Jiang Kangchen and Jiang Kangning’s grandfather was once a wealthy prime minister in imperial court, but in the later years of the late Emperor’s foolishness, the Jiang family suffered. Although Master Weng tried to protect them, he still failed to save Jiang Kangchen and Jiang Kangning’s grandfather and father. The Jiang family had been in decline ever since. 

When the rest of the Jiang family scattered, Jiang Kangchen and Jiang Kangning were in the care of Master Weng. When the Jiang family was still flourishing, Jiang Kangchen became engaged to Wu Jian, the eldest son of the third son of the Duke of An. Jiang Kangchen and Wu Jian belonged to each other, but after the Jiang family’s trouble, the house of the Duke of An became dissatisfied with the marriage, especially Wu Jian’s mother, Wu Wang.

At that time, Jiang Kangning had already begun to earn merit, but considering the reputation of the house of the Duke of An and giving face to Master Weng, the marriage was still held as scheduled. However, it was also the beginning of Jiang Kangchen’s painful ordeal. Male wives were already taboo in the Duke of An family and Wu Jian was the eldest child of the third son. The Jiang family was also in decline. Less than three months after Jiang Kangchen married into the house of the Duke of An, Wu Wang forced her son to take a  concubine. Wu Jian refused on the grounds that he had just gotten married, so Wu Wang began to aim at Jiang Kangchen.

Jiang Kangchen had already suffered psychically and mentally due to his recent family suffering and became even more depressed when his mother-in-law began to make things difficult for him right after his wedding. After a year of marriage, Jiang Kangchen was still unable to get pregnant as Wu Wang’s persecution had become more and more aggressive. Then even without her son’s consent, she gave her son two concubines. But Wu Jian, who really loved Jiang Kangchen, even though his mother gave him two concubines, still didn’t obey. However, Wu Jian was not at home every day, so Wu Wang vented all her grievances at Jiang Kangchen. Without the support of his maiden family, Jiang Kangchen suffered the cynicism and sneers of his mother in law. 

After three years of living in the Duke of An’s House in such a depressing manner, Jiang Kangchen finally got pregnant. But this did not free him from his misery. Wu Wang took a fancy to the first daughter of the Minister of War and that woman also set her heart on Wu Jian.  On the grounds that Jiang Kangchen was pregnant and could not serve his husband, Wu Wang once again proposed that Wu Jian should take concubine. But Wu Jian once again refused. Then Wu Wang directly went to Jiang Kangchen time after time, asking him to persuade her son and said bluntly that it was difficult for a male wife to have children, and that if Jiang Kangchen insisted on refusing, he would directly cut off the bloodline of this branch of the Wu family.

But how could Jiang Kangchen be willing for his husband to take a concubine? How could he resist his mother in law? In this situation Jiang Kangchen become extremely depressed and almost failed to keep the baby. Wu Jian was furious about this and after Wu Wang was reprimanded by her husband, it temporarily put an end to her idea of her son taking a concubine. Then Jiang Kangchen finally gave birth to a baby, a boy. 

With this first son, Jiang Kangchen and Wu Jian thought that everything would finally become calm and quiet, but as the child grew up, they discovered that it was not normal. Their child couldn’t smile. When their child grew a little older, the child not only did not smile, but also did not speak. He also did not respond to outside movements. The child seemed to have lost both his mind and soul. He could sit in one place all day and not move. Wu Jian begged his grandfather to ask the imperial doctor for help, who diagnosed the child as suffering from agitation and there was no cure for these symptoms. 

Now Wu Wang had every reason to let Wu Jian remarry. But this time, instead of taking a concubine, Wu Wang forced Wu Jian to either divorce his male wife or make Jiang Kangchen a concubine on the grounds that Jiang Kangchen gave birth to a strange child and lost the face of their Duke of An household. Finally she asked Wu Jian to marry another person. Facing his son’s psychosis and the persecution of his mother-in-law, Jiang Kangchen, who had been depressed for many years finally collapsed. 

When Master Weng learned of this matter, he personally intervened and recognized Kangning as his adopted son since he was already his student. Originally Master Weng also wanted to recognize Jiang Kangchen as a foster son, but Jiang Kangchen politely refused. With his current status, if Master Weng really recognized him as a foster son, it might attract more jealousy from the Duke household. But there was a relationship between Master Weng and Jiang Kangning, so Master Weng directly approached the Duke of An, who intervened to reconcile Jiang Kangchen with Wu Jian.

Wu Jian was reluctant to leave, but he knew that if Jiang Kangchen continued to stay in the duke household the end result would be Jiang Kangchen’s death. Wu Jian loved Jiang Kangchen deeply, but could not resist the family rules of the Duke household and his mother under the rules of filial piety, so in the end he gave away most of the shops and fields under his name to Jiang Kangchen and his only son Wu Moxi. Even allowing Jiang Kangchen to rename his son Jiang Moxi. Naturally, the Duke’s family was unwilling to do so, regardless of whether the child was a waste or not, he was still a member of the Duke’s family. But Wu Jian used his own marriage to force them. If his parents did not agree, he would not marry. He would shave his hair and become a monk. Then with Master Weng’s intervention, The Duke An family finally agreed. 

Jiang Kangchen left the Duke of An household with his silly son and three months later, Wu Jian married the first daughter of the Minister of War. During those days, Jiang Kangning was always by his brother’s side and on the day that Wu Jian remarried, Jiang Kangchen fainted and became sick for a year, before he slowly recuperated. For the sake of his son and his brother, Jiang Kangchen forced himself to pull himself together. He did not return the stores and fields left to him by Wu Jian. 

Although Wu Jian divorced him and remarried, he also knew that Wu Jian had no choice. He didn’t feel well, and Wu Jian should only feel even worse than him. With these shops and fields, Jiang Kangchen’s life would not be difficult. But it was because of these shops and fields that Wu Jian’s newly married wife Wu Liu and Wu Wang became even more dissatisfied with Jiang Kangchen. Although there was a Master Weng behind Jiang Kangchen, Master Weng was only Jiang Kangning’s ‘adopted’ father after all and couldn’t go to Master Weng with each little problem. Their Duke household was so powerful that even the late Emperor’s stupidity did not shake it. 

Wu Wang’s and Wu Liu wanted to take back the stores and fields from Jiang Kangchen, but this time Wu Jian did not give in and his protectiveness of Jiang Kangchen made Wu Wang and Wu Liu even more resentful. But Jiang Kangchen, who did not want to make life difficult for Wu Jian, returned most of the stores and fields, leaving only two stores and 20 to 30 acres of land for himself. 

The Emperor’s health was declining and the struggle for the throne entered the most heated phase, the Duke household also entered the storm. Only then did Wu Wang and Wu Liu stop, and Jiang Kangchen was able to live calmly.  After that, the crown prince successfully ascended to the throne, with Master Weng contributing greatly. However, since the Duke An household picked the wrong team, Wu Wang and Wu Liu no longer dared to pressure Jiang Kangchen as before. 

Since Jiang Kangchen returned most of the stores and fields, Wu Wang also stopped looking for trouble with him. But Wu Liu, not sure if it was out of jealousy or because her marriage with Wu Jian was not going well, still did everything she could against Jiang Kangchen. Jiang Kangchen and Jiang Kangning could not go to Master Weng for such matters and since Jiang Kangning left the capital to become a county magistrate, Jiang Kangchen could only swallow his grievances.

Edited by: Jaisland

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