Miao Miaomiao sprang to her feet, narrowing her eyes as she stared at the short, skinny man who had just walked in.
It was him again—Shen Jianzhang.
That extremely troublesome man.
Shen Jianzhang walked in front with his hands clasped behind his back, carrying himself like some kind of leader, while Shen Jianjun and Shen Cuiping followed behind him like two lackeys.
“Oh my, Jianzhang, you’re finally back! Your mother’s being bullied!” Qin Dafen rushed toward him as if she’d found a savior.
“Mom, who bullied you?” Shen Jianzhang said coldly, his gaze sweeping over everyone present.
When Zhang Cuiying saw him, her eyes narrowed as well. She sensed danger.
“Auntie by marriage, what brings you to our home today?”
Shen Jianzhang stared at her, smiling without warmth.
“Uh… well…” Zhang Cuiying took a deep breath and puffed out her chest. “I’m here to take your sister-in-law away. She’s already a widow—what’s the point of keeping her in your house?”
“No.”
Shen Jianzhang replied lightly.
“Since Second Sister-in-law married into our Shen family, she’s one of us. How can someone else’s daughter-in-law just leave whenever she wants?”
“That’s right!”
Qin Dafen and Shen Cuiping immediately puffed up with confidence as well, glaring fiercely at the Miao family.
“Then what if I return the bride price—can I leave then?”
Miao Miaomiao rose slowly and looked at them.
She had finally been waiting for this moment.
In fact, when she called her natal family here today, she had another purpose in mind—to discuss returning the bride price.
She knew very clearly that if she wanted to successfully escape from the Shen family, returning the bride price was unavoidable. Otherwise, with that family’s temperament, they would cling to her to the ends of the earth.
She didn’t want to stay here a second longer. She had already seen how vicious the Shen family could be. Who knew what dirty tricks they’d pull once her natal family left?
If yesterday they dared to send an old bachelor to violate her, who’s to say tomorrow they wouldn’t drug her and throw her into the river, letting their sister take her place in marriage…
A place like this—no different from a dragon’s den or a tiger’s lair. Staying one more day meant losing one more day of her life. Whoever wanted to stay could stay—she wouldn’t.
Today, she had to find a way out.
Before the Shen family could react, Zhang Cuiying exploded, pointing at her nose and scolding, “You wretched girl, return what? Return the bride price? I don’t have money! If you want to return it, you do it yourself!”
She turned her head away, arms tightly crossed, making it clear not a single cent would come out of her pocket.
Miao Miaomiao had expected this.
Getting past Zhang Cuiying was never going to be easy.
The whole village knew her mother was as stingy as an iron rooster—no way she’d willingly cough up money, let alone return such a huge sum.
On top of that, she had always favored sons over daughters, treating married-out daughters like spilled water. There was no way she’d care, much less redeem her daughter.
Miao Miaomiao’s eyes rolled slightly, and the corners of her lips curved upward.
She walked over and hooked her arm affectionately around Zhang Cuiying’s. “Mom, I say you should return it. It’s only a hundred yuan. Once I remarry, you can get two hundred.”
She shook her arm gently, painting a rosy picture. “Think about it—double the money. That’s a great deal. Don’t be confused, Mom. Take me home. Once I marry again and have money, the ones who benefit will still be our family. Maybe it won’t stop at two hundred—three hundred, four hundred, five hundred yuan could all be possible… If you don’t take me home, then when I make money in the future, the only ones who’ll benefit will be the Shen family. And then it’ll have nothing to do with you at all.”
If she was going to sell a dream, she might as well go all the way.
Whether it could be fulfilled or not—that was a problem for the future.
Zhang Cuiying’s attitude wavered, though she was still hesitating.
Seeing this, Miao Tianli stepped forward to persuade her. “Wife, let’s return it. After all, Big Girl is still our daughter.”
“No! Mom, don’t listen to them!” Miao Fengshou butted in. “We have to stand firm. That’s a hundred yuan—half a year’s living expenses for our whole family!”
“Shut up—”
Miao Miaomiao stomped hard on his foot in secret, grinding down on his toe. Miao Fengshou yelped in pain, baring his teeth.
After thinking for a long time, Zhang Cuiying was finally persuaded.
She lifted her head and said to the Shen family, “Fine, we’ll return the bride price. But today, I am taking Big Girl with me no matter what!”
“Mom, what do we do?”
Shen Cuiping hurriedly tugged at Qin Dafen’s sleeve.
Qin Dafen froze, then quickly tugged at Shen Jianzhang’s sleeve. “Jianzhang, what do we do? Are we really… going to let her just leave like this?”
Shen Jianzhang patted the back of her hand to reassure her. “Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll handle it.”
Letting her leave was impossible.
He knew very clearly what was truly most valuable about this woman.
Shen Jianzhang lifted his head and looked at Miao Miaomiao, smiling darkly. “Second Sister-in-law, you can leave if you want. After all, this is a new society, not the feudal era… but if you’re returning the bride price, it’ll have to be three hundred yuan.”
Three hundred yuan—exactly the total value of that woman. His calculation was spot on.
“What?!”
As soon as the words fell, the entire Miao family was stunned.
“Impossible! Absolutely impossible!” Zhang Cuiying waved her hands and shouted. “On what grounds? You only gave a hundred yuan back then, and now you want three times that? No way—I won’t allow it!”
Qin Dafen’s smile nearly split her face as she mocked her. “Oh my, can’t bear to part with it? Then forget it. Big Girl can just stay with our family. We’ll treat her like a daughter and marry her off ourselves.”
“You… on what basis are you demanding so much money?”
Miao Miaomiao clenched her teeth, glaring at them.
A whole house full of scoundrels—opening their mouths like lions. They clearly didn’t want to let her go.
“On what basis? You married in and ate our food, lived in our house—that’s fifty yuan. We held a wedding banquet to marry you, invited guests—that’s another hundred. And on top of that, you even caused my son’s death. Shouldn’t you compensate fifty yuan for emotional damages? Three hundred yuan—just right!”
Qin Dafen counted on her fingers as she laid it all out.
“Mom…”
Shen Cuiping was still unwilling and nudged her arm.
Qin Dafen comforted her. “Silly girl, don’t be foolish. With that money, what good family couldn’t we find for you? Don’t worry—another day I’ll ask a matchmaker to talk to your brother’s comrades. The conditions definitely won’t be worse than that man’s.”
Only then did Shen Cuiping reluctantly let it go.
On Miao Miaomiao’s side, however, her brows were tightly furrowed.
She knew Zhang Cuiying all too well. Returning a hundred yuan was already painful enough—three hundred? There was no way she’d agree.
Miao Miaomiao frowned and looked at them. “You’re extorting us. How could it cost that much? Believe it or not, I’ll report this to the village committee!”
“I think Auntie Dafen makes a lot of sense.”
At that moment, Shen Jianjun ushered Village Secretary Ma Youcai in from the doorway.
As soon as he entered, he stood on the Shen family’s side. “Miao Big Girl, after all, they spent so much money to marry you. Since you want to leave, compensating them a bit is only reasonable.”
Miao Miaomiao stared at them, her eyes narrowing dangerously.
So that’s it—this family really had everything planned out.
They’d dumped every expense onto her head. Why not start counting from the day she was born?
What should she do?
Now even the village secretary was backing them.
If she couldn’t scrape together the money, she’d never escape the Shen family in this lifetime.