The people of the Guan family heard the news and naturally couldn’t sit still. A group of them rushed to Yang LiZheng’s house.
Old Madam Guan was the first to question him. “LiZheng Yang, I heard my granddaughter Xiyue bought Old Sun’s house at the village entrance along with two mu of land. Is that true?”
LiZheng Yang nodded. Old Madam Guan immediately held out her hand. “Where is the land deed?”
He looked at her in shock. “Of course the deed is with Xiyue.”
Old Master Guan frowned. “LiZheng, that’s not right. Xiyue is still young. Even though she’s been divorced, she’s still part of our Guan family. Whatever she bought naturally belongs to our family.”
The villagers began murmuring. Some said Old Master Guan was right—if she was divorced, she was still family, so how could she own land separately? Others said the Guan family was shameless—when the girl was divorced, they didn’t care about her at all, and now they suddenly wanted her land.
Third Uncle Guan and his wife Zhang Shi looked dejected; clearly, they were still upset about their daughter being sent back. The rest of the Guan family, however, were excited, thinking they had just gained two mu of land worth several taels of silver.
Li Shi, the LiZheng’s wife, couldn’t stand it and spoke up. “All the villagers are here to witness this. Not long ago, didn’t someone say that a married daughter is like water spilled, and even if she’s divorced, she has nothing to do with the Guan family anymore? How is she suddenly your family member again now?”
Old Master Guan was embarrassed and had no answer. Eldest Aunt Zhao quickly stepped in. “Sister Li, that’s not how you put it. Who could have predicted Xiyue would really be divorced? Now that she is, of course she’s still part of the Guan family.”
The LiZheng thought to himself that thankfully Xiyue had foresight and had already clarified everything with them in advance, anticipating this mess.
He cleared his throat and said with authority, “I handle this according to official procedure. If you have objections, go speak to Guan Xiyue herself. She has been divorced and has established her own household. She has her own household registration and her own land. You are now two separate families. Any disputes, settle them yourselves.”
This caused an even bigger commotion among the villagers. This kind of situation had never happened in Dazhuang Village before, and probably not even in the entire Quqing County.
Generally, widows with children might establish a household to survive. In families without sons, a daughter might marry into a household as a son-in-law and form a branch family. But in most cases, women did not divorce or get sent back. Even if they did, they either stayed alone for life or were arranged by their family to remarry.
But this—parents and clan still present, yet a divorced daughter not returning home, instead setting up her own household and buying land—was unheard of.
Thinking further, everyone began wondering how much money Guan Xiyue actually had. The Zhou family was wealthy; surely they had given her a generous settlement.
The Guan family’s eyes lit up. They were already planning how to extract all that compensation money from her when she returned.
Meanwhile, Xiyue in the county wasn’t idle either. She was drawing up house plans herself.
She didn’t need a large house or many rooms, but it had to be sturdy and refined. She designed a small two-story building with three rooms. The ground floor would be for receiving guests and cooking, while the upper floor would be for living—bedroom and study. Any empty rooms could be used later.
On both sides of the main house, she planned single-story side rooms for servants or storage.
With two mu of land, there was plenty of space, so she could also build rear rooms, as well as chicken coops and dog kennels. In the future, she might even buy cattle or horses.
She only had a little over thirty taels of silver left—not nearly enough. Xiyue sighed inwardly and decided she could only build the main structure first; everything else would have to wait.
Two days later, the maid came to the inn to find her. She looked better—her eyes were still red and swollen, but her gaze was now clear and determined, no longer despairing. Xiyue named her “Chunliu,” bought her two sets of coarse cotton clothes, treated her to a proper meal, and then returned to Dazhuang Village together.
Unbeknownst to them, the Guan family had already arranged for Guan Ziming, the second uncle’s son, to wait at the village entrance. The moment Xiyue appeared, he would report back immediately. Xiyue was now the center of attention in the village—any movement of hers attracted crowds of onlookers.
As expected, she went to see LiZheng Yang again, and another scene was about to unfold. Before they had even exchanged a few words, the Guan family arrived.
Old Madam Guan took the lead again. “Xiyue, you girl, after being divorced you didn’t even come home. No matter what, you are still part of the Guan family. Didn’t you think to return to your mother’s home when you were bullied?”
Xiyue smiled calmly. “Grandmother, since I’ve been divorced and bullied, are you saying you’ll go and stand up for me?”
The crowd gasped. Everyone knew that common people should not challenge officials, and poor families should not challenge the wealthy.
Xiyue was just a concubine who had been bought and sold at will. Her family had already profited from her situation—why would they care about her life or death? As for “standing up for her,” that was impossible.
Old Madam Guan looked embarrassed. Eldest Aunt Zhao quickly stepped in. “What nonsense are you saying? Since you’ve been divorced, why haven’t you come home? Why keep troubling LiZheng Yang?”
Her plan was to coax Xiyue back home first, away from public view, where things wouldn’t get so embarrassing. Once home, they could slowly get her money.
But Xiyue ignored her and addressed the villagers instead. “Uncles, aunts, and elders, everyone knows I’ve been divorced and have set up my own household. I’ve bought land and plan to build a house. I have a few things to discuss with everyone.”
“First, I need a place to live. I plan to rent two rooms and pay 200 copper coins per month. If anyone is willing to rent, please let me know.”
Immediately, several people volunteered. In the end, Aunt Liu won the rental agreement and rushed home to prepare the rooms, barely able to contain her excitement—200 coins a month for empty rooms was an unexpected windfall.
But there was even better news. Xiyue planned to build a house and hire workers. Master laborers would get 60 coins a day, general laborers 30, and cooks 30—higher than usual wages by ten coins.
The crowd erupted in excitement and rushed to apply. The Guan family’s faces darkened.
As positions were quickly filled, Old Master Guan hurriedly said, “Xiyue, you’re young and don’t understand money management. Give all your silver to me. I’m still strong and can manage things for you. Your uncle can supervise the construction, your aunt can handle kitchen affairs, and your parents can do labor and cooking—everything will be properly arranged for you.”