Chapter 50 She was destined to fall into her hands.
If Zhang Er can't handle this, then who can?
Of course, it's purple elm.
The affairs of Guangyitang should be managed by her; if she takes the lead, no one else will have anything to say.
As soon as Liu Shen and his entourage left the Liu residence, she set off to find Huo Er. Upon meeting him, she greeted him with a smile and called him "Uncle."
Ziyu's father had some connection with Huo Da, and the two families maintained close ties. Huo Da adored the two children from the Li family; they were so beautiful, with perfectly proportioned features, and he especially loved Ziyu. He had no daughters, only three sons, all of whom disliked him and would yell at him whenever they saw him, giving him headaches. He genuinely loved Ziyu and cared for her deeply; upon seeing her, he immediately asked if she needed anything.
Of course I had something to ask, but when you need someone's help, you can't just ask as soon as you meet them. So I smiled and said it was nothing, I was just taking a walk and saw you, so I came over to say hello.
Huo Da was relieved and said it was good that nothing happened. Then he put on a solemn expression and said to Ziyu, "You can't just wander around like that anymore. With such a large family business and the masters not around, and who knows when they will return, people's hearts will change and trouble is bound to happen. If you want to live a peaceful life in the future, you have to guard your little plot of land. Listen to your uncle, go back now, lock the courtyard gate, and don't go out unless necessary. No trouble will find you."
Ziyu listened to this long string of words without saying a word, only staring wide-eyed.
When Huo Da saw this, he thought that his words had upset her. After thinking about it carefully, he realized that his tone was indeed not very good. He quickly smiled and said, "Don't think that what I said was harsh. I was just trying to help you. I treat you like my own daughter. Would I ever harm you? If you don't believe me, go home and ask your parents. See if they say the same thing."
Hearing him say that, Ziyu came back to her senses and hurriedly said, "Of course I know that Uncle treats me like his own daughter. Uncle is telling the truth. What's wrong with what I said?"
She was stunned and staring because she had recently heard what Huo Da had said from someone else, and she was just about to tell Huo Da about it.
"I was just about to talk to my uncle about this, it's also my fault."
Huo Da listened, nodding and laughing, and said, "People really do need to see the world to learn quickly. It's only been a few days, and the girl has already become so calm and insightful. Your parents must have been very lucky to have such a good girl. It's a pity that I'm not blessed enough. I can't even find a girl like her. Instead, three debt collectors are crawling at my feet demanding my life. I must not have accumulated enough good karma in my past life!"
This was supposed to be a compliment, but Ziyu wasn't particularly pleased; her smile even froze. With that stiff smile, she said to Huo Da, "I came to you, Uncle, for this very thing. Someone in our household is sick, and we've called a doctor who's staying with us. It would have been fine, but today the doctor was called out by Madam, and I'm worried he might come back. If he keeps coming back and something happens, who else will he turn to but me? You treat me like your own daughter, and I treat you like another father. Please think of me, Uncle. If the doctor doesn't come, it'll save us all trouble. But if he does… please take care of him for me!"
Everyone in the mansion knew about the patient at Guangyi Hall, because the patient was the future young mistress. She was highly valued, and even the matter of hiring a doctor was personally handled by the master and mistress. Her affairs were of great importance and could not be taken lightly.
So Huo Da said, "It's just calling a doctor, what's the big deal? Besides, it's a matter of life and death, so we can't be careless. If you're really worried, just be more careful when people are around, and nothing will happen."
Ziyu immediately became anxious. She was already flustered, and now that things weren't going smoothly, she became even more anxious, fearing that things wouldn't work out.
"She's already better, why would she need to see a doctor? Why are we making things difficult for ourselves!"
If I were truly cured, why would the doctor come back? It's clear he's lying.
Why did she tell this lie?
Huo Da, having experienced such things, immediately fell silent.
When people panic, they are less likely to accomplish anything, especially when they know they are doing something wrong.
They were completely routed, and it would be extremely difficult to pull them back up. So, they gritted their teeth and told the whole story.
"I just don't want that doctor to come, Uncle. Given our relationship, I won't hide it from you. You probably know she'll be the young master's concubine in the future, and everyone will look up to her, trying to curry favor with her, making me a laughingstock... Uncle, she has a terrible temper, and I've already offended her. Now it's like there's no tiger in the mountains... I'm scared! I don't want anything serious, I just want to teach her a lesson, make her bow her head to me, and promise not to cause me any more trouble, so I can have a peaceful life in the future. I'm really scared! Besides, she's almost recovered, it won't kill her, it'll just be a little hardship. If she doesn't suffer today, I'll be the one suffering later! Uncle, you have to think of me!"
Huo Da thought in a daze, "Tuan'er used to be such a good girl, but now she's turned bad and is plotting to harm people. She must be having a hard time, which is why she's driven to this state..."
He truly treated her like a daughter.
He eventually agreed.
What he didn't know was that the good girl in his eyes wasn't forced to become bad, but rather encouraged. All the things she said to him today were taught to her by someone else.
Who taught them?
Peach blossoms.
Bitao was actually quite beautiful, very pleasing to the eye, with a round face and round eyes, and a charmingly naive air. The first thing people thought when they saw her was, "This child is honest." Because she had the face of an honest person, with gentle and clear eyes, and the corners of her lips were always curved, as if that smile was innate. When she looked at people, there was clearly some timidity in her eyes, but she still bravely opened her eyes wide to meet their gaze, to show that she had no bad intentions.
That's what Madam Yue thought, which is why she kept the girl even though she wasn't particularly outstanding in any way, because she felt the girl was pleasing to the eye. She misjudged her.
Although this girl has the appearance of an honest person, she is rotten inside, rotten to the point of being oozing putrid fluid.
Before she was named Bitao, her name was Zhenzhu (Pearl). It was a very auspicious name, though actually quite ordinary, but it was the best image her mother could come up with to name her daughter.
Pearl's mother had told her the story of how her name came about many times. It was many years ago, when she was still a little girl. It was her first time in the city. She followed behind her mother, holding a piece of cloth and silk that her mother had just woven. The silkworms were raised by her, and the silk was extracted from the cocoons by her. She was also the one sitting at the loom. So her mother promised her that as soon as she got the money, she would buy her silk flowers to wear. They were better than the flowers worn by other girls in the village. She was very happy the whole way there.
Upon entering the fabric shop, her mother took the cloth from her hand and placed it on the counter, haggling with the clerk. She stared at the fabrics displayed, a sight she would never forget. So many beautiful colors, it was as if spring had returned, even spring itself couldn't match the vibrancy of these colors. She felt dizzy, almost floating. Just then, a few people entered, the lead group appearing to be a mother and daughter. The girl's arm was linked with the woman's, and the two walked in, laughing and talking. She was stunned. The girl seemed to be wearing spring itself. She had never seen anyone's clothes so colorful, vibrant and dazzling from head to toe. But what attracted her most was the girl's headdress: a golden phoenix, with a lotus seed-like object hanging from its beak by a golden chain. Larger and whiter than a lotus seed, it shimmered in the sunlight, displaying a flowing, iridescent light. She had never seen anything like it before.
As soon as the mother and daughter entered, the shop assistant immediately ignored her mother and began to linger around the mother and daughter. The mother and daughter only stayed for a short while, but they took away the colors of the entire spring. She couldn't help but wonder, how could they possibly use up so much cloth? She voiced her question, hoping to get an answer from her mother. Before her mother could speak, the shop assistant chuckled, a very soft chuckle. Her mother opened her mouth but no sound came out, just remained open. Not getting an answer, she assumed her mother didn't know either, and she didn't necessarily need to know, so she changed the subject. "Mother, did you see that white lotus seed hanging on that person's head? It's so beautiful." The shop assistant chuckled again and said, "What white lotus seed? That's a pearl. There's only one. Even if you wove cloth for ten years, you couldn't buy one." Her mother still didn't speak. Hearing the shop assistant's words, she was stunned. Ten years! Such a small thing was worth ten years of her life.
The shop assistant, who had been smiling, suddenly stopped smiling, lowered his eyes, and said to her mother, "Let's go with the price you offered today."
After leaving the cloth shop, her mother bought her silk flowers as promised. They were red azaleas, more beautiful than any flower she had ever seen, but compared to pearls, they paled in comparison.
She thought again, "It's worth ten years."
She was young then and didn't know anything. Later, when she was older, she suddenly remembered what happened that day and suddenly understood why her mother hadn't spoken. It was because the man was laughing at her, laughing at her ignorance and poverty. But of course, she didn't know that. Many years later, she belatedly realized and cried.
So when she found out she was pregnant with a daughter, she immediately named her Pearl. Pearl, that's her precious daughter! She rejected all the names her mother-in-law suggested and insisted on calling her Pearl because her daughter was her precious daughter. She swore to heaven that she would work hard to give her daughter a prosperous life and she didn't want her daughter to be like her.
But she died before she could do it.
She died of illness. After taking several doses of medicine without improvement, her husband refused to give her any more money to buy medicine.
After she died, her daughter was still called Pearl, but she was no longer a precious child.
When her aunt's family got a cousin, Pearl went to her aunt's house to do laundry, cook, and tend the fire. When her uncle's family got a younger cousin, her uncle took her in, and she continued to do laundry and cook. Later, her father married a new wife and had a son, so she went back to her own home... Later still, her cousin took a fancy to a girl in the neighboring village and wanted to marry her. However, the girl was very beautiful, and her uncle's family couldn't afford the money she wanted. So, her uncle gave her father all the money he had saved for his son's wedding. This was because that family had not only a beautiful girl but also an extremely ugly son who was over twenty years old and still unmarried. Her uncle didn't have a daughter, so he had a plan to use her. He gave her father money so that she could become the wife of that family's ugly son, and that his son could marry the beautiful girl he liked.
Her father agreed; he took the money and gave his consent.
The wedding date was set, but her father changed his mind. It wasn't because he suddenly had a conscience, but because he went to the street and found that the slave trader could give him more money, and he felt he was losing out.
Pearl, carrying her meager bundle, boarded the slave trader's cart. Before getting on, she called out "Father!" Upon hearing this, her father suddenly froze, and then the father and daughter embraced and wept bitterly.
Perhaps, as a father, he did indeed feel maternal love for his daughter again for a moment, but perhaps not. Pearl's hatred, however, was genuine; what she didn't say was...
Go to hell.
Father, go to hell.
Pearls have been like this for a long time.
In winter, she was washing clothes in the river. The water was so cold that her hands froze, and she couldn't hold onto the clothes, letting them drift away. Unable to retrieve them, her aunt grabbed her frostbitten ear and twisted it repeatedly. After twisting it, the aunt kicked her because her frostbite had broken and dirtied her aunt's hands. At that moment, she thought to herself, "Why doesn't this person just die already?"
She often thought about it later.
My little sister is so good, go to hell.
These flowers are so beautiful, how come they haven't rotted yet?
She hates beautiful things because her life is worse than mud.
Seeing Ziyu, she felt disgusted. This person was so self-important; what gave her the right to think she was superior to others? Yet she still surrounded her, flattering her because she truly was better. Seeing Shanlai, she disliked her even more. Why was it that someone as beautiful as her received so much love and care?
That's so unfair.
But she didn't hate Madam Yue, nor did she hate the slave trader who took her away, because she knew that she had a good life now because of them.
Some people can be disliked, while others cannot, and there's no need to be.
I knew that Shanlai was unnecessary, but she got sick and the masters were all away.
She was destined to fall into her hands.
She's so beautiful, how come she's not dead yet?
She's really going to die, and she'll die at her hands.
"Sister, are you really willing to be overshadowed by her in everything from now on? Even God couldn't stand it anymore, so He sent this opportunity to you. Sister, this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance. This time, we must completely subdue her. From now on, we should respect you. That's the right thing to do! She's just a little kid who doesn't know anything. Why should she be above you?"
That's great. So she's not just someone who can take a beating; she can also control other people's lives, even the lives of people who are so much luckier than her.
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