sorts of bottles, large and small.
Upon closer inspection, they were filled with dead animals!
These animals had been dead for who knows how long, preserved in the bottles in strange poses. There were even some that looked like internal organs, packed tightly into the chests.
Madame Zou and Zou Si Yan had never seen anything like it and were so frightened they almost slid off the couch.
Was this a dowry for a living person?
It was more horrifying than a burial object for the dead!
Gu Pei Lan slumped onto a flower stool, her face pale, clearly terrified. "Zi Zhao, what, what are you doing?"
Ji Zi Zhao answered matter-of-factly, "Naturally, I am showing Madame Zou my dowry in advance. These are all things I have carefully collected over the years. Now that I am getting married, I naturally have to bring them with me to play with and admire."
Play with?
Admire?!
Madame Zou swallowed and said, "Miss Ji, please don't joke. Who uses such things as dowry?"
Hearing this, Ji Zi Zhao looked sadly at Madame Zou. "What does Madame Zou mean by that? Are you saying my dowry is worthless? Or is it because my parents are long gone and no one is here to champion my cause, that anything I want to bring to my husband's home is restricted?"
Madame Zou found it difficult to respond to this.
If she agreed, and word got out, wouldn't people say the Zou family was bullying her?
Besides, Ji Zi Zhao was appointed to the Imperial Hospital, an official appointed by the Emperor. If it were rumored that the Zou family had bullied Ji Zi Zhao, how could she, a mere woman, bear it?
Looking again at the bottles and jars in the chests, Madame Zou forced herself to nod.
If she took them back, she took them back. After all, she wouldn't go to Ji Zi Zhao's living quarters.
As a result, Ji Zi Zhao casually took out a whitish object from one of the chests. At first glance, Madame Zou felt a hint of relief, thinking it wasn't one of those bottles of preserved organs.
But upon closer inspection, she actually fell off the couch.
That, that was a human skeleton?!
"Speaking of which, this person was also pitiful. By the time I found him, he was already a skeleton at the street corner of Temple Street. He was indeed a pitiable soul, so I brought him back, cleaned him carefully, and played with him daily. I learned about the structure of bones from him, and he found a home with me."
Madame Zou, slumped on the ground, stared blankly.
She thought the previous scene was the limit, but she didn't expect the truly shocking part was yet to come.
Zou Si Yan was also crying, too scared to even look.
Gu Pei Lan felt she should say something at this moment, but looking at the skeleton held aloft, she was too weak to even open her mouth.
Seeing that Madame Zou remained silent, Ji Zi Zhao walked over with the bone. "Madame Zou is also a kind person, and surely she would not let a wandering spirit be without a home. I have heard that if a wandering spirit has no home, they will seek revenge on the living."
The mere thought of the Zou family having someone who would spend their days caressing a skeleton sent chills down Madame Zou's spine.
Hearing Ji Zi Zhao's ethereal words, she couldn't catch her breath and her eyes rolled back as she fainted.
Seeing her mother faint, Zou Si Yan forgot her fear and turned to Ji Zi Zhao, saying, "You, a divorced woman, being chosen by our Zou family is a blessing from generations of good karma. How can you be so ungrateful!"
Ji Zi Zhao didn't even glance at Zou Si Yan and directly called out to Qing Zhu behind her, "Throw her out."
Zou Si Yan's eyes widened in disbelief. "Ji Zi Zhao, how dare you!"
Ji Zi Zhao's gaze darkened, and she countered with a smile, "What is your status, and what is mine? Why would I not dare?"
As the head of the Ji family, even Madame Zou had to greet her respectfully.
As a bona fide official of the Imperial Hospital, even Zou Li would discuss matters with her as an equal.
As for this Zou Si Yan, she didn't even have the right to stand and listen.
Now, someone who was not even worthy of standing in a corner was shouting at her. It was already Ji Zi Zhao's greatest mercy that she hadn't had her thrown out directly.