Chapter 7 — Judge's Debt Book

White candles burn high, incense smoke wafts around. Then I turned around and said a word to the servants who were standing as still as wooden statues in the hall. "From today, this palace will have the surname Tham, not the surname Lieu. Do you hear me clearly?" The servants simultaneously knelt on the ground, prostrate and trembling continuously. No one dared to say the word "no".09 Concubine Lieu moved into the most remote courtyard in the palace. All sides are exposed to wind, winter is as cold as an ice cellar, summer is as stuffy as a steamer. Every day before dawn, she had to get up and chop firewood. Her hands, which had been pampered for twenty years, had only been chopping firewood for three days and were filled with blood blisters. The blood blister bursts and then scabs, scabs and then tears again, repeating over and over, making the palm of the hand as rough as sandpaper. If the firewood is not chopped well, the manageress will scold her. In the past, those women were all scolded, slapped, and trampled under her feet by her but did not dare to speak up. Now everyone straightened their backs, ordering her to do this and that, with joy in their voices because the resentment accumulated for ten years was finally vented. At first, Concubine Lieu scolded her, saying that she was the old man's person, and let's see who dared to touch her. After that she never said this again. Because she knows no one will notice. When my sister came to visit me, she specially went around the backyard. She stood outside the courtyard gate, looking from afar at the woman hunched over washing clothes by the well for a long time. "She is crying." The sister said. "Yes." "What is she crying about?" "Maybe she feels that her fate is miserable." I said calmly. Sister was silent for a moment, then laughed happily. In that laughter there was no sympathy, only happiness because the great enemy had been avenged. The water used to wash clothes in winter is cold to the bone. Aunt Liu's hands were soaked in cold water, rubbing one set of rough clothes after another, never being able to wash them. The ten fingers were so cold that they looked like ten red carrots, the cracks oozing blood. One time she really couldn't bear it anymore, threw her clothes into the basin, sat on the ground and sobbed. The woman in charge saw her, without saying a word, stepped up and slapped her twice. "Why are you crying? When you beat me in the past, did I cry?" Aunt Lieu hugged her face and cried even harder. The woman kicked her again: "Quickly wash! If you don't finish washing before dark, there will be no food for you tonight!" She trembled and squatted down again, picked up each piece of clothing, and continued to wash it. I stood down the hallway not far away, looking at this whole scene. When I was six years old, I also stood behind the same hallway pillar, watching a massacre. Days passed like that day by day. Spring and autumn come, the four seasons rotate. I only used less than a year to reorganize the entire government up and down. All confidants placed by Concubine Lieu were chased away and replaced by people I personally selected. The land, shops and brands in the government are all neatly managed by me, and profits have doubled compared to when my father was alive. The people who initially waited to see the Tham family become a laughing stock were so surprised that their eyes dropped. In the capital, people began to secretly discuss, saying that the second lady of the Tham family was not old, but her methods were more powerful than many men. I don't care about those discussions. I'm busy making money, busy expanding my business, busy making the Tham family's foundation deeper and more solid. And Concubine Lieu is no longer someone worth wasting my time and energy on. Her back became more and more bent, her limbs became slower and slower, less and less firewood was cut, and her laundry became more and more dirty. The manager's wife came to report more than once, saying she could no longer do heavy work. I didn't immediately decide, just said one sentence: "I know." Cho

On that day, I went to the backyard myself. Concubine Lieu is squatting next to the well, washing clothes. I haven't looked at her closely for more than a year, but now that I look at her, I almost don't recognize her anymore. She was so thin that she was only a skeleton, her hair was more than half white, and the wrinkles on her face were as deep as if they had been carved by a knife. Hearing footsteps, she raised her head. The cloudy eyes looked at me, first stunned, then flashing a complicated light. There was hatred, there was fear, there was also a bit of weak pleading that even she herself did not believe. "Second... second lady." Her voice was hoarse, like sandpaper grinding on wood. I bowed my head to look at her. His fingernails were covered in black mud, his hair was as tangled as a bird's nest, and his rough clothes were covered in patches, giving off a sour smell. "Do you think living like this is miserable?" I asked. Her dry, cracked lips moved, but she didn't say anything. "The day my mother was beaten to death..." My voice was calm, as if saying that today's weather was very beautiful: "She suffered a thousand times more than you." I turned around and said to the matron behind me: "Tomorrow, go to Di Hong Vien in the south of the city, call their madam to come here." Concubine Lieu was stunned. Then she suddenly understood, her face immediately turned pale. "No... No... Second Miss... You can't treat me like that..."