Chapter 32 — TVF Chapter 32

A Poor Family’s Hereditary Scumbag (4)  Qin Jingzhou had made a small scene the day before. That evening, he spent some silver to book a top-tier banquet in town and ordered a jar of good wine. The four men—father and sons—finished the whole meal and drained the jar together. The wine was yellow rice wine, low in alcohol; even drinking together, none of them got drunk.

Even with a few bumps along the way, the fact that their third son had passed the provincial exam was enough to wash away all gloom.

Still, after being reminded by Third Son to keep a tight rein on their womenfolk, Old Master Yu and Second Brother Yu took the warning deeply to heart.

Third Son’s meaning was clear: the moment he passed the provincial exam, the old woman dared to secretly sell off daughters and granddaughters. If he became an official in the future, would she dare to meddle in buying and selling offices?

Buying and selling offices meant losing one’s head if discovered!

After returning to his room and thinking it over, Old Master Yu made up his mind: he absolutely could not allow that foolish and vicious woman to ruin everything!

So that very night, Wang-shi was locked into the most dilapidated side room in the house. Second Brother Yu followed suit and directly locked his own wife into the woodshed.

Eldest Brother Yu was an honest man. When his younger brother had his wife locked up, he said nothing—but seeing his mother beaten and confined by his parents left him with an uncomfortable feeling.

Seeing this, Eldest Sister-in-law Yu pulled her husband aside and carefully explained everything the old woman and the second sister-in-law had been plotting recently. If it had truly been for raising silver, that would’ve been one thing. But the old woman had deliberately pushed the younger sister and Tianniu into a pit of fire, all to ensure they’d never be able to turn their lives around—never imagining that Third Uncle would actually pass this time, and with such a high ranking that even the jinshi exam was within reach!

Eldest Brother Yu was kind, not stupid. After his wife explained it, he immediately understood. “Mother… and my sister-in-law—because Third Brother’s studies drained the family silver and land had been sold one after another, we lived bitter lives for so many years. She’s come to hate Third Brother!”

Exactly so. Seeing her husband finally get it, Eldest Sister-in-law continued, “If it were really for silver, there were plenty of decent families in the county—any one of them better than the idiot’s household. While you men were away, Little Sister couldn’t stand it and tried to persuade Mother a few times. Mother then… sold Little Sister too, to become a second wife in a wealthy household…”

She didn’t need to say the rest aloud. If the old woman could do this to daughters and granddaughters, who could guarantee she wouldn’t one day use vicious tricks on sons and grandsons?

Eldest Brother Yu and his wife had been loving partners for years; he understood her unspoken meaning perfectly. A chill ran through him—his mother was nothing like a Yu at all!

With even Eldest Brother Yu—the only one who might have pleaded for Wang-shi—frightened into silence, when Qin Jingzhou carried Tianniu into the main hall for breakfast the next day, all they could hear were Wang-shi’s and Second Sister-in-law’s occasional crying and cursing. Their voices carried, but their figures were nowhere to be seen. It was obvious the old master had truly made up his mind.

After breakfast, Qin Jingzhou handed Old Master Yu a two-hundred-tael banknote, asking him to hire help to tidy up the household. There was too much housework to leave everything to Eldest Sister-in-law alone.

Old Master Yu accepted the note with a beaming grin. Eldest Sister-in-law, though more reserved, also looked visibly pleased.

Qin Jingzhou then told his brothers to unload and distribute the items from the carriage, free up the carriage his clan elder brother had lent him, and he himself carried his daughter Tianniu, brought along his younger sister, stuffed the bone-fractured scumbag son into the cart, and headed for the county seat.

Qin Jingzhou rushed to the county seat the very next day after returning home. On one hand, he wanted the scumbag son and the female lead, Rui Li, to divorce as soon as possible. On the other, he needed to promptly resolve the so-called engagements hanging over his younger sister and youngest daughter.

Before calling on the Rui family, he first had to dress up his sister and daughter.

The prefectural city where he had taken the provincial exam could be compared to Hangzhou back home; the surrounding counties were akin to the prosperous and stable Jiangnan of antiquity.

So although it was just a county seat, it was no worse than a remote prefectural capital.

Qin Jingzhou dumped the scumbag son in a medical hall and had the retainer keep watch. He had deliberately let him suffer through a night of pain. Sure enough, the scumbag was completely cowed.

Meanwhile, Qin Jingzhou carried Tianniu and led his younger sister to the best clothing shop in the county.

He bought four new outfits each for the older and younger girl, then went next door to the silver shop to buy hair ornaments. After dressing them up, he had a servant exchange some loose silver, stuffed it together with a twenty-tael banknote into a new purse, and handed it to his younger sister, who was practically strutting with pride. “Pocket money. Spend it yourself.”

She took the purse, grinning ear to ear. “Thank you, Third Brother! You’re the best!”

The scumbag son’s injured leg had also been treated. Qin Jingzhou even had the retainer hire a handcart, tossed the scumbag onto it, and then headed straight for the Rui residence.

Since a formal notice had been sent ahead, the Rui family already knew they were coming.

The Rui household opened its main gate wide to welcome Qin Jingzhou in.

Seated in Master Rui’s study, after a few polite exchanges Qin Jingzhou immediately admitted fault. “I failed in teaching my son.” He pointed to the scumbag son lying prone outside. “I’ve already broken one of his legs. If that’s not enough, in-law, you may deal with him however you wish. I won’t hide it from you—this unfilial son of mine is addicted to gambling. Gamblers don’t respond to reason; you have to hit them.”

Master Rui looked at his son-in-law’s tightly wrapped left leg, then at his pale complexion, and knew this in-law meant every word. “…That won’t be necessary.”

The daughter he and his wife had cherished had been bullied, returned home crying; Master Rui had even entertained thoughts of hacking the son-in-law apart. But just as he was preparing to storm the Yu household for an explanation, his in-law… passed the provincial exam. His righteous fury deflated by at least half.

Now, before he could decide, the in-law had come personally, in such a posture of accepting beating and scolding. He couldn’t help but harbor a sliver of hope—this in-law was so formidable; what if the son-in-law could truly reform? Even if he didn’t, no matter how awful he was, the man was undeniably handsome. If his daughter bore a son, with such a promising in-law watching over them, perhaps life could still go on.

He planned to discuss it thoroughly with his wife and daughter after seeing the in-law off.

Then that bastard was actually carried into the house by his own father… Rui Li was stunned. When she rushed over with her mother and sister-in-law, the bastard weakly begged for mercy. “Wife, I was wrong…”

Rui Li ground her teeth. “You still have the face to beg me!”

One look at her reaction told Qin Jingzhou that the female lead had already been reborn.

With the scumbag son gambling and committing domestic violence, Qin Jingzhou had intended to keep him in a long-term state of fracture and dependency until he showed genuine repentance.

And Rui Li left an even better impression on him than Xiao Min from the previous world. He wanted to help her as well. “Even if you’re no longer my daughter-in-law, you could still acknowledge a godparent relationship.”

Rui Li was extremely uncomfortable. What she hadn’t expected was that her father-in-law not only saw through her intentions, but was even willing to support her.

Her emotions turned complicated. Her father-in-law was a good elder; in her previous life he’d died suddenly—good people really didn’t live long…

The Rui family was shocked. What did this mean?

Helping someone meant helping them all the way.

Qin Jingzhou looked at Rui Li and said solemnly, “This young lady has great fortune. In-law, you might consider asking her carefully.”

Rui Li jolted—could her father-in-law have encountered a miracle like hers?

Seeing the Rui family’s tangled emotions and puzzled faces, it was clear there would be no conclusion today. Qin Jingzhou took the opportunity to bid farewell. After leaving the Rui residence, he went straight to visit the county magistrate.

News of his passing the provincial exam had already spread. The so-called in-law families for his younger sister and Tianniu were both local wealthy households and merchants. Neither had come forward to cancel the engagements, which clearly suggested something fishy.

He didn’t believe a wealthy household with only a xiucai, or a merchant with an idiot son, had the nerve to offend him to the death. Naturally, someone behind the scenes was forcing them to cling stubbornly to the arrangements.

So Qin Jingzhou had to go to the yamen to get clarity from the magistrate—mere clarification didn’t yet warrant contacting the Prince of Jin’s heir.

As it happened, the chief examiner of this provincial exam, Minister Wei of the Ministry of Rites, had once been the county magistrate’s own examiner. Qin Jingzhou easily struck up a rapport.

When Qin Jingzhou voiced his doubts, the magistrate answered frankly: in short, once the two households learned he’d passed, they were already preparing to back down. They even went to the magistrate asking him to mediate, promising compensation. Everything sounded settled—yet the very next day, both households changed their minds, painfully conflicted and hesitant.

Qin Jingzhou understood immediately: the original body had no standing to provoke such opposition. This was the aftermath of him rescuing those two high-status agents for silver.

The system chimed cheerfully, “Over twenty thousand taels isn’t money you can just take lightly.” Qin Jingzhou replied without hesitation, “If the fiancé dies, my daughter won’t have to marry.”

His younger sister’s betrothed was merely sickly, with a similarly frail grandmother who probably didn’t have many years left. Apart from wanting to “buy a bride” for luck, there were no major evils. Qin Jingzhou was willing to give that family a chance.

But the idiot son’s household truly deserved to die.

He copied down a list of names from the magistrate’s clerk—families whose daughters had died under the idiot son’s hands—and planned to break them one by one.

With too few people of his own to rely on, he straightforwardly wrote letters and, through his judge clan-brother, sought help from the Yu clan’s main line.

The main branch held him in high regard. A clan uncle who had once served as a provincial surveillance commissioner’s secretary soon arrived with manpower.

At the time, the Yu family was renovating the ancestral house, so Qin Jingzhou temporarily stayed in the county with his clan uncle.

Yes—he openly investigated, applied pressure on the idiot son’s household, hoping to draw out the mastermind sooner rather than later.

That household was fundamentally a bully-the-weak, fear-the-strong type of merchant family. Under pressure, they’d show their true colors in a day.

The clan uncle not only consolidated witness testimony and evidence, but followed the trail to dig out the broker who had coerced the idiot son’s family.

With the address in hand, Qin Jingzhou and the others went straight there.

From the outside alone, the small courtyard clearly hid a well-kept interior. The retainer knocked. The gate opened, revealing a coquettish young woman standing before the screen wall. “I knew you’d come,” she sighed faintly. “Why rush toward death? Lord Huang, you’re here—someone’s bullying me!”

At the words “Lord Huang,” even Qin Jingzhou frowned.

In the original plot, the emperor never left the capital, never even stepped outside the palace gates—but what if he’d gone incognito?

Just as the thought crossed his mind, a man stepped around the screen wall. Qin Jingzhou burst out laughing. “Brother—so you still have the heart to keep an outside woman?”

The man who emerged was none other than one of the two young men he’d rescued earlier—the one of imperial clan descent.

The man walked up, stared wide-eyed for a moment, then exclaimed in delight, “It’s you!”

The coquettish woman made a snap decision. Pressing her abdomen, she staggered, then collapsed backward.

Unfortunately for her, the ground was solid stone slabs. Her head cracked open on impact—feigned pregnancy turned into a real faint.