Chapter 13013 Document of Severing Relationship
The noisy discussions stopped abruptly.
The villagers stared at Du Qingtang with their eyes wide open, their mouths wide enough to fit an egg.
"What? Tang Ge'er is a girl?"
"Is Sheng'er's mother crazy? She's talking nonsense."
"Tang'er's face is prettier than a girl's. What if?"
Zhu listened to everyone's discussion and smiled triumphantly.
However, the imagined scene of Du Qingtang's pale face and panic did not appear. She said calmly, "My aunt is probably old and has a bad memory. Doctor Sun just took my pulse not long ago. If I were a woman, he would not have failed to diagnose it."
"Sun Baicao is just a big mouth. If Tang Ge'er was really a girl, would he be able to hold back and not say anything?"
"This is worse than taking his life, hahahahahaha!"
Zhu was dumbfounded. The silly girl actually knew that doctors could determine the gender of a boy by his pulse?
Before that she...
A white light flashed through Zhu's mind, and he suddenly realized.
It turns out that the damn girl had known their plan for a long time, and had played along with them, deliberately setting a trap for her!
Zhu was about to go crazy: "You idiots, she is a girl! If you don't believe me, I will strip her clothes off..."
Fang Honghai didn't want to bother with this crazy woman, so he shouted to the crowd, "Someone, go get Doctor Sun."
Uncle Chen and Uncle Bao were at the forefront of the crowd, shouting, "Me, me, me! Let me go!"
Fang Honghai waved his hand and the two men rushed out. Their impatient look made people laugh.
Zhu was unhappy: "Why hire Doctor Sun? Why not just strip her clothes off?"
The damn girl and the old man are in cahoots, who knows how they can fool these fools.
Fang Honghai didn't like what he heard and said unhappily, "You said Tang Ge'er is a girl. Can a girl have small bumps on her neck?"
Everyone looked at Du Qingtang. There was a small bulge in her throat, but it was noticeable enough.
Zhu screamed in horror: "How is this possible?"
While shouting, he reached out to touch Du Qingtang's Adam's apple.
She watched Du Qingtang grow up, and she knew best whether Du Qingtang was a boy or a girl. How could he have an Adam's apple that only boys have?
It's really like seeing a ghost.
Maybe it's a fake Adam's apple made by some unorthodox method!
Du Qingtang didn't want to be touched by Zhu, and was about to dodge when Uncle Chen's voice rang out: "Here it comes! Doctor Sun is here!"
Everyone was shocked: "So fast?"
"I found something dropped on the way and came back to look for it," Doctor Sun explained.
Fang Honghai explained the situation briefly: "Take Tang Ge'er's pulse again to see if she is a boy or a girl, so that we can have an explanation."
Doctor Sun asked Du Qingtang to stretch out her hand, while looking at Zhu with disdain: "You damned woman, why are you here again? You cursed your nephew to death before, and now you say she's a girl. Why don't you go to heaven?"
Zhu: “…”
Doctor Sun quickly took the patient's pulse and announced the result in front of everyone: "I have been practicing medicine for decades and I can assure you that this child is a boy."
"I told you, girls can't have pimples."
"There are plenty of good-looking boys. Sheng'er's mother must have lost her mind."
"Impossible, absolutely impossible! Have you, this old fool, been bribed by her?" Zhu asked loudly.
Doctor Sun was so angry that his beard stood up, and he turned and walked away: "Crazy! This woman is crazy! Lock her up quickly and don't let her bite people like a mad dog!"
"Now that I've been cleared of my maleness, let's get back to the point," Du Qingtang said loudly. "My family earns at least three hundred wen a month, which is four taels a year, and forty-eight taels in twelve years. Adding the yield from the land, and deducting the two years' salary, the total comes to seventy-two taels. I have two years to return it."
Du Qingtang was very understanding and said: "If you don't have money, you can write an IOU or pay the debt with something in your possession."
The Yuan family’s brick and tile house is very nice, grand and bright, and she has been coveting it for a long time.
Zhu was so angry that her fingers trembled and her nostrils flared, just like an old ox working hard in the fields.
This scene made the villagers laugh, and regardless of the presence of the Zhu family, they began to calculate what valuable things the Yuan family had.
"His old donkey is worth three or five taels, and his brick house is more magnificent than others, so it's worth twenty or thirty taels."
"But then again, Yuan Ping and his wife are lazy and like to eat and work, so where would they get the money to build a house?"
"Is there any need to ask? It must be the Du family!"
"Hiss—they really are lying on the Du family, eating their flesh and drinking their blood!"
Fang Honghai said, "Tang'er's idea is feasible. If you can't pay it back, you can use the things in your home to pay it back. This matter is indeed the fault of Yuan Ping and his wife. No matter how greedy you are, you can't covet the money of an orphan and a widow. You have suffered a lot over the years. Let me make the decision. In addition to the 72 taels, how about I compensate you with another two taels of silver?"
"No! I won't agree!"
Zhu didn't even want to return the principal to the Du family, and it would be worse than asking her to die if she were to compensate them with two taels of silver.
Fang Honghai's face darkened. "Mother Sheng, stop it! The incident involving Sheng caused a lot of uproar, and even the village chief, like me, was laughed at by people from other villages. You are shameless, but I still have some. If today's incident gets out of hand again..."
Zhu remembered what a villager had said before and was suddenly startled.
She really couldn't joke about Yuan Sheng's future.
Zhu's heart was bleeding, but she had to pinch her nose and agree: "Just do as you say."
Fang Honghai: "So, are you going to pay off the debt with property, or write down the IOU for everything?"
Without waiting for Zhu's reply, Du Qingtang spoke first: "Seventy-four taels is not a small amount. I think I should consult my family."
She looked to the right and said slowly, with an indescribable meaning: "What do you think, cousin?"
Everyone looked over and saw Yuan Sheng standing by the tree outside his uncle's house with an embarrassed look on his face.
"Why is he here now?"
"I haven't seen him for a few days. How come he's as thin as a monkey?"
"He did something bad, and he was worried about us. He couldn't eat or sleep, so he became so thin."
Yuan Sheng: “…”
Zhu went to invite Doctor Sun. Although Yuan Sheng stayed at home, he kept an eye on the Du family.
Doctor Sun walked past the Yuan family's door angrily, but he didn't hear any movement from the Du family. He thought something had happened and hurried out to investigate.
As expected, their plan failed.
Not only did Zhu fail to expose Du Qingtang's identity as a woman, she was also chased all over the place by her with a knife.
Yuan Sheng hid in the dark and eavesdropped. He was angry that Zhu was more of a hindrance than a help, and he wanted to strangle Du Qingtang to death.
He didn't expect Du Qingtang to discover him. Now everyone was staring at him, leaving him no chance to escape. He could only bite the bullet and walk out, hypocritically explaining, "I was so engrossed in reading that I only came here now. Please forgive me."
Du Qingtang didn't want to waste time talking to him: "You two should quickly discuss how to pay back the money."
Zhu said without hesitation: "Of course it's an IOU."
Du Qingtang said, "Aunt, please consider carefully whether you can repay the seventy-two taels within two years."
The villagers shook their heads after hearing this.
"Both the Yuan family members are lazy, and Brother Sheng is still studying, so he definitely can't pay it back."
"The parents bully the orphans and widows, the son plays two-timing, and even tries to cheat on the girl from a good family. Tsk tsk tsk, what a bunch of stinky bugs."
Yuan Sheng blushed with embarrassment, and his mind raced as he blurted out, "Can't I pay off the debt with property? My brick house cost thirty taels to build, and even though I've lived in it for four or five years, with the tables, chairs, and cabinets in it, it's worth twenty-five taels."
"Brother Sheng!" Zhu had planned everything, but she never expected that Yuan Sheng would mortgage their brick house.
Yuan Sheng turned a deaf ear to him, only wanting to show off his wealth: "I have saved some money over the years, about twenty taels of silver. Today I will give you twenty taels of silver and the house and land deeds. Can it be used to offset the fifty taels of debt?"
Du Qingtang glanced at Zhu. Her eyes were wide open, her face was pale, and her plump body was swaying. "Deal."
"Wow! Brother Sheng actually mortgaged his own house?"
"If Yuan Ping knew, he would be so angry that he would vomit blood."
"He's not like his mother, who only knows how to play tricks and shirk his responsibilities. He's still a good person."
Yuan Sheng breathed a sigh of relief. Scholars valued their reputation the most. If he could clear his bad reputation, ten brick houses would be worth it.
When he becomes an official in the court, he will have as many houses as he wants.
I just might have to live frugally for a while, but that doesn't matter. Yuan Xue is old enough to get married, and I can find a good family for her and earn some money for the betrothal gift.
After the two sides reached an agreement, Fang Honghai prepared to write an IOU. Du Qingtang then said, "Village Chief, in addition to the IOU, I would also like you to write a document to sever the relationship."
Everyone exclaimed: "The document of severing the relationship?"
"Brother Tang wants to completely cut off ties with the Yuan family."
"Will her mother agree?"
"Actually, my mother has wanted to do this for a long time, but she was concerned that my sister and I were still young and couldn't leave our uncle's protection." Du Qingtang changed the subject, "Now that I'm grown up, I can protect my sisters. I'm sure my father would want me to do the same if he knew about this."
After hearing this, everyone present was moved.
Fang Honghai was silent for a long time: "Sheng'er's mother, what do you think?"
Before Zhu could refuse, Yuan Sheng agreed: "Sure!"
The Du family is a bunch of jinxes, maybe it’s best to stay away from them.
Zhu was so anxious that her eyes widened. If the engagement was broken off, she would not be able to get money from Yuan!
Unfortunately, Yuan Sheng was so preoccupied with clearing his reputation that he didn't notice the hint in Zhu's eyes at all, which made her so angry that she covered her chest and gasped.
"Since both families have no objection, let's do as Tang Ge'er says."
Fang Honghai drafted the IOU and the document of severing the relationship, and both parties put their fingerprints on it, and the matter was settled.
Du Qingtang withdrew his hand and said, "I hope you two will hand over the deeds and silver as soon as possible, pack up your things and move out."
The clear voice was like a devilish sound filling her ears, and Zhu's fat body trembled. She realized that she had lost more than she gained. She wanted to expose Du Qingtang's identity but was forced to sign an IOU for 72 taels of silver, and also lost the brick house she was most proud of. She felt a fishy and sweet taste in her throat, and she spat out a mouthful of blood and fainted.
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