Carrying the little lucky star, leading the villain on the road to exile

Chapter 283. Torture
Xu Shuanghong felt particularly distressed when she saw her daughter's hands covered in chilblains. "Did they leave all the clothes for you to wash again?"

“Yes,” Fan Meibao felt hopeless. “They don’t treat me like a human being at all. They push all the work onto me. I’m a human being, not a beast of burden.”

"My son, please bear with it a little longer. We've come this far, and we can't let all our efforts go to waste."

"But how long must I endure this?" Fan Meibao raised her hands. "Why won't you and my sister help me?"

She has already sacrificed so much, why should she continue to sacrifice?
“Your sister and I have something more important to do,” Xu Shuanghong said, her eyes darting around. “You know what our purpose was before.”

"But I can't take it anymore. If this continues, I'm afraid I won't be able to hold back and tell everyone everything." Fan Meibao has come to realize these past few days that she has been abandoned by her own mother and sister, but on what grounds?
Threatened by her daughter, Xu Shuanghong's expression changed slightly. If this silly girl really spoke out without thinking, then the three of them would be finished. "You put the work aside, I'll go talk to Baijiang later."

"Mother, don't lie to me. You've completely given up on me for my sister's future. I don't want to be Gu Kaichen's concubine. I'd rather become a nun in a nunnery..."

"What nonsense are you talking about? You've already lost your virginity to him..."

"This is all because of you, Mother. If you don't agree..."

"What's the point of saying all this now?" Xu Shuanghong said impatiently. If she could, she wouldn't want to ruin her daughter. But now she had no way out.

"Mother, I'm begging you, could you send me to my maternal grandparents' house? As long as I have a place to stay, that will do."

If I remember correctly, my maternal grandparents' house is not far away; it's a day's walk to get there.

“But how can you go now that you’re in this position?” Xu Shuangfeng was very troubled. “You’ll have to bear with it for a while. I won’t let you continue being a concubine.”

"But……"

Before Fan Meibao could say anything more, Xu Shuanghong quickly whispered something in her ear.

"Mother, is this really going to work?" Fan Meibao hesitated. "What if it fails..."

"So just bear with it for a while. I will help you get revenge for the injustices you've suffered."

After finally persuading Fan Meibao to leave, Fan Meilin also came over and said, "Mom, I don't want to stay by Gu Antong's side. She hasn't taught me any manners at all, and she's just playing me for fools."

"What's wrong with you two sisters? Didn't we already agree on this?" Xu Shuanghong was very annoyed. Did these two girls think they were the only ones who would sacrifice themselves? Didn't they know that they would sacrifice even more?

I spoiled them too much before, and now they complain about everything I do.

"But she treated me like a servant..."

"No pain, no gain. Don't you want a future?"

"But we've been here for so long, and I haven't seen her accept any letters from the Third Prince. Is this news true?"

"Don't worry, Gu Antong only has one path now. Even if she wanted to marry someone else, she couldn't."

If you can't even endure this little hardship, how will you survive in the inner quarters?

Xu Shuanghong gave Fan Meilin another lecture before finally sending her away. Fan Meilin then quickly straightened her clothes and walked gracefully toward Gu Baijiang...

☆

Ming Peifeng was finally released from prison. This was not because Xu Zitian was afraid of offending the Third Prince, but because the time had come for him to be imprisoned for offending the county magistrate.

"What's wrong with you guys? Why didn't you come to rescue me?" Ming Peifeng couldn't hold back any longer when he saw his men who came to pick him up.

Heaven knows what kind of life he's been living inside these past few days. Now, he probably looks exactly like those beggars at the city gate. "Sir, we've tried to find a way, but Magistrate Xu won't see us at all. The yamen runners guarding the gate chase us away as soon as we get close." His subordinates were also wronged. Besides trying to rescue Ming Peifeng here, they also had to leave some people in Tian Village to protect the Gu family.

"Then you don't know about prison break..."

"..."

Seeing that all his subordinates were silent, Ming Peifeng realized he had misspoke. "I was just joking."

Breaking someone out of prison is a capital offense, and he shouldn't be bothered with something so trivial.

"How are things going with the Gu family?"

“Lord Gu came to the city to see you before, but we found an excuse to send him away. His family is currently building a house and has been going to the county town quite often these days.”

Thinking about the behavior of the second son of the Gu family, these people didn't know how to complain. They had seen useless people, but they had never seen anyone as useless as him.

Just last night, the workers who came to their house to do the work ran away again, leaving only a foundation. Now, I'm afraid no one will want to take over that mess.

☆

Gu Baijiang really wanted to beat this unfilial son to death at this moment. What kind of work had he done? He had found several groups of people, and they were all so unreliable.

While even the Gu family members built their houses with their own hands, theirs was still just a foundation.

"Dad, why don't we ask the villagers for help?" Gu Kaiping couldn't bear to watch any longer. It seemed even colder today than yesterday, and the sky was overcast. If they didn't finish building the house soon, they would probably get soaked in the rain again.

Gu Kaiyuan's roof has already been built, and I heard that they are now installing the kang (heated brick bed) and making final repairs.

“Then go find the village chief,” Gu Baijiang said, still with his usual condescending attitude. He used to look down on these peasants, thinking they couldn’t build any houses, but now he didn’t want to wait or make a choice.

But I don't want that rebellious son to do anything. He can't even do such a small thing right, so what can I expect him to do?

As for the eldest brother, Gu Baijiang is now observing him with a suspicious look. Could it be that without his protection, he really will be a failure?

When the villagers heard that there was work to be done at the Gu family's place, they didn't mind.

However, people didn't have a good impression of them. While others had already built their houses, they were only slowly laying the foundation, and the result was such a mess that the construction worker ran away halfway through.

“Village chief, we can go and do the work, no problem, but they must pay us our wages every day.”

"Yeah, who knows if they'll be too demanding? What if we do the work and they don't pay us?"

People didn't understand why someone would leave when they were doing so well, and naturally, they had their suspicions.

Zhu Ziqiang had helped the villagers earn some money these past few days and had received a lot of praise. In his moment of pride, he immediately agreed, saying, "Don't worry, they are now part of our village. If they want to continue living here, they wouldn't dare to renege on their debt even if they had ten times the courage."

However, the necessary talks still needed to be held, especially when he mentioned settling wages daily, the expressions of the Gu family father and son changed.

This made Zhu Ziqiang wonder if this family really intended to renege on their debt. They looked respectable enough; would they really do something so immoral…?

Fortunately, before he could say anything more, the Gu family agreed.

(End of this chapter)