Chapter 576: Locked up in the Ancestral Hall
Two major events had recently occurred in the village. First, Phoebe Thorne had given birth. She had a smooth delivery at the clinic, welcoming a hefty eight-pound, three-ounce baby boy. Mother and son were both safe and sound, and she returned home the same day with Raina helping her through her postpartum confinement.
The second major event was that Phoenix Golding had been locked in the ancestral hall. Jethro Golding himself had given the order, having her taken to the ancestral hall to be locked up for a full month.
The punishment had been delayed because Phoenix Golding’s injuries hadn’t fully healed. Jethro Golding, fearing she might die while confined, had put it off for a few days. Once Phoenix Golding had recovered a bit, he announced the punishment over the public broadcast system and dispatched two stout village women to drag the unwilling Phoenix to the ancestral hall and lock her in.
Millstone Peak had two ancestral halls: one for the Golding Clan and one for the Thornes. One was on the east side of the village, the other on the west.
A country has its laws, and a clan has its rules. In the old days, when villagers committed an offense, they typically didn’t report it to the authorities. Instead, matters were handled by the clan leader. The most common cases involved unchaste women. For minor infractions, the punishment was a whipping; for serious ones, it was death by drowning in a pond. Back then, the clan leader’s word was final, and no villager would object.
Now, however, it was a society ruled by law, where legislation was paramount. Yet there were still some things the law couldn’t punish.
Take a loose woman like Phoenix Golding, for instance. The entire village of Millstone Peak hated her guts. Since the law couldn’t touch her, they fell back on clan rules. Drowning, of course, was out of the question—that would be murder. So, they settled for locking her in the ancestral hall to repent for her transgressions before her ancestors.
Phoenix Golding was, of course, unhappy. She was waiting for the man from the coal mine to come for a matchmaking meeting. Her cousin had said she would bring him over within a few days. If he approved of her, she could go to the coal mine. The man was older and eager to marry quickly, unwilling to delay even a single day. This suited Phoenix Golding perfectly, as she, too, didn’t want to spend another day in the village.
Now that she’d been thrown in the ancestral hall, how was she supposed to attend the meeting? The coal mine was her only way out. She absolutely could not give up on it.
"Mom, tell my cousin to come next month instead. That man can’t find out I’ve been locked in the ancestral hall."
That night, Linden’s mother went secretly to the ancestral hall to see Phoenix Golding. Fortunately, a large section of one wall had been smashed in years ago. The repairs had been shoddy, and after a couple of years of wind and sun, it had cracked open again, leaving a gap large enough to stick a hand through.
"Your cousin said she’s already on the train with the man. They’ll be here in three days at most. What are we going to do now!" Linden’s mother was anxious, too. It had taken so much effort to convince her niece to find a match for Phoenix, and now this had happened out of the blue. Their luck was the absolute worst.
Phoenix Golding clenched her jaw. The ancestral hall was pitch-black, without a single lamp. It was filled with mosquitoes, insects, and rats. ’I’ll die for sure if I’m locked in here for a month,’ she thought. ’And all these ancestral tablets... it’s terrifying! I have to escape.’
"Mom, find a way to get me a saw blade," Phoenix Golding said in a low voice.
Linden’s mother nodded and hurried away, unaware that someone had been following her in the darkness: Jacqueline Spann.
After hurrying away, Linden’s mother found a saw blade at home and rushed back. Jacqueline Spann followed her the entire time, wanting to know what Phoenix Golding was planning.
Phoenix Golding being locked in the ancestral hall suited Jacqueline Spann just fine. She wished Phoenix would be confined for life—or better yet, die in there. That way, she wouldn’t have to live in constant fear of being sold by her.
Linden’s mother passed the saw blade through the crack. "Are you planning to escape?"
"I’m going to saw through the window bars and climb out. The double-rush harvest is starting soon, so no one will pay me any mind. I’ll go to my cousin’s place, and if the meeting is a success, I’m not coming back. Mom, once I’m established at the coal mine, I’ll take good care of you!"
Phoenix Golding said these words with a hint of genuine emotion; she truly did want to take care of her mother.