The Spirited Daughter-in-law and the Mountain Man

Lady Li said, “I heard from Chuan that you weren’t mute as a child, and for some unknown reason, you became mute. It’s good that you can speak now… Oh, can you hear now, too?”

“Yes. I wasn’t actually deaf, but when I was in town… I got injured. You know about it. It was temporary deafness, and it’s already gone.”

Lady Li was tactful and didn’t mention Su Qingyue being severely beaten for stealing in town. “It’s great news for the Xiao Family that you can hear and speak now. They are really poor. How are the Xiao Family’s three sons doing? Chuan hasn’t bought anything from me in a while.”

“My second brother was bitten by a poisonous snake, and my third brother sometimes faints, so he’s been lying on the bed these days.”

“Ah?” Lady Li looked surprised and immediately sympathized, “So many things have happened to the Xiao Family. The fourth son has been paralyzed for four years. The three brothers are all down, and the Xiao Family doesn’t have any fields. How will they survive?”

She glanced at Su Qingyue, “What brings you to me this time?” She instinctively believed that she had come to borrow money.

“I…” She hesitated, “I didn’t really want to ask you, but…”

Lady Li, thinking she was asking for money, hesitated for a moment, “Well, I can’t help the Xiao Family, and my cloth shop business isn’t good either. I have my difficulties. You might be disappointed. I’ll give you sixty copper coins, and you must not look down on them.”

Su Qingyue raised an eyebrow, “Lady Li, do you think I came here to borrow money?”

“Aren’t you?”

Qingyue shook her head, “No. I’ve been selling stir-fried fern in town for the past few days and earned a little money. The Xiao Family can survive. My third brother mentioned that you go to Liuan Town to buy cloth for your shop. I asked around in our town and couldn’t find a wheelchair, nor a carpenter who could make one. The local carpenter told us to go to Liuan Town to buy one. I want to buy a wheelchair for my fourth brother, but Liuan Town is three hundred miles away. It takes several days to travel back and forth, and it’s too far away. It’s not convenient for me to leave home for a long journey now. I’m hoping that when you go to Liuan Town next time to buy cloth, you can help me bring back a wheelchair.”

Lady Li, upon hearing this, looked troubled, “I heard that wheelchairs are not cheap. It requires some skills to make them. If they’re not made well, the wheels won’t move. The minimum cost is three taels of silver per wheelchair.”

“I know. A three-tael wheelchair is too ordinary. I want to buy a slightly better one for my fourth brother. The carpenter in our town said that a good wheelchair is about five taels of silver.” To avoid Lady Li from worrying about her affordability, she added, “I’ll give you five taels of silver in advance, and then you can bring me a good wheelchair when you go to buy cloth. I’ll give you half a tael of silver as a hardship fee. If you feel it’s not enough, I can add a little more.”

“That’s too much. Half a tael is four hundred cents. The most a waiter earns is three hundred yuan a month. Even if you were to spend two hundred cents to hire someone specifically to buy one, someone would be willing to do it.”

Su Qingyue honestly said, “Well, I also thought about that, but I don’t trust them. It’s not appropriate to ask someone else to advance the money. In case I give the money to someone else and they run away with it, I would lose out.”

Lady Li smiled, “So you trust me?”

“Yes, my third brother said you can be trusted.” Actually, her third brother never said that; it was just something she made up on the spot. Mainly because Lady Li was from their town and had a shop to run, she wouldn’t run away just for a little over five taels of silver.

“Alright, then. I’ll have my clerk bring a wheelchair back when he goes to buy cloth next time, I only charge you two hundred copper coins for the trouble. I’ll find a reliable worker, and wouldn’t buy a faulty wheelchair to deceive you.”