“This person—you’ll marry him whether you want to or not.” Her mother Li Qiujv’s voice rang in her ears.
Jiang Li slowly came to, pushing herself up from the ground.
Wasn’t she dead?
She had died at fifty, of stomach cancer, driven out of the house by her four younger brothers, with nowhere to go in the dead of winter, finally freezing to death on the street.
So why could she still hear her mother’s voice?
Jiang Li patted her head and gradually saw the scene before her clearly.
In the courtyard piled high with straw, her father stood not far away smoking a dry tobacco pipe, his face indifferent. Her four younger brothers stood nearby.
Her eldest younger brother clenched his fists and glared at her angrily. Her mother stood right in front of her holding a broom, raising it again and again to strike her.
“You worthless money-loser, you still dare to talk back to me? Let me tell you, marrying Wang Er is your blessing. So what if he’s an old widower? His family has money—five thousand yuan in bride price, and they don’t even want a dowry.”
“With that money, your eldest brother can marry the village chief’s daughter. If you don’t marry, are you trying to make sure your brother can’t get a wife? As the elder sister, how can you be so vicious?”
“Useless thing, why did I even raise you? Might as well beat you to death…”
When the broom swung down again, Jiang Li grabbed it.
She stood up and stared coldly at Li Qiujv.
She remembered now—this was more than thirty years ago, when her eldest brother wanted to marry the village chief’s daughter, and her mother forced her to marry the fifty-something widower in the village for a five-thousand-yuan bride price.
She had refused to marry, was pushed to the ground by her eldest brother Jiang Jianguo, and beaten black and blue by her mother with a broom.
So… she had been reborn? Reborn to the day that changed her entire life?
Tears streamed down Jiang Li’s face. Was even Heaven unwilling to let her suffer half a lifetime only to freeze to death on the streets, and thus gave her another chance?
“You worthless thing, you still dare to resist! See if I don’t beat you to death today. Jianguo, come here and hold her down for me!” Li Qiujv shouted when she couldn’t yank the broom free.
Jiang Li snatched the broom and flung it to the ground. “Stop hitting me. I’ll marry.”
Jiang Jianguo, who had been stepping forward, froze, clearly not expecting her to agree so quickly. After all, Jiang Li had a stubborn temper—no matter how badly she was beaten, she never admitted fault or softened.
Had she finally come to her senses?
Li Qiujv didn’t think much of it. In her view, Wang Er was a top-tier match in the village—aside from being old, he offered a generous bride price and didn’t demand a dowry.
As a money-losing daughter, she should have this kind of awareness: marry whoever gives the most bride price so her brother can get a wife.
“At least you know what’s good for you,” Li Qiujv snorted coldly.
“The banquet will be in three days. The Wang family said they won’t make it big, just treat the villagers to a meal. Now hurry up and go work.”
Ignoring whether Jiang Li was injured, Li Qiujv grabbed a back basket and sickle from the ground and motioned for her to go up the mountain to cut pig fodder.
In her previous life, Jiang Li had stubbornly refused to marry Wang Er. After being beaten half to death, she was locked up.
Unwilling to be called a worthless money-loser, she sneaked up the mountain overnight, dug up a lot of medicinal herbs, and sold them on the black market.
At dawn, she returned to the Jiang house covered in wounds, carrying two thousand yuan, begging her mother not to marry her off, promising to earn money and repay the family properly.
Seeing that she could earn so much money in just one night, her father gave up the idea of marrying her off.
From then on, she worked day and night for her brothers.
Later, all her brothers rose to prominence, and the Jiang family became the envy of everyone, while she was left riddled with illness and ultimately froze to death on the streets.
Thinking back now, she was truly foolish—believing her parents would have feelings for her, believing her brothers would remember her sacrifices, believing they were family after all.
She thought that as long as she contributed enough to the family, they wouldn’t see her as a money-loser, would love her, protect her, and stand up for her in front of outsiders.
But she didn’t know that the Jiang family were ungrateful wolves through and through. They only ever took her sacrifices for granted.
After draining her of her last drop of blood, they abandoned her without mercy.
Reborn in this life, she would never give them another chance to hurt her.
Jiang Li took the basket and sickle and walked out.
Seeing her still as obedient as before, Li Qiujv smiled with satisfaction—money-losers were money-losers; beat them once and they’d behave.
Although Jiang Jianguo felt something was a little different about Jiang Li this time, the thought that he would soon marry the village chief’s daughter made him stop thinking further.
“I want thorn berries. Pick some for me when you come back,” the fourth brother stopped Jiang Li and ordered.
The fourth brother, Jiang Weiguo, had never liked studying since childhood, but had some interest in singing. For his sake, Jiang Li had humbled herself to find connections, accompanied people drinking and socializing, and sent him into the entertainment industry.
When he became famous, the first thing he did was replace her as his manager and expose her online, accusing her of exploiting him. She was cyberbullied for years and eventually fell into depression.
Seeing the ten-year-old Jiang Weiguo again now, Jiang Li realized that this brat had never regarded her as a sister from the very beginning.
In his eyes, she was a servant, a nanny, someone who was supposed to obey and submit completely to the Jiang family.
Now, she was done serving them.
Jiang Li shoved Jiang Weiguo aside. “Get lost.”
Although Jiang Weiguo was only ten, he was tall and sturdy. Jiang Li, on the other hand, was a twenty-year-old adult, barely one meter sixty tall and not even ninety pounds.
Calling it a shove was generous—it was more like a light push, and she nearly fell over herself.
Even so, Jiang Weiguo chased after her and kicked her twice.
“How dare a money-loser push me! I’ll kick you to death. If you dare not pick thorn berries for me, I’ll have Mom beat you again.”
Jiang Weiguo, being heavyset, soon fell behind, but even after Jiang Li had walked far away, she could still hear the voices of the Jiang family.
“Son, are you okay?” Li Qiujv favored her youngest son the most and pulled him close, fussing over him.
“Don’t worry. Your sister wouldn’t dare not pick thorn berries for you. If she dares not to, we won’t let her eat tonight.”
“That’s not enough. If she doesn’t pick them, beat her again—beat her to death,” Jiang Weiguo said viciously.
Jiang Jianguo shoved him. “Cut it out. If you provoke her and ruin my plans, I won’t spare you.”
“She wouldn’t dare,” Li Qiujv said dismissively. “Big Treasure, don’t worry. That dead girl has always been obedient. Since she’s already agreed to marry, she won’t go back on it.”
“Besides, she’s a member of the Jiang family. Where could she go without us? She’s marrying Wang Er for sure. I’ll go find Wang Er later and get the bride price first.”
“…”
She had long known what kind of people the Jiang family were, but hearing the same words again still pierced Jiang Li’s heart viciously.
She clenched her fists and took a deep breath. Now was not the time to be sad. If she wanted to leave this family, she first had to resolve the problem of marriage.
In her previous life, she had shown the Jiang family her ability to earn money, which made them give up the idea of marrying her to Wang Er.
But it was precisely because of that that she was completely targeted by them, clung to like a leech, and drained of her last bit of value.
So this time, she couldn’t let the Jiang family know she could make money.
But if she didn’t bring money back, how could she possibly make the Jiang family give up on marrying her off?