Tang Qing'er's face was icy, her tone leaving no room for doubt: "This family is about to sell us mother and daughter—the deed of sale is already written! If we don't divorce now, where will we find a way to survive?"
She paused, her gaze sweeping over the crowd, then continued: "As for where we mother and daughter will go after the divorce, there's no need for the village chief to worry."
The village chief had thought she might compromise on this practical issue, and had even prepared how to persuade her to "consider the bigger picture" afterward.
Liu Wangcai and his wife, meanwhile, were secretly calculating that once the current commotion died down in a few days, they would definitely sell off this insolent wretch as soon as possible, to avoid having her cause trouble at home every day.
None of them expected Tang Qing'er to be so resolute.
Seeing there was no room for compromise, the village chief could only turn to Liu Wangcai and say: "Wangcai, your family has done such a thing. Now this girl is determined to divorce Jian. I can't just favor your family and disregard the whole village."
With that, he stepped forward to untie Liu Jian. The moment his hands and feet were free, Liu Jian tore off the cloth blindfold and the rag stuffed in his mouth.
His voice hoarse, he spat: "You wretch, don't even think about divorce! I've already sold you to the Wang family."
Liu Lishi hurried forward to cover her son's mouth, then viciously shouted at Tang Qing'er: "Our family only has repudiation, no divorce! If you want to leave my son, we'll give you a letter of repudiation. Take it and get out of my house! As for the two little brats, they're the seed of our old Liu family—don't even think about taking them."
Tang Qing'er sneered: "You think it's up to you? Either sign the divorce agreement and the severance papers for the two children, or send your son to jail."
Liu Lishi trembled with rage, stammering for a long while before managing to say: "You… you poisonous woman!"
The village chief pulled Liu Wangcai aside and whispered with him for a long time. Liu Wangcai's expression turned extremely ugly. After quite a while, he finally walked over, his face dark: "Fine, we'll give you the divorce papers. You can take the children."
Liu Jian, thinking of the seven taels of silver he was about to receive from selling his wife and daughter—now about to go down the drain—wanted to protest, but was silenced by a cold glare from Liu Wangcai. He had always been most afraid of his father; though resentful, he dared not make a scene.
Finally, under the village chief's witness, they signed the divorce agreement and tossed it contemptuously at Tang Qing'er: "Take those two burdens and get out."
Tang Qing'er said coldly: "And the severance papers."
Liu Jian jumped up: "Don't push your luck! I've already given you the divorce papers, and now you want the kids to sever ties with me?"
Liu Jian's mind was racing with calculations.
He thought: So what if this woman takes the son and daughter away? He would have plenty of chances to still sell off that worthless daughter. As for the son, he was still so young. Once Tang Qing'er had raised him with all her effort, he could just show up—surely his own son wouldn't really abandon his biological father?
But he never expected this woman to be so ruthless, insisting on those damn severance papers!
Tang Qing'er carefully put away the divorce agreement, her face expressionless, but her tone carrying an undeniable pressure: "Jail, or severance. Choose one."
Liu Jian trembled with anger, about to explode, when Liu Lishi pulled him aside and whispered urgently: "Son, you can't go to jail! Just give her the severance papers."
So what if there's a severance letter? Those two children are still your flesh and blood, no matter what.
If you really have plans for the future, it's not impossible to make them happen."
Liu Jian felt somewhat appeased by his mother's words, his anger subsiding a bit.
His eyes rolled around as he began scheming again in his mind.
He turned around boldly, putting on an indifferent air:
"It's just a severance letter, isn't it? I'll give it to you!
As long as I want, plenty of women are willing to bear my children. I don't even care for the two you gave birth to!"
After saying this, he wrote another severance letter and threw it to Tang Qing'er. Tang Qing'er knew this man was cunning and deceitful.
She picked up the severance letter and examined it carefully, only to find that it only listed their daughter's name. Unpleased, she spoke up: "Write our son's name as well."
Liu Jian was taken aback. He had thought this woman was illiterate and could be easily fooled, but it turned out she could read.
So he made an excuse: "That little brat doesn't even have a name yet. How am I supposed to write it?"
Tang Qing'er thought for a moment: "My son is named Tang Tang. Write it."
Upon hearing that this wretched woman had changed their son's surname, Liu Jian was about to explode in anger again.
But he was glared back into submission by his father standing nearby, and reluctantly added their son's name.
Tang Qing'er carefully stored the hard-won severance letter. She turned and walked toward the woodshed, intending to gather her and the children's belongings.
Truth be told, there wasn't much to pack. The original owner had lived a miserable life in the Liu family, with hardly any clothes to her name—
all of them were tattered rags piled with patches. Her main goal was to find something to temporarily wrap her son in.
It was truly heartbreaking to think about it. Her son was already over half a month old, yet he didn't even have a proper swaddling blanket.
The original owner had no choice but to wash the only relatively less-patched old garment she owned,
tear it into strips, and use them as a diaper under the child's bottom.
As for covering the child, they only had the one tattered bedsheet shared among the mother and her two daughters.
Fortunately, it was summer now; otherwise, this poor child would surely have frozen to death.
Liu Lishi followed her at a distance, cursing incessantly:
"You jinx, get out of my house quickly. Don't even think about taking anything from us."
She didn't dare get too close to Tang Qing'er, afraid of being beaten, but she still wanted to keep an eye on her to prevent anything from being taken.
Tang Qing'er entered the woodshed and saw her daughter huddled by the bed,
acting like a little adult as she tried to soothe her whimpering younger brother on the bed.
She quickly folded the bedsheet to the desired size, wrapped a few pieces of clothing inside, and bundled up her son.
Holding her son in one arm and taking her daughter's hand with the other, she said:
"Da Ya, come with Mother. Let's leave this den of wolves. No one will ever hit or scold you again."
The little girl, tears streaming down her face, nodded heavily. Tang Qing'er led her daughter past Liu Lishi, who spat venomously:
"Get out, get out! Go starve to death, you three debt-collecting ghosts. Remember, don't come begging at my door—I have no food to spare for you."
Tang Qing'er ignored her completely. With dignity and composure, she carried one child and held the other's hand as she walked out of Liu Wangcai's house.
She passed through the path cleared by the villagers and took the road leading out of the village.
Yet, she couldn't help but feel lost: "Where to go is truly a problem. Returning to Tangjia Village is out of the question.
She needed to find a way to quickly settle in a village and register as a female-headed household. Otherwise, if that vicious couple from the Tang family found out,
they might try to sell her off a second time—something she could never allow.
However, the next destination for the mother and her two children became a problem. Tang Qing'er walked while trying hard to recall, attempting to find some helpful information from the original host's memories.