Liu Da Ni, who had been moaning with her eyes closed, was startled by Liu Jian's piercing, terrified scream.
She snapped open her lust-glazed eyes, and upon seeing the scene before her, her head lolled to the side as she too fainted.
Tang Qing'er, watching clearly from the roof beam, couldn't help but purse her lips in disdain: Well, another one fainted. They really can't handle a scare.
She nimbly jumped down from the roof and swaggered into the house. As if tidying her own home,
she scavenged every last bit of remaining odds and ends inside, not leaving behind even a single copper coin.
Just as she stepped out of the house, she heard heart-wrenching wails and furious roars coming from the room of the old couple, Liu Wangcai and his wife.
It seemed the nightmare vine leaves were taking effect.
A cold, vindictive smile curled at the corner of Tang Qing'er's lips. Without another moment's delay,
she turned and deftly vaulted over the wall, even humming a little tune as she went,
leaving Bai Liu Village—where the original host and her children had suffered endless humiliation—in extremely high spirits.
The next morning, Bai Liu Village was like a pot that had just been struck by a thunderbolt, instantly boiling over.
It was said that at the crack of dawn, Liu Da Ni had actually run out of Liu Wangcai's house stark naked and completely deranged.
Screaming "There's a ghost!" as she ran, she drew the attention of the entire village.
Everyone called out to each other, swarming in a crowd to Liu Wangcai's house to see what was happening.
What they saw left them all stunned: The old couple, Liu Wangcai and his wife, lay unconscious in a pool of blood in the main room;
while their son, Liu Jian, lay completely naked on the floor in the inner room, also unconscious.
The village chief, terrified by this horrifying scene, immediately sent someone to fetch the village doctor.
Upon arrival, the doctor promptly administered acupuncture for emergency treatment.
After a round of diagnosis, the conclusion he reached made the gathered villagers gasp in shock:
Liu Jian had suffered a tremendous fright and would likely be impotent from now on;
Old Mrs. Liu had suffered cranial damage from the beating, compressing her nerves. She would be bedridden for life, requiring help even for bodily functions;
The one in the best condition was Liu Wangcai. Although his face and body were covered in scratches and bruises, fortunately, his internal organs were unharmed.
What frightened everyone even more was that Liu Wangcai's house looked as if it had been ransacked by bandits. Everything inside had been cleared out, not even a strip of cloth remained.
The three family members were completely naked, without even a pair of underpants to cover their shame, presenting a utterly wretched scene.
It was only after a few nearby families, unable to bear the sight, went back and fetched some old, unworn clothes to give them that the three looked somewhat presentable again.
From that day on, rumors about Liu Wangcai's family spread through the village like wildfire.
People all said his family was being punished for mistreating their daughter-in-law.
Those strange occurrences were surely the spirits of Tang Qing'er's parents manifesting to seek vengeance for their daughter.
The rumors grew wilder and more bizarre, and Liu Da Ni went completely mad. She would frequently run outside naked, grabbing any man she saw to proposition them.
During the day, the ill-intentioned men still had some reservations, but once night fell,
many unscrupulous old bachelors would gather around, taking advantage of her.
Originally, Liu Da Ni's parents had urged their daughter to divorce and return home, scheming to marry her off again for another hefty bride price.
Now that their daughter had ended up in such a state, the more they thought about it, the more resentful they became. The family caused several scenes at Liu Wangcai's doorstep, trying to squeeze some benefit out of them.
But the Liu family had long been cleaned out, to the point where even rats passing by would shake their heads in dismay.
Seeing that there was truly no profit to be gained, and unwilling to deal with this mad daughter, they simply dumped her at Liu Wangcai's home.
Now things were perfect: one madwoman, one paralyzed man, plus a wretched old man.
And there was also a good-for-nothing son who was impotent—this combination was absolutely unmatched. It was truly miserable to the extreme.
The father and son, unable to bear seeing their home reduced to such a state, went to the town's Yashu to report the crime, firmly insisting that Tang Qing'er had stolen from their family.
However, when the government officials visited the village to investigate, they immediately scowled and reprimanded:
"A woman who hasn't even finished her postpartum confinement, caring for a crying, hungry son and a four-year-old daughter—where would she find the ability to steal from your home?"
This left the father and son speechless, and the matter was dropped from then on.
From that point on, the Liu family's life descended into utter chaos and turmoil.
As for Tang Qing'er in town, she had no time to care whether they lived or died.
First, she went to the household register office to inquire about the conditions for settling. The official managing the household register told her:
"If you want to settle in a village, you need the village chief's approval.
If you have a house in town, you can settle directly in town."
After learning this, Tang Qing'er felt it would be more convenient to settle in town, but she would need to buy a house.
Although houses in town weren't cheap, the cheapest would still cost at least a hundred taels. Aside from what she had already spent, she only had a little over ten taels left.
Even with the thirty-some taels she had taken from Liu Wangcai's home, she still had less than fifty taels in total.
This was far from enough to buy a house. It seemed she would have to find a way to make money.
Tang Qing'er's eyes lit up as an idea came to her. The supplies she had collected in her space were piled up like a mountain, and she had even forgotten what was in there.
Why not go in and rummage around to see if she could find anything to sell?
She could first settle the matter of the house and the household register. As for her livelihood in the future, she could plan for that slowly.
No sooner said than done. She first returned to the inn. After having lunch with the children, she asked her eldest daughter to play with her younger brother in the room.
Then, with a thought, she entered her space to "treasure hunt." To her surprise, there were quite a few things she could sell:
Exquisite red wine glasses, small lighters, a complete set of Western-style tableware… She even found a few crystal-clear crystal ornaments in a corner.
She immediately regretted it deeply—in her previous life, when collecting supplies, she had treated those shiny gold jewelry as worthless trash.
If she had taken a few pieces, she wouldn't be worrying about money now.
After careful consideration, she chose a pair of finely crafted wine glasses, found a velvet gift box to carefully wrap them in, and left the space.
Before heading out, she still felt uneasy about leaving the two children alone, so she released the nightmare vine.
She let it coil on the tea table in the room, whispered a few instructions to it, and then tucked the box under her arm and left.
After some inquiries, she found the only pawnshop in town. She walked in, and the clerk behind the counter glanced up.
Seeing that she was a sallow, thin woman who clearly suffered from malnutrition, and though she wore fine cotton clothes, she didn’t look like someone who would have anything valuable.
The clerk curled his lip dismissively: "What do you want to pawn? Show me."
Tang Qing'er wasn't angered by his rudeness and simply replied calmly:
"What I want to pawn is probably beyond your authority. Please ask your shopkeeper to come out."
The clerk looked Tang Qing'er up and down, his gaze as if appraising goods.
Tang Qing'er was displeased. She unwrapped the cloth bundle in her hands, revealing an elegant and luxurious velvet gift box.
The moment the shop assistant saw it, his expression immediately turned serious. The box alone was clearly no ordinary item, let alone what was inside.
He hurriedly scurried off to the backyard to fetch the shopkeeper. Before long, a thin, sharp-faced man with a weaselly appearance emerged from the back.
He, too, noticed the velvet box on the counter and warmly invited Tang Qing'er into the inner room.
After instructing the assistant to serve tea, he explained, "Please don't take offense, young lady. This is where we receive distinguished guests. May this old man take a look inside the box you've brought?"
Tang Qing'er nodded. The shopkeeper carefully opened the velvet box on the tea table.
Upon seeing a pair of crystal-clear stemmed glasses, his eyes lit up for a moment before returning to normal.
The shopkeeper examined them closely for a long while, then gently tapped the side of a glass with his knuckle, listening to the sound, before leisurely speaking:
"Young lady, this pair of 'liuli' glasses indeed has excellent quality. However, may I ask where you obtained these items?"
Tang Qing'er sneered inwardly but kept her expression neutral: "These are heirlooms passed down in my family. Now that our family has fallen on hard times, I'm bringing them out to pawn in order to maintain some semblance of dignity."
The shopkeeper nodded, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his eyes: "I see. Then, may I ask if you intend to pawn them as a 'dead pledge' or a 'live pledge'?"
"How much for a dead pledge? And how much for a live pledge?" Tang Qing'er asked directly.
The shopkeeper's eyes shifted, and a fake smile spread across his face:
"Considering the craftsmanship of this liuli is quite exquisite, for a live pledge, I can offer you 5 taels of silver. As for a dead pledge… 10 taels of silver, and not a tael more."
Hearing this, Tang Qing'er was seething with anger, but her face remained calm.
Without another word, she stood up, carefully rewrapped the stemmed glasses, turned, and headed straight for the door.
Seeing this, the shopkeeper immediately shot a meaningful glance at the assistant nearby. The assistant understood and quietly followed her.
As she walked, Tang Qing'er cursed the shopkeeper a thousand times in her heart:
"What a piece of work! Does he really think I'm some country bumpkin who's never seen the world?
Where in ancient times could you find such pure, crystal-clear craftsmanship without a single bubble?
And a pair of glass cups like this—you probably couldn't find a second pair in the entire Great Xia Dynasty!
Daring to offer such a pittance to fool me, what an idiot!"
Just as she was cursing with gusto, even spitting once in anger, she suddenly sensed someone following her not far behind. She smiled coldly: "Trash. Looks like they're planning to resort to robbery."