“Four taels of silver! All you have to do is press your fingerprint, and the money belongs to the Zhou family!”
Four silver ingots sat on the table.
Zhou Qinghe stared at them, her face deathly pale.
She was fifteen years old.
In just half an hour, someone from the embroidery workshop in town would come to take her away.
“Qinghe, what are you standing there for? Hurry up and get over here!”
Madam Ma sat beside the table, looking thoroughly impatient.
“Your Cousin will be preparing to take the Tongsheng exam next year. The family is short on money right now. If you work at the embroidery workshop for a few years, you can learn a skill and help support the family at the same time. What’s wrong with that? It’s a wonderful opportunity!”
Zhou Qinghe lowered her head, her fingers clutching the corner of her clothes tightly.
She didn’t want to go.
But her grandfather, who sat at the head of the table, had already agreed. Her grandmother hadn’t objected either.
As a girl, what right did she have to make decisions for herself?
“Auntie, does my sister really have to go?”
A soft, childish voice suddenly broke the silence.
Everyone looked down.
Beside the table, a little boy had appeared out of nowhere.
He was four and a half years old, not even as tall as the table, and wore a blue short jacket that had been washed so many times its color had faded.
His chubby little face was framed by a pair of unusually bright eyes.
He was none other than the youngest son of the Zhou family’s second branch, Zhou Xiaozhou.
Madam Ma frowned.
“Xiaozhou, grown-ups are talking. Children shouldn’t interrupt. Go play with your Third Sister.”
Zhou Xiaozhou didn’t move.
He stared at the contract on the table, cursing inwardly.
Good grief.
Other people transmigrated and became princes or sons of noble families.
But him?
He’d been born into a dirt-poor farming family, spent more than four years eating coarse grain, and had only just grown big enough to run around the courtyard. And now he had to stand by and watch his own sister get sold off!
In his previous life, he’d been nothing more than an ordinary wage earner, but at least he’d received an education and seen a bit of the world.
He could read the contract perfectly well.
“Four taels of silver, and you’re taking my sister away for six years?”
Zhou Xiaozhou tilted his little head back, his expression utterly innocent.
The room fell silent.
Madam Liu was the first to react.
“Xiaozhou, what did you just say?”
“Six years!”
Zhou Xiaozhou held up both little hands.
He spread all five fingers on one hand, then raised a single finger on the other.
“That’s how many!”
He even gave his hands an extra shake for emphasis.
“Mother, six years from now, Xiaozhou will already be ten! Does that mean Sister has to wait until Xiaozhou is this big before she can come home?”
Madam Ma’s expression shifted slightly.
“Don’t talk nonsense! Who told you it was six years?”
“It says so right here.”
Zhou Xiaozhou rose onto his tiptoes and pointed at the contract on the table.
Madam Ma hurriedly snatched up the paper.
“What does a little child know about written characters? You’ve never even been to the xuetang. What could you possibly know about six years?”
“I know!”
Zhou Xiaozhou blinked his bright eyes.
“Six is three more than three. Auntie just said three years, but the paper says six!”
He delivered this explanation with complete seriousness.
Madam Liu shot to her feet.
“Sister-in-law, didn’t you just say three years?”
Madam Ma’s eyes flickered.
“I said three years! Of course it’s three years! The child must have read it wrong. Why are you all making such a fuss over nonsense?”
The intermediary sitting nearby cleared his throat.
“Well… perhaps the child misread it.”
“Then let’s have someone who can read check it!”
This time, Madam Liu refused to back down.
She pulled Zhou Qinghe over and shielded her daughter behind her.
“My Qinghe is going away to work. Everything about the years she’ll spend there is written on that piece of paper. Are you telling me we don’t even have the right to make sure we understand what’s written?”
Madam Ma was annoyed.
“Younger sister-in-law, what exactly are you implying? Would I really harm my own niece?”
“I never said that.”
Madam Liu gritted her teeth.
“But my daughter is only fifteen. Three years is already a long time. If it’s six, she’ll be twenty-one before she comes home!”
“So what if she’s twenty-one? Working outside the home won’t make her lose a limb!”
“Then why doesn’t your Wenli go out and work?”
The moment Madam Liu said those words, the room fell silent.
Madam Ma slammed her hand against the table.
“Liu Yun! What kind of nonsense are you spouting?!”
“Wenli is the Zhou family’s promising young scholar! He’s destined to become a Xiucai, perhaps even an official through the imperial exams! How can a girl like Qinghe possibly compare to her Cousin Wenli?”
Madam Liu trembled with anger.
Zhou Qinghe quickly reached out to support her mother.
“Mother, please don’t argue.”
Her eyes were red.
“It’s fine. I’ll go. Please don’t ruin your relationship with Eldest Aunt because of me.”
Zhou Xiaozhou grew anxious when he heard that.
His sister was wonderful in every way, except that she was far too considerate.
Whenever there was something delicious to eat, she’d rather go hungry herself than keep even a bite from her three younger siblings.
Last month, when he fell ill, she’d carried him on her back to find the village doctor. Her heels had been rubbed raw and bleeding, yet she hadn’t uttered a single complaint.
Now that his sister was the one being wronged, how could he possibly pretend he hadn’t seen anything?
“Sister, if you don’t want to go, then don’t go!”
Zhou Xiaozhou ran over and wrapped his little arms around his sister’s leg.
“It’s not like our family has nothing to eat. Why do they have to send you away?”
Tears spilled down Zhou Qinghe’s cheeks.
“Be good, Xiaozhou. Your sister will go earn some money. Then I’ll buy you candy when I come back.”
“I don’t want candy!”
Zhou Xiaozhou puffed out his cheeks indignantly.
“I just want my sister!”
Those words brought tears to Madam Liu’s eyes.
Even Old Madam Feng, who had been sitting silently to the side all this time, looked somewhat uncomfortable.
She was biased toward her eldest grandson.
Wenli had already spent several years studying, and his teacher had said he had a good chance of passing the Tongsheng exam.
The Zhou family had been farming for generations. Now that they finally had a promising young scholar among them, of course she was willing to spend extra money to support his studies.
But Zhou Qinghe was her own granddaughter, too.
The reason she’d initially agreed to send the girl to the embroidery workshop was that Madam Ma had promised it would only be a three-year labor contract. After those three years, the girl could come home and get married.
Six years was an entirely different matter.
“Eldest son’s wife, bring me the contract.”
Old Madam Feng finally spoke.
Madam Ma’s heart sank.
“Mother, it’s just a few things a child said without thinking. Surely you aren’t going to believe him?”
“I said, bring it here!”
Old Madam Feng raised her voice.
Madam Ma had no choice but to put the contract back on the table.
Old Madam Feng had never attended school.
She stared at the paper for a long time but couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
Just then, Zhou Laogen, who had been sitting by the doorway smoking his dry tobacco pipe, put it down.
“Go fetch Third Uncle.”
“Third Uncle knows how to read. Let him look at it.”
Madam Ma immediately fell silent.
Zhou Xiaozhou watched everything closely, and he was beginning to understand.
So the contract really did have something wrong with it.
Before long, his Third Sister, Zhou Xiaozao, led Third Master Zhou into the courtyard.
The little girl had seen her mother arguing with Eldest Aunt earlier and had quietly slipped out to fetch someone.
Third Master Zhou was over sixty. In his younger days, he’d worked as a bookkeeper in town. Whenever anyone in the village needed a contract written or a written document deciphered, they often went to him for help.
As soon as he entered, Zhou Laogen invited him over to the table.
“Third Uncle, could you take a look and tell us exactly how many years it says?”
Third Master Zhou took the contract and examined it carefully.
The longer he read, the tighter his brows furrowed.
“Who said it was three years?”
He looked up.
“It’s written right here in black and white. Six years.”
The smile on Madam Ma’s face froze.
Third Master Zhou continued,
“It also says that during those six years, she isn’t allowed to leave the workshop on her own without the employer’s permission. And if she falls ill or gets injured while working, she’ll have to pay for her own medicine.”
Madam Liu felt the world go dark before her eyes.
Six years!
Her daughter was only fifteen!
She wouldn’t even be free to come home for six whole years. And if she fell ill while away, who would take care of her?
She turned and glared at Madam Ma.
“Sister-in-law, is this the wonderful opportunity you were talking about?”
Madam Ma felt guilty under her stare, but she still refused to admit she’d done anything wrong.
“So what if it’s six years? The embroidery workshop provides food and lodging, and they’re paying four taels of silver upfront. Plenty of people would love to get a job like that but can’t!”
“Besides, if it weren’t for Wenli’s studies, why would I go to all this trouble?”
Third Master Zhou shook his head repeatedly.
“Eldest son’s wife, this isn’t something you can just brush aside by saying it’s six years.”
“The girl has only recently come of age. Your family agreed on three years, yet you’ve brought a six-year contract for her to put her fingerprint on. If something happens later, who will you answer to?”
Seeing that things weren’t going his way, the intermediary hurriedly reached for the silver.
“If your family hasn’t reached an agreement, then let’s just forget the whole thing.”
Zhou Xiaozhou immediately stepped in front of the table.
“Wait!”
The intermediary jumped in fright.
“You little ancestor, what else do you want?”
Zhou Xiaozhou seriously pointed at the contract.
“You have to take the paper with you, too. You can’t secretly leave it behind!”
Though he was young, he knew that the biggest trouble in situations like this came from leaving things unresolved.
His sister hadn’t pressed her fingerprint on the contract, so the agreement hadn’t been finalized.
They might as well settle everything cleanly in front of everyone.
Third Master Zhou nodded.
“The child is right.”
He handed the contract to the intermediary.
“Let’s make this clear in front of me today. Zhou Qinghe isn’t going to the embroidery workshop, and you’re taking these four taels of silver back with you. Don’t ever bring this contract to the Zhou family again to demand that the girl be handed over.”
The intermediary didn’t dare linger any longer.
He collected the silver, tucked the contract away, and hurried out.
Madam Ma was so furious that her face turned green.
“Four taels of silver!”
She pointed at Madam Liu, her voice rising to a shrill pitch.
“Look what you’ve done! Now the money’s gone. How are we supposed to pay Wenli’s shuxiu next year?”
“If he can’t continue his studies, will your second branch take responsibility?”
“I will!”
A man’s voice suddenly rang out from beyond the courtyard gate.
Everyone turned around at once.
They saw Zhou Shoushan striding in from outside, his forehead covered in sweat.
He’d been working in the fields just moments ago. Worried that her mother might be bullied, Zhou Xiaozao had specifically run to fetch him.
On the way back, the little girl had already told him most of what had happened.
Now that he’d heard his elder sister-in-law’s words with his own ears, Zhou Shoushan’s expression darkened considerably.
“Sister-in-law, Wenli needs to study. As his uncle, I’m willing to do my part to support him.”
“But Qinghe is my own daughter!”
“You want to trade six years of my daughter’s life for four taels of silver. Shouldn’t you at least ask me, her father, whether I agree first?”