bestfiction Chapter 239 The Mysterious First Wife
Chapter 239 The Mysterious First Wife
Cui'er's disappearance is related to a hairpin.
On Mao'er's birthday, Manager Liu gave his wife a gold-plated plum blossom hairpin. Upon seeing this, his sister-in-law insisted that her husband give her one too, but their family's income was not as good as Manager Liu's. They couldn't afford even a silver-plated plum blossom hairpin, let alone a gold-plated one.
After a big argument, my sister-in-law packed her bags and left home, only returning two days ago.
Upon entering the house, she didn't ask her mother-in-law, husband, or children, but only whether her husband wanted to buy a hairpin. She said if he didn't, she would find a way to buy it. Her younger brother reluctantly said no, so she turned and left, only to return half a day later.
This time when she returned, she not only wore a new outfit they had never seen before, but also had a dazzling gold hairpin in her hair. When her mother-in-law asked what was wrong, she saw her husband beaming with pride and said that she had bought the things they had refused to buy for her herself.
Lu Zhiyuan pinched her chin. "She bought it herself. Does she have the money?"
Madam Liu laughed, mockingly, disdainfully, and angrily: "Where would she get money? Her parents are just ordinary farmers like my in-laws, and they have little land and limited harvests. Let alone selling surplus grain, they're lucky if they have enough to eat. She relies on her good looks and is obsessed with comparing herself to others, but those of higher social standing don't want her, and those of lower social standing she doesn't want either. She was so picky that she didn't marry into our family until she was twenty-three."
Twenty-three?
Would she be considered an old maid by today's standards?
"Don't wash your dirty linen in public. They came to the inn to ask someone to find Cui'er." Manager Liu tugged at Madam Liu's sleeve, reminding her, "Don't talk about things that aren't your business. It's late, and we still don't know where Cui'er is. Master and Madam need to rest too. Don't keep talking nonsense to people."
Madam Liu glared at her and said aggrievedly, "There is a cause for every effect. How is what I said just nonsense?"
Manager Liu quickly said, "It's not nonsense, it's my fault. Let's get to the important thing. Cui'er is so young, she's waiting for us to rescue her."
Madam Liu took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and said, "That gold hairpin was bought for her by Master Zhang from town. Firstly, because she was unfaithful and had an affair with Master Zhang, a fact testified to by Master Zhang's servants, and the neighbors repeatedly saw her entering and leaving the Zhang family home. Each time she came out, her face was flushed and her clothes were disheveled. Secondly, because she made Cui'er go to the sacrifice in place of Master Zhang's granddaughter. Master Zhang's granddaughter is already five years old and is among those selected. My good sister-in-law made an agreement with the Zhang family. If Cui'er was chosen as the sacrifice, Cui'er would go. If Master Zhang's granddaughter was chosen, Cui'er would go in her place. Either way, it's Cui'er's fate to die."
Lu Zhiyuan asked Madam Liu how she knew about this. Madam Liu looked at Master Liu and said, "My younger brother said it himself, as did my mother-in-law. She was also there when my sister-in-law said it. My sister-in-law is used to being lawless and doesn't respect her husband, mother-in-law, or even her brother and sister-in-law at all. She was unscrupulous, saying that after this sacrificial ceremony, she wanted to marry Master Zhang as a concubine, and she also wanted the Liu family to write her a divorce agreement. Just as it got dark, she brought Cui'er out. My mother-in-law tried to stop her, but she was pushed away. If we hadn't gone back, we wouldn't have known she had caused such a big mess."
"Knowing what she's thinking, why don't you keep a close eye on Cui'er?"
Manager Liu clenched his fists but did not answer.
Madam Liu glanced at him and said, "My brother is useless. Knowing that his wife is involved with Master Zhang and wants a divorce, he abandoned his family to drink alone. Mother-in-law has to take care of both Cui'er and her brother, so it's inevitable that she'll neglect them. When she heard Cui'er's voice and ran out, Cui'er had already been dragged outside by her mother. Mother-in-law staggered forward and grabbed Cui'er into her arms. Seeing this, her sister-in-law punched her mother-in-law hard and pushed her down in the struggle. Mother-in-law's head hit the stone in front of the door, and she fainted. Fortunately, the neighbors heard the noise and carried her into the house and called a doctor, otherwise, Mother-in-law would have been in serious trouble."
Madam Liu said that when she and Manager Liu returned home with the hat, the house was in complete chaos. Manager Liu was furious and, with two neighbors, searched for Cui'er, but instead of finding her, they ran into his drunken, good-for-nothing younger brother.
They took their younger brother to the Zhang family's house to find his wife, but the gate was locked, and they couldn't get him to open it no matter how much they called. At the crucial moment, their brother vomited all over the place, so they had no choice but to take him back. On their way back, the couple encountered the guard. They asked the guard if he had seen a little girl, and the guard, based on their description, confirmed that it was Cui'er.
As the guards led them to the temple of the goddess, Lu Zhiyuan and her group happened to leave via another route.
When Lu Zhiyuan asked about the dark, unsightly object, Manager Liu and his wife's expressions changed drastically. They said it was the token of the Black Goddess; every chosen child would carry it into the goddess's temple, and then disappear without a trace, neither alive nor dead. During the flood season, bones, mostly children, would be washed ashore.
Lu Zhiyuan inquired about the Zhang family from Manager Liu, feeling that Manager Liu's sister-in-law wouldn't be involved with the Zhang family without a reason. Why was Manager Liu's sister-in-law in such a hurry to take Cui'er out before the memorial day?
What misfortune has befallen the Zhang family this time?
Manager Liu knew a bit about the Zhang family's affairs.
There are many families with the surname Zhang in the town. Forty years ago, this Mr. Zhang was just a beggar begging for food and drink. On the day He Niannian was to be drowned, he stood in the crowd and said something in her defense. He said that even if someone were to be drowned, it shouldn't be He Niannian who was drowned, but rather those who broke into the Liu family's old house and humiliated her.
It is not the woman's fault that she lost her chastity. If there were no man, how could she have lost her chastity? Why should we only punish the woman and not the man?
It's not that we don't want to investigate, it's that we can't.
Outsiders were unaware of the truth, but the townspeople knew perfectly well. There were no robbers at all. Those so-called robbers were actually people hired by He Niannian's husband to impersonate her. Among them were people with the surname Liu, Chen, and Zhang; in fact, they were all related to everyone in town.
Such a shameful affair could not be known to outsiders. Even when it was exposed by Mr. Zhang, who was still a child at the time, it was covered up.
On the seventh day after He Niannian's passing, strange things happened frequently in the town, but Master Zhang not only escaped misfortune, but also found a very valuable piece of jade. He exchanged the jade for money, and the money for rice. Not long after, the imperial court levied grain taxes, and he handed over the grain without taking a single penny. Just as everyone was laughing at him, calling him a fool, the imperial court's reward arrived.
Not only were he rewarded with gold and silver, but he was also given a shop. It was with the help of that shop and his good reputation for donating grain to the imperial court that Master Zhang gradually became wealthy under the government's protection. He went from being an orphan beggar who had to beg for food to becoming the wealthy Master Zhang he is today.
Speaking of Master Zhang, he also had a first wife. This wife was extremely mysterious, and almost no one except Master Zhang had ever seen her.
Lu Zhiyuan grasped the key point, a slight smirk playing on her lips: "Almost no one has ever seen it?"
Manager Liu nodded: "Almost no one has ever seen it!"