These women stayed there with their daughters, refusing to leave because they felt leaving would be a loss. In that case, she gave them some silver, knowing that anyone but a fool would take the silver and leave.
"Yes." Nanny Lu took the money bag and went to the women who were scolding their own daughters, passing on Ms. Luâs words.
When those women heard this, their eyes lit up, and after some thought, they readily agreed, "Rest assured, nanny. Weâll take the silver and immediately bring our daughters home, never bothering Top Scorer Gu again."
Nanny Lu sneered, "Youâre all so greedy, trying to lie and cheat an old woman. Youâre still too green for that. Youâve surely heard of the Xu Family in the county; if you take the silver and dare come to Da Feng Village again, the Xu Family will immediately report you to the government office."
One woman, seeing her lie exposed, angrily said, "Who do you think you are, you insolent servant? Youâre the ones giving us silver, what right do you have to arrest us?!"
"Yeah, what right do you have to report us to the government? Are you bullying us poor folks?" These women were all feisty, and seeing Nanny Lu hold back a trump card, they immediately sat on the ground and wailed loudly, "Oh my, dear villagers, come see, the Xu Familyâs servant is bullying us!"
"Shut up!" Nanny Lu scolded sharply, with a cold look in her eyes, she glared at these women and said, "The condition is just as stated, if youâre willing, take the silver and leave. If you donât want it, you can keep waiting here; the Xu Family wonât force you."
She sneered again, "But you should be aware that even if you wait until youâre dead at the village entrance, youâll never see the Gu Family people. Whether to leave with tangible benefits or to wait in vain and become a laughing stock is your choice."
These women werenât fools and knew that Gu Jinâan would never fancy their daughters. Hearing Nanny Luâs words, most of them took the silver and left with their daughters.
However, two shameless women said, "Ten taels of silver to buy my golden son-in-law? The Xu Family has too high hopes. If you want us to leave, thirty taels is the minimum."
He Datian and others were shocked, looking at those two women, truly finding them repulsive.
The young and hot-tempered He Haizi pointed at them and scolded, "You shameless shrews, bringing your daughters to make a spectacle of yourselves, the Xu Familyâs wife couldnât stand it and gave you ten taels of silver for free, yet you find it insufficient and dare raise the price. Do you even have any shame?"
Ten taels of silver would be enough for a country man to marry two wives, and these two shrews dared ask for thirty taels? How bold, why donât they just reach for the sky?
"Get out, get out, donât linger on our Da Feng Village territory." He Haizi couldnât take it any longer, waving a stick at those two women.
Erqing worried that He Haizi would injure those two women and get involved, so he immediately stopped He Haizi, "Donât hit them, or theyâll extort you later. Go fetch a bucket of human waste and splash it on them!"
Human waste was manure, and upon hearing this, those two women were so anxious that they shouted, "You wretched girl, what are you talking about? If you dare splash manure at us, do you believe our village people wonât storm Da Feng Village!"
Fancy starting a brawl?
Truly shameless.
But Erqing, having followed Gu Jinli for a while, had learned a lot, and feared the least were shameless shrews. He smiled at the threat, "Feel free to bring your village people, however many come, the government will arrest however many, no longer restricting you shrews."
Those two women turned pale upon hearing this, knowing that in Luotian, the Gu Family related to a squad leader who could order Government Officials, and eventually dared not make a scene, instead turning to Nanny Lu, "Fine, ten taels it is, we wonât fuss with you, bring the silver."
The tone was as if the Xu Family owed them silver.
Nanny Lu laughed, "You want silver? Keep dreaming, youâre not worthy."
Saying so, disregarding the stunned women, she walked away with the money bag.
The two women were stunned, and when they regained their senses, they charged at Nanny Lu in a frenzy, "You old devout woman, are you fooling us? Hurry and give us the silver!"
Two Protectors from the Xu Family saw this and immediately stepped forward, each kicking the women to the ground.
The two women fell, wailing and seizing the chance to extort money, "Compensation, you injured us; if you donât compensate us, weâll report you to the government office!"
Manager Xu said, "Feel free to go; you were being unreasonable first, we have witnesses. Even if you report to the government office, we wonât fear."
He sneered again, "Our Xu Family in Tianfu County hasnât feared anyone; if you seek death, go ahead!"
Manager Xuâs words successfully scared these women, who dared not snatch the silver anymore, but didnât leave either, still hoping to stay at the village entrance and find a way to enter the village.
They lost the ten taels of silver but couldnât lose the golden son-in-law.
"You useless nuisance, act smart for your mother, or if you canât even enter the village and become the top scorerâs wife, your mother will sell you to the brothel!"
The woman speaking was Ms. Chang Liu, who was skinny but had a sharp voice, so the people present all heard this, including Ms. Lu.
But Ms. Lu did not give the women silver again and directly lowered the mule cart curtain, letting Nanny Lu follow Erqing into the village.
Ms. Chang Liu was stunned, looking at the Xu Familyâs mule cart departing in anger, slapping her daughter twice, "Useless nuisance!"
This time was truly a loss.
Ms. Chang Liu initially thought Ms. Lu could easily give silver, certainly being soft-hearted, hearing her say she would sell her daughter, that she would give silver once more, so she deliberately yelled this out angrily.
How could she have known Ms. Lu was so cold-hearted, refusing to give them silver?
The daughter who was beaten by Ms. Chang Liu wasnât weak either, seeing Ms. Chang Liu hit her so ruthlessly, she was enraged and grabbed Ms. Chang Liu, slapping her twice and spitting at her, scolding, "Ms. Chang Liu, you shrew, addicted to hitting, arenât you? Everyone says stepmothers are ruthless, indeed true. Before coming, you urged me, saying if I dared embarrass myself, I could become the officialâs wife and enjoy a comfortable life. Now that it didnât work out, you beat me, do you think Chang Yuhua is easy to bully?"
Ms. Chang Liu, being slapped, was furious and jumped up, pulling Chang Yuhuaâs hair, fighting her, "Little brat, dare hit your mother? Iâm your stepmother, youâre unfilial, Iâll tear you apart, you brat!"
He Haizi and others were stunned, watching Ms. Chang Liu and Chang Yuhua fight each other, only then realizing that they had a stepmother-stepdaughter relationship from their mutual shouting.
They wondered, where were there real mothers who would disregard their daughters to this extent? Already so embarrassing yet unwilling to leave.
However, they were wrong, coming to Da Feng Village to flirt with Gu Jinâan also had Chang Yuhuaâs intentions. Chang Yuhua had a bad temper; if she wasnât willing to come, Ms. Chang Liu really couldnât handle her.
Whatâs worse, while the mother and daughter were fighting merrily, three bystanders gathered at the village entrance rushed over, using the excuse of pulling them apart, seized Chang Yuhua, and with ill intent, reached into her clothes, trying to take advantage further.