Chapter 90 Past events (1)
"I have never seen my father. Ever since I can remember, I have known that I have no father. I have asked my mother a few times, but she was very angry every time. The last time I asked her, she slapped me in the face. Since then, she seems to have gotten used to it. Whenever she is unhappy or upset, she hits me."
Wang held the handkerchief in her hand, squeezing it tightly.
"Later, there was a period of time when a man always came. When he was around, mother was very happy and would not allow anyone else to enter the house. Mother also asked me to call the man "Dad". The man bought a lot of delicious food for me and also bought clothes for me. At that time, even the landlord said that she had good luck. When autumn came, the man came back with money and took her to Jiangnan.
"But before autumn, the man suddenly stopped coming. Mother was very anxious and asked people to look for him but couldn't find him. Then a lender came to ask for money. Mother didn't know what was going on. She looked at the pages of the loan notes, all of which were signed by her hand. Mother finally understood what was going on and ran back to the house to look for the jar of silver. It was indeed empty.
"It turned out that the man was a liar. He tricked my mother into lending him money as collateral, and then stole all the money my mother had earned from serving others over the years. I remember that day very clearly and dared not move. Every time she said something, she would hit me with the small wooden stick. Every time she cursed the man, she would hit me again, from the shoulder to the heel.
"Later, she drank too much, and when I poured wine for her, I accidentally broke the wine jar. She grabbed my hair like crazy, saying that I was a jinx, a burden, and a debt collector. She said that if she had known that I was so useless, she should not have brought me out in the first place. In short, that night I thought I was going to die, and I even saw something floating in the sky coming to pick me up.
"In the morning, I was woken up by someone shaking me. When the person saw that I was awake, he kept saying that I was lucky and that it was summer. If it was winter, I would have died. Later, the person came into the house and started to persuade my mother. Then, my mother took me to Ruyi Pavilion and changed my name to Qiao Niang. She forbade me to tell anyone that my last name was Su, nor to talk about the past."
When Su Qing said this, she felt so heartbroken, as if she could feel the sadness and helplessness of the original owner, and tears began to fall.
Wang's face was already in tears. She reached out her hand to wipe Su Qing's tears, "Don't cry, dear Qing'er, don't cry. You will never suffer any grievances again in the future. I promise you."
Su Qing calmed down and said with a smile, "Since I entered the West Mansion, I have never suffered such hardship again. I have enough food to eat, warm clothes to wear, and I get money. I also recognized Madam Liu as my godmother, and came to the East Mansion to serve the fourth young lady. Now I am valued by the lady and become a second-class maid. I am very happy, and I will not cry anymore."
Wang felt even more distressed when she heard Su Qing calling her a servant all the time.
"Qing'er, tell me more about your mother. What does she look like? Is there anything special about her, such as a mole or something? Do you understand?" asked Guo's mother.
Su Qing nodded, "I understand. My mother has a long face, big eyes, and thin eyebrows. She is not very beautiful, but she has a certain energy. I can't explain why, but she is very attractive. There are many people standing there, and she doesn't need to speak to others to notice her. And she speaks differently from others."
As Mother Guo listened to Su Qing's description, a figure slowly entered her mind. "What's the difference?" Mother Guo asked nervously.
"She would add an "ah" at the end of every sentence, either loudly or softly. For example, if she wanted to say that the flowers were beautiful, she would say, 'The flowers are so beautiful~~~ah.' It was a similar tone."
Mrs. Wang and Mrs. Guo looked at each other and saw disbelief in each other's eyes.
"Besides, she was very strange when she sold her slaves."
"how?"
"When she was going to sell the slaves, she would not fight so much and would also prepare some delicious food. Every once in a while, human traffickers would come to Ruyi Pavilion and they would sell those who could not work and had no customers. Mother would ask them a question every time and would give up if those people could not meet her requirements. She would not sell the slaves until the human traffickers agreed to her conditions."
"What did the human trafficker promise her?" Mother Guo asked nervously.
"She told the trafficker to sell me to the Huainan Marquis's mansion. But the trafficker said she didn't have the ability to do that and at best she could be sold to the West Mansion. Mother said that was fine too, and whether I could go to the East Mansion in the future depended on my luck."
After Su Qing finished speaking, the cup in Wang's hand fell to the ground with a clang. Wang looked up at Mother Guo and said word by word, "It must be her, that bitch. She stole my Wanjie and made a fake one to fool me, making me think that Wanjie was dead. Then she took my Wanjie away, causing my daughter to suffer so much. I must find her and make her live a life worse than death."
Su Qing looked at Wang's bulging forehead and was so scared that she stood up quickly. After calming down, she began to slowly think about the abnormal behavior of Wang and Mother Guo today.
Although she didn't know the reason, from the conversation between the two and the initial interrogation of her as if to verify her identity, a bold idea jumped into her mind.
"Ma'am, please don't get excited, don't get excited. We still need to verify it. We have to make sure it's not the case first." Mother Guo hugged Wang and gently stroked her back to calm her down.
"Qing'er, do you still remember where you lived before you went to Ruyi Pavilion?" Mother Guo looked up at Su Qing.
"It's in the Eighteenth Alley in the west of the city. There's a 'Miaosheng Medicine Shop' at the door, but I don't know if it's still there."
Mother Guo nodded, "I will go now. Sister Kong has gone to the Ruyi Pavilion to ask if anyone knows her whereabouts. Let's find out first, and then we can take the next step. But before everything is confirmed, you must stay calm and not let others see anything. It will not be good for you and Qing'er."
Wang had calmed down a lot. She nodded and said, "Go quickly. Go to the Eighteenth Alley in the west of the city and ask around. The more detailed the better."
Mother Guo sighed, "Qing'er, you stay here with Madam. I'm sure Madam has a lot to say to you."
"Yes, but at the Fourth Young Lady's place, Madam Liu told me to..."
"Don't worry about it. I'll arrange it." Mother Guo squatted beside Wang again. The two whispered a few words and then hurried out.
Su Qing looked at Wang who was sitting there blankly. No matter whether her guess was true or not, she felt sorry for Wang. Over the years, she had been immersed in the pain of losing her eldest daughter, transferring all her regrets and love to Meng Qi, and raising Meng Qi to have such a personality. If the original owner was really Meng Wan, how did all this happen? What about the original owner's "mother"?
When Wang came to her senses, she found Su Qing standing there, looking at her with a worried look on her face. Seeing that she was looking at her, she poured tea for her with a flattering smile and brought it to her, "Madam, are you feeling better? Have some tea. You really can't let your mood fluctuate so much. It's not good for your health."
Wang took the tea and took a sip. It was not the tea she usually drank, but the health tea specially prepared for her by Guo's mother.
"Did you confuse Qiuxia and me?"
"Yes, at first I thought you wanted to ask me about yesterday or about the fourth young lady."
"You saved me yesterday. When I woke up, your pendant was just in front of me. Because I was not very sober at that time, I only had a rough look. It was not until I returned to Shanzhi Hall today that Qiuxia told me that when you saved me yesterday, there was a crescent-shaped birthmark on your lower back. We put these two points together and called you to confirm a guess."