The wicked mother-in-law doesn't try to whitewash herself; she only abuses her awful children.

"Mother, what should we do? This jade pendant is an heirloom of Magistrate Liu's family. Young Master Liu sent us to retrieve it, saying that he wouldn't pursue the matter if Chunwang returned it. Now that the pendant is broken, how are we supposed to explain this to Young Master Liu?"

Gu Taohua looked distressed.

“Magistrate Liu doesn’t know yet, but he will find out sooner or later. Once he does, things will be much more difficult.” Tong Huaqiong looked at Chunwang with sympathy and scolded him, “Chunwang, you too, you can play around with Young Master Liu, but why did you touch his jade pendant? Don’t you know that a young master from an official family like him is not like us from the countryside? The clothes and accessories he wears are often heirlooms. If we damage them, we can’t afford to pay for them.”

Tong Huaqiong looked heartbroken.

"Tell me, what should we do? We can hide the broken jade pendant from Lord Liu for a while, but not for long. He'll find out eventually. I'm at my wit's end. Maybe we should have Chunwang come with me to the county government office to apologize to Lord Liu. Perhaps he'll forgive us then." Tong Huaqiong plopped down on a stool, looking like she had no other choice.

"Great Heat Mother, Chunwang can't go to the county government office," Granny Luo pleaded, holding the trembling Chunwang.

Her grandson broke someone's ancestral jade pendant; would Magistrate Liu let him off the hook?

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Tong Huaqiong asked.

Cao lowered her head and wept, wanting to plead with Tong Huaqiong, but she also knew that her son had caused a great disaster. The jade pendant was broken, and what good could Tong Huaqiong do? It was impossible to restore the jade pendant.

"Sister Luo, if I may say something inappropriate, your Chunwang is not a child anymore, how come he is so immature? He has learned to steal at such a young age. They say you can tell what a person will be like at three years old. If he steals a needle when he is young, he can steal a cow when he grows up. Chunwang has not even grown up yet and he already knows how to steal jade pendants."

Tong Huaqiong's words, which implied theft, stung Granny Luo and Cao Fugui.

Granny Luo argued, "My Chunwang didn't break the jade pendant on purpose."

Tong Huaqiong interrupted Granny Luo: "Regardless of whether it was intentional or not, it's true that he stole the jade pendant, right? It's true that he broke the jade pendant, right? Why don't you go and tell Lord Liu that your grandson didn't intentionally break someone's ancestral jade pendant? I'm not saying this to be mean, but Chunwang is like this because you spoiled him. Tell me, what should we do? Should you take the blame or let Fugui take it?"

“I heard this ancestral jade pendant is worth a thousand taels of silver. Who can afford to pay for it? Even if you and my family were to be combined, we still couldn’t afford it.”

When Granny Luo heard that it was a thousand taels of silver, she was so frightened that she almost fainted.

Chunwang was so frightened that he burst into tears on the spot.

One thousand taels of silver!
He only wanted to get revenge on Liu Yanhong; he never expected the jade pendant to be so expensive.

He wore such an expensive jade pendant on his waist without caring at all?

He didn't know how the jade pendant had broken into two pieces.

Cao was so frightened that tears streamed down her face.

"I didn't know the jade pendant was so expensive. I just wanted to get revenge on Liu Yanhong. He's the one who wouldn't let me steal Chunni's corn."

"I don't know how the jade pendant broke; I didn't drop it."

Chunwang's cries shook the heavens.

Tong Huaqiong clicked her tongue in amazement: "So young and already knows how to take revenge."

Tian Fugui was annoyed by Chunwang's crying, and on top of that, he was pressured by the family's demand for a thousand taels of silver in compensation. In anger, he grabbed Chunwang and started beating him with the sole of his shoe.

"I'll teach you to steal!"

"You good-for-nothing! Of all people to steal from, you had to steal from the magistrate's son."

"A thousand taels of silver, even if you were sold, it wouldn't be enough to pay it back."

Tian Fugui cursed as he struck hard.

Chunwang was beaten and cried loudly.

Grandma Luo felt sorry for her grandson and tried to stop her son.

He stopped him while yelling, "Why did you hit him?"

"Would the jade pendant be intact even if you killed him?"

"Kill me before you kill him."

Grandma Luo couldn't stop her son from hitting her eldest grandson with the sole of his shoe, and he lay down stiffly in front of Tian Fugui.

Cao Shi cried as she tried to stop Tian Fugui and then blocked her mother-in-law.

For a moment, the Tian family was thrown into chaos. Tong Huaqiong and Gu Taohua remained calm and composed in their chairs, perfectly behaving as dutiful bystanders.

When Chunwang was beaten, Tong Huaqiong showed a gloating attitude.

Although he was spoiled by his family, he is not entirely innocent.

He deserves to be beaten just for stealing someone's jade pendant in order to get revenge on Liu Yanhong.

If this child had been born into the Gu family, she would have disciplined him properly long ago.

"I do not care!"

Grandma Luo leaped up like a crucian carp to stop Tian Fugui, who threw down his shoes and collapsed to the ground.

"Chunwang, did it hurt?" Cao Shi held Chunwang's hand, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Go away."

Chunwang was beaten so badly that his buttocks were so sore they were bleeding. It was the first time he had ever been beaten in his life.

He was holding back his anger and vented it all on Cao Shi, kicking and hitting her.

Tong Huaqiong watched all this with a cold eye. Chunwang was not as good as Yaozu. When Yaozu was unruly, he was always respectful to his elders.

This child is hopeless.

A shadow flashed at the doorway, and Tong Huaqiong saw Chunni by the moonlight.

Chunni seemed to have a pleased smile on her lips.

"Grandma Dashu, I beg you, please think of a way to stop Chunwang from being taken away. A thousand taels of silver, heavens, even if we kill and sell everyone in the Tian family, we still can't raise that much!" Granny Luo grabbed Tong Huaqiong's clothes and pleaded without regard for her image.

Tong Huaqiong held the jade pendant, which had been broken into two pieces, in her hand.

I laughed to myself.

This is some kind of heirloom jade pendant? She's just making this up.

This jade pendant was the most inconspicuous and worthless item on Liu Yanhong's person.

“We live in the same village, and since you’ve asked me, I can’t very well not help. I’ve heard that there are skilled craftsmen in the jade shops in the prefectural city who can repair jade. I’ll go to the prefectural city in a few days and see if they can repair it,” Tong Huaqiong said.

Granny Luo and Tian Fugui were very grateful when they heard this.

They knew that Tong Huaqiong had a solution.

As long as the jade pendant can be repaired, anything goes; at least they won't have to raise a thousand taels of silver.

Gu Taohua muttered, "Mother makes it sound so easy. Last time my jade bracelet broke, it cost my third brother ten taels to repair it in the prefectural city. Wouldn't this ancestral jade pendant cost over a hundred taels? I reckon a hundred taels would be the minimum."

With a minimum of one thousand taels of silver, which was beyond their psychological capacity, Granny Luo and Tian Fugui were already numb to the thought of one hundred taels.

"Alright, alright, as long as it can be repaired, one hundred taels it is," Granny Luo said hurriedly as she got up.

Although one hundred taels was enough to empty the Tian family's coffers, compared to one thousand taels and Chunwang's fear of being branded a thief, one hundred taels was nothing.

"We only have twenty taels of silver at home." Tian Fugui revealed his family's financial situation, saying they were still short seventy taels.

If only Chunni had been sent to Heilongtan to be a child bride sooner.

"We don't know the price for repairing this jade pendant. It's up to Tao Hua to decide how much she wants," Tian Fugui said.

Tong Huaqiong stood up and said, "If you're unwilling to repair it, then forget it. You can't afford a thousand taels anyway. Let Chunwang come with me to the county government office then; he won't be able to hide the stolen jade pendant then."

Tian Fugui and Granny Luo were so frightened that they almost knelt down beside Tong Huaqiong.

The story of Chunwang stealing the jade pendant must never be spread.

With tears in her eyes, Cao said to Tong Huaqiong, "Aunt Tong, we're so sorry to trouble you. We'll definitely pay the hundred taels, but we really don't have any money at home. We'll give you twenty taels, but could you postpone paying the remaining seventy taels?" (End of Chapter)