“Your daughter threw herself into the river to seek death, and my son was kind enough to pull her out. Instead of being grateful, you want to extort him… Where in the world is the logic in that!”
“Bullshit logic! Your son held my daughter, so he has to marry her and take her home!”
“That wasn’t ‘holding’… He did it to save her life! To save her!”
“I don’t care! He held her, and if he held her, he must marry her!”
“You! You shrew!”
…
Accompanied by the sounds of women brawling, Shen Yulou slowly opened her eyes. Her pale, thin face was filled with confusion as she looked around suspiciously.
A dilapidated courtyard and mud-brick houses.
A crowd of villagers whose attire and appearance felt ancient.
And two women tangled together, tearing at each other’s hair.
This…
A sudden, terrible premonition rose in her mind. Shen Yulou looked at her hands in a panic.
Her ten fingers were red and swollen like little carrots.
The chilblains on several fingers had even cracked open!
Key point: These weren’t her hands!
She was both the owner and the head chef of a restaurant. She had always been meticulous about personal hygiene and took great care of her hands. How could they have been ruined like this!
Had she… transmigrated?
And to ancient times, no less!
As the thought arose, a fragment of memory that didn’t belong to her flooded her mind.
The original owner of this body shared her name, Shen Yulou, and was born into a rural family that favored sons over daughters.
Three years ago, when she was only thirteen, her parents dragged her out to be married.
They called it a marriage, but it was no different from selling their daughter.
Because the groom was the son of a Xiucai’s family. He had been struck by a sudden, grave illness, and seeing that his days were numbered, they had married him off in a hurry.
In truth, they intended for the girl to be buried with him.
The original owner’s parents knew this, but they couldn’t resist the large sum of “life-buying money” offered by the Xiucai.
And so, the thirteen-year-old Shen Yulou moved into the Xiucai’s house with a small bundle of clothes. She looked after his son day and night without rest, and by some miracle, she actually nursed him back to health.
Two months ago, the Xiucai’s son also passed the exams and became a Xiucai himself.
In this era, a Xiucai wasn’t necessarily rare, but a sixteen or seventeen-year-old one was as scarce as a phoenix feather.
The elder Xiucai’s ego swelled. Using the excuse that the two had never officially wed, he kicked her out and sent her back to her parents’ home.
But the original owner had lived in another man’s house for nearly three years. Combined with her money-grubbing parents who would pick a fight even when they were in the wrong, who would dare to take her?
Her parents had scoured every village for miles, but they couldn’t marry her off.
Even a fifty-year-old widower kept his distance from them.
The couple was so furious they beat and cursed her every day.
The disdain shown by her older brother and sister-in-law was even more obvious.
Driven to despair, she threw herself into the river to end her life.
Zhao Silang, a young man from the same village, happened to be returning from a hunt and jumped in to save her.
But this rescue brought immense trouble. Her parents used the excuse that Zhao Silang had held her to insist that he take her.
The Zhao family refused, so the couple went to their house every day to cause a scene.
Today was New Year’s Eve, and Shen Yulou’s mother, Mrs. Zhou, had dragged her daughter—who was still burning with a high fever—to the Zhao house to raise hell again.
The poor girl had caught a cold after falling into the water, and with the high fever and the constant harassment, she had literally been hounded to death.
Having processed the memories, Shen Yulou hugged her shoulders and shivered.
She had been delivering food to a kindergarten when she encountered a bitter man venting his rage on the children. She had stepped in to save a child from his knife, only for the man to chase her and stab her repeatedly until she was like a sieve. After death, she transmigrated, only to find herself in this disastrous situation… Who was she supposed to complain to!
Shen Yulou’s eyes turned red, and large tears began to fall.
While she was mourning her fate, the original owner’s mother, Mrs. Zhou, screamed at the top of her lungs:
“You Zhao family sons aren’t human! He touched my daughter but refuses to marry her. You’re trying to drive us to our deaths… I’ll just beat her to death myself! Her body is already filthy anyway; living is just an embarrassment!”
Before Shen Yulou realized that “she” referred to her, a rake slammed into her back.
The rake was made of wood, but its teeth had been sharpened. Mrs. Zhou had struck with murderous force; nine teeth sank directly into her flesh.
Shen Yulou’s eyes widened and rounded in shock. She let out a blood-curdling scream, her chest reflexively arching forward as her head snapped back, looking like a shrimp being forcibly pulled apart by its head and tail.
Due to the agonizing pain, the veins in her neck looked as though they were about to burst.
The spectating villagers let out cries of alarm.
The Zhao family was also shocked. The children cried in terror and dove into their mothers’ arms.
Mother Zhao’s eyes widened in horror. She pointed at Mrs. Zhou and shouted, “You shrew! You shrew! Even a tiger doesn’t eat its own cubs, Mrs. Zhou!”
But Mrs. Zhou was a man-eating tigress. She jerked the rake out and aimed another blow at Shen Yulou.
This time, she aimed for her face.
As the rake was pulled out, Shen Yulou had used the force to turn around.
What met her eyes was a distorted, hideous face and a rake covered in blood.
The blood from the rake’s teeth even dripped into Shen Yulou’s mouth.
She was terrified, shaking uncontrollably.
Just as she thought she was about to die again, the rake—less than three inches from her chest—suddenly stopped.
A man’s beast-like roar erupted above her, nearly bursting her eardrums.
“Enough! You want me to marry her? Fine, I’ll marry her!”
With that roar, the rake was snatched away and thrown to the ground. Mrs. Zhou was knocked forward, falling flat on her face.
Shen Yulou’s struggling stopped, her heart thumping wildly.
Ignoring the wailing Mrs. Zhou on the ground, she turned quickly and looked up at the man standing behind her.
The midday sun was dazzling.
But the man was even more dazzling than the sun.
He was in his early twenties, tall and sturdy—at least six feet tall. Despite it being mid-winter, he wore thin clothing, and the outlines of his muscles were firm and clear. The lines of his exposed arms were full of wild power.
It was Zhao Silang!
The kind young man who had brought trouble upon himself by saving the original owner!
Looking at his handsome face and deep features, Shen Yulou’s heart raced even faster. Knowing it was wrong and shameless, she still grabbed his hand like a drowning person clutching at a straw.
“Brother Zhao, you don’t have to marry me. Just buy me… I’ll work for you. I’ll serve you like a beast of burden to repay you, and I’ll never get in the way of you marrying and having children!”
The original owner’s home was a wolf’s den. She couldn’t go back. Going back would be a fate worse than death.
She couldn’t marry Zhao Silang either, because even if she married him, she would still be a daughter of the Shen family. Mrs. Zhou would cling to her like a blood-sucking leech, draining both her and the Zhao family.
She would never be able to shake them off.
The best way to end the trouble permanently was to sell herself to the Zhao family, severing ties with her biological family and cutting all connections.
Zhao Silang seemed to consider this as well. After a moment of silence, he said, “Fine.”
He turned and walked toward the house.
Mother Zhao chased after him for a few steps before stopping. She cried out toward his back, “Silang, think carefully! This is no joking matter!”
Zhao Silang paused, his broad back showing a hint of hesitation.
Shen Yulou’s heart leaped into her throat. Watching his tall figure, she didn’t even dare to breathe.
Fortunately, he only hesitated for a moment.
His voice was muffled as he said, “Mother, we can’t just watch someone die. That’s what you and Father taught me.”
With that, he continued walking.
The weight in Shen Yulou’s heart finally lifted.
She collapsed onto the ground, her cheek pressed against the dirt as she murmured, “I’m sorry…”
She would remember the Zhao family’s kindness!
Zhao Silang soon emerged from the house carrying a grey cloth bag.
The bag wasn’t large, but it was heavy. With every movement, the clinking of silver bits and copper coins could be heard.
Mrs. Zhou, who had been wailing and rolling on the ground to extort more, heard the sound clearly. She scrambled up and reached out to grab the money bag.
Zhao Silang held it high above his head.
After jumping twice and failing to reach it, Mrs. Zhou snapped, “Zhao Silang, what are you doing? Give it to me! This is my daughter’s bride price!”
Zhao Silang said coldly, “It’s not a bride price. This is the price for your daughter’s person. It’s eleven taels in total. If you want it, sign the deed of sale first.”
In poor families who couldn’t survive, it was common for parents to sell their children for money.
Eleven taels of silver was not a low price.
However, Mrs. Zhou’s eyes flickered as she said, “If you want to buy my daughter, this little bit of silver isn’t enough… At least fifty taels!”
Mrs. Zhou held up five fingers.
The villagers were in an uproar.
“Fifty taels? Why doesn’t she just commit highway robbery!”
“Her mouth is bigger than her face!”
“I’ve never seen such a heartless person!”
“What kind of sins did that Shen girl commit in her past life to end up with parents like these in this one!”
Mrs. Zhou shouted back at the crowd, “So what? My price is already low! My daughter is diligent and capable, she eats very little, and she can work as hard as an ox!”
After shouting, she turned back to Zhao Silang. “Fixed price: fifty taels of silver. Otherwise, I’ll beat her to death!”
Having said that, she reached for the rake on the ground again.
But before she could bend down, Shen Yulou suddenly scrambled up, rushed to her, and grabbed her hair.
Mrs. Zhou let out a scream like a slaughtered pig. “Aaaah! A child hitting her own mother! This is a violation of the natural order! There’s no justice!”
“Justice? Hah!”
Shen Yulou sneered. Pulling Mrs. Zhou’s head back by her hair, she delivered several sharp slaps across her face.
“Three years ago, when you sold me for the first time, justice stopped being on your side!”
She delivered several more slaps.
“And today you tried to kill me! How dare you talk to me about justice!”
With every sentence Shen Yulou spoke, several more slaps followed.
Mrs. Zhou was beaten senseless, her face turning left and right with each slap, her wails becoming fragmented.
The villagers watched coldly. No one stopped Shen Yulou; some even cheered for her.
Unfortunately, this body had been through too much. Though she wanted to tear Mrs. Zhou’s face apart, she lacked the strength.
Using the last of her energy to push Mrs. Zhou down, Shen Yulou pulled a wooden hairpin from her bun and pressed it against her own throat.
“Eleven taels of silver, and not a penny more! Today, you either sell me or I die right here, and you won’t get a single cent!”