Another villager kindly said, "Dashan, I think it's better to sell your wife for seventeen taels. You and your brothers could save money for a few more years, add some more to it, and even if you could only afford someone with a missing arm or leg, it would be better than your mute and ugly wife. She's so skinny like a bamboo pole, I doubt she could bear a son..."
Someone else chimed in, "Chuan refused to sell her for seventeen taels; he's probably thinking about the eight taels she had stolen from them before. He must want to sell her for twenty-five."
"Twenty-five taels? How is that even possible?" Another villager exclaimed. "I heard old lady Liu say that she might change her mind about offering such a high price. Chuan must be crazy for money!"
"Exactly. With twenty-five taels, plus another five, they could buy a normal person. Chuan really thinks that Su Qingyue, the mute girl, could sell for the price of a normal person..."
