My whole family time-traveled! I became a god during my exile in a famine.

Chapter 172 Broken Relationship
Lord Lu searched the room for a while but couldn't find even a stool. He was speechless!
He didn't dwell on it, cupped his hands in greeting to the governor, and said, "Sir, why don't we interrogate this person on the ground first?"

"We cannot interrogate her!" Madam Zhuang shouted sharply, her conscience bothering her.

Xie Hui ignored him completely and ordered the guards to drag the fat man in front of him.

A quick search revealed a contract with a very clear and explicit content: the daughter was being sold to pay off debts.

Both parties signed and sealed the document clearly. Not only did it bear the seal of this young master Wang, but there was also another person present, namely Zhuang Jin, the second son of the chief clerk of the Zhuang family.

Xie Hui closed the contract and looked coldly at Chief Clerk Zhuang. "What else do you have to say? Openly buying and selling respectable women in Binzhou, bypassing the girls' parents and elders, what right do you have to do this? Chief Clerk Zhuang, are you truly confused or just pretending to be confused as you break the law?"

Chief Clerk Zhuang immediately knelt down and stammered in explanation, "This humble official truly did not know that the old woman would do such an immoral thing."

Madam Zhuang was also terrified. She immediately knelt down and kowtowed, repeatedly saying, "My lord, my lord, please forgive me. It was my fault, it was all my fault."

“But I really have no choice… We are also victims, forced into this situation by Young Master Wang. If we don’t find a way to repay this debt, Young Master Wang will have someone send the gambling debt IOU to Prefect Lu’s court.”

"Shut up!!" Chief Secretary Zhuang roared.

When Zhuang Yafen saw the contract, the last glimmer of light in her eyes was extinguished.

Hearing the old woman's cries, she flew into a rage and pounced on her, grabbing Madam Zhuang and shaking her violently, demanding in a stern voice, "You still think you're innocent? Mother, tell me honestly, am I really your biological daughter?"

"You unfilial daughter, what kind of question is that? You were born after your mother carried you for ten months with great difficulty. Quickly, beg the governor to spare your poor brother."

Zhuang Yafen flung her mother's hand away, her eyes red with anger, and shouted, "It's always been like this since I was little! No matter how big a mistake my brother makes, you always make me take the blame! If my brother is wrong, it's my fault; if I'm wrong, it's still my fault. Everything is my fault! I've had enough of this."

“I thought you took my daughter home because you missed my Mengxue after not seeing her for many years. I even told the child that you are her maternal grandmother and that I should be close to you.”

"I never imagined you would try to sell my daughter for your gambler son!"

"Two thousand taels to sell my daughter to a merchant. Mother, have you ever thought about what would happen if this were to happen? How would I, your daughter, face my mother-in-law and husband in the Xin family? What would I say to them?"

Zhuang Yafen let out a heart-wrenching, shrill laugh, "I say, my dear mother, you've sold my own daughter away. I don't even know where she's been sold to; I'll never see her again in this lifetime. Hahahaha!"

"Mother, have you ever considered my feelings even a little bit? Have you ever thought about whether my mother-in-law and husband might beat me to death? Have you ever thought about that???"

"She's dreaming. In her eyes, you're just a burden, a useless piece of trash, a worthless tool. If she had even a shred of familial affection, would she have the nerve to sell your daughter? Even animals show deep love for their young; is she even human?"

Xin Nian stabbed Zhuang Shi in the heart, coldly saying, "Zhuang Yafen, if you have even a shred of guts, write a letter of severance right now, cut all ties with your family, and never have anything to do with them again."

"Stop harboring delusions. Do you really think your family, who have favored boys over girls since childhood and treated you like a tool, will suddenly have a change of heart and treat you well during a natural disaster like this?"

“If you don’t cut ties with them completely, they’ll just keep climbing up to you and sucking your blood. Think it through. I’m only helping you this once. Don’t come to me next time your family has trouble.”

Xin Mengxue, shivering under her cloak, suddenly crawled to Zhuang Yafen's side upon hearing Xin Nian's words and loudly urged, "Mother, sever ties with them! Listen to Sixth Sister, sever ties with them now! Let the Prefect and the Governor be our witnesses!"

“Mother, I don’t want to be sold again! It’s too terrible, it’s just too terrible. I don’t want to have a maternal family like this! Mother, Mother!! I never want to see any of them again. They are too terrible, they are devils, monsters! They are cold-blooded demons without feelings, I don’t want a maternal family like this, I don’t want one!”

Zhuang Yafen's heart was broken by her daughter's crying; she hugged the girl and wailed loudly. Madam Zhuang, enraged and furious, pointed at Xin Mengxue and cursed, "You little beast, how dare you!"

Xin Nian lashed the old woman's hand with a whip, causing her to fall to the ground in pain, crying out in agony and no longer daring to extend her finger.

"Who do you think you are? How dare you point at my Xin family's daughter and curse her?" Xin Nian lashed the old nanny beside Madam Zhuang several times and ordered, "I'll give you ten breaths. Go and bring me a pen, ink, paper, and inkstone."

The old woman scrambled around the two rooms like a headless fly, finally bursting into tears, "No, there's nothing in this room or the inner room!"

Xin Nian touched her nose, only then realizing that she had emptied the entire Changshi mansion...

Lu Xiangying quickly waved and took the paper and pen from the clerk, saying, "I have some, I have some."

Xin Nian simply had the clerk do the work, and wrote a detailed letter severing ties with the family, listing the names of the entire Zhuang family, from the oldest to the youngest.

Cut them all off, leave none behind.

Madam Zhuang was still yelling that she didn't want to sign, but she was dragged over and forced to put her fingerprint on the document.

Two quarters of an hour passed quietly between drafting a letter of severance from family ties and having all the signatures and fingerprints affixed.

Xin Nian folded and put away the letter severing ties, then pulled the distraught Zhuang Yafen up and scolded her irritably, "You, as a mother, are not as efficient as your daughter."

"Get up, tidy yourself up, and walk out of this room with your head held high. You haven't done anything wrong, there's no need to bow down to evil forces."

"It's better to break off such relationships sooner rather than later. You'll be glad you got rid of these bloodsuckers as soon as possible."

Zhuang Yafen was still in a daze, only nodding and weeping as the girl helped her walk out step by step.

"My lady!" Xin Nian's shout made Xie Hui and Lu Xiangying look at her at the same time.

"Zhuang Jin trafficked innocent women; shouldn't he go to jail?"

Lu Xiangying nodded. "Indeed."

"Forget it, we don't need him to go to jail. Let's just give him fifty strokes of the cane to wake him up and stop him from trying to sell every woman he sees for money."

Xie Hui twitched his eye and nodded seriously, "Drag him out and beat him."

"Prefect Zhuang has failed to properly discipline his son, causing this trouble. He should focus on household matters for now and put aside his official duties." Prefect Lu said this without giving Prefect Zhuang a chance to argue, and then left with the governor.

A bloodcurdling scream, like a pig being slaughtered, echoed from inside the garden.

Xin Mengxue helped her mother out of the Changshi Mansion. Looking back, she saw that even the plaques of the mansion had faded and it was in a state of disrepair.

Looking ahead, her sixth sister seemed to be enveloped in a layer of light, causing her to instinctively quicken her pace, supporting her mother...