Chapter 50 – Rumors and Gossip

These days, the village was once again abuzz with quiet gossip because of this matter. Madam Tang, an avid gossip herself, naturally tried to get some inside scoop from her daughter Lin-shi.

“Didn’t they say all the silver was spent on redeeming her freedom?”

Lin-shi could only smile helplessly. Truthfully, she’d asked about it in private before—especially after her sister-in-law married into a wealthy family, with maidservants and housekeepers attending her every move. That kind of lifestyle was downright enviable. It wasn’t that Lin-shi was jealous, per se—though she certainly did envy it. And according to her husband, the master her elder sister-in-law had once served had been even more prosperous than her younger sister-in-law’s current husband.

That must have been a household of unimaginable wealth. Supposedly, in families like that, even a maid’s food, drink, and clothing were on par with a noble’s daughter from a respectable home. Lin-shi couldn’t even fathom it.

To give one example: her husband had once brought back some tea leaves from town to entertain guests. That tea cost several taels of silver per jin—what Lin-shi considered a sky-high price. But in the household where her sister-in-law had served, that very tea was used by the servants—and only to rinse their mouths! The master’s family wouldn’t even touch it. Unbelievable!

So Lin-shi figured that even if her sister-in-law had only been a maid in such a lavish household, if she had been favored, even the smallest reward from her master would be enough to benefit a commoner family for a lifetime. That being the case, Lin-shi simply didn’t believe that all the money had been spent solely on redeeming herself.

She had asked her husband once. And she still vividly remembered the look in his eyes when she did. That was the moment she realized something: in their household, the elder sister was the untouchable reverse scale. None of the brothers—be it her husband or his elder and younger brothers—would tolerate a single word of disrespect toward her.

And even if the elder sister had some silver saved, what did that have to do with them? She had sacrificed her own freedom and youth to raise her younger brothers. If they still coveted her private savings, would that even be human?

Lin-shi felt her husband was right. She could accept that logic, so she had dropped the matter. Now, hearing her mother ask about it stirred a flicker of curiosity, but she quickly squashed it.

“Mother, how would I know? Redemption silver from a wealthy household must have cost a lot. Eldest Sister must have served her mistress diligently for years to earn her release. Her mistress must’ve shown great kindness. Most of it was likely used for her freedom. But to say she didn’t keep any at all? That’s hard to believe.”

“But as for exactly how much? How could I possibly know? And it’s not appropriate for me to ask. Mother, don’t speak of this again.”

Tang-shi gave a sheepish chuckle.

“I was just asking, that’s all. You’re still the same—honest to a fault, never know how to be flexible. Sigh!”

Lin-shi turned her head and said no more. Tang-shi changed the topic. Back when she married her daughter into the Yan family, she’d had her own calculations. But seeing her daughter now live a steadily improving life, she truly was happy as a mother.

Still, she couldn’t help feeling her daughter was too honest. Such a temperament wasn’t a bad thing—if she met good-hearted people, she’d live a blessed life.

But if she ever ran into someone without a conscience, wouldn’t her daughter suffer losses? And her daughter had always been rigid, not knowing how to maneuver. If she said the wrong thing now, her daughter might think she was trying to snoop into her sister-in-law’s wealth, and come back with a righteous scolding—Tang-shi might just cough up blood in anger…

Left with no choice, Tang-shi could only purse her lips and fall silent.

Compared to the quiet over at Lin-shi’s, things were much livelier at Ying-shi’s home. Her family had many brothers—six in total! Just imagine a line of tall, burly young men walking out together—it was a spectacular sight!

When the Ying family heard that their sister’s eldest sister-in-law was going to build a house, they knew such a task required all the labor they could muster.

The Ying family lived deep in the mountains. They farmed when they could, but arable land was scarce, so they often hunted and foraged. Other than being remote and a little out of touch with the latest news, they had no other shortcomings.

So when they learned about the construction, the Ying brothers naturally came down the mountain to help!

They had prepared for several days, and when they came down, they also brought a haul of mountain goods. Some were given to their brother-in-law Yan Xinghe to sell, while others were kept at Ying-shi’s place. Of the six brothers, five were older, and one was younger than Ying-shi.

The three eldest were already married; the two younger ones and the youngest brother were still single. Because of the remote mountain location, most girls didn’t want to marry into the area, so village men usually married later. But the Ying brothers were all tall and strong—quite a presence. Though the upper classes favored pale, slender men, that was a luxury of the rich.

For ordinary folks, what made a good man? Height and strength! Such men could do physical labor, support a household, and keep everyone fed. In this era, a man who could provide for his wife and children was considered capable. What use was a pale and thin man who couldn’t do heavy work?

As a result, the Ying brothers had only been down the mountain for two days, but already groups of young women and married ladies were using every excuse to visit—borrowing things, chatting, anything to get a foot in the door.

Ying-shi was normally the more eloquent one compared to her sister-in-law Lin-shi, but with no elders in the house and her youth, she didn’t quite understand the true intentions behind all these visits.

She simply thought they were coming to share in the joy.

That wasn’t unreasonable. After all, her eldest sister-in-law Yan Fengru building a house was a huge deal. Wanting to partake in the good fortune made sense. But Yan Fengru, who had been trained under a noble family in the provincial city, had sharp eyes.

She gently patted her naïve sister-in-law’s shoulder. “Have your brothers gotten engaged yet?”

Ying-shi paused, and her mind started racing—thinking of why her eldest sister-in-law would ask such a thing, and about her sister-in-law’s own daughter, who was now just five years old…

“My fourth and fifth brothers, and my youngest brother haven’t gotten engaged yet. For us, there’s nothing wrong with living in the mountains, but most families with daughters don’t want to marry them off to such remote places.”

Speaking of that, Ying-shi looked a little down. In her eyes, all her brothers were wonderful—hardworking and capable—but because of where they lived, good families rarely wanted to marry their daughters in.

Maybe it was also because there were so many brothers in the household. The three older sisters-in-law each had their own story: the eldest sister-in-law had been a child bride bought and raised by the family from a young age, betrothed to the eldest brother and married at fifteen.

The second sister-in-law was from the same village—a girl who originally had a chance to marry out of the mountains, but because she married the second brother and stayed, her family demanded double the bride price. It wasn’t that she wasn’t worth it—but marrying into the remote mountains made things harder, and families used that as leverage.

As for the third sister-in-law, she was a pitiful soul. Her mother had died giving birth, and she was raised like a servant by her stepmother. For the sake of a higher bride price, she was half-sold and half-married into the Ying family…