Chapter 856: Scumbag Brother and Scumbag Father, Get Lost (2)

Chapter 856: Chapter 856: Scumbag Brother and Scumbag Father, Get Lost (2)

"So, Father decided to sell me."

"If he sold me to some ordinary family as a daughter?in?law, even with a decent, honest household, at most it’d be ten taels of Silver, and that’s only because my face isn’t bad and I’m quick with my hands and feet."

"If he sold me to a somewhat wealthier family as a maid, it’d just be a bit over twenty taels."

"Compared to two hundred taels, how is that even enough?" A gray shadow spread over the woman’s face. "That was when my big brother, without even thinking, said that selling me to a brothel should fetch two hundred taels. He even said that with my looks, once I went to the brothel I’d definitely become an Oiran."

"Father agreed."

"No matter how I begged, he never relented."

"Mother cried and said she was willing to work day and night to scrape the money together, and my sister?in?law even said she’d go back to her parents’ home to borrow money. Everyone knew that once you went to a brothel, your life would never be clean again. Even though they knew the hope was slim, they were still willing to try." ℴ𝗆

"But it was useless. While Sister?in?law went to her family to borrow money, Father locked Mother up and took me to the brothel. Just as my brother had said, my face really wasn’t bad, and after haggling back and forth, they sold me for two hundred taels."

"From then on I became one of the brothel’s girls, muddling through my days, no longer a clean person. My whole life’s end was laid out before my eyes."

"When I’d become the brothel’s Oiran, Father came looking for me and said Mother was ill. How could I stand by and watch Mother’s sickness go untreated? Of course I took out that filthy Silver Coin. He didn’t mind it at all, just took it and left, coming back again and again; I don’t even know how many times he took money. Sometimes it was for my brother’s studies, saying that once Brother made something of himself, he’d definitely come and take me away."

"In the two years I spent in the brothel, my brother never once showed his face. I did, however, see those disreputable friends of his; they seemed to be using me for their amusement."

"Just when I thought I would die in the brothel, my brother finally appeared, and he brought someone with him. That man’s looks were actually quite decent. Brother said this man had admired me for a long time, was willing to marry me as his wife and take me away, and that he would pay the ransom himself."

"I could see the urgency and disgust in my brother’s eyes. He kept persuading me, saying that once I left this place and stayed tucked away in the inner residence, no one would know about my past. Spending such a large sum of Silver to redeem me did move me somewhat, so I agreed. The man readily handed Silver to the brothel Mother and took me away. At the time I thought, even if I couldn’t be the principal wife, being a concubine would still be enough; at least it’d be a bit cleaner."

"Who would have thought that I was just out of the wolves’ den and walking straight into the tigers’ lair. The man redeemed me only because my looks were almost identical to another woman’s, and what awaited me was still spinning among different men. In fact, from the moment I stepped into the brothel, I should have understood that in this lifetime I would never be able to live as a clean, upright person. Back then it was just one last gamble, and in the end, I lost."

"Most of what came after is unpleasant; I’ve forgotten how I died. In any case, it must have been because I was no use to them anymore."

Qiann Yan: "Then what is your wish?"

The woman suddenly lifted her head, her deathly pale face turned toward Qiann Yan, her dull eyes shifting slightly: "I don’t want to be sold. I want to live as a clean, upright person. I want that gambling?mad big brother to reap the fruits of his own evil. I want Mother to live well, and I want my kind sister?in?law to live well too, so she won’t have to act according to men’s moods, but can straighten her back and live her own life. We’re all human—why must women be a head lower than men? When they cause trouble, why is it us women who have to pay for it?"

"Aren’t men supposed to be great, stand tall between heaven and earth? Then why is it that at the crucial moment, they push a little woman out in front?"