145 I won't blame her.
"Still denying it? Which mother would go to her married daughter's house and openly demand five taels of silver? I had heard rumors about you wanting to sell her to the Wealthy Landlord as a concubine, and I thought it was just idle gossip, but now it seems certain that it's true—you don't feel the pain for a child that's not your own."
"Exactly! Tingting's family of three lived in the town but never once returned to her mother's home. Perhaps someone is displeased, thinking they are nothing but freeloaders?"
"People must live well for as long as they can; otherwise, when they die, they won't know how their own flesh and blood are being treated!"
"I didn't ...," Huang Qiaoxiu had no way to defend herself.
However, no one wanted to listen to her.
Doesn't every family have a daughter?
Thinking about Huang Qiaoxiu's treatment of her stepdaughter made them all empathize and feel relieved they were still alive; their daughters wouldn't have to endure such a stepmother.