jdhmnovel Chapter 1287: Li's Extra 1
Chapter 1287: Li's Extra 1
Li was born in an ordinary peasant family. When she was three years old, both her parents passed away, and she had to live with her brother and sister-in-law from then on.
But the farmers' families were not rich, and her brother and sister-in-law had just gotten married, so they naturally disliked her.
"I'm so unlucky! I married into your family, and before I even had a child, my parents-in-law passed away, leaving behind this burdensome, money-losing thing. She should just be a child bride!"
"Don't be angry, daughter-in-law. Although she is a little small, she can work. Mom is gone, so you can let her take care of you during your confinement. Don't look down on her size, she can do everything from cleaning inside to outside. Just think of her as an extra little maid, how about it?"
"Little maid? Can she do it?"
In this way, Li, who was almost sent away to be a child bride, settled down in her brother and sister-in-law's home.
Despite her young age, she had no free time from then on. She fed the chickens, swept the floor, cooked, washed dishes and did laundry... Although she was not even as tall as the stove, she had become a veteran in doing all these things in just one year.
As soon as her nephew was born, she started taking care of the child, carrying him on her back wherever she went.
If her nephew cried or got a bruise anywhere on his body, she would be beaten.
When she was a little older, she started working in the fields, plowing the land, planting rice, and harvesting crops. She did everything. If she didn't do her job well and missed harvesting some crops, she would go without food for several days.
At that time, she didn't feel the hardship at such a young age. Many girls in the village were like this. Even if their parents were still alive, they would be beaten and scolded every day and have endless work to do.
But later, my sister-in-law gave birth to a nephew, and there was no place for her to live at home.
They simply cleaned up the pen where their parents used to raise pigs, and it became her nest.
Especially Li was quite happy. From childhood to adulthood, she finally had a place of her own to live. Although this house was not decent, it at least belonged to her.
There were many mosquitoes in the summer, so she would cut more mugwort to fumigate the roof. If it was leaking, she would climb onto the roof and put more hay under it. Even though it was too cold in the winter, she could do nothing about it, but she could endure it.
She grew up year by year, becoming more and more capable, and able to handle everything inside and outside the body.
Everyone in the village saw it, and the couple had no idea what was going on. Over the years, it was Aunt Li who had been supporting the family.
When she reached a certain age, there was an endless stream of suitors, almost breaking down the door of the Li family's house.
The brother and sister-in-law were very proud. Relying on their numbers, they asked for a huge sum of money, five taels of silver. Without five taels of silver, there was no deal.
But in rural areas, farmers can barely get enough to eat, so where would they get five taels of silver? Usually, one or two taels of silver is the maximum they can spend to marry a wife.
Some people can even beg for just a few bags of food.
After the couple's actions, the number of people who proposed marriage went from endless to no one left.
"Humph, this is perfect. If you don't want to come, then don't come. If you don't come, you can just stay at home for a few more years. Your nephews and nieces are still young. Why don't you help them earn more money for two years?"
"Yes, little sister, these families can't even afford five taels of silver, which proves that their families are very poor. How can you have a good life if you marry into their family? Don't worry, I will definitely find you a man with a very rich family, so that you can marry into their family and live a good life with delicious food and drink!"
It was still Aunt Li, Mrs. Li, who didn't say anything. In this family, she had never had the final say in her life, and whatever her brother and sister-in-law said was the truth.
Another year passed, and on this day the matchmaker finally came to the door again.
Aunt Li didn't take it seriously at first, but when she came back from working in the fields, she saw the house was full of joy.
The nephew said to her, "Aunt, you are going to get married. Your parents have received a lot of money as betrothal gifts. After the autumn harvest, you will be married off to another family."
Her sister-in-law was beaming, but she looked her up and down with disdain and said, "It's just as they say. In a few months you'll be marrying into someone else's family. You should help with the housework during this period. Chop more firewood and pile it up at home. Clean the house inside and out. Wash and dry what needs to be washed. After the grain is harvested, you can go out."
Aunt Li nodded. Although her current life was not good, she was still a little nervous when she thought about marrying into a stranger family in an unfamiliar place.
"Sister, just go ahead and marry him. I've noticed that this family has some money. I offered eight taels, and they paid it. This betrothal gift is the highest in the surrounding villages. They're well off, and you'll have a good life if you marry him. But when you become rich in the future, don't forget that you still have such a big family back home."
Seeing his sincerity, Aunt Li became bolder and asked, "Brother, how much dowry are you planning to give me?"
"What, dowry?" The man jumped up when he heard it, pointing at her and scolding, "You heartless thing, you're still thinking about dowry! Your parents died early, if it weren't for me, would you have grown up to this age?
I've fed you with my food and water, and raised you to this age. Now that you're finally able to work, you're about to marry someone else. Instead of leaving some for the family, you're actually trying to take it all away. Aren't you afraid of retribution?"
"What did I say? You're just too protective of her. She's a nobody. You don't want to help her nephews and nieces, but you want to take food from them. What aunt in the world is so cruel? I'm telling you, there's not a penny of dowry. All this money is ours. Don't even think about taking a penny away!"
Aunt Li's heart sank. That was right. How could she possibly take even a penny away from this house? She was really overthinking it.
In this way, Li worked hard for the whole summer, got darker, and in autumn, she finally escaped from this home.
She took nothing with her except two sets of tattered clothes and a piece of cloth. Her dowry was more meager than that of anyone else in the village.
Along the way, she could feel the villagers pointing and talking, "Tsk, so what if she married well? She still doesn't even have a dowry. I don't think she'll be able to hold her head up high when she gets to her husband's house."
The Zhou family is quite kind. Although the eldest sister-in-law talks too much, is a bit lazy, and pushes a lot of work onto her, she doesn't have any bad intentions after all.
She could live in a proper house, sleep in a proper bed, no longer have to deal with the pigpen, and could have a few pieces of meat on the table every now and then. Li had never dared to imagine that the number of times she had eaten meat since she was a child could be counted on one hand.
During the few months she spent at the Zhou family, she ate more meat than she had in the previous decade or so.
Sometimes Li couldn't believe even in her dreams that such a day would come.
The Zhou family was really living a great life, and her brother really didn't lie to her.
But she was still angry. She had clearly asked the Zhou family for a betrothal gift of eight taels of silver, but they were reluctant to give her a penny. They were not even willing to buy her a set of clothes, making her unable to hold her head up in the village.
The whole village secretly laughed at her. She didn't even have good clothes when she came here. She came in rags. Even the wedding dress given to her by her husband's family was withheld by her parents' family...