"Alas—besides, we've lost our virginity. What decent family would marry us? We have no family, no money, nothing at all. If our husbands mistreat us, we'll have nowhere to seek justice. Rather than that, I'd rather stay by my master's side. On one hand, it's to repay the life-saving grace, and on the other hand, it's to find a way out for myself. Xiaoqing, I know you mean well. You have your plans, and I have mine. I wish you find a good husband, but you mustn't slander my master anymore. She's a good person; she saved us. People should repay kindness!"

The two disagreed.

Seeing that she was so ungrateful, Xiaoqing got angry and stopped trying to persuade her.

"Whatever. You're giving up a good life to become a lowly servant. I'm not going to care about you anymore. From now on, we'll go our separate ways. I'll live my good life, and you can just be envious!"

She finished speaking and gave a cold laugh.

Without even glancing at Xiao Su, he turned and went inside.

I almost bumped into Yan Xia, who was about to come out.

"Thank you for saving me. If there is an afterlife, I will definitely repay you properly."

Xiao Qing bowed to Yan Xia.

It wasn't a full kneel, nor a half kneel; it was just a slight bend in the waist.

There's absolutely no sincerity involved.

"Um."

Yan Xia didn't waste any more words with her. Even a ghost could see through her perfunctory attitude. Recalling Xiao Qing's pleading for help yesterday, Yan Xia couldn't help but laugh.

The phrase "turning one's back on someone and then denying it" seems tailor-made for Xiao Qing.

"Xiao Su, it's all done. Let's go back. By the way, do you want to go in and say hello to her? You two probably won't see each other again in the future."

Yan Xia's voice was not low.

You can hear it even inside the house.

"No need, Master, let's go back."

Xiao Su stepped forward, helped Yan Xia, and left the county government office without even turning her head back.

Xiao Qing inside the house didn't take it seriously.

The official in front of her told her.

From this moment on, she is no longer a slave.

"Thank you very much, sir. Thank you for your great kindness."

Xiao Qing knelt down, her fawning demeanor a stark contrast to her earlier behavior.

"No need to thank me, you should thank Aunt Yan. Alright, are you going back to Ningzhou City? If you are, I'll send someone to take you." Zuo Li's expression was a little bad.

He vaguely heard the two people talking loudly outside.

This girl named Xiaoqing doesn't know how to be grateful.

Just like an ingrate.

So Zuo Li didn't give her a friendly look, but Xiao Qing didn't notice; she thought all officials were like that.

"I'm not going back; I'll stay in Shuangqiao Town. Thank you, sir!"

"Well, whatever you want. You have things to do at the county office. Since it's still early, you should find somewhere else to go. I won't keep you any longer." Zuo Li dismissively sent Xiao Qing away.

Xiao Qing felt somewhat lost after leaving the county government office.

This was her first time stepping into Shuangqiao Town. Since she was old enough to understand, she and her family had been fleeing. After arriving in Ningzhou City, she was all alone. Because she was naive, she was kidnapped by a slave trader with a meat bun and sold to the Bai family as a maid. Fortunately, the Bai family were not bad people, and Madam Bai was a devout Buddhist and a well-known kind person.

So she didn't suffer much hardship.

She didn't want to go back to Ningzhou City. Everyone knew she was a maid in the Bai landlord's family. Even if she was freed from slavery, people would still treat her as a maid. She thought Shuangqiao Town was pretty good. It wasn't as prosperous as Jiangnan County, nor as impoverished as Ningzhou City.

It's somewhere in between.

Moreover, she didn't want to walk the mountain path again, in case she ran into those bandits again.

Xiao Qing shook her body.

I feel a bit scared afterwards.

Most importantly, nobody here knows her.

She can start over.

"Hello, auntie, may I ask who the famous matchmaker is around here?" As a maid who often went shopping, Xiaoqing was very bold. She grabbed a passing woman and asked her.

"Matchmaker? Oh my, young lady, judging from your accent, you must be from out of town. In Shuangqiao Town, the most famous matchmaker has to be Matchmaker Zhen from the far end of the town! She was the one who arranged my son's marriage. My daughter-in-law is wonderful beyond words—she's elegant in public and a good cook, beautiful, and has a generous figure. My in-laws even gave her a dowry of forty taels of silver! Where else in Shuangqiao Town can you find such a wonderful in-law family? And in just three years since she married into the family, she's given me two big, healthy grandsons! I'm overjoyed..."

The woman's words soon veered off-topic, and she kept praising her daughter-in-law.

Xiaoqing fell asleep listening to it.

She yawned, interrupting the woman, because she hadn't slept well last night.

"Auntie, I urgently need to see a matchmaker. Could you tell me where Matchmaker Zhen lives?"

"Oh, look at my brain! I can't stop talking once I start talking about my wife. Matchmaker Zhen's house is at the end of the city. If you walk straight down this road, you'll come to a four-way intersection. The first house on the left-hand side of the alley is Matchmaker Zhen's house. But she's not home today. She went to a wedding banquet right across from my house. Several of our neighbors have asked her to match them up. My family is going to a banquet later too."

As the woman spoke, she pointed to the right.

"Okay, thank you, Auntie. By the way, where is the pawnshop?"

Xiaoqing touched the jade bracelet, feeling somewhat reluctant to part with it.

But there was no other way; she didn't have a single copper coin on her. If she didn't sell it, she wouldn't even be able to afford food, let alone lodging.

"A pawn shop? Oh dear, young lady, what happened to you? You'd better not go to places like that. They can easily swindle even the most valuable items into nothing."

As an elderly woman.

She was always gossipy and kind-hearted; instead of answering Xiaoqing's question, she started advising her.

"I have no choice, Auntie. Something happened in my family, and I urgently need money. Now that I've run out of money, I have to pawn the ancestral jade bracelet that my mother left me. Otherwise, who would go there? Sigh."

Xiao Qing made it up on the spot.

She rolled up her sleeves.

She raised her wrist, revealing the jade bracelet.

"Wow, this jade bracelet is quite beautiful. Miss, your wrist is very slender, about the same size as my youngest daughter's. How much are you planning to pawn this jade bracelet for?"

The woman's eyes brightened slightly.

Her daughter is getting married at the end of next month, and she's worried about what to give as a dowry. Her daughter is only fifteen, and a gilded bracelet wouldn't suit her well, but she can't bear to spend the money on a solid gold one. She wanted to buy her daughter a hollowed-out gold-painted cloud hairpin, but the shopkeeper was asking for six taels of silver, which was too expensive.

Seeing the jade bracelet on Xiaoqing's wrist, she had an idea.

"Not much, I'd be satisfied if I could pawn four taels of silver."

As a maid, the first lesson in life is to learn to read your master's expression to judge his mood and avoid making mistakes.

Xiao Qing understood the woman's bright eyes at a glance.

I guess he was after her bracelet.