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Li Family Village—
Li Zhiyuan and Old Madam Li were eating at the table, which was laden with a large bowl of stewed bones and boiled eggs.
These meat and eggs weren’t purchased with money but were gifts from the villagers after Li Zhiyuan passed the scholar examination.
The mother and son were thoroughly enjoying their meal.
“Uncle Zhiyuan! Uncle Zhiyuan!” A seven or eight-year-old boy ran in. “Aunt Ye has returned, and she brought her family from Qinghe Village with her!”
Old Madam Li slammed her chopsticks heavily on the table. “Hmph, I knew she wouldn’t give up. Who wouldn’t want to be the wife of a scholar? Dogwa, go notify the village chief.”
“I already did.”
“Dogwa is the clever one! When your Uncle Zhiyuan goes to the capital to become an official, he’ll surely take you along. Quick, bring me my cane.”
Old Madam Li had indeed broken her leg badly.
Originally, she had planned to drug Ye Caiping and then lure some local ruffians over to disgrace her.
If successful, Ye Caiping would have been completely ruined and promptly dragged off to the pig cage for punishment. The Ye family wouldn’t have had a leg to stand on after that.
But unexpectedly, just as she brought out the drugged soup, Ye Caiping, eager to show off her status as the scholar’s wife to her relatives, bumped into the bowl, spilling it all over the floor.
That pot of soup had cost her 40 copper coins for the chicken and 200 copper coins for the medicine!
Old Madam Li’s heart ached terribly!
That very afternoon, after she broke her leg, she had an idea when Ye Caiping came to help her. She grabbed Ye Caiping and accused her of hitting her mother-in-law. It finally gave her an excuse to have Ye Caiping divorced.
The Ye family group had already arrived at the Li family’s door.
Ye Caiping stepped down from the ox cart and looked up at the Li family’s large green-brick tile-roofed house. In a village where almost every house was made of simple mud bricks, it stood out like a crane among chickens.
She curled her lips in a mocking smile.
This house had been built only after the original owner married into the family, funded entirely with the money she extorted from her own parents.
Old Madam Li and Li Zhiyuan had already come out.
Madam Li was short and round-faced, but there wasn’t a trace of kindness in her demeanor. At the moment, she leaned on a cane.
Li Zhiyuan, dressed in a grayish-white long robe, still looked handsome and refined despite being in his thirties. Standing among the plain and dusty villagers, he stood out even more.
No wonder the original owner had been utterly smitten by him.
“Li Zhiyuan, you heartless scoundrel!”
The moment Old Madam Ye saw Li Zhiyuan, she was so furious that tears sprang from her eyes.
Yesterday, during the uproar about the divorce, Old Madam Ye had been away visiting relatives. This was her first time seeing Li Zhiyuan since the incident, and she was so furious she started scolding him:
“We emptied our family savings to support your studies! My grandson had to quit school, and every penny we saved was given to you. And now, after passing the provincial exams, you have the audacity to divorce my daughter? Li Zhiyuan, you’re worse than an animal!”
Madam Li, leaning on her cane, stepped forward and retorted, “You cursed Ye family, don’t you dare falsely accuse us! I haven’t even begun to settle accounts with you!”
“The daughter you raised is lazy and gluttonous, always scheming about how to squander our family’s money! When we refused to give her any, she went back to your family to raid your coffers under the guise of supporting my son’s studies!”
“The one who drained your money and grain is your own daughter! The one who spent every penny is also your daughter! The entire village knows this!”
“Everyone, come and judge for yourselves! Did my Zhiyuan ever spend a single penny of the Ye family’s money on his studies?”
As Madam Li spoke, she called out loudly for support.
By now, the courtyard was crowded with villagers from Li Family Village, all chattering:
“Who doesn’t know that Ye Shi went back to her family to get money because she was greedy for good food?”
“She said it herself! We’re not making this up.”
Old Madam Ye’s face turned pale with fury, while Ye Caiping was left speechless once again by the foolishness of her predecessor’s (the Original owner of the Body) actions.
The original Ye Caiping, whenever she returned to her family to ask for money or food, feared that Li Zhiyuan would gain the reputation of living off a woman. To protect his name, she willingly tarnished her own, telling others that her family doted on her and gave her money for her cravings.
Because of this, she earned a notorious reputation for being lazy, greedy, and wasteful, draining both her husband’s and her family’s resources.
Yet, the original Ye Caiping felt smug about it all, convinced that sacrificing her own reputation for Li Zhiyuan’s sake was worth it.
Now, karma had come knocking. The villagers had plenty of evidence to back up their accusations, pointing out how the original Ye Caiping had squandered resources and indulged her greed. The Ye family had no way to argue back.
Ye Caiping stepped forward, pulling Old Madam Ye behind her. “Enough arguing. I didn’t come here today to fight. I came to take Zhaodi and her sister away!”
“What did you say?” Madam Li thought she must have misheard.
She had assumed that Ye Caiping had brought her family over to beg for a way back into the Li household!
Not only Madam Li, but everyone in Li Family Village had thought the same. Who would have guessed that she’d come just to take away those two girls?
Madam Li laughed mockingly. “Dream on! Those two money-losing brats are of the Li family’s blood!”
If those two were gone, who would do the housework?
Moreover, one was thirteen, and the other eleven. In another year or two, they’d be ready for marriage.
By then, she could find some man struggling to find a wife or, better yet, send them to a county official’s family as concubines. Each girl could fetch twenty or thirty taels of silver!
This wasn’t Ye Caiping asking for her daughters; she was stealing Madam Li’s future fortune!
“Mother!” At that moment, two young girls ran out from inside the house.
It was none other than Ye Caiping’s daughters, Li Zhaodi and Li Laidi. The two girls were as thin as sticks, but their delicate features inherited from their mother made them strikingly beautiful despite their frailty.
“You two worthless brats, get back inside!” Madam Li barked at them before turning to Ye Caiping with a sneer. “They are Li family blood! And you, a discarded wife thrown out of our house, dare to come and demand our children? What a joke!”
The villagers of Li Family Village joined in, shouting curses and mocking remarks. The Li family’s clan leader also arrived, striding in with an air of authority and indignation.
“Ridiculous! Outrageous!” he roared. “You, a vile woman who struck her mother-in-law, should be grateful we let you leave with your life intact. And now you have the audacity to demand your husband’s children? Even if you bring this to the magistrate, there’s no such law to support your nonsense!”
Old Man Ye and Ye Zhenzheng, though angry, were left speechless, as they couldn’t find a solid argument. After all, they had no right to keep the child.
They had expected Ye Caiping to throw a big tantrum, but to their surprise, she shrugged and said, “Since you won’t let me take her, then I don’t want her anymore!”
Li Zhaodi and Li Laidi stared in shock, nearly bursting into tears.
Although their mother often scolded them as useless girls and disliked them for not being more capable, at least she never beat them. Whatever she ate, they ate too.
But Old Li and Li Zhiyuan treated them like animal.
They wanted to go with their mother. But now, their mother was saying she didn’t want them anymore.
Old Li was somewhat surprised: “You’re clever enough. Since you’ve made up your mind, what are you still doing here? Hurry up and leave!”
Ye Caiping said, “I just want to ask you a few questions. Now that Li Zhiyuan has become a scholar, he’s already one of the most well-known figures in our ten or so villages, right?”
Old Li felt that something was odd, but she couldn’t help but feel proud: “Of course, that’s true!”
“Then, your Li family must be considered a prominent, high-status family, right?”
Prominent, high-status family?! Old Li puffed herself up proudly:
“Of course! In the entire Dazhu Town, there are no more than ten scholars! Who wouldn’t call a scholar ‘Sir’ when they see one? And look at our house—our big blue-brick house with the tiled roof. There’s no village around here with a house better than ours!”
They were indeed a prominent family! Yes, a prominent family!
Even Li Zhiyuan thought so. Now that he had become a scholar, his status was completely different!
Ye Caiping’s eyes flashed with a sharp gleam as she smiled and asked, “Since that’s the case, do you know what a ‘money-losing item’ is?”
“What? Just because we’re a prominent family, does that mean we can’t have a ‘money-losing item’?”
“Of course! Naturally! This is what high-status families would say first,” Ye Caiping nodded. “Because marrying off a daughter really costs money!”
“As a prominent family, to maintain face, they always give a hefty dowry. The groom’s family offers ten taels of betrothal gifts, while the bride’s family gives twenty taels as dowry. The groom’s side contributes twenty taels, and the bride’s family adds forty taels, which is why people call daughters ‘money-losing items’.”
“Only we, uneducated and poor folk, digging for food in the dirt, would misinterpret their meaning as if they were selling daughters for money.”
Old Li and Li Zhiyuan’s expressions had drastically changed.
What? The two ‘money-losing items’ not only couldn’t be sold for money, but they had to pay?
Old Li was about to argue, “You…”
“Isn’t it?” Ye Caiping raised an eyebrow and mockingly looked at Li Zhiyuan. “The most accomplished scholar in our ten or so villages—are you trying to sell your daughter for money?”
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Places:
Qinghe Village: FL’s Village
Li Family Village
Great Zhou Dynasty