Chapter 32
Chapter 32
The two women panicked and quickly touched the hairpins on their heads. Today, they had been entrusted by their husbands to come over and persuade Qiao Mai. They wore unpatched clothes, put on silver hairpins, and wanted to go around the town.
“It’s not like that. This hairpin was our dowry back then. We brought it from our maternal family to the Qiao family.”
“Pfft, who in Lihua Village doesn’t know that your maternal family is so poor that you can’t even make a living? When you came to the Qiao family, you had nothing. A few days ago, when the two old fellows asked me for silver, they even said that the family was suffering. Don’t you have a script before lying? You bought this hairpin by selling your sister-in-law. How could you have the audacity to wear it now?”
Her voice was so loud that everyone passing by in the town stopped to watch.
Many people knew Qiao Mai. “Little lady, who are these two?”
“You all know the two daughters-in-law of the Qiao family in Lihua Village who broke off ties with me.”
“Oh, aren’t they dressed quite well? They’re even wearing a silver hairpin.”
“Everyone, take a look. That old couple from the Qiao family in Lihua Village sold me once and a second time. I’m already in this state, but they still won’t let me off.”
“What’s wrong? Is it because they saw you doing a small business and remembered you again?”
“Isn’t that so? They’re really shameless. Look at their heads. They bought it with the money they got from selling me. Now, they want to coax me home. They want to scheme against me again because they think I can earn a small amount for the family.”
Qiao Mai took a handkerchief from her sleeve and wiped her red eyes.
The two daughters-in-law of the Qiao family were so embarrassed that their faces turned red. They wanted to defend themselves, but how could they against so many mouths?
“Little lady, I advise you not to return to such a family for the rest of your life.”
“I have no intention of going back.”
“Do you want us to help you invite the mayor over to uphold justice?”
“I shall wait. If these two people make a fuss, it won’t be too late for you to go.”
“Good!”
Qiao Mai looked at the two daughters-in-law of the Qiao family with a smile. The two were frightened by the words just now and quickly pulled out the hairpins on their heads and tucked them in their arms.
“Mai, although it’s written that we broke our ties, we’re still a family.”
“Hmph, get lost. Family? Where were you when I was tortured? Where were you when I was kicked out of the family? Where were you when I was homeless? You are worse than strangers.”
“Mai, Father and Mother know their mistake, so they sent us to make peace.”
“Go back and tell them I’ll never acknowledge them again every day I live. I don’t have parents or family. Scram!”
“You, you really don’t know how to appreciate good grace!”
“Are you going to get lost or not?”
The two women looked at the watermelon on the table and swallowed hard.
“Give us a melon, and we’ll leave.”
Qiao Mai shouted at the onlookers, “Who’s going to invite the mayor? Someone is acting shamelessly in front of my stall. They won’t leave until I give them something for free.”
The surrounding commoners laughed out loud. “Little lady, no need to call the mayor. We’ll help you get rid of these two shameless things.”
They threw vegetable leaves and stones at them. The two women hugged their heads and ran around. After a while, they disappeared from her stall.
After chasing away the eyesore, Qiao Mai waved at everyone.
“Thank you. Who wants to buy melons today? I’ll give everyone a discount.”
“How much cheaper can it be?”
“The original price of a watermelon piece is 50 coins, but you can buy one at 30 coins. It’s 500 coins for a whole watermelon today!”
“Haha, we can’t afford it either. Let’s go. We’ll buy it when we have money.”
The commoners dispersed. Qiao Mai smiled and continued to look at the melon stall. She didn’t expect the two women would return after a while.
“Mai?”
“Get lost!”
This time, Qiao Mai was furious. She had seen shameless people but not such thick-skinned people. She picked up the stick beside her and swung it at them.
The two women could not dodge in time, and one was hit on the butt. It was really painful.
Qiao Mai glared at them. “If you come again, I won’t have any mercy on you.”
“Mai, please forgive us. Let us take a watermelon when we leave. Our parents have never eaten a piece of watermelon in their lives.”
“You can eat melons if you want, but leave the hairpin on your head.”
“Dream on. How much is a watermelon worth?”
“If you don’t know what it means to disown me, let’s meet at the court. The Qiao family has come to my stall to cause trouble time and time again. I’ll report you to the mayor. Get lost!!!”
In the end, she shouted angrily, and the two women were so scared that they ran north.
The merchants and hawkers at the side all gave her a thumbs up.
“Young lady, you’re amazing.”
“This is how you deal with people like that.”
Qiao Mai let out a long sigh of relief. She realized that after torturing a scumbag, she would feel very satisfied. This way, she would not get depression.
Why doesn’t she torture scum more in the future? She felt great after that, and she even liked it.
Qiao Mai sat down and was a little puzzled by this feeling. She suspected that after she transmigrated, her interests had changed and became more twisted.
As for those two women, they started crying the moment they returned to the Qiao family in Lihua Village.
“Father, Mother, you don’t know how fierce that girl is. No matter what nice words we say, she won’t listen. If we say too much, she’ll pick up a stick and hit us.”
“She… She really did that?”
“Yeah, if you don’t believe me, you can ask the people in town. She even asked me to inform you that she would never acknowledge us in this lifetime so you wouldn’t be delusional. Not to mention that she’s selling herself to someone else as a servant now, even if she doesn’t, she won’t have anything to do with the Qiao family anymore.”
Her father slammed the table fiercely. “She’s really going against the heavens. People say that raising a daughter is a waste of money, and now I’ve even raised an ingrate. I’ll go look for her.”
“Father, don’t be rash. That girl is still angry with us. Give her some time. When her anger subsides, I’ll go with you.”
“Hmph, it’s all because of your good daughter.”
Mother Qiao thought to herself, ‘So what if I gave birth? Didn’t you still earn a hundred catties of wheat and ten taels of silver?’
Shopkeeper Lu was busy in the shop. After hearing about this, the crowd had already left. She walked to the side of the official road angrily.
“Sister, that shameless family is here again?”
“Yes, they sent two daughters-in-law over this time.”
“Are they interested in your business?”
“I don’t think so. Everyone around knows that this is your stall. I’m just a servant of your family.”
“Then why are they still coming?”
“They must be thinking about my monthly salary and the fact that I can do business here. I must have gotten some benefits. Putting aside the money, they wanted the watermelon or something else.”
“Bah, they’re really shameless. If a normal family’s children work for others, they’re afraid they’ll be fired if they don’t do well.”
“They have always been like this. It wasn’t that our family didn’t have any food back then. Although I wasn’t good-looking, I ate less and worked more. Even so, they didn’t like me. When they saw someone asking for marriage, they agreed readily as soon as they offered a hundred catties of wheat. It was as if I was the God of Plagues. I don’t know what their brains were made of.”
“You’re not the God of Plagues. You’re the God of Wealth. I didn’t expect your family to be so heartless. It’d be better if they sold you to be someone else’s maid.”
“No one wants someone like me. I’m not good-looking, thin, and small. Human traffickers don’t even want me.”
“Haha, to be honest, I think my sister is quite good. You’re not good-looking because you didn’t eat well in the past. Look at you now. You’re not ugly, energetic, so capable. You’re the best candidate for a wife in the eyes of a man.”