Chapter 459 - 299: The Wool Comes from the Sheep
Wan Lu bristled angrily upon hearing this, her loud voice burst out, but she immediately remembered she was in another’s residence and forcibly lowered her voice, her face turning red as she said, "The Gao family is too bullying! How can they do this? Even if the Ran Family doesn’t provide a dowry, there’s still the lady’s dowry, right? Did she swallow that too? Doing such things that cut off their descendants, isn’t she afraid she won’t be able to bear another son?"
Madam Xing, with her sleeves gathered, said gloomily, "In this case, you have wronged the Gao family. No matter how domineering she is, isn’t she still the main wife in the courtyard? Would she dare to go against the clan elders?"
The clan elders all knew very well that they must hold onto Ran Yan tightly. Who could aspire to marry into the Xiao family just by wishing for it? The opportunity was once in a lifetime, and they didn’t think there was another lady in the Ran Clan who had the capability of capturing the attention of the noblemen’s sons.
"You mean father is unwilling," Ran Yan stated, not as a question. She had known from the start that her Tang Dynasty father was short-sighted and selfish, but to be short-sighted to this extent was truly an astonishing feat.
With a little thought, Ran Yan could deduce the beginning and end of this matter. The five prominent families and seven great clans had always found it shameful to marry outside of their status, but after the great turmoil at the end of the Sui Dynasty, many of the large clans were left with nothing but empty shells by the early Tang period. The once-glorious aristocratic clans of Shandong had mostly failed to escape poverty, but after all, they were large clans with centuries of history and prestige. For many scholar-official families, marriage among themselves was the only way to flaunt their noble lineage. Moreover, priding themselves on their status, they would marry off their noble daughters and collect exorbitant dowries, gradually forming a custom of "selling marriages."
The Ran family, under such circumstances, had taken a daughter of the Zheng family from Xingyang through monetary means. The betrothal gifts sent out by the Ran family were more than a hundred times what the Zheng family had brought over as a dowry. Ran Wen was already deeply resentful about this, and now he had to provide an additional dowry for Zheng’s daughter, a prospect he was bound to resist, even though she was his daughter.
"The young master will compromise in the end, after all, with Young Lord Xiao’s regard for the lady, the betrothal gifts will surely be substantial. Although the young master... fails to see these things clearly, the clan elders will still consider the Ran family’s and the lady’s reputation," Madam Xing said, seeing Ran Yan with her eyes downcast and mistaking it for emotional hurt, she quickly spoke to comfort her.
Ran Yan curved her lips into a sarcastic smile, "I’m afraid the clan elders also compromised in the end, providing only a very small portion, or else Uncle Three would not have this list. In any case, the wool comes from the sheep’s back; they are ultimately planning to extort Uncle Three."
Even if the Ran family agrees to give a dowry, the clan elders are loath to use clan funds, they will still have to ask Ran Pingyu for money, which makes things clearer. In the future, Ran Yan will also know where her true maternal home is.