The Evil Mother-in-law: Torment Children, Work Hard, Be Rich!-Chapter 272: Shattering the Jade Pendant

"Mom, what should we do? This jade pendant is the Liu County Magistrate’s family heirloom. Young Master Liu sent us to retrieve it. Originally, he said if Chun Wang returned it, he wouldn’t pursue it further, but now that it’s broken, how are we supposed to explain it to Young Master Liu?"

Gu Taohua looked troubled.

"The County Magistrate doesn’t know yet, but he’ll find out sooner or later, and when he does, it’ll be a real problem." Tong Huaqiong looked sympathetically at Chun Wang and reprimanded, "Chun Wang, you too. Why did you touch Young Master Liu’s jade pendant while playing? Don’t you know that sons of officials like him are different from us villagers? The things they wear are often heirlooms. We couldn’t afford to compensate if they got damaged."

Tong Huaqiong looked distressed and agonized.

"What do you all think we should do? You can hide the broken jade pendant from Lord Liu for a while, but not forever; he’ll find out eventually. I don’t have a solution. Maybe Chun Wang should come with me to the county government, apologize sincerely to Lord Liu, and perhaps he will forgive us." Tong Huaqiong sat down on a bench, looking defeated.

"Dashi’s mom, Chun Wang can’t go to the county government." Granny Luo pleaded, hugging the trembling Chun Wang.

She thought to herself, could the Liu County Magistrate possibly forgive her grandson for breaking their family heirloom?

"Then what do you say we should do?" Tong Huaqiong asked.

Mrs. Cao lowered her head and cried, wanting to plead with Tong Huaqiong, but she knew her son was in deep trouble. The jade pendant was broken, and there was no way to fix it. How could Tong Huaqiong possibly have a solution?

"Sister Luo, forgive my bold words, but why is your Chun Wang so unruly for his age? Stealing at such a young age. They say ’a three-year-old shows the man,’ and if you steal a needle as a child, you’ll steal a cow as an adult. Chun Wang hasn’t even grown up, yet he’s already stealing jade pendants."

Tong Huaqiong’s repeated mention of stealing stabbed at Granny Luo and Cao Fugui’s hearts.

Granny Luo defended, "My Chun Wang didn’t mean to break the jade pendant..."

Tong Huaqiong interrupted Granny Luo, "Intentional or not, he did steal it, didn’t he? And it is broken, isn’t it? Why don’t you try telling Lord Liu that your grandson didn’t mean to break their family heirloom? Honestly, Chun Wang turned out this way because you coddled him. What should we do? Would you or Fugui take the blame?"

"This heirloom jade pendant is said to be worth a thousand taels of silver. Who can afford that? Even if both our families pooled resources, we couldn’t afford it."

Granny Luo almost fainted at the mention of a thousand taels of silver.

Chun Wang started crying on the spot out of fear.

A thousand taels of silver!

He just wanted to get back at Liu Yanhong; he never thought the jade pendant was so valuable.

How could someone hang such an expensive pendant on their waist so casually?

He didn’t even know how the pendant broke in two.

Mrs. Cao was in tears as well.

"I didn’t know the pendant was so expensive... I just wanted to get back at Liu Yanhong for not letting me take away Chun Ni’s corn..."

"I don’t know how the pendant broke, I didn’t drop it..."

Chun Wang cried loudly.

Tong Huaqiong clicked her tongue and sighed, "You’ve learned to seek revenge at such a young age."

Tian Fugui was feeling irritable from Chun Wang’s cries, and the pressure of repaying a thousand taels of silver made him furious. He grabbed Chun Wang and started hitting him with a shoe sole.

"I told you not to steal!"

"You good-for-nothing, if you had to steal something, it had to be from the County Magistrate’s son?"

"A thousand taels of silver—I couldn’t repay that even if I sold you."

As he cursed, Tian Fugui continued to hit him hard.

Chun Wang cried out loud as he got beaten.

Granny Luo, pained for her grandson, tried to stop her son.

While holding him back, she scolded, "Why are you hitting him?"

"Will the pendant be whole if you beat him to death?"

"Before you beat him to death, kill me first."

Granny Luo couldn’t stop her son from hitting her elder grandson with the shoe sole and collapsed right in front of Tian Fugui.

Mrs. Cao meanwhile was caught between stopping Tian Fugui and protecting her mother-in-law, crying in despair.

The Tian household was a chaotic mess.

Tong Huaqiong and Gu Taohua sat calmly on their chairs, completely embodying innocent bystanders.

With Chun Wang getting beaten, Tong Huaqiong looked on with glee.

Though Chun Wang was spoiled by his family, he wasn’t entirely blameless.

For stealing the jade pendant to exact revenge on Liu Yanhong, he deserved a beating.

If this child was part of the Gu family, she would have disciplined him properly long ago.

"I don’t care anymore!"

Granny Luo, blocking Tian Fugui like a tenacious fish, caused Tian Fugui to throw away the shoe and slump to the ground.

"Chun Wang, did it hurt?" Mrs. Cao held Chun Wang’s hand, tears flowing from her heartache.

"Get away."

Chun Wang, after a severe beating, with his backside in pain, lashed out all his pent-up anger at Mrs. Cao, kicking and hitting her.

Tong Huaqiong watched coldly; Chun Wang wasn’t even as good as Yaozu. Even when Yaozu was rebellious, he was always respectful to his elders.

There was no saving this child.

A shadow appeared at the door, and Tong Huaqiong, under the moonlight, noticed Chun Ni.

Chun Ni seemed to have a satisfied smile at the corners of her mouth.

"Dashi’s mom, I beg you, think of a way not to let them take Chun Wang away. A thousand taels of silver, dear lord, we couldn’t raise that even if they killed and sold all of us in the Tian family." Granny Luo clung to Tong Huaqiong’s clothes, begging desperately.

Tong Huaqiong held the broken jade pendant pieces in her hand, secretly laughing.

What heirloom jade pendant? It was all nonsense she made up.

This pendant was the least noticeable and least valuable item Liu Yanhong had.

"We all live in the same village. Since you asked, I can’t just not help. I’ve heard that there are skilled craftsmen at the jade shop in the provincial city who can repair jade. I’m heading there in a few days; I can check to see if it can be repaired." Tong Huaqiong said.

Granny Luo and Tian Fugui looked at her gratefully upon hearing this.

They always knew Tong Huaqiong would have a solution.

As long as the pendant could be repaired, anything would be fine. At least they wouldn’t have to scrape together a thousand taels of silver.

Gu Taohua murmured, "Mom makes it sound easy. Last time my jade bracelet broke, and it cost my third brother ten taels to repair it in the provincial city. For this kind of heirloom pendant, it might cost over a hundred taels. A hundred taels would be conservative, I bet."

With a mind-numbing thousand taels as the initial shock, Granny Luo and Tian Fugui were already numb to the thought of a hundred taels.

"Alright, alright. As long as it can be repaired, a hundred taels it is," Granny Luo eagerly agreed.

Though a hundred taels was enough to strip the Tian family of all their savings, compared to a thousand taels and the fear of Chun Wang being branded a thief, a hundred taels seemed minor.

"We only have twenty taels at home." Tian Fugui revealed their savings, but they were still seventy taels short.

If they had sent Chun Ni as a child bride to Black Dragon Pond earlier, they wouldn’t be in this situation.

"We don’t even know the cost of repairing the jade pendant; who knows how much Taohua might actually want?" Tian Fugui said.

Tong Huaqiong stood up and said, "If you don’t want to repair it, forget it. You can’t afford a thousand taels either. That means Chun Wang will go with me to the county government, and when the theft of the jade pendant gets out..."

Tian Fugui and Granny Luo were so frightened they almost knelt beside Tong Huaqiong.

The matter of Chun Wang stealing the jade pendant must never be publicized.

Mrs. Cao tearfully said to Tong Huaqiong, "Aunt Tong, I’m sorry for the trouble. We will definitely come up with the hundred taels, but we genuinely don’t have the money. We’ll give you twenty taels, can we please delay the remaining seventy taels?"