Seeking Happiness-Chapter 159

Chapter 159 Selling herself to save her mother

Shu Huan saw this scene from not far away. She couldn’t hold back anymore, covered her mouth and snickered.

Who was the one extorting?!

Ji Danqing was also perplexed and smiled, "Is collecting money from examining a patient extortion?

Xu shi raised her voice and said, "What prescription is worth five silver liang? If this isn't extortion, then what is it?!"

• Shi: clan

Ji Danqing patiently explained, "Checking the pulse is one liang, the prescription is one liang and visiting the patient is three liang."

"Liar!" Xu shi scolded. "In the herbal medicine shop, I only need a couple of copper coins to have two packages of medicine!"

In fact, the truth had long come to light. The onlookers found it interesting to watch them quarrel and therefore forgot to jeer. At this moment, when they heard Xu shi's words, those who recognized Ji Danqing burst into laughter, "Hey, woman (derogatory), Doctor Ji is a famous doctor. He doesn’t usually come out to visit the patient. It was already very generous of him to charge you only five silver liang!"

Visit the patient! When Xu shi heard this keyword, she immediately became complacent. "Whoever that had invited him should pay! I won't pay him!"

Liangchen chuckled. "This madam, aren't you hurt or in pain anymore?"

Only then did Xu shi realized that she didn’t know when she had stood up and started to scold people in full spirit and energy. She exclaimed, wanted to sit back on the ground and continued to pretend to be seriously hurt. However, after she squatted halfway, she realized that it was too late to remedy. So, she could only stand up awkwardly again.

The onlookers laughed at the sight of this.

Gu Xihe immediately felt he was cleared of the injustice, held his chest up and said, "See, you extorted me first, so I called a doctor over to examine you. If you didn’t extort me, why would I call for a doctor? Naturally, you have to pay this fee of consultation!"

Xu shi had always been arrogant and unreasonable. She still wanted to go back on her words, but only to realize that she was trying to steal a chicken only to end up losing the rice used to lure it. The onlookers who were originally attracted by the crying noise to criticize Gu Xihe and force him to pay, were now criticizing her. Someone even said, "That little brother's trouser has been torn apart by you, compensate for that too!"

• To try to steal a chicken only to end up losing the rice used to lure it: to try to gain an advantage only to end up worse off.

Meijing said softly at the side, "The trouser is made by tailor Zhao at the east of the city and is worth at least ten silver liang."

Gu Xihe's food and clothing expenses had always been very exquisite. She (M) didn't exaggerate at all and only spoke the truth. As soon as she said it, the onlookers immediately went silent. One could even hear someone gasping for air.

Visiting the doctor because of illness couldn’t be helped. Even if one couldn’t be examined by a famous doctor, one could spend a dozen copper coins to find an ordinary doctor to check the pulse. However, the trouser that one was worn casually on the body was even so extravagant, it just made ordinary people jealous.

Fortunately, this money should be paid by Xu shi and had nothing to do with others. After the crowd had been silent for a while, they clamored again…

"This money must be paid!"

"What has this little brother done wrong!? He has lost ten silver liang for no reason. It really doesn’t make sense if this money isn't paid!"

"Ten silver liang! There is also the fee of five silver liang for inviting the doctor! I don’t think she can even pay it even if she sells herself. Why don't we jointly be the witness, let her write a certificate of indebtedness and pay it back when she has the money in the future."

"Does she look like someone who would have money in the future?"

"That's not guaranteed. If she continues to extort people like this, perhaps she'll get rich one day!"

As the crowd spoke, they laughed again.

Shu Huan got an idea, gestured and called Meijing to her side. She whispered, "Go, think of a way to let her write a slave contract."

Meijing was stunned. For a moment, she couldn’t come to her senses. "Are you muddle-headed? She's so old, who will buy…."

Halfway through the speech, she (M) remembered Xu shi's identity. She was afraid that Shu Huan would blame her for her rash words, so, she quickly covered her mouth.

However, Shu Huan didn’t even notice this at all. Even if she did notice it, it was already generous of her that she didn’t follow in disdaining Xu shi. How would she still blame her (M)? At this moment, she was just in a hurry to get free and said, "Who told her to sell herself? Let her sell me!"

"Ah…," Her thought was so bizarre that Meijing was still stunned.

Opportunity knocked but once!

• Opportunity knocked but once: Great opportunities are typically only encountered once. If misses it, it can be lost forever.

Shu Huan didn’t speak to Meijing anymore. She stamped her feet, took out a bottle of hot pepper water, poured out two drops and rubbed it on her eyelids. Afterwards, she immediately covered her eyes with a handkerchief and whimpered on the way. "Mother, my dear mother!"

This cry was in fact so loud that Shu Huan herself became numb, but she was going with the mentality of disgusting Xu shi. She clearly saw Xu shi become stunned and she (X) blankly turned to look in her (SH) direction. Shu Fu who was standing still at the side, shivered slightly too. She immediately felt joy, so she acted more diligently. She threw herself in front of Xu shi. With red eyes, as she wiped her tears, she said, "Mother, how did we suddenly owe him so much money? What do we do?!"

The whole crowd was totally baffled. They didn’t know why suddenly a daughter popped out, but when Xu shi heard her (SH) saying this, she (X) thought there wasn’t any loss anyway, so she just answered, "How do I know? These people grouped together. They only know to bully us, the orphan and the widow!"

This was to ask for sympathy and directly kicked Shu Fu out of the family list, putting on the sign that this man was dead.

Shu Fu's lips trembled with anger for a long time, but because the female tiger (X) at home had accumulated power for a long time, he was used to being oppressed and afraid to argue, so he could only sulk and bear it.

Shu Huan took advantage of the situation and cried for a while. This caused Xu shi to cry too. She (X) thought she might as well cry more miserable, perhaps this stepdaughter would suddenly have a sting of conscience and could take out some money to pay it back for her (X). While she (SH) was at it, she (SH) could give a few more liang as family expenses. Even if she (SH) didn’t pay it for her (X), since she was familiar with Gu Xihe, she could put in a few good words, then this matter would be easily solved.

She (X) had a good scheme in mind, but didn’t expect after Shu Huan made her (X) cry and verified her (SH) identity, she (SH) stopped accompanying her (X) in pretending to be pitiful. Instead, she (SH) looked up with tearful eyes at Gu Xihe who was confused at the side. "This little master, our family is poor. Even these clothes on me are borrowed from my neighbor sister. I really can't afford to pay you money. Can't you be generous? I'm willing to sell myself to pay back the debt. I only ask you to not let those guards from the feudal office lock my mother up…."

As she said, she turned her head and cried again, "Mother…."

But, in her heart, she was thinking that this hot pepper water was really useful. She could have as many tears as she wanted. It made her acting very genuine and sincere. She was almost moved by it herself.

Gu Xihe understood her instantly without any explanation. He was very cooperative. He put his hand on the chin, and then glanced at Shu Huan, pretending to put on a hesitant look. "This ah! Even if your appearance is good, you can't even be sold for more than fifteen silver liang! But I'm a kind man, and for the sake of your filial piety, this matter can be considered…."

Ji Danqing coughed lightly by the side and whispered, "Fourth young master, didn’t you say a few days ago that a maid is needed for serving tea and pouring water in the residence? I think her age is appropriate."

Gu Xihe nodded and said, "Yes. That's right, then I'll buy you!"

Ji Danqing took out the brush and ink. He said, "This humble one is going to write the slave contract, everybody please be the witness of this."

In a few words, the matter of selling oneself was settled!

There had been such a dramatic change in the matter that the crowd could only look at it, and no one had really come back to their senses. It wasn’t surprising that Shu Huan was so bold now. Just now, the crowd only paid attention to the gossip and didn’t pay any attention to the relationship between the people present, or her whispering with Meijing. From the beginning, she had deliberately picked the dead corner out of sight to stand. One or two people from the crowd had noticed her, but she thought that they wouldn’t remember in such a short moment to become suspicious.

Although they couldn’t remember, how could Xu shi not remember? It wasn’t until now that she realized that she had been fooled by them. She (X) immediately stopped crying, jumped up from the ground, pulled Shu Huan and scolded her, "Very well! You all think that I can be easily bullied? You almost got me fooled!"