What kind of person is Mrs. Wu from? It's just a small landlord's house, but he's used to being rampant on the one-third of an acre of land in the countryside. He's a little arrogant, has a lot of dirty thoughts in his hands, and is very rude.
The woman she sent was always helping Mrs. Wu deal with concubines in the backyard at Wu's house, so she was not a good person.
Mr. Wu from Wujiatun is greedy for flowers and lustful. There are a lot of Yingying and Yanyan in the yard. One today and one tomorrow, and he likes the new and dislikes the old. But looking coldly, no one is pleasing to the eye, more than that, apart from Mrs. Wu herself, there is no other woman in the Wu family who has given birth to a child.
No one would believe that there was nothing tricky about it.
Mr. Wu is not stupid either, he is a loafer, and Mrs. Wu is still in charge of the inner house.
Those women in the Wu family's backyard who had been abused had no name or distinction, and they couldn't even be considered serious concubines. In the countryside, those who are used by the master but have not given birth to children have the same status as maids and servants, and the wife can dismiss or sell them with a word.
When Bai's contacts with such a person, she actually talked about many things in the family one by one, and complained from time to time.
In her heart, Mrs. Wu felt that Mrs. Bai was useless and couldn't even take care of a new wife, so she didn't say anything, but slowly gave people advice, telling people how she managed the house, and told her all about this black-hearted and unscrupulous method. people listen.
"You're just too good-natured. Anyone with a high status or a high family status is just a matter of face. Outsiders, who care about you, have only heard that women marry chickens and dogs follow dogs. When they enter your house, they are your family. I'm afraid What? It's not too much to beat and scold, what kind of bride doesn't serve her in-laws respectfully and obediently?" Mrs. Wu said so.
The more she listened to the words, the more and more Bai felt that it made sense. She couldn't sleep for several nights, and tossed and turned in bed thinking about it.
She has always had a prejudice against Gu Qingci, and this prejudice is deepening day by day. Bai always wants to hold him down, so that she dare not say a word to him, and can only make a living under his own hands, and act according to his own face.
Both Li Baode and Li Chengze went to the countryside, and Bai felt that the opportunity had come.
With people sent by Mrs. Wu as helpers, it didn't take a little effort.
Bai's mother told them before that the poorer the place and the countryside, the more brutal and domineering the people.
They want to discipline their daughters-in-law very easily, and there are many ways, for example, whoever they think is disobedient, or tie them up and make them kneel, or beat their hands, or slap their lips, do heavy work, and so on.
There are also naughty families, and there are some husbands who are tired of their wives and sell their wives. These are not uncommon things.
Mother Bai's intention of telling these daughters is to let them know what is good or bad in their hearts. When they marry in the future, they must not only be diligent and capable, but also be able to win over men's likes.
And Mrs. Bai learned something else from those words, knowing that sometimes it is useless to say a lot, as long as someone has money in his hand, he can make people feel safe.
There is also a reason why she covets Gu Qingci's dowry, so she has been thinking about it since she was not married yet.
—
The mother-in-law didn't care what she did to Gu Qingci Bai in the side room, she only locked the doors of the west courtyard tightly, and then went back to her room to sleep.
A good night's sleep.
But the west courtyard went crazy!
After Gu Qingci didn't come back for a long time, Madam Zhang sent Qiu Ju over to have a look.
Unexpectedly, Qiu Ju went to the yard and pulled the door, but she couldn't open it no matter what.
So he immediately went back and told Nanny Zhang, "Mommy, the door can't be opened for some reason, it seems to be locked from the outside."
Nanny Zhang couldn't believe how the good door was locked from the outside, so she went over to check it out, and it turned out that she really couldn't open it, and not only the small door, but also the big door was locked!
After running back and forth a few times, they realized something was wrong.
A few servant girls were circling anxiously in the yard, and tried to knock on the door again, but it was useless.
The courtyard wall is high, there is not even a ladder in the house, and there is a room full of women who can't climb up.
Although Nanny Zhang was worried, she still scolded the servants with a cold face, which made them mess up and break the rules.
She comforted herself in her heart, Miss Tao must be fine, the Li family would never dare to do anything to the girl, otherwise Hou Fu could crush them to death with one finger! Besides, everything has been fine for the past few days, and there is no sign of anything going wrong. This morning, the girl taught the two girls of the Li family how to read and write normally.
Thinking about it carefully, the biggest possibility is that Mrs. Bai left the girl to serve or set up rules, perhaps because she was afraid that they would find her, so she simply locked the door.
This was the most reasonable guess Zhang Nanny could think of, but she was so annoyed that she cursed Mrs. Bai thousands of times. The girl raised by their family was treated so badly by an ignorant woman!
It was already late at night, and Madam Zhang only hoped to get through the night quickly, the Bai family couldn't keep them locked.
Before the master returned, none of the servants dared to sleep, and they had to push and knock on the door every once in a while.
Time passed bit by bit.
Soon, the sky was white and the dew and mist dissipated.
Several women in the west courtyard started shouting at the door in turn, trying to be heard.
—
Li Chengze had made an appointment with the shopkeeper Fang of the book shop before, and was going to talk about some details of the newspaper.
The matter in Hekou Village is not a big deal. There is a piece of fruit mountain shared by the village to ask the opinions of the small households to vote on some matters. Li Cheng certainly had no objection, and only asked Li Baode to stay there to follow up.
He has a problem with choosing a bed, he doesn't get a good rest in a strange place, he wakes up at four o'clock in the morning, and he needs Yuanbao to set up a car and go back to the city at dawn.
I originally planned to come back to freshen up and change clothes, so that I could go out to meet guests at noon.
Unexpectedly, when I got out of the carriage, I immediately saw a big brass lock hanging on the gate of the west courtyard.
Li Cheng was surprised, frowned, turned around and turned to the narrow alley, and looked at the side door, which was also locked.
At this moment, shouts came from the yard.
Li Cheng listened for a few times before saying: "What's the matter?"
Grandma Zhang suddenly heard the voice from outside, and recognized Li Chengze's voice, as if she had found the backbone, she immediately cried to him: "Master, please save our girl, the girl yesterday My son went to the east courtyard and never came back, and our courtyard was locked by someone at some point, this old servant is worried!"
Li Cheng's expression sank after hearing this, he turned around and walked into the east courtyard.
In the yard, the careless woman was washing clothes by the boiling water. She was stunned when she saw the sudden appearance of the old man, and then quickly rubbed her hands and gave a blessing.
Li Cheng asked directly: "Where is your grandma?"
The mother-in-law's face was dull, she opened her mouth, and wanted to say something, but Mrs. Bai suddenly came out from the wing room. Her expression was unnatural for a moment, but she recovered after a while, took a few steps closer, and said gently: "Why is Ze'er so early? Are you back? Didn’t you say that you will delay your work for two days?”
Li Cheng's expression was indifferent, noncommittal.
Ever since he came here, even though he knew that he had nothing to do with people like the Bai family, he tried his best to play his own role and fulfill the responsibilities of this body.
However, this does not mean that Bai's hand can reach his head.
Li Cheng took a deep look at Bai Shi, and said, "Where is Gu Qingci?"
Bai's heart skipped a beat, paused, and then slowly said: "Why do you ask this question as soon as you come back, I'm afraid that mother will eat her up, but I left her here to talk for a while yesterday, see It's getting late so let her rest here, what are you worried about, you go back first, and she will go away when she wakes up." This is a nonsense, Li Cheng and Gu Qingci usually have breakfast like this On the sidelines, if Mrs. Bai hadn't been guilty, she wouldn't have said the words to let Li Chengze go back to the west courtyard now.
Li Cheng lost his patience. He didn't want to listen to Bai's nonsense anymore, so he turned to look at the rough envoy, with obvious meaning in his eyes.
The old woman felt good, and pointed to the ear room.
Li Cheng walked over in a few strides and opened the door with one hand.
See, in a small room, Gu Qingci was tied up with thick hemp rope.
She was only wearing a white coat, and her coat and skirt were all ripped off and thrown on the ground.
For the first time, Li Cheng felt angry.
After calming down again and again, I suppressed my anger for a while, stepped forward, squatted down, stroked Gu Qingci's face, and whispered her name while untying the rope.
Gu Qingci was burning, her forehead was hot, but her body was shaking.
After untying the rope, he checked Gu Qingci's body for trauma.
He took off his outer robe, wrapped him up in his arms, and walked out of the ear room.
Li Cheng walked quickly, without looking at Bai Shi, and said to Yuan Bao as he walked, "Go ask the doctor."
As soon as the words fell, people had already left the door.