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Da Qiangzi scooped up a ladle of water and splashed it over his daughter’s face, causing Niuniu to startle and cry even louder.

Yet, Da Qiangzi didn’t care whether she was cold or not, nor did he care about her clothes that were now wet.

He rudely wiped her face with his large hand and said, "Stop crying, stop crying. I’ll clean your face and change you into clean clothes so you can fetch a good price later!

Ha ha, I’ve been thinking about selling you off.

You can’t blame Daddy for being heartless.

If you were a boy like your brothers, would I have the heart to sell you? "

Da Qiangzi’s words were against his heart. Even if Dawang and Xiao Wang were boys, hadn’t they just run away with the young widow, abandoning their home? In the end, Da Qiangzi was a selfish creature, willing to betray anyone for Silver!

After cleaning Niuniu’s face, Da Qiangzi took the squirming little girl under his arm and headed inside to change her into cleaner clothes.

He had only taken a few steps when he heard a commotion of footsteps approaching from the alley. With a pleased "Heh," he said, "They’re here so soon? Niuniu, look how impatient they are. You’re sure to fetch a good price!"

Without changing Niuniu’s clothes, Da Qiangzi turned around with the little girl under his arm and walked towards the door to greet the child traffickers, "What’s the hurry?

We agreed I would sell the child to you; she can’t escape, can she?

Hey hey hey, what are you doing? Xingxing, you—you—you’re not. .."

The person who had come was none other than Xingxing!

Xingxing stepped through the doorway and immediately started scratching Da Qiangzi’s face with both hands while cursing, swiftly taking her precious daughter back from him.

Then, pointing at Da Qiangzi and shouting to the two government officers who had come with her, she cried, "It’s him! It’s him! He’s trying to abduct me! Master Magistrate, you must bring justice for this common woman!"

With a face scratched up by Xingxing, Da Qiangzi looked bewildered as the two government officers shackled him; even when kneeling in the County Yamen Hall, he still didn’t understand what was happening.

As it turned out, after Xingxing was taken out of the house by those three men, they remembered Da Qiangzi’s instructions and gagged her. But merely gagging her didn’t work, as she unexpectedly encountered Master Magistrate Lichang, who was being carried out in his sedan chair.

And for some inexplicable reason, the hands of the men gripping Xingxing tightly were struck by something.

With a reflexive cry, their grip loosened, and seizing the chance, Xingxing ran and knelt before Lichang’s sedan chair, crying out for help.

The rest was obvious; moved by Xingxing’s youth and beauty, and her tear-stained pleas, Lichang immediately felt pity. After hearing her accusations, he was even more enraged and ordered the three men to be caught and sent two Government Officials with Xingxing to capture Da Qiangzi.

"Bang!" Master Magistrate Lichang struck the awe-inspiring wooden hammer, causing the still bewildered Da Qiangzi to shudder.

"Da Qiangzi, do you plead guilty?" Lichang asked sternly.

Returning to his senses, Da Qiangzi shook his head repeatedly, "Great Lord, the common people are wronged! I did not abduct her. She is my wife. It’s wrong of me to sell her, but it’s not abduction!"

"This..." Lichang hesitated. In this era, that was how things were; women had very low status, parents could sell their daughters, husbands could sell their wives. Although it was morally reprehensible, there were indeed no laws expressly forbidding it.

Seeing Lichang’s hesitation, a flicker of joy crossed Da Qiangzi’s face.

Xingxing, holding her daughter, knelt on the ground and suddenly gave a deep bow, declaring loudly, "Oh, great Master Magistrate, Da Qiangzi is lying! I am not his wife at all!"

"You’re the one lying! You gave birth to a child, and you say you’re not my wife!" Da Qiangzi, his teeth itching with rage, glared furiously at Xingxing.

Xingxing, however, let out a cold laugh and challenged, "Da Qiangzi, you say I am your wife? Fine, show the marriage certificate! You don’t have one? Alright then, bring out the engagement gifts!"

According to the laws of Dayong, there must be a formal engagement and ceremony between husband and wife, and afterwards, a marriage certificate must be obtained from the Yamen for the union to be legally recognized.

Da Qiangzi’s union with Xingxing was, crudely put, fornication—where would engagement gifts come from?

Even after breaking off the engagement with Loudmouth, Da Qiangzi, having gone abroad, found the procedures for obtaining a marriage certificate extremely cumbersome and costly.

Preferring to save trouble, he had not applied at all, not expecting this lack of a marriage certificate to be his downfall today.