016, Abandoned
016, Abandoned
“Crack!”
The door of the house was closed from the outside.
Old Mrs. Lu took a lock and put it on the door knocker, locking the door directly.
Hearing the sound of the door closing, Liu Sanniang turned back and saw that she was the only one left in the room with her husband lying unconscious on the bed. The door of their room had been shut from the outside by someone unknown. She panicked and rushed to the door in a few steps. She tried hard to pull it open, but found that it would not open.
When she heard the sound of the door being locked, Liu Sanniang knew that someone had locked it. Only then did she realize what her family was planning, and she was filled with fear and anger. She banged on the door very hard and asked the person outside, "Mother, why did you close the door?"
"Mother, Father, please open the door. Let me ask a doctor to come and see my husband..."
"Mother, Father, you can't lock us in the house... My husband, my husband will die!..." When she said the last sentence, Liu Sanniang almost begged the people outside to help her open the door.
It’s a pity that people outside are unmoved.
When they saw the door to the third room closed and their mother-in-law had locked it from the outside, Xiao Wang from the second room and Chen from the fourth room were also shocked. By then, they also realized their mother-in-law's plan. It would be a lie to say that they were not chilled and terrified. If it was their husband who suffered this fate today, did that mean that the people locked up in the room now... were themselves?
Old Mrs. Lu took the key back to herself and said to her third daughter-in-law through the door: "You just take good care of the third child in there. You'd better be honest. There is still food for you to eat at home. If you dare to make trouble, huh!" followed by a sneer, the threat in which was self-evident.
After hearing what her mother-in-law said, Liu Sanniang, who was behind the door, knelt on the ground, covered her mouth and sobbed, "Mother, you can't do this. Qilang's father is also your son. You can't be so cruel..."
"You'll kill him by doing this..."
Realizing the Lu family's plans, Liu Sanniang was filled with sadness. They were clearly her own children, so why were her parents-in-law so cruel? If her husband died, what would happen to their Qilang in the future? What would she do?!
Old Lady Lu, standing outside, didn't care how the people inside cried. She looked at her two daughters-in-law and two granddaughters standing there with a warning look in her eyes. She lowered her voice and shouted, "What are you all standing here for? Don't you have to do the housework anymore?"
"Everyone, just eating their fill all day long and doing nothing but being lazy and not working!"
Upon hearing this, Chen hurriedly took her two daughters back to the fourth room. At this moment, the gate to their courtyard was closed, and they couldn't get out even if they wanted to. It was not yet time to cook, and the kitchen door was also locked, so they couldn't get into the kitchen. The only place they could hide was in their own room.
Just now, she took her two daughters to the third room to learn how to make hairpins. Who knew that before they could even learn how to make hairpins, their third uncle was carried back home. The sewing baskets they brought were still in the third room, but now they couldn't get in to get anything.
The fourth room and the third room's room were right next door. Looking at the locked door of the third room and thinking about what her mother-in-law and family members had done today, Chen felt a chill in her heart.
After entering the house, Lu Sanhua and Lu Sihua, who were already seven or eight years old, had reached the age of sensibility. The two sisters also realized what was happening at home. They looked at their mother with a little fear in their eyes.
Chen glared at her two daughters and warned them in a low voice, "You two stay in this room and don't go out." Although she didn't love her two daughters too much, after all, they were her flesh and blood, and she didn't want to see her two daughters become victims of this family like the third wife.
"I understand, mother." While speaking, Lu Sanhua glanced outside the door, lowered her head, and didn't know what she was thinking.
Lu Sihua snuggled up to her sister and regarded her as her support.
Thinking of her son who was still outside and had not returned, Chen felt a little worried. However, she knew that her son was better off outside than at home, and she secretly did not want her son to know what was happening at home.
Here, Xiao Wang also returned to their second room, closed the door, and sat alone in the room.
Seeing her two daughters-in-law walking away, Mrs. Lu told her other two sons to do what they were supposed to do and only said to her eldest son, "Come with me for a moment."
Boss Lu outside took a look at the closed door, then followed his parents without looking back.
After they entered the main house and closed the door, Mrs. Lu asked her eldest son, who didn't even dare to raise his head to look at them, "Big Boss, tell me, what exactly is going on with the third son?"
"We were cutting trees in the mountains when a wild boar suddenly rushed out... I was just in time, it was almost fatal... Lao San was knocked into the ditch by the wild boar to save me. By the time we got him out, he was unconscious." The more Boss Lu spoke, the lower his head became. He then pulled out a few taels of silver from his pocket and placed them on the table. He added, "The steward gave me a few taels of silver, saying they were asking a doctor to see Lao San."
Old Lady Lu stared calmly at the five taels of silver on the table. After a while, she put the silver into her arms and said with a cold look in her eyes, "Five taels of silver are enough to buy a life? They think they have a good idea!"
“Mother…?”
Boss Lu suddenly raised his head and looked at his mother in front of him. After realizing the meaning of his mother's words, a hint of disbelief first appeared in his eyes, and then the light quickly dimmed, turning into tacit approval of his mother's behavior.
However, he was also a little worried. The owner of the manor was a high-ranking official in Kyoto Prefecture, and he might not be so easy to fool. He expressed his concerns, "And I'm afraid Manager Liu is not so easy to fool either."
"Officials like them want to save face. They won't be stingy if a murder case can be settled with a hundred taels of silver." Old Lady Lu looked at her timid eldest son, her face darkening. She told him, "We are doing this for you, for Dalang. Dalang needs to continue his studies and pass the imperial examinations. He still has a long way to go, and he needs a lot of money to support his studies."
"Dalang is the oldest in the family. He will be seventeen after the New Year. Boys of other families of his age have already married, so it's time for him to find a wife. When we have money, we can tear down our old house and build a few brick and tile houses for Dalang to marry. Otherwise, who would be willing to marry their daughter to our family with just a few dilapidated mud houses?"
In fact, it’s not that no one has come to their house to propose marriage over the years, but Old Lady Lu looked down on country girls and wanted to find a city girl for her eldest grandson. That’s why the eldest grandson of the Lu family has not yet gotten married.
Later, people in their village and several nearby villages knew about the Lu family's plan. When people inquired about Old Wang's personality and the situation of the Lu family's eldest branch, those families who cared a little bit about their daughters did not want to marry their daughters to a family like the Lu family. This led to the fact that matchmakers no longer went to the Lu family to propose marriage to Lu Dalang.
However, Old Mrs. Lu has not yet realized this problem. She thinks that her eldest grandson is a scholar and will become an official in the future. She feels that girls from the countryside are not worthy of her eldest grandson. Only girls from the city are worthy of her eldest grandson and worthy of being the eldest grandson's wife in the Lu family.
Little did they know that their son Lu Dalang had studied for ten years and couldn't even pass the examination to become a student. Countless people were laughing at their family behind their backs.
Old man Lu, who was sitting next to his wife, remained silent the entire time, but he did not object to his wife's actions. He knew that sacrificing a son in exchange for the future of his eldest grandson was a good deal.
Seeing the eldest son still hesitant, Old Man Lu said to him, "Just do as your mother says."
"Yes, that's right, Aye and A'mother." Boss Lu nodded. After seeing that nothing was wrong with Aye and A'mother, he turned around and walked out.
When he came out and looked at the empty yard and the locked door of the third room, thinking about how his younger brother had stood in front of him without hesitation, Boss Lu felt a little guilty and a little doubtful at that moment. Was it not...good for them to do this?
But thinking of what his mother said, Boss Lu felt that they were right to do so. If sacrificing his younger brother could help their whole family, then... they could only sacrifice this one person!
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