The Lady Butcher and the Delicate Bride - Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Ever since Mu Dingxiang learned that Mother Mu had been locked in the great jail, she felt no particular ripple in her heart. She didn’t care whether the woman lived or died; she only thought about getting her silver back and nestled in the valley at the end of Furong Village every day to farm.

Old Man Mu naturally couldn’t bring himself to lower his face and beg Mu Dingxiang and Chu Yu to save his old woman, so he had to send Mu Jueming first.

Mu Jueming was ten thousand times unwilling in his heart, but since his old father was the absolute authority in the house, he had no choice but to steel himself and go across the river to find Mu Dingxiang.

Just as he crossed the river, Zhu-er received a notification from her flower and plant sisters in the valley. She ran over with short, quick steps and hugged Mu Dingxiang’s calf, saying, “Mother, a bad person is coming. Don’t be afraid, Mother, Zhu-er will protect you.”

Mu Dingxiang looked up and saw that the one walking over from afar was exactly that boy Mu Jueming. She patted Zhu-er’s bottom to let her turn invisible among the many plants, while she herself bent her waist and silently hoed the ground.

“Hey!”

As soon as Mu Dingxiang heard that “duck-like” voice, she felt irritable, feeling an unprecedented disgust toward this whole family.

“Hey!”

Mu Jueming called several times. Seeing that Mu Dingxiang hadn’t even lifted her head to look at him once, he felt quite displeased. But since he was here to beg for a favor today, it wasn’t good to lose his temper. He could only walk closer and say, “San-ya, have that female husband of yours go and get Mother out.”

Only then did Mu Dingxiang straighten her waist and reply crossly, “What does this have to do with her?”

“How can you say it has nothing to do with her? If she hadn’t intentionally set a trap with someone, would Mother have fallen for it?” Mu Jueming looked displeased.

“What trap did she set? That was a customer’s item, not something she placed there. It was your mother who was greedy for a small advantage and stole someone’s things. What does that have to do with Chu Yu?” Mu Dingxiang said indignantly.

“What do you mean ‘your mother’? Isn’t she your mother too!” Mu Jueming was getting angry.

“From the day she schemed to sell me to Widower Zhang, she stopped being my mother. Moreover, that day when Chu Yu took me away, your whole family took twenty taels of silver and agreed that we wouldn’t associate with each other anymore. It hasn’t been long, and yet there’s stealing meat, stealing silver, and then coming to ask our Chu Yu to get someone out of jail. Your memory is truly short.” Mu Dingxiang let out a cold snort, showing no mercy at all.

Furthermore, when Mother Mu dug up those two taels of her silver, their whole family must have benefited, and the meat stolen back from Chu Yu was also eaten by the whole family. No one was innocent.

Thinking of this, the anger in her heart grew even more. She said to Mu Jueming, “Go back and ask your ‘good’ mother if she felt comfortable using those two taels of silver she dug up from under the tree.”

After speaking, she bent back down to continue her work, ignoring him further.

Hearing about the two taels of silver, Mu Jueming was completely at a loss. He wasn’t a patient person to begin with, and after being rebuked like that by Mu Dingxiang, his face turned red and he was speechless. He secretly cursed “wretch” and left.

Mu Jueming failed to persuade Mu Dingxiang and returned to relay her words to Old Man Mu. Only then did Old Man Mu learn that his old woman had not only stolen meat from the son-in-law’s butcher shop but had also dug up the money saved by the third daughter. He felt a surge of anger.

You good-for-nothing San-ya, hiding money and not leaving it for your parents, and yet you dare harbor resentment after being found out by your own mother.

He also couldn’t help but grumble about Mother Mu. Digging up San-ya’s money and not handing it over to him, the head of the household, but instead spending it herself no wonder he saw her buying new clothes and cloth a few days ago; so that’s where the money came from.

But now that the third daughter was full of resentment because of this, what was to be done?

Old Man Mu made a special trip to the jail to see his old woman and asked her about the buried money.

Only then did Mother Mu realize that, besides taking meat twice, the main issue was the money under the tree. She couldn’t understand how that “stinking girl” knew she was the one who took the money she had secretly snatched.

But regardless, they already knew she took the money, and she had suffered this jail time because of it.

In her heart, she cursed that “vicious girl,” thinking if she had known earlier…

But whatever was said was to no avail. Old Man Mu questioned her about the whereabouts of the two taels. Mother Mu had no choice but to tell him the money was hidden in a clay jar under the bed, but five hundred wen had already been spent by her, leaving only one thousand five hundred wen.

Old Man Mu cursed “jinx” and went home with a dark face. He took the money from under the bed and added another five hundred wen to make up the two taels, then personally made a trip to the end of the village.

When he arrived, Chu Yu and Mu Dingxiang were eating. Old Man Mu glanced at the table—two plates of meat and one of greens and couldn’t help but swallow his saliva. The food in this “third son-in-law’s” house was truly good. But Chu Yu had no intention of inviting him to eat, sitting there without looking at him.

Looking at Old Man Mu’s wrinkled face, Mu Dingxiang had no good feelings toward him either. Although Mother Mu was the one who stepped forward to do the wicked deeds, without this man’s approval and tacit consent, how could Mother Mu have done things like scamming several daughters? In that house, she had rarely eaten a hot meal, and he never asked about her while she worked in the fields every day. If there were a mastermind, this man was the true person behind the scenes.

Mu Dingxiang thought clearly and didn’t have a very good expression toward him.

Old Man Mu looked at the daughter he hadn’t seen in over half a month and almost couldn’t recognize her. The clothes she wore were made of fine fabric, making her small face look clean and fair. Her originally sunken face was starting to gain some flesh, and she looked much more spirited—far more beautiful than before.

Listening to the sound of the two of them eating, he swallowed his saliva and said, “San-ya, Father has come to return the silver your mother accidentally dug up under the tree. See if you can, for the sake of us raising you for so many years, have your husband find that victim to withdraw the lawsuit and let your mother come home.”

Mu Dingxiang hadn’t expected Old Man Mu to actually come to the door and return the silver. Her heart was full of excitement. She looked back at Chu Yu, who arched an eyebrow at her. Without a word, she stepped forward and took back her two taels of silver.

“This silver was mine to begin with. It’s only right and natural for me to take back my own money. As for Mother, I can’t say much; after all, the silver she took that day wasn’t mine.”

Old Man Mu, rebuked so sharply by his daughter, didn’t dare to put on a stern face and slap her as he usually did. He only said sheepishly, “Your mother had a moment of ‘old confusion’ and thought it was her own son-in-law’s money pouch, so she accidentally took the wrong one.”

“What? Just because it’s your own son-in-law’s money pouch, you can take it as you please? What kind of logic is that!” Chu Yu said coldly.

“Ahem, the old woman is ‘old and confused.’ I’ve already lectured her, and after receiving this beating, she’s realized her mistake. Dingxiang, think about it—your mother’s health isn’t good. If she stays in that jail for a few more days, I’m afraid she’ll fall ill, and then she’ll be gone before you know it.”

Chu Yu looked at Mu Dingxiang, wanting to ask her opinion.

Mu Dingxiang didn’t speak, letting her decide.

The matter of Mother Mu entering the yamen was indeed a trap set by Chu Yu. Morally speaking, it was improper, but truly no one forced her to take someone else’s silver and run. Moreover, that meat and money pouch were placed there for an entire morning; so many people passed by, and not one person took them. Only she came and took them immediately—who could be blamed for that?

However, her original intention was only to teach her a lesson for her habit of reaching out to take meat twice at the butcher shop. Otherwise, if it continued, who could withstand someone coming to steal meat every few days?

Mainly, she wanted to help Mu Dingxiang vent her anger and incidentally get those two taels of silver back. Now that these goals had been achieved, she didn’t want to dwell on it further.

After receiving such a beating, presumably that woman had learned her lesson and should be quiet for a while.

Thinking of this, Chu Yu set down her chopsticks and spoke, looking troubled, “The person whose money was stolen is also a regular customer. Tomorrow I will visit him and ask him to withdraw the lawsuit. But let me say the ugly words first: whether he listens to me or not, I can’t make any guarantees.”

Having received this sentence, Old Man Mu hurriedly bowed and scraped, “As long as you go, there will definitely be no problem. I’ll leave the old woman to you.”

After speaking, he left while swallowing his saliva. Those two plates of meat dishes made his whole stomach growl with hunger. These two were truly disrespectful to their elder; meeting at mealtime and yet not inviting him to eat together truly outrageous.

Thinking that because of his old woman, he had to take back five hundred wen from that previous twenty taels, his heart ached. He cursed his old woman in his mind and walked quickly toward the other side of the river.

Chu Yu saw that Mu Dingxiang had stopped eating and was opening her money pouch to count the coins. She laughed and said, “I gave you money and you didn’t want it, yet you treasure these two taels like this.”

Mu Dingxiang didn’t even lift her head. “Of course. I saved these two taels for six years. In those six years, sometimes I only earned one wen a day, and sometimes I didn’t earn a single wen for several days. For the sake of one wen, I could go hungry for several days.”

Hearing her say this, Chu Yu patted her head pityingly and said, “Alright, the bitter days are over. In the future, I won’t let you suffer such hardship again.”

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