Seeing that the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were about to start fighting again, Old Master Li scolded them, "Alright, that two taels of silver was indeed used for your elder brother's education."
But the family has already spent so much money, let's sell the land.
Standing in the crowd, Xu opened her mouth, but in the end, she couldn't say anything. Because she knew that no matter what she said, it would be useless.
Zhao Yumei disagreed and shouted, "No, I don't agree. We don't have much land to begin with. The second branch of the family already benefited when the family was divided. We still have more than a dozen people to feed."
If land really has to be sold, it shouldn't be ours.
After Grandpa Li said he would send her back to her parents' home, Zhao Yumei behaved herself for two days. However, old habits die hard.
Yan Qingqing sneered and said, "Who doesn't know that the Li family used to have the most fertile land in the village? Why is there only a mere twenty mu left? It's because they sold it all to support some people's education."
"Why can't we sell them now when we could sell them before?"
Upon hearing this, Zhao Yumei immediately retorted, "How can that be the same? How can Xinniang, a mere maid, be compared to a scholar like Master Tongsheng..."
Before Zhao Yumei could finish speaking, Old Master Li roared, "Enough already! Haven't you embarrassed yourself enough?!"
After saying that, Old Master Li stormed off.
Old Mrs. Li rolled her eyes and said to Yan Qingqing, "Mrs. Yan, we really can't sell any more land, otherwise we won't have enough to eat. How about this, I'll contribute one tael of this two taels of silver, and you can figure out the rest yourself."
Seeing that Yan Qingqing remained unmoved, Old Madam Li threatened again, "If you don't agree, you won't get this one or two taels of silver. Besides, selling land takes time. One mu of good land costs five or six taels of silver. Who has that kind of spare money? What if the land can't be sold? Xinniang still has to marry into the family, doesn't she?"
Yan Qingqing glanced at Old Madam Li and suddenly said, "Alright, then bring me the money now."
Grandma Li: ……
She originally planned to take out the money after Yan Qingqing had saved up one tael of silver, because she felt that Yan Qingqing would never be able to save up one tael of silver in her lifetime.
Yan Qingqing sneered and said, "Don't tell me you're planning to renege on your debt. Let me tell you, either pay up now or sell the land. If you can't sell it for five taels of silver, then two taels will do. I don't believe no one will buy it."
Upon hearing this, Old Mrs. Li flew into a rage and said, "You spendthrift woman! An acre of fertile land is worth six taels of silver, and you actually want to sell it for two taels of silver. How unlucky is our Li family to have married such a jinx like you?"
Yan Qingqing slammed the wooden stick in her hand into the ground, creating a deep crater.
Grandma Li was startled. Yan Qingqing was acting like a complete scoundrel now. What if she hit her?
The lame man on the ground, thinking he was about to be beaten again, was so frightened that he quickly covered his head and said, "I'll break off the engagement! I'll break off the engagement! I don't want the money anymore!"
Old Mrs. Li was overjoyed to hear this, thinking that her one or two taels of silver had been saved.
Unexpectedly, Yan Qingqing said, "I, Yan Qingqing, am not unreasonable. Since this old woman accepted your two taels of silver and wrote the marriage certificate,..."
Since we're announcing the engagement today, I'll naturally return the money to you. But if you ever cause trouble in front of my house again, don't blame me for being ruthless.
After speaking, she reached out to look at Old Mrs. Li, who glared at Yan Qingqing. In her heart, Old Mrs. Li cursed Yan Qingqing for being a spendthrift, but she dared not say it aloud.
So she said fiercely, "Who can carry an ounce of silver around all the time? I'll go home and get it for you. You're all debt collectors, do you know how hard it is for me..."
Old Mrs. Li went home cursing and swearing to get the money.
Yan Qingqing wasn't in a hurry. She looked at the lame man and said, "After you get the money, I'll have someone go with you to get the marriage certificate."
The lame man glanced at Yan Qingqing, then quickly lowered his head and replied, "I have the marriage certificate with me."
After saying that, he quickly took out the marriage certificate from his pocket and handed it to Yan Qingqing with trembling hands.
Yan Qingqing looked at the lame man suspiciously. Why did this lame man always carry the marriage certificate with him? Could it be that he was afraid his family wouldn't acknowledge it?
It has to be said that Yan Qingqing was right; the lame man had indeed thought the same thing before he arrived. After all, he did know something about the Li family's situation.
At this moment, Old Mrs. Li reluctantly walked over with the silver and handed it to Yan Qingqing.
After Yan Qingqing took the silver, she took out another tael of loose silver from her bosom.
Fortunately, when she received her reward money from Xi'er today, she asked for loose silver ingots.
Everyone was stunned to see Yan Qingqing casually hand over a tael of silver. How could Yan Qingqing be so rich? A tael of silver was a lot of money for an ordinary family.
Some people think that Yan Qingqing is shrewd despite her seemingly simple appearance and knows how to hide money from others. Others, seeing that Li Xiang'an and Li Xiangjian have returned, think that the money must have been earned by them.
Yan Qingqing didn't care what they speculated. After confirming the authenticity of the marriage certificate, she gave two taels of silver to the lame man.
The lame man took the silver and limped away. Yan Qingqing bowed to the village chief and everyone, saying, "Thank you, Uncle Village Chief and everyone, for protecting my Xinniang. If there is an opportunity in the future, I will definitely repay you all."
Although most people were just there to watch the spectacle, they would still try to stop this cripple if he really wanted to cause trouble in their village.
Now that Yan Qingqing was thanking them so sincerely, everyone began to comfort her.
After seeing everyone off, only Yan Qingqing and her son remained.
Yan Qingqing told the children to carry the things into the house. Li Xin's mother and the others were stunned to find that Yan Qingqing and her family had bought so many things.
Especially since Yuan Huiniang was also holding two bolts of cloth in her arms, which were probably worth a lot of money.
Where did they get so much money? Suddenly, Li Xinniang remembered that Yan Qingqing and the others had gone to celebrate Old Madam Ding's birthday today. Could it be that the birthday cake caught Old Madam Ding's eye?
Before the children could ask, Yan Qingqing recounted what had happened that day.
Li Xiangkang, always quick to speak, said with a smile, "I knew Mother was the best! That cake was so delicious. Grandma Ding must have wanted to swallow her tongue."
Li Yueniang scoffed, "All you know is food. Do you think Old Madam Ding is as greedy as you? But Mother's cakes are indeed delicious."
When Yan Qingqing was making the cake, she made two extra cake bases for the children to snack on. Since the children had never eaten anything good before, they naturally thought it was a delicacy.
Seeing how well his younger siblings described the cake, Li Xiang'an and Li Xiangjian also got hungry. Unfortunately, they returned too late and missed out.
After discussing with the other children, Yan Qingqing said, "I have some new ideas and plans for our family's future. I'd like to hold a family meeting tomorrow to discuss them."
It's a pity your eldest brother isn't home; it's always a bit of a shame that one of them is missing. But thankfully, Erlang and Sanlang are home.
Everyone's tired today, let's grab something quick and go to bed early.
Then he distributed the meat buns he bought in the county town and the snacks given to him by the Ding family to the children.
But when it was time for bed, Yan Qingqing was dumbfounded again, because Li Xiang'an and Li Xiangjian had gone home, but there was nowhere for them to sleep.
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