Divorce with three kids? I'll build a house and eat meat, driving my in-laws crazy.

Chapter 42 Treating her like a beggar

The person standing in front of her was none other than Li Ruru.

Li Ruru smiled but didn't say anything, but Zhao felt that smile pierce her heart.

Li Ruru stole her bed, her entire cabinet of food, bowls, chopsticks, oil, salt, vinegar, and even her washbasin, chamber pot, and comb.

The old lock on the gate has also disappeared.

Although Li Ruru only took the items from the oxcart under everyone's watchful eyes, Zhao was certain that the missing items in the house were taken by Li Ruru.

"You shameless bastard, you..."

bang-

Before Zhao could finish her cursing, a copper coin was suddenly thrown into her hand.

Li Ruru said gently, "This old woman is so pitiful. Her son and daughter-in-law are not filial at all. Look, they've driven her crazy. She's throwing a tantrum and talking nonsense here."

Sanya was still holding half a sesame seed cake in her hand, and Li Ruru said directly, "Give it to Mother."

Sanya hesitated for a moment; this was what she was going to take home for Qiqi to eat.

But now that her mother wanted it, she thought about it and gave it to Li Ruru.

Li Ruru stuffed the half-eaten sesame seed cake into Zhao's hand, saying, "Take this and eat it. Tsk tsk tsk, so pitiful."

He shook his head as he spoke, looking at him with sympathy.

Seeing this, everyone took out their less valuable items and stuffed them into Zhao's hand.

When Zhao looked down, she was furious.

Are these people kind-hearted almsgivers? They're clearly insulting her.

In her hand were a half-eaten red date, an apple with only a pit left, a rotten pear that was inedible, and a blackened half-rag...

It's all a pile of junk! Are they treating her like a beggar?!

"You..." Zhao wanted to curse, but there were too many onlookers, and she dared not provoke their anger.

He wanted to yell at Li Ruru again, but Li Ruru was nowhere to be seen, and those girls had also disappeared into the crowd.

Zhao could only suppress her anger and vent it all on her son and daughter-in-law.

She scrambled to her feet and said coldly, "Go, go, go home, you bunch of unfilial brats."

Hurry up, can't you walk? Will you die from a couple of slaps?

"If you hadn't caused trouble, we wouldn't have had to pay 20 taels of silver. You bunch of useless idiots."

Granny Zhao kept cursing and swearing, which annoyed the group so much that they had no desire to argue back. Instead, Granny Zhao got her way with her curses.

After buying the necessary items, Li Ruru went to the bull market.

She silently calculated the money she had earned in the past two days. On the first day, she earned 270 coins from making just one konjac. On the second day, she made two and earned nearly 500 coins.

Today I made 10 konjac fruits, delivered them to Chunfenglou and earned 150 coins, and sold the rest for about 3 taels of silver.

All in all, it amounted to about 4 taels of silver.

After deducting the 100 coins for collecting konjac, Pan Dayan's two sons were paid 20 coins each on the first day and 40 coins each on the following two days, totaling 200 coins.

After deducting the money for buying brown sugar and peanuts, the money for the oxcart ride, and the money for the seasonings.

The total cost was kept within one tael of silver.

In other words, out of 4 taels of silver, 3 taels are profit.

On average, the net profit per day is 1 tael.

That's an astronomical figure, considering that a man who does manual labor only earns about 20-30 coins a day.

But Li Ruru knew that the things she had bought for her family had already cost more than three taels of silver.

Just now, she bought some ridiculously expensive writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, planning to go home and teach some of her children to write.

Er Ya saw Li Ruru staring blankly at a cow and said, "Mom, how about we don't buy the cow today? Let's save up some money first."

Daya chimed in, "Yes, Mother, we've spent too much money lately."

Sanya pouted, "I want Niu Niu, I want to play with Niu Niu."

Xiao Yishan stood quietly without saying a word; he had no right to interfere with what Aunt Li wanted to do.

Li Ruru withdrew her gaze and said, "I think that cow is quite good. It looks young and strong, and it's not likely to get sick."

Hearing someone praising his cow, the cattle dealer happily led it over.

The man was a dark-skinned farmer. He smiled awkwardly. "Young lady, this calf is from my old cow. It's just over a year old and very obedient." He wouldn't have sold it if his wife hadn't been sick and needed medicine.

Farmers have a deep affection for cattle, after all, cattle are obedient, gentle, and hardworking.

Li Ruru stroked the cow's head, and the brown cow's eyes blinked, seemingly also sizing her up.

Li Ruru waved her hand to chase away a few annoying horseflies.

Horseflies look like flies but are much larger. They feed on the blood of cattle and other livestock, and their flight can make cattle feel restless and uneasy.

"Brother, how much is your cow?" Li Ruru asked.

The honest-looking farmer held up two fingers, "11 liang (50 grams)."

Li Ruru frowned. Although she knew that beef must be expensive, she did not expect it to be this expensive.

Seeing Li Ruru's reaction, the man quickly said, "Sister, if you think it's too expensive, we can discuss the price."

My wife is still waiting to get her medicine, so let's just sell this cow cheaply.

He seemed to have made a great decision, and said, "How about you give me 10 taels?"

Li Ruru knew that the other party had already given the maximum discount, and the person seemed honest and not someone who could deceive.

He then said, "Okay."

Xiao Yishan led the ox out of the market, and Li Ruru spent another 5 taels to buy an oxcart and harnessed it to the ox.

The group loaded their belongings onto the oxcart and returned to the market to retrieve the large barrels that Aunt Pang had left with them.

When Aunt Pang saw that Li Ruru had actually arrived in an oxcart, she was overjoyed. "Sister, sister, I've made up my mind. I won't ask any more questions. Let's work together."

Li Ruru smiled and said, "Okay, by the way, where do you live? If it's on my way, I can give you a ride home. I bought this cow."

Aunt Pang immediately said happily, "I live in Baihua Village, which is a bit far. You can just drop me off at the crossroads in a bit."

“Baihua Village?! My family home is there too,” Li Ruru said.

"Oh? Which one?"

“My father is Li Houtian.” Li Ruru said sadly. The original owner’s father had treated the land well all his life, but the heavens stopped raining and a drought struck, forcing a simple old man to flee the famine.

“Oh, I know, Uncle Li…” Aunt Pang stopped abruptly halfway through her sentence, “He hasn’t been home for many years.”

Everyone in the village said that he and his son had died long ago, but Aunt Pang couldn't bear to make Li Ruru sad, so she just said that he hadn't gone home yet, implying that there was still a possibility of him returning home in the future.

Li Ruru looked up and said, "No wonder I always felt a sense of kinship with Aunt Pang. It turns out we're from the same village."

Aunt Pang laughed and said, "Hey, our village is big. I only remember what you looked like when you were little. You don't look much like you did when you were little."

Li Ruru pursed her lips, "Getting less attractive as you grow older?"

"No, it gets better as it grows, hahaha."

The distance between Baihua Village and Chenjia Village is about half a day's walk. These days, most people marry off their daughters based on proximity, usually in their own village or the next village.

The original owner's marriage to Chenjia Village could be considered a distant marriage, but in Li Ruru's eyes, it was not far at all.

It takes at most two hours to get there by oxcart.

The cow that Li Ruru bought is very obedient; it walks by itself without needing to be herded.

Xiao Yishan continued to ride the oxcart of the scholar's family with the children, while Li Ruru and Aunt Pang sat in the newly bought oxcart.

Not long after they got on the main road, they came to a fork in the road, and Li Ruru stopped the car.

"Auntie Pang, how are you going to get back?" Li Ruru asked. Auntie Pang's house is a bit of a walk from this fork in the road.

"My husband has come to pick me up." Aunt Pang got out of the car, and an honest-looking man drove over in a donkey cart.

"Hello, brother! I was just worried that Auntie Pang would get home too late, but here you are."

Li Ruru greeted them familiarly, and the cow and donkey sniffed each other. The man smiled shyly.

After seeing off Aunt Pang, Li Ruru and her family quickly returned to Chenjia Village by oxcart.

From afar, they could see a carriage parked in front of their house, with a dozen or so men standing on either side, who looked like the guards of a wealthy family.

Qiqi's low growl and the sound of chains being pulled came from the courtyard.

Li Ruru got out of the car with a frown, and Xiao Yishan handed Sanya to Daya and stood in front of the three of them.

"Madam Li." A man's voice came from inside the carriage, and the dozen or so men at the door hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed.

(End of this chapter)