Free Web NovelChapter 399: Chapter 156: Acting in Collusion
Xiang’er was holding a handful of lotus leaf candies when she walked through the door, just as Mrs. Zhao was coming out of her room.
When Xiang’er saw her mother, she quickly put her hands behind her back, hiding all the candies.
Mrs. Zhao gave her a helpless look. "Your cheeks are bulging. Do you really think your mother is blind? It’s fine, I’m not saying you can’t eat them, but too much candy is bad for your teeth. You should eat less."
Xiang’er giggled and quickly took out a lotus leaf candy, popping it into her mother’s mouth.
"Mom, let’s eat together. This lotus leaf candy is so sweet."
Mrs. Zhao didn’t want to eat it, but she couldn’t resist her daughter’s pestering. In the end, she ate the candy and, with a smile, gently poked Xiang’er’s forehead. "Oh, you."
It was just a trivial little thing, and Mrs. Zhao didn’t give it a second thought.
She only brought it up casually during dinner that evening.
But that one sentence made the atmosphere at the dinner table instantly turn cold.
Mrs. Zhao didn’t know what was wrong and thought her son was upset with her for being too lenient with Xiang’er.
Flustered, she said, "I already told Xiang’er. She won’t eat many, just one a day. She’ll clean her teeth right after, I promise she won’t ruin them."
Xiang’er, like a startled rabbit, nodded repeatedly. "I really won’t eat too many. Big Brother, believe me."
Chen Wanqing gently patted Zhao Jing, signaling him to stop scowling. He was frightening his mother and Xiang’er.
Reminded by her, Zhao Jing immediately dropped his stern expression.
"Mother, I’m not angry."
Mrs. Zhao looked at her son, feeling wronged. "If you’re not angry, why the long face?"
Hearing this, Zhao Jing’s brow furrowed slightly, but he showed no intention of explaining. Seeing this, Chen Wanqing quickly said, "Mother, please don’t blame Jing. He’s just very worried about Xiang’er."
"What is there to worry about with Xiang’er? She really didn’t eat much candy, just one piece all day today."
Mrs. Zhao looked suspicious and Xiang’er looked aggrieved. Chen Wanqing sighed inwardly and explained the reason to them.
"Jing is worried that the peddler has malicious intentions and is deliberately getting close to Xiang’er."
"What? Why would he have malicious intentions toward us? Why is he getting close to Xiang’er?"
"Sister-in-law, don’t scare me... I-I didn’t think that peddler seemed like a bad person. He was really nice."
Xiang’er stammered as she recounted how she had been about to buy a whole jar of lotus leaf candies, but the peddler stopped her, telling her to buy only ten.
Of course, Xiang’er also told her brother and sister-in-law that the peddler said he would come by often, and he even reminded her to be careful about the candy melting and attracting ants and bees.
At her words, not only did Chen Wanqing and Zhao Jing’s brows furrow tightly, but even Mrs. Zhao clutched her handkerchief, her whole body tensing up.
Having lived several decades longer, Mrs. Zhao could tell something was wrong just by listening to Xiang’er’s story.
Peddlers who roamed the streets and alleys to do business endured the wind and rain every day, practically wearing through two pairs of shoes a month. They worked much harder than ordinary merchants.
Because their work was so hard and Silver Coins were difficult to earn, they would gladly sell spoiled goods to a fool and broken items to a blind man, just to make a few extra copper coins to support their families.
’But listen to what this peddler Xiang’er met was like—so considerate, so thoughtful, so benevolent. Expecting benevolence from these peddlers, who had seen the harsh realities of the world, was like expecting a wolf to eat vegetables. A peddler might be honest, but he would never refuse Silver placed right in front of him. They were the type of people whose eyes lit up at the sight of money; there was no reason for them to turn Silver away. In that case, didn’t the actions of the peddler who came to the village today warrant more consideration?’
Then Chen Wanqing mentioned something else.
"On the day the imperial envoy came to announce the decree, Wanyue went to the river on the outskirts of the city to pick water caltrops. She was pushed into the river and nearly drowned."
Mrs. Zhao and Xiang’er’s eyelids twitched at her words. "What does that have to do with the peddler? Didn’t you say the culprit was already caught?"
The culprit had indeed been caught, and she had a certain background.
The girl was the daughter of the widow who had been fooling around with Chen Lin.
When Mrs. Li found out that Chen Lin had bought the widow a house and property, she was furious and called for reinforcements from her own family.
The whole family went to the small courtyard in the county town, successfully snatched back the house and land deeds, gave the mother and daughter a savage beating, stripped them naked, and threw them out.
With nowhere else to go, the mother and daughter became secret prostitutes.
No one in the Chen family paid any mind to what happened to them after that. Only the local riffraff in the county town, while drinking, would remark in lewd tones on how licentious the widow was, and how tight the young girl was.
Chen Song, however, had remarked afterward, "If that mother and daughter are vicious enough to grow teeth in their bellies, they will definitely get revenge on the third branch of the family one day."
