Marrying for Revenge

  Years passed like this, and the mother-daughter duo continued to live in my brother's house. The rumors gradually subsided, and my brother lived separately from them in another room, treating them with respect and courtesy, without any impropriety. The little girl grew up into a renowned beauty, learned tofu-making from my brother for several years, and at the age of 13, even created a new formula that improved the taste of Lin's tofu. Overnight, the tofu shop's business boomed several times over, and my brother handed over the management to her. Those who had previously come to propose marriage to her mother were now almost breaking down their door, but her mother refused them all, citing her daughter's youth as the reason...

  Zhen Ming was taken aback: "No wonder I felt that Zhang's soy milk was different from others when I first tasted it, it was exceptionally fresh, fragrant and rich. It turns out that it's the craftsmanship of a tofu master."

  Her reputation spread to the neighboring Wagang Town, and gradually some hooligans began to loiter in front of her tofu shop. Some even went inside and molested her. Fortunately, my brother was also a stubborn person, and when he saw someone bullying her, he took a big stick and chased those hooligans away, beating them severely. In the end, no harm was done, but unfortunately, later on, a notorious thug named Dai from Wagang Town, who was known for his brutality, brought a group of ruffians to forcibly take her away as their "mountain stronghold mistress". My brother vowed to protect her and ended up getting severely injured by those people. Fearing that the situation would escalate, they eventually did not forcibly abduct her.

  Lin said, her face filled with indignation: "Who knew that this man named Zhai was not giving up, and he colluded with the county magistrate of Wei City to frame my brother for tax evasion and resisting the law. They wanted to shut down my brother's tofu shop, which you know is the result of his hard work for a lifetime. The whole family's livelihood depends on that tofu shop. Later, Zhai even went to their home to negotiate, saying that if they would marry my niece to him as his concubine, he would withdraw the shutdown order and let them continue operating. My brother was unwilling, as he had always treated my niece like his own daughter and couldn't bear for her to suffer any hardship. He wanted to fight Zhai on the spot, but my niece restrained him. If not for that, my brother would have been beaten to death by Zhai."

  "What's wrong?" Zhen Ming stopped eating with his chopsticks and looked thoughtful.

  Lin's wife didn't notice anything unusual about Zhenming and continued to say: "My brother lay in bed for half a month, ignoring the opposition of the mother and daughter, his body was not yet well, he got up and went to the prefecture government office to accuse that surname Zhou, but before arriving at the prefecture government office, he was caught by the county government officials and thrown into prison, where he was beaten severely for more than a dozen days. When he was released, he was already on his last breath. The mother and daughter carried him back home, and after a few days, he died of anger and anxiety."

  "After the mother and daughter buried him, my niece wore mourning clothes and knelt in front of his grave for three days and nights. When she returned home, despite her mother's opposition, she posted a notice at the gate of their house, saying that if anyone could bring that surnamed Chui and the county magistrate who had wronged them to justice, she would marry that person, regardless of age or status."

  Zhen Ming listened quietly, and Lin Po spoke with great enthusiasm, as if she had seen it all: "After the notice was posted, several people went to Wagang Town to find that surname Chui. As a result, none of them could do anything to him, and they were either injured or disabled. Finally, after posting the notice for a month, a young man named Song from Luoyang came, claiming to be a military officer. He heard about this matter and, without saying a word, single-handedly charged into that surname Chui's camp. That surname Chui had many skilled martial artists by his side, but the young man fought them for three days and nights without being defeated. Later, that young man Song used some kind of strategy to finally capture that surname Chui and send him to the government office..."

  Lin's mother said so much in one breath that her voice became a little hoarse, Zhen Ming hurriedly handed her a cup of tea, she held it and drank, moistened her throat, and continued to speak.

  "As a result, the county magistrate was afraid of being exposed and wanted to throw the young man with the surname Song into prison. However, the young man revealed his identity as the first new martial arts champion in the imperial examination since its inception. The county magistrate was so frightened that he urinated on the spot. The martial arts champion then tied up the county magistrate and sent him to the prefectural government office, where they were both sentenced to military service and forced labor to repair the Grand Canal.

  Later, I heard that the man with the surname Zhai was rescued by his accomplices during transportation and has been leading a group of people in occupying mountains and committing robbery. Even the authorities couldn't do anything about them...

  After completing the requirements on the notice, the young man with the surname Song left behind several dozen taels of silver as a betrothal gift and took my niece away. Half a year after she left, her mother fell ill due to excessive longing for her daughter and passed away soon after. The girl was also hot-tempered and somehow managed to return to Weicheng alone, where she held a funeral for her mother and stayed there to observe three years of mourning.

  Until last year, the young man with the surname Song returned to Weicheng and took her away. I heard that he had become a martial arts champion by then. Since then, I haven't heard any news about her."

  "Alas, I didn't expect that when I saw her again, she would be a young widow with such a scoundrel of a father-in-law who beats and scolds her at the slightest provocation. Now she's been kidnapped by some rascal, heaven knows where she'll end up - perhaps in some brothel, subjected to the humiliation of those men. Tell me, has Heaven itself gone blind?"

  Zhen Ming silently listened to the end, stood up and said: "Lin Po, you and Xiao Que Er stay here tonight, I'll go out for a while, maybe won't be back tonight. Keep this silver, if you really have nowhere to go, you can also stay here, anyway there are still empty rooms, clean up a bit and it's habitable."

  Lin's wife suddenly asked: "Zhen Ge'er, it's almost dark, where are you going?"

  "I'm going out to take care of something, don't worry about Zhang's wife, I think those human traffickers want to sell her for a good price, they won't hurt her for the time being."

  Zhen Ming sighed and turned around to enter the room, taking out the super-generation mobile phone from under the pillow. He then left the courtyard gate and walked towards Zhang's house.

  Zhen Ming bitterly walked into the Zhang family's courtyard, entered her room, picked up one of her intimate garments from the messy floor, sniffed it with his nose, and there was still a faint fragrance left on Zhang's body, put it in his pocket, then turned around and walked out of the Zhang family's gate, heading towards Luoyang Street.

  In the evening, Luoyang's streets are crowded with people and vehicles.

  He hailed a horse carriage and handed the driver a few silver coins, saying: "Rent this carriage for a day, if you guide me well, I'll give you another two taels."

  That car husband had never seen such a big customer, usually not earning more than one or two silver coins in a month. Now, he could get two taels in just one day, so how could he not be overjoyed? He hastily replied: "I'm familiar with Luoyang, sir. Wherever you want to go, just say the word and I'll take you there."

  "Take me to stroll around various casinos in Luoyang."

  "Hold on! Sit tight!"