The woman tied up behind the oxcart was Wang Shufang.
When she saw Deng Qiuzhi come to rescue her, she kept apologizing.
However, Deng Qiuzhi didn't even glance at her.
"So, are you going to sell? Decide quickly, I have other things to do. Remember, you only have one chance to choose," Deng Qiuzhi said impatiently again.
"Sell, sell, sell! I'll sell!" The old man, afraid that he would change his mind, quickly untied Wang Shufang.
"Look carefully, it's ten taels of silver."
Deng Qiuzhi took two silver ingots from his purse and handed them to the old man.
"Yes, yes, yes, ten taels. She's yours now. Here, this is the indenture. She has nothing to do with me anymore. If you go back on your word later, I won't acknowledge it." After saying this, the old man immediately drove away, afraid that Deng Qiuzhi would regret it and chase after him.
The poor old ox was whipped again and again, its legs were almost broken, but it still couldn't run fast.
Once the old man's figure disappeared from Deng Qiuzhi's sight, he bent down, picked up the indenture that had fallen to the ground, and put it into his pocket.
"Get in the carriage."
He said to Wang Shufang, who was slumped on the ground.
"Okay, okay." Wang Shufang was still a little shaken. She stood up shakily and climbed onto the carriage.
Deng Qiuzhi did not get into the carriage with her, but sat outside with the coachman.
The carriage had been running for an hour and still hadn't stopped.
Coming to her senses, Wang Shufang was somewhat puzzled. She lifted the carriage curtain and asked.
"Husband, aren't we going back to the city? Where are you going?"
Deng Qiuzhi slightly raised his eyelids and replied, "Let's go to a good place."
"Alright, husband, I'll take a nap. Wake me up when we get there." Wang Shufang was relieved. She returned to the carriage, sat back down, closed her eyes, and rested, imagining the wonderful life ahead.
She wants to buy dozens of new clothes and several sets of jewelry, as she's heard her husband's shop is very profitable.
She wanted to enjoy herself to the fullest.
A sweet dream made Wang Shufang's lips unconsciously curl into a smile.
What she didn't know was that Deng Qiuzhi's gaze as he looked ahead was sometimes firm and sometimes cold and devoid of any emotion.
As dusk deepened, the pinkish-purple sunset painted the sky like paint. The carriage stopped in a mountain hollow, surrounded by mountains on all sides, without even a proper road. The carriage had to wade through the wild grass to get there.
There are only ten households in the valley, all of whom are related by blood.
At that moment, they were sitting outside the earthen house, chatting and eating coarse rice and wild vegetable porridge. When they saw the carriage, everyone put down their bowls and came to the carriage.
"I've brought her. Here's ten taels of silver. Remember, keep a close eye on her and don't let her leave this place. If I find out you've mistreated her, you'll have to return all this silver. I don't expect you to treat her well, just make sure she has enough to eat. She has to do all the work you're supposed to do. I'll be checking on her from time to time. Take her inside now."
Deng Qiuzhi walked up to a man of similar age and said.
This man was the biological father of the maid in his friend's household.
This mountain is called Aozui Village, which is notoriously poor. Originally, there were dozens of households living there, but because of poverty and the village's isolation and inconvenience, many people moved away one after another, leaving only ten households.
There is no fertile land here; if you want to farm, you have to clear the land yourself. There are hard rocks under a lot of mud, so the people here rely on the mountains for food and drink.
The man in front of Deng Qiuzhi was so poor that he sold his daughter to his friend's family as a maid because he couldn't afford to eat.
"Hua Hua came back and told me this morning. I know about Master Deng. Our family will definitely treat her well and support her. We will never bully a hair on her head. Don't worry." The man bowed and scraped to Deng Qiuzhi. He took the silver, his face beaming with joy.
"she...."
Deng Qiuzhi hesitated, then glanced back at the carriage.
"It's up to her to choose what she wants to do in the future. Just treat her like your younger sister. Alright, I won't say any more. Take her off the carriage. I bought her a few sets of coarse cloth clothes, take them with you."
Deng Qiuzhi wanted to say a few more words, such as not being allowed to touch her, or marrying her off to someone else, but then he thought that they were already divorced.
He has no right to interfere with who she marries in the future. Wang Shufang can live however she wants from now on; it's none of his business.
After all, they were husband and wife, and he couldn't bear to see Wang Shufang being tormented by that old man.
That's how they found her a place to stay.
They've been husband and wife for a while now. Besides, if he passes the imperial examinations and becomes a scholar or a provincial graduate, it would be embarrassing for him if outsiders knew that his mother had lived such a miserable life.
This family was introduced to Deng Qiuzhi by a friend.
The whole family is honest and law-abiding.
Deng Qiuzhi didn't expect them to treat Shufang well; he just wanted them to take good care of her and prevent her from causing trouble.
This can be considered a disguised way of having someone monitor her.
"Yes, Mr. Deng, don't worry. We can't afford fancy food, but as long as we have something to eat, we won't let her go hungry. You can rest assured. My wife, you and Xiaomei bring Fang'er down here. From now on, she will be my own sister."
The man is very savvy.
He immediately adopted the role of the older brother.
Wang Shufang, who was inside the carriage, was awakened by the commotion outside. She was groggily pulled out of the carriage.
"Who are you? Let me go!" Wang Shufang panicked when she saw that her left and right arms were being grabbed.
She looked at Deng Qiuzhi, her face full of doubt, and asked, "Husband, where is this? I want to go home. Please take me back to Jiangnan County."
"No need to go back. This will be your home from now on." Deng Qiuzhi got into the carriage, patted the coachman on the shoulder, and gestured for him to turn around and leave the area.
"My husband, my husband—"
"Are you selling me out? Why are you doing this to me? We were husband and wife, and you've betrayed me! You're worse than an animal! You've sold me to this desolate mountain village; you'll die a horrible death! Aren't you afraid that Bi Zhong will never acknowledge you as his father again if he finds out what you've done to me? Let me go! Let me go! You wretch, you wretch—"
Wang Shufang broke free from the two men's grasp, ran to Deng Qiuzhi's side, grabbed his clothes, and stared intently at him.
“Sold you? Ha, think that way if you want. Even if I didn’t sell you, you would have been sold by the brokerage long ago. So, it doesn’t matter who you’re sold to, right? As for Bizhong, he hasn’t acknowledged you as his mother for a long time. You haven’t forgotten what you’ve done, have you? From the moment you conspired with the Wang family to harm me, you’ve exhausted all our years of marriage. I, Deng, owe you nothing anymore. From now on, you can only walk your own path. You! Take her back now!”
Deng Qiuzhi shouted to the men and women standing dumbfounded behind him.
The group then realized what was happening and pried Wang Shufang's fingers apart one by one, holding her tightly.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Deng Qiuzhi's carriage quickly changed direction and drove away.
"You'll die a horrible death—"
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