Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 2854 Midnight
The night watchman outside struck the third watch. In the main room of a small courtyard deep in a "Ming'ao hybrid" house in the high-end residential area of ​​Lingao, Zhou Suniang was kneeling on the square brick floor, "reflecting on her mistakes", her body tilted against the eight-immortals table, and she could no longer support herself.

The candlestick on the table was lit all night. The lady ordered: After the family rules, Zhou Suniang should be punished by kneeling for a night to let her reflect on herself.

The maid on duty yawned again, and the candle on the table flickered twice, almost burning out. She got up drowsily and was about to get another candle. The door opened, and another maid came in with a lantern: "Rui Lan! Go back and rest first, I'll help you watch."

The maid who came was Fu Yue, who served Zhou Suniang. As soon as the eldest wife came back, she called all the servants and maids around Zhou Suniang over to interrogate them one by one.

Ruilan was a little surprised: "Why? They let you back?"

Fu Yue said, "I have told the housekeeper and the first wife that you are helping in my kitchen today. Everyone in the kitchen can vouch for me. It is impossible for me to be blamed for Aunt Zhou running away."

"I'm glad you're okay!" Ruilan patted her chest. She looked at the sky outside and asked, "What time is it?"

"When I came here, the clock had already struck twelve, and it was three o'clock outside."

Ruilan smiled and said, "Forget it, it's already this time and the night watchman will be here soon. I've already stayed up half the night, so I might as well stay up another half. If she catches me, she'll definitely nag me again!"

"Are you so afraid of her?"

"Aren't you afraid? If she just opened her mouth, she would be beaten with a stick and couldn't sit still for two days!" Ruilan seemed to be still frightened, "I won't get into trouble with her."

Fu Yue sat next to her and looked at the drowsy Zhou Suniang. "Are you asleep?"

"Yeah. Beating and scolding. How can she bear it!" Ruilan sighed with some sympathy, "The madam has wanted to get angry with her for a long time. This time she caught her red-handed"!
Fu Yue extinguished the lantern, replaced it with a new candle, and sat down next to her: "Then I'll accompany you."

As she said this, she walked over, looked at Zhou Suniang first, then went to the inner room and got a thin quilt to cover her.

The winter nights in Lingao were still a little cold. Ruilan had a thin blanket for nighttime use, so the two of them lay close together and wrapped themselves in it.

"You have a kind heart." Ruilan smiled softly, "You are so caring!"

"If something happens to the beloved daughter of the master, and the lady faces south, I will be in trouble." Fu Yue sighed in a long tone, looked at Zhou Suniang, and whispered, "I'm afraid her life will be difficult in the future."

Ruilan nodded: The master has a hard life, and being a maid is even harder.

"We can't enjoy such a good life, but we have to..." Ruilan muttered.

"Shh!" Fu Yue made a "silence" gesture, looked at Zhou Suniang, and whispered, "Don't say anything."

Ruilan knew that he had said something wrong and nodded quickly.

"Hey, in this house, although I don't have to worry about food and clothing, and the work is not tiring, but every day, it's no different from being in prison." Ruilan said quietly, "I'm worried all day long."

Fu Yue whispered, "Have you ever thought about quitting?"

"You won't do it?" Ruilan said in surprise. "Your body and life are yours. You have to do whatever you want. When you are slapped, you have to ask the master if it hurts. How dare I say 'no'?"

"Didn't Master Xia say last time that the indentures held by the Qu family are all invalidated? Now they are all considered hired workers." She pouted at Zhou Suniang, "Her indenture is also gone."

"That's what I said, Sister Fu Yue," Rui Lan sighed, "So what if there's no contract? We are still at the mercy of the masters. If they are happy, they will give us candied dates, and if they are unhappy, they will give us a slap! Look at her..." As she spoke, she turned her attention to Zhou Suniang, "She is the master's favorite, right? Madam said one thing, and she was beaten to death last night, and the bamboo board was even broken. If she wasn't afraid of someone's death..." At this point, she glanced outside again, "Alas, what does it have to do with us!"

"You are stupid. Without the contract, you are a good citizen, not a slave." Fu Yue lowered her voice very low. "It is up to you to decide whether to leave or stay. Find a job for yourself when you go out. Do you still remember the original Third Sister-in-law Gu?"

"I know. When the layoffs happened, she and her husband were let go. She was very unhappy about it!"

Soon after the Qu family came to Linggao, they stopped keeping servants to guard the gate and the house. Because of the high cost of slavery, they also fired many of the redundant servants. "She is now working as a maid outside and can earn several dollars a month."

"That's a lot." Ruilan was a little envious. Old girls like them had been working in the mansion for at least ten years. Their monthly salary was at most half a yuan. The first-class housekeeper only earned one yuan.

"Although the salary still needs to be deducted for household expenses, but we are the masters of our own family. We can eat whatever we want and make our own decisions - unlike us, who have to listen to others in everything."

Ruilan sighed, "This kind of thing is just a thought. You and I have been doing personal service since we were young. What can we do if we are really released? Gu San's wife used to do water and fire work. She has the strength to do the work. What about us? We serve tea, water and fold quilts?"

"Serving tea, water and folding quilts are also required of Australians." Fu Yue said, "Besides, can't you learn something else? Mrs. Gu's husband used to do rough housework such as cleaning and moving things around at home. I heard that he is now working in a workshop."

"You're talking so excitedly, do you want to quit?" Ruilan felt a little cold and tightened the blanket.

"I think about it, every day. But I just can't make up my mind. Although it's not going well here, and I get beaten and scolded, but if I go out, I feel uneasy." She suddenly grabbed Ruilan's arm, "Let's quit together!"

Ruilan sneered, "You wish! Let's not talk about what we're going to do. Don't forget that we still owe the Qu family! We don't have a penny of our worth. We either gave it to our parents or sold it to human traffickers. Now it's all our debt, plus the interest for so many years... You said you want to quit? Okay, the accountant will calculate how much you should pay back. Do you want to pay it back?!"

"You are so honest!" Fu Yue sneered, "Who can I ask for Sister Lian's debt now?"

"I can't do that. I'm in debt. Even if no one asks me about it, I'll feel ashamed for the rest of my life." Ruilan said, "Besides, I've never been forced to this point."

The two maids talked and sighed for a while, whispering to each other, but they didn't notice that Zhou Suniang, who had been hanging her head as if asleep, moved slightly.

They talked for a while, and then they all yawned. Finally, they couldn't bear it anymore and snuggled together to take a nap.

Hearing their breathing gradually become steady and calm, Zhou Suniang opened her eyes, supported her body with both hands, and slowly stood up.

She used her arms to support herself a little bit, moving her legs and feet which had almost lost all feeling. It took her more than ten minutes to finally stand up and hold onto the table.

Numbness, pain and dizziness tortured her for a long time. She stood there for more than ten minutes before she felt that her body, which had been falling apart, had returned to normal.

Cautiously, she came to the door of the west room, which was her "study room" where she usually read and wrote. At this time, with the help of the weak candlelight, she could see that the door of the west room was open, and the floor was full of messy books and scrolls - when she was "torturing" her last night, the eldest wife searched her house from top to bottom without hesitation, intending to take this opportunity to find evidence of her "having an affair" with a man outside her home.

Of course, there was no evidence, because she had no "affair" at all. As for "having sex with a man outside her family", He Xiaoyue guessed correctly that she was looking for her brother.

Zhou Suniang was sold to Yangzhou by the human traffickers. She left her hometown when she was young. Now more than ten years have passed and she has long forgotten her name, who her parents are and where she is. She only remembers that she has a brother.

Her fate was actually quite good among her sisters: she was redeemed at a young age. Although she was married to a merchant as a concubine, she was very favored, so the Qu family naturally looked at her differently.

Mr. Qu had been doing business for many years and had considerable assets. He had a good vision and moved his family to Lingao, the blessed land of the Song Dynasty. They no longer had to worry about war and chaos, and they had many fresh and comfortable "Australian enjoyments". She lived such a stable and wealthy life, with servants at her disposal, and she felt that she had nothing to complain about.

What disturbed her mind was a shopping trip to Wanzi Pavilion. She saw the man named Wu Xinsheng and the mole under his eye. In an instant, all those long-fuzzy memories surfaced.

Unfortunately, after trying to find out more, there was no result. Wu Xinsheng even went out of town. Fortunately, Guo Xier was not tight-lipped and she found out the man's address.

The Qu family was heavily guarded, and it was difficult to go out. But it was not difficult to ask someone to mail a letter. Zhou Suniang used some tricks and finally got in touch with the Nansha Cotton Textile Factory.

She was unwilling to give up this rare opportunity, so she took advantage of the fact that the master was away doing business and the first wife was going to the temple to worship Buddha and fast, and quietly slipped out and went straight to Wanzi Pavilion. Although He Xiaoyue rejected her request at first, she could see that the other party sympathized with her, and she had a more resolute and decisive character than Guo Xier.

At this moment, the most important thing is the correspondence with Nansha Textile Factory. She stuffed one of the letters with the letter to her brother in the sofa gap in the reception room of Wanzi Pavilion, but there are still two letters that need to be dealt with quickly. Zhou Suniang knew that the eldest wife would never let her go. Sooner or later, the things will be searched out.

She lit a match and walked to the bookshelf by the light of the fire. She squatted down a little awkwardly and groped at the bottom of the bookshelf. Soon, she touched a book protector tucked inside.

She pulled out the bookcase, and inside were two letters - sent from the Nansha Textile Factory, and half a wooden comb.