Lu Xiangxiang's hesitation and unease were evident on her face, and Lu Qiqi took them all in.
Although she was eager to know the reason, seeing Lu Xiangxiang's state, she felt it was not advisable to rush things. Now that they had recognized each other, there would be plenty of time and opportunities in the future.
After a while, Lu Xiangxiang said in a hoarse voice, "Xiangling, put the child on the bed and go to the kitchen to prepare some food."
Xiangling knew that Aunt Xiang's intention was to send her away so that she could have a private conversation with the Princess of Kangle.
After gently placing the fifth daughter on the couch, he quietly left the room.
Lu Xiangxiang remained silent for a moment. Lu Qiqi sat beside her without urging her, waiting for her to compose herself and organize her thoughts before slowly explaining.
For a moment, the room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Aunt Xiang looked up at the bonsai under the window and said, “When I was sold to a merchant, I was not yet of marriageable age. After many twists and turns, I went to Jiangnan.”
There was a small building there, housing dozens of girls my age, each exceptionally beautiful; they were all women bought from various places by merchants.
Lu Xiangxiang recalled that her parents sold her for two taels of silver so that their fourth son could get married.
To put it nicely, she was married to a merchant, but in reality, she was sold to a brothel madam who ran a brothel in another city.
She had originally intended to ask her pregnant second aunt, Chen, for help to escape the clutches of the evil spirit.
Unexpectedly, the elderly couple from the Lu family and the merchant did not give her any time to inform them.
They used a drug pack to knock her unconscious. When she woke up again, she found herself on a large ship.
There were more than a dozen girls on the boat, but for some reason, a few were missing when they disembarked.
After that, she was kept under strict guard, and a head maid would come every day to teach her manners.
However, there was one thing: he never taught the girls in the building to write. Whenever a girl picked up a stone and drew on the ground, he would slap her palm with dogma and not give her any food.
The girls in the building were terrified and dared not do anything rash.
When Lu Xiangxiang thought about how the parents she had called "father" and "mother" for more than ten years had sold her to that kind of place so that her fourth brother could find a wife, and how she had lived a year in fear and trembling, she couldn't help but cover her face and cry.
Lu Qiqi felt bad when she heard about Lu Xiangxiang's situation.
Based on the timeline, her mother, Chen, should have been pregnant with Ayao at that time. Chen knew perfectly well that the Lu family elders were not good people.
She forced the third son, Lu Dahai, to become a live-in son-in-law, and often exploited the second son, Lu Dashan, who was her father, as if she had given birth to a slave for the eldest son.
Having seen through the true colors of the old couple, Chen spent two taels of silver to separate from the family after giving birth to her.
At that time, my aunt, Jin, happened to be pregnant with her third child, which was a time when we needed to spend money.
The elderly couple hoped that the Jin family would give the Lu family another grandson, so they chose to separate the family without thinking twice. With the clan witnesses, they drew up a document to separate the family.
Of course, Jin was unable to keep the child and suffered a lot of torment from Old Lady Lu.
"And then?" Lu Xiangxiang's gasps subsided a little before Lu Qiqi finally asked.
"Later, I was assigned to the Wu family mansion. There were three sisters who came with me. One died in childbirth after entering the mansion, and another was sent elsewhere."
So, of all the people from Jiangnan, only Lu Xiangxiang stayed at the Wu residence.
Lu Qiqi understood that in ancient times, wealthy gentry would like to buy "skinny horses" to bring into their mansions. These "skinny horses" from Jiangnan were trained from a young age, waiting to be chosen and brought into the mansion when they grew up.
However, this is the first time I've heard of a case where a child is raised midway through a period of time and then quickly transferred to another parent.
Could it be that people who specialize in this business are also starting to focus on cost-saving?
wrong.
Lu Qiqi suddenly remembered that when she came to the Wu residence to deliver Xiang's baby, she had heard that Xiang was General Wu's concubine.
A concubine of good character is different from the girls in the brothel. A concubine of good character comes from a respectable family and has a written agreement to be taken as a concubine, so she cannot be sold at will.
The girls in the building, who came from poor backgrounds, were considered lowly concubines and were given away to colleagues or relatives. This practice is not unrecorded in history.
Lu Qiqi asked again, "Little aunt, do you know how this concubine status was obtained?"
Lu Xiangxiang blinked her teary eyes and met Lu Qiqi's inquisitive gaze with a blank look. After a long while, she said, "I don't know either. The general has never inquired about my background."
They only thought I was a child from a poor family who had suffered a sudden misfortune and had no choice but to send me to their mansion to exchange for silver.
I didn't dare reveal the reason, so I just let the mistake continue.
It's best not to say anything. Even General Wu can't just dispose of a concubine at will, let alone Madam Wu.
I don't know why that merchant spent so much money to raise Lu Xiangxiang, sent her to the borderlands, and even arranged for her to be a concubine.
It's impossible to say that the merchant had a compassionate heart; he probably had ulterior motives.
Lu Qiqi comforted her, "It's right not to say anything. This matter should be kept to yourself, and you can't tell Xiangling either."
After thinking for a moment, he added, "Aunt, we must not make a fuss about what happened today. From now on, please tell Xiangling that she must never reveal our relationship."
It's really easy to find out how Lu Qiqi became the village head.
In just a few days, we will be able to trace Lu Xiangxiang's background.
Since she had already chosen to keep it a secret, she should keep it to herself. Otherwise, even as the head of the village, she could not interfere in the affairs of a third-rank general's private residence.
Although Lu Xiangxiang could not accurately guess what Lu Qiqi was thinking, she had some understanding of how to survive in the inner quarters.
"I know."
After saying that, she sighed again, "It's so good that you've all grown up."
Speaking of this, Lu Xiangxiang was also full of questions: why did she and Li Changlong come to this remote place?
How did she, a peasant girl from a small mountain village, suddenly become the head of Kang Le Township?
She voiced her question and received an answer shortly afterward.
Upon hearing this, Lu Xiangxiang was first shocked, and when she heard about Chen's tragic death, tears streamed down her face again.
When she was at home, she never received the warmth of family, but it was her sister-in-law, Chen, who made her experience the tenderness that her parents never gave her.
Even her embroidery skills were taught to her by Chen herself.
It was through this skill that she gained favor in the brothel and was sent to the inner residence of the Wu family in the remote border region.
"Second sister-in-law, such a good person, I never thought... would end up in such a state."
"My second brother was conscripted, and my parents didn't stop him at all?"
As soon as Lu Xiangxiang asked the question, she immediately regretted it. She shouldn't have said those words in front of Lu Qiqi.
Her father was conscripted into the army, leaving behind a widow and her child. If her parents were kind people, they wouldn't have done the absurd thing of selling their daughter for personal gain.
Lu Qiqi said, "Of course they won't stop him. It was because of those two old people that my father was conscripted into the army."
This news shocked Lu Xiangxiang so much that her eyes widened.
This also reignited Lu Qiqi's anger.
The old couple gave birth to these children as if they were born to torment them; they have no conscience at all!
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