Chapter 3: Traveling through time and being forced into marriage

Xia Juanjuan opened her eyes reluctantly. Which old woman was making so much noise? She hadn't gotten enough sleep yet!

She only felt a burning pain all over her body. Her hands and feet were tied with ropes and she couldn't move. It seemed as if a piece of cloth or something was stuffed in her mouth and she couldn't speak.

She looked around in horror and found herself lying on a bed covered with dry straw, similar to the kang (kang) used in northern rural areas. She was surrounded by a group of men, women, old and young, with patched clothes and pale faces.

Everything before her eyes was exactly the scene she had dreamed of!

At this time, a gray-haired, hunchbacked, thin woman leaning on a cane cursed fiercely:

"You shameless little whore, you don't want to marry the man your family found for you, but you learn to steal men and elope with them? Bah! The Xia family has raised you for more than ten or twenty years, not only do you eat and drink for free, you have also lost your face!"

As he said this, he raised his cane to hit him!

This old woman's name is Li Cuihua, and she is the original owner's grandmother.

Xia Juanjuan's eyes turned cold.

No wonder she felt so painful all over! It must have been that old hag who beat her.

She beat and scolded the former director, but Xia Juanjuan was not that easy to bully!

Xia Juanjuan seized the opportunity, and before Li Cuihua's crutches fell, she kicked hard with her legs, directly hitting her stomach.

"Ouch, ouch!" Li Cuihua screamed, was kicked back a few steps, and then fell on her butt!

Everyone in the room was stunned and even forgot to help Li Cuihua.

They didn't expect that Xia Juanjuan, who usually allowed herself to be beaten or scolded and never dared to fight back, would actually kick her grandmother Li Cuihua down!

Li Cuihua's eldest daughter-in-law Liu Hongmei quickly came forward to help Li Cuihua up, adding fuel to the fire: "Mom! Did you fall? Look, mom, I told you that this girl is not as honest as she appears to be! She even kicked you today. She must have cheated on you!"

When Li Cuihua heard what Liu Hongmei said, she became even angrier and struggled to raise her crutch to hit Xia Juanjuan.

At this time, the original owner's mother, Lin Yuru, rushed to Xia Juanjuan and used her frail body to take the cane for Xia Juanjuan, crying and saying:

"Mom! Sister-in-law! Stop scolding Juan'er. Juan'er would never do such a thing! She ran away from her marriage because... the fourth son of the Li family was injured at a young age and lost his fertility. If Juan'er were to marry him, wouldn't that be pushing her into a fire pit?"

Li Cuihua spat at him and said, "Bah! You are a loser who can't even give birth to a son. Do you have the right to speak in this family?"

Then he scolded a middle-aged man, "Second brother, you can do whatever you want! The betrothal gift from the Li family is 30 yuan, 25 yuan was given to your eldest brother's son as a betrothal gift to his grandson's family next door, and the remaining 5 yuan was used to buy some meat and eggs, as well as food for the winter. If your loser daughter breaks off the engagement now, our whole family will starve to death this winter! Your eldest nephew will also be a bachelor! You don't have to count on your eldest nephew to support you in your old age. You will have to rely on your loser daughter to support you in your old age!"

Lin Yuru grabbed her man's arm and begged in a crying voice, "Juan'er's father..."

The middle-aged man, Xia Shuangshan, the original owner's father, looked at his daughter who was tied up on the kang with reluctance. Finally, he stomped his feet, sighed, squatted on the ground, and smoked his pipe in distress.

In that era, daughters were considered to be discarded in the future and were considered to be outsiders. Not having a son meant that no one would take care of him in his old age. He could only rely on his eldest brother and the nephews of his third brother!

It’s not that he doesn’t love his daughter, but between his daughter’s happiness and his own future, he chose himself.

Other men, women, young and old all looked at Xia Juanjuan with either schadenfreude or happiness on their faces.

Xia Juanjuan had just recovered from her shock, and the original owner's memories flooded into her mind. Combined with what these people said, she finally had a rough idea of ​​the ins and outs of her current situation.

It turns out that the original owner was called Xia Juanjuan, whose name was pronounced the same as hers but had different characters. She was twenty years old and lived in Xiajia Village.

The father's name is Xia Shuangshan, the second child in the Xia family. The mother, Lin Yuru, has been weak and sickly for many years. Before giving birth to the original owner, she had given birth to a son, but the son was washed away by the water when he was five years old and was never found again. Although she became pregnant several times after giving birth to the original owner, she had miscarriages every time.

Because the eldest son died and no other sons were born, the second branch of the Xia family could not hold its head up for many years and was looked down upon by others. Grandma Li Cuihua was extremely partial to her and had never treated the original owner well since she was a child.

A month ago, the son of the original owner's great uncle Xia Dazhuang wanted to propose marriage, but he couldn't afford the bride price, so he set his sights on the original owner.

It so happened that the Li family in the neighboring Qingshui Village wanted to marry their fourth son Li Zhan and was willing to pay a dowry of thirty yuan. Li Cuihua then made the decision to marry the original owner to the fourth son of the Li family.

But the original owner heard that the fourth son of the Li family was injured on the battlefield and could not have children.

The original owner was extremely unwilling.

There was an educated youth named Xu Jiayuan in Xia Village who said he was willing to help her escape to the city.

The original owner foolishly believed it, secretly packed her bags and went to the agreed place to wait, but she didn't expect that Xu Jiayuan didn't want to help her escape at all, but wanted to do something bad to her because she was beautiful!

The original owner struggled desperately and refused to obey! Just then, the Xia family came after him and Xu Jiayuan ran away. The original owner was beaten up by the Xia family and tied up and taken back home.

Perhaps because the fight was too severe, coupled with despair, the original owner died just like that. That’s when Xia Juanjuan traveled through time and space to become the original owner in her dream.

At this time, the original owner's third uncle came in from outside and said, "Mom! The Li family's ox cart to pick up the new daughter-in-law is here!"

Li Cuihua knew that her second son's silence was a tacit agreement, so she immediately ordered her eldest son Xia Dazhuang and third son Xia Sanxi: "Hurry up and lift this little whore onto the ox cart! Watch her closely on the way, and untie her when we get there, so she doesn't run away again!"

Xia Dazhuang and Xia Sanxi agreed and stepped forward.

Xia Dazhuang said, "Sister-in-law, get out of the way quickly. If you miss the good time to get married, it will be Juan'er who will suffer in the future!"

Lin Yuru looked at her man in despair, knowing that there was no turning back, so she could only turn around and look at Xia Juanjuan miserably: "Juan'er, it's my fault that I'm useless. I'm sorry for you. You...when you get to your husband's house, you should work harder and eat less, and don't make your mother-in-law and sisters-in-law angry..."

As he spoke, he secretly stuffed something into Xia Juanjuan's palm.

Xia Juanjuan was speechless. Was this mother's instruction to her "work more and eat less"?

She struggled for a long time and finally spat out the rag in her mouth. She saw that her eldest uncle and third uncle were about to pull her mother away and touch her.

Xia Juanjuan scolded coldly: "Don't touch me!"

She scanned the crowd with a cold look and said word by word: "Isn't it just getting married? I will marry! Untie the ropes, I won't run away!"