But just at that moment, a familiar figure appeared outside the courtyard wall of Su Wanxing’s house. It was her grandmother, Li Cuihua! Su Wanxing frowned, not understanding why Li Cuihua had come here in the middle of the night.
In truth, Li Cuihua had been thinking about the money in Su Wanxing’s house. She figured that after her daughter had someone kidnap Su Wanxing, she could sneak in and search for valuables. Unexpectedly, just as she reached the courtyard wall, Li San, Wang Wu, and the others hiding in the corner spotted her.
The night was dark, and Li San and the others only saw a slender figure wandering outside the wall. They thought it was Su Wanxing who had come out. The men exchanged glances and suddenly rushed forward, covering Li Cuihua’s mouth and quickly tying her up with a rope. Li Cuihua was so frightened that her soul nearly left her body. She tried to struggle but couldn’t break free, only able to make muffled “mmph” sounds.
“Don’t make a sound! If you do, we’ll kill you!” Li San said viciously. Then he and Wang Wu lifted Li Cuihua up and hurried toward the county town. Afraid of being discovered, they moved quickly, never noticing they had kidnapped the wrong person.
Through the camera, Su Wanxing watched the whole scene. She was stunned at first, then couldn’t help but laugh. She hadn’t expected the people Su Baozhu hired to be so stupid that they had actually kidnapped their own grandmother. It was truly like lifting a rock only to smash one’s own foot. Su Wanxing decided not to expose them yet and instead watch how the situation would unfold.
After a long, bumpy journey, Li San and the others finally arrived at the gate of Zhang Mansion in the county town just before dawn. The steward of Zhang Mansion had already received the notice and was waiting at the gate. Seeing them carrying a tied-up person, he quickly stepped forward.
“Did you bring the person?”
“We brought her! Steward, don’t worry—this is definitely Su Wanxing!” Li San said, panting heavily.
The steward stepped closer and took a careful look in the morning light. He froze instantly. The person tied up in front of him was not a young girl at all—it was clearly a gray-haired old woman! The steward’s face darkened immediately.
“What nonsense is this? This is not Su Wanxing!”
Li San and Wang Wu were stunned as well. They rushed forward to look more closely and were equally dumbfounded. It was indeed not Su Wanxing but Su Wanxing’s grandmother, Li Cuihua! Their hearts skipped a beat as they realized they had kidnapped the wrong person. Their legs nearly went weak.
“How… how did this happen? We clearly saw a young girl. How did she turn into an old woman?”
“Useless fools! A bunch of useless fools!” the steward cursed angrily. “You can’t even kidnap the right person, yet you dare come to Zhang Mansion for a reward? Bring them inside immediately and let Master Zhang deal with them!”
Li San and the others dared not resist. They could only carry Li Cuihua inside and follow the steward into Zhang Mansion.
At that time, Master Zhang had already woken up and was drinking tea in the main hall. When he heard that they had kidnapped the wrong person—and even brought an old woman—he flew into a rage and smashed his teacup to the ground.
“Outrageous! How dare they make a fool of me! Bring them in!”
Li San, Wang Wu, and the others were brought in together with Li Cuihua, who had been untied. The moment Li Cuihua saw Master Zhang, she dropped to her knees with a thud and cried loudly.
“Spare me, sir! Spare me! I’m not Su Wanxing—I’m her grandmother, Li Cuihua. They kidnapped the wrong person!”
Master Zhang looked at her with a furious expression.
“You say they kidnapped the wrong person? Who told you to kidnap someone?”
Li San and Wang Wu were terrified out of their wits. Not daring to hide anything, they quickly confessed everything about Su Baozhu hiring them to kidnap someone.
“It… it was Su Baozhu from Su Family Hollow. She told us to kidnap her cousin’s niece, Su Wanxing. We didn’t expect that we accidentally kidnapped the wrong person…”
“Su Baozhu?” Master Zhang frowned and then sneered. “What nerve that woman has, daring to make a fool of me. It seems she’s tired of living.”
He stood up and turned to the steward.
“Steward, take several servants with you immediately and go to Su Family Hollow. Bring Su Baozhu and her entire family here. I want to personally ask them how they plan to compensate for my losses!”
“Yes, Master Zhang!” the steward replied at once.
He quickly gathered several strong household guards and headed aggressively toward Su Family Hollow.
Li Cuihua, meanwhile, was locked up by the people of Zhang Mansion to await punishment. She was filled with fear and regret, constantly cursing Su Baozhu. If she had known Su Baozhu would hire such idiots, she would never have gone to Su Wanxing’s house in the middle of the night to steal.
The steward and the guards rode quickly and soon arrived at Su Family Hollow.
At that time, the people of the Su family’s old house had just woken up and were preparing breakfast in the courtyard. When they saw a group of fierce-looking strangers entering the yard, they were all stunned.
“Who are you? What are you doing in our house?” Su Yuan asked with a frown.
The steward snorted coldly and swept his gaze across the crowd.
“We are from Zhang Mansion! Who is Su Baozhu?”
When Su Baozhu heard the words “Zhang Mansion,” her heart skipped a beat and a bad feeling rose in her chest. Still, she forced herself to step forward.
“I am Su Baozhu. What do you want with me?”
“What do we want?” the steward sneered. “Su Baozhu, you’ve got some nerve! You dared to hire people who kidnapped the wrong person and made a fool of our Master Zhang! Our master has spoken: either you compensate 500 taels of silver for the losses, or you give our master a pure young maiden as compensation! Otherwise, your whole family will be sent to the authorities for the crime of mocking a powerful man!”
“What?” The people of the Su family’s old house were all stunned, staring at one another.
Su Baozhu’s face turned deathly pale as she trembled.
“No… impossible! I clearly told them to kidnap Su Wanxing. How could they kidnap the wrong person—and even bring her to Zhang Mansion?”
“Hmph. The useless men you hired couldn’t even kidnap the right person. They ended up kidnapping your own mother and bringing her to Zhang Mansion!” the steward said coldly. “There’s no point talking about it now. Give us an answer immediately—either 500 taels of silver, or a pure young maiden!”
Five hundred taels of silver!
For the Su family’s old house, it was an astronomical sum. Even if they sold everything in the house, they couldn’t gather that much money. With Su Yuan and Li Cuihua absent, the eldest and second uncles were as anxious as ants on a hot pan. They kept looking at Su Baozhu.
“Baozhu, what should we do? Hurry and think of something!”
Su Baozhu was also panicking. She definitely didn’t want to be sent to prison. Suddenly, her eyes lit up as she thought of an idea.
She looked toward her cousin Su Dayā, the eldest uncle’s daughter. Su Dayā was fifteen years old. Although her looks were ordinary and her figure not very good, she was still a pure maiden.
Su Baozhu said, “Steward, I have an idea. My cousin Su Dayā is a pure maiden. I’ll give her to Master Zhang as a concubine. Would that be acceptable?”
When the eldest aunt heard this, she immediately panicked.
“Baozhu! What nonsense are you talking about? Dayā is my daughter! I plan to marry her off for a bride price. How can she be given to Master Zhang as a concubine for nothing!”
“That’s right! Baozhu, how can you target Dayā!” the eldest uncle said angrily.