Chapter 267: Fighting for a Way Out for My Daughter
Cao said nothing.
Tong Huaqiong turned and asked, "You didn't come to me just to borrow medicine, did you?"
Cao sighed in her heart that Aunt Tong was worthy of being the first person in Qinghe Bay to go to the town to do business, and she was so perceptive in looking at things.
But she was embarrassed to say it.
She became timid after entering Tong Huaqiong's house.
Cao changed the subject and asked, "Aunt Tong, you have a lot of experience. Do you think Fugui will change?"
Tong Huaqiong said directly: "He must have beaten Chunni and you more than once or twice. There are only zero times and countless times of domestic violence. You expect him to change, that's impossible."
Cao lowered her head and shed tears.
Every time Tian Fugui beat her, she forced herself to live her life as usual. Now it seems that she is a laughing stock in the village.
Seeing that Cao still refused to speak, Tong Huaqiong changed the question and asked, "You were able to tolerate it before, why can't you tolerate it now?"
Cao gritted her teeth and said, "Aunt Tong, I won't hide it from you. If he only beat Chunni and me, I could still bear it. But now, he and my mother-in-law have heard something from someone, and they have started to go crazy these days and want to send Chunni to be a child bride."
"Last night, my mother-in-law said that Chunni had been eating the meat at home. The family can no longer afford to support Chunni. She has chosen someone else and will send Chunni away in the next few days. She said that Chunni has grown up and is wild and disobedient. If she is beaten and jumps into a well in the future, how can she exchange it for a betrothal gift? It is better to let Chunni be a child bride now, and earn some money for Chunwang to marry a wife."
Tong Huaqiong's head was buzzing as if it had been set off by firecrackers.
She advised Mrs. Luo not to beat Chunni, lest she be injured and unable to exchange for the betrothal gift. She never expected that it would have the opposite effect.
Mrs. Luo wanted Chunni to be a child bride right now.
Tong Huaqiong didn't know how to complain about this kind of train of thought.
This is comparable to Tong Da Jiao letting Man'er marry into the Zheng family in the previous life.
However, Tong Huaqiong was slightly comforted by the fact that it was Luo's actions that made Cao dare to bring Chunni to her for help.
As long as Cao is willing to disobey her husband and mother-in-law for her daughter, the situation will turn around.
"What kind of family?" Tong Huaqiong was curious about what kind of family Mrs. Luo could find for Chunni.
Cao said tearfully, "It's a family in Heilong Town. At first my mother-in-law said it was a well-off family. The boy in the other family was nine years old, two years older than Chunni, and Chunni lived a good life there. Later Chunwang let it slip that the boy was born mentally retarded, couldn't speak fully at the age of nine, and wet the bed."
Sin!
Mrs. Luo is so cruel.
However, if Chunni doesn't become a child bride now, she will become Chunwang's consumable sooner or later if she stays in the Tian family.
In the future, she might be arranged by Luo Pozi and Tian Fugui to marry a rich widower or a disabled son of a wealthy family. If these two people have a way to get Chunni to be a concubine in a wealthy family, they will not hesitate.
"Fugui agreed to the one in Heilongtan Town, right?" Tong Huaqiong asked.
"I agreed. They said they were willing to give thirty taels of silver. I can't just watch Chunni jump into the fire pit. Chunwang is my son and I love him very much. I agree that when Chunni gets married, the betrothal gift will be given to Chunwang. But I don't want Chunni to be a child bride in exchange for silver at such a young age."
"Yesterday, I argued with my mother-in-law and Fugui about this matter, and Fugui beat me up twice."
"I came to you, Aunt Tong, because I really had no other choice."
The Cao family cried and talked as they went along.
Tong Huaqiong asked: "Then how do you want me to help you?"
It would be possible to use the power of County Magistrate Liu to pressure Tian Fugui to not let Chunni become a child bride, but Chunni still has to live in the Tian family.
If Chunni can't leave the Tian family, she will sooner or later be sold out by Mrs. Luo and Tian Fugui.
This depends on whether Cao has the determination.
Cao said, "Aunt Tong, I want to...I want to ask if you can hire Chunni and me to work on your land? They think Chunni is a money-loser. If Chunni and I can make money, Fugui and my mother-in-law probably won't let Chunni be a child bride for the sake of money."
Tong Huaqiong: “…”
She originally thought that Cao would propose the idea of divorce, but she didn't expect that Cao had no intention of leaving Tian Fugui at all.
She couldn't say that Cao's idea was wrong.
After all, although divorce is free in later generations, some women still cannot divorce decisively, especially women in the countryside.
Not to mention women of this era.
If Cao divorced, her parents probably wouldn't accept her. She had no house or land in the village, so where could she go?
Tong Huaqiong felt a little desperate when she was brought into the Cao family.
Seeing Tong Huaqiong didn't say anything, Chunni wiped her tears and said, "Grandma Tong, I'm very capable. I can farm, I can cut grass for pigs..."
She has to do these chores at home anyway.
Cao said, "I noticed that you have hired many villagers to work on your land in the west mountain. The corn harvest is coming soon. Can you hire Chunni and me, or you can feed the pigs in the pigpen?"
Cao found out that Liu Qiaoyun and Gu Xiaocao from the village were both working in shops in the town.
Even a girl as young as Liu Xiuxiu was working in the shop, and she was doing a pretty good job.
Cao didn't even dare to suggest going to the shop. She would be satisfied if Tong Huaqiong was willing to let her work in the fields or take care of pigs.
She is very capable, even the most capable male laborers in the village may not be as capable as her.
If Tong Huaqiong agreed, she would be willing to only charge half of the wages of other hired workers.
Tong Huaqiong was a little hesitant.
Her fifty acres of land did need people. The upcoming autumn harvest would require people to break corn and till the soil. She would also need people to expand the pig pen in the future. She also had more business ideas that also needed people.
Having another Cao and Chunni on the land is nothing.
But what Tong Huaqiong cared about was whether Tian Fugui and Luo Pozi would come to cause trouble.
Moreover, she felt uncomfortable all over when she thought that all the money earned by Cao and Chunni would be given to Tian Fugui and Luo Pozi to support Chunwang.
Why should the two women hand over the money they earn?
But since Cao came to her, it means that she is still willing to fight for her daughter's life. She is a pure ancient woman. It is impossible for her to divorce, to be self-reliant, or to leave her husband's family in the short term.
"It's not impossible for you to come to my house to work." Tong Huaqiong said.
Hearing Tong Huaqiong say this, a hint of gratitude appeared on Cao's sad face.
"What if Tian Fugui and your mother-in-law don't agree? What if they call you away in the middle of your work at my house?" Tong Huaqiong talked about the current reality.
"As long as you are still the daughters-in-law and daughters of the Tian family, you will always be controlled by Tian Fugui and Luo Pozi."
After hearing this, Cao remained silent.
She only wanted to ask Tong Huaqiong for a job opportunity, but didn't think about the problem Tong Huaqiong mentioned.
"What should I do?" Cao murmured to herself.
"Do you want to leave the Tian family?" Tong Huaqiong asked despite knowing Cao's answer.
"How can I leave? I'm married into the Tian family. I can't leave the fields unless Fugui divorces me. If Tian Fugui really divorces me, I won't want to live anymore. That would be so embarrassing. The marriages of my Chunni, my sisters from my mother's side, and my niece will all be affected." Cao rejected it without even thinking.
Just as Tong Huaqiong expected, leaving the Tian family was not an option for her at all.