Chapter 39: Extortion

Lin looked at her sideways. She couldn’t possibly have given birth to a son as old as him.

It was strange, really. Xu Qingyi was clearly barely twenty, a genuine young woman, yet she had no qualms about being their adoptive mother.

Of course, Xu Qingyi’s mind was in her thirties. Having lived that long, she had experienced it all, becoming mature, rational, and composed. Being Lin’s mother was a piece of cake for her.

“So, do you remember roughly where it is?” Xu Qingyi asked.

Lin looked up and pointed to a tree ahead. “It’s probably around that tree.”

The mama immediately instructed the men they had brought. “Did you all hear Young Master Lin? Go dig around that tree. Be careful.”

Everyone responded in unison and scattered.

For a moment, the entire hillside was filled with the sound of digging.

“If you find it, bring it back first. Then, find a beautiful spot with clear water and good scenery, and choose a good day to bury her properly,” Xu Qingyi said, fanning herself.

She glanced around. Yangshu Village was indeed picturesque, but Lin’s mother probably wouldn’t want her remains left in this painful place after death.

Lin felt like he was being forced into this.  His tone was sharp. “Whatever makes you happy.”

He had no say in the matter anyway.

Just as Xu Qingyi was about to say something, she suddenly heard a servant exclaim, “It seems we’ve found something!”

“Quickly cover it with an umbrella. Don’t damage the bones,” she said, immediately leaving Lin to go and personally witness the excavation of the remains.

However, she was puzzled because the bones were scattered haphazardly, not a complete skeleton lying together.

Had someone else re-interred them?

There was another possibility: the body itself was dismembered when it was buried.  Xu Qingyi paused at this thought, secretly glancing at Lin.

Assuming it was Liu Gui’s doing, she understood Lin’s hatred for him. He truly deserved to die.

Watching the servants carefully clean and collect Lin’s mother’s bones, oiling them and placing them in a jar, Xu Qingyi addressed the jar.  “Lin’s mother, I don’t know your name, so I’ll call you Big Sister. I’m Lin’s adoptive mother, Xu. I’m so late in coming for you. I’m sorry to have kept you waiting. Come home with your child.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the gazes of those around Xu Qingyi became complex; she was so thoughtful and attentive to her adopted son.

Lin also glanced at her, muttering, “Supernatural powers.”

Although he spoke softly, Xu Qingyi still heard him and tapped his head with her fan handle. “You, as her biological son, don’t want to perform the rites, but you also disrespect me for doing it for you.  What kind of logic is that?”

Lin remained silent.

It wasn’t that he disrespected Xu Qingyi; he simply didn’t have much affection for his mad mother.

Xu Qingyi understood this but couldn’t blame Lin for his coldness; they were both victims. She didn’t say anything more.

“Let’s go. We might still be able to make it back for dinner.”

“Mm.”

As they descended the mountain, they saw several villagers approaching—three men and two women, one of whom was a young girl—apparently heading towards them.

The mama recognized the village head and stepped forward to speak. “Village head, is there something you need?”

The village head stared at Xu Qingyi, only snapping back to reality when the maid stepped in front of him, glaring. He looked at Lin beside her and exclaimed in surprise, “You—you’re Liu Gui’s son! I recognize you. You look exactly the same as when you were a child!”

Only now, he was even more handsome, dressed like a young master from a wealthy family.

Lin didn’t speak, whether out of disdain or lack of interest.

“Regardless of the past, Young Master Lin is now a young master of our Marquisate. Please show some respect,” the mama said, frowning.

She asked, “Village head, why are you blocking our path?”

Hearing the words “Marquisate,” the village head felt a tremor of anxiety and turned to a man beside him. “Dayong, you speak.”

“My name is Liu Dayong,” Liu Dayong stepped forward, visibly nervous, but gathering courage as he spoke of his own business. “Liu Gui once took ten taels of silver from my family, promising to sell his son to our family as a son-in-law.  We signed a contract, and the village head can testify!”

What was this?

Xu Qingyi immediately looked at Lin and asked, “Do you have any memory of this?”

Lin said coldly, “I don’t know.”

Ten taels was a significant sum! Liu Dayong urged, “It’s true! You can’t deny it!”

“Don’t worry, brother,” Xu Qingyi smiled. “Ten taels isn’t much. The Marquisate can afford it.”

Even though it was Liu Gui’s fault, she’d consider it money well spent to avoid trouble.

“The contract is valid. It’s not just about the ten taels now,” Liu Dayong’s wife said softly from behind, her arm around her daughter’s shoulders. “The whole village knows my daughter married Liu Gui’s son. Do you really think you can just pay ten taels and be done with it?”

Xu Qingyi’s smile didn’t falter. “Madam, if you think ten taels isn’t enough, we can certainly discuss it further. Just don’t be unreasonable. Name your price.”

Her directness stunned Liu Dayong and his wife, who then looked at each other with delight.

Xu Qingyi had thought that a hundred or two hundred taels would be enough. As she said, it was better to pay and avoid trouble.

But then…

“Wife, you tell them,” Liu Dayong said, unsure of himself. He was afraid his wife would be unhappy if he didn’t ask for enough.

Liu Dayong’s wife had already had a figure in mind, but seeing Xu Qingyi adorned with pearls and jade, clothed in silk and brocade, and looking at Lin, so handsome and outstanding, no longer the ragged boy he once was, she suddenly didn’t want to be bought off with money.

“No, we don’t want money,” Liu Dayong’s wife said. “A woman doesn’t marry two husbands. Even if we took the money, my daughter’s reputation wouldn’t be restored.”

Xu Qingyi guessed their intentions and sighed inwardly. She understood, but she couldn’t agree. “Then what do you want?”

As expected, Liu Dayong’s wife glanced at Lin and said, “Have him marry my daughter.  She can be a concubine.”

She was realistic; her daughter couldn’t be the main wife of a Marquis’s son. Being a concubine was the best possible outcome.  She wanted to connect with the Marquisate more than she wanted money.

This was an opportunity for her daughter.

Once inside, she would live in luxury and be a mistress.

Her calculations were sound, but it wasn’t that simple. Xu Qingyi shook her head and refused. “Impossible. Your daughter cannot enter the Marquisate’s doors.”

It wasn’t that she was prejudiced against village girls; this marriage was simply impossible from the start.

Lin hated Liu Gui so much; he would never accept such a humiliating marriage.

Liu Dayong’s wife felt she was in the right and said stubbornly, “We have a contract!”

“So you want to sue us?” Xu Qingyi asked. She didn’t want to use her power to intimidate them, but she had to remind them, “With a contract signed by a good-for-nothing, do you think you can win against the Marquisate?”

At the mention of a lawsuit, Liu Dayong’s wife hesitated. The highest official she had ever seen in her life was the county magistrate.

She couldn’t even imagine what the Marquisate represented, so she bit her lip.

“Take the money. We’ll find another husband for your daughter. My Lin isn’t suitable for her,” Xu Qingyi glanced at the girl. She was clean, pretty, and shy, but she was truly unsuitable for Lin, who might stab someone at any moment.

Liu Dayong and his wife hesitated, tentatively asking, “How much will you give us?”

Xu Qingyi asked in return, “Your original investment was ten taels. How many times do you want to multiply that?”

Her vague response made Liu Dayong and his wife fear they would regret asking for too little.

“Still don’t want money?” Xu Qingyi sensed they were about to make an exorbitant demand and didn’t want to give them time to think. “Fine, then. Let’s see each other in court.”

She started to leave.

“Wait, wait! Wait a minute!” Liu Dayong panicked and quickly said, “We won’t go to court. We want money!”

“How much?” Xu Qingyi pressed.

“Eight… eight hundred taels!” Liu Dayong originally wanted five hundred, but he changed his mind at the last minute and asked for eight hundred.

Xu Qingyi sneered.  Ten taels multiplied to eight hundred? That was extortion. “There’s no such thing.  I’ll give you a hundred taels at most, otherwise, let’s go to the magistrate.”

Liu Dayong’s wife gritted her teeth. Compared to going to court, a hundred taels was better. “A hundred taels is fine.”

She was very unhappy to have gotten only a hundred taels for such a good opportunity.

“Good. Bring the contract, and I’ll give you the money,” Xu Qingyi said.

“I brought it.” Liu Dayong’s wife, fearing they wouldn’t believe her, had kept it close. As she took it out, a small silver lock fell out along with it.

She quickly bent down to pick it up, intending to put it back in her pocket, but Lin suddenly spoke.  “That thing… is hers.”

Hers?

Xu Qingyi understood instantly. “A token, right? Bring that back too.”

Liu Dayong’s wife glared fiercely at Lin. She had intended to keep the silver lock, but the man who remembered nothing else, remembered this lock.

The money was exchanged for the contract and the token.

Except for that one sentence, Lin hadn’t participated in the negotiations at all. Only after they left did he speak with disgust. “Greedy and shameless.”

Xu Qingyi chuckled helplessly, giving him a speechless look. “You didn’t help scold them then, and now you’re being a smart-alec?

Lin: “…”

He just didn’t want to talk to those people.

Thinking about the hundred taels, he was still unhappy.

“You didn’t have to give them so much money,” Lin said disdainfully. “Don’t think they’re good people. They wanted to buy me to work like an ox or a horse.”

Polished language aside, he would have been treated as a laborer doing all the dirty and hard work, essentially a slave.

Therefore, Lin thought Xu Qingyi was too kind and generous.

“Forget it.  Consider it money spent to avoid trouble.  Why not spend a hundred taels for peace of mind?”

Xu Qingyi said, taking the opportunity to educate her eldest son, whose material life had improved but whose mindset hadn’t. “Getting entangled with rotten people only wastes your energy. Don’t waste yourself on things that can be solved with money. Remember, you are precious. No one deserves to make you worry.”