Proofread by Peter Gong
As soon as Ma Tian’en entered the cell, she felt extremely depressed because the
cell was dark and stinky, and there were wailings of prisoners from time to time. Normal people would be crazy if they lived here for a period of time, not to mention her father with bad health …
Thinking of this, Ma Tian’en’s eyes became a little moist. Her dad suffered the torment for her. When she saw her father Ma Chaosheng, he was in a cell himself, and not injured, but his clothes were a little dirty, so Ma Tian’en felt a little better.
“Hurry up. Transporting salt in a private way is a felony, so you are not allowed to visit him, which would be serious if the leader knew it.” The jailer who had accepted the money told her.
“I know, I won’t get you into trouble and I just say a few words.” Ma Tian’en said
politely.
The jailer stepped aside, leaving them room to talk. There was a lock outside Ma Chaosheng’s cell. The jailer refused to open it, letting Ma Tian’en stand outside the iron fence to talk with her dad.
Ma Tian’en reached in through the iron fence. Ma Chaosheng was not locked, so he took his daughter’s hand. Seeing that his daughter was about to cry, he reached out and tried to wipe her tears, but then he pulled back because he thought his hand was dirty. Ma Tian’en took his father’s hand and put it on her face.
“Don’t cry, dad is fine. Time is limited, and dad has been thinking a lot here. No matter who wants to harm us, they must have a deal with Salt Gang, so you can start an investigation in Salt Gang. One is to check Zhang Yulin of the Jiangnan Salt Gang, and the other is to check whether there is anyone in Capital City who has helped transport salt privately. Because it involves our Ma family, in addition to personal enmity, interests must also be involved. Someone has previously asked me to sell private salt through the Ma Family, but I refused, so I suspect it has something to do with it. ” Ma Chaosheng’s voice was weak, but his words were well-organized.
“OK, my teacher also realized these, and we have already begun to check. Dad, hearing you words, I have thought of something. Someone came to me not long ago and he wanted to ship salt through our ships. But I rejected. I’ll check it. By the way, we checked the accounts. This batch of rice was related to Wudinghou, and Governor Liu also returned the rice to them. So it must be closely related to Guo Qi. I really don’t understand why he hates our Ma Family so much.” Ma Tian’en had also made a lot of investigations these days, and a lot of evidence pointed to Guo Qi, but his hatred of the Ma family was definitely not just because of Wudinghou.
“Or else, I’ll ask my mother?” Ma Tian’en always felt that her mother didn’t tell her everything.
“No, don’t ask her. In my life, I am most sorry for you and your mother. I sacrificed your happiness for the Ma Family. There must be reasons for her who doesn’t want to say, so don’t force her. As for Guo Qi, there will finally be a day when the truth appears.” In fact, Ma Chaosheng thought long ago that things might not have been that simple. Mrs. Ma must have done something wrong, but he chose to bear all the things himself.
At this time, the jailer came to urge Ma Tian’en to leave. Ma Tian’en looked at her father reluctantly, and Ma Chaosheng waved and motioned her to leave.
“Dad, I will come to see you again.” There was still too much to do so he must be rescued quickly.
When Ma Tian’en returned home, it was late and Ma’s house had been illuminated. Both the light and the moonlight were dim. Everyone was busy, but almost no sound was heard. The whole house was enveloped in depression. Ma Tian’en originally wanted to go to her mother’s room, but she hesitated. She stood outside in her mother’s yard for a while and decided to return to her own room. Her father was in prison, so if she asked her mother about the event of that year, she was afraid her mother could not bear it.
Just walking to the door of the room, she found the door was not closed, and the light inside was on. Ma Tian’en pushed the door open and saw her mother sitting in the room waiting for her.
“Mom, why are you here? How are you feeling today? I went to see dad and he was okay. I will rescue him as soon as possible.” Ma Tian’en thought her mother was worried about her father, so she hurriedly said to console her.
“Tian’en, I want to tell you something, sit down, please.” Mrs. Ma seemed to have made a big decision and her expression was firm.
Ma Tian’en sat down and held her mother’s hand, “Mom, if you don’t want to say it, just don’t, it doesn’t matter.”
“In the afternoon, Mr. Wu came to talk with me. He was right. Something hidden in my heart, if not spoken out, will be a constant anxiety. It is something I have to face, and it cannot be avoided by my pretension that it has not happened. These years, I have been too tired, which is much harder than saying it out.” Mrs. Ma slowed down and said again.
“You also know that I’m not a daughter of an eminent family, and I grew up on the boat. When I married your father, your grandmother was unwilling. But at that time, the Ma Family was weak and was tyrannized by the Tian Family. My dad was the leader of the Datong Gang. The Ma Family wanted to take advantage of the power of my family, so they had to agree. In fact, your dad didn’t like business and preferred reading, but there was no way. Your two uncles were useless and he had no choice but to support the Ma Family. Although he married me and treated me well, I have always suspected that he prefers gentle and kind women. Although I became a member of Ma Family, your grandmother still didn’t like me, especially after I gave birth to your three sisters. She felt that I was going to stop the progeny of the Ma Family, so she was more dissatisfied with me and even came to buy your Aunt Zhao as your father’s concubine.” Mrs. Ma slowly narrated the past things, and at that moment, she paused for a while, but Ma Tian’en was able to feel her indignation from her calm tone.
“When we got married, your father told me that I was his only woman. However, when Aunt Zhao came, he said that the gift from the elderly must not be violated. In fact, I knew that he just wanted a son to inherit the progeny of the Ma Family. I was angry and made trouble to Aunt Zhao everywhere, which made your father feel that she was poor. Once when I punished Aunt Zhao, I quarreled with him and he went to Aunt Zhao’s room. Later, Aunt Zhao became pregnant. The doctor said that it should be a boy. Everyone in the Ma Family pinned their hopes on Aunt Zhao’s pregnancy, but at that time, I was also pregnant. It may be because my mood fluctuated too much during that time and I often quarreled with your father, the child was not kept, whose gender was even not clear.” Speaking of this, Mrs. Ma sneered: “My child is gone, but hers is safe.” The people in the Ma Family were afraid that I would hurt her. They guarded me, and even made her a small kitchen. Your father told me every day that I had no need to worry because I was the legal mother of the child and she was only a servant. I don’t know much about patriarchal values. All I know is that the child was not born through my ten-month pregnancy, and was not part of me, so I didn’t care. But I didn’t want to harm that child, because after all, it was the son of your father. But they didn’t believe me. In the days when Aunt Zhao might give birth, your father had something urgent to do outside home, and he gave me many cautions for fear that I could not take care her. It was also God’s will. On that day when your grandmother went to burn incense to pray for a healthy grandson from the Buddha, Aunt Zhao started to give a birth earlier than the due time ”
“Mom, you killed the son of Aunt Zhao?” Ma Tian’en couldn’t help but interject, and she regretted it afterwards. Mr. s Ma looked at her. Since she was her child, no matter what she said, she would not care.
“How come? Originally, I just arranged two midwives for her because I didn’t care if she could give birth to a baby alive or not. While a slave girl, who got pregnant with a servant but kept everyone in the dark about it, also gave birth to a child that day. And she had difficulty giving birth and was found by other slave girls who reported it to Manny Li. Manny Li then came to me and said that she thought it was also a life, so I asked one of the midwives to help her. That girl girded around her waist tightly when she was pregnant because she was afraid of being discovered and she had to do hard work, so her child was born dead.” Mrs. Ma thought for a while, then continued: “I knew that the child was dead, and I suddenly thought that it would be better to exchange this child with Aunt Zhao’s. By doing so, your father’s son is still alive but not in Ma Family, and I have to leave everything of the Ma Family to my children. So I let Manny Li do it. I gave Midwives money so that they would not speak out the truth. At that time, one or two maids knew what happened, and later they were married and left the house. I also gave that girl and her man money which was enough for them to live a good life. They didn’t know that the child had been changed, so they would treat him well. And I thought that no other people knew it. Unexpectedly, Aunt Zhao thought that I had killed her child and hated me for so many years. This is also my retribution.”