Chapter 8
"Coming to borrow money at this hour?"
As Chen Qingyun walked, she said, "My second uncle said that my eldest cousin lost money gambling outside and was detained by the gambling den. If he doesn't pay money to ransom him, they'll cut off his hands!"
Wang Ying paused, "Wait for me a moment." He turned and went back to his bedroom, then came out hurriedly a short while later.
Let's go!
"Sister-in-law, where have you been?"
Wang Ying smiled slyly, "You'll see what's going on later."
Inside the main room, Chen Biao was wailing and crying, "Sister-in-law, you have to help me this time no matter what! Qingfeng is being held captive in the gambling den. If we don't redeem him soon, he'll lose his job!"
"But, but where am I supposed to find so much silver for you..."
“Sister-in-law, don’t you have a dowry? You are the daughter of the Li family of Tianyang. Several people in your family have become officials, so your dowry must be considerable. You can definitely come up with this amount of money.”
Li stood there helplessly until she saw her second daughter and son-in-law at the door. Only then did she feel reassured and quickly called them in.
"Yun'er, Ying'er, come in quickly."
Upon seeing Wang Ying, Chen Biao's face immediately darkened. He still remembered what happened on their wedding day and was very dissatisfied with his nephew-in-law.
"What brings you here so late, Uncle?"
Chen Biao snorted coldly, "It's not your place to interrupt when your elders are speaking."
Wang Ying ignored him completely, walked straight over and helped her mother-in-law sit down, then quietly pinched her arm.
Madam Li nodded knowingly. Although she was gentle by nature, she was not stupid. Knowing that she couldn't handle this matter herself, she simply let her son-in-law take charge.
Seeing that Li Shi did not respond, Chen Biao coughed, and his second son, Chen Qingling, who was standing behind him, knelt down on the ground with a thud.
"Aunt, please save my elder brother! I'm begging you!" he said, kowtowing repeatedly. His mother, Zhang, also knelt on the ground, wiping away tears, and pleaded with him.
"Sister-in-law, you can't just stand by and watch him die! He's your own nephew!"
This family had long understood Li's personality. If they insisted on getting money, it might not be easy to get it from her, but this gentle approach was sure to succeed.
"You all get up first... Xiaoling, stop kowtowing..." Madam Li looked at her second daughter with a pained expression, intending to ask her to get the money.
Seeing that the same mistake was about to repeat itself, Wang Ying shouted, "Everyone's wailing here!"
Everyone was stunned; the room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
"All you do is cry and cry. Since you've come to borrow money, Uncle, why don't you name a number first? If you can help, you certainly will."
Chen Biao stretched out one hand.
Five strings of cash?
"Five hundred taels of silver. The gambling den gives us three days to pay it back, or they will cut off Qingfeng's hand."
Wang Ying laughed angrily, "Five hundred taels? Are you crazy! Do you think our family is a money exchange?"
When Li heard this number, she felt dizzy. Even if she gave away all her dowry, she still couldn't raise that much money...
You should know that the Chen family's annual income is less than one hundred taels. After deducting daily expenses and social obligations, they have almost no money left. But this old man is not polite at all. He asked for five hundred taels right off the bat!
"What are you saying? We're family, so of course we'll do our best to help each other out when someone's in trouble!"
"Pah! Who do you think you are? I'm only speaking to you because I respect you as Chen Qingyan's second uncle. Anyone else would have been beaten to a pulp by now!"
"You! You've gone too far!!"
Wang Ying put her hands on her hips and said, "What, you want to hit me? This isn't your home! If you want to show off, go home and discipline your own son. Don't come to other people's homes to act like an elder!"
"Since your elder brother isn't here, I, as his second uncle, will teach you a lesson!" Chen Biao said, rolling up his sleeves and preparing to rush forward to beat someone up.
Wang Ying was no pushover; she possessed both strength and skill. She parried his attack with one hand and even kicked him back. Shouting at the top of her lungs, she yelled, "Go report this to the authorities! My second brother-in-law is bullying his widowed sister-in-law! It's outrageous! There's no justice in this world!"
Hearing the commotion, Uncle Chen rushed in to stop him, but Chen Biao, unable to get a response, cursed loudly.
"You little thief, you'll be in big trouble once Chen Qingyan dies! I'll sell you to a brothel and make sure you never recover!"
"Who are you saying is going to die? You're the one who's going to die, your whole family is going to die!" Chen Qingyun instantly flew into a rage upon hearing this, grabbing a feather duster from the corner of the wall and joining the fray.
Chen Biao's wife also rushed up and started tearing at them. Wang Ying protected her second sister and fought against the two of them without being at a disadvantage, making the other side scream and yell.
"Stop hitting me, please stop hitting me..." Li was so frightened that she clutched her chest and almost fainted. The scene was in complete chaos.
A servant ran to report to the authorities. The Chen family was a prominent family in the town, and soon four yamen runners arrived.
When Chen Biao's family saw the government officials arrive, they immediately became obedient, standing quietly to the side without daring to breathe.
On the other hand, Wang Ying's hair was disheveled, her clothes were torn, and her cheeks were bruised and purple!
I was the one who got beaten up just now, so where did the injury on his face come from?!
Just as Chen Biao was filled with doubt and confusion, Wang Ying, holding a handkerchief to her eyes, cried out in a plaintive voice, "Sir, you must help us!"
The head constable asked, "What exactly is going on?"
"It's a misunderstanding, sir. We are family. The head of the family is my elder brother."
"Shut up first, then you speak." The official pointed at Wang Ying, who was standing to the side crying with snot and tears streaming down her face.
“We were indeed a family before, but we separated many years ago. I don’t know much about what happened before I joined the family. I only know that from the day I got married, this person came to our house to bully this widow and her orphan, and kept crying poverty and asking for money.”
“My mother-in-law is kind and can’t bear to refuse them. Every time they cheat her out of several strings of cash, it’s at least a hundred taels of silver in total, but she has never paid back a single penny.”
"What nonsense are you talking about!" Chen Biao tried to retort urgently.
The constable glanced at him and said, "Continue."
Wang Ying sobbed, “They came again today to borrow money. My husband is seriously ill and bedridden, and my younger siblings are still young. There are more than ten mouths in our family who depend on the meager harvest from the land to make a living. We really have no money to lend them.”
"I never expected that my second uncle would ask my mother-in-law to use her dowry to help his family. He asked for five hundred taels of silver right off the bat! Good heavens, even if we sold all our possessions, we couldn't raise that much money. When he saw that we couldn't come up with the money, he tried to beat us. Look how badly he beat me."
"Nonsense!"
Wang Ying blew her nose. "If I uttered even half a lie, may I be struck by lightning and die when I step outside!"
The constable understood; it turned out this family was trying to freeload. He looked at Chen Biao's family with disgust and asked, "Is this true?"
"No, it's not like he said..."
"Then what are you all doing here, crying and making a scene?"
"We just want to borrow some money..."
"Five hundred taels of silver? Do you think other people's money grows on trees?!"
Chen Biao lowered his head and dared not speak. Despite his audacity in front of Wang Ying and Li Shi, he didn't dare utter a word when questioned by the officials.
"Get out of here right now! If you don't leave, we'll take you to the yamen!"
Chen Biao stamped his foot. "Sister-in-law, Feng'er is still being held captive. Are you really going to just leave him like this?!"
Li turned her head away. Even if she had wanted to intervene before, she couldn't anymore after he said those words.
"Fine, fine!" He pointed at Li Shi and said "fine" three times fiercely, then turned and left. Zhang Shi and her son followed him out.
After the three left, Wang Ying hurriedly asked Qingyun to fetch two strings of cash, which she handed to the head constable with both hands, saying, "I'm sorry to trouble you, sir, to make this trip so late. Take this money and have some wine."
Two hundred coins wasn't a lot, but it wasn't a small amount either; it was enough for these yamen runners to have a good meal. The leader touched his nose and accepted the money. "My surname is Huang, and my name is Huang San. If there's anything like this again, just have your servants call us."
"Thank you, Third Master Huang."
After seeing the person off, it was completely dark, and candles were lit in the room.
"Ying'er is so grateful to you today, otherwise..." Madam Li choked up and couldn't speak. She reached out and touched the bruises on his cheek, saying, "Good boy, does it hurt? Qingyun, go and get some medicine."
"It doesn't hurt, it's fake." Wang Ying reached out and wiped her face, removing much of the bruises.
"When I came here, I took a piece of blue dye from the paint I used for painting in Qingyan, and I just smeared it on my face in the chaos."
Li couldn't help but burst out laughing, "You're quite resourceful, actually coming up with such a method."
"To deal with shameless people, you have to use shameless methods; you can't reason with them."
Li said with unease, "I don't know if what Chen Biao said is true. What if Qingfeng really had his hand cut off..."
Chen Qingyun said indignantly, "He deserves it! Who can he blame for losing money gambling on his own? Besides, even if we lent him money, it doesn't mean our second uncle will thank us."
"Qingyun is right. A little kindness is appreciated, but too much kindness breeds resentment. You lent them too much money before, which made them take it for granted. Now that you suddenly stop lending, they hate you. These are the most heartless people; they are ungrateful wretches."
“Ah, you’re right. I’ve been too soft-hearted, which has made them more and more unscrupulous.” Madam Li called to the old woman beside her to bring the storeroom key.
"From now on, I'll leave this household to you."
Wang Ying was stunned. "This... how can this be done?"
Li Shi had no other skills, but she was self-aware. She knew she wasn't cut out to manage the household, and that if things continued this way, the family would eventually fall apart because of her.
Although Yun'er could help manage the household, she was still young and embarrassed to do many things, and was often tricked by the old servant.
Wang Ying is different. He is outspoken, honest, straightforward, and very shrewd. You can't go wrong having him as your housekeeper.
Li placed the key in his hand, saying, "You're a good boy, I've seen it all these days. Since you came, Yan'er's health has been getting better day by day. I heard he even went out today?"
"Um."
"Amitabha! It seems that the Taoist priest really didn't lie to me. The marriage alliance to bring good luck really worked!"
Wang Ying hesitated, thinking, "Amitabha Buddha and Taoist priests have absolutely nothing to do with each other!"
In their time, this mother-in-law would almost certainly be tricked into buying health supplements.
A note from the author:
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