Chapter 8: The Yao Family

If there was nothing else to do, Jin Xiaoye usually didn’t talk to Jin Moli. Seeing Jin Moli’s silence, Jin Xiaoye turned to Li Damao and Li Ermao, who were playing nearby, and said, “Go check the chicken coop and see if there are any eggs. It’s summer now, and the hens lay eggs frequently, sometimes two in three days.”

Li Damao and Li Ermao were responsible for feeding the chickens, so they were particularly enthusiastic about collecting eggs. The two of them rushed into the chicken coop together and came out joyfully holding an egg. “Mom, we found an egg!”

“Mom, I found it!”

Jin Xiaoye said, “Put the egg inside the house.”

The two children took the egg inside carefully and placed it in the earthenware pot Jin Xiaoye used to store eggs.

Li Qingzhi could hear the commotion outside, so he knew exactly what the two children had done. He immediately praised them, “Damao, Ermao, you’re amazing! Not only can you feed the chickens, but you can also collect eggs.”

These two children were like little angels, helping out around the house at such a young age!

Li Damao and Li Ermao loved collecting eggs, but they had never been praised before for such a small task. When they heard Li Qingzhi’s words, their eyes lit up, wishing he would praise them a bit more.

Li Qingzhi satisfied them, saying, “You’re so young and already helping your parents. You’re truly amazing children.”

Li Damao and Li Ermao were overjoyed.

Their father was really good to them, unlike other families!

Feeling happy, Li Damao and Li Ermao obediently washed their hands when Li Qingzhi told them to, then climbed onto the bed and took a nap beside him.

Inside the house, everything was harmonious. Outside, Jin Moli looked at Jin Xiaoye with a grievance, “Jin Xiaoye, why are you ignoring me?”

Once again, Jin Xiaoye ignored her!

“I answered your question just now, didn’t I? When did I ignore you?” Jin Xiaoye felt Jin Moli was being unreasonable. She had clearly answered Jin Moli’s questions earlier.

But Jin Moli had some issues herself. Living next door to the Yao family, she inevitably interacted with them. Jin Moli seemed afraid that Jin Xiaoye would take a liking to Yao Zhenfu, so she was always on guard against her.

Jin Xiaoye genuinely looked down on Yao Zhenfu. He was short, ugly, with pockmarks all over his face, small eyes, and a big nose. And he always ran to his mother for everything!

Before getting married, Jin Xiaoye felt that Li Qingzhi was much better than Yao Zhenfu. Li Qingzhi did everything by himself, unlike Yao Zhenfu, who lacked initiative.

Even so, Yao Zhenfu’s prospects were good because of the Yao family’s wealth. Otherwise, he would definitely be a bachelor for life.

Jin Xiaoye never thought highly of Yao Zhenfu. Now that Yao Zhenfu was married, there was even less possibility of anything between them. It was Jin Moli who treated Yao Zhenfu like a treasure, a person who did nothing before marriage but suddenly learned to do everything after.

Jin Moli felt unhappy about being scolded by Jin Xiaoye, so she turned and went back to the Yao family’s house, feeling somewhat uneasy. She hadn’t expected Li Qingzhi to survive after Jin Xiaoye spent money to cure him.

In her previous life, Li Qingzhi died on the same night he returned!

Jin Moli had been reborn.

After she died in her previous life, she woke up five years earlier, before she got married.

In her previous life, although she was engaged to Yao Zhenfu at an early age, she never liked him because she thought he was too ugly.

But there was no one better in their village than Yao Zhenfu. Until Li Qingzhi appeared in their village.

Li Qingzhi was obviously a refugee, but he was very handsome and elegant, completely different from ordinary people. Even the scholar from the neighboring village couldn’t match Li Qingzhi’s dignity.

Although she initially liked Li Qingzhi, she didn’t think much about it. But Jin Xiaoye’s family was unkind; Jin Xiaoye always praised Li Qingzhi, and Jin Xiaoye’s father even told her he saw Yao Zhenfu getting along well with someone in the county.

Li Qingzhi was also a swindler, claiming to have read many books… She thought Li Qingzhi would at least pass the imperial examination, maybe even become a top scholar.

She was impulsive at the time and insisted on marrying Li Qingzhi.

This matter caused quite a stir, and in the end, her father gave Jin Xiaoye’s father ten taels of silver as compensation, separated their families, and went to the Yao family to apologize and negotiate with Li Qingzhi… Finally, she exchanged her marriage with Jin Xiaoye.

This is also because her father favored Li Qingzhi more, thinking that Li Qingzhi had a bright future and could help her brothers.

So she married Li Qingzhi, while Jin Xiaoye married Yao Zhenfu.

After getting married, she wholeheartedly wanted Li Qingzhi to go to the county town to study and take the imperial examinations, but Li Qingzhi was not willing. He even told her that his academic achievements were not that great…

Not only that, she and her father thought that Li Qingzhi had some money, but after she got married, she found out that Li Qingzhi’s money had long been spent.

Li Qingzhi had no money, so their family’s living conditions were not very good. They didn’t even have a table to eat on, unlike Jin Xiaoye’s situation. The Yao family lacked nothing and had a solid foundation!

However, she didn’t regret it too much at the time. After all, Li Qingzhi was very handsome, and her father said he would find Li Qingzhi a job.

When Li Qingzhi found a job and earned money in the county town, their lives would improve, and they might even be able to move to the county town.

Two months after she got married, her father recommended Li Qingzhi to work as an accountant in a rice shop in the county town. Unexpectedly, Li Qingzhi disappeared.

After Li Qingzhi disappeared, there were rumors all over the village, making her life even more difficult. What made her most angry was that Li Laogen was gambling outside!

When others told her, Li Laogen had already lost a lot of money. She cried, but in the end, she could only use the money to help Li Laogen pay off his debts.

Li Laogen cursed and vowed never to gamble again, but with the encouragement of those ill-intentioned people in the village, Li Laogen started gambling again…

Later, the people who lent money to Li Laogen came to collect the debt, saying that Li Laogen owed them more than ten thousand yuans and demanded that she give up an acre of land to repay Li Laogen’s debts. Li Laogen insisted that the land belonged to him and should be used to repay his debts.

The people who lent money to Li Laogen were eyeing their land!

In the end, her father intervened and spent fifty taels to buy the two acres of land from their family. Half of the fifty taels were given to Li Laogen, and she kept the other half. Afterwards, her father took her back to her maternal home, intending to find her a…

She remarried.

Although she had been married once before, remarrying in the village was not difficult for her. Her family had some money, and she had just received twenty-five taels of silver, so there were plenty of unmarried men in the village who wanted to marry her.

But those men were poorer and uglier than the other.

She waited for two years, then chose a relatively decent family to marry into. After that, her days were just like those of any other village woman.

It was around this time that Li Qingzhi returned.

By then, she had already remarried and naturally couldn’t care about Li Qingzhi. As for Li Laogen… after losing all his money, he went back to live with his younger brother and died not long after. He had been dead for more than three years by then.

When Li Qingzhi was brought back to the village by the villagers, he stopped breathing that very night.

Later on, she continued to live in the village, raising children and working hard. After Jin Xiaoye married Yao Zhenfu, her life became completely different from hers.

Yao Zhenfu was indeed ugly, but the Yao family was wealthy!

Land in the south of the Yangtze River is expensive, and paddy fields were even more expensive. But the Yao family owned ten mu of paddy fields, and during busy farming seasons, Yao’s father had to hire help to cultivate them.

Yao’s father also owned a boat!

The first few years after Jin Xiaoye married Yao Zhenfu were ordinary, but approximately two years after Li Qingzhi’s death, Yao Zhenfu moved with Jin Xiaoye to the county town to start a business.

She wasn’t very clear about the specifics, but she knew that the Yao family earned a lot of money in the county town. They even bought a house and two large boats there.

Jin Xiaoye’s son went to school since he was a child and became a scholar, and Jin Xiaoye’s daughter married well in gold and silver.

Even Jin Xiaoye’s younger brother, Jin Xiaoshu, bought his own boat. She wondered how much more glorious he was compared to her brothers.

Jin Xiaoye finally achieved the life she had always hoped for since childhood. When she went to visit Jin Xiaoye, Jin Xiaoye completely ignored her.

At that time, she didn’t know how much she regretted insisting on marrying Li Qingzhi instead of choosing Yao Zhenfu.

And then she was reborn, reborn when Jin Xiaoye’s father told her father about seeing Yao Zhenfu with someone in the county town.

In her previous life, she was very angry, but in this life… compared to not having enough to eat or wear, what did it matter if Yao Zhenfu had someone in the county town?

And maybe that woman didn’t even exist! Despite Yao Zhenfu becoming so wealthy in her previous life, he never took concubines.

The Jin family might just be jealous of her success and deliberately told her this!

In this life, she didn’t insist on marrying Li Qingzhi and still married Yao Zhenfu.

As for Jin Xiaoye… didn’t Jin Xiaoye always think highly of Li Qingzhi? Then let Jin Xiaoye marry Li Qingzhi!

She didn’t know why Li Qingzhi left in her previous life, and why he came back on the brink of death. But she resented Li Qingzhi’s lack of knowledge and exaggerated reputation. She managed to expose Li Qingzhi, letting everyone in the village know that Li Qingzhi actually didn’t know much.

After that, she didn’t do much. As a result, her father introduced Li Qingzhi to the job of a rice shopkeeper, and Li Qingzhi disappeared again…

She thought Jin Xiaoye would follow the same path as her after Li Qingzhi disappeared, being bullied by Li Laogen and remarrying an ordinary villager. But she never expected Jin Xiaoye to suppress Li Laogen and have two children, and that was how she lived her life.

She never expected that after Li Qingzhi returned, Jin Xiaoye would call a doctor to treat him. And after two days of unconsciousness, Li Qingzhi actually woke up.

Even Li Laogen, who should have died long ago, was still alive.

But even if Li Qingzhi didn’t die, Jin Xiaoye’s future would certainly not be easy.

Even if Li Qingzhi found a job as an accountant in the county town… Didn’t Yao Zhenfu hire an accountant to manage his business in the first place!

At that time, Jin Xiaoye’s clothes were said to cost twenty pieces!

Of course, in this life, she will be the one wearing the same clothes twenty times.

Thinking this way, Jin Moli’s mood became very good.

Just as she returned home, she heard her mother-in-law say, “You lazy girl, where have you been again? Don’t you know there’s so much work to be done at home?”

Jin Moli’s face changed, and she immediately went to work.

In two more years, she would be able to move to the city. Just endure a bit longer!

Hearing Yao’s mother’s vigorous scolding from next door, Jin Xiaoye felt somewhat speechless.

Before marriage, Jin Moli had a bad temper and didn’t like to work. She never expected that after marriage, she would endure being scolded without saying a word and do all the work.

If it were her, she definitely wouldn’t be so obedient!