Chapter 67 Dilemma
"Madam, isn't it too cruel to act this way?" Xue Peng tested cautiously.
"We have to make a clean break now. We can't keep this daughter-in-law." Wang Xianyi fiddled with her Buddhist beads, the candlelight flickering, reflecting the fierce corners of her mouth. "Fortunately, in order to use her reputation to attract customers, and to show that Jia'er and we treat her well and avoid gossip, we have always said that Qixian Pawnshop is hers and she is in charge, and you and I only control and manage it in secret. Therefore, as long as we put the blame on her and cut ties with her, the pawnshop's future business can be saved, and the master will not be implicated."
Xue Peng poured a cup of tea and handed it to his wife: "Yes, indeed, it makes sense."
Wang Xianyi said, "She is useless anyway, and her family is just pretending to be rich. After she comes to justice, her reputation will definitely be very bad. It will do our Xue family no good, so there is no need to be reluctant. We must marry a daughter-in-law who can help us. Today, I saw the girl who served the master personally at the Shi family. It's time to go out and get married. I have made up my mind. I will divorce her. When the time comes, we will first take the girl who is currently with the master to Jiaer as a concubine. Then we will find a good girl from a respectable family for Jiaer. If we can't find one, we will directly make the girl the master's main wife."
This plan was far-sighted and comprehensive. Xue Peng held his wife's hand and praised her endlessly, "You are indeed my wife. You are truly my good wife."
Wang Xianyi smiled charmingly, a rare expression of satisfaction. She gently stroked the back of her husband's hand, then put on a serious expression and said to the maid, "Go, call the bride."
Yanru was nervous all day.
Wen Yue and Zheng Sirui were extremely heartless, and she was at her wit's end. When her husband and mother-in-law came back from the Shi family, the old one went straight back to her own courtyard and locked herself in, while the young one sat at the dinner table and ate and ate without restraint, and did not even say a word after being asked for a long time. She was helpless. Yanbao was still angry with her, and she wrote a letter back to Jinling to discuss it with her mother, but it would take a long time, and she was helpless.
For the first time, Yanru realized that she had married into the capital in such a grand manner, but now she was left alone and helpless.
What should be done about this matter? What should be done from now on? She was so worried that she only ate a few bites of dinner. Coincidentally, the maidservant who served her mother-in-law came to call her over. Yanru immediately jumped up from the couch, taking two steps at a time, and flew faster than the maidservant.
Entering the courtyard, the mother-in-law and father-in-law sat on stools facing the main room, one sipping tea, the other fiddling with Buddhist beads, gazing at a small white porcelain statue of Guanyin on the long table behind them. The Bodhisattva's lowered brows and faithful gaze made the elderly couple's expressions frown and pout, their expressions solemn. A sense of foreboding gripped her, and Yanru cautiously probed, "The bride greets the father-in-law and the mother-in-law. They've summoned the bride so late, but... is there any progress on the complaint?"
"Please sit down first." Wang Xianyi turned her wrist, put the Buddhist beads on her arm, and said, "Over the years since you married into our family, you've taken care of Jia'er and managed the pawnshop business. Even if you haven't made any contributions, you've certainly worked hard. Your father-in-law and I can see all of this. You're the new bride of the Xue family. Now that you've encountered trouble, how can we just sit back and watch? Today, I'm going to plead for you with my old dignity."
"I thank you, mother-in-law, but..." Yanru realized that Wang Xianyi's words were quite inappropriate, and whispered, "Isn't this lawsuit against the Qixian Pawnshop? The Qixian Pawnshop originated from the Shi family and was managed by the Xue family. Why does mother-in-law make it sound like it belongs to me alone..."
Normally, his mind was blank, so why did he react so quickly today? Wang Xianyi was slightly stunned and said, "Tsk, although, although, the pawnshop was funded by the Shi family, but before you married in, Jia'er told you that the pawnshop was opened for you, and later you took possession of the pawnshop's account books and keys. Doesn't that mean Qixian is yours? Moreover, you also signed and sealed the lawsuit against the Tian family. Now the Tian family's daughter is suing you, You Yanru! Yanru—Yanru, don't be anxious. Just tell me, over the years, have you been saying outside that the Qixian pawnshop is yours?"
Yanru was speechless and choked, biting her lip, hating her vanity in the past. For the sake of a good reputation and the envy of others, she always liked to brag about how well her in-laws treated her, how her husband loved her, and how Qixian Pawnshop belonged to her. She exaggerated three points into seven points, and became so boastful that she was in a difficult situation.
"Yanru, today I went to ask and discuss with your godfather. The woman from the Tian family is not dead. She was just sick at the beginning. Her daughter sold herself to the opera troupe and used the money to pay for medical treatment. She got better, no one was killed, and their family was not destroyed. As long as no one was killed, everything can be remedied, and your case is not a big deal." Wang Xianyi stood up, took Yanru's hand, and pulled her to sit down. When their skin touched, Yanru felt a chill, and she did not dare to break free, listening to her mother-in-law's treacherous words: "So, since this is the case, the government office can't impose any serious crime. You just need to bribe the government office, get the mother and daughter's forgiveness, and then compensate her with a large sum of money. Your father-in-law and I discussed selling a house in the countryside, raising some money, and having Mr. Shi come forward to redeem the Tian family's daughter from the Zhuang family. Although she will be an opera singer or prostitute and will still be a slave in the future, she will at least be a free person. The Tian family will withdraw the lawsuit, and that's all. It's fine."
Yanru's heart finally settled down, and she was about to cry out loud: "Really? Thank you, mother-in-law, thank you, father-in-law, thank you, the two elders, for taking care of the new bride."
"But..." Before Yanru could get excited for long, Wang Xianyi changed the subject, "Yanru, this matter has cost us at least nine hundred taels of silver, not to mention the money we have to pay for the government. The Xue family has to sell houses and land for you, which is a huge expense. You've seen that Mr. Shi's business has been tough over the past two years, and our Xue family hasn't made much money either. We'll have to rely on the pawnshop to make a living from now on."
Yanru shuddered and said, "Mother-in-law, what do you want to say?"
Wang Xianyi straightened his back and laid his cards on the table. "Yanru, let me be frank. The pawnshop has been tied to your name. When the time comes to openly sue you in the government office, no matter whether the outcome is good or bad, your name 'You Yanru' will already be tainted. If Qixian Pawnshop is still associated with you in the future, who will dare to pawn their goods here? Who won't be afraid of having their pawn tickets tampered with, or of having their goods taken away, or of having to pawn something and end up in a miserable situation? I'm making this clear: our Xue family will have to rely on the pawnshop for their livelihood from now on, and we must completely sever all ties with you, You Yanru."
Every word she heard was like fist-sized hailstones hitting her heart, and she felt a chill all over her body. "You mean, the Xue family doesn't want me anymore?"
Wang Xianyi said, "On the surface, let Jia'er divorce you. This is for everyone to see. Privately, you will always be Jia'er's wife. I told you on the first day of your marriage that I, Wang Xianyi, am not a mean person and will not treat you harshly. Don't worry, after you marry into our family, everything we buy for you will be yours. We will also give you a sum of money to settle down and provide financial support to send you back to Jinling. What do you think?"
"On the surface? Not harsh treatment?" Yanru couldn't help laughing, tears streaming down her face. "I'm your wife now, and you've all decided how to divorce me. Not harsh treatment? Isn't that harsh treatment? What have I done wrong in the past few years? Your Qixian Pawnshop borrowed my name and used my connections to curry favor with me. When you needed to show off, you used the name You Yanru to curry favor with the rich and powerful, and now when you don't need it anymore, you just wave your hand and divorce me? Why? Why?"
"Just because you like to say outside that the Qixian Pawnshop is yours, just because the pledge on the government lawsuit is yours, just because our Xue family's money is gone, you're finished." Wang Xianyi swung his arm, and the Buddhist beads fell back into his palm. He fiddled with them four or five times with his fingertips, then threw them on the table, looking up and saying, "It's okay if you don't want to. You can write to your mother in Nanjing and see if she is willing to come up with the thousands of taels of silver to solve the problem for you. Since you can't come up with the money anyway, you should just follow the laws of the Sui Dynasty and serve in the prison camp."
Yanru felt a pain in her chest every time she breathed, and she turned and fled. The maids in the courtyard grabbed her, and Yanru couldn't break free. She could only shout, "Where's Xue Jia? I have to listen to Xue Jia. He is my husband, and I want to hear what he has to say! If you dare to divorce me, I will go to the authorities and sue the Xue family for abandoning me without reason!"
"From childhood to adulthood, Jia'er has had the final say in everything. I said I wanted to divorce you, and he had no objection." Wang Xianyi stood up. She seemed like a snake spirit, transformed into a human form and became a mother-in-law. After her true form was revealed, she turned back into a snake, twisted and crawled from the chair to Yanru's side, and whispered, "As for suing the authorities? How are you going to sue? You have been married for several years, but have not been able to give birth to children for my son, so you are guilty of childlessness; you had an affair with your teacher before marriage, so you were guilty of adultery; as soon as you got married, you yelled at your friend that you wanted to move out, thinking that your parents-in-law were old stuff, and later you went to Daiyuan alone, which meant you didn't serve your aunt and uncle; you stole the bracelet from the Tian family by stealing it; I can also say that Jia'er has not taken a concubine until now because you are jealous; you have committed four or five of the seven grounds for divorce, and adultery alone is enough to punish you, let alone the others. You Yanru, don't take yourself too seriously. You don't want to be divorced, so you have to go to jail and lose your freedom. Besides, even if you are sent to the prison camp, Jia'er can still marry and have children outside. No matter how you calculate it, you are still the one who loses. Yanru, we are mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. As the elder, I am really doing this for your own good.
Yanru stared into Wang Xianyi's eyes - she was right. On the surface, Yanru seemed to be in a dilemma, having to choose between "being divorced" and "being executed". In fact, Yanru had no choice at all. No matter what she chose, Xue Jia could still marry a new wife, and the Xue family would be clean and peaceful. She was the only one who suffered, and she was the only one who shed blood and tears.
"That green carriage with a emerald tent pulled by a mule just now doesn't seem to be his."
"The sun and the moon are the highest and brightest, husband and wife are the closest and most distant. The love between man and woman can be as close as it is cold."
"We take their promises and gestures all day long seriously, thinking we can control them. But when we turn around, they've already paved a way out for us. If they get tired of you, there's a smooth and easy road ahead."
"Yanru, I am your lesson. You must remember me today."
There was a buzzing in her ears, and she could hear nothing. Only the advice from Zheng Sirui and Wen Yue, which she had ignored before, traveled through time and space, lingering in her mind, telling her to calm down. Dust filled the sky, and the past events were recalled again: the eagerness to seek marriage, the indifference to the past with Ji Mingxiu, Daiyuan, Qixian Pawnshop, the indifference after her mother's family disguise was exposed, the drinking of soup and medicine for childbirth and pregnancy, the currying of favor with the Shao family, and the request for her to change the pawn ticket and sue the Tian family... Everything, crisscrossed, woven into a huge net, fell, trapped her, captured her, and turned her into a fish on the chopping board, for the Xue family to slaughter - it turned out that from the very beginning, the Xue family had been calculating against her. The Xue family's indifference and indifference were all for the purpose of calculating against her, just to squeeze her out of her bones, eat her up, and discard her neatly.
Yanru bit her arm hard, using the pain to force herself to wake up. She didn't cry, but buried her face in her body. After a long pause, she said, "Okay, fine. I promise you."
The trial would have to wait a few days. While Wang Xianyi and the Xue family were sorting things out, Shanjuan was assigned to return to her care, accompanying her in Daiyuan while she waited for the court hearing. She knew that while the word "care" was a nice thing to say, Shanjuan was actually sent to monitor her. The news reached Yanbao and her parents' home in Nanjing. Yanru could imagine that when Yanbao heard it, she would curse the Xue family and laugh at herself for entrusting the wrong person. Qian Peilan and her grandmother would be furious when they heard the inside story of what had happened. They would curse themselves for being useless. But she was so tired, so tired that she couldn't think, so tired that she didn't know what to do next.
Wang Xianyi dumped all the paintings of her from the pawnshop into Daiyuan—including the Ji Mingxiu drawings that had once made her and Xue Jia so proud and had attracted a large number of guests. Yanru would remain quietly in the room, lost in thought, staring at the fifteen- or sixteen-year-old self in the paintings, for hours at a time. Occasionally, when Shanjuan approached, she could hear her mumbling to herself, singing ballads about the past:
"My green collar is always in my heart.
Even if I don't go, why don't you send me a message?
Your green pendant makes me think of you so much.
Even if I don't go, why don't you come?"
She burned incense, worshipped Buddha, prayed to God, looked at paintings, and entered into a state of meditation. After seven or eight days and nights, the carriage to take her back to the city for court finally arrived.
Yanru boarded the ironically named emerald-green carriage, which sped along. She sat quietly inside, eyes closed, completely unaware of the wind lifting the curtains and letting a once intimate, goose-yellow figure pass by.
The woman in a goose yellow dress, holding a package and wearing a cone hat, her face could not be seen clearly. She walked alone through the downtown area and came to an extremely magnificent Washington mansion. She grasped the gilded carved handle and knocked on it.
The door opened, and the yellow-clad woman pulled out a jade token from her bosom and waved it, "I'm from the Ministry of Works. Go and inform them that I want to see your son, Lu Zhiling."
The jade plaque was the same as those worn by the masters, a style only available to officials of the imperial court. The doorman saw the three characters "Zheng Sirui" engraved on the jade plaque and hurriedly welcomed her in.
After receiving the notice and being led by the doorman, Zheng Sirui walked through the flower-stone paths and winding corridors, occasionally hearing the laughter of children calling "Daddy" and "Daddy". What she saw and heard made her feel a sense of wonder: If she had been blinded by greed and agreed to drop out of school and marry in the capital, perhaps this would be her home?
That was too bad. This place is like a birdcage with flowers and plants. Fortunately, I didn't get too drunk back then. Fortunately, it's okay.
They walked to a quiet little pavilion shaded by bamboo leaves. The wooden door opened, and a delicate boy and girl rushed out. The person leading the way said, "This is the courtyard where our young master studies. Lord Zheng, please come in."
Lu Zhiling was standing in the yard waiting for her. When she walked in, he smiled and said, "I never thought that one day you would come to my house."
"I'm not here to chat with you." Zheng Sirui said coldly, "Should we talk here? Or should we go inside?"
"Come in." Lu Zhiling led her into the room. Standing in front of the rosewood desk, Zheng Sirui unwrapped her belongings, took out several booklets and a stack of papers, and unfolded them one by one. "Do you remember the funding we received from the Ministry of Revenue two or three years ago when Yongzhou was hit by a flood?"
Lu Zhiling said: "I remember. What's wrong?"
Zheng Sirui found some manuscript paper and handed it to him. "You can't take the account books from the Ministry of Works with you, so I hand-copied three of them. Here, take a look. This is the amount I calculated based on outside prices, workers' wages, and the Ministry of Works' expenses over the past few years. I used the Ministry of Works' old calendar quotas, the Yongzhou flood data, and the Ministry of Revenue's appropriations to calculate this. Take a look at them and see if my calculations are wrong, or if they actually match the appropriations at the time."
Lu Zhiling took the straw paper, counted the numbers, frowned, looked serious, raised his eyes, and stared solemnly at Zheng Sirui's face.
There was a tacit understanding. Zheng Sirui understood and hinted to him to verify the answer in his mind: "Whether it was the funding for the flood three years ago or the subsequent reconstruction of the dam and bridge, Shi Jian's name was on the purchase account books."
"Fuck! Dirty bastards!" Lu Zhiling lashed out, dropping the brush in his hand to the ground. "I've investigated this myself over the past three years. Shi Jian has committed numerous crimes. Besides tax evasion, he also colluded with high-ranking officials of the imperial court. Your friend You Yanru's pawnshop is ostensibly run by Xue and You, but it's actually run by Shi. Shi Jian used that pawnshop to clean out all his dirty, ugly money, while your friend used it to lend money at high interest rates. My brothers and I haven't been able to bring him to justice because we don't have solid evidence."
"She's not my friend," Zheng Sirui corrected decisively, adding, "The overwhelming evidence is right before your eyes. I'm always at your disposal."
Lu Zhiling pondered, "We've all seen the methods he and those corrupt officials use. Two years ago, our reputations were damaged and we were imprisoned for no reason. You were also demoted, publicly promoted but secretly demoted, and ended up sitting on the bench at the Ministry of Works. I have brothers and uncles at the court, but you're a commoner, alone, and a woman. Aren't you afraid?"
Zheng Sirui lowered her eyes and said nothing.
Lu Zhiling said, "You've always known me. If I were the type who cowardly seeks life, you wouldn't have—I mean, this matter involves so many people: Shi Jian, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Personnel, and even the officials in Yongzhou. Which of these demons and monsters is easy to deal with? If this matter were truly exposed to the world, I'm afraid it would be another bloody storm. Si Rui, Zheng Si Rui, think about it. From Jinling to the capital, from Qiu Shui to Guan Yan, how much reading have you done over the years? How many dishes have you washed in winter? How did you survive? You understand better than anyone how precious the belt around your waist, the purple robe on your body, and the tablet in your hand are to you. How hard-earned are these days for you and your Zheng family. Exposing the corruption and flooding in Yongzhou is extremely dangerous. It could very well lead to your death as a fifth-rank female official. Zheng Si Rui, have you thought it through? Is it worth it?"
Zheng Sirui lowered her head, said nothing, and fiddled with the phoenix blood bracelet on her hand.
Is it? Is it worth it? Lu Zhiling has the Lu family behind her, what does she have? She and her parents once endured hunger and cold in the winter, facing ridicule. It wasn't until she passed the imperial examination that the Zheng family truly gained prominence. It only took a day to change from a brocade robe to a tattered jacket, but the process of changing from the tattered jacket to the brocade robe had consumed her entire first half of her life.
Wealth and glory are hard-earned, how can we squander them easily?
Seeing her depressed, Lu Zhiling turned around and asked the maid to bring some good tea. Just as he was about to stand up, Zheng Sirui suddenly spoke:
"Lu Zhiling, do you know what you can buy with one penny?"
Lu Zhiling was puzzled and remained silent. In his eyes, could a penny be considered money?
Zheng Sirui said, "One penny can buy five wild fruits. Two pennies can buy an egg. Five pennies can buy you a bowl of plain noodles on the streets of Jinling. Besides the chopped green onions and broth, there's just noodles. And fifteen taels of silver is enough for a family like mine and my parents to spend for a whole year."
You don't know, you definitely don't know. Born into a family of officials, you've lived a life of luxury. A penny, two pennies, five pennies, or even a tael of silver, doesn't count as money in your eyes. And a year's worth of food for my family is, to you, just a jar of good wine, a casually discarded brush, a casually given hairpin, and a decent meal. Having it or not, it seems, makes no difference.
But five copper coins could buy a bowl of plain noodles, saving a starving person; ten taels and five taels of silver could keep a family alive for a year. The 3.2 million taels of silver allocated by the imperial court to the Yongzhou flood could buy tens of thousands of bowls of plain noodles, saving tens of thousands of Yongzhou victims and ensuring the survival of tens of thousands of families for a year. They were commoners, and so was I. The flood they suffered, I suffered too, and that was enough.
Lu Zhiling, yes, I admit, I've painstakingly studied for decades, only to one day be crowned a noble and prime minister, to ride and admire the blossoms of Chang'an. But I've never felt that just because I donned a purple robe and a golden belt, I was no longer a commoner. In the vast multitude of life, I'm always one of them. I hold the imperial court, but only for the poor like me. I worship the true dragon, but only for the poor like me. Given this, how can I let Feng Zhu and Xiu Snake persecute them? How can I ignore them?
Heaven and earth are unkind, treating all things like straw dogs; sages are unkind, treating the common people like straw dogs. Meat-eaters, the poor and the lowly, are all born between heaven and earth, treated equally by heaven and earth. The self-righteous superiors want to toy with us, depriving us of the food we need to survive. Then I will pierce these dark clouds, pierce this foul rain, and seek complete justice under the sage and the sun. Even if the party members are enjoying themselves, the road is dark and dangerous, even if you laugh at me for trying to stop a chariot with a mantis arm, I must ask clearly: is there a place for the common people in this world? Between heaven and earth, where are we, the common people, the poor, the lowly as ants, placed?
"With my sword in hand and my young son in my arms, I am the only one who is fit to serve the people." Lu Zhiling looked at her. "The evidence is as strong as a mountain, right before our eyes. I am ready to serve you."
【Random Thoughts】：It’s on the homepage today! I beg for your votes and comments.
(It would be even better if you could give me flowers and recommend them to your friends)
Tomorrow, the timeline finally returns to the first chapter. Yanru has lost her usefulness and is kicked out. Zheng Sirui's career choices will affect her life. They are a reflection of each other. As fate turns, what will become of these two former friends?
Whispering quietly, the role of the Ministry of Revenue boss was originally a standalone character, but it was fused with the "ex-boyfriend" part. Firstly, this was because Zheng Sirui's character was "overly protective of her reputation after being gossiped about, somewhat afraid of dfxr," and besides Liu Xiang, she had no other friends or acquaintances of the opposite sex. Secondly, it was to reflect Yi Bin's words and Zheng Sirui's growth: it was just an experience, a relationship, nothing serious. Zheng Sirui has grown up, able to let go of the cage that trapped her. In pursuit of the justice she seeks, she decisively and openly knocks on Lu Zhiling's door to discuss work with him. I also hope that if there are sisters in life who are troubled and saddened by these negative experiences, they can let go and move on.
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