Lu Hui pulled Zhou Jiwang aside and scolded him, not too harshly: “The adults are talking, why are you causing trouble? Go play somewhere else!”
Zhou Jiwang made a face, stuck out his tongue with a “bleh bleh bleh…” and ran out of the main hall.
Lu Hui wasn’t so kind as to help Zhou Xiaomai out of her predicament. In the past, she would have been content not to add fuel to the fire.
Right now, she felt the most important issue was money!
Lu Hui turned to Zhou Xiang again and said: “Third Brother, let’s settle the matter between Xiaomai and the Han family first before discussing anything else.”
Zhou Xiaomai said: “I can’t do what Grandma said—go to the Han family’s gate, cry, make a scene, and threaten to hang myself for money. Nor can I do what Father said—kneel and beg the Han family to take back the letter of divorce. As for the rest, you all can figure it out.”
Lu Hui looked at Zhou Xiaomai suspiciously: “Xiaomai, tell the truth, did the Han family give you money?”
Zhou Xiaomai found it amusing and instead of answering, she asked: “What does it matter to you whether the Han family gave me money or not? Aren’t my father and mother both alive and standing right here? It’s not your place as the eldest aunt to interfere, is it?”
Lu Hui’s eyes lit up with delight. Forgetting her anger, she focused on the key point: “So you’re saying the Han family really did give you money? How much?”
Everyone turned their gaze to Zhou Xiaomai, uniformly ignoring her sarcastic remarks.
Old Mrs. Jiang said: “Hurry up and hand over the money for me to keep. From now on, without the monthly allowance from the Han family, we’ll have to make it last.”
Greed!
From the moment Zhou Xiaomai was thrown off the carriage, all this family cared about was money.
“When did I say the Han family gave me money?”
Lu Hui spoke with certainty: “If the Han family gave you nothing, how could you accept it so calmly without crying or making a fuss? I don’t believe it!”
“What does it matter whether you believe it or not? Even if they did give me money, it’s not your place as the eldest aunt to interrogate me.”
“Xiaomai, what kind of talk is that? We’re one family. Of course, I, as your eldest aunt, wouldn’t take your money, but you should hand it over to your grandmother for safekeeping. That’s how it’s always been in our family.”
What difference was there between giving it to Old Mrs. Jiang for safekeeping and handing it directly to the eldest branch?
In this household, Liu Caixia and her three daughters couldn’t even see grains of rice in their bowls.
Old Mrs. Jiang’s starting point in everything she did was to consider the eldest branch.
It could also be understood as considering herself.
Since she was already relying on the eldest branch for her old age, and the third branch couldn’t produce a son, Old Mrs. Jiang squeezed the women of the third branch dry to pave the way for the eldest branch.
As a result, Lu Hui also ordered the third branch around as she pleased. The third branch wasn’t fit to own anything, and their money should rightfully belong to the eldest branch.
Zhou Xiaomai spread her hands: “I have no money!”
Old Mrs. Jiang didn’t believe Zhou Xiaomai and turned to Zhou Xiang:
“Third Son, this little wretch is most likely lying. The Han family must have given her money. You know the situation at home—Jiye just had a baby, and Jizu is about to discuss marriage soon. These things cost money. You have no heir to carry on the family line. In the future, you’ll have to rely on your eldest brother’s three boys.”
At first, Zhou Xiang only felt ashamed that his daughter had been divorced and wanted her to go apologize to the Han family. Even if the Han family kept his daughter in their household just to feed her, it would be fine, as long as they didn’t divorce her!
But after hearing Old Mrs. Jiang’s words, he began to think.
He was thirty-seven this year, and it was unlikely he would divorce Liu Caixia and remarry.
Since giving birth to Zhou Xiaodong, Liu Caixia’s belly hadn’t shown any signs of life for eleven years.
It was the family’s misfortune to have married this wife who couldn’t bear a son.
In the future, the only ones who could provide for him in old age, send him off at his funeral, and carry his funeral basin would be his eldest brother’s nephews.
Thinking of this, Zhou Xiang’s mind cleared considerably. He asked Zhou Xiaomai:
“Did the Han family actually give you any money?”
Zhou Xiaomai rolled her eyes. “How many times do I have to say it before you’ll believe me?”
Old Mrs. Jiang walked over to the dining table, where the small bundle Xiaomai had brought back lay.
As she untied the bundle, she said, “Whether they gave money or not, we’ll only know after searching!”
Xiaomai wasn’t the least bit anxious. Leaning against the earthen wall, she showed no intention of moving.
If they could find anything valuable in her bundle, that would be truly bizarre!
Sure enough, Old Mrs. Jiang emptied the contents of the bundle onto the table—only two sets of winter padded jackets and skirts, and one change of summer clothes, nothing else.
The fabric of the clothes wasn’t particularly fine—just the cotton-linen blend popular among girls in the county town, though the style was a bit more fashionable than what village girls wore.
Lu Hui, unwilling to give up, stepped forward and searched all the pockets of the clothes, but similarly found nothing.
Old Mrs. Jiang then walked over to Zhou Xiaomai and began patting her down.
“If the money isn’t in the bundle, then it must be on you.”
Xiaomai was ticklish and giggled as Old Mrs. Jiang searched her, but she didn’t try to dodge.
If she didn’t let these greedy people see for themselves that she truly had no money, they would never give up.
Previously, Mrs. Han had given the original host a pair of silver bracelets and a silver hairpin, seeing how hard she had worked to care for Han Yi.
The original host felt that these were gifts from her mother-in-law and should be kept safe, not handed over to her natal family, which was why she hadn’t mentioned them when she returned.
Now, those bracelets and hairpin had conveniently ended up in her possession.
As for anything that came into her hands, the Zhou family had no chance of claiming it as their own!
Old Mrs. Jiang searched Xiaomai from head to toe but still found nothing.
Not even a single piece of jewelry—her hair was simply tied up with a ribbon.
Everyone’s faces darkened, and Xiaomai’s giggling sounded particularly grating.
Liu Caixia pleaded with Xiaomai tearfully, “Xiaomai, how much money did the Han family actually give you? Hurry and hand it over to your grandmother for safekeeping.”
Liu Caixia’s thinking was simple: if Xiaomai really had money on her and it was discovered during the search, she would inevitably face a severe beating.
Moreover, although Xiaomai had been married, she was only eighteen this year and couldn’t be trusted to manage money!
All the money in this household had to be handed over to Old Mrs. Jiang for safekeeping—that had been the rule since Liu Caixia married into the family.
Over time, she had internalized this belief to her very bones.
Xiaomai didn’t even spare Liu Caixia a glance.
The pitiable truly have their detestable sides—the ancients never lied about that.
Someone with Liu Caixia’s temperament had already been conditioned into servility by Old Mrs. Jiang and Zhou Xiang and could no longer stand up for herself.
Old Mrs. Jiang was frantic. “Where on earth is the money?”
Only when Old Mrs. Jiang stopped searching did Xiaomai cease her laughter.
“Grandmother, have you gone mad thinking about money? I was tied up and brought back by the Han family. Apart from this bundle, I have nothing else. I’ve been with you ever since I got off the carriage—how could I have found time to hide anything?”
Old Mrs. Jiang recalled that Xiaomai truly hadn’t had any opportunity to hide money herself.
Could it be that the Han family really hadn’t given her a single coin?
The disappointment in Old Mrs. Jiang’s heart grew infinitely.
Liu Caixia said, “Mother, we’ve already searched. The Han family really didn’t give any money. Can we just let this matter go?”
Old Mrs. Jiang ignored Liu Caixia and said to Zhou Xiaomai, “I’ll give you two choices now. First, our family can agree to the divorce, but the Han family must give us another twenty taels as compensation. If the Han family refuses, you go make a scene at their doorstep. You’ll lose face, and so will the Han family—who’s afraid of whom? Second, you can choose not to demand money from the Han family, but our Zhou family won’t keep a divorced daughter at home to freeload. Starting today, whether you live or die has nothing to do with our Zhou family.”