Chapter Four: A total of three taels and eight mace of silver
Li Yan: "?" What an unexpected surprise?
Li Yan is not a pushover; she has a strong personality, especially when she encounters injustice. She is quick to stand up for what is right and has a sharp tongue.
She had studied some traditional Chinese medicine principles, which state that stagnation of Qi leads to blockages. Once Qi is blocked, various minor ailments naturally arise.
Moreover, when a person starts to feel down, they will naturally become less attractive.
Why sacrifice your health and appearance for someone else's mistake?
She herself admits that, whether at home or in society, she's a fiery temper. Whenever she encounters someone or something that displeases her, she'll launch into a tirade, not caring what happens to others afterward—she just feels good about it.
She is a staunch advocate of external drain, never one to drain internal resources.
It's in one's nature; one's personality won't change just because one has a different body.
She was just following her own intentions, but she didn't expect that it would bring her such an unexpected reward.
With the system backing her up, Li Yan became even more energetic, stood up straighter, and shouted even more confidently.
"We're both marrying off daughters, but when my elder sister got married, she had a grand dowry that stretched for miles, while I was given just two tattered clothes?" Li Yan searched through the house and found that, apart from two sets of half-new, half-old seasonal clothes, there was no other gold or silver jewelry in her and her dead husband's new room.
During the three days I was lying in bed pretending to be sick, I occasionally overheard Aunt Xue mentioning that the Li family was truly despicable. They were supposed to be a wealthy family running a respectable business, yet they didn't provide a single decent dowry for their daughter's marriage. They took two taels of silver from the Xue family as a bride price for nothing and even sent in a poor soul. They were indeed businesswomen; their abacus beads were practically jumping out of their faces.
When ordinary people marry off their daughters, they at least know to give some gifts, but he's completely stingy.
Therefore, Li Yan was certain that the Li family was essentially selling their daughter when they married off the original owner of this body.
Since he dares to sell, she dares to wail.
Anyway, she won't be living here anymore, so she doesn't care what people say. But this adoptive father is a different story.
Sure enough, a middle-aged man dressed in silk quickly walked out.
"What are you shouting for? What are you howling for?" Li Shangping was obviously very impatient and unhappy. He immediately scolded his daughter for causing trouble.
Li Yan simply refused to go inside and stood there demanding money: "Father took two taels of silver from the Xue family as betrothal money and hastily married off his daughter like that. But I heard that when my sister got married, she had all the proper music and singing, and her dowry was very generous. Why did my daughter get married without any ceremonial procession or dowry? Did Father just sell his daughter with two sets of old clothes?"
The word "sell" is very offensive, and Li Shangping cares about his reputation, so this undoubtedly makes him lose face.
He wouldn't be so angry if he hadn't sold his daughter. It's precisely because he sold her, essentially kicking her out of the house, that he's so angry now that she's back and talking behind his back.
If you're right, then reason with them; you only get angry when you're wrong.
Li Yan saw everything clearly and could guess in her heart that this father probably cared less about the original owner of the body than she had imagined.
He only saw her as a jinx and wanted to kick her out as soon as possible to completely cut off all contact.
“Father, I came back today to see you. I couldn’t come back for my three-day homecoming, and you didn’t send anyone to inquire about my situation. I was afraid you would worry, so as soon as I felt a little better today, I rushed to see you. But when I went to my parents’ home, the servants stopped me at the door and wouldn’t let me in. How could I not be angry?”
"So, Father, please don't blame me for saying those things just now."
Li Yan used both soft and hard tactics: "Since Father doesn't want to see me, I'll leave now. However, the Xue family was already poor, and after they took two taels of silver to marry me, they became even poorer. I thought I would bring some dowry to tide me over, but they didn't have a single penny. I have my pride too, and I don't want to be talked about behind my back, nor do I want Father to have people gossip about me, so I gritted my teeth and came back."
Although Li Yan softened her tone, she still kept mentioning "dowry" in her sentences, which was also a way of putting pressure on Li Shangping.
At that moment, another figure suddenly peeked out from inside the door; it was a still charming middle-aged woman.
Li Yan knew who she was at a glance.
The original owner's stepmother—Yue.
"What's going on? Why are you two standing at the door talking? Come in quickly."
Li Yan smiled and said, "I won't go in and cause trouble. I'll just ask for some money and leave."
This Yue family member was clearly prepared, as she directly took out some loose silver from her sleeve and handed it over: "Take these."
Li Yan didn't stand on ceremony and quickly took it from her hands.
This couple clearly had no feelings for the original owner of this body; they just wanted whatever they could get. Now that things have turned so ugly, if they're prepared, they might not have the chance to come back for money again.
So, ask for as much as you can today.
Li Yan couldn't estimate how much loose silver she had, but guessed it wasn't much.
Just as he was about to ask for more, Yue Shi spoke first: "I know this isn't enough, but the family is in financial straits right now. Your younger brother is going to study in the city, and the teacher has already been found. Your father has already paid a year's tuition in advance. The shop just received a new batch of timber, and your father has paid a lot of money for that as well. This family may look better, but we don't have much money to spare."
“You have been sensible and well-behaved since you were a child, so you should be more considerate of your family.”
Li Yan suddenly realized that Yue Shi's skill level was higher than she had imagined. Since she couldn't gauge her strength in their first encounter, it wasn't wise to linger. Therefore, Li Yan didn't intend to waste time on idle chatter and focused solely on the hairpin in Yue Shi's black hair.
And those gold earrings.
“But I won’t even have a piece of jewelry when I get married. Since my family is struggling financially, I don’t want money, but I still need some jewelry.”
"I'll definitely buy you something when I have the money," Yue said with a gentle smile.
Li Yan: "No need to wait." She pointed to her head, "I want this hairpin and these earrings." Afraid that she would have an excuse to refuse, she quickly said, "If you really treat me like a daughter, since you have jewelry, you should at least give me a couple of things as a token. As for your verbal promise to pay me back later, when is 'later'? I can't wait. I don't want the one later, I only want what's in front of me."
Li Yan spoke gently, but her attitude was assertive.
"Master..." Madam Yue didn't want to give it, but she didn't want to refuse herself, so she hoped that the man beside her could help her.
Li Shangping was already having a headache from all the commotion, and he had no idea what was wrong with his daughter today. Normally, she was incredibly quiet and wouldn't utter a sound, but today she had completely changed her personality.
I'm afraid that if this continues, the whole of Qingshan Town will know, and it will ruin our reputation.
"Give it to her...give it to her."
Yue was heartbroken, but she had no choice but to reluctantly give up her beloved.
After removing the hairpin and earrings, they were handed over, and Li Yan immediately reached out to take them, then thanked them repeatedly.
[Congratulations, host, your beauty score has increased by 5.]
Since transmigrating, Li Yan hasn't had a chance to look in a mirror.
However, she looked at her reflection in the water yesterday while fetching water. It was unclear what her face looked like, but her figure definitely had many flaws.
Everyone admires beauty, and Li Yan is no exception.
If possible, everyone would want to be beautiful and live a respectable life.
She hadn't considered this before; she was only thinking about finding a place to live and surviving. Now, the system says she's suddenly activated a new mission, entering "challenge mode," and will gradually become more beautiful.
Spending money was part of the plan, but becoming more beautiful was an unexpected bonus.
Li Yan was in a great mood because of the unexpected gain.
After receiving the silver, Li Yan immediately smiled broadly and said goodbye.
After leaving the Li residence, they found the only pawnshop in town and sold the jewelry.
The two pieces of jewelry sold for a total of three taels and six mace of silver. Adding the two mace of loose silver given by Madam Yue, I now have a total of three taels and eight mace.
Li Yan bought rice, flour, oil, and seasonings for cooking. She also went to the market and bought pork.
Although we have money, we must spend it frugally.
Li Yan didn't buy too much on her first shopping trip because she didn't have a car and had to walk back; she couldn't carry too much stuff.
When Xu Ge'er returned home with his things, he was stunned to find his younger sister playing in the yard.
"Milk!" he shouted.
"What's wrong?" Aunt Xue thought something had happened to her grandson, so she rushed out to see what was wrong, only to find Li Yan standing in the yard carrying many bags and packages.
"You, you really came back." At this moment, seeing her return, Aunt Xue was overjoyed.
He quickly went over and took the bags from her hands.
"You bought so much stuff?" She peeked out and saw rice, noodles, oil, and a large piece of pork, and was quite surprised.
"Mother, let's go inside and talk."
The saying goes, "Wealth should not be flaunted." Although three taels of silver is not a huge sum, one might still fear that thieves would set their sights on it.
Didn't the Xue family get robbed a while ago?
Once inside the main room and the door was closed, Li Yan told Aunt Xue everything that had happened to her at the Li family.
Aunt Xue was shocked to hear that Li had caused such a scene at home: "But by doing this, aren't you offending your own family?"
Not offending them is almost the same as offending them; even if you don't offend them, they don't seem to treat the original owner much better. Offending them, at least you can still get some benefits.
Why not?
"Anyway, I have no intention of going back." Li Yan stated her position, indicating that she was on the same side as her husband's family and had broken ties with her own family for this. "Anyway, I got my dowry back, so we're even now."
In this way, Aunt Xue could no longer send people away.
She hadn't expected that Li would actually do such a thing. For a moment, she felt she couldn't quite figure her out.
However, this also improved my impression of her.
[Ding~ Congratulations, host, your target's favorability has increased by 10.]
"I'll go cook." The third score was expected, and Li Yan was already quite calm.
Regardless of what Aunt Xue was really thinking, she had said what she needed to say and done what she needed to do. As for the rest, she could only leave it to fate.
Li Yan bought pork belly with alternating layers of fat and lean meat; she planned to make braised pork belly for lunch.
The rice was rinsed, the meat was washed, and things were busy in the kitchen when, in the courtyard outside, a familiar sound could be heard again.
"Aunt Xue." It was Zhang's wife from next door.
The meat was simmering in the pot, and since Li Yan had nothing to do at the moment, she simply picked up a spatula and went outside.
"Oh, it's Sister-in-law Zhang. Have you eaten yet? If not, that's perfect. Dinner will be ready soon. Please stay for dinner."
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