Chapter 15

I wish to accuse the Lin Family, specifically Lin Tieshan and his household, of repeatedly abusing their second daughter, and now seeking to seize her property and force her to become a concubine!

“To accuse one’s parents is to be unfilial. Do you still wish to proceed?”

I knelt beneath the court, my head bowed, my voice clear and sharp as a cold blade: “I must!”

“Miss Li, what do you seek today?”

“I ask… I ask the County Magistrate to grant me a separate household registration, to sever all ties with the Lin Family!”

Even if my household register holds only me, I can add Liu’er, and even Da Huang.

Compared to the Lin Family, they are more like my true kin.

I have waited too long for this day, to the point that I didn’t even hear the person seated above call me Miss Li.

When Father, Mother, and Lin Yuefeng were escorted to the yamen, they did not even know what had happened.

All along the way, they kept shouting: “How can you call it causing trouble when we merely had an argument in our own shop? Have you arrested the wrong people? My son-in-law is Clerk Lu!”

When they saw me, they suddenly fell silent.

Father glared at me, feigning anger: “Your mother and I have been looking for you everywhere, and here you are.”

With a bang of the Court Gavel, the County Magistrate asked if they admitted to their crimes.

Of course, they denied everything.

They did not even know what wrong they had committed.

“My Lord Magistrate, as a father, isn’t it my duty to teach my daughter how to conduct herself? How can that be called abuse?”

“Indeed, Your Excellency, Lin Li is the daughter I love most. I hold her so dearly, afraid she might melt in my hands. How can you say the word abuse?”

“County Magistrate, please see clearly: my sister was only able to open a shop in the county town thanks to Father and Mother. She is the ungrateful one!”

“Then how do you think this court should punish her?”

The County Magistrate’s voice suddenly dropped, harshly interrupting Lin Yuefeng’s words.

Father quickly took up the words, kneeling beside me: “Lin Li has sued her own parents today, bringing shame to our Lin Family.”

“My Lord, why not give her Twenty Strokes of the Rod, so she remembers the lesson? Let all women see: to obey one’s father at home and one’s husband in marriage is the iron law since ancient times!”

“And transfer the shop under her name to my son Lin Yuefeng, and as for her marriage, it should be decided by her parents and a proper matchmaker, not by herself!”

I closed my eyes tightly, a wave of grief washing over me.

When I was young, so much was out of my hands.

I did not even know what I lived for, often lost in confusion.

After meeting Granny Liu, she alone pitied my difficult journey.

Just yesterday, she told me: there is so much suffering in this world, for a woman to survive is already the best lot.

But if being left to the mercy of others is considered a blessing, what is the use of such a lot?

“Guards! Take the Lin Family father and son away and give each of them Forty Strokes of the Rod. Banish them, never to set foot in Ning’an County Town for the rest of their lives.”

The sudden turn of events made me look up despite myself.

Our eyes met. Wasn’t this… wasn’t this Xu Zhao’an, who once stayed at our house?

Is he now the County Magistrate?

“As for Lin Li, remove her from the Lin Family household registration and establish a separate one.”

Xu Zhao’an looked at me, his gaze intense and sincere.

“Your Excellency, we are wrongly accused! Ask this wretch, does she have any evidence? Are there any witnesses?”

“We are witnesses!”

I turned my head abruptly.

Granny Liu, Liu’er, Aunt Xiang, as well as Aunt Wang and Sister-in-law He, who live in the same alley as I do…

They all came.

“Li is already fourteen, yet the head of the Lin Family slapped her bloody and she ran to me for help!”

“Heaven knows, one winter I passed by the Lin Family’s gate and saw little Li kneeling in the courtyard, snow piled an inch thick on her shoulders.”

“The Lin Family only seeks out Sister Li for money; otherwise, they send her to become a concubine. I heard it all with my own ears!”

…

They recounted in detail the sufferings I had endured, but I could no longer hear any of it.

All I could see was the sunlight falling gently upon them, casting a faint glow.

From this moment on, I have nothing more to do with the Lin Family.