Chapter 682 - 681 Redemption
Lady Qian’s body went limp, collapsing to the ground, muttering incessantly, "Jinchai... my Jinchai..."
Hearing the noise outside, Shopkeeper Qian and Lady Qian’s mother rushed in anxiously, helped Lady Qian up, and cautiously asked, "What’s the matter? Can’t we just talk things out?"
Lady Qian burst into tears, "Father, Mother, my Jinchai, Jinchai is going to be sold—"
Upon hearing this, Mother Qian became frantic, "Wasn’t she supposed to become the County Magistrate’s concubine? Even if the County Magistrate has encountered trouble, what does it have to do with our Jinchai? Can’t we just bring her back home? How could she be sold?"
Shopkeeper Qian had already inquired about the news, and at this moment managed to stay calm, only looking to Wang Yongan, "Son-in-law, what should we do? Today, I went to inquire about the situation, and it appears that all the women in the County Magistrate’s household, aside from his wife, have been registered as official servants and already taken away by traffickers. They said that in the next couple of days, they are going to take them to be sold in distant places! Our Jinchai is still among them!"
Upon hearing this, Lady Qian’s sorrow surged from within, and she couldn’t help but sob, "My Jinchai! If I’d known, Mother would have fought to the death to prevent you from becoming a concubine! Now, a perfectly good Scholar family’s daughter has become an official servant! What kind of misfortune is this—"
Wang Yongan, who had woken up by now and was feeling the diminishing effects of the medicine, began to feel heat and pain again. Already irritated, hearing Lady Qian crying and blaming him implicitly for sending his daughter to the County Magistrate as a concubine,
he scoffed coldly, "Now that Jinchai is not here, why put on the act of a loving mother? Who are you performing for? Had you truly been unwilling, had you used your life to threaten, perhaps Jinchai could have stayed at home and not suffer this ordeal. But you consented at the time! Did you not think of enjoying the benefits through Jinchai’s influence? Now that something has happened, all the blame suddenly falls on me!"
Lady Qian just kept crying, while Shopkeeper Qian tried to mediate, "Son-in-law, shall we gather some Silver to redeem Jinchai?"