Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
It was almost noon, and there weren't many people in the Qiao Xiu Fabric Shop. Three or four people were standing near the entrance, while a few others were inside. Hong Niangzi was standing between two groups of people who were clearly arguing, trying to mediate. She was smiling and talking to Su Yuanchun.
Xiao Lihua glanced at Su Yuanchun and Hong Niangzi before her gaze fell on the people behind Hong Niangzi. Upon seeing them, her brows furrowed. A moment ago, she had been wondering who had gotten into trouble with Su Yuanchun, only to realize it was her Sister-in-law and her younger sister Meihua.
Wang Shi had an obvious look of anger on her face, while Meihua bit her lip and tightly clutched a basket.
"Sister-in-law, Meihua, what happened?"
Xiao Lihua approached them with concern. She didn't need to ask; she already knew it was Su Yuanchun's fault. Her Sister-in-law and Meihua were not troublemakers, but Su Yuanchun was a spoiled young lady.
Wang Shi and Meihua both looked pleased to see Xiao Lihua. Meihua blinked her slightly teary eyes and moved closer to her, calling her "sister" with a hint of grievance. Seeing this made Xiao Lihua feel heartbroken and more certain that Meihua had been wronged. She quickly asked Wang Shi what had happened. Wang Shi angrily recounted the events, which made Xiao Lihua very upset.
It turned out that Wang Shi and Meihua had learned to weave beautiful and intricate knots from Xiao Lihua. After finishing their threads, they came to the Qiao Xiu Fabric Shop to show Hong Niangzi. Hong Niangzi liked them very much and offered them thread, paying one coin for five knots—a much better deal than others who would only pay one coin for fifty or a hundred knots. The two women were delighted and happily accepted the job, spending their days at home weaving knots until they finished their threads and brought them to the shop. However, they encountered Su Yuanchun, who accidentally stepped on Su Yuanchun's foot. Su Yuanchun then pushed Meihua down and continued to berate her, claiming that her shoes were bought from the capital and demanding that Meihua pay twenty taels of silver for damages.
"Twenty taels of silver? Are those golden shoes or silver shoes? It's not that easy to ruin them! I think someone is just looking for trouble because they see how pretty Meihua is! Su Yuanchun, even if you don't look good yourself, there's no need to pick on a pretty girl like her; be careful or Heaven will punish you by making you even uglier!"
Xiao Lihua said to Su Yuanchun. She knew that Su Yuanchun wasn't unattractive—she was quite beautiful—but she insisted on calling her ugly out of anger for bullying her sister.
Su Yuanchun's face turned red with rage as she glared at Xiao Lihua and said, "So she's your sister! No wonder that annoying girl is so bothersome! Just like you—both of you are nothing but vixens! What bad luck!"
Wang Shi angrily retorted, "Who are you calling a vixen? You look more like a fox spirit yourself! With that face of yours covered in makeup, anyone would think you came from some place where people sleep during the day and party at night!"
Xiao Lihua smiled and replied, "Sister-in-law, that's not right; you're insulting those girls too much! At least those girls speak gently; unlike this one—she's nothing but a shrew! No wonder no one likes her; she can only cling to her relatives!"
Those listening nearby clearly understood that Su Yuanchun was the daughter of the Gao family. It was easy for cousins to marry each other, yet despite being sixteen years old, she had not yet married or even gotten engaged. People speculated that she had her eyes set on her cousin. Recently, Su Yuanchun publicly humiliated Xiao Family's eldest daughter on the street, claiming she wasn't worthy of marrying her cousin. This only confirmed Xiao Lihua's mockery of her.
Seeing that not only were people inside watching but also several outside craning their necks to see, Su Yuanchun shot them a glare, causing them to quickly suppress their laughter.
Su Yuanchun shouted at Xiao Lihua, "You’re just a lowly maid from the Gao family who got kicked out for trying to seduce your master! Now you're holding a grudge against me!"
Xiao Lihua didn’t care that everyone was looking at her; she calmly replied, "Feel free to spread rumors about what happens in the Gao mansion; I’ve never done anything like that. But everyone saw what you did."
Wang Shi chimed in, "Exactly! Who would believe someone who claims their shoes are worth twenty taels? Your shoes aren't even as nice as mine! They aren't worth twenty taels! If you give me twenty taels, I’ll make you ten pairs! Do you think we country folks don’t know good merchandise? Villagers, do you think those shoes are worth twenty taels?"
Everyone inside and outside looked at Su Yuanchun’s feet and saw that they were just a pair of ordinary embroidered silk shoes without any gold or silver embellishments. Naturally siding with Wang Shi, they didn’t dare speak directly against Su Yuanchun but began murmuring among themselves. Their gazes toward Su Yuanchun grew increasingly disdainful, especially from those who came from the village.
"What are you still standing there for? Hit her! A country bumpkin dares to bully me!" Su Yuanchun, enraged, shouted at the maid beside her. Seeing the maid hesitate, she immediately cursed with fiery eyes, "What? Is my command no longer effective? I'll have you replaced when we get back; useless things should be sold!"
As soon as the two maids heard this, they dared not delay any longer and rushed to hit Xiao Lihua.
The situation changed too quickly; everyone was momentarily stunned. No one could have imagined that Su Yuanchun, a young lady from a wealthy family, would unleash her servants to attack in public. It was Xie Youshun who reacted quickly, pulling Xiao Lihua to his side and standing in front of her, glaring at the two maids, who immediately dared not move.
Seeing her anger had nowhere to go, Su Yuanchun shouted for them to attack Wang Shi and Meihua instead. The two maids immediately turned around and began to tear at Wang Shi and Meihua. Hong Niangzi hurriedly tried to mediate, but with Su Yuanchun threatening her from the side, she was at a loss for what to do. Before Xiao Lihua and her husband could step in to help, Wang Shi became furious and pushed away the maid who was tearing at her; the maid fell right onto Su Yuanchun, and the two rolled on the ground like tumbling gourds.
All of this happened in a very short time. By the time everyone finished watching in shock, they found Su Yuanchun on the ground moaning in pain, clutching her stomach and looking pale.
"Oh no! This is terrible! Miss Su is bleeding!"
A woman screamed, her voice filled with panic and excitement.
Everyone turned their gaze over, and with a loud uproar, it became clear what had happened. At that moment, no one felt sympathy for Su Yuanchun; their eyes were filled with disdain and contempt.
Su Yuanchun was also stunned; the intense shock combined with pain made her roll her eyes back and faint.
What followed was chaos. Hong Niangzi immediately ordered someone to carry Su Yuanchun back to the Gao Family. Just as they lifted her up, a man walked in from outside. Upon seeing Su Yuanchun's condition, his previously rosy face turned pale. He wanted to retreat but it was too late; Su Yuanchun's maid screamed as if someone had grabbed her by the throat, drawing everyone's attention to him. He could only maintain a stern face and call for his servant to help carry her.
Hong Niangzi approached the man with a pained expression and bowed, explaining what had happened: the injury occurred under her watch, and she needed to distance herself from it—what an unfortunate situation.
By this time, those who had come to watch had already dispersed in a hurry, not wanting this man to know they had witnessed his family's disgrace.
This man was Su Yuanchun's cousin, Gao Zhengping, the young master of the Gao Family.
Xiao Lihua remembered him and gave him a once-over. He appeared above average in looks; cleaned up he could be considered quite handsome. However, he seemed somewhat sinister now that he wore a stern expression—far from being as serene as the moon or as warm as jade. Xiao Lihua felt a surge of anger; it was because of this person that the original owner gained such a bad reputation.
Gao Zhengping also looked at Xiao Lihua. He remembered her well; if it were any other maid he might not have recognized after seven years apart, but he always remembered Xiao Lihua because he had used her to scheme against others only for it to backfire on himself—a true humiliation. Unexpectedly encountering her again years later brought him another layer of shame.
"Cousin, we can't let her off! You must avenge me!" Su Yuanchun regained consciousness upon hearing him call out and immediately cried out when she saw him. She felt utterly humiliated; most importantly, she feared something had happened to her child with him. Her hatred for Xiao Lihua intensified.
"What are you all standing there for? Help Miss back home! Call for a physician!"
Gao Zhengping glared at Su Yuanchun before shouting at the servant girls. Then he turned his gaze toward Xiao Lihua for a moment before storming off angrily. From that glance, Xiao Lihua realized that Gao Zhengping held a grudge against her; trouble might arise in the future. She frowned slightly; all she wanted was a peaceful life—doing business and raising children. Even if there was animosity between Gao Family and the original owner, she only intended to assist Gao Family's rivals against them without confronting them directly. She wasn't afraid of them but worried about involving her family in trouble.
However, things clearly did not go as planned. Xiao Lihua clenched her fist, wanting to earn money quickly and improve her relationships with Xiao Ziyi and Hua Heng, so that she wouldn't have to fear the Gao Family. If the Gao Family didn't come looking for trouble, that would be fine, but if they did, she would be helpless and just wait to be bullied.
"Sister, sister-in-law, I've caused trouble. If I had been more careful and not stepped on Miss Su's toes, nothing would have happened," Meihua said, her eyes red from crying earlier.
Wang was also scared; it was she who had pushed Su Yuanchun earlier.
Xiao Lihua comforted them, saying, "It's okay. She was the one who started it and sent someone to hit us. Besides, as a young lady, she probably wouldn't dare to make a fuss about this. She might think of ways to cover it up and might not remember us for a while. If she does remember us later, we can think of a way to deal with it. When the boat reaches the bridgehead, it will go straight. Can she really kill us? Don't be afraid of them; at worst, we can make a scene at their doorstep and see if they care about their reputation!"
"Right, the Gao Family cares about face; we have nothing to lose!" Wang sighed in relief upon hearing this.
At that moment, Hong Niangzi returned and advised them to be more careful in the future and not to get into trouble with the Gao Family. Xiao Lihua and the others apologized to her for causing trouble in her shop. Hong Niangzi waved her hand; although the incident happened in her store, it had nothing to do with her—she was also a victim, and the Gao Family couldn't do anything to them.
After leaving Qiao Xiu Fabric Shop, Wang and Meihua hurried home since they had come with the village's ox cart and couldn't afford to be late. Xiao Lihua said she would visit them when she had time, and then they parted ways.
"You've caused trouble again," Xiao Lihua said to Xie Youshun, wondering if he was upset.
Xie Youshun took Xiao Lihua's hand when no one was watching and said, "It's fine. The Gao Family will only cause us some trouble at most; we can handle it. As you said, when the boat reaches the bridgehead, it will go straight. We still need to live well; things will get better."
Xie Youshun wasn't upset at all; seeing Gao Zhengping's calm expression made Xiao Lihua feel relieved. For that reason alone, he could endure any trouble the Gao Family brought without letting his wife suffer.
The author has something to say: It has entered V (paid content). After the tension comes calmness; even if just one person continues to read the official version, I will be very happy. For those who support reading the official version, I will persist until the end!
Comment 0 Comment Count