Chapter 69 Forced Marriage

Qu Qingqing's presence here was out of necessity, because she had previously abducted her mother back to Pingcheng, only to be discovered by her brother and sister-in-law.

After her brother and sister-in-law made a huge scene, they decided to find her a husband and marry her off to avoid causing trouble at home.

But she really wasn't good-looking. She went on several blind dates, but none of the families wanted her. Without makeup, Qu Qingqing was really ugly, no, she should be said to be very ugly. She had a round face and triangular eyes. Before, when she wore nicer clothes and a dress and put on makeup, she wasn't actually that bad.

But now that her family is down on its luck, and her brother and sister-in-law are unwilling to spend money on her appearance, she ran away from home to find her ex-boyfriend, but he just couldn't recognize her.

On her way back, she overheard someone going to the post office to pick up a money order from relatives in Hong Kong. The person was also talking incessantly about how much money they were making in Hong Kong, how good their life was, and how high their salary was.

Finally, a few people even gathered together, talking about coming to Pengcheng to smuggle people out. Although Qu Qingqing wasn't very good-looking, she was quite skilled in martial arts. The main reason was that Zhang Sumei was afraid that if those people married her because of her family situation, they would end up like her, having to manage their husbands' concubines.

That's why she found a martial arts master for her daughter, so that her daughter could control the concubines just like her.

This gave Qu Qingqing the confidence to smuggle herself into Pengcheng with these people. Besides, she could swim, and since the sea was wide, she practiced more. She had a feeling that her father was definitely in Hong Kong. As long as she found him, she wouldn't have to worry about not having a good life.

Not long after she got home, she heard her mother and sister-in-law whispering in the kitchen. She took off her shoes and carefully approached the kitchen, only to hear that her sister-in-law was going to marry her off to a widower in his forties.

Because only that widower was willing to spend 100 yuan to marry her, and that widower was also ugly and loved to beat people; his previous wife had been beaten to death by him.

When the local families heard that it was this man, none of them wanted to marry their daughters to him, not even those who wanted to sell their daughters. The daughter was beaten to death.

Her mother said that he knew martial arts and wasn't afraid of being beaten, and that's how she managed to sell her for a hundred yuan.

Has her mother's doting affection for her really disappeared over the years? Why could her mother be so heartless?

Actually, she couldn't understand it herself. Her sister-in-law was trying to prevent her from running away with her mother and belongings again. After she came back, her brothers divided up all of her mother's things. Now her mother could only rely on her sister-in-law to make a living, so of course she had to listen to her sister-in-law. Otherwise, the mother and daughter would be kicked out and starve. In order to have a better life in the future, she had to sell her daughter.

Only a son can support him in his old age; a daughter is someone who gets married and leaves the family. No matter what, they are not as important as a son or grandson. Zhang Sumei understood this very well.

After hearing the time they planned to sneak her over, Qu Qingqing quietly left the house. She ran a long way before stopping to catch her breath.

After catching her breath for a while, she gritted her teeth inwardly. Since even her mother, who usually doted on her the most, was no longer considering her needs, what hope did she have of staying in this house? She might as well go out and try her luck; perhaps there would be a future for her.

Having made up his mind, he began to think of a solution. There were still three days before they were to sell her, giving her only three days to prepare.

The town they are in is still under the jurisdiction of Pingcheng, only it is a bit far from the city.

Although she is a young lady from a wealthy family, she had ridden the train with her father twice before and knew the proper procedures for taking the train, so she didn't need to worry about that. Now that all her money had been taken, she would be unable to move an inch without it.

After thinking about it, I suddenly remembered that her sister-in-law liked to hide money at home. During the day, everyone in the family except her mother had to go to work. Her sister-in-law was pregnant, and her mother would walk to the market, which was half an hour away, every morning to buy things.

It will take her an hour to go back and forth, plus the time for bargaining, so the whole trip will take at least two hours. These two hours are the time she can use.

After thinking it through, he calmed his breathing and slowly returned home. The two people in the house didn't look at him inappropriately. Qu Qingqing didn't say anything either, just glared at her sister-in-law and went straight back to her room.

The house was bought with her mother's dowry. The purpose was to ensure that the two of them wouldn't have to divide the house after they got married, so they bought a relatively large one, which was just enough for each of them to have half.

Qu Qingqing is not married yet, so she has her own room. Neither her mother-in-law nor she takes care of her; they each do their own thing.

The next morning, after everyone had gone to work, the old lady slowly closed the door and left. Qu Qingqing watched the old lady walk away through the crack in the door, then bolted the door and used a black hair clip to pry open the door that her sister-in-law had locked.

She took a pair of her sister-in-law's socks from her wardrobe, put them on, and then began to slowly rummage around under the bed and wardrobe.

In less than ten minutes, she found an iron box hidden under a compartment in the wardrobe. Qu Qingqing opened the box and found her elder brother and sister-in-law's household registration book, as well as hers and her mother's.

When the old lady was registering her household registration, she separated them all, since she was a daughter who would get married someday. So she didn't put their household registrations on the same household registration book, which made it easier for Qu Qingqing to take her own household registration as well.

Inside the box, besides the three household registration books, there were two unopened rolls of silver dollars and a large bundle of paper money currently in use.

When she picked up the metal box, she noticed that there was another metal box underneath it, about the same size, but the one underneath was round while this one was square.

Qu Qingqing picked up the box below and opened it. Inside, she saw that it was filled with small yellow croakers, two jade bracelets, a gold necklace, and two gold bracelets.

Qu Qingqing was greedy; she didn't want to let go of anything, but she couldn't take so much with her, fearing that it might be stolen on the way.

After putting her things down, Qu Qingqing went to her mother's room. Her mother's room was not locked. She pushed it open and searched through the wardrobe, finding two gray cloth clothes that she had recently made.

Her mother was a very cunning person. When she ran back to Pingcheng with her, the two clothes she made were full of pockets, which could be used to hide gold bars or silver coins.

She found several sets of clothes, all of which were this style. She rolled them up in a piece of cloth and prepared to take them with her. After taking one out and putting it on, she went back to her sister-in-law's room.

She took forty of the fifty small yellow fish-shaped bracelets, and also strung the gold bracelet, jade bracelet, and gold necklace together with a rope and took them with her.

After closing the box containing the remaining ten small yellow croakers, he put it back. Then he took all the money out of the box containing the banknotes, divided it into fifteen small rolls, and stuffed them all into the inside pocket of his clothes.

In an instant, more than a thousand yuan in cash was reduced to only a few dozen yuan. She didn't want the silver dollars anymore, as few people use silver dollars for transactions these days.

If she took this out, she would have to go to the bank to exchange it, so she was too lazy to bring it. She decided to leave these to them and put the box back in its original place.

Afterwards, he stuffed all the other clothes into this one containing the money, and strolled out of the house with the clothes in his arms.