The sickly son died young? After the marriage exchange, I will bring prosperity to his entire clan f

She pointed to one of the older children.

The boy, around twelve or thirteen years old, was pointed at by Du Mingxian. He was a little embarrassed, but he still stepped forward and asked nervously, "What's wrong?"

"When Wang Qi was rescuing people by the river just now, did you see anything else on the riverbank?"

The boy scratched his head. "No, there's nothing by the river."

"That's strange." Du Mingxian looked at Lü Dahua and asked, "Your niece came to your house, and it was almost noon when it was almost time to cook. A young lady like her didn't help you cook, nor was she washing clothes by the river. How did she fall into the river? Did she deliberately walk down after seeing Wang Qi by the river?"

Lu Dahua was extremely nervous and could only hurriedly say, "No, how could that be? The child can't even go for a stroll by the river to play?"

Du Mingxian nodded slightly and looked at the boy, "What's your name?"

"My name is Ling Sanniu."

"You were all by the river, you should have all seen the girl fall into the water, why didn't any of you speak up and tell Wang Qi to save her, only Gou Dan spoke up?"

"Dog Egg calls her his cousin. If he saw his cousin fall into the water, Dog Egg would definitely call for help." Ling San Niu was quite confused.

Du Mingxian seemed to understand something. "So, Gou Dan is your son?"

At this moment, Ling's mother spoke up, "Lu Dahua, your son can swim, right? How come he didn't go to save his own cousin when she fell into the water, but instead went to save someone else?"

Ling's mother noticed something was amiss, and the other villagers also realized something was wrong at this point.

Seeing that things had turned out this way, Lü Dahua sat down on the ground and started throwing a tantrum, "You can't do this! You can't do this! My niece's innocence is gone, and you're still slandering her like this! How can my niece ever face anyone again?"

"Then let me be frank, Wang Qi is a guest of our family. He comes from a good family, and the person he will marry in the future can only be a good match for him. If you insist on letting your niece cling to him, then... she might become a concubine as soon as she enters the house. A concubine is just like a servant, who can be beaten or killed at will, regardless of life or death. Do you really want to do this?"

Lü Dahua knew that Wang Qi came from a good family, but she never imagined that her niece couldn't even be a legal wife. She hesitated for a moment.

Du Mingxian looked at the niece next to Lü Dahua and said, "You should know that women in wealthy families cannot easily show their faces in public. They can only stay in one courtyard every day. You are just a concubine, and you have to live with other women. Every morning you have to go and greet the wife and serve her meals."

"To put it nicely, she's a concubine; to put it bluntly, she's just a servant. You're an innocent young woman. Wang Qi only rescued you from the water; nothing happened. You two are innocent, so why would you jump into a fire pit?"

Lu Dahua's niece shrank back, lowered her head, and remained silent.

Du Mingxian looked down on Lü Dahua. "Things have already come to this, you should go back and think about it. This girl is soaking wet, and you, as her aunt, have been dragging her around the village like this. You're such a good aunt."

"Hurry up and let her go back to take a bath and change her clothes. You can come to our house to talk about it later. If you want to talk about it in front of the whole village, we can gather everyone over to watch the show later. Right now... your niece is the priority."

What else could Lü Dahua say? Du Mingxian had already said all that, effectively shutting down any attempts she might make to throw a tantrum.

Moreover... she also needs to go back and have a good talk with her family to see what to do.

As Lü Dahua walked out, Du Mingxian shook her head slightly, seemingly talking to herself, "Does she really think it's easy to get into a wealthy family's house?"

Some onlookers immediately chimed in, "Si Lang's wife, is there some other trick to this?"

"Of course, there's a lot more to it than meets the eye. Servants have to watch their masters' faces to get what they want. A concubine that the master doesn't like might not even have the same comfortable life as a maid in the house."

"What I just said was not a joke. Being a concubine is the same as being a slave. You could be beaten, killed, or sold off. It all depends on the master's mood. In the master's heart, a concubine is just a plaything."

Someone immediately jumped out and said, "I know, I know. My aunt's daughter-in-law's eldest brother's daughter works for a wealthy family. They say that if the master doesn't like someone, he can secretly kill that person. It's easier for them to buy poison than for ordinary people like us."

Wow, that's amazing?

"Of course, it's true. Would I lie to you?"

"Wow, what do you think Lü Dahua is trying to do? Sending her niece into the Wang family like this? Young Master Wang definitely won't like it. Wouldn't she be living worse than a servant in the Wang family?"

"That's right. If Young Master Wang doesn't like it, it's up to the Wang family to decide whether to sell it or not."

As Lü Dahua listened to the unrestrained gossip behind her, she tightened her grip on her niece's hand.

Her niece, feeling the pain from the pulling, immediately pulled her hand back from Lü Dahua's grasp, saying with some resentment, "Auntie, it was all your idea. Now that I've lost my innocence, that young master Wang definitely won't marry me."

"Why don't you become a concubine?"

"You want me to die? I'm going back to tell my mother."

Du Mingxian stood at the door chatting with those people, while also demonizing the inner quarters, making her story more and more terrifying, until finally everyone felt that Wang Qi's decision not to take Lü Dahua's niece as a concubine was a kind act.

After dispersing from the crowd, Du Mingxian and Ling's mother turned and walked back to the courtyard.

Ling Silang, You Yuan, and Xu Daru were all listening intently in the courtyard. When they saw the two return, they all went into the house without prior arrangement.

Du Mingxian chuckled, realizing that gossip knows no gender.

"This was definitely orchestrated by Lü Dahua. She just wanted to find a good husband for her niece. She had mentioned Silang a lot before, and after Silang got engaged, she was all talk and no action in the village for a long time." Ling's mother got angry as soon as she mentioned this.

Du Mingxian remained calm. "Mother, you don't need to worry about this. Lü Dahua's idea will definitely not work. The Wang family is not so easy to get into, unless she wants her niece to go to her death."

Since someone is secretly protecting Wang Qi, the news must have already reached the Wang family. How could the Wang family possibly allow Wang Qi to marry a village girl like Lü Dahua's niece?

The door is wrong and the door is wrong.

"What a terrible thing to do, what were they thinking, to set their sights on Young Master Wang."

"He's too idle. We need to find him something to do." Du Mingxian already had a plan in mind.

Before dinner, Wang Qicai finished washing up and came out. Du Mingxian immediately made him a large bowl of ginger soup and said, "Drink it."

"Sister, my own sister, how am I supposed to eat if I drink such a big bowl of this?"

"What are you eating? You call yourself a playboy, but you're not alert at all. You didn't even realize you'd been set up. Drink some ginger soup to cleanse your brain of all that water."

Wang Qi looked dejected and didn't dare to argue. He could only pick up the glass and drink it. After he finally finished drinking it, Du Mingxian told him.

“You’ve been too conspicuous and idle in the village lately. Starting tomorrow, you’ll go work as an assistant to my second sister-in-law. You’ll start work at the same time as everyone else and finish work at the same time as everyone else.”