Chapter Sixty-Eight [V] Demanding the Return of Mother's Dowry...
Li Yan was drawing water from the well in the courtyard to wash up when Aunt Xue came over and handed her a piece of paper.
"What is this?" Li Yan asked, her mouth full of toothbrush, her words muffled.
Aunt Xue said, "It was left by Erlang before he left. He asked me to give it to you." Aunt Xue was illiterate, so she naturally asked, "What did Erlang write to you on this piece of paper?" She could sense that although her son and daughter-in-law had only met and spent little time together, their relationship was progressing very well.
The two of them have their own secrets.
At this rate, it probably won't be long before she has another grandson.
Seeing the ambiguous smile on the old woman's face, Li Yan naturally realized her gossip, so she deliberately said, "I won't tell you." With that, she walked past her and turned to go into the kitchen.
Aunt Xue wasn't angry at all; on the contrary, she was very happy: "Alright, alright, if you don't want to tell me, then don't tell me." As long as the young couple were doing well, what did it matter if they kept it from her?
Since I plan to go to Jiangning Prefecture with them, there are many things to take care of in Huating County.
After breakfast, Li Yan accompanied Qingniang to the milk tea shop to deliver milk tea, and incidentally, she mentioned this matter to Ye Wangxiang.
"The shop here will be entirely in your hands, but you will no longer only receive a monthly salary; I will also give you 20% of the profits." In other words, in addition to her monthly salary of three taels of silver, she will also receive 20% of the remaining profits.
Li Yan was of great significance to Ye Wangxiang. Her appearance helped her escape from suffering, and Ye Wangxiang always regarded her as her benefactor and second mother.
She was already very grateful for the three taels of silver she was given each month, so how could she possibly ask for more?
So Ye Wangxiang hurriedly shook his head: "How can I take any more dividends? No way." He added, "Yan Niang, you have been so good to me, I am so grateful to you. Even the monthly salary of three taels is enough for the three of us to live very well, we don't need any more."
Li Yan said, "I'm giving you this money not because I pity you. It's because you can read, are hardworking, and have a serious attitude... I'm willing to give you this money because you can manage my shop well and generate more profits steadily."
"Now, if I give you more, I naturally expect you to give more in return."
"I'd give anything for you... I'd do anything." Ye Wangxiang sincerely expressed his gratitude to Li Yan.
Li Yan said, "You should think about yourself and your two daughters' future. Haven't you always wanted to save money to buy a house and give them a home? With the dividends you receive later, you'll be closer to your goal of buying a house. But after I leave, you'll be in charge of everything here, and it will definitely be very hard for you."
"I'm not afraid of hard work." Thinking of his two daughters and the money he wanted to save for them, Ye Wangxiang was full of energy.
"Then it's settled." Li Yan made the decision.
Although Ye Wangxiang was somewhat embarrassed, he eventually accepted it.
Next came the handover.
But there's no rush for the handover, and there's no time to lose either; we just need to get things sorted out properly here.
Before long, the three-day deadline agreed upon by Li Yan and her father, Li Shangping, arrived. Li Yan waited at home, intending to go find the couple herself if they hadn't arrived by noon.
However, Li Yan guessed that if the two were up to no good, they would definitely come looking for her.
Sure enough, right after they finished eating, they heard the couple's voices outside the door.
“Your father and stepmother have arrived.” They had just finished eating, and the dishes were still on the table. “You two chat, I’ll go wash the dishes.” Aunt Xue got up and took Yue’er with her.
Li Yan went to open the door and saw the couple standing outside the gate with smiles on their faces. Her father, Li Shangping, had a heavy wooden box tucked under his arm.
Li Yan smiled slightly: "Father and Aunt have finally arrived. If they hadn't come, I would have gone to your place."
Yue changed her usual confrontational attitude and became especially polite at this moment.
"We promised to return it within three days, and we will definitely return it within the deadline. How could we let you come looking for it again?" He looked around, coughed, and said, "There are too many people around here; this isn't the place to talk. Let's go home and discuss it?"
"Come in," Li Yan said, opening the door.
As soon as Yue entered the house, she saw Aunt Xue squatting by the well in the courtyard washing dishes and greeted her warmly, "Mother-in-law."
Aunt Xue rolled her eyes inwardly, but remained outwardly enthusiastic. However, after merely greeting the two men, she went back to her own business without engaging in further pleasantries.
After leading the two of them into the main room, Li Yan's gaze fell on the box, and she went straight to the point: "Is everything here?"
Li Shangping smiled ingratiatingly, "Yes, yes, it's all here." As he spoke, he placed the box on the table and opened it himself, "The jewelry and silver your mother left behind are all here." As if to take credit, he deliberately said, "You don't know, but to get your silver back, I've lost all face in front of the Han family."
Li Yan maintained a faint smile: "So, all that my mother left behind is this?"
The box wasn't big; it wasn't even half full.
Li Yan didn't even need to check the dowry list to know that more than half of it was missing.
Madam Yue didn't speak, but gave Li Shangping a look. Li Shangping then smiled and said, "Over the years, Father has been helping to keep it safe. Apart from adding to Aunt's dowry, nothing else has been touched."
“Now that the old lady’s share has been returned, it’s all here.”
“How is that possible?” Li Yan bluntly exposed. “There isn’t even half of what my mother left behind. How could it all be here, as Father said?”
Li Shangping grew impatient, stood up abruptly, and snapped, "Don't be so unreasonable. The things are all here anyway. Take them or leave them." Then he called to Yue Shi, "Let's go."
Seeing her husband lash out at her stepdaughter, Yue looked smug and quickly got up to follow him.
Li Yan turned to their retreating figures and said, "Father, don't take my words to heart. If you don't return my mother's dowry today, I will really go to the yamen to report it to the authorities." She was very confident when she talked about reporting it to the authorities, "Before my husband came back, I dared to go to court time and time again. Now that he's back, I have someone to back me up."
She glanced at Yue's retreating figure, recalling the smug look on her face just now, and Li Yan said without any politeness, "I advise my aunt not to always think about getting anything out of me. I am no longer the Li Erniang I used to be. I will not let you bully me in the slightest again. Everything you and your daughter have taken from me, I will take it all back. If you don't believe me, we'll see."
Madam Yue actually believed her, and after several confrontations, she was completely afraid of this stepdaughter.
But when faced with the prospect of personal gain, she simply couldn't remain completely unmoved.
So she continued to struggle: "Don't try to scare me, I'm not easily frightened." She then brought up Li Shangping again, "You really don't respect your father at all. Now that you've become successful, you don't even know to visit him regularly or send him something to show your respect. Your father gave you your life and raised you to be seven or eight years old, and this is how you treat him?"
Madam Yue was adept at exploiting people's weaknesses, so with just a few words, she managed to incite her husband to harbor even deeper resentment towards their daughter.
People are naturally driven by their own interests, and Li Shangping and Yue Shi, who belong to a community of shared interests, naturally speak with one voice.
"Why bother talking to her about this? Her mother's dowry has already been returned to her, so we should just cut ties." He rebuked Li Yan with anger and resentment, "Now you're riding high and don't need your family to rely on. If you ever fall on hard times, please fend for yourself and don't come back to us."
Li Yan found it amusing: "I've been left to fend for myself for so many years, and when have you ever helped me when I came to you? That's laughable. Anyone who didn't know better would think you, as my father, had done so much for me." She then turned the conversation back on him, saying, "Father, don't worry, I'd rather cut all ties with you. Whether I continue to rise to great heights or end up destitute on the streets, it's none of your business."
"Let's go!" Unable to gain all the advantages and unable to argue back, Li Shangping could only leave angrily, pulling Yue Shi along as they strode away.
In the courtyard, Aunt Xue greeted them, "Are you leaving already, my in-laws and your mother?"
Li Shangping heard it, but pretended not to hear it and deliberately ignored it.
Aunt Xue didn't mind. She simply put down the half-washed bowl, wiped her hands on her apron, and went back inside.
"How is it?" she asked.
Li Yan sneered: "That's all that's been returned, not even half."
Aunt Xue looked into the box and saw only some loose silver coins and a few pieces of jewelry... indeed not much.
"So what do you plan to do?" Aunt Xue asked with concern.
Without hesitation, Li Yan replied, "Report to the authorities." Then she recounted how she had asked Xue Yi to help her sneak into the Li family's house that night to spy on the couple hiding their things, saying, "I know where they hid their things."
The fact that her son and daughter-in-law had cooperated in doing so much without anyone else knowing made Aunt Xue beam with joy.
"It's good that you know where it is, it's good that you know where it is." Aunt Xue was in a very good mood. "I'll go with you to report it to the authorities."
Li Yan could go by herself; she didn't want her elderly mother to have to run around everywhere. So she said, "Mother, you stay home and take care of Yue'er. I'll go by myself."
Previously, Li Yan had been working hard to earn money and had always been determined to buy a car and a house.
Now, she's going to Jiangning Prefecture, where she'll have a big house to live in. And since she and Xue Yi won't be divorcing anytime soon, there's no need to buy a house for the time being. But as for the car… Li Yan plans to wait until she gets her dowry money back before going to a car dealership to look around and choose a suitable one.
Having a car will make traveling more convenient in the future.
After reporting the incident to the county government, he went to the Li family's residence with two constables.
Li Shangping wasn't surprised that government officials came to his house. But he was quite confident that they wouldn't find the hidden silver there.
So he didn't care: "Go ahead and search."
But he didn't expect that everything the couple did that night had been secretly observed by Xue Yi, who then told Li Yan.
Therefore, under Li Yan's guidance, the two constables easily and accurately found all the hidden items.
This time, Li Shangping was dumbfounded and stopped the man, saying, "You, you can't leave." He then said that these were his things, "These are my things, my family's things, what right do you have to take them all?" He then pointed at the two constables, "You, you are aiding and abetting evil, I'm going to sue you."
Li Yan then unfolded the dowry list again: "I don't need you to sue me, I'm suing you now. You've been hiding my mother's dowry money, and I'll go to the yamen with you now, based on this dowry list."
Having already reported it to the authorities, there's no reason not to make another trip.
Li Shangping didn't believe that the dowry list in Li Yan's hand was real. If it was, then it was stolen from him, so he wanted to sue her for theft.
If they could return some and keep some, everyone would have made a profit, and they could have parted amicably. He wouldn't have pursued the origin of the dowry list in her hand.
But now that she's showing such ruthlessness, he, as her father, shouldn't be so impolite either.
The family ended up in court again. After the government's examination, it was confirmed that the dowry list in Li Yan's hand was indeed the one her mother had registered with the yamen years ago, and it was genuine.
Li Shangping said that the item had always been in his possession, but now it had fallen into his daughter's hands. He claimed that his daughter had stolen it from his home and demanded compensation from her.
Li Yan also had her own explanation for this.
In the end, Li Shangping and his wife not only didn't get a single penny, but they were also punished with ten strokes of the cane each for their outburst in court.
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