“Of course, it’s fine to take your things, but you only paid to buy two cloth bags, so why are you trying to take away my grain as well?” Su Tang said to Chen Xiuxiu, not backing down an inch.
Although it was true she had already blackmailed Chen Xiuxiu and taken her money, the fact of the matter was that Chen Xiuxiu had come over to steal her things, so Su Tang had no intentions of letting the other woman just waltz away so easily.
Chen Xiuxiu really didn’t expect that Su Tang would keep being difficult at this point. Hadn’t she already given away such a big silver bracelet? Wouldn’t it be fine to let her just take a few grains? She really didn’t think that Su Tang would be so brazen like this, suddenly jumping out to label her as a thief again! Although she hadn’t said it out directly, it was obvious what her words were implying.
“What ‘your grain’? I already paid you for the grain bag, right? What kind of person sells empty grain bags? Obviously, a grain bag comes with grain inside! Are you trying to scam people? Or are you saying that the grain in the grain bag you made for me is actually yours?! Is that how you do business, using the things you make for the customers?”
Chen Xiuxiu hugged the bags of grain even tighter. She would never admit that this grain was stolen! Even if you beat her to death she would only say that these were two grain bags that she had bought properly and uprightly. Also, to vent her dissatisfaction, she even smeared Su Tang a bit by saying that the girl had been using “her” grain bags for her own use before selling them.
Su Tang actually began to admire this shameless person a little bit. After all, not just anyone could do what Chen Xiuxiu was doing, acting so righteous despite being clearly in the wrong. Finally, she just asked with a wry smile, “Are you sure you want to do this?”
When Chen Xiuxiu heard Su Tang’s tone had turned a bit softer, she immediately felt that she had the upper hand and grabbed her husband to leave, only pausing to roll her eyes mightily at Su Tang.
Seeing that, Madam Qin and Madam Zhou pointed at her angrily and sputtered, “S-she…”
Su Tang just idly watched as Chen Xiuxiu slowly disappeared before turning to comfort them, “My dear sisters-in-law, don’t bother with her. Just forget it, take it as feeding a stray dog.”
Madam Qin and Madam Zhou didn’t look happy, but when they saw that Su Tang wanted to let the matter drop they hummed their agreement and said nothing more.
Now that Chen Xiuxiu and Sun Tiezhu had left, Su Tang turned back to Su Yonggui. “I don’t know if Brother Gui still feels the same way now?”
“The Su family has quite a lot of people in it these days and, of course, I, Su Tang, am also a member of the Su family and want what’s best for the family. However, it’s precisely because I am a member of the Su family that I cannot be tolerant just because a criminal is a member of the family.”
“Everyone knows what kind of person that Chen Xiuxiu is. Eventually, there will come a day when her reputation is destroyed and, when that day comes it will be a matter for the Sun family, not the Su family. By letting her go today, we have avoided any messy entanglements with her.”
“As for Madam Zhang well, today, she saw that the roof of our house collapsed and directly came over to steal and rob. Of course, because I am a member of the Su family and also a member of her elder generation, I decided to be lenient. I had no plans to take the matter to the officials and smear our whole family’s reputation and was perfectly content to handle the matter internally with the family rules.”
“But in the end, having a person with such greed for petty gains is a hidden danger for our family. Today, it was fine because it was my roof that collapsed, but what about tomorrow? What if the Wang family’s roof collapses? Or the Li’s, or the Zhang’s? Will she do the same thing and go to try to steal? And if she does, do you think that they will be willing to handle the matter so gently?”
“When that happens, everyone will point at us and ask ‘Since the Su family dared to let such a woman marry in, what kind of place can the Su family be?’, and what will we tell them then?”
When Su Tang saw that the Su family members who were gathered around had all begun to seriously ponder on her words, and she couldn’t help but laugh in her heart. They probably felt her words were very weighty and solemn, with great truth inside, but what kind of person was she? What had she done in her past life? She was an editor, okay? Saying a bunch of flowery words without any substance was practically her entire career!
To put it simply, when it came to bluffing she was definitely a professional!
However, didn’t they want some truth? That was fine, she could lay down some truths today. Su Tang slowly continued speaking: “What will happen when the children of our Su family go to the academy to begin their studies? What will happen if their classmates or teachers find out that such a woman is married into our Su family? What will they think of our family, and by extension, of our children studying there?”
“And to go further, if a child of the Su family studies diligently and manages to climb into officialdom what will their future be if their superiors know of our family? Or even higher, if His Majesty, The Emperor, knows? Do you think that they will trust a family that is prosperous, righteous, and upright or a family that has uncertain and possibly criminal elements?”
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Thank you for the chapter. Hmmm dreaming high with mentioning scholars and the emperor 😉