The matter of the Fang Family's two young women fighting over the family inheritance had already spread far and wide, but it was all hearsay, always felt like something was missing.
Today, to meet the parties involved and hear such explosive words as soon as they opened their mouths.
Fighting over inheritance, a grandmother wanting to kill her granddaughter, this is really too shocking.
Ladies Fang and Concubine Yuan in the carriage were dumbfounded.
From the moment the carriage was lifted, fell, and broke open, to Fang Jinxiu rolling out in front of people yelling these words, it all happened in the blink of an eye, seamlessly executed.
The four maidservants guarding her had just gotten up and were still dizzy as they went to grab Fang Yuxiu.
Fang Yuxiu had already rushed into the crowd.
She seemed weak and overwhelmed, seemingly startled, stumbled and fell to her knees, and right in front of a group of women.
"Aunties, please save me." She reached out, crying, "You watched me grow up."
The daughters of the Fang Family were different from other wealthy families, because they had to manage businesses, they had been exposed to public life since childhood, and the people of Yangcheng were not strangers to them, just like Fang Jinxiu said, they had watched her grow up.
Moreover, the Fang Family's young women were always kind and helpful. Seeing such a delicate young girl falling in front, begging for help, no one could bear it.
The women's hearts trembled at her cry, and immediately several of them bent down to help her.
"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid." They patted her, soothing and comforting, gathering around her.
The maidservants who rushed over were stopped.
"Let's talk this over calmly."
"Don't scare the child."
The women chattered, trying to reason.
Though the four maidservants were strong, faced with so many people blocking them, they couldn't get near Fang Yuxiu.
The maidservants felt embarrassed and annoyed.
They couldn't take care of one little girl among the four of them, truly embarrassing.
"Move aside!" A maidservant shouted, unable to contain her anger, "Don't meddle in other people's business."
Force is mutual, and as the maidservant started to get angry, the women immediately responded with discontent, especially as Fang Yuxiu's sobbing came from behind.
"I won't go back, I won't go back."
Judging by how panicked the usually astute Miss Fang appeared, the women also started to get angry.
"What are you yelling about."
"The road is open to all, we're standing here, what's it to you!"
"How is it meddling? Never heard of standing up for justice when seeing injustice?"
When it came to arguing, the women were all experts, afraid of no one, and soon there was a tumult on the street, accompanied by the women's drawn-out shouts.
"Oh dear, they're hitting people!"
The scene grew increasingly chaotic, more and more people gathered, and Lady Fang sighed, lifted the carriage curtain, and got down.
Concubine Yuan also hurriedly followed, supporting her, and glared hatefully at the employees dumbfounded in front of the money business.
"Why aren't you helping?" she shouted.
The employees seemed to finally snap back and attempted to step forward.
Their own child claimed to be harmed by family, and now trying to seize her from unrelated people, the Fang Family's face was entirely lost.
Lady Fang raised her hand to stop them and walked over herself.
The four maidservants blushed and stepped aside.
The public was no stranger to Lady Fang, being Fang Yuxiu's mother, and the noise gradually quieted down.
"Yuxiu, what are you doing?" Lady Fang asked, only looking at Fang Yuxiu who was being shielded behind people, "Haven't you made enough trouble?"
Though the words were simple, the voice was calm, yet with a hint of exhaustion, like all parents exasperated and helpless by their children's mischief.
Many present were mothers themselves, inevitably reminded of their own children, and who hasn't been driven to shout in frustration at times?
Everyone began to calm down.
"Lady Fang, let's talk this over calmly."
"Children must be taught slowly."
Several women chorused.
Lady Fang looked at Fang Yuxiu revealed by the parting crowd.
"Yuxiu, do you know what you're doing?" she asked, unable to hide her disappointment and anger, "Have you thought this through?"
The women couldn't help but look at Fang Yuxiu.
"Second Miss, let's talk this over."
"They won't really hurt you."
Seeing this, Concubine Yuan signaled to the maidservants around her to slowly approach Fang Yuxiu.
Fang Yuxiu had already straightened her body, lightly dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief, and when she looked up her eyes were completely dry.
"Of course, it's good to talk it over, but grandmother and mother don't talk with us, instead they suppress and restrain us." she said, "In any situation, people can rely on their family, but as for us, besides relying on outsiders, who else can we rely on?"
She sighed softly as she spoke, looking at the surrounding crowd.
"If it weren't for all you kind aunties just now, I would have been bound and taken away, with sticks and ropes, would you have calmly talked to me? After so many days at home, could it have come to this if it was calmly discussed?"
She stood up as she spoke, gently straightened her clothes, and curtseyed to those around her.
"Thank you, uncles and aunts, for protecting me. As the saying goes, distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors. Everyone knows that the Fang Family has had no relatives since my grandmother's time, and now that I, Fang Yuxiu, have angered my grandmother, neither accepted by family nor having distant relatives, my only reliance can be on you, my fellow villagers."
Oh, Concubine Yuan's eyebrows twitched. As expected of the Second Miss, she is both smart and cold. There's not a trace of childishness in her demeanor. Her words are clear and logical, and she even pointedly reminds everyone of Old Lady Fang's heartlessness.
A buzz of discussion arose at the scene.
Indeed, Old Lady Fang's heartlessness is well-known. If she could hit her own mother, what's a granddaughter to her?
Lady Fang felt very conflicted, watching the various gazes and pointing around her, realizing that today it was impossible to force Fang Yuxiu inside and silence her.
She didn't know whether to be proud or annoyed at how eloquently her daughter spoke.
"Yuxiu, haven't you thought about why your relatives won't accept you?" she said harshly. "The family trusts you, yet you used that trust to seal De Sheng Chang. Is that something a family member would do? Do you know how much trouble this has caused the family business?"
"Of course, I know," Fang Yuxiu said, "Mother, ever since I started learning accounting at six and making money transactions at eight, climbing onto chairs stacked on stools to reach the counter, with these hands..."
She stretched out her hands, palms open.
"From the day I got a ledger, I haven't stopped for ten years, always flipping through or recording them."
"I've never played; I've never known the things girls play with, nor dared to play."
"Because there was no one at home, Grandmother, Mother would age, brother could die from illness, and my sister and I had to take on the family business."
"You see my gold and jade, my fine food and drink, but what I envy the most is San Ya from West Street who can sell tofu pudding for half a day and then joyfully carry a basket to the riverside to catch fish and play."
"Yet I can't. Our family depends on us sisters. How can we be lazy or play?"
The people around listened, dumbfounded, realizing that such a monotonous life was indeed not easy. Other kids at six or eight years old are still clinging to their mothers playfully, but they had to start learning the banking business, doing it for ten years. Ten years! That's indeed pretty hard.
Some women couldn't help but wipe their tears.
Even Lady Fang's eyes slightly teared up.
She certainly knew it wasn't easy for her daughters, and what Fang Yuxiu said was the harsh truth. Life for the sisters of the Fang Family was indeed hard and monotonous.
For a moment, she couldn't tell whether her daughter's grievances were real or an act.
Fang Yuxiu looked at her.
"Mother, even with my eyes closed, I know how the money business is doing." she said, "It hurts me too when the business suffers because I also manage it, but why did I do this? Because you cornered us into having no choice."
She stepped forward, her voice somewhat hoarse.
"Mother, let me think, and I also ask you and Grandmother to think, what were you thinking? When brother was gravely ill and on the brink of death, you asked us sisters to support the family business, refused outside marriage proposals, and asked us to marry into the family."
She looked at the surrounding onlookers.
"Everyone knows, what kind of person would marry into the family? Whose son from a good family would agree to become a live-in son-in-law?"
The people nodded sympathetically.
"We sisters have delayed until our current age and have accepted our fate, prioritizing the family business. But now brother has recovered, the Fang Family has a male heir, so we are no longer needed. Grandmother and Mother, you treat us like daughters again, telling us to stay in and do less work, while also trying to find us husbands to marry."
She stepped forward again closer to Lady Fang, placing a hand on her heart.
"What can we do? We know nothing of what other girls know. All we know is accounting, bookkeeping, and business. If you send us to be someone's wife, to sew clothes and cook, we'd be useless. Who would want a wife like us?"
"Mother, isn't this like discarding us after using us, tearing down the bridge after crossing the river?"
"Mother, are we useless now? Kept at home only to encroach on brother's inheritance? You want to throw us out like rags!"
"Mother, we've worked like oxen and horses for the Fang Family for ten years!"
Having said this, she seemed to collapse, covering her face and wailing.
In another cart, Fang Yunxiao broke away from the stunned maidservants, rushed over, and embraced Fang Yuxiu, sobbing.
The cries from the women around increased.
Lady Fang's eyes were both sore and tearful, both angry and anxious.
"What nonsense are you spouting; who is discarding you?" she said, "What chaotic thoughts do you have! Arranging marriages is for your your own good; if you want to marry, do so; if not, don't. Who's making you sew clothes and cook? If you want to do business, then business it will be. There's nothing that can't be discussed..."
Before she could finish speaking, Fang Yuxiu lifted her head and wiped her eyes.
"Fine, then give it to us." she said coldly, "Don't just talk; give us the family assets."
Lady Fang was momentarily taken aback.
This child...
"Your grandmother never said she wouldn't divide it for you; it just hasn't been brought up..." she said.
"Well, we're bringing it up now, so give it to us," Fang Yuxiu interrupted her firmly and concisely.
How could it be just given like that? Lady Fang gritted her teeth in frustration.
"Folks, as daughters of the family, we sisters are asking for our share of the family inheritance." Fang Yuxiu did not force any further response from her but instead looked around, "I'd like to ask, is it truly against morals to do this?"
"No!" echoed the voices around, initially scattered, then gradually rising.
"As daughters, can't we ask for a share of the family assets?" Fang Yuxiu asked once more.
"Yes, you can!" came the resounding chorus, with both men and women, loud and clear.
Damn it, it's not their assets they're asking for anyway, of course, they're cheering on the spectacle.
A wealthy man standing at a distant street corner looked on with disdain, then saw the Fang women among the crowd curtsey to the bystanders.
"We sisters are going to divide the family assets. As we have no other choice with no elders or influential relatives to advocate for us, we turn to you, dear villagers, to help oversee us sisters until we secure our rightful inheritance."
How about that?
The man standing at the corner suddenly sensed things were going awry.
Fang Yuxiu rose up.
"Please, dear villagers, watch over our Fang Family, not to let a single penny or a fly be taken or hidden away, so that we may fairly acquire our rightful share of the family inheritance."
Damn it! The wealthy man's face turned ashen as he cursed inwardly.