This is the second time Yun Shu has seen a palm-sized sterling silver hand mirror inlaid with gems [Note 1].
At this time, following Sun Youming's hand seal, the mirror emitted a ray of silver light, forming a screen of light in the air.
After the light screen was finalized, the figures were clearly visible and the voices were clearly audible, Sun Youming stopped his hand, turned back, and said with a joking look on his face: "Your Majesty, the show has begun."
…
Songzitun is said to be the village next door to Qingxigou, but in fact the two villages are still two to three miles apart.
But in the eyes of fast-footed farmers, this distance is just a few more steps.
Now in March and February, it is not yet the time for spring plowing here in Changbai Mountain. Although there is work in the fields, it is not heavy yet.
Therefore, the card court behind the scenes in Songzitun is very lively, and there are many idle people looking for entertainment after dark.
It's just that the venue of this card game is a bit special. It is actually the home of a young widow.
This little widow, known as the Money Widow, is also a pitiful person.
Originally fleeing famine, in order to survive, his father sold 100 kilograms of sweet potatoes to the only son of the Qian family in Songzitun as a child bride.
But the only son of the Qian family was born frail and sickly, and was not expected to live a long life.
Such a body should have been well taken care of, but in order to leave an heir, getting married and breaking up Yuanyang at the age of fifteen or sixteen was depleting the essence and blood, which made it worse.
Sure enough, the only son of the Qian family died before he was thirty, leaving behind his parents, wife and daughter.
It was unfortunate that the child bride of the Qian family was widowed at a young age. Who would have thought that just after her husband died, she was beaten and scolded by her mother-in-law because she only gave birth to two daughters and no heirs to the Qian family.
The father-in-law was afraid that he would have no one to rely on when he grew old, so he adopted a grandson from the clan without consulting her.
Widow Qian’s parents and brothers left after getting one hundred catties of sweet potatoes, and have not had any contact with each other since.
She had no support from her natal family, and the Qian family's parents-in-law took care of their two young daughters. It was difficult for her to remarry, so she could only stay in the Qian family and work as a cow.
But Widow Qian never expected that her mother-in-law, as her biological grandmother, was going to secretly sell her eldest daughter, and that the adopted child would deliberately throw her younger daughter, who was less than one year old, to the ground.
If her eldest daughter, even though she was just four years old, hadn't started making trouble because of a kid crying for help, Widow Qian wouldn't even dare to think about what would be waiting for her when she came back from the field...
Widow Qian has experienced fleeing from famine and losing her family. She is not a weak-tempered person to begin with, but she was made a child bride when she was young. She was forced to be docile by Mrs. Qian, but the ruthlessness in her bones that dared to compete with the refugees for food has not disappeared.
Old and new grudges have now burst out... If she hadn't still had sense, and if the villagers hadn't stopped her, this old woman from the Qian family would have really been hacked to death by her daughter-in-law.
There is no need to elaborate on how the village cadres made adjustments. The final result was that Widow Qian, her two daughters, and the old couple broke up and moved into a dilapidated thatched house at the end of the village.
At this time, Widow Qian didn't know that the sentence "There are many disputes in front of the widow's door" was not just said out of nowhere.
The mother and daughter did live a quiet life for a while after they moved. However, it didn't take long for the idle man to knock on the door and climb on the wall, poking his head and looking for opportunities to take advantage of the situation. Soon, people in the village were gossiping.
This world is always very harsh on women.
Only then did Widow Qian realize that the old couple in the Qian family were not useless at all.
But even so, she didn't regret leaving the Qian family.
At this point, Widow Qian had to become more and more aggressive. Those with bad intentions also knew that this woman really dared to use white knives in and red knives out, but she didn't dare to actually take action. She could only talk about it. Cheap.
But such a tough woman finally took a different path because of her youngest daughter's serious illness in the winter months.
Later, he even broke the pot and played a card game at home to greet those idle men and second-rates.
No way, she needs money.
The youngest daughter was born with her father's frailty and could not keep up with her nutrition after birth. That day, she was deliberately thrown to the ground and her head was broken, causing a lot of blood.
The thatched house was extremely cold in the winter months, and the three mothers only had one thin quilt, which was not even enough for the adults, let alone the children...
I begged my grandpa and grandma to borrow money and finally took my daughter to the county hospital. After several critical illness notifications, the widow couldn't breathe due to the overwhelming expenses.
I wanted to give up several times, but my mother's heart... I couldn't bear to do it.
Fortunately, my little daughter's life was saved in the end, but the cost of the medicine she will need in the future...
All changes just require an opportunity, whether good or bad.
…
The poker room in Songzitun was not large in scale, but the number of gamblers was quite large. It was not that no one reported it at first, but there were also many people who tipped off the information. By the time the police arrived, the people had already run away.
Without any evidence, the three women in the room hugged each other and cried. Seeing this, they knew it was wrong, but there was nothing they could do.
Therefore, this poker venue was opened for two or three years, and Widow Qian also made a lot of money.
However, as the eldest daughter grew older and became more and more silent, not only did she not have any playmates in the village, but she also came back with injuries every time she went out. No need to ask, she just got into fights with those carefree brats, only called Widow Qian. Increasingly anxious.
She thought countless times about how to get herself out of this mud and take her two daughters away.
But some things are easy to start, but they cannot be ended when you want to.
Until this year…
-----------------------
In the past, Wang Tiezhu, as the son of the captain of the Qingxigou Production Brigade, relied on his status and would not have any contact with idle men.
But since that dead girl Daya made such a scene last year, Wang Tiezhu only felt that everything in front of him was like a wild horse running wild.
Especially when his father went crazy in the snow and ran to his eldest brother's grave all night and suffered frostbite on his legs. After he was about to step down as captain, he felt that nothing was right.
The endless farm work, the whispers from others, the father's indifference, the mother's hatred, the sister's incomprehension, the wife's indifference, and even the sight of his young son and daughter made him feel irritable...
In this environment, Wang Tiezhu met several "brothers" who particularly understood and flattered him. Through them, he also learned about a good place for recreation and met a shrewd but inadvertently caring little widow.
However, Wang Tiezhu is selfish but also saves face. Even though he has developed feelings for the little widow, he still acts very entangled.
Every time he looked at the little widow, his eyes were lingering and slightly painful, and his words always contained hints such as "I like you", "But I already have a wife and children", "What should I do", etc., intentionally or unintentionally.
The widow who had received the money to set Wang Tiezhu up was almost sickened by him.
She wanted to give up the job, but the buyer offered too much.
Fortunately, she received the letter. They were closing the net, and she was about to get over it.
