If someone fell into the water, Liu Yulian could swim, but she wasn't a particularly good swimmer. Besides, she hadn't learned to swim since she came to this world, so she certainly couldn't jump in to save them.
The salt field was on the seashore, and when someone shouted loudly, Liu Yulian and her group heard it.
Fortunately, someone went into the water to rescue the man. After he was rescued, he was already dying.
In later life, Liu Yulian had seen someone saving someone, so she asked the people around her to administer first aid and squeeze out the water the person had choked on. Since she didn't have that much strength, she didn't delay the rescue effort.
It wasn't that Liu Yulian was afraid of ruining her reputation, but she simply didn't have the strength. From childhood, she'd either studied or embroidered, things that didn't require much physical effort. She hadn't done much heavy work in the northwest; that was all done by others.
Many noble ladies are like this, they all have relatively little strength.
Liu Yulian didn't know how to press it specifically, she just let those people give it a try.
Whenever this happened, Liu Yulian would wonder what she would be able to do without her system cheats. She knew very little; it was difficult for ordinary people to survive well in ancient times.
The man spat out the water quickly, so there was no need for anyone to blow into his mouth.
"Send him home." Liu Yulian said.
"Let me die." That's what the man said.
In fact, the man did not fall into the water accidentally, but he did it on purpose because he didn't want to live.
"What's going on?" Liu Yulian asked.
Soon, someone familiar with the man who fell into the water came over and said bluntly, "The marriage his family had arranged for him has fallen through again."
“…” Liu Yulian didn’t expect to hear such news.
The people in the nearby fishing villages weren't as wealthy. They basically did the same thing every day: setting nets to catch fish and drying them in the sun. They had no farmland, and many people were unwilling to marry their daughters to them.
People in fishing villages have homes on land, or houses. Other fishermen have no homes or land on land, and live their entire lives on their boats. These fishermen, who live at sea all the time, are looked down upon by people on land, and no one is willing to marry their daughters to them.
As for the fishing village, it may be a bit poor, but at least there are houses on the shore.
Liu Yulian knew that it was difficult for some poor people to get married, but she had never seen it with her own eyes, let alone seen anyone risking their life for a marriage.
The man was already in his twenties, his family was poor, and he had tried to marry someone several times but to no avail. This time, with only two days left before the wedding, the woman's family did not agree, which made the man very upset.
The man had saved up several taels of silver and gave two taels as a betrothal gift. Later, the woman raised the price, and he also gave it. But just as the wedding was about to take place, she changed her mind and demanded that the man's family pay more money, or give him another two taels of silver to make it six, a lucky number. Otherwise, the man would not be able to get married.
After a couple of times, the man realized that the woman didn't really want to get married, and that her family was clearly trying to cheat him out of money. He wanted her to give him all the money, and he wouldn't get married, but she refused.
The man was so angry that he didn't want to live anymore. He even thought about killing the woman's family, but he didn't do it in the end. He had other people in his family and he was afraid that they would be implicated.
"Things will get better." Liu Yulian said.
Liu Yulian sighed. In later life, she read the news on the Internet. A similar thing happened in later life. A man picked up a knife and killed the woman directly.
The man in front of him had indeed paid a lot of money for this marriage. For an ordinary family, a betrothal gift of two taels of silver was already very much. The woman's family always asked the man's family for a price, and that was enough.
It's not that Liu Yulian doesn't stand on the woman's side, but sometimes it's really the woman's fault, especially when the money is added arbitrarily. Of course, there are also cases where the man is wronging the woman.
Liu Yulian had the man sent back. She couldn't possibly help him talk to the woman's family. At most, she would have someone keep an eye on him. As for the silver, she could just let the Third Prince go and get it.
The Third Prince had not expected Liu Yulian to ask him to do such a trivial task. He thought it was just a matter of a few taels of silver. He could just give the woman a few taels of silver and let her marry him. Why did he ask for the silver back and then ask the man to marry someone else?
The third prince didn't understand, and He Xiyuan happened to be there today, so the third prince asked He Xiyuan.
"Why don't you just get married directly?" The third prince looked at He Xiyuan.
"It's not worth it." He Xiyuan thought that the girl's family had done such a disgusting thing. Even if they helped the man get married now, the girl's family could still make trouble after they left.
Those people can still go to the man's house to plunder things, and their daughters may not be good people.
He Xiyuan believed that there was no need to marry such a woman. If the man married such a woman, he would suffer in the future. It would be better to cancel the engagement at this time. As for whether the woman could marry a decent family in the future, it depended on her luck.
"Why is it not worth it? Isn't he going to get married?" asked the third prince.
"It's not necessary for this to happen." He Xiyuan glanced at the Third Prince and said, "You can think about it carefully."
"..." The Third Prince said he didn't quite understand. Wouldn't it be better to just marry him directly? Even if he got the money back from the man, that man wouldn't necessarily be able to find a suitable wife. "Why should I go?"
"You are a prince," He Xiyuan said, "and you have great power."
"Great power?" The third prince did not think that he had great power. It was clear that he had lost power.
"Prince, go." He Xiyuan said, "You are strong."
"You are the prince's cousin." The third prince thought that he was not needed in this matter.
He Xiyuan didn't say anything, he just looked at the third prince.
"I'll go, I'll go." The Third Prince thought it would be better to go by himself. At least he was doing something here. If he didn't do anything, then it would be hard to say when he returned to the capital. He came here just to do some trivial things.
Not far away, Liu Yulian waved to He Xiyuan, they would be going back soon.
He Xiyuan walked towards Liu Yulian, not caring what the Third Prince would do next. After all, that family wasn't a very good one, and the Third Prince should know how to handle it. Even if the Third Prince was a little timid, he was still a member of the imperial family.
"Let's go back." Liu Yulian said.
"Okay." He Xiyuan nodded.
The others didn't follow Liu Yulian; they planned to walk around the area. Since they couldn't use the salt pans, they needed to find a suitable place. If they did, they couldn't stay in the house all the time; they had to walk around.
Whether Princess Rongning went out to look for it or not was irrelevant. Princess Rongning was already the director of the research institute, and she had researched so many things. Other talents needed to have research results in hand.
"Didn't you go somewhere else?" He Xiyuan asked.
"They can just go and look for it," Liu Yulian said. "Actually, I don't understand these things. At most, I just have some small ideas. They can find a place to try it out, and they can help me try it out."
This is a feudal society, and Liu Yulian's status is high, so she can do this. She has no intention of taking the fruits of others' labor, and those researchers can do other things.
Liu Yulian just wanted a few people to keep an eye on her. She could find someone who knew how to make salt, not necessarily researchers. That was her thinking. There was no need to confine herself. Just because she was the director of the research institute didn't mean she had to hire people from the institute.
"I've sent someone to find someone who knows how to dry salt," Liu Yulian said. "The research funds are divided into several parts. They can all lead the research team. Just don't waste it."
Liu Yulian had already thought of this on the way to the beach. Research is not a one-man show; it requires interaction. She simply set some rules and let them follow them. They still had a lot of freedom.
"As long as you have the arrangements," He Xiyuan said. Liu Yulian hadn't told him this before; sometimes she would just say a little and not tell the whole story. He Xiyuan thought that was fine; he didn't have to know everything.
In Shiyuan Village in the northwest, Liu Yanqing has been working in the fields a lot lately. He doesn't want to work in the fields, he wants to stay home with his daughter, but Lin Xiaowan won't let him stay home, so he has no choice but to work in the fields.
"It's almost done." Liu Yanqing walked beside Lin Xiaowan. All the fields had been plowed, so it should be done.
"What do you mean almost? There's a lot of work to do in the fields." Lin Xiaowan said, "The grapes are growing too, so we need to take a look at them."
“…” Liu Yanqing thought to himself: Yes.
"There's a lot of work to do in the fields, and I'm not asking you to finish it all, I'm just asking you to keep an eye on it." Lin Xiaowan said, "We'll have to hire someone when the time comes. We can't expect you to carry all the loads."
"I can't do it. The shoulder pole is not good, and my shoulders are not good either." Liu Yanqing shook his head violently. He didn't want to carry the load at all. It was too difficult.
Liu Yanqing had tried this before. He had thought it would be easy for a grown man like him to carry a load, but he couldn't lift it no matter how hard he tried. This made him very embarrassed, so he could only reduce the amount of things on the load.
Reduce things once, and reduce them again...
Lin Xiaowan said at the time: You’d better not pick!
Lin Xiaowan looked at Liu Yanqing's actions and felt that they were ridiculous. If she continued to lose weight, Liu Yanqing would just pick up an empty basket.
"Your shoulder has never felt better." Lin Xiaowan said, "You should also stop holding your daughter over your head all the time. You only have so much strength. If you fail to hold her tightly, what will happen if she falls and becomes a fool?"
"No, I don't dare." Liu Yanqing said that he was very careful and would never let his daughter become a fool. "My daughter needs to be smarter. When she grows up, I will let her go to school."
"Okay." Lin Xiaowan looked at Liu Yanqing, and she was quite satisfied. At least Liu Yanqing knew how to treat his daughter well. You know, there are people in the village who treat their daughters badly and use them as maids.
"Fangmei is about to give birth." Liu Yanqing said, "She has a bad temper. We still have to send her things, but she hasn't sent anything for us."
"She only has you as a brother here." Lin Xiaowan said, "It's inevitable that you need to take care of her a little more."
"Why should I care about her?" Liu Yanqing didn't want to care about Liu Fang at all. "She's not that good to her brother and sister-in-law. It's useless for me to be good to her."
Liu Fang was not a very good sister. Whenever Liu Yanqing thought about the stupid things Liu Fang had done before, he didn't like this sister very much.
"That means catching a chicken and giving away a basket of eggs." Lin Xiaowan said.
"We didn't even give this much as a New Year's gift to the eldest wife." Liu Yanqing thought that they hadn't caught chickens or given eggs to the eldest wife, but had given her homemade dried fruits. Those dried fruits weren't that valuable; the chickens and eggs were much more valuable.
“…” Lin Xiaowan thought so too.
"Just because she's a woman here, I, as her brother, have to make preparations." Liu Yanqing felt that what his family got was too little.
"They also gave me gifts when I gave birth," said Lin Xiaowan.
"That was given by my brother-in-law. If I wait for this sister to give it to me, it would be better to wait until I see it in my dream." Liu Yanqing looked down on Liu Fang very much.
"Then just consider it as returning the things to them." Lin Xiaowan said, "Our family doesn't need their things either."
"That's exactly the case." Liu Yanqing sighed, "People from the eldest house are still the best."
"So you always take advantage of the eldest wife." Lin Xiaowan didn't want to say anything more. Her husband was so shameless.
"It's not just me who takes it, it's us." Liu Yanqing reminded Lin Xiaowan, "You have use for those things, and our daughter has use for them too."
"Okay, we are all shameless." Lin Xiaowan gritted her teeth.
"Yes, we're a family. If I don't have shame, then you guys won't either." Liu Yanqing didn't think it was a big deal. "The eldest wife is willing to give it to me anyway. It's not like I'm forcing her."
In the town, Liu Fang looked at her big belly and wondered why there was no response from the capital.
"Brother, is he blinded?" Liu Fang felt that her brother was not good enough. Why hadn't Liu Yanyuan sent anything over yet? She was about to give birth.
"What?" Zhen Wen Ze was puzzled.
"I'm about to give birth, and they haven't prepared anything." Liu Fang said, "Nothing has been sent."
"You haven't even given birth yet." Zhen Wen Ze said, "It will still be in time for them to send gifts after you give birth."
"Why do we have to wait until after the baby is born?" Liu Fang was unhappy, her face sullen. "By that time, we'll have everything ready. What else do we need them to prepare?"
"It's basically the same for other families. They all wait until the baby is born before sending it as a gift." Zhen Wen Ze said.
"The eldest wife sent gifts to the couple in the village, but they didn't wait until after the baby was born." Liu Fang liked to compare herself with Lin Xiaowan.
"..." Zhen Wenzhe thought that it was really different. He had told Liu Fang a long time ago that the child Liu Fang gave birth to was the Zhen family's child, not the Liu family's child.
Zhen Wen Ze was too lazy to agree with Liu Fang, nor did he say much to Liu Fang, letting her get angry however she wanted at home.
In the capital, Liu's mother knew that Liu Fang was about to give birth, and the relationship between the Marquis of Jingning and Liu Fang had not been severed. If Liu Fang gave birth, then they should indeed prepare some things.
It’s just that Liu’s mother didn’t plan to prepare so many things. What she prepared had to be less than what she prepared for Liu Yanyuan.
"Fang Jie'er should be giving birth soon." Liu's mother told Liu's father.
"Really?" Father Liu hadn't thought of this yet.
"According to the calculation, the baby is about to be born." Liu's mother said, "According to the rules, we should prepare silver bracelets or something for the child."
"Then prepare it." Father Liu said, "It doesn't need to be too much. Didn't we prepare some for Yanyuan and the others before? Just a little."
Even without Mother Liu telling him, Father Liu knew that it was not appropriate for them to prepare too many things for Liu Fang. The same thing happened when Liu Yuqin gave birth.
"It's okay to give less, but I'm afraid she will be unhappy." Liu's mother thought that Liu Fang was not the type of person who would be satisfied.
"If she's not happy, then she's not happy," said Father Liu. "Don't be afraid of what she might do. She's just a daughter, so what? If she thinks what we give her is not enough, then she won't want it!"
Father Liu didn't want to hear about his children's affairs lately. He wanted to go fishing instead. The children in the family, especially those born out of wedlock, always had a lot of things going on that Father Liu didn't know what to say.
"Okay." Liu's mother responded, "I'll talk to Zhaoyang. She's the housekeeper. She should be the one to take care of these things. I don't need to be in charge of everything."
"Okay." Father Liu said.
When Princess Zhaoyang heard Liu's mother say that she wanted to prepare things for Liu Fang's child, Princess Zhaoyang thought that there were still quite a lot of people in the Liu family.
"It doesn't have to be much, just a little less than what we gave to the fourth room." said Liu's mother.
"Don't worry, I'll arrange it." Princess Zhaoyang said.
"They are just like that. No matter how much face you give them, it's useless." Mother Liu said this when she was talking to Princess Zhaoyang in private. "It's okay if it's good enough. Don't worry too much."
Liu's mother also had her own selfish motives. She didn't want to embarrass Princess Zhaoyang. Princess Zhaoyang was her daughter-in-law, so what did Liu Fang mean to her?
"Don't think I'm being mean by them. You saw it in the northwest," said Mother Liu. "They're dying to bite a piece of us off."
Mother Liu will always remember those who talked about splitting up the family when the eldest wife was in trouble. Those people were not good people. Now they are just doing a good job to make Father Liu feel more at ease.
Women are like that, they have to satisfy their husbands.
"Yes." Princess Zhaoyang certainly knew what those people were like. "I'll make the preparations. Speaking of this, I thought of my younger sister. I wonder how she's doing now."
"She should be fine." Liu's mother said, "She is not someone who would let herself be wronged."
Liu's mother was also a little worried about Liu Yulian. Fortunately, Liu Yulian was not one to care much about what others said, and she didn't like to be tired. Liu Yulian didn't always work as hard as others. It was during their first period in the northwest that Liu Yulian really worked hard.
At that time, Liu Yulian did a lot of work for the family's livelihood.
"It's better not to put yourself in a difficult position." Princess Zhaoyang said, "My little sister is such an outstanding person, she deserves better. If others have wronged her, she should make them suffer even more."
“…” Mrs. Liu didn’t say that, but she meant the same thing.
At this time, Liu Yuqin was still talking to the matchmaker. Even if she was pregnant, she still wanted to take a look. After she gave birth to the child, she would have a direction.
"Just these people?" Liu Yuqin didn't like those people and always felt that their status was too low.
"That's it." The matchmaker was also in a dilemma. Liu Yuqin was the daughter of a marquis, but the marquis's family didn't let her move back in.
Liu Yuqin didn't want to marry someone of such low status. She wanted to marry someone of higher status, preferably higher than the status of the Second Young Master Mei. That way, she could hold her head high in public and make others envy her. One marriage would be higher than the other.
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