Chapter 42: Ransom

As for Hulu, he listens to the Gu family in everything. Doesn't this mean that through Hulu and Qu Yutao, the Zhao family can be easily controlled?

The Gu family was immediately overjoyed: "Yeah, why didn't they think of that? Big Brother is worthy of being Big Brother."

Hulu had been waiting impatiently for a long time, and when he heard what Boss Gu said, he was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling.

Gu Ersao volunteered to be the matchmaker.

Mrs. Gu originally thought that if she came forward, Mrs. Qu would not dare to refuse her face, but she did not expect that Mrs. Qu would politely refuse.

The excuse he made was also very lame, he wanted to keep Qu Yutao for two more years.

Mrs. Gu smiled and said, "What's the big deal? Let's get engaged first! We can get married in two years."

Once engaged, they were like family. Hulu had used some tricks to coax Qu Yutao into doing something, so wasn't marriage imminent? Why wait two years?

Not to mention that Hulu would not be willing to wait at all, she was not willing to wait either. She was just waiting to deal with the Zhao family.

How could Widow Qu agree? "No, no, let's talk about it when the time comes. Our Yutao is not in a hurry."

"Oh, Yutao is not young anymore, why aren't you anxious? Sister-in-law, as a mother, you can't let your child down!"

"you!"

"Is there anyone in the whole village who is better than Hulu and of the same age and appearance as Yutao?" Gu Ersao scoffed, hinting, "If you can't even look down on Hulu, how can you look down on anyone else?"

Who in this village would dare to go against the Gu family? If Widow Qu dared to refuse the Gu family's marriage proposal, who would dare to marry Qu Yutao?

Widow Qu obviously understood what she meant and was shaking with anger.

Aunt Li Shiyi couldn't bear to listen any longer and couldn't help but say, "Marriage is a matter of mutual consent. Isn't the Second Sister-in-law of the Gu family going too far?"

"I'm telling the truth," Second Sister Gu said with a smile, "Otherwise, Aunt Li can talk to her and see if you can find her a marriage proposal from Zaihu Village. If you can, I'll be convinced!"

Aunt Li Shiyi was furious and angry: "Hey, how can you talk like that!"

A decent citizen would naturally not marry the offspring of a criminal. Otherwise, how could he be worthy of his ancestors? The clan and the village would not agree to it either.

Mrs. Gu's words were so harsh that Aunt Li Shiyi couldn't help but speak up.

Widow Qu was afraid that Aunt Li Shiyi would be embarrassed, so she hurriedly said, "Don't push me around. My daughter, I don't want to get married. Is that okay?"

She had tried very hard to reason with the Gu family, but the Gu family was not a reasonable family at all.

That is why she is at the Zhao family right now. Otherwise, Second Sister-in-law Gu would probably just leave with a few words and a date for the wedding, and would not care at all about what she said.

Mrs. Gu was furious: "Say it again?"

Widow Qu risked her life: "I don't agree."

"Oh, you don't give face to the Gu family?"

"The gourd is not worthy of my Jade Peach."

"After all, you still don't give the Gu family face!"

Mrs. Deng couldn't stand it any longer: "Second sister-in-law of the Gu family, you are being unreasonable! You should just go back. This matter is either unsuccessful or unsuccessful."

Second Sister Gu's face turned ugly, and she glared at Widow Qu fiercely, "Oh, don't regret it!"

Second Sister-in-law Gu left with a sullen face, and Widow Qu burst into tears. She was too embarrassed to lower her head and turn away, wiping away her tears. She forced a smile and said, "Oh, this really is just me being old and useless. I've made my younger sister and Eleventh Sister-in-law laugh at me."

Aunt Li Shiyi patted her back gently and sighed, "What a joke, we are all mothers, ah..."

"That's right," Deng couldn't help but feel sad when she thought of Zhao Liya and Zhao Lixiang, who was still ignorant and had a naive smile.

Zhao Liya, Qu Yutao and others returned from Zaihu Village in the evening.

It rained at noon today, but stopped in the afternoon. We were lucky enough that everyone worked hard and everything went smoothly.

The benefits of living near a village were once again demonstrated. Even though they had been running to Zaihu Village frequently recently, the people in Yan Village had no idea what was happening there or what they were doing.

After all, people from Yancun are not welcome in any village. Apart from the Zhao family, no other family can deal with people from other villages.

The atmosphere at home was a little different. Zhao Liya and Qu Yutao were observant and noticed it immediately.

Mrs. Deng didn't want to say more, and changed the subject with a smile.

So everyone cooked dinner together.

Now there is no shortage of vegetables at home. We have loofah soup, fried eggplant with beans, pickled bamboo shoots, and steamed mandarin fish made from fish and shrimp caught in bamboo cages in the river. We have both meat and vegetables.

There was nothing wrong with Zhao Liya. She was probably enjoying herself too much in the new era where people had no worries about food and clothing. Although she didn't like big fish and meat in modern times, she couldn't get used to not having a single meat dish on the table.

Not to mention Zhao Xiang and the others, it is impossible for the Shangshu Mansion to not have meat to eat.

So nowadays, as long as the family is not so poor that they have to eat porridge, there will basically be meat on their table every day.

I cook river food in different ways and go to the city to buy meat from time to time. The meat I buy can at least be kept for two or three days. Sometimes I just kill a chicken. At worst, I have to have eggs, right?

The adults can satisfy their cravings, and the two children also need to grow.

After dinner, Mrs. Deng and the others told the whole story of Mrs. Gu’s visit today.

They have to tell me, they can't bear it.

Zhao Xiang said, "The Gu family is truly shameless. We were right not to give in to them from the beginning."

Hu Ling: "How shameless!"

Zhao Liya: "So we must work harder now and make a lot of money. Once we are strong, we won't be afraid of them! Once we make enough money, we can get rid of the crime!"

Except for Aunt Li Shiyi, everyone's eyes lit up.

Mrs. Deng said hurriedly, "Yes, yes, let's try to earn enough money to clear our name! I just don't know how much money it will take."

If her crime is cleared, her children will have a much better life in the future. It doesn't matter to the old couple, but the children are still young.

Deng had never really known how much money it would cost to clear her name from the crime.

Zhao Xiang was also stunned. He didn't know either.

In fact, Zhao Liya didn't know either. She just found out about it when she was chatting with Uncle Ruan Gui and the clan leaders. They couldn't tell her exactly how much silver it would cost. She had originally planned to ask Yu Gongcao when she had the chance in the future.

Widow Qu sighed and said with a smile, "Well, I've actually inquired about this before. A man needs 100,000 silver coins, and a woman needs 80,000. If she's over 60, the price can be reduced by half."

Everyone changed color.

I knew it wouldn’t be cheap, but I didn’t know it was this expensive!

Widow Qu showed an understanding expression. When she heard the price, she completely gave up the idea.

If it was three or five thousand taels, she would have sold herself to get her daughter a good citizenship. But eighty thousand taels, she didn't even dare to think about it.

(End of this chapter)