“Comrade Chen,” Lin Wanqiu interrupted, “we’re both adults, so let’s be practical. You’re looking for a wife who can help shoulder your family’s responsibilities, while I’m looking for security and respect. The three hundred yuan bride price reflects what I bring to this marriage. If you don’t think I’m worth that much, then there’s nothing more to discuss.”
With that, she turned to leave.
“Wait!”
Chen Zhigang hurriedly reached out and grabbed her arm.
Lin Wanqiu lowered her gaze to his hand.
Chen Zhigang snatched his hand away as though he’d touched something hot. A faint blush spread across his face.
“S-Sorry. I just… Fine, three hundred yuan. I agree.”
His sudden agreement caught Lin Wanqiu by surprise.
But she quickly understood.
In her previous life, when she married into the Chen family, Chen Zhigang’s paralyzed mother had been in a pitiful state.
The old woman was filthy and painfully thin, her face yellow from illness and neglect. Her urine-soaked trousers clung to her legs, and the entire house reeked of human waste.
Clearly, Chen Zhigang was desperate to bring a wife into the household.
Not because he wanted a loving companion, but because he needed someone to take over the responsibility of caring for his mother.
So much for his filial devotion. He couldn’t wait to hand the burden to someone else.
Sure enough, Chen Zhigang continued, “Then it’s settled. I’ll go home and tell my mother so we can prepare the bride price. We’ll come to your house tomorrow to formally propose the marriage.”
He smiled.
“And we should arrange the wedding as soon as possible.”
“All right.”
Lin Wanqiu nodded.
That evening, the Lin family gathered around their wooden dining table, eating coarse-grain steamed buns.
Lin Daqiang suddenly slapped a document onto the table.
It was the agreement severing their family ties.
Lin Wanqiu glanced at it.
Every required name had been signed.
Not a single one was missing.
Lin Daqiang opened his mouth, clearly preparing to unleash his anger, but before he could speak, Lin Wanqiu took out a small container of red ink paste.
“Everyone needs to add a fingerprint. Press your thumb beside your signature.”
Bang!
Lin Daqiang slammed his palm against the table.
“Don’t push your luck!”
He glared at her furiously.
“Have you ever heard of anyone behaving like you? You’re willing to break ties with your own family over a little money?”
Lin Wanqiu remained completely unmoved.
“Dad, be careful. This is the only dining table we have. If you break it, you’ll have to buy another one.”
She looked around at her family.
“I’m perfectly willing to remain your daughter. But in that case, the bride price and my factory job will both stay with me. Are you willing to accept that?”
Wang Guihua immediately jabbed her husband with her elbow.
“Why are you wasting your breath on her? She’s an ungrateful wretch who’ll never appreciate anything we’ve done!”
She shot Lin Wanqiu a contemptuous look.
“Once she’s married, she won’t belong to our family anyway. But the bride price and factory job must stay with the Lins!”
“We have Baogen. What do we need her for?”
She nudged her husband again.
“Just hurry up and stamp it!”
Lin Daqiang grumbled angrily but finally pressed his thumb into the ink and stamped the agreement.
Next came Lin Baogen.
He added his fingerprint without the slightest hesitation.
Whether he had an elder sister or not meant nothing to him.
As long as the factory job became his, he couldn’t care less.
Besides, even without Lin Wanqiu, he still had Lin Zhaodi.
And if his second sister wasn’t around, his mother could take care of him.
Once he got married, he’d have a wife to serve him, too.
The more he thought about it, the happier he became.
He was practically grinning from ear to ear as he finished stamping the document.
“Once we cut ties, you’re no longer part of the Lin family,” he declared smugly.
“If your husband’s family mistreats you, don’t come running back here!”
He lifted his chin.
“There’s no room for you in this house, and you won’t get a share of the property either!”
Wang Guihua immediately chimed in.
“My son is absolutely right! You won’t get a single brick of this house!”
“Even if someone beats you to death, don’t come crawling back. You won’t have a family home to return to!”
Lin Wanqiu let out a cold snort.
“I haven’t had a real family home for a long time.”
These people were no family of hers.
They were nothing more than parasites who had spent years feeding off her hard work.
Finally, it was Lin Zhaodi’s turn.
Of everyone in the room, Lin Wanqiu considered her younger sister the most poisonous.
After all, it was Lin Zhaodi who had drugged her in their previous life.
Without that betrayal, she would never have suffered the horrors that followed.
Lin Zhaodi glanced at the agreement, then looked up with an expression of wounded disbelief.
“Sis, aren’t you being a little too heartless?”
Her tone was sweet, but her words were laced with criticism.
“We’ve lived together for so many years. How can you just decide to cut ties with everyone?”
“Have you even thought about how we feel?”
She sighed dramatically.
“Mom and Dad raised you all these years. Even if you don’t appreciate everything they’ve done, surely you should acknowledge how hard they worked.”
“Isn’t it only right to give them your bride price?”
Lin Wanqiu had no patience for her performance.
She stood up, grabbed Lin Zhaodi’s hand, pressed her thumb into the red ink, and stamped it onto the agreement.
Then she looked down at her sister.
“You’re absolutely right. You’re obviously a far more dutiful daughter than I am.”
A faint smile appeared on her lips.
“So when you get married, make sure you hand over every last cent of your bride price to Mom and Dad.”
“You!”
Lin Zhaodi was so furious she couldn’t find the words to respond.
Wang Guihua, however, looked delighted.
“Your sister is far more obedient than you! Of course she’ll give us her entire bride price!”
Lin Wanqiu carefully folded the agreement and put it away before sitting down again.
“Wonderful. Then don’t bother giving her a dowry either.”
She picked up her steamed bun.
“Zhaodi is such a devoted daughter. I’m sure she wouldn’t dream of making you spend even a single penny on her wedding.”
At those words, Lin Zhaodi could no longer conceal the venom in her eyes.
She glared at Lin Wanqiu with open hatred.
But Lin Wanqiu acted as though she hadn’t noticed.
She simply continued eating.
Lin Zhaodi, this is only the beginning.
You haven’t seen anything yet.
…
That night, Lin Wanqiu slept alone in the woodshed.
With a single thought, she entered her spiritual space.
A day had passed, and the space had already undergone a few changes.
The spiritual spring seemed even clearer than before.
More astonishingly, the cabbage seeds she had planted in the black soil had already sprouted.
Tender green shoots poked through the dark earth.
So the claim that the soil could accelerate plant growth was true.
Lin Wanqiu crouched beside the seedlings, examining them with growing excitement.
If crops could grow this quickly, the possibilities were enormous.
She rose and made her way toward the thatched cottage beside the spring.
The interior was almost completely empty.
There was only a wooden table, a chair, and an empty shelf.
On the table lay a book.
Beside it rested a small acupuncture kit.
Lin Wanqiu picked up the book and examined its cover.
The title read:
The Compendium of a Hundred Herbs.
Curious, she opened it.
As she turned the pages, her eyes grew brighter and brighter.
The opening passage read:
“Every herb possesses its own spirit. Medicine can save a life or take one. Whether that power is used for healing or harm depends entirely on the heart of the one who wields it.”
Lin Wanqiu’s breath caught.
She continued reading.
The book contained detailed descriptions of countless medicinal herbs, including their appearances, properties, and effects.
It also recorded numerous medicinal formulas, explaining how different ingredients could be combined to treat various illnesses.
But that wasn’t all.
Toward the back was an entire section devoted to acupuncture.
There were detailed illustrations of the body’s acupuncture points, explanations of their functions, and step-by-step instructions for inserting and manipulating needles to treat different conditions.
The more Lin Wanqiu read, the more fascinated she became.
She had never imagined that the spiritual space would contain something so valuable.
If she could master even a portion of the knowledge in this book, she might gain abilities that ordinary people could only dream of.
She became so absorbed in reading that she completely lost track of time.
It wasn’t until the sound of a rooster crowing reached her from outside the space that she finally closed the book.
Morning had arrived.
Lin Wanqiu walked over to the spiritual spring and drank several mouthfuls of water.
The familiar warmth spread through her body, washing away much of the fatigue and drowsiness that had accumulated overnight.
She felt refreshed and clearheaded once again.
…
The first rays of morning sunlight pierced the thin mist and spilled into the Lin family’s low-ceilinged main room.
Chen Zhigang arrived as promised.
He wore a set of faded work clothes that had clearly been washed countless times.
In his hands were two packages of pastries.
Because his mother was unable to move around easily, Auntie Liu had accompanied him as the matchmaker and witness.
The two sat beside the wooden table while Wang Guihua enthusiastically poured them each a bowl of plain boiled water.
“Zhigang, I understand that your mother isn’t well enough to come,” Wang Guihua said, smiling so broadly that her eyes nearly disappeared.
“It’s perfectly fine. With Auntie Liu here to witness everything, it’s just as good.”
Auntie Liu reached into her clothing and pulled out a packet wrapped in red paper.
She placed it on the table and pushed it toward Wang Guihua.
“Guihua, this is the Chen family’s bride price. Three hundred yuan, just as agreed.”
She smiled approvingly at Chen Zhigang.
“Zhigang is a reliable young man. Wanqiu won’t go wrong marrying him.”
The red paper was unfolded, revealing three neat stacks of ten-yuan banknotes totaling three hundred yuan.
Wang Guihua’s eyes lit up instantly.
She practically lunged across the table.
With both hands, she gathered the money into her arms, her fingers trembling as she counted the bills.
Once.
Twice.
Then again, just to be certain.
After confirming that the full three hundred yuan was there, she hurriedly stuffed the money into an inner pocket of her clothing.
She even patted the pocket twice, as though afraid the banknotes might suddenly grow wings and fly away.
“My dear son-in-law! What a wonderful son-in-law!”
Her voice rose several pitches with excitement.
“Then the marriage is settled!”
She leaned forward eagerly.
“When do you think we should hold the wedding?”
Chen Zhigang looked somewhat uncomfortable.
He glanced toward Lin Wanqiu.
She was sitting on a small wooden stool in the corner, looking half asleep.
From the moment he had arrived, she hadn’t even bothered opening her eyes.
“I’ll leave it up to Wanqiu,” he said quietly.
“What does a young girl know about choosing wedding dates?”
Wang Guihua waved her hand dismissively.
“I think the sixteenth of next month would be perfect! It’s an auspicious day!”
She turned toward Auntie Liu.
“What do you think, Auntie Liu?”
Auntie Liu nodded repeatedly.
“Yes, yes! The sixteenth is excellent! A very favorable day for a wedding!”