Chapter 16

After finishing with the Tian family, the Town Mayor glanced at the trembling Qiao couple, who were so scared their legs went weak.

"It is truly unfortunate to be a daughter in your family. You don't feel any pain for the flesh that fell from your own body. Your daughter was about to be tortured to death, and instead of feeling sorry for her, you complain. Let me tell you, she did nothing wrong. Your daughter is not a servant girl bought by the Tian family. She was right not to want to be abused by the Tian family, and she was right to leave. You couple scolding her like this, thinking she is disgraceful—what are you asking her to go home for?"

Qiao Shicheng didn't know what to say. He couldn't say he wanted to sell his daughter again to add some grain to the family, could he?

He couldn't say it, and he had no face to say it.

But the family was truly in difficulty, and it was the time between the old harvest and the new. After paying the public grain, there wasn't much left. By mid-May, there were still two months to go; they truly couldn't make ends meet.

"Town, Town Mayor, the family is truly in too much difficulty. Since she is no longer in the Tian family and is living so well, we, we just..."

"Wait, where is she living well?"

"She, she dresses well and doesn't have to do farm work anymore."

The Town Mayor shook his head and said, "You call this living well? She dresses well because she sold herself to Shopkeeper Lu; those clothes and jewelry belong to Shopkeeper Lu, not her. She doesn't have to do farm work, but she has to do the work Shopkeeper Lu arranges for her to pay off her debt. You are still free, but what about her? Have you thought about that?"

Qiao Shicheng's head was stiff, looking unconvinced. It seemed he was determined today to scrape something from Qiao Mai before leaving.

"But it wasn't easy for us to raise her."

Qiao Mai looked coldly at this couple who were both poor and cold-blooded, with eyes only for their son.

"Wasn't the kindness of raising me exchanged for a hundred catties of wheat by you?"

"No, that was the betrothal gift. We just didn't give you a dowry."

Qiao Mai understood; they were acting shamelessly. Shopkeeper Lu's heart stirred, but she didn't interject.

"Then you name a number and see how this kindness of raising me can be repaid. I already owe Shopkeeper Lu twenty taels of silver. Based on a monthly wage of one hundred wen, I have to work for Shopkeeper Lu for twenty years. You name a number and let me hear it, and see if I can pay off Shopkeeper Lu's debt by the time I die."

The remark caused the onlookers to burst into laughter. This sentence was a blatant mockery of the Qiao couple.

Anyway, it wasn't the first time they had encountered such ridicule. When people are poor, their ambitions are short; they are discriminated against everywhere.

"Five, five taels of silver?"

This was a number Qiao Shicheng said through gritted teeth; after all, it was much more than the hundred catties of wheat from before.

"Write a document of severing kinship, with the Town Mayor as a witness. Once you get the silver, you will no longer be my parents, and we will have no contact until death."

"Then, then ten taels!"

Qiao Mai's eyes suddenly turned red. She wiped her tears and said with infinite sadness.

"Fine, in order to repay your kindness in raising me, I am willing to trade my freedom for the next few decades. From now on, we will go our separate ways and not entangle ourselves anymore. Is there any kind-hearted person who can help write a document of severing kinship?"

"I will, I will!"

People really don't mind the chaos when watching the fun. The Town Mayor looked at Qiao Mai, who looked unremarkable.

"Qiao woman, have you thought this through?"

"I have thought it through. My parents' family is poor, with little land and many people. It doesn't matter if I work myself to death for Shopkeeper Lu, as long as they live well."

As she spoke, she wiped her eyes with a handkerchief. The Town Mayor sighed.

"Since ancient times, parents have relied on their sons for retirement. A daughter is someone else's person once she marries. Even if she separates, the natal family wouldn't let the daughter support them. I didn't expect the Qiao family would rather sever kinship just to get this silver. There are actually quite a few people like this. It seems that without reading, one doesn't know etiquette; without reading, one doesn't know what parents are, what family affection is. Sigh~"

The Town Mayor was like a narrator, explaining to the townspeople.

A kind-hearted person wrote two copies of the severing kinship document for Qiao Mai. The pen and ink were provided by Shopkeeper Lu. She also asked the kind-hearted person to help write an IOU, which she then handed to Shopkeeper Lu.

"This is an IOU for ten taels of silver. In the future, I will work for you for another ten years."

"Girl, have you thought this through? Adding it all up, you have to work for me for thirty years. By then, you'll be old."

"Let's repay my parents' kindness first. They are waiting for the silver to buy grain."

This was said as if she were a very sensible and filial daughter.

Qiao Mai borrowed ten taels of silver from Shopkeeper Lu and, holding it and the severing kinship document, walked up to Qiao Shicheng.

"Press your thumbprint, and this will be yours."

Qiao Shicheng took the document without hesitation. Qiao Mai handed over the inkpad with red eyes. He poked his finger into it and pressed it onto the document.

In duplicate, both the Qiao couple pressed their prints.

Qiao Mai took a long breath and handed over the silver.

"After receiving the silver, we are strangers. In the future, you must not come to the door to disturb Shopkeeper Lu again; she is my savior."

Just like that, the Qiao Shicheng couple walked out of the crowd with their heads lowered, clutching the silver tightly without saying a word.

The Old Tian Head couple also hurriedly followed behind, rushing out of the crowd.

They didn't check the calendar before going out today. It was one thing to offend Shopkeeper Lu, but even the Town Mayor had an opinion of them.

Originally, this matter only spread in secret; now it had been confirmed in public. How would the Tian family be able to go out in the future?

Wrong, the Tian family had thick skin. They could torture their daughter-in-law, so they weren't afraid of others knowing.

The only one who couldn't go out was the Tian family's eldest grandson.

Tian Yaozu, thirteen years old, was studying at a private school in town and might be taking the exams this year.

He had known about this matter for a long time but had been pretending not to know. Qiao Mai usually didn't make a sound and endured it silently; at most, people in the village would say a few words.

What he didn't expect was that the Qiao woman would actually dare to rebel against the Tian family. This was something he had never dreamed of.

And it had spread to his teacher and classmates. The teacher asked, and his classmates inquired, making his face burn with shame.

After returning home from his break, he told Old Tian Head about this, asking them to come forward to solve it. It would be best if they could coax the Qiao woman back; if not, it would be good to show their face in town to express some concern.

Unexpectedly, things went against their wishes. With Tian Li Shi's character, she ruined everything as soon as she opened her mouth. Who knows how the eldest grandson would blame them when they got home.

The Town Mayor chased away the onlookers, and Shopkeeper Lu hurriedly bowed to the Town Mayor.

"Thank you, honorable official, for upholding justice for us women today."

"Hmm, I am just acting impartially. Later, I will instruct the village heads of Taohua Village and Lihua Village not to let such things happen again. It's too embarrassing to spread to other towns."

"Yes, yes. Don't look at how happy they are torturing people for a moment; they will definitely suffer when they get old. Such things must be managed well. Otherwise, who would dare to marry off their daughters in the future? It would be so chaotic with mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law fighting, wouldn't it?"

"That makes sense, that makes sense."

The Town Mayor smiled, glanced at Shopkeeper Lu, and then turned and left.

The embroidery shop finally returned to peace. Shopkeeper Lu pulled her into the room and let out a scream when she saw the finished product on the table.

"Oh my, this is truly beautiful!"

"Yes, at the time I didn't have silver, so I ordered a yellow pear wood one for three taels. It would have been even better if I had used ten taels of sandalwood."

"This is already very good. I think it's excellent. One hundred taels, no problem, absolutely no problem. If you add a piece of red silk fabric at the bottom, whoever sees such a fan will like it. Wait!"

Shopkeeper Lu turned and went to the counter, used a key to open the small cabinet behind her, took out a piece of red silk fabric, locked the cabinet again, and swayed over to the table.

She spread the fabric inside and placed the palace fan on top.

"Tsk tsk, what a beautiful palace fan."

"Shall we just sell it in the shop?"

"No, I have decided to take it to the county town myself. I have a good friend who is the wife of a wealthy family in the county. I will sell it to her. She is not short of money. By then, if someone takes a fancy to your embroidery work, they will come to tell me through her."

"That's not bad; it can make our Ruyi Embroidery Manor famous faster. However, I do not accept custom orders."

(End of chapter)