Meanwhile, Ye Wan took San Ya and bought everything they could possibly buy at the market, tossing most of it into her space when San Ya wasn’t looking.
Perhaps due to childhood malnutrition, San Ya’s reactions were a bit slow, and she couldn’t recognize numbers well, so she didn’t discover Ye Wan’s secret.
Seeing that they had bought almost everything, Ye Wan remembered what she had found in that He Bao the previous night.
Inside the He Bao were a total of ten taels of silver and a black thumb ring. She couldn’t tell what material it was made of; it didn’t look like gold or silver.
The ten taels of silver were almost all spent today. Since she was already here, why not take the opportunity to… pawn that thumb ring?
She didn’t know if it was valuable or not.
Doing so seemed rather unethical, but Ye Wan had no ethics.
Carrying the basket with ten little chicks, she led San Ya to look for a pawnshop.
“I’ll beat you to death, you useless thing! You’re completely worthless, digging up only cheap medicinal herbs. My two taels of silver were wasted!”
“If you want to beat someone, do it somewhere else! Don’t affect business in front of my shop!”
A crowd had gathered at the entrance of a nearby medical hall where a burly man was beating a woman. The medical hall’s apprentice came out to scold them.
“Let’s go, you idiot! You’re as stupid as a pig! I’ll teach you another lesson when we get back!” the man cursed, yanking the woman away.
Ye Wan had no intention of watching the spectacle and was about to pull San Ya around them when the woman being dragged saw her.
“Little Wan!”
Ye Wan turned her head. The one calling her was the woman being beaten.
A memory of the original owner suddenly flashed through her mind. Ye Hua? Her eldest sister?
“Little Sister.”
Seeing it was really her, Ye Hua was overjoyed. She quickly broke free from the man, tidied her messy hair, and walked over.
“Little Sister, I didn’t expect it to be you. Is this…”
Ye Hua looked at the child Ye Wan was holding by the hand.
Ye Wan didn’t speak. She recalled that Ye Hua had been quite good to her two younger sisters. About two months ago, she had been sold to a widower from the next village whose wife had died.
Wang Hu’s gaze turned somewhat lecherous when he saw Ye Wan. “So this is your sister who cost twenty taels of silver. A pity I didn’t have the money, or I would have bought your sister. Which man was she sold to? Oh, and she’s already a stepmother, with a child and all.”
San Ya, a little scared, clutched Ye Wan and called out, “Mother.”
Ye Hua’s expression soured. “What nonsense are you talking!”
Wang Hu looked lewdly at Ye Wan’s figure. “How am I talking nonsense? Your own mother was practically selling her daughters. She made it sound nice by calling it a bride price, but what’s the difference from selling a daughter? Wasn’t your second sister sold to a human trafficker?”
All three Ye sisters had been sold with indentures.
It was normal for a mother to receive a bride price when marrying off a daughter, but writing an indenture was another matter entirely.
“Little Sister, you should go,” Ye Hua said, wiping away the blood trickling from her nose. She shouldn’t have called out to her just now. Wang Hu was not a good person.
“Go where? I don’t want this money-losing good-for-nothing anymore! She’s so blind she misidentified the herbs and made me lose money. Have Granny Qian give me this pretty one as a replacement!”
He had paid two taels of silver for a spot to go into the mountains, but all the herbs he dug up were worthless. The more Wang Hu spoke, the angrier he became.
Seeing the basket in Ye Wan’s hand, he said, “Bought so many things, huh? Let me see!”
“Ah!”
Before his hand could touch it, a stone smashed into his head.
Ye Wan’s eyes lit up when she saw Lin An Yuan. “Where did you go? What took you so long?”
Lin An Yuan glanced at Ye Wan, then at the new shoes on her and San Ya’s feet.
“I ran into someone and chatted for a bit.”
The beaten Wang Hu clutched his head. Seeing Lin An Yuan, his bravado immediately deflated. “You… Who are you!”
“You want to rob my family’s things?” Lin An Yuan’s eyes were fierce as he stared at Wang Hu.
Wang Hu immediately took a step back. “No, no.”
Despite how fiercely he had just been beating a woman, he was actually quite cowardly when facing others.
He hurriedly pulled Ye Hua. “Let’s go.”
“Go where? That claw of yours just scared my chickens, and you were hitting a woman!” Lin An Yuan blocked Wang Hu’s path.
Ye Wan glanced at the chicks in the basket: …
Wang Hu spoke in a low voice, “I was clearly hitting my own wife! What’s it to you!”
Lin An Yuan glanced at Ye Wan. “This is my woman. It’s only natural for me to be concerned about her older sister.”
“So you’re my little brother-in-law! We’re relatives! All relatives.” Wang Hu immediately put on a smile, looking honest and simple, a complete change from the man he was moments ago.
“We are relatives,” Lin An Yuan nodded.
Seeing him nod, Wang Hu leaned closer to Lin An Yuan and whispered, “Brother-in-law, did you buy this wife of yours for twenty taels?”
Lin An Yuan’s eyes filled with disgust. “Shut your stinking mouth. You’re fouling the air.”
Wang Hu’s face turned ugly, but he didn’t dare say anything more.
Beside them, Ye Hua took Ye Wan’s hand, fighting back tears. “Little Sister, are you all right? Mother married… betrothed you to this man?”
She knew of this man. Although handsome, he was a… beast.
How could her little sister be with someone like him?
Ye Wan nodded and looked at the injuries on her face. “Big Sister, let me take you to the medical hall to have a look.”
Ye Hua quickly shook her head. “No, no, I…”
Before she could finish, Wang Hu muttered, “A few punches don’t warrant a trip to the medical hall, that’s too precious. Which man’s wife doesn’t get beaten? If she hadn’t been blind and picked worthless herbs, I wouldn’t have lost money.”
The moment his words fell, Ye Wan put down the chicks, swung a bundle at Wang Hu’s body, and her eyes turned icy.
“You dare hit my big sister again, just you try!”
Ye Hua had been good to her, so Ye Wan didn’t mind standing up for her.
Ye Hua quickly tried to stop her. “Little Sister, don’t…”
“Are you trying to stop me?” Ye Wan looked at Ye Hua.
Can’t you tell who’s on your side?
Ye Hua froze, feeling as if her little sister had changed. In the past, she had been the most timid. Seeing her stand up for her was both surprising and heartwarming.
“It’s not worth it,” Ye Hua said, lowering her head to hide the bitterness in her eyes.
She was touched, but she was afraid of causing trouble for her little sister.
Wang Hu’s face was extremely ugly from being hit by a woman. Not daring to provoke Lin An Yuan, he pulled Ye Hua and cursed in a low voice, “You disgraceful thing, hurry up and come home with me.”
Ye Hua reluctantly let go of Ye Wan’s hand. “Little Sister, I’m busy at home, so I won’t cause you any more trouble. I’ll come visit you another day.”
“Are you sure you won’t go to the medical hall?” Ye Wan asked again.
“No need, I’m fine.” Ye Hua tidied her hair and followed Wang Hu, looking back every few steps.
Ye Wan frowned as she watched Ye Hua’s retreating back.
“Father, Mother bought it for me. She also bought meat.”
Seeing the people leave, San Ya happily showed Lin An Yuan her hair flower.
“It’s pretty. Is there anything else you need to buy?” Lin An Yuan took the things from Ye Wan’s hands.
He’s quite perceptive, Ye Wan thought to herself.
“We’ve never raised these at home. Can they survive?”
Perhaps because of the hot weather, the chicks didn’t look very energetic. Lin An Yuan noticed one of them seemed to be barely moving.
“They’ll be fine.”
Ye Wan thought to herself that with her spiritual spring water, she could raise anything. The chicks in her space had already grown a size larger and were all lively. These ones were just for show.
“Father, I’ll catch worms to feed the little chicks.”
“Okay.”
It was about time, so Lin An Yuan picked up the fabric they had left at a shop earlier and went to take the ox-cart home.
On the way back, a woman boldly asked Lin An Yuan, “Lin An Yuan, has your family struck it rich? Buying so many things?”
Weren’t they usually very poor? To buy so many things at once must have cost a lot of silver. How could people not be curious?
Lin An Yuan chuckled lightly. “We’re about to. When that time comes, Wang Danniang, don’t you get jealous.”
Wang Danniang immediately fell silent. Ptooey! It would be a miracle if someone like him ever got rich. Even the heavens wouldn’t stand for it.