Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent.
Miao's mother continued, "My daughter has been smart and capable since she was a child. When I first told her about it, she refused because she was smart enough to live a good life even without this business. But I didn't want her older brother to owe her too much, because if it went on for too long, the relationship between the siblings would break down. So I decided to give her half of the family property."
“My daughter hasn’t been staying at home and refusing to get married all this time. When she was still young, her father and I arranged a marriage for her with my cousin from my maternal family. He passed the imperial examination a few months ago and has already sent a letter to propose marriage. As long as we pick an auspicious day, the marriage can be arranged immediately. But then this happened…”
At this point, Miao's mother burst into tears again. Her daughter's good life had been ruined by that woman.
Now that her daughter has been taken away by the Lin family for so many days, and the whole city knows about it, her reputation is ruined. Even if her cousin from her maternal family comes to propose marriage, she will be too embarrassed to agree to the marriage. She is afraid that no one will be willing to propose marriage in the future.
Of course, this is all on the premise that the Lin family is willing to release her. If the Lin family does not agree, then her daughter will have no choice but to marry this old man who is even older than her as a concubine. What kind of sin is this?
After hearing her story, no one knew what to say to comfort her. Who would want to be a concubine to an old man when they could marry a scholar as his wife? Especially since she was ruined by her own sister-in-law; it was truly tragic.
Several people felt they had spoken too harshly and stepped forward to apologize to Miao's mother, saying that it was not gentlemanly to comment without knowing the whole story.
After hearing these words, Miao Lanlan realized that her marriage was probably ruined, and she felt very sad. She and her mother hugged each other and cried.
Everyone was waiting for Liu to return so they could report it to the authorities together. Although they might not win, how would they know if they didn't try?
But Master Lin was restless. At this moment, Miao Lanlan was crying so hard that she couldn't catch her breath and wasn't as pretty as usual. With such a beautiful woman as Jiang Jiuniang standing in front of her, Master Lin was already distracted. Looking at the dozens of servants around him, his mood became lively again.
“It’s not that Miao Lanlan can’t go back with me, but I have one condition.”
His sudden words gave the Miao people hope.
The Miao people immediately looked up at him, their faces full of expectation, but he said with a grin, "It's fine to let her come back with me."
His hand was clearly pointed at Jiang Jiuniang.
In that instant, the dog felt a gust of wind pass by him, and before he knew it, his father had already trampled that shameless old man under his feet.
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! You brat, how dare you treat me like this! Are you all dead? What are you standing there for? Attack!"
Old Master Lin screamed in agony, tears streaming down his face uncontrollably.
He had never been so humiliated in his life!
But Lu Baichuan didn't care about any of that. He stepped on him with one foot and then used the hilt of his sword to deal with the servants who came forward to help.
A group of servants were quickly knocked to the ground. Lu Baichuan then picked up the old man and spun him around a few times until he was dizzy and disoriented before he stopped.
"You dare to covet my wife? You're asking for trouble!"
He's been putting up with this old man for so long, and now he dares to make such a request? Does he really think he's just watching a show?
Master Lin never expected Lu Baichuan to be so ruthless; despite having so many people on his side, they were completely helpless against him.
No wonder that half-grown child could beat so many of his servants; the real expert was here.
This family may seem ordinary, but their abilities are not to be underestimated. He was just careless.
"It's a misunderstanding, it's all a misunderstanding, I was just joking!"
Master Lin was a pragmatic man; knowing he couldn't win, he immediately changed his attitude.
Lu Baichuan didn't want to make things too ugly on the street, so he let go of his leg.
A short while later, Miao Shan returned with Liu Shi, but they did not get the money back. According to Liu Shi's family, the money had already been spent.
Not only did Liu's family refuse to repay the money, they also scolded the two of them and kicked them out. Liu even cursed at Miao Shan all the way, feeling that Miao Shan was going too far and didn't give her any face. She felt that her family would look down on her if she went back to her parents' home to collect the debt.
But Miao Shan ignored her the whole way back. The first thing he said to Miao's mother was when he got back.
"Mother, if we can't get the money back, let's hand her over to the authorities and leave it to fate."
Miao Shan closed his eyes. He had given her a chance, but she hadn't cherished it.
He was an honest man, and he knew very well that the family business wouldn't have been doing well without his sister.
Although he remembered his sister's kindness, he also felt that giving half of the family property to her was too much. His wife was also a shrew and competitive woman, so he would pretend not to see when she treated his sister badly at home. He felt that since his sister had taken most of the family property, it was only right that she suffered some mistreatment.
But he never expected his wife to go so far as to sell his younger sister to someone else as a concubine without telling anyone in the family, something he couldn't tolerate at the time.
After the incident, he tried to defend his wife, but she didn't think she was wrong. Instead, she kept blaming him for being useless, so he knew that she was hopeless.
"What did you say? You're going to send me to see the authorities?"
Liu stared wide-eyed in disbelief, feeling as if she had misheard.
Mother Miao stood up abruptly and exclaimed, "Yes, we must drag this viper to the authorities! We must make her clear my daughter's name!"
Since they couldn't come up with the money anyway, they told Liu to pawn her daughter herself, and they were determined to get her daughter back.
Just then, Master Lin was also waiting to see the magistrate. He realized that he couldn't get any benefits from Lu Baichuan, so he went to the government for help. The government would definitely be on his side. At that time, no matter how powerful Lu Baichuan was, he couldn't beat the government. That beautiful young woman would definitely be his meal.
So, the group went to report to the authorities in a grand procession; there was quite a lot to do.
First, the Miao family sued Liu for selling her sister-in-law behind her back. They hadn't gotten the money back, but the contract was still in Master Lin's hands. They wanted the government to judge Liu's crime and, incidentally, make Master Lin return the contract.
Secondly, Master Lin accused Lu Baichuan of beating him in the street. He was so badly injured that he couldn't walk and had to be carried over by several servants. He looked bruised and swollen, and the news would spread throughout the city after today. He had lost face big time.
The prefect of Qianzhou was named Qian Xiao. He was in his forties, had a small goatee, and sat upright in the high hall.
Jiang Jiuniang examined him carefully and judged that this person should be reliable.
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