A charming widow in her 70s married a factory manager and raised his children.

Chapter 172 Is this a human trafficking scheme?

While Qian Dayou's family was overjoyed, Zhuang Qingxiang wanted to disappear into the ground.

She never expected that her only blood brother would make such a shameless suggestion at this time, and Qian Dayou's family immediately had the same idea after he reminded them.

This gave her the feeling that she was about to be sold again.

And now all of this is laid bare for everyone to see.

What will Lu Congyue think?

Zhuang Qingxiang's eyes reddened, and she bit her lip tightly, telling herself to hold back her tears; crying now would only make her look more pathetic.

Lu Congyue turned his head to look at her and asked, "Are you going to marry me?"

"I won't marry him!" Zhuang Qingxiang answered resolutely.

Lu Congyue already knew her answer, but hearing her so resolute still made him feel a lump in his throat.

Looking at Qian Dayou's family, one feels even more disgusted.

It's despicable that they had to do something like this to hurt him.

"She doesn't have the final say!" Qian Dayou said anxiously. "She's my daughter, I have the final say. Director Lu, for just one hundred yuan, she's yours. You can take her away."

"Oh?" Lu Congyue raised an eyebrow slightly, as if considering, "One hundred yuan..."

Li Shufen snapped, "Zhuang Qingxiang is my daughter-in-law. If she wants to remarry, she needs my permission. This hundred yuan should be given to me!"

"Li Shufen!" Qian Dayou glared angrily. "What? Your daughter-in-law? Didn't you kick her out long ago? Everyone in the village knows you don't acknowledge her as your daughter-in-law!"

"That's right, that's right! Your son is dead, and you kicked my Qingxiang out right after the funeral. You wouldn't even let her take a single needle or thread from your house. How dare you call her your daughter-in-law? You want this hundred yuan? You're dreaming! Bah!" Cao Xiang spat on Li Shufen's face.

Li Shufen was furious, and the two women started fighting again.

Having watched the drama unfold, Lu Congyue said calmly to Village Chief Qian, "I thought our village had long since responded to the national call to respect women's will and promote freedom of marriage? Turns out, no! Once this buying and selling of women happens, it will happen again. I think we need to thoroughly investigate how many of these situations still exist in your village."

Upon hearing this, Village Chief Qian swayed slightly, and Lu Congyue felt a pang of regret, fearing he might have frightened the old man into something terrible.

Fortunately, Village Chief Qian held his nerve and roared in a booming voice, "Stop it, all of you! Men, tie this whole family up and lock them up! Stealing other people's property, damaging important items in someone's military factory, abusing other people's children, and now they're even trying to sell their daughter... This is utterly lawless! Lock them all up! Lock them all up!"

The members of the joint defense team rushed forward and subdued the entire Qian family, including Li Shufen.

Li Shufen shouted, "I'm not related to Qian Dayou! Let me go!"

Nobody paid her any attention; at this point, catching one more or one less wouldn't make a difference.

Qian Haoqing was also unable to escape and was also held down. Xu Liantao hurriedly cried out, "I didn't say anything. I even tried to persuade him. I'm a good person. You can't arrest me."

She hadn't done anything outrageous. Lu Congyue waved his hand, and Xu Liantao, now free, quickly ran outside the courtyard gate, afraid that they would arrest her again.

"Lian Tao, Lian Tao, save me!" Qian Haoqing shouted hurriedly. Seeing that his wife didn't care, he shouted to Zhuang Qingxiang, "Sister, I'm your own brother. I didn't do anything. Please tell them to let me go."

Lu Congyue, not wanting to see Zhuang Qingxiang in a difficult position, said directly, "It's useless to beg her now, and it's useless to beg anyone else! If this matter isn't resolved within three days, just send her to labor camp!"

"Yes, yes, yes." Village Chief Qian quickly agreed, "Director Lu, I will definitely urge them to pay back the money as soon as possible. As for the matter of selling their daughter... well, it's just that Qian Dayou's family has made a mistake. No other family has done this. I can guarantee it! Our village has never relaxed its ideological education. If you don't believe me, just ask everyone..."

After the village chief finished speaking, he urged the onlookers to speak up. Of course, the villagers would not admit that they had sold their daughters. They all said that nothing had happened. Only Qian Dayou's family was shameless. They kept Zhuang Qingxiang at home to do chores and take care of the children. They dragged a perfectly good girl to the age of twenty-nine before selling her to the widower Qian Quan for a few dozen yuan in betrothal gifts.

"Poor Qingxiang, such a good girl has been ruined by the Qian Dayou family."

"Yes, Qian Quan's mother went too far. As soon as Qian Quan died, she kicked everyone out of the house..."

For a moment, all the voices were filled with sympathy for Zhuang Qingxiang, but Lu Congyue's eyes were icy cold.

These words are just for show. If anyone truly cared about Zhuang Qingxiang and her two children, she wouldn't have been forced to become a wet nurse at his house because she had nowhere else to go.

"Alright, we should go back now. Village Chief Qian, let me know if there's any news at the factory!" After Lu Congyue finished speaking, he went forward, gathered all of Zhuang Qingxiang's belongings together, packed them into a bundle, and picked it up.

"Zhuang Qingxiang, it's time to go home," he said in a deep voice.

Zhuang Qingxiang followed him blankly, leaving Qian Dayou's house and Dongya Village amidst the crowd of onlookers.

On the way back to the factory, the two remained silent the entire way.

Lu Congyue didn't dare ask her what her plans were, afraid that she would say she was moving out again.

Zhuang Qingxiang was completely lost, unsure of what to do next.

Just as they were about to enter the house, Lu Congyue called out to her, "Zhuang Qingxiang, what are your plans for the embroidery?"

Zhuang Qingxiang seemed to just come to her senses and whispered, "I can do it."

"Then let's just stay at home like before. I promise I won't bother you. You can focus on finishing your embroidery, and I'll keep an eye on the kids. That way you'll have more free time... What do you say?"

Zhuang Qingxiang pursed her lips.

She didn't think it was a good idea to continue living there.

Especially him...

She couldn't help but glance at him, only to meet his somewhat uneasy gaze.

Zhuang Qingxiang was stunned: What was he afraid of? Was he afraid she would move out? He could actually be afraid?

Lu Congyue was indeed a little nervous. The more nervous he was, the more serious he looked, unaware that his eyes betrayed his inner thoughts.

"If you don't answer, I'll take that as a yes! It's settled then. Since the materials are ruined, let's hurry up and buy more. Just tell me what you need me to do."

After saying that, he stepped into the house, not giving Zhuang Qingxiang a chance to object.

When Shi Peiran and Sun Yongxian saw them return, they immediately went up to ask what had happened. They were happy for Zhuang Qingxiang when they learned that they had gotten their money back.

They knew how difficult it was for Zhuang Qingxiang to earn money.

"Sister Zhuang, you'd better keep your money safe this time. If you go out, just leave it at Director Lu's house. Director Lu definitely won't embezzle your little bit of money," Sun Yongxian joked.

"Mom, I promise I'll keep a close eye on your money from now on and never let anyone steal it again." Little Qian Yue jumped up and down.

Zhuang Qingxiang smiled at her and patted her head: "Good girl."

Looking up again, she said to Sun Yongxian, "Yongxian, I have something to tell you..."