Chapter 41 My daughter is coming home today and she's going to do something rebellious.
"Knock knock knock..."
Tu suddenly sprang up from the bed and immediately cursed, "Which bastard is calling for your soul in the middle of the night?"
From the back room of the main hall came Lu's father's cough, followed by the rustling sound of him putting on his clothes.
Lu Bohong, already slipping on his hemp shoes, went to answer the door. As soon as the latch was removed, a cold wind swept in Lu Zhaoruo's figure, followed by Manager Chen, his two sons, and the maid Dongrou.
"Little sister?"
Lu Bohong hurriedly stepped aside, "Come in quickly! It's cold outside..."
As Mr. Lu was adding oil to the lamp, the flame suddenly shot up. He asked, "What happened?"
"Father."
Lu Zhaoruo stepped forward, curtsied, and her eyes darkened: "My daughter has returned today to do something rebellious."
The curtain in the east wing fluttered...
Tu peeked through the door frame.
"Why are you hiding, Mother? Have you done something wrong?"
Lu Zhaoruo looked over and said coldly.
Tu shuddered in fright, as the current situation was indeed making her feel uneasy.
He could hear again Shen Lingyi's words whispered in his ear that day: "She herself is not filial to you, her own mother, so what's wrong with you taking a few bolts of silk? Let alone a few bolts of silk, even if you empty her storeroom, it's still her duty to show filial piety to you."
"Besides, would she dare to sue you? The gossip in Jizhou City could drown this unfilial daughter."
“If she really comes to settle accounts with you, just cry a couple of times and say ‘I was confused for a moment.’ If she is tough, just say ‘I’d rather be dead.’ She will then take out the money herself to fill the hole.”
"Since she refuses to be filial to you, you should come up with this solution yourself. You can't just raise her for nothing, can you?"
She straightened her back instantly, walked out with an air of nonchalance, and shouted, "Bringing outsiders to ransack the house in the middle of the night?"
Lu Zhaoruo didn't waste any words and went straight to the point: "My mother stole thirteen bolts of silk from my shop, yet she acts as if nothing happened?"
These words were spoken.
Both Mr. Lu and Lu Bohong were surprised.
Lu Bohong naturally believed his younger sister's words the most, and immediately glared angrily at Tu Shi: "Mother, how could you do such a despicable thing?"
Madam Tu leisurely picked up a chair, sat down, and crossed her legs: "Tsk tsk, breaking in with people in the dead of night, trying to pin a smear on your own mother..."
She suddenly slammed her hand on the table, exclaiming, "What a filial daughter!"
She knew exactly what was going on; after all, she had never seen the thief before!
Manager Chen stepped forward and said, "Madam, my two sons and I personally staked out the place and witnessed the thief. Moreover, the thief himself said that you instructed him to steal."
"Bullshit! It's clearly..."
Tu cursed angrily, but then choked up.
Who is it?
Lu Zhaoruo took over the conversation and pressed for answers.
Tu's gaze drifted toward the window frame.
"It's Shen Lingyi, isn't it?"
Lu Zhaoruo coldly pointed it out.
Tu coughed once and remained silent.
Lu Zhaoruo gently raised her eyes, her voice as calm as autumn water: "Half a month ago, when Mother came to the shop to pick up that bolt of silk, Shen Lingyi was quite enthusiastic, and she held your arm and said many intimate things to you..."
She paused, then continued, "Since that day, Mother has been coming to the Shen family often. She's never been this enthusiastic before. She always goes straight to Shen Lingyi's courtyard. She never stops when she passes by my courtyard."
“A few days ago, three bolts of silk were stolen from the shop, and tonight, Manager Chen and his two sons personally apprehended the thief.”
She looked at Madam Tu's slightly pale face and said clearly, "That person confessed that it was Mother who instructed him."
She did not say that the thief had fled.
Tu was sweating profusely. It was clearly Shen Lingyi who found the thieves, so how did she end up being blamed for everything?
Lu Bohong slammed his fist on the table, making the tea tray jump up: "Mother!"
His eyes were red-rimmed. "You actually did such a thing?"
Tu remained silent.
Lu Zhaoruo: "The thief is still tied up by the servants in the house. He will be sent to the county government at dawn tomorrow, and then..."
“Mother, if you steal five bolts of silk, you will be exiled three thousand li away. If you instigate thieves to steal your own daughter’s things, and they steal thirteen bolts of silk, according to the ‘Shu Tong Xing’ (a legal code), you will be exiled three thousand li away, have your back bent and be flogged twenty times, and be conscripted for one year.”
Tu's legs went weak, and she collapsed to the ground.
She never imagined it would be this serious.
She trembled as she grabbed Lu Zhaoruo's skirt: "A-Ning... Mother... Mother was just confused for a moment..."
"Confused?"
Lu Bohong grabbed Tu Shi and said, "Fourteen bolts of silk! When my little sister was working late into the night to reconcile accounts in the dead of winter, did you ever think of her as your daughter?"
A hint of anger also appeared on Lu's father's face.
"Walk!"
Lu Bohong dragged Tu Shi outside, saying, "We're going to see the officials right now!"
Madam Tu shoved Lu Bohong away forcefully, her neck stiff as she shrieked, "What's wrong with me taking a few bolts of your silk? The daughter of the Zhang family on East Street sends fine silks and satins to her parents' home every month; the daughter of Manager Wang in West Market even brings her husband's ginseng and antlers to her mother's room..."
She glared at Lu Zhaoruo, her face full of reproach: "Look at yourself! You've been married for three years, how much have you ever given me as a filial son? Last time I just asked you for a few winter clothes and you wouldn't let me, making me a laughingstock among my sisters-in-law at my parents' banquet!"
"Last time I only took a bolt of silk from you, and what did you do?"
She raised her voice and said sarcastically, "You even came all this way, rummaging through the house, trying to get the silk back."
Madam Tu's finger almost poked Lu Zhaoruo's face, her voice shrill and piercing: "You have truly broken my heart! So unfilial, so cold-blooded..."
Lu Zhaoruo's lips curled up slightly.
She wasn't angry, but calmly said, "Mother always says that her daughter is unfilial, but I remember that when I was five, my winter clothes were made from an old robe by my brother; and from the age of eight, the copper coins I earned by doing embroidery by lamplight every night ended up in Mother's box."
The candlelight illuminated her slightly reddened eyes: "After I turned ten, every place in the house—the stove, the water vat, the loom…—had my handprint on it. Before I married into the Shen family, I gave my mother a total of fifty strings of copper coins."
A faint smile appeared on Lu Zhaoruo's lips: "Even when my daughter got married, I didn't give her a single penny of dowry. Instead, I confiscated all the betrothal gifts."
Tu was speechless.
She stared intently at Madam Tu, her gaze clear as an autumn pool: "In my entire life, I have never tasted my mother's love. At home, I have been dutiful in my filial duties, paying my respects morning and evening, yet I have never even received New Year's money..."
Her Adam's apple bobbed slightly. "My daughter has never had it."
She took a breath: "Your mother knows that my daughter has had a hard time in the Shen family. Even so, she has never been short of the festival gifts and filial piety allowances she is entitled to."
"Even if the daughter truly failed to fulfill her filial duties..."
Lu Zhaoruo's voice was cold and clear: "Mother also..."
The candle flame popped open with a "crack".
"I have no right to accuse my daughter of being unfilial."
She looked into Tu's evasive eyes and said, "I just don't understand why my own mother would collude with outsiders to steal my things."
"in the end……"
Who broke whose heart?
"You...you heartless bastard."
Tu pointed at her and cursed angrily.
Lu Bohong's eyes were red and his voice choked with emotion: "Mother, please return those fourteen bolts of silk to my little sister."
Mr. Lu slammed his hand on the table: "Hurry up and take it out!"
The first four horses had already been exchanged for silver and tucked into her bosom; as for the ten horses tonight… Shen Lingyi would share the spoils with her tomorrow.
"take?"
Tu suddenly let out a sharp laugh, a cruel smile curving her lips. "I won't!"
Lu Zhaoruo: "Fourteen bolts of silk have cost the shop most of its capital. If Mother doesn't return them, how can I explain to the Shen family?"
"Explain?"
Tu stretched her neck, looking like a victorious rooster, and said, "Why don't you just make up the difference yourself? Saying these things makes it sound like I'm mistreating you!"
She scoffed, "Who told you to be so unlovable since you were little?"
Lu Zhaoruo clenched her fingers; she didn't want this maternal love.
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