Chapter 19 Chapter 19 Losing face and the plan is in vain
The whole family sighed upon hearing this. Baozhu said, "If we rashly go to Mr. Zhao, I'm afraid he'll become suspicious and sell you out quickly, fearing that others will know about his plan."
Mr. Zhao was very proud and was most afraid that others would know that he had done something that was not in line with his status as a scholar. The more he tried to cover up and save face, the more Baozhu wanted to tear off his hypocritical face.
"Do you know where Mr. Zhao pawned your wife's jewelry?"
Ah Xiu thought about it. She usually only went out to buy some vegetables. Now she couldn't even distinguish the big and small streets in Bianjing City, and she couldn't recognize which pawnshop was which.
"He stole my wife's jewelry, and she knows it. We're broke now, and she's injured after giving birth. She can barely get out of bed. There's not much good food at home to replenish her body. She turned a blind eye to him stealing the jewelry."
Baozhu thought that since he was pawning the money, he should not be nearby, and definitely not near the Imperial College. Now Zhao Xiucai could not even afford to rent a sedan chair, and he could not go far if he walked alone.
Baozhu asked her elder brother to go to the Cross Street tomorrow to ask and find the jewelry that Zhao Xiucai had pawned first, so that he could buy back only one of them.
She told her to go back first and pretend she didn't know about it. Xu knew that she probably hadn't eaten dinner again, so she went to her room and got her two snacks. She comforted her,
"Of the 360 ​​professions in the world, being a slave is the most pitiful. Go back and wait peacefully. We will definitely rescue you."
Ah Xiu walked away holding the pancake and crying.
After the others left, Xu finally sighed, "We still have some money at home, so let's just save someone's life."
The whole family nodded, knowing that Ah Niang was remembering the past. Was she as panicked as Ah Xiu was today? After so long, even she herself could hardly remember.
Everything was normal the next day. My eldest brother came in the morning when I was setting up the stall. Then, according to Baozhu, he went to the Cross Street to look for a pawnshop.
It's hot now, and there are many people ordering meals. The two errand runners are still running hard because the food at the stalls is much cheaper in summer.
For example, the ice porridge is large in quantity and has plenty of ingredients, but it only costs fifteen cents a bowl. The expensive mixed rice is only twenty cents. If you eat at the stall, it is the normal price. If you want to order the meal to be delivered to your door, you have to add one cent more, plus one cent from the store, so it is two cents per order.
In the evening, the eldest brother came with a bracelet in his hand.
"I asked Ah Xiu, and this is exactly the bracelet that Mr. Zhao's wife had. I had a hard time finding it. You're right. Mr. Zhao's body is empty from all his studies, and he can't walk far. I asked all the pawnshops on the main street this morning, and the owners all said they didn't have it. But Mr. Zhao didn't even go to Cross Street. He just found a pawnshop on the front street and pawned all his things. Because he was sneaky and pawned everything, the owner had a strong impression of him."
"As soon as I asked about Mr. Zhao's appearance, the shopkeeper remembered and ran back to ask Ah Xiu what the pieces of jewelry he had pawned looked like. After confirming that they were correct, he bought her a pair of bracelets."
The eldest brother pushed the cart, and the three siblings headed home. At nightfall, he quietly called Ah Xiu over, pointed at the bracelet, and taught her what to do if the Zhao family started making trouble. He made sure nothing went wrong, and then he told her to go back and wait.
Mr. Zhao next door had been silent for three days until he broke out early that morning.
The scholar's wife dragged her frail body into the courtyard, her voice so loud that all the neighbors came out to see. Xu was the first to leave, "Just talk it out nicely, why hit someone?"
The scholar's wife's face turned pale with anger. "This girl is really wicked and heartless. I provided her with food and clothing, but now she has resorted to stealing. If I hadn't caught her, I'm afraid she would have emptied my house before I knew it."
Xu took a look inside and saw that Mr. Zhao had already hidden away, leaving her wife to deal with it alone. Xu spat inwardly, thinking that she must tear off his mask today.
"I see that this girl works hard every day and does all kinds of work. She doesn't look like the type of person who would steal. Madam, why don't you look for her again?" Xu spoke first.
The scholar's wife threw the bundle on the ground. The bundle had two patches on it, and the clothes inside were also worn out. Two close-fitting dresses were also spread out when it was thrown away. The jewelry inside was totally inconsistent with the clothes in the bundle.
Ah Xiu burst into tears in embarrassment and argued for herself in a low voice.
The scholar's wife raised her hand to hit him, but was stopped by Xu, "Madam, please don't get angry."
There was a crowd of people outside the door watching the excitement. Ah Xiu felt her face burning. Xu looked outside, but Zhao Xiu still hadn't returned.
It was not good to drag it on like this, so Xu said quickly, "I don't know what Madam will do. Will she report it to the authorities or sell this girl off?"
The scholar's wife was stunned for a moment by her question. After hesitating for a long time, she finally said, "Of course I sold it."
"Since you want to sell her, why not sell her to my family? A girl with such dirty hands and feet wouldn't be worth much if sold somewhere else. I'll give you ten strings of cash, how about that?" Xu stared into the scholar's wife's eyes until she was speechless.
The scholar's wife just listened to Mr. Zhao. She first accused Ah Xiu of theft and sent the person away privately without anyone saying anything. Unexpectedly, Xu from next door wanted to meddle in her affairs. She was caught in the middle of it and didn't know what to do.
"How shameful!" Mr. Zhao, who had been hiding outside and eavesdropping for an unknown amount of time, finally came over, holding his daughter in his arms and a bag of meat buns. He seemed to have just learned what was going on at home. He put his daughter down and told her to go inside to eat the buns. "This girl has dirty hands and feet. I dare not send her to serve in someone else's house. If she comes back and makes trouble for your family, she will be a disaster."
Xu didn't say anything, while Ah Xiu had already started to kowtow.
"I really didn't steal anything. Please don't sell me to a brothel."
The yard was paved with bluestone. Ah Xiu hit the man with great force, and blood spurted out from the two knocks. The neighbors who were watching felt pity for him, and when they heard that he was going to be sold to a brothel, they immediately showed some contempt.
The scholar's wife immediately covered her mouth, wondering in her heart how this girl could know about it. Scholar Zhao's face also turned dark.
Xu rolled up her sleeves to persuade him, revealing the shiny silver bracelet on her wrist.
Mr. Zhao and his wife were both stunned. They looked at each other, wondering how their bracelet ended up in Xu's hands.
Xu raised her hand and was about to say something, but Ah Xiu grabbed her hand.
"This-is this the bracelet my wife lost a few days ago?"
Xu was acting perfectly, patting her chest as if startled. "Don't dare say anything nonsense. Although our two families are neighbors, I have never even been to your house. You changed the locks when you rented the house, and I don't have the key."
"You thief woman, no wonder you usually send food and drink to my wife, but secretly send food to this girl. It turns out that you let the thief girl steal things for you." Zhao Xiucai's eyes turned red, and his eyes rolled again and again.
But Xu was not someone to be trifled with. "Although you are a scholar, you can't say shit. What you said is unpleasant. This bracelet was bought from a pawnshop by my son Dalang as a gift to me. If you don't believe me, go find the shopkeeper and confront him."
Dalang poked his head out at the right moment and said, "The shopkeeper said that only a sneaky man could pawn the jewelry!"
The rare bustle in the alley attracted more and more people to gather at the door.
Zhao Xiucai shot himself in the foot. He was impulsive and didn't think much about it. He stammered for a long time and couldn't say anything. Seeing so many people at the door, his nose was wheezing like a burning bellows. He was already guilty and didn't dare to look up for fear of being completely exposed.
What else don't people understand? This is the thief crying "stop thief". He stole his wife's jewelry and pawned it, and then blamed it on the maid who did the work. He is really not a man.
"Since my wife has become suspicious of this girl today, I guess she doesn't want her to stay. I see that she is honest and hardworking. Why don't you sell her to my family to do some work?"
After being severely criticized, Mr. Zhao was ashamed and angry to death. His plan failed and his secrets were exposed instead. His head was pounding like a firecracker. He only heard that Xu had made things worse.
Zhao Xiucai's hands were shaking as he pointed at Xu, but he didn't dare to say anything about selling her to the secret door of a brothel. If that happened, her reputation would be ruined, and she would be at a great loss if she couldn't continue her studies in the future.
If Madam Xu knew what he was thinking, she would definitely look down on him. If this man could pass the imperial examination, the officialdom would become a cesspool.
The scholar's wife secretly pulled his sleeve and said, "Why not just agree to her request? Even if we are frugal, ten strings of cash will be enough to cover our expenses. If we continue to make a fuss, I'm afraid everyone in the street will come."
Zhao Xiucai calmed down, but he was still stubborn and wanted to step on Ah Xiu again. "This girl has always been dirty and can't do any work. If you want her, just sell her to your family. But ten strings of cash is too little. My family feeds her and clothes her. We raised her with great difficulty. At least twenty strings of cash would be worth her."
Xu said to the outside of the door in a much louder voice, "I've often seen this girl being beaten and starving, but I've never seen her stealing anything."
Xu retorted that this was to clear Ah Xiu's name in front of everyone.
Then I saw the three or four-year-old girl in Zhao Xiucai's house leaning against the door frame and looking outside. She seemed to be frightened, crying and not daring to speak.
Zhao Xiucai refused to give up. His reputation was tarnished anyway, so he had to earn some back. After a long haggling, he finally agreed to give fifteen strings of cash.
She whispered to Dalang to go back and ask for the money, but Zhao Xiucai didn't care. He counted the money carefully and said that he was missing 600 coins. Xu rolled her eyes at Zhao Xiucai.
"When your wife gave birth earlier, my family paid for the midwife and doctor. It took ten days and half a month, but you pretended not to know. So I just deducted the money."
There was another round of discussion outside. Zhao Xiucai was completely embarrassed and opened his hand to chase out the people watching the excitement at the door.
Xu asked Dalang to go and fetch a broker. Ah Xiu had no other luggage, only the scattered bundles on the ground, which Xu helped her gather. The scholar's wife immediately picked up the two scattered pieces of jewelry.
The Zhao family accepted the money and gave the indenture, and everything was settled. Ah Xiu packed her luggage and was ready to go with the Xu family.
The girl from the Zhao family at the door was afraid of Mr. Zhao, so she didn't dare to cry out loud. She kept calling out "Sister A Xiu" over and over again, but she was afraid that Mr. Zhao would get angry with her, so she didn't dare to raise her voice. She was raised by A Xiu, and she had a deep affection for her. Knowing that A Xiu was going to leave, she just kept holding onto the door frame and wiping away her tears.
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