Transmigrated as an Unwanted Ugly Girl

Chapter 377 - 200: Granny Hua’s Suspicion

Seeing that the two men were getting drunk, Yang Defa quickly pulled them apart to stop them from drinking any more. After a good deal of coaxing, he finally got them to eat some hot food. Then, everyone sat down for tea and casual conversation.

After chatting for a while longer, Yang Defa and his wife, Yang Dezhi and his son, and the Liu Family all said their goodbyes and headed home. Only Mrs. Wang, accompanied by Laishou, stayed at her daughter’s house.

As soon as that was taken care of, the Chen Family arrived to pick up the cured meat and sausages. After a busy day, Qingmu and Juhua gazed at the emptied room and storage vats, breathing a sigh of relief.

’Looks like we’ll definitely have to build a workshop by the end of the year. It’s really not good to keep this stuff at home. The whole place smells of cured meat.’

From this collaboration, after deducting the cost of the meat, each of the four families received a share of more than twenty taels of silver. Juhua’s family got more, over forty taels. The other three families had insisted on this, saying that even with this arrangement, they were still getting the better end of the deal.

Everyone was overjoyed to have the money divided up, but before Juhua could even begin to celebrate, Little Shitou mysteriously pulled her aside. He then explained in detail how Granny Hua and Liu’er’s mother had tried to scheme against her.

Juhua listened, stunned. She stood there for a long moment, then laughed in exasperation. ’That old hag... "give her an inch, and she’ll take a mile."’

But when Little Shitou told her how he’d used a clever trick to make Granny Hua knock out her front teeth and break her nose in a fall, she couldn’t help but double over with laughter.

In the midst of her amusement, she glanced over and saw Little Shitou standing to the side, a smug grin on his little face. He looked like the cat that got the cream, contentedly licking his lips. A sudden sense of unease struck her. ’Isn’t this a bad influence on a child?’

She quickly stifled her laughter and pulled Little Shitou close, warning him not to do anything like that again, or he’d be found out sooner or later. As for Liu’er’s mother, she told him she would figure out a way to teach the woman a lesson herself. She urged Shitou to focus on his studies instead.

Little Shitou nodded. His eyes darted around for a moment before he asked, "Sister Juhua, what if I go tell Brother Huai Zi? I can ask him to deal with Liu’er’s mother for you."

Juhua’s face flushed slightly as she looked at the boy. ’He’s just a little kid,’ she thought. ’What could he have possibly figured out?’

Noticing Juhua staring at him, Little Shitou quickly turned his head away and muttered, "Or... we could ask Brother Qingmu, too. More people would make it safer."

The boy was incredibly sharp. He had noticed long ago that Zhang Huai treated Juhua differently. ’It would be better if Sister Juhua married Brother Huai Zi,’ he thought. ’That would put my mind at ease.’

Juhua had him sit down. "Shitou," she said, "doing something like this once is enough. Don’t ever do it again. If you get caught, your parents are the ones who will suffer. Your teacher would punish you severely, too, and say it’s not the conduct of a gentleman. But... people with such wicked intentions do deserve to be punished. I’ll just wait for her to try another one of her tricks, and I’ll catch her red-handed. That way, she won’t be able to deny it. That’s the safer way to handle this."

Little Shitou nodded. "In that case, Sister Juhua, you have to tell me when it happens. I want to watch!"

Juhua laughed. "Alright. I might even need your help."

Little Shitou was overjoyed to hear this. He eagerly puffed out his chest, promising she could count on him. Juhua couldn’t help but find his earnestness amusing.

Granny Hua was recovering from her fall, and the Li Family was busy building a new adobe house and then preparing for the wedding. Because of all this, Juhua didn’t get a chance to confront the old woman.

Instead, on the second day of the second lunar month, it was Meizi who Li Changming married with great fanfare.

The wedding was, like other affairs involving Big Mouth Li, both shabby and grand at the same time. The Qin Family didn’t provide much of a dowry, much to the disappointment of onlookers. However, someone soon whispered that, given Gou Dan’s mother’s shrewdness, she certainly wouldn’t waste money on a lot of items. They speculated she probably just gave Meizi the silver to take with her directly.

And that person really hit the nail on the head.

Gou Dan’s mother had only prepared some basic necessities for Meizi, like basins, buckets, and quilts, along with the clothes, shoes, and socks she had made. There wasn’t a single extravagant item. The real dowry was carried in the bride’s own money pouch—a dozen or so taels of silver. That was why they didn’t dare put it in a chest; Meizi simply carried it on her person.

This made things rather uncomfortable for Li Changming when he carried Meizi on his back during the wedding procession; he could feel a hard lump pressing into him. He wondered what on earth Meizi had stuffed into her robes.

With his wife now home, Li Changming felt as if he were in a dream. Gazing at Meizi’s delicate, flower-like face, he made a silent vow. Their family was poor, and they would have to build their life slowly. He might not be able to give her a comfortable life right away, but he would never, ever let her suffer any grievance. That was the absolute minimum he could promise.

With this resolution in mind, he was exceptionally attentive to Meizi in the first few days of their marriage. He carefully helped her navigate relationships with his family and kept a close watch on his own mother, afraid she might do something to upset Meizi.