Chapter 207: Six Years Ago, The Mystery Unraveled
People were usually fearful of going to the Government Office during this time. Besides, Niu Pazi was feeling guilty and her family had few members presently. The Bai Family had the hale and hearty Bai Yihong and Bai Zehao. If they were really going to forcefully take her to the Government Office, her son would not stand a chance against them.
Therefore, when Lin Ping’er grabbed her, Niu Pazi started panicking and shouted loudly, "I am not going, I know Madam Wang. I even helped her deliver a baby back in the day, if you don’t believe me, ask the old lady of the Bai Family. She will surely remember me!"
For some reason, the words "deliver a baby" caused Bai Ruozhu to shudder, and she felt as if she was getting the wrong idea about the secret here.
She originally guessed that Madam Wang had done something harmful to the second room and Niu Pazi witnessed it, or perhaps even helped her. However, it seemed like that was not the case.
"I was present when my eldest sister-in-law was giving birth, and I don’t seem to recall seeing you there." Lin Ping’er looked doubtful, but let go of Niu Pazi’s hand.
Niu Pazi’s eyes were spinning round as if she was thinking of a story to fabricate.
"What happened was, I ran into her and greeted her. When she heard that my younger son needs to get married again, she gave us a gift. I did not steal anything from her. We are an honest family." This was Niu Pazi affirming her words.
Bai Ruozhu thought that Niu Pazi really was a cunning woman. She looked at Niu Pazi and said, "How can we know if what you’re saying is true? We should still go to the Government Office and report to the officials."
Hearing this, Lin Ping’er tried to grab Niu Pazi’s arm again. Panicking, Niu Pazi cried out, "Everything I’ve said is true, you can’t just wrong me."
On the other hand, Niu Yugu was extremely anxious. Watching his mother being dragged away, he was unsure of what to do. He wondered why his mother was protecting Madam Wang, who gave her just one and a half taels of silver today. What could that even buy? She had once said she wouldn’t even accept death. Now that this profit source was cut off, there really wasn’t a need to take risks for her, right?
Thinking about it, Niu Yugu quickly said, "Mom, just tell them. You can’t shoulder the responsibility for Madam Wang, after all, they are reasonable people. They definitely won’t treat us unfairly." After speaking, he gave Niu Pazi a meaningful glance.
Though Niu Pazi was initially scared, on second thought, she agreed with her son. She was not foolish enough to risk her life for Madam Wang, especially as Madam Wang was also unkind and unrighteous to begin with.
Gathering her courage, Niu Pazi sighed and said, "I can agree to tell you, but, Madam Wang is ruthless. She might arrange for others to take revenge on me. You... You need to give me some reassurance, right?"
The Bai family exchanged glances, Bai Ruozhu then looked at Niu Pazi and said, "As long as you tell us the truth and do not make up stories, we will give you some silver as a money-offering."
Niu Pazi’s eyes lit up, "I will definitely tell the truth, it’s just that I don’t know how much you are willing to give?"
"We are not a rich family. How much can we possibly give you?" Bai Ruozhu scorned, "If not, we will just go to the Government Office. Anyway, if you are unwilling to tell us, you surely won’t dare not to recount the story in front of the officials, right?"
"Don’t scare me! If a commotion starts, won’t that also be troublesome for you?" Niu Pazi grumbled.
Bai Ruozhu shrugged offhandedly, "My family least minds the trouble."
Lin Ping’er pretended to be impatient, "Give her a tael of silver and let it be."
"What can one tael of silver do? This is my family’s lifesaving money!" Niu Pazi shouted.
Because Niu mother and son were too greedy, both sides spent a while haggling the price. In the end, Bai Ruozhu finally decided, "Alright, two taels it is. If the matter is truly significant, we will protect you. They won’t dare to do anything to you. If you still don’t want to speak, then we will go to the Government Office now. There is no room for negotiation on this matter."
Niu Pazi saw that they were not going to give her any respite, and upon counting, two taels was indeed more than the one and a half taels that Madam Wang gave. Lastly, she cleared her throat and said, "Alright, I’ll speak."
"It was about six, seven years ago, I don’t know who put a newborn baby at my door. I asked around and nobody recognized the baby. We were poor back then, why would we want to feed another mouth, especially when we were raising a child for others? So, I picked up the baby and walked towards the town to see if anyone was willing to take the baby in."
Niu Pazi while saying this even chuckled a couple of times, "I am not that bad a person, how can I bear to watch a baby die?"
Bai Ruozhu did not have the time to ridicule her hypocrisy. She was simply stunned where she was standing, as if struck by lightning. A riddle was about to unfold before her. She felt the fog before her eyes slowly dissipating, everything was becoming clearer.
So that’s how it was, everything made sense now...
"Just as I was nearing the Town, I saw a heavily pregnant woman coming out of the town gate like a lost soul, mumbling to herself: ’Why is he dead? Why is it suddenly a stillbirth?’" Niu Pazi paused for a moment, "You would have guessed by now, that woman was Madam Wang. She was feeling unwell during her pregnancy, so she went to the Town to see a doctor, who then told her that the baby in her womb was dead, thus it was a stillbirth!"
All of Bai’s family inhaled sharply. Six years ago was the birth date of Xiaosi. Turns out the baby in Madam Wang’s womb died, then Xiaosi...
"Afterwards, I felt pity for her and asked her a couple of questions. When she found out that I was finding a home for a baby, she immediately brightened up and beseeched me for help, asking for the baby in my hands to replace the one in her womb. If her in-laws found out that she didn’t take good care of the baby, and it died in her womb, they would surely divorce her."
Niu Pazi smirked, and said with a laugh to Lin Ping’er, "Later I found out that her sister-in-law had two sons, but she only had one, so she held a grudge and was determined to outdo her sister-in-law."
Bai Ruozhu’s lips twitched. This last explanation was indeed more characteristic of Madam Wang’s personality.
"But the stillborn child in her womb had to be taken out, could you really do it all by yourselves?" People around might not understand, but Bai Ruozhu knew very well that this was not something simple enough for two women to handle.
"She went to the Town to find a doctor, begged for his help in removing the stillbirth, and to keep the secret. Then she requested me to act as the midwife. I quietly brought the baby in, and then quietly took away the stillborn baby." Niu Pazi said.
Bai Ruozhu showed a face of disbelief, "You are not kidding us, are you? This is no trivial matter, which doctor will take this risk to help her hide it? Don’t they fear being sued?"
"She told the doctor that her in-laws would divorce her because she didn’t take good care of the baby in her womb, and that she would not be able to survive. She also said that instead of watching her die, why not give her a chance and let her take care of this orphaned child. The doctor had a soft heart, and accepted five taels of silver to do the favor." Niu Pazi explained, fearing that Bai Ruozhu wouldn’t believe her and thus speaking faster.
"There’s no evidence for such a thing, unless you tell me the name of the doctor and where he sees his patients." Bai Ruozhu stared at Niu Pazi as she spoke. Now there was a key figure missing, since the infamous Niu Pazi fell short when it came to credibility by herself.
Niu Pazi began to hesitate. She was afraid of offending yet another person. In the end, she bit the bullet and insisted that she didn’t know the doctor, only Madam Wang did.
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Happy Women’s Day everyone, women should always treat themselves well. Don’t ever feel wronged, eat and buy whatever you like. After all, have your husband or boyfriend foot the bill, hehe.
There will be five more updates today. Mouka needs everyone’s support! I usually don’t ask for votes, so I just discovered that I have fewer recommendation and monthly votes than others, which made me feel quite attacked. So, if you guys have votes, toss them my way!