Chapter 13 No money left?

Zhang Yongfa was of the same mind—otherwise, every time he went out, people pointing fingers and whispering behind his back would drive the whole family mad.

Song Jianjun also admitted the truth: the matter had happened so suddenly, and any money they had left had already been sent to the Wang family for the bride price. Meaning, they didn’t have much left to offer the Zhangs—he just wanted to know what their stance was.

If Zhang Yongfa wasn’t willing, Song Jianjun had no problem just arranging an engagement first, and then having the actual wedding in a few years once they’d saved enough for a proper bride price. Whatever worked for the Zhangs.

It was easy to imagine how stifled and frustrated Zhang Yongfa felt hearing this. In their current situation, how could he wait years to get the wedding done?

Zhang Chunyan was already nineteen. In a few more years, she’d be over twenty. Song Fu was already a scoundrel—if the Song family decided to back out by then, his daughter would be left to rot at home. The Zhangs would become a laughingstock wherever they went.

Besides, the longer they delayed the marriage, the more complicated the gossip would become. It was better to wrap things up quickly before things got worse.

What Song Jianjun said was true—their family wasn’t well-off to begin with. They didn’t even know how they managed to come up with that 1,000 yuan bride price.

To now ask him to come up with another 300 or 500 yuan plus prepare the standard “three big items” (bike, watch, and radio), that would be forcing the impossible. Even if they asked, the Song family wouldn’t be able to meet that demand.

Right now, Zhang Chunyan staying at home was like holding a burning piece of coal. The sooner she got married and left, the sooner they could be at peace—even if they had to take a loss, Zhang Yongfa would accept it.

“Brother Song,” he said, “I get what you mean. Things are what they are now—no point saying anything else. Just let them get married as soon as possible.”
“But I can’t give away such a grown daughter for free. That wouldn’t look good—for either of our families.”
“How about this? I don’t want anything else, just a little token as bride price. Just enough so it looks proper.”

Since Zhang Yongfa had said that, Song Jianjun couldn’t push things too far. Of course, he wasn’t going to do as Wang Huimin had suggested—marry a girl without spending a single penny.

“Since you’re being so understanding, then this will be easy to settle,” Song Jianjun replied. “I’ll find a way, scrape together some money, and bring the bride price over.”

Hearing that at least some money would come, Zhang Yongfa had no choice but to accept it.

They discussed further and agreed: once the bride price was delivered, the couple would go register their marriage. After all the shame this had caused, the actual wedding ceremony could be kept simple.

Leaving the Zhang household, Song Jianjun couldn’t help but recall what Wang Huimin had said the day before.

Everything was playing out just as she had predicted. Even if he had said he didn’t have a single penny to offer, judging by Zhang Yongfa’s expression, the man would still have had no choice but to marry Chunyan off.

Thinking of Wang Huimin’s bright smile, he felt she was somehow very different from before. What had brought on that change?

Meanwhile, Wang Huimin had returned home.

Whatever Wang Qingcai had said to persuade Tian Yongmei, at least she was no longer yelling or cursing—though she still glared at her. Clearly, they were just waiting to throw her out.

Wang Huimin sneered silently. She wasn’t staying these two extra days for nothing. If they thought they could throw her out like in her past life, with nothing but the clothes on her back, they were dreaming.

But on the surface, she didn’t show anything. She still did chores and cooked as usual, just like everything was normal.

Wang Qingcai asked a few questions about the marriage certificate and then said nothing more. He didn’t bring up a dowry either.

Wang Huimin didn’t care. If they didn’t bring it up, fine. That didn’t mean she couldn’t take it herself.

In her past life, she had no idea where the family kept their savings—but in this life, she remembered clearly.

Maybe trying to guard against her, Tian Yongmei didn’t keep the money in any of the usual places like boxes, drawers, or cabinets. Instead, she’d hidden it in an unexpected location—one most people wouldn’t even think of.

But Wang Huimin had eventually discovered the secret. Perhaps that was heaven’s way of compensating her.

After dinner, when everyone had returned to their rooms, Wang Huimin drank some of her spring water again.

She’d realized that even just a few jugs of that water from the night before had given her more energy than usual. But the existence of a personal spring was too strange to explain—she couldn’t tell anyone.

Once she moved to the Song family’s home, she planned to let Song Jianjun drink some too. It might help him, maybe even with his leg.

When the sky was completely dark and the people in the east and west rooms were deeply asleep, Wang Huimin quietly opened the rear window.

Her little back room was surrounded by walls, with just one small square window at the back, about one square meter wide—tight even for an adult to crawl through.

She moved cautiously to avoid making any noise as she slipped out.

Behind the back window was the garden, full of vegetables. At the edge of the garden was a large pickle jar.

In the moonlight, she quickly retrieved a small hoe she had hidden in the grass earlier and went to the jar. She moved it aside with effort, lifted the slab beneath it, and began digging with the hoe.

Sure enough, before long she uncovered a wooden box wrapped in layers. But it was locked.

No matter—she’d prepared for this. She didn’t know how to pick locks and didn’t have a key, but the lock on the box was the kind with visible screws.

All she had to do was use a screwdriver to remove them—it would take time, but it wasn’t hard.

Despite her preparation, Wang Huimin still felt a little nervous—this was her first time doing something like this.

She quickly unscrewed the lock and opened the box.

Even in the dim moonlight, she could see it was filled with good stuff.

There was a thick stack of ten-yuan bills, along with scattered change—ones, twos, fifties, even coins worth a few cents.

This was the money that Song Jianjun had scraped together and given as bride price in her previous life.

Tian Yongmei’s personal savings were also in this box. Altogether, it was around 1,200 to 1,300 yuan.

Besides the cash, there were some silver jewelry items and a few silver coins—also valuable.

Wang Huimin took all the money and valuables, leaving only the empty box.

She carefully screwed the lock back on, reburied the box, placed the slab back, and returned the pickle jar to its original position.

She didn’t feel guilty at all—if they hadn’t treated her so cruelly, she wouldn’t have done it. They had no one to blame but themselves.

But now came a new problem—she had taken the money, but had nowhere safe to hide it.

If Tian Yongmei found it, everything would be ruined.

Just as she was thinking about how great it would be to have a safe place to store it—

—the money in her hands vanished.

Wang Huimin jumped in shock.

Where had it gone?!