“Go ahead, state your conditions.” Father Qiao looked at his usually timid daughter. He hadn’t expected her to stand up at such a critical moment. Could it be that she truly loved Yang Huaiyuan that much?
He shot Yang Huaiyuan an annoyed glare—bringing trouble to both of his daughters.
Qiao Shanshan tightly held Yang Huaiyuan’s hand and stood in front of him. “Sister, Huaiyuan and I truly love each other. I will not divorce him. You should give up on this idea.”
Qiao Wanyue curled her lips slightly.
Qiao Shanshan’s words didn’t hurt her much. Compared to staying in the Qiao family and marrying Yang Huaiyuan, she would rather marry Lu Yunzhou. Since Lu Yunzhou’s fate was already set—even if he sacrificed himself, it would be after she married him.
Once they registered their marriage, if he died, she would be the wife of a martyr.
After that, it would be much easier for her to live independently.
She suppressed the excitement in her heart.
On the surface, however, she looked troubled, pretending reluctance. “You secretly married Yang Huaiyuan and ruined my reputation. I want the Qiao family to compensate me with five hundred as a dowry, and all of Lu Yunzhou’s betrothal gifts must belong to me.”
In her previous life, when she got married, Mother Qiao not only gave her no dowry, but also handed all the betrothal money to Qiao Shanshan. She went to the Yang family with only a few washed-out clothes and was ridiculed by the Yang family and their relatives on the very first day.
Yang Huaiyuan felt humiliated and beat her on their wedding night.
Slap—
Mother Qiao rushed over and slapped Qiao Wanyue across the face.
Qiao Wanyue didn’t dodge.
She looked at Mother Qiao with a faint, ambiguous smile.
“You ungrateful thing!” Mother Qiao shouted. “I raised you all these years, and now you’re eyeing your sister’s betrothal money? That belongs to your sister! What does the Qiao family’s money have to do with you?
Letting you marry Lu Yunzhou is already doing you a favor. Marry him or not, it’s up to you!”
Mother Qiao glared at her threateningly.
In the past, whenever Mother Qiao acted like this, Qiao Wanyue would be so frightened that she would kneel and beg for forgiveness.
Qiao Shanshan thought the same.
But Qiao Wanyue stubbornly lifted her head. “If you’re unwilling, I’ll hang myself at the Yang family’s gate right now. I’d like to see what the commune leaders will say when a brother-in-law and his sister-in-law are entangled together—and what the whole brigade will think of my father, the brigade leader.”
Qiao Wanyue turned to leave.
“Stop.”
“Give it to her,” Father Qiao said with a stern face.
The brigade was about to hold elections. If such a scandal spread, he could forget about keeping his position as brigade leader.
Mother Qiao looked at him unwillingly. The Lu family had given eight hundred as a betrothal gift, and the Yang family had given two hundred. She had originally planned to keep all that money for Shanshan’s private savings. Damn Qiao Wanyue—asking for so much.
“It’s not safe for you to carry so much money. I’ll put it in your dowry chest,” Mother Qiao said, trying to stall.
Qiao Wanyue naturally saw through her thoughts.
Without a word, she lifted her foot and walked toward the door. The commotion in the Qiao household wasn’t small. With little entertainment in the brigade, sharp-eared people had already gathered outside to listen. The wooden door blocked some of the sound.
Qiao Wanyue reached up to remove the door latch.
Mother Qiao gritted her teeth. “Stop! I’ll get it for you!”
She turned and ran into the room, reluctantly pulling out two hundred yuan from a small cloth bag. “The Lu family gave one hundred, and the Yang family gave one hundred. This is all we have. Your sister doesn’t even have a dowry.”
Qiao Wanyue merely glanced at her.
She said nothing.
Continuing what she was doing, she moved to open the door. Mother Qiao thought she had been fooled and was secretly pleased—until Qiao Wanyue suddenly opened the door.
The people gathered outside immediately saw the large handprint on Qiao Wanyue’s face and the tears at the corner of her eyes.
Everyone knew Mother Qiao treated her poorly—either beating or scolding her—but now that she was about to get married, how could she still hit her like this?
Wasn’t this a slap to her future in-laws’ face?
Under everyone’s gaze, Mother Qiao’s face turned red. She wished she could crawl into a hole.
She grabbed Qiao Wanyue by the back of her collar, dragged her inside, and slammed the door shut.
“There isn’t that much money at home,” Mother Qiao insisted stubbornly.
Qiao Wanyue lowered her head and looked at her worn-out shoes with exposed toes.
It wasn’t that there wasn’t enough money—she simply wasn’t worthy of it.
Mother Qiao would spend a thousand yuan to buy a job for the eldest son, five hundred to marry off the second son, and give Qiao Shanshan a dowry of a thousand when she married.
The Qiao family had no money?
It was just that she wasn’t worthy.
In her previous life, Mother Qiao constantly told her that the family was poor. Qiao Wanyue had been sensible, dropping out of school early to earn work points, handling everything inside and outside the home—washing clothes, cooking, working—but when she married, she didn’t even have a new set of clothes.
Before she got married, Mother Qiao cried bitterly, lamenting her hard life and the family’s poverty, urging Qiao Wanyue to take care of her siblings after marriage and never shirk responsibility.
She had been taught since childhood to care for her brothers and sister.
She always remembered.
But in the end, she and Qiao Shanshan staged her suicide together.
In this life, Qiao Wanyue would never compromise because of a few words.
The situation reached a stalemate.
Finally, Father Qiao spoke again. “Give it to her.”
He believed Qiao Wanyue simply loved Yang Huaiyuan too much and had lost her head for the moment. She had always been obedient. Once she married, the money would still belong to the Qiao family. For now, it was more important to maintain appearances.
Mother Qiao was reluctant, but she still listened to her husband.
Qiao Wanyue looked at her back. “The Lu family’s betrothal gift was eight hundred.”
Mother Qiao froze.
If looks could kill, Qiao Wanyue would have died countless times already.
Reluctantly, Mother Qiao took out a stack of bills and threw them at Qiao Wanyue. Qiao Wanyue counted them—one thousand three hundred in total. At a time when most families were poor, anyone who could take out a thousand yuan was considered wealthy.
She lowered her head and looked at her shortened long sleeves—hand-me-downs from Qiao Shanshan.
They could take out over a thousand yuan, yet were unwilling to buy her even a set of clothes or a pair of shoes.
Qiao Wanyue brushed the dust off her body and returned to her room without looking back.
Watching her leave, Mother Qiao grew angrier. “Look at her! She couldn’t even keep her husband’s heart, and now she’s showing us attitude!”
“Enough,” Father Qiao scolded.
Mother Qiao fell silent.
Yang Huaiyuan and Qiao Shanshan stood close to the wall in the main hall. Greed filled Yang Huaiyuan’s eyes as he looked at Father Qiao. After more than ten years as brigade leader, he must have plenty of money. And since they doted on Qiao Shanshan the most—
Wouldn’t her dowry be even greater?
Yang Huaiyuan was already impatient to marry Qiao Shanshan.
The more Mother Qiao looked at Yang Huaiyuan, the more displeased she felt. If he hadn’t seduced her daughter, she wouldn’t have had to compensate that wretched girl with over a thousand yuan.
“What are you standing there for? Go cook!” she snapped irritably at Qiao Shanshan.