Chapter 1367 – The Ladies’ Tea Party (Part 10)
My cousin’s eyes were brimming with tears.
Her son’s future shouldn’t be ruined, but what about her own reputation?
If she fell from being a respectable lady to the status of a prostitute, she could never be a proper wife again, and her child would live in disdain forever.
“No, I won’t sign!”
The old woman was furious and ready to strike, while my cousin clutched her belly, bending over, her face as pale as snow. The old woman looked at her, both angry and exasperated, “Are you about to give birth? My dear grandson is still not yet full term! You useless piece of trash! You can’t even carry a child for ten months!”
The estate was thrown into chaos. Seizing the moment when the woman was delirious with labor pains, the old woman forcefully made her sign the contract.
The man used his connections to have the contract recorded at the government office, returning the next day to seek justice with it.
Not just him, but several others took the same ruthless approach, their lack of empathy chilling to the bone.
Yang Si responded with cold indifference, sending them off to reflect at home.
While taking concubines wasn’t allowed, the notion of favoring a concubine over a wife was unavoidable.
Looking at these contracts, Yang Si couldn’t help but shake his head and lament, “Truly poisonous!”
Beside him, Nong Qin scoffed, “They all deserve to die.”
Yang Si nervously glanced at her, “Don’t get involved in this, for the sake of the one in your womb. Leave these scoundrels to someone else to deal with.”
Killing them wasn’t an option; that wasn’t Jiang Pengji’s intent either.
Some methods were far more agonizing than death.
A few days later, just as the news started to die down, Wanzhou’s first storyteller, Zai Chi, published a new book.
The professional storytellers affiliated with the government got the first chapters as soon as they were released.
Upon hearing this news, the common people flocked to tea houses and taverns, eager for the story to begin.
The storyteller announced, “After a year, Zai Chi returns with a new work! Today, I present to you the first segment!”
The audience perked up their ears, listening intently as the storyteller spun his tale.
Unlike the previous cheerful tones, this new work maintained a high standard but had a noticeably dark and dreary undertone.
The protagonist became a pure, kind-hearted, well-bred girl, betrothed at thirteen, with hearts entwined, waiting to marry as soon as she came of age. Who would have thought that misfortune would strike? The girl’s father, a gambling addict and brutal, drunkenly sullied his beautiful young daughter…
This was just the first segment, and the audience initially thought it was a story of the girl’s struggle and growth; however, the ending took a sudden dark turn, leaving them stunned. Wei Ci portrayed the girl as kind and virtuous, so the plot twist of her father’s violation was wrenching for listeners, many feeling like they might just explode from shock. Forcing his daughter? That was inhumane!!!
The storyteller felt conflicted, having almost cried out in anguish upon reading the new manuscript.
Had Zai Chi been scorned by a scummy husband?
Why was this new work so heart-wrenching?
The storyteller proceeded to share the second segment.
The vicious father, fearing his crimes would be revealed, deceived his wife while threatening his daughter, selling her into the Tooth Shop.
Upon returning home, he lied that his daughter was restless and had run away with a man, lured by money late at night.
In truth, the girl was chosen by an old lady from a wealthy family to be a concubine for her son.
Thinking she had finally escaped misfortune, she found herself thrust from one perilous situation to another. This family was peculiar indeed—an ominous old lady above, a beautiful but weary primary wife in the middle, and a deaf young master and an overlooked reclusive eldest lady below.
Yet, the master of the house remained a mystery.
Having just been brought in, she felt anxious and out of place in this unfamiliar environment, inadvertently witnessing a compromising situation between a strange man and the old lady’s niece, only to later discover that the man was the master of the estate. Shortly after, she saw the old lady berating and slapping the primary wife, the reasons utterly unfounded. At last, the girl overheard two house maids casually discussing the deaf young master’s secret…
Whoosh! Just like that, the three segments were complete.
The audience cried out, “What happens next? What about Cui Niang? What’s her fate in the end?”
The storyteller, exasperated, replied, “The manuscript hasn’t come in yet!”
The audience was anxious, and so was he.
They desperately wanted to know what further experiences Cui Niang would endure in this household and what secrets lingered within, whether she could transform from a chrysalis to a butterfly!
Word spread quickly among the common people, and soon someone pointed out that this story felt suspiciously familiar.
“Isn’t this from that family in Chang’an Alley…”
“…I hadn’t noticed until you mentioned it, but now that you do… it’s so similar!”
Caught in a narrative rut, the audience couldn’t get enough, so they went home to discuss, discovering how closely the plot mirrored that of the Chang’an Alley family.
Under Wei Ci’s careful manipulation, the happenings in that family were thoroughly dug up by the people.
Eager viewers enjoyed the juicy gossip.
So, Zai Chi’s story had a real-life model!
Turns out, wealthy families had loads of rules about taking concubines—not as free to take as many as desired!
What a pitifully shameful display from the prominent family in Chang’an Alley—the reality behind the story, how much of it had actually happened?
Wei Ci’s book was rapidly consumed, and the common folk soon learned the continuation of the tale.
Cui Niang witnessed her new family rise and fall, as the male head, seeking self-preservation, forced his beloved concubine to forge a contract. That once-favored cousin was also compelled to sign while giving birth, resulting in a tragic outcome: she bled out during a difficult delivery, leaving behind a daughter.
The old woman displayed her venomous side, disregarding the bloodied infant, cursing as she left.
The once-wealthy household was reduced to a state of ruin.
Cui Niang barely escaped the disaster.
At the story’s conclusion, she returned home, listless, faintly hearing something peculiar inside.
Stealthily, she peeked in, horrified to see the father who had ruined her was shamelessly on top of her younger brother, engaged in that dreadful act.
And thus, the story ended.
The audience wasn’t the only one caught off guard by this conclusion; as a fan of Zai Chi, Yang Si was equally disturbed by the shattered perspectives.
What had happened to prompt such a scathing critique of society?
This dark and twisted storyline seemed beneath someone like Wei Ci, who had always portrayed a fresh, uplifting narrative!
Wei Ci merely chuckled.
The public uproar hadn’t truly hit hard yet, had it?
Following Zai Chi’s new tale, several other popular authors released works on similar themes.
Those observant enough would notice a common characteristic among these stories—there always seemed to be children suffering at the hands of parents, relatives, neighbors, or villagers, both physically and mentally. The originally bright and lovable characters became victims of increasingly tragic circumstances.
These authors systematically dismantled their once-ideal characters.
The more this persisted, the more it deepened the gloom.
Some common folks deemed it alarmist, but many others felt an unsettling chill as they realized many of these tales echoed their own lives!
