As Li Xiaoxiao looked at the tael of silver she had just obtained, she couldn’t have been happier. She decided that after her bargain-bin sons, daughters-in-law, and granddaughters had all fallen asleep tonight, she would thoroughly inventory the wealth left behind by the original owner of this body.
..
Qin Dafu reluctantly helped support Qin Dacai as he escorted him and Yang Xiaocao home.
After reaching Qin Dacai’s house, he settled the injured man onto a chair in the main hall.
“Auntie, my father is still waiting for me. We need to discuss tomorrow’s work, so I’ll be heading back now.”
Before Yang Xiaocao could even ask him to stay, Qin Dafu turned and ran off.
“Wang! Wang! Get out here and take care of your husband! Can’t you see he’s hurt? Wang! Where the hell did you die?”
Yang Xiaocao shouted toward the side room.
Only silence answered her.
The courtyard was as still and dark as the night itself.
Qin Dacai was in too much pain to get up and check for himself.
“Wang! You damned woman! Are you tired of living? Get out here and serve your husband!”
Still no response.
An uneasy feeling crept into Yang Xiaocao’s heart.
She hurried into Qin Dacai’s room.
The bedding was folded neatly.
Everything else was gone.
Then she rushed to Qin Dabao’s room.
The bed was similarly tidy.
Opening the cabinet beside it, she found that all of Qin Dabao’s clothes had disappeared.
At last, reality dawned on her.
Wang had left.
“Oh heavens above! This is terrible! Dacai! This is terrible!”
Panicked, Yang Xiaocao sprinted back into the hall and accidentally shoved the struggling Qin Dacai back into his chair.
“Dacai! Your wife ran away! She took my precious grandson with her! What are we going to do?”
She beat her chest and wailed.
“What?! She dared?!”
Qin Dacai shot to his feet.
“When I catch her, I’ll beat her half to death!”
Before he could take a step, Yang Xiaocao accidentally tripped him.
BAM!
Qin Dacai crashed face-first onto the ground.
“Dacai! What’s wrong? Son, where are you hurt?”
For a moment Yang Xiaocao forgot to cry.
The truth was that she herself had tripped him.
Qin Dacai was in so much pain he couldn’t even speak.
Frantic, Yang Xiaocao grabbed him and tried to haul him upright with all her strength.
CRACK!
A horrifying sound echoed through the room.
His leg bone snapped.
“AAAAHHHH!”
Qin Dacai screamed.
“Mother! Let go!”
In agony, he shoved Yang Xiaocao away.
Without support, he collapsed again.
BANG!
CRACK!
This time he landed badly on his right arm.
His arm broke as well.
Completely at a loss, Yang Xiaocao instinctively stepped forward to help him again.
“AAAAHHHH! Mother! Don’t touch me!”
Veins bulged across Qin Dacai’s forehead from the pain.
“My son! My son! What’s happening to you? Don’t scare your mother!”
Now Yang Xiaocao was truly terrified.
At that moment, Qin Yougui, who had been leaning against the doorframe in his own injured state, gathered his strength and roared:
“Get a doctor! Hurry!”
“Doctor! Right! A doctor!”
Yang Xiaocao rushed out of the house and sprinted toward the only physician in Qin Village.
“Doctor Huang! Save us!”
Not long afterward, Doctor Huang was practically dragged back to the house.
The moment he saw Qin Dacai sprawled on the floor, he couldn’t help feeling pleased.
What a valuable customer this family is today.
One visit at noon, another at night.
Money really does come looking for some people.
Doctor Huang’s medical skills were quite good, but unfortunately this era had no anesthetics.
By the time he finished setting Qin Dacai’s broken leg and arm, the man had already passed out from the pain.
Only then was he carefully moved onto the bed.
At that point, nobody cared about Wang’s disappearance anymore.
..
In truth, Wang had already reached her parents’ home.
She knew full well that after suffering humiliation today, Qin Dacai and Yang Xiaocao would certainly vent their anger on her.
Rather than wait around to be beaten, she packed her belongings and fled.
More importantly, if her son remained in that household any longer, his future would be ruined.
Her own life had already been destroyed by Qin Dacai.
She refused to let the same happen to her son.
The moment she got home, she packed everything she could and headed for her maiden family more than twenty li away.
When her parents saw their daughter—who had not returned home since her marriage—standing before them covered in bruises and accompanied by an equally battered Qin Dabao, they broke down in tears.
Fearing Qin Dacai would come after them, the Wang family quickly gathered money and supplies.
That very night, Wang’s brothers escorted her and Qin Dabao to seek refuge with her maternal uncle, who lived several hundred li away.
None of this concerned Li Xiaoxiao.
What mattered to her was that the house had finally gone quiet.
Her sons, daughters-in-law, and granddaughters were all asleep.
It was time to count the family assets.
The first thing she found beneath her pillow were two strings of copper coins.
In this era, one copper coin equaled one wen.
Each string contained one hundred coins.
Together they amounted to two hundred wen.
These were the funds Madam Li normally used for everyday expenses.
Taking a key from beneath the pillow, Li Xiaoxiao unlocked a clothing chest.
Beneath layers of garments she discovered an old camphorwood box.
The box was clearly well worn with age.
Inside were two compartments.
The upper level contained twenty neatly stacked strings of copper coins.
The lower level held pieces of silver of varying sizes.
According to Madam Li’s memories, there should be thirty-one taels of silver stored there.
This represented years of savings accumulated after her husband Qin Youfu’s death while she managed every aspect of the household’s income and expenses.
Originally there had been far more.
However, over the years much of it had been spent.
Because of Madam Li’s fierce and intimidating reputation, marrying wives for her second and third sons had been expensive.
While other families could secure daughters-in-law with three taels of silver, she had paid ten taels in bride price for each son.
The wedding feasts alone had cost another two taels per wedding.
Each daughter-in-law had also received a two-tael welcoming gift.
When her daughters married, she had never treated them as lesser simply because they were girls.
In fact, she had been even more generous.
Each daughter received:
Even when her parents-in-law died and her younger brother-in-law claimed he had no money, it was Madam Li who paid the funeral expenses.
Li Xiaoxiao sat quietly, absorbing all those memories.
“So she was only fierce on the surface…”
Her expression softened slightly.
“Running this family really wasn’t easy.”
For the first time, she began to understand the woman whose body she now occupied.
Behind the reputation of a tyrannical mother-in-law was someone who had spent years exhausting herself to support an entire family while receiving little appreciation in return.