The Spirited Daughter-in-law and the Mountain Man

Even your money-grubbing mother wouldn’t agree to it. Everyone knows that if someone wants to marry you, your mother demands a betrothal gift of sixty taels. That’s enough to buy two normal wives! Are you really worth that much?” Thinking about it, Su Qingyue is feeling sorry too. Others could have sold for thirty taels, but the Zhu family got her for just fifteen taels. When she ended up in the Xiao family, it was only one tael more. It’s said that old lady Liu raised the price by one tael again, but it’s still only worth half of what an ordinary person would cost.

“You…” Liu Xianglian’s eyes widened.

“What ‘you’?”

“You’re from another village, what do you know? So much idle talk, aren’t you afraid your tongue will snap?” Liu Xianglian, seeing the other girls laughing at her, said angrily, “I don’t like Chuan at all. Don’t listen to her nonsense.” Even if she did like Brother Chuan, who made his family so poor? She wouldn’t want to marry and suffer there. With her looks, it wouldn’t be difficult to marry someone with a little bit of wealth, so she couldn’t afford to tarnish her reputation.

Wang Cuihua sneered, “My husband is from this village. Now that I’m married here, I’m part of this village too. I want to say something, so what? Whether you like Chuan or not, you know it in your heart.”

“You damn Wang Cuihua, I’m done talking to you. Don’t gossip anymore!” Liu Xianglian put the washed clothes into the basin, stood up and walked away, glaring at Su Qingyue’s retreating back, “Anybody who speaks up for her is useless. She’s just a disgusting, cheap good-for-nothing! Shameless and ugly as hell, yet she won’t let go of Brother Chuan. If it were me, I wouldn’t have the face to live in this world, I would have thrown myself into the river to die long ago!”

When she left, the other girls sighed, “Liu Xianglian is really something, always flirting with Chuan and acting like she’s so great because she’s a bit pretty. Even if someone really bothers her, she shouldn’t curse them like that…”

“Yeah, no matter how ugly someone is, how does it affect her? She relies on her looks and thinks she’s amazing. Even if it’s true, there’s no need to curse people like that…”

Xiao Yishan walked over from afar and saw several girls and women washing clothes by the river. He asked, “Has anyone seen my wife?”

Wang Cuihua pointed ahead, “She went that way just now.” As if thinking of something, her face turned pale, “Second Brother Xiao, just now Liu Xianglian cursed your wife, even wishing her to die by jumping into the river. I’m worried your wife might really try to kill herself!”

Xiao Yishan’s face changed drastically and he ran quickly to the front.

Seeing that something big was about to happen, those working in the field near the river and those washing clothes by the riverbank all put down the work in their hands and followed in twos and threes to watch the excitement.

Su Qingyue walked along the riverbank for a while, turned several bends, and saw that there were mountains all around with no one in sight. She looked up at the sun and guessed it was around four or five in the afternoon.

She’d come out a bit late, but there was still time to take a shower before nightfall.

After stepping down the bank, she looked around once again, and after making sure no one was around, she lifted her foot to test the temperature of the river water. It was really cold. In early May, the sun couldn’t warm the water even in the afternoon. It was definitely not suitable for taking a bath in the river, especially with her injury.

But if she didn’t bathe, she would be suffocated by the filth. She grabbed her hair, which was as greasy and smelly as dried vegetables, and the wind by the river carried the stench far away, making her nauseous.

Her clothes were also filthy, caked with grime, which was worse than any beggar she’d seen in her two lifetimes. She was too lazy to take them off first. Anxious to take a shower, she couldn’t wait any longer. She’d take off her clothes after she was in the water.

She stepped deeper into the river one foot at a time, with the water reaching her knees. The cold water made her shiver….