The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 682 - 681 Redemption

Chapter 682: Chapter 681 Redemption

Lady Qian’s body went limp, collapsing to the ground, muttering incessantly, "Jinchai... my Jinchai..."

Hearing the noise outside, Shopkeeper Qian and Lady Qian’s mother rushed in anxiously, helped Lady Qian up, and cautiously asked, "What’s the matter? Can’t we just talk things out?"

Lady Qian burst into tears, "Father, Mother, my Jinchai, Jinchai is going to be sold—"

Upon hearing this, Mother Qian became frantic, "Wasn’t she supposed to become the County Magistrate’s concubine? Even if the County Magistrate has encountered trouble, what does it have to do with our Jinchai? Can’t we just bring her back home? How could she be sold?"

Shopkeeper Qian had already inquired about the news, and at this moment managed to stay calm, only looking to Wang Yongan, "Son-in-law, what should we do? Today, I went to inquire about the situation, and it appears that all the women in the County Magistrate’s household, aside from his wife, have been registered as official servants and already taken away by traffickers. They said that in the next couple of days, they are going to take them to be sold in distant places! Our Jinchai is still among them!"

Upon hearing this, Lady Qian’s sorrow surged from within, and she couldn’t help but sob, "My Jinchai! If I’d known, Mother would have fought to the death to prevent you from becoming a concubine! Now, a perfectly good Scholar family’s daughter has become an official servant! What kind of misfortune is this—"

Wang Yongan, who had woken up by now and was feeling the diminishing effects of the medicine, began to feel heat and pain again. Already irritated, hearing Lady Qian crying and blaming him implicitly for sending his daughter to the County Magistrate as a concubine,

he scoffed coldly, "Now that Jinchai is not here, why put on the act of a loving mother? Who are you performing for? Had you truly been unwilling, had you used your life to threaten, perhaps Jinchai could have stayed at home and not suffer this ordeal. But you consented at the time! Did you not think of enjoying the benefits through Jinchai’s influence? Now that something has happened, all the blame suddenly falls on me!"

Lady Qian just kept crying, while Shopkeeper Qian tried to mediate, "Son-in-law, shall we gather some Silver to redeem Jinchai?"

After all, she’s the family’s own flesh and blood; we can’t just watch our child become a Maid in someone else’s house, can we?

Especially for a girl whose virginity has been taken, even if she were to become a servant, she’d be at the very bottom. How could Jinchai endure this?

Moreover, Jinchai is only twelve this year, her whole life is still ahead of her. Is she truly to live so humbly for the rest of her life?

Wang Yongan shifted uncomfortably, exuding a cold sweat from the pain, and then managed to say with a furrowed brow, "I should be the one dealing with this, but in my current state, I can’t even get off the Kang. I’ll have to trouble my father-in-law to find out whose hands Jinchai is in, and how much Silver it will cost? We, as parents, even if we have to exhaust our entire wealth, must redeem our child! It seems it’s my fault, alas—"

After speaking, he sighed deeply, a look of self-reproach on his face.

Hearing Wang Yongan say this, Shopkeeper Qian felt somewhat relieved. As long as Wang Yongan hadn’t grown tired of Jinchai, once they brought her back, the son-in-law could use his connections to cancel Jinchai’s servant registration, relocate her somewhere else with a new identity, and when Jinchai grew older, marry her off to a decent and honest man. Then he’d feel at ease.

Therefore, he quickly nodded, "You’ve been injured, you need to rest. I’ll go ask, I’ll go ask."

He rushed out to look for traffickers.

It wasn’t until late that night that he returned, looking exhausted. Lady Qian, anxiously waiting by the door, hurriedly greeted him, "Father, how is it? Did you find Jinchai? Is she doing well? Did they agree to let us redeem her? How much Silver do we need?"

Her questions came rapid-fire.

Shopkeeper Qian licked his lips, having not drunk water all afternoon, his throat dry as a bone, but seeing his daughter’s expectant eyes, he endured, "Today, I approached two traffickers, but I didn’t see Jinchai. I did find out, however, that there were five traffickers who took over the County Magistrate’s household and servants. I’ll visit the remaining three tomorrow morning. We need to be quick; I heard the official in charge of the investigation say that they’ve only been given three days to stay. After that, they must leave Qi City. If we don’t find Jinchai by tomorrow, once she’s taken away and sold, with her ending up who knows where, we might never see her again in this lifetime."

Upon hearing this, Lady Qian’s legs went weak, and she just went off crying.

Mother Qian couldn’t bear to watch any longer, she poured a bowl of water for her husband and watched as he downed it in one breath. She poured another bowl, "Haven’t eaten yet, have you? I’ll go make you a bowl of noodles. After dinner, we can talk it over. If it really doesn’t work, I’ll go out and look for her too. For our Jinchai, I’m willing to pull out all the stops."

Only then did Lady Qian show a grateful smile.

That evening, as Lady Qian was taking care of Wang Yongan, she kept on talking about what they should do after they got Jinchai back the next day, how to settle her, how to comfort her, and how to show her care.

Wang Yongan listened with a frown for a long time before he finally said, "Figure out how much Silver we still have at home, don’t end up finding her but not having enough Silver—"

Upon hearing this was serious business, Lady Qian hurriedly brought out the box where they kept the Silver Coin. Inside, there were only a few Silver Pieces and some silver notes.

These silver notes were what Wang Yongan had brought back after Jinchai became a concubine to the County Magistrate; there were fifty taels, and this was all they had now.

Lady Qian counted the Silver, muttering to herself, "Nowadays, buying a little maid costs at most Five Taels of Silver. Someone like our Jinchai, even at ten taels, should be enough to redeem her!"

Wang Yongan watched as Lady Qian counted the silver notes then put them back, and after placing the small box back into the chest, his gaze flickered for a moment.

The night passed without words.

In the morning, after Lady Qian had prepared breakfast, she went out with Shopkeeper Qian, the old couple looking for the Trafficker.

Leaving Wang Yongan alone at home.

Wang Yongan only felt comfortable lying down, any movement caused him pain.

Only after confirming no one else was home did Wang Yongan carefully and painfully inch his way towards the chest where Lady Qian kept the Silver.

He lifted the lid of the chest, felt for the small box, and took out all the silver notes, tucking them into a hidden pocket inside his own clothing. He then put the box back, and only then did he lie down and catch his breath with relief.

Soon it was nearly noon, and Wang Yongan was alone at home, with no one to add firewood to the kang, the warmth gradually faded away, and the kang was no longer warm, the room slowly turned cold.

Wang Yongan couldn’t make big movements, couldn’t even cover himself too tightly with the blankets for fear of pressing on his wound, which might make things worse.

Feeling the cold in the room that made him shiver all over, he wanted to drink water, but the water on the kang table had gone cold. He wanted to eat something, but that too had gotten cold.

The courtyard was empty, leaving just him alone.

For some reason, Wang Yongan suddenly thought of his biological father Wang Laozhu. Was that how his father had lain on the cold kang, barely alive, dragging out his existence?

At this moment, it felt just like those days!