CHAPTER 27
It was not easy for Duan Jingtian to come up with the idea of making Su Wan, who was helpless and penniless, his legal wife.
However, Su Wan really had no interest in Duan Jingtian, and she did not want to leave Duan Jingtian with any extra fantasies, so she said, “Mr. Duan, I cannot marry you. Besides the fact that I do not want to be a concubine and that we are not a good match, there is another reason. I already have someone I like, so I cannot accept Mr. Duan’s feelings.”
Duan Jingtian’s heart was like being hit hard by someone: “Is there someone you like? Is he better than me?”
Su Wan did not answer. Shen Lin was indeed a very good man who could shoulder all responsibilities.
Duan Jingtian seemed to have fallen into an ice cellar in an instant. There was someone she liked, there was someone she liked, and that person must be Wang Luosheng.
Su Wan’s parents are no longer around, and she’s staying at Wang Luosheng’s house. The man she interacts with the most is Wang Luosheng.
Indeed, Wang Luosheng was handsome and talented. He was the top student at Songshan Academy, the best academy in Qingyun County, and one of the first two among his colleagues to pass the imperial examination to become a scholar.
Wang Luosheng has such a halo around him, and Sister Su Wan, who lives with him day and night, will naturally like him.
But, Duan Jingtian felt that Wang Luosheng was not as glamorous as he seemed, and was not worthy of Su Wan’s love.
Duan Jingtian opened his mouth, wanted to say something, but stopped.
My own academic performance has not made any progress, so what qualifications do I have to criticize Wang Luosheng, who is still the top student?
Su Wan looked at Duan Jingtian’s dejected expression and said, “Mr. Duan can distinguish between good and evil, is intelligent and wise, and has a great fortune and handsome appearance. You are a very good person.”
After saying this, Su Wan realized that she had given Duan Jingtian a good guy card.
So Su Wan quickly said, “But I already have someone I like in my heart, and that will be forever.”
Hearing the word “forever”, Duan Jingtian’s heart ached even more. Duan Jingtian forced himself to cheer up: “Sister Su Wan, don’t make such a conclusion yet. Give me a year, I may not be inferior to your sweetheart.”
It’s just studying. I work so hard and I don’t believe that I can’t be better than Wang Luosheng.
Seeing Duan Jingtian’s feelings towards her, Su Wan knew that apart from the factor of Duan Jingtian’s mother, she would not be able to stay in the Duan Mansion at all.
Su Wan said to Duan Jingtian: “Young Master, you will definitely strive to improve yourself in the future, but it is not to be better than my sweetheart, but for your own future and for the foundation of the Duan family.”
Duan Jingtian repeatedly hoped that Su Wan could stay, but Su Wan insisted on leaving and could not be retained no matter how Duan Jingtian tried.
Duan Jingtian forced himself to take Su Wan to the accounting office to get her wages. Duan Jingtian had previously told Su Wan that he would pay her four months’ wages for one month’s cooking. Now Su Wan had been cooking for more than a month at the Duan family, so the extra wages from the accounting office were converted into silver for Su Wan, totaling more than three taels of silver.
Duan Jingtian said to the accountant: “Give Miss Su two hundred taels of silver.”
Su Wan retreated hastily. She didn’t think there was anything wrong with Duan Jingtian offering her four months’ salary. Her craftsmanship and her nutritional combinations were definitely worth four times the salary. However, the two hundred taels that Duan Jingtian mentioned were really unnecessary.
Su Wan repeatedly declined, and Duan Jingtian said, “Miss Su, when you return to the Wang family this time, Aunt Wang will most likely ask for your wages. You should take these two hundred taels, so that you can have some money to live on.”
Su Wan thanked Duan Jingtian for his kindness. The two hundred taels were different from the usual wages and the thirty taels for the banquet. Su Wan would not accept it because she would not take it without merit.
Su Wan calculated the cost of making snacks for her colleagues in the kitchen at Duan’s house during these days, and handed the money over to the accountant.
Duan Jingtian said the words to keep Su Wan more than ten times, but Su Wan was still determined to leave.
Duan Jingtian could only make up his mind secretly that he would ask Su Wan again when his academic performance surpassed Wang Luosheng.
Su Wan was planning to leave the Duan family, but she was not planning to return to the Wang family. The reason why she came to the Duan family to cook was to have a transition and relaxation between the Wang family and the Shen family.
Otherwise, if the Wang family didn’t have Su Wan to work for a while, they would definitely tear the roof off the Shen family.
At this time, the Wang family had already found two maids, so the problem of no one to do the work was not so obvious.
Duan Jingtian felt that the Wang family treated Su Wan very badly, but Su Wan had already made up her mind to leave. If he said anything bad about the Wang family, it would make Su Wan unhappy.
Duan Jingtian swallowed what he was about to say.
The Wang family will have a difficult time this time, but the only thing that makes Duan Jingtian feel at ease is that Duan Jingtian knows that Wang Luosheng likes Yang Yunyan and doesn’t like Su Wan very much. With this in mind, at least in the short term, Wang Luosheng will not get close to Su Wan, let alone marry her.
He must seize this period of time to surpass Wang Luosheng.
Duan Jingtian wanted to ask Steward Li to harness the carriage to send Su Wan off, but Su Wan firmly refused.
Duan Jingtian had no choice but to personally send Su Wan to the gate of Duan Mansion and watched Su Wan’s back getting smaller and smaller until she disappeared.
Originally, he thought that he liked Su Wan like a sister, but as they spent more time together, Duan Jingtian felt that he liked Su Wan like a friend. When Su Wan told Duan Jingtian how to study, Duan Jingtian felt that he had developed a little bit of liking for Su Wan as a girl.
When Duan Jingtian’s mother asked Su Wan to be her concubine, Duan Jingtian found that he liked Su Wan.
When Su Wan rejected him, he found that he liked Su Wan very much and he could even make her his legal wife.
But she doesn’t want any of them because she has a lover.
Duan Jingtian stood at the door for a long time, then quickly returned to the study, picked up the book and began to study hard.
Su Wan walked out of Duan’s house carrying a bag, but did not walk towards Qingshi Village. Su Wan first came to an inn.
It was naturally impossible for her to go back to the Wang family, but the Wang family knew that Su Wan had left the Duan family, so they would definitely ask her for her wages. In addition, they would continue to let Su Wan work day and night for the Wang family. Moreover, with the relationship of child bride, she must still be involved with the Wang family.
Su Wan had thought of thousands of ways to completely get rid of the Wang family these days, and finally chose the one that was the least difficult to implement.
But before that, Su Wan planned to have a good rest for a day. Since traveling here, Su Wan has not had any free time. First he cooked at Wang’s house, and then he cooked at Duan’s house. Although the work at Duan’s house was not heavy, it was not a place to rest for nothing.
Including the wages that the Duan family paid Su Wan and the rewards during these days, Su Wan now has a total of thirty-seven taels of silver, which is already a huge sum.
Su Wan took a hot bath in the inn, changed into clean clothes, and asked the hotel waiter to bring some meals. After eating, Su Wan lay down on the soft bed of the inn and took a nap.
In the afternoon, Su Wan went out and went to a clinic.
Su Wan prescribed several medicines for health care. While waiting for the medicines to be delivered, Su Wan sat in the clinic for a while and found that one of the waiters there was the smartest and had the loudest voice.
Su Wan called the waiter out while he was taking a break and talked to him for a long time.
Finally, Su Wan took out three hundred coins and gave them to the waiter, and told him that he would get another three hundred coins after the matter was done.
The waiter put the coins in his pocket and said to Su Wan, “Ma’am, don’t worry. I am a person who does what I promise.”
The waiter has to work in the clinic during the day, so this job can only be done in the evening.
Su Wan felt that evening was a good time. Every household in the village had finished their work and everyone had nothing to do, so they had time to watch the fun.
~~~ Wang family in Qingshi Village.
After a few days of chaos and war, the Wang family finally found two working women at a high price in the human and horse market.
These two old women were really clumsy and could only do rough work. They were also greedy and lazy. Not only did they eat a lot, but they also had no interest in work. It was always Mrs Wang who asked them to do something, and they would just do it in a perfunctory manner. However, the work they did was really just a makeshift one.
There were two old women, one was responsible for cooking and the other for sweeping. The food cooked by the cook was not tasty and the sweeping was not clean enough.
However, having these two people is better than not having them. Except that Wang Luosheng has to go to the mill to help for an hour every day, the Wang family can be said to be living in order.
If Su Wan hadn’t been earning the wages of four people in the Duan family, Mrs Wang would have called Su Wan back.
Mrs Wang’s plan was that if Su Wan worked at the Duan family, the family could hire two maids, and some of the wages could be saved to buy clothes for herself and Luo Xue.
That evening, Mrs Wang was telling Wang Luoxue that Su Wan would soon have worked for two months, and she had to go to the Duan family to ask Su Wan for her wages.
Wang Luoxue had a question in her mind: “Mom, isn’t our family going to marry Sister Yunyan back? Will Su Wan be willing to give us the money in the future?”
Wang Luoxue knew very well that one of the important reasons why Su Wan worked so hard for the Wang family was that Su Wan liked her brother Wang Luosheng. If Su Wan’s hope of marrying her brother was dashed, she would probably not give her wages to her family.
Mrs Wang smiled nonchalantly and said, “What’s the difficulty? Doesn’t Su Wan like your brother very much? We just need to tell her that we want to marry Yang Yunyan so that the teacher of your brother’s school can take better care of your brother, and it’s also for your brother’s own good. When your brother becomes rich, the family will marry her as his co-wife. Su Wan will certainly take back all the money so that she can become your brother’s co-wife after he passes the exam .”
Wang Luoxue felt relieved and said to Mrs Wang: “Mom, after I get Su Wan’s wages back, I will buy jewelry from Shenghe Pavilion, clothes from Xianyun Pavilion, and rouge from Liuyan Pavilion…”
Mrs Wang readily agreed: “Buy, buy, buy. We’ll buy all of these. You can dress up beautifully and find a rich husband. Then we can all live a rich life in the future.”
Wang Luoxue is also full of hope for the future.
When the mother and daughter were looking forward to a better life in the future, there was a loud noise outside the door.
Mrs Wang pushed the door open and walked out. There was already a group of women and a few men gathered outside.
The women were shouting towards the house: “Wang family, come out quickly, come out quickly, something has happened.”
Mrs Wang frowned, confused.
The group of people outside did not come in, so Wang and Wang Luoxue walked out.
A young man wearing brown shorts and looking like a waiter walked up to Wang and asked, “Aunt, are you Mr. Wang’s mother?”
This waiter was the one from the clinic that Su Wan had found. According to Su Wan’s instructions, as soon as he entered Qingshi Village, he went to the most crowded place at the entrance of the village to ask which house was Mr. Wang’s.
Someone showed the waiter the way, and he breathed a sigh of relief, “Luckily we found it, fortunately we found the creditor, otherwise we would have suffered a huge loss.”
The woman at the entrance of the village was already a little curious about why this man came to visit Mr. Wang’s family. After hearing what he said, she became even more curious. Could it be that the Wang family owed someone money?
Anyone who doesn’t watch the fun is a fool. These women immediately got up and went to Wang’s house to see what was going on.
It just so happened that the young man invited one of the women to show him the way. Suddenly, the women who were gossiping at the entrance of the village all stood up and wanted to lead the young man to Wang’s house. There were also a few men among the guides.
This group of people were walking on the road in the village, and some villagers saw them and were curious about what was going on.
No matter what the matter is, it will be more lively when there are more people. You’d be a fool not to join in the fun.
The villagers on the road followed and asked the people next to them, and learned that a guy was going to the Wang family to collect a debt.
The Wang family is a respectable family in Qingshi Village, yet they had a creditor come to collect a debt.
The villagers became even more excited, and just like that, a group of people came to the Wang family in a mighty manner.
Mrs Wang frowned and looked at the young man in front of her suspiciously.
The young man spoke first: “Aunt, you are the mother of Mr. Wang Luosheng, the top scholar in the best school in Qingyun County.”
Mrs Wang’s frown relaxed a little. The names the waiter called out made her look very happy. Wang snorted lightly: “It is me, what’s wrong?”
The waiter was very excited and stepped forward to grab Wang’s sleeve and said, “I found you.”
The villagers who were watching were very excited and were ready to start collecting gossip.
Mrs Wang frowned again and tried to pull her arm free but was held tightly by the tool.
The waiter said, “Aunt, you are Mr. Wang’s mother, and Miss Su Wan is your family member. Hurry up and take seven taels of silver and follow me.”
Mrs Wang was totally confused. Why did this man mention Su Wan? And why did she need to take out seven taels of silver? He asked her to take out the silver. This was simply asking her to die. In the past few years, the family had become wealthy and had savings, which was exactly seven taels.
The villagers were all astonished. Seven taels of silver was such a huge sum of money. An ordinary family couldn’t save up six taels of silver even if they didn’t eat or drink for a year.
Mrs Wang shook off the waiter and said, “What Su Wan, what seven taels of silver, what does it have to do with me?”
The waiter then told the whole story in a fluent manner: “Aunt, this is what happened. My master runs a clinic. One day, he was walking on the street and saw a girl fainted in front of him.”
“My master is a doctor who helps people with their illnesses, so he went to see what happened to the girl. He found out that she had been working too hard for many years and had injured her internal organs, which was why she fainted on the street.”
Mrs Wang didn’t think what the waiter said was false. Indeed, Su Wan had fainted several times before.
The waiter continued, “My master ordered the maid to take Miss Su back for treatment. After a careful examination of her pulse, he learned that only the 100-year-old ginseng could save Miss Su. If he didn’t take the ginseng, Miss Su would have died in an hour.”
“My master is kind-hearted. He asked me to mix the old ginseng with other herbs to make medicine for Miss Su, which saved her from the brink of death.”
Miss Su woke up once in the middle and mumbled that her name was Su Wan, and that there was someone about the first name, Mr. Wang Luosheng, and something about his mother. I guessed that Miss Su must be from Mr. Wang’s family, so I asked around and found this place.
Mrs Wang’s face was wrinkled. “That person was rescued, so what are you doing?”
The waiter’s face was full of shock. “My master rescued Miss Su. You have to give me some silver. The hundred-year-old ginseng is six taels, and there are other herbs, a total of seven taels. Please follow me. You pay the silver and buy some other tonics for Miss Su, and then you can bring Miss Su back. We have a maid in our store. If you pay another five cents, the maid will carry Miss Su back on a bamboo chair.”
The villagers suddenly realized that Su Wan had fainted on the street and was examined by the doctor in the clinic. That’s why she owed money. Wow, what a huge sum of money.
