Peaceful Farm Life

Chapter 398: Chapter 398: Legitimate Honor, Bastard Lowly_1

”Xiao Lan, put the knife down quickly, put it down, and all right, I’ll divorce you, I’ll divorce you!” An Fu hastily soothed, agreeing to Shi Xiaolan’s demand for divorce, not wanting her to lose her life in such a manner.

He didn’t want to anger his parents to death, nor did he want Shi Xiaolan to die, so he could only agree to divorce her.

Upon hearing An Fu’s agreement, Shi Xiaolan immediately turned to An Jing and asked, ”An Jing, the last time I heard you say Brother Xiao taught you quite a few characters, you should be able to draft a divorce letter, right?”

An Jing nodded.

Only then did Shi Xiaolan say, ”Then I’ll have to trouble you!” But she still kept the kitchen knife against her throat, refusing to put it down.

An Jing nodded once more, then addressed An Fu and Yun Dame, ”I can draft a divorce letter, but do you really plan to divorce only Xiao Lan and not give her the children?”

Yun Dame, frightened out of her wits by Shi Xiaolan, immediately said, ”Yu Yu and Niuniu are both my family’s children; how could we give them to her!”

An Fu also said, ”She forced me to divorce her; I couldn’t possibly give Yu Yu and Niuniu to her.”

But An Jing wasn’t annoyed in the least and smiled slightly, ”But if you don’t give her the children, any child added to your family by a bride you are betrothing today can only be considered born out of wedlock.”

The laws of Xiyun Kingdom explicitly stipulate that the children born of the first wife are considered legitimate.

However, if the first wife has given birth and is later wrongly divorced without taking the children back to her parent’s home, those children remain the legitimate offspring in the family, and even if the husband remarries or elevates a concubine, while the new wife may hold the status, the children she bears can only be considered born out of wedlock.

If the children are given to the divorced wife, and hence unrelated to the husband’s family, the husband is considered childless, and any child born to a new wife or elevated concubine thereafter can be considered legitimate.

Here, since ancient times, legitimate and illegitimate children have been differentiated, with legitimate regarded as superior and illegitimate as inferior.

Even farmer households pay close attention to the issue of legitimacy; if a child is born out of wedlock, even in a farmer family, although they can inherit the family legacy, they will be looked down upon even more.

Previously, since they never considered divorcing Shi Xiaolan, An Fu and Yun Dame didn’t contemplate this issue of legitimacy, simply hoping to have a successor would suffice.

But now that An Jing brought it up...

An Fu and Yun Dame were somewhat tempted. The idea of a Commons Son inheriting the family legacy spreading around was truly not good to hear.

After waiting a while and seeing An Fu and Yun Dame remaining silent, unwilling to speak, An Jing raised her voice and asked, ”Have you decided? I’m about to draft the divorce letter.”

Yun Dame immediately spoke to An Fu, ”Fu Zi, give both Yu Yu and Niuniu to Xiao Lan, so we avoid others wagging their tongues, saying my grandson is born out of wedlock.”

With a complex look in his eyes directed at Shi Xiaolan, who was still standing at the kitchen doorway with a kitchen knife against her throat, An Fu finally said after a long while, ”An Jing, please add this clause to the divorce letter- Yu Yu and Niuniu will go to Xiao Lan.”

Only then did An Jing hand Niuniu, who she was holding in her arms, to Xiao Changyi, who had already come and stood by her side.

Then An Jing went inside and drafted a divorce letter.

When An Jing came out again, she handed the divorce letter to An Fu, ”The divorce letter states that Xiao Lan is being divorced due to having no children, and both Niuniu and Yu Yu will be given to Xiao Lan, henceforth they and their mother shall have no ties with your family.” She paused, ”If you cannot read, you can find someone literate to verify the contents.”

An Fu shook his head, ”I trust you wouldn’t tamper with the divorce letter.”