Liu’s younger brother was able to learn about the Xie family’s news so quickly, of course, because Xie Wenyuan had set things up in advance.

In the last life, at this time, Liu’s younger brother was in a gambling house, owing a hefty sum of money that no one knew about. When he could no longer keep it under wraps, his cousin from another world had already made a fortune and easily helped him out.

Now that he was reborn, these memories were an advantage, and he certainly wanted to make good use of them. The weight of her in-laws and her own family in Liu’s heart could be seen from the last life when she became a knife in someone else’s hand, slaughtering the entire Xie family.

Although when she left, Liu intended to correct her behavior and treat her husband and son’s injuries, her thoughts changed immediately when her brother stopped her halfway and asked for money to pay off his gambling debts!

Hearing that her brother owed dozens of taels of silver to the gambling house and would have his hand chopped off if he couldn’t pay, Liu was frantic.

“How could this happen? How could you owe so much?”

As for blaming her brother for going to the gambling house, that thought never crossed her mind. In her heart, she thought her brother was just being playful; it wasn’t like he was committing murder or arson, so how could she blame him? If anything, she could only blame the family for being useless and not being able to provide her brother with a good life.

Liu’s younger brother didn’t think there was anything wrong with gambling and owed money; he demanded money with righteous indignation.

“Alright, why are you crying? Crying will just ruin my luck! Hurry up and give me the silver; if I can’t pay it back, I’ll have my hand chopped off! Big sister, do you want to see me become a cripple?”

“Of course not, little brother! How could I bear it? It’s just that this money is for your brother-in-law’s life…”

After all, it was life-saving money, so Liu hesitated a bit.

Well, just a little bit; if it were any more, there would be nothing left.

Liu’s younger brother angrily said, “Big sister, I’m your brother! You’re being bullied in your in-laws’ house, and I’m the only one who can support you! Which is more important, my hand or my brother-in-law’s life?”

“If my husband dies, I can remarry; if my son dies, I can have another. But if my family is gone, then I’ll have nothing! If I’m bullied to death by my in-laws in the future, then I’ll deserve it.”

That was the logic.

But the Xie family was not the kind of vicious in-laws who would torment their daughter-in-law.

Unfortunately, Liu couldn’t see that clearly.

She also couldn’t understand.

So she immediately compromised, leaving only 10 taels of silver and giving the rest of the medicine money to her younger brother to pay off his gambling debts.

In fact, if it weren’t for the fact that she hadn’t bought anything and would have a hard time explaining herself when she got back, Liu could have given all the silver to her brother.

It’s easy to imagine that the remaining 10 taels of silver wouldn’t be enough to buy medicine for two patients, especially since one of them needed ginseng as an auxiliary medicine.

Therefore, in the end, Liu bought two packs of ordinary tonics to take home.

After all, no one in the Xie family understood medicine; who would notice that the medicine she bought was wrong?

Once they drank the medicine, if her husband and son didn’t survive, it would just be bad luck or the doctor’s lack of skill.

Her brother was right; how could her husband and son compare to her family?

She was still young; she could remarry and have more children.

If they managed to pull through, that would be the best. In any case, no one would discover that she had skimped on the medicine money!

Liu thought she had it all figured out.

The premise was that she didn’t have to deal with Xie Wenyuan, who was waiting to catch her in a trap.

After she left, Xie Wenyuan used the excuse that the medicine from the clinic contained ginseng and was worried that the family wouldn’t understand the medicinal properties and would ruin the medicine, so he invited the village’s barefoot doctor back home.

The barefoot doctor’s medical skills were indeed average, but he could still tell what a pack of medicine was for.

So, when Liu took out the medicine she bought in the city, her lies were immediately exposed.

The barefoot doctor frowned as he smelled the medicine pack.

“Isn’t this from the Xie family? Did the clinic give you the wrong medicine because they were too busy? These two packs are just ordinary tonics, not for treating injuries.”

“What? Wrong medicine? Oh no, big sister-in-law, you incompetent woman who messes things up, hurry back and exchange it!”

Upon hearing this, Grandma Xie was shocked and immediately wanted to send someone to the city.

Dozens of taels worth of medicine! If the clinic didn’t acknowledge it, their family would be devastated.

But Liu didn’t dare to go back and cause trouble for the clinic; her face turned pale, and her body trembled.

“I, I…”

She stammered for a long time without finishing her sentence.

Everyone wasn’t stupid; remembering Liu’s financial support for her family and seeing her current panicked and guilty appearance, they could guess what was going on.

Auntie Er was once again dumbfounded. “Big sister, did you use the life-saving money of your husband and the fourth son?”

Everyone couldn’t believe it.

The main house couldn’t accept it either; their wife/mother could actually do something so heinous as sending her husband and son to their deaths!

But wasn’t that exactly what she was doing?

After all, without medicine, the two would truly be in danger of losing their lives.

“You, you…”

Uncle Xie’s face turned red as he pointed at his wife, unable to speak, and fainted from anger.

Cousin from another world stared at Liu with wide eyes, practically wanting to hit her; he never expected the original mother to be such a piece of work.

Unfortunately, he was powerless now and could only lie in bed, fuming…

“Where’s the silver? So much silver, big sister, what did you do?”

“Big sister, that’s life-saving money, a full dozens of taels!”

“Heartless scoundrel, hurry up and bring the silver back!”

The Xie family members, realizing what had happened, hurriedly pressed her for answers.

Although they had anticipated this outcome, Xie father and Xie mother still found it hard to believe; this Liu was even more ruthless than their third branch.

At least their third branch only took advantage; they never thought of harming the lives of family members.

But no matter how much the Xie family pressed, Liu could no longer take out the silver.

Liu began to cry and act pitiful.

“I’m sorry, in-laws, it’s all my fault, but I really had no choice. My brother owes money at the gambling house, and if he can’t pay it back, they’ll chop off his hand and force my family to sell their children. I can’t just watch and do nothing…”

“So, you can just watch your husband and son die?!”

Grandma Xie was so angry she was gasping for breath.

Auntie Er couldn’t help but say, “Big sister, that’s not just life-saving money; it’s money for everyone in the Xie family! It’s not just yours, nor is it just for your main house!”

“Exactly! No matter how hard your family is, you can’t take this money. If the eldest brother and the fourth son die, it’ll be on your head.”

Honest Uncle Er’s face turned red, his fists clenched, and veins bulged on his forehead.

Big sister was really going too far.

After a lot of shouting, Liu just cried and refused to go back to her family to get the silver.

She thought that the worst that could happen was that the Xie family would beat her up; after all, she had given birth to three sons for the Xie family. Compared to the third branch with only one son and the second branch with all daughters, she was a great contributor to the Xie family, and they wouldn’t really do anything to her.

Clearly, Liu didn’t realize the seriousness of her actions.

Or perhaps, in her eyes, skimping on her husband and son’s medicine money didn’t seem like a big deal at all.

So, when Grandpa Xie said in a deep voice, “Please, clan elder, take people to Liu’s house and divorce her to get the money!”

Liu was dumbfounded.

“No, you can’t divorce me! I’ve given birth to three sons for the Xie family! I’ve also worked diligently every day; you can’t divorce me.”

Although she was already prepared to remarry after her husband and son died, as a proper ancient woman, when it came to being divorced by her in-laws, Liu still felt a bit panicked.

But today’s incident involved two lives, and the Xie family would never let it go.

In the end, Liu was tied up by the Xie family members and sent back to her family in the neighboring village.

On Liu’s side, of course, they refused to admit to taking the silver. When pushed too hard, they threw a fit, claiming that the silver had already been returned to the gambling house, and they were left with nothing. They couldn’t return even a single copper coin.

The Xie family wasn’t as ruthless as the gambling house; they wouldn’t beat them to death.

Their main strategy was to refuse to pay!

“No money, but a life! If you want to divorce, then go ahead. Our Liu family has a clear conscience; we’re also a family that loves our daughter. If the girl comes back, we’ll support her for life.”

The Liu family was unafraid of the Xie family’s divorce.

After all, the Xie family had no silver left now, and Liu could still remarry and earn another bride price for them.

As for the Xie family having a scholar who might prosper in the future, what if they didn’t benefit from it?

What’s the big deal? Even if Liu was divorced, she would still be the biological mother of the four children from the Xie family’s main house. Filial piety was a given; no matter what, the children would have to honor their biological mother!

No matter how it turned out, the Liu family was calculating their gains.

The villagers of Liu family village, thinking of their village’s reputation, even if they knew the truth, could only turn a blind eye and help the Liu family speak.

After a tug-of-war, the Xie family had no choice but to temporarily accept defeat and divorce Liu, planning to find an opportunity to settle the score later.

Otherwise, what could they do?

With Liu being so ruthless, who knew what more outrageous things she would do if she stayed in the Xie family? Cutting their losses was the best choice.

“Heartless, black-hearted thing! If I had known the main house was like this, who would dare to marry? What honest and virtuous woman, it’s all a lie! That damned matchmaker, that damned Liu family, that damned Liu family village…”

Grandma Xie returned home, heartbroken and cursing.

This time, they were truly taken for a ride; they had never seen through Liu’s true nature before.

Grandpa Xie wore a worried expression, puffing on his pipe.

Everyone was silent.

Now the family didn’t have a single copper coin left, and the two seriously injured people hadn’t even had their medicine; would they be able to hold on until they gathered enough silver to buy medicine?

At that moment, Xie Wenyuan spoke again, “Grandpa, let’s sell the 10 acres of rice fields by the river.”

“No way!”

Everyone reflexively rejected it; land was a farmer’s life, and selling land was no different from taking a life.

Xie Wenyuan was silent for a moment.

“Money can be earned again, land can be bought again, but if people are gone, then there’s truly nothing left.”

A sharp sword is forged through grinding, and the fragrance of plum blossoms comes from bitter cold.

If they didn’t risk everything, how could they let the cousin from another world feel the deep and profound brotherly love of this good brother?

The author has something to say:
The Liu family will be dealt with, don’t worry~