Chapter 173 He was forced into it!
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Li Shiyue had only listened to half of the play, yet she already grasped its essence.
Having gone out with Li Shiyue several times and encountered Liu Tan and Liu Shu multiple times, Li Qiutian and Li Wangming naturally felt that the play had a hidden meaning.
Li Qiutian and Li Wangming watched the opera singers singing in the audience. At the same time, they put down their chopsticks and exchanged glances with Li Shiyue, who was drinking soup with a spoon.
Li Shiyue glanced at Li Wangming with her left eye and then at Li Qiutian with her right. As soon as their eyes met, the three of them looked at each other and realized that they were probably going to encounter trouble again today.
"Second Uncle, do you know who owns the Yuelai Restaurant?"
Li Shiyue's question hit the nail on the head, but Li Wangming had only booked a room at the restaurant based on what his classmate had told him. He had no intention of finding out who the owner of the restaurant was.
Without Li Wangming saying a word, Li Shiyue could tell from his expression that he didn't know.
Li's mother and Zheng Meiniang, who knew little about the affairs of the Prince of Zhenbei's mansion, were a little puzzled. "What are you three looking at?"
Who cares who the owner is? We just pay for our meal.
I have it with me, don't worry.
Zheng Meiniang boldly pulled a purse from her chest and slammed it on the table. The purse made a dull "thud" sound when it hit the table, not the "clattering" sound of copper coins, which told you that the purse contained a large amount of silver.
Li Shiyue would naturally not say these things to her mother and Zheng Meiniang in public, even though they were sitting in a private room. These two wide-open windows were not a good place to talk about the secrets of the Prince's mansion.
So Li Shiyue said, "Aunt, it's alright, I brought some money with me, if..."
Before Li Shiyue could finish speaking, the sound of gongs rang out again downstairs, and the opera singer with long sleeves stopped. It was the same waiter again, who came out from backstage with his tray held high.
"Liu Dalang will reward you with fifty taels of silver in the plum blossom room on the second floor!"
After the shouts were repeated three times, the waiter stepped back, and the actors on the stage resumed their performance.
Listening up there, Li Shiyue felt that the singer's voice was two decibels higher than before, probably because he was happy that he could get a reward later.
After all, that's fifty taels of silver!
The play then reaches its first climax: while the wealthy merchant is away from home with his second son, his wife, citing illness, calls in the wife of his eldest son (born to his concubine) to serve him. She also asks the wife to bring the child, saying she misses her grandson.
Why would the eldest son's wife think too much about it?
She actually brought her child with her, but no sooner had she entered the house than the eldest daughter-in-law was seized by the wife's men and forced to send a message to her eldest son, asking him to return home.
The eldest daughter-in-law refused, so the first wife used the child as leverage. The eldest daughter-in-law had no choice but to write a letter, in which she said that the child was sick and asked the eldest son to come home.
As the play reached its climax, not only the audience members on the first floor but also Li Shiyue and his group in their private room were engaged in a lively discussion.
Li Xiatian clenched his hands and said, "This eldest son's wife is too easygoing. She's not a proper mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. She just goes whenever someone tells her to."
If you ask me, at that time, we should have fought them to the death!
I don't believe that woman would actually dare to harm a child!
When Zheng Meiniang heard Li Xiatian say this, she reached out and tapped her forehead with her finger. "You, you, all you know is fighting and killing. That's your own child. How can a mother not be wary?"
"If that woman really goes all out and kills the child, where will the eldest daughter-in-law go to cry?"
Li Xiatian was tapped on the forehead. She stuck out her tongue at Li Shiyue and Li Qiutian who were looking over, and dared not say another word, but her eyes were full of resentment.
“The eldest daughter-in-law did the right thing. She should play along for now and wait for the eldest son to come back. Once they have a powerful backer, they can go out together.”
Li Qiutian thought so; she understood her eldest daughter-in-law's choice.
"Although the legal wife is not the eldest son's biological mother, she is still the legitimate mother according to the law. Now that the eldest son has returned, how can he take his wife and child out together?"
Could he possibly kill his legal wife?
Li Wangming said this: He had received Confucian education since childhood, and he knew the rules of ruler and subject, father and son best. He pointed out the core of the problem that Li Qiutian was talking about!
"Stop talking and just keep reading."
Li's mother's words silenced the discussion, and everyone stopped talking, turning their attention to the audience below the stage.
The second climax of the play arrives: the eldest son receives the letter outside and immediately leads his men home, barging in as soon as he arrives.
He led his men and searched the entire house of his wife, finally finding his wife and children tied up in the woodshed.
Seeing his child starving and on the verge of death, and his wife covered in wounds, the eldest son could no longer bear it and directly drew his knife and killed his wife!
Just then, the wealthy merchant and his second son returned home from outside.
"This... this matricide is still a crime!"
Some audience members were deeply moved by this scene, and their clamorous discussion carried all the way up to the second floor.
"What should we do?"
If the wealthy merchant and his second son have not yet returned home, the eldest son should take his wife and children and flee immediately.
But now that he's back, he can't possibly have killed his father and brother, can he?
After saying this, Li's mother stared intently at the stage, eager to know how the next play would be performed.
Little did they know, the actors had all retreated backstage.
The same short man with white makeup came on stage again, saying he needed to change costumes and that the next and final scene would begin in 15 minutes.
As soon as he finished speaking, audience members started throwing coins and silver nuggets onto the stage.
The waiter who had been carrying the tray earlier also came out from backstage. He walked past a dozen or so tables of guests, calling out, "Ladies and gentlemen, please do us the honor of showing your face and giving us some money!"
People who can go out for entertainment during holidays usually have some spare money.
Therefore, the waiter's tray gradually began to contain some copper coins and loose silver.
Meanwhile, the door to the Hibiscus Flower private room on the second floor, where Li Shiyue and the others were staying, was knocked on at that moment. Li Wangming opened the door and saw a little girl who looked no more than seven or eight years old standing there. She stood at the door holding a tray and gave a curtsy with a big smile before saying ingratiatingly, "Honored guests, please give us some money so we can have a good meal."
Wishing our distinguished guest abundant wealth, good health, and longevity!
Seeing such a young girl come to ask for a reward, not only Li Wangming, but also Li's mother and Zheng Meiniang felt pity for her and immediately gave her the money.
So the young woman happily carried the copper coins and silver pieces from the tray to the next house.
While waiting for the final act to begin, Li Shiyue and the others finally had the energy to savor the food on the table. However, no matter how delicious the food was, they were more interested in discussing how the play would end.
"Could it be that the wealthy merchant called the authorities and had his eldest son and his entire family arrested and imprisoned?"
Li Xiatian said this with some worry while holding her rice bowl, her eyebrows furrowed on her small face.
"But he still killed someone!"
Li Wangming said this.
"Second Uncle, there was a reason why the eldest son killed someone. If he hadn't intervened, his wife and children would have been gone!"
He was forced into it!
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