Chapter 014 Becoming a Pariah
Lian bit her lip and said nothing, but in her heart she cursed Xu Deyuan thousands of times. The little love between husband and wife was completely consumed. If it were not for her three daughters, she really wanted to grit her teeth and divorce him.
There was a flash of hatred in Lian's eyes. Didn't she want his two illegitimate sons to live? But she refused to do so.
He used and ate from her Lian family, and now he wants the Lian family to help him raise his son.
He had a good plan.
Lian secretly vowed that even if she died of exhaustion, hunger and thirst along the way, she would never let Xu Deyuan get his wish.
If we have to die, then we all die together.
"Mom, then you're not leaving? You won't leave us, will you?" Xu Fuwei seemed to be afraid that her mother would go far away, and she held her arms tightly. The little girl cried and sweat covered her face, and her eyes were full of fear. "I don't want you to leave——"
Lian touched her head, as if she had made a decision, her expression filled with sorrow and determination. "Mother won't leave. Mother will follow you for the rest of her life. Mother won't go anywhere."
Xu Fuwei still didn't understand what the Lian family had given up for the three sisters, but Xu Yinxi and Xu Lezhi were already in tears.
Xu Yinxi even secretly vowed that she would make a name for herself in the future to avenge her mother.
Even if she is a girl, she will still live a better life than a boy in the future!
She wanted to let her father know that women can still stand tall and proud!
"Has Fifth Aunt made up her mind?" Nanny Chen seemed to be smiling. "After this time, I must return to report."
Oh, if she doesn't go back, the stepmother should be happy.
It's hard for Ken to send someone to pretend to pick her up.
Lian prostrated herself on the ground and bowed deeply. "Please tell my parents that I won't be able to fulfill my filial duties in this lifetime. I'm going far away, and I don't know if we'll ever meet again. Please take care of yourselves. Even from far away in Yelang, I'll pray to the gods day and night for your health and longevity."
Nanny Chen sighed slightly, her expression slightly moved. "In that case, I won't force you. Please take good care of yourself, Fifth Aunt. The Master and the Madam still miss you very much."
After saying that, the man turned and walked away.
Yang Xue held Lian's hand and took the opportunity to stuff something into her. Lian immediately noticed something was wrong and put it into her sleeve without saying a word.
"Fifth Aunt, you... please take care of yourself. Master said that the court is unpredictable. The Xu family's crimes were not serious, and they may rise again in the future. Master and the eldest uncle will also act according to the opportunity. Please be patient, Fifth Aunt. Who knows, you may return to Bianjing in glory in the future."
Yang Xue hesitated to speak, thinking over and over again. Looking at Lian's face which had aged instantly, she wanted to remind Lian that Nanny Chen had deliberately hinted to Mr. Xu that he could propose to exchange Lian's daughter for a concubine or illegitimate son. But then she changed her mind and thought, even if Lian knew about it, what would happen? She would be exiled tomorrow. Could she let Lian hate Old Madam Lian forever?
Forget it, things have come to this, there is no point in saying more.
Lian burst into tears and held her hand. "Yang Xue, thank you so much for coming to see me. You and I have been master and servant for more than ten years. Now I have to go to Qianzhou, thousands of miles away. I am sure we will never see each other again in this lifetime. You must also take good care of yourself. Your sons are all very capable and will surely have a better life than me when they are old. Remember to write to me when you have time, so that I can rest assured."
The master and servant talked for a while until Nanny Chen urged them to do so. Yang Xue left reluctantly, looking back every few steps.
Lian subconsciously touched the thing in his sleeve and immediately recognized it as a stack of silver bills.
Even the old woman never liked her, so it definitely wasn't her intention.
father……
Lian's eyes were filled with tears, and she blamed herself for being unfilial. She thought of every little detail of her life as a girl from the Lian family.
Once upon a time, she resented her status as a concubine's daughter, resented her father's preference for legitimate children, and resented her stepmother's intentional or unintentional obstruction. But now that she was a parent herself, she realized that no one in this world could control their own destiny, and she believed that her father must have his own difficulties.
Lian closed her eyes, tears streaming down her face, but her heart became more determined.
Xu Deyuan, that hypocrite, is unreliable. She must raise her three daughters well. She wants everyone to see that even if she, Lian, doesn't have a son in this life, she will live better than others!
That night, many people in the Xu family suffered from insomnia.
The October weather was a bit chilly, and my grandmother, too old to bear it, soon began snoring on the bed. The children couldn't bear it either, and had already curled up on the bed, pulling straw to keep warm, and fell asleep too.
The rest of the people were worried about tomorrow's schedule.
The eldest aunt kept nagging about whether the Zheng family would send anything, then she worried about her three sons who were imprisoned in the cell next door, and then she pulled the fourth aunt aside and complained about her miserable life.
Neither Xu Yinxi nor Xu Lezhi could sleep. Xu Fuwei was frightened during the day and looked sick, so she did not sleep well.
Xu Zhenying was also worried about the unknown future, but worrying was useless. His mind was confused about what Old Man Xu would eat for dinner. The old man was old and didn't like to avoid certain foods. He still thought of himself as a soldier in the army when he was training. He loved greasy and meaty food and didn't listen even after being told several times.
I don't know if there is anyone who can take care of him now.
Xu Zhenying was thinking about Old Man Xu and thought she would have insomnia tonight, but maybe her body was too weak. She fell asleep leaning against the wall in her wild thoughts for a while.
As soon as the day broke, the jailers began to shout at them with sticks to wake them up. The Xu family members woke up one after another in panic and lined up in a line nervously.
The Xu family was in one row, the Fang family was in another, and there were also twenty or thirty students, businessmen, officials of all ranks, etc. who were implicated in the timber case.
There were probably seventy or eighty people in the huge crowd, all of whom were anxiously being shouted at and driven around by the bailiffs. Some people in the team were crying, some were shouting for injustice, and some were cursing. The bailiffs were probably used to it, and they yelled a few words impatiently, but they still couldn't stop the gloomy atmosphere in the cell.
The yamen runners completed the formalities and called people forward one after another to sign their names.
It was Xu Zhenying's turn to step forward and take a quick look. The content roughly proved that all the members of the Xu family had been demoted from good citizens to slaves, and that they had committed crimes on a certain day and month in a certain year and were exiled to Yelang County. The information of the escorts was also attached.
Xu Zhenying looked at this thin piece of paper and felt a sense of absurdity.
As a successor who grew up under the red flag of socialism and a staunch materialist, she actually traveled through time and became Xu Qingying in a parallel time and space.
Even on the fourth day of the journey, the road of exile began.
She suddenly wanted to look up and curse God.
It was not until this moment that the Xu family members truly realized that they had been exiled. Although they had more or less accepted it in their hearts over the past few days, it was only when they signed the contract that they realized that the life of a superior who once commanded servants and wore gold and silver was gone forever.
From then on, they were even inferior to the peasants they looked down upon before.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
