Under the gaze of everyone, Yin Weiyue had no choice but to bite the bullet and keep eating. This wouldn’t do—if pigs were served food like this, even pigs would squeal demanding to lose weight.
There were still six months left; things could not continue like this. Every single member of the First Branch was skin and bones; even if they didn’t die on the first day of exile, their frail constitutions wouldn’t survive the countless hardships along the exile route.
Yin Weiyue envisioned a hundred different training methods in her mind—push-ups, sit-ups, frog jumps, barefoot weighted running, and so on—but looking at these delicate young ladies, she sighed again; it was better to start with nutritional supplements first.
After clearing the bowls and chopsticks, everyone returned to their respective rooms. Yin Weiyue was in no hurry to leave, instead saying to the Old Lady: “Grandmother, when I gave the rice to the children just now, it wasn’t out of selflessness, but because that food was truly too unpalatable. How about this: give me a few items so I can pawn them for some decent meals and dishes.”
“You girl, I just praised you and you go and slap my face.” The Old Lady was defeated by Yin Weiyue’s honesty.
“Grandmother, because I refused to divorce, I fell out with my maiden family. Father and Mother won’t send me food anymore. I’ve thought it through—I’m going to live a proper life with Huo Jun from now on, but I really can’t swallow food like this.”
Yin Weiyue tried using a coquettish tone with the Old Lady. She had never done so before, but now, with great difficulty having an elder around, she couldn’t help but give it a try.
“Alright, alright, alright. These are all the household items in my room; take whatever catches your eye. But girl, grandmother must remind you: since you refused a divorce and chose this path, you must be prepared to endure hardships.”
“I understand, Grandmother.”
Yin Weiyue hadn’t expected her first attempt at acting coquettishly to succeed so easily. The Old Lady not only didn’t blame her for “stepping out of bounds,” but was also willing to give her valuable property during such difficult times.
A certain spot in her heart was touched, and she felt a little moved.
Thus, in her excitement, Yin Weiyue took everything from the Old Lady’s room.
In truth, there wasn’t much—a cotton quilt, a mink fur mat, a thin blanket, a chest filled with four seasons of clothing, and even the silver hairpin on her head was replaced with a pair of wooden chopsticks, leaving her with only one set of bedding and one change of clothes.
Originally, Yin Weiyue had wanted to take the gold-inlaid red sandalwood walking cane as well, but fearing the Old Lady wouldn’t adapt and might fall, she left it at home for emergencies to be dealt with later.
There were still six months until exile; she had to convert these items into silver in advance to buy food. Otherwise, on the day of exile, everything would end up benefiting those soldiers.
This was one of the major tasks at hand; she had to find a reliable guard to exchange them for silver, lest they be embezzled by the men outside.
With everything taken away, the Old Lady didn’t react much, but whether the others would fly into a rage later was something Yin Weiyue didn’t know.
Immediately after, Yin Weiyue went on to scour Lady He’s and Lady Su’s courtyards, similarly leaving both of them with only one set of bedding and one change of clothes.
Lady Yin had only been good for one afternoon; no one expected that right after dinner, she would stop acting like a human again. The two sisters-in-law ran to their mother-in-law crying to complain, while at this moment, Yin Weiyue happened to be searching through Mrs. Feng’s room.
Holding her forehead, Mrs. Feng scolded in a low voice: “Let her carry it away! Let her take it! We can’t beat her, nor can we out-scold her. Let her empty the place so we can have some peace! I refuse to believe Heaven is so blind as to force our First Branch to total ruin!”
“Lady Yin, are you a bandit!” Huo Wanying ran in with a face full of anger, all the goodwill built up this afternoon completely wiped out in this instant.
Yin Weiyue didn’t get angry. She walked up to Huo Wanying, raised her hand gently, and removed the silver step-shake hairpin. In a split second, her black hair tumbled down; Huo Wanying’s face, flushed red with anger, reflected the night’s starlight—she was truly breathtakingly beautiful.
Yin Weiyue held the mindset that her “daughter” was the number one beauty under Heaven.
Huo Wanying didn’t know she had been taken advantage of again. Just as she was about to snatch it back, she heard Yin Weiyue whisper gently in her ear: “In a few days, I’ll buy you mulberry wine to drink.”
Huo Wanying was stunned: “You…” How did she know she liked drinking mulberry wine?
Yin Weiyue patted her shoulder with a smile, and under everyone’s furious gazes, leisurely carried away large and small bundles.
The Old Lady’s, her mother-in-law’s, her two sisters-in-law’, and her sister-in-law’s—adding all the items from the five courtyards together didn’t amount to much, and she brought them all back to her own room.
After returning, Yin Weiyue began sorting out Huo Jun’s and the original host’s property.
Huo Jun had the fewest belongings: two sets of clothing for each of the four seasons, plus a set of bedding, and nothing else.
The original host had quite a bit more: four quilts each of padded cotton and thin cloth, clothes filling ten whole chests, and five boxes of gold and silver jewelry alone.
Yin Weiyue took off all the jewelry on her body and put it into the jewelry box, then used a pair of wooden chopsticks to coil her hair, discovering three hundred taels of gold and five thousand taels of silver banknotes in one of the chests.
The original host’s dowry and private savings had long been confiscated; all of these were brought over continuously over the past two years by Father Yin and Mother Yin using servants who took the opportunity when delivering meals.
Looking at it this way, Yin Jianzhang and his wife truly doted on the original host, their daughter, which ultimately profited Yin Weiyue upon her transmigration.
Hopefully her plan this time could save the Yin family, but if they truly couldn’t be saved, she could only follow the plot onward.
Beside the jewelry box were many jars and bottles. Yin Weiyue opened them one by one—some contained pastes, some powders, and some liquids, releasing waves of natural, refreshing fragrance.
She conjectured they were likely toiletries and skincare products. Although she didn’t lack food in her past life, she lacked toiletries and skincare items, so she had learned from her eldest sister how to make ancient daily necessities, which generally had these scents.
She was extremely satisfied with the original host’s wealth. Once she figured out a reliable route, she would immediately exchange it for proper food; the people of the First Branch needed to nourish their bodies properly.
Furthermore, this money couldn’t all be spent on eating and drinking—she had to find a way to carry it on her person. The original host was only sixteen years old now; even if she lived in the deep mountains for twenty years, she would only be thirty-six upon coming out—right in the prime of her youth—so she needed gold and silver to back her up.
Besides, she had to bribe officials along the road to exile so as not to be pushed into a desperate situation by those escorting guards.
While Yin Weiyue was packing, the bedroom door was pushed open.
Huo Jun entered, his face darkening upon seeing the floor full of bundles, a look of resentment tinged in his eyes.
“With your maiden family backing you, what do you lack? Why must you covet their meager belongings? Can’t you see how thin the children have become? Return the items to each courtyard at once.”
Yin Weiyue had originally intended to explain the reason to Huo Jun, but who knew this guy would enter the room looking at her with a contemptuous gaze fit for a villain? That indifferent posture was as if he were a high-and-mighty immortal, while she was merely a pile of foul dog feces dropped by a dog he raised after eating its fill.
Her desire to explain vanished in an instant.
“I refuse to return them. What can you do to me?”
Huo Jun felt that all the anger of his entire life had been stoked by this woman today. He took a deep breath, striving to suppress his rage. “Fine. If you won’t return them, I will.”
Then a bizarre scene unfolded—
Huo Jun went forward to grab the bundles, Yin Weiyue snatched the bundles back; Huo Jun grabbed the quilt, Yin Weiyue snatched the quilt back.
The man failed to snatch the items, fell down, and climbed back up, only to be thrown down again by Yin Weiyue right after climbing up. A tall man over 1.8 meters was worn out by Yin Weiyue, wheezing and gasping heavily on the ground.
“Tsk tsk, you’re no good—you really aren’t a man.”
Yin Weiyue felt fortunate that she shared his pain perception; if she shared his fatigue, she would surely be exhausted to death by this guy.
Huo Jun was likely provoked by these words once more, wanting to resist again, but unexpectedly Yin Weiyue pinned his arm behind his back with a reverse lock.
The woman was extremely careful not to injure him and bring suffering upon herself, then untied his sash, bound his hands together, and tied him to the carved, hollowed-out bedpost.
“Yin Weiyue!” The man called her by her full name. At this moment, his hair was slightly disheveled, his collar slightly open, his chest heaving violently from the wrestling just now, his usual indifferent temperament showing a rare trace of impatience.