A fierce wife enters the house: She helps up a house full of spineless people.

Unlike Chen Shuyan, who thrived by lying, Liu Yiyi's life in the Liu family became increasingly difficult.

The first two days after she returned to her parents' home were alright. Her mother felt sorry for her and cooked her a bowl of egg noodles, then kept asking her how she was doing at the Chen family's house.

Liu Yiyi said a few nice things, swallowing back all the details about Wang Jinzhu snatching back the wedding gift and Chen Shuyan being beaten.

On the third day, the wind direction changed.

Her sister-in-law, Zhao, started smashing bowls.

It wasn't thrown at her; it was because her hand slipped while she was holding the bowl, and it hit the corner of the table, cracking the bottom of the bowl and spilling soup all over the table.

"Oh dear, this bowl is so flimsy!" Zhao sighed as she wiped the table, her voice rising high. "We only have a few bowls at home, and now they're all broken. What are we going to eat with?"

Liu Yiyi lowered her head and ate her rice, not responding.

On the fourth day, Zhao stopped smashing the bowl and started sighing.

While feeding the child, she sighed, "The rice jar is almost empty; I'm afraid we won't have enough food this month."

Her husband, Liu Dazhuang, silently ate his pancake, glanced at Liu Yiyi, and didn't say a word.

Liu Yiyi still didn't respond.

On the fifth day, Zhao didn't even bother to sigh and spoke directly.

"Sister-in-law, I understand you've been mistreated at your in-laws' house. Coming back to rest for a couple of days is understandable. But you know how small the place is. It's not a long-term solution for you to live and eat here all the time, is it?"

Liu Yiyi put down her chopsticks, feeling embarrassed.

"What does my sister-in-law mean by this? Are you trying to kick me out?"

"Look at what you're saying, who kicked you out?" Zhao smiled, a smile more fake than a grimace. "I'm just telling you the truth. You're a married woman now, what kind of behavior is it to stay at your parents' house? Outsiders will think you've been divorced by your in-laws."

Liu Yiyi stood up abruptly, her eyes reddening, and turned to go inside, slamming the door shut with a loud bang.

Hearing the commotion in the kitchen, Liu's mother came out and scolded Zhao. Zhao pouted, picked up the child, and went back to her room.

Liu Yiyi lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.

She didn't want to go back to the Chen family.

Going back would mean facing Old Mrs. Chen's stern face and that tigress Wang Jinzhu. Even worse, the second wife still owed compensation to the human traffickers, which her in-laws couldn't pay and would inevitably come after her sooner or later.

She did have a few taels of private money, which she had saved before she got married, and she would never part with it.

But not going back isn't an option either. My sister-in-law's attitude clearly shows she doesn't want to keep her even a day longer.

On the morning of the sixth day, Liu Yiyi went out with her head down, wanting to get some fresh air on the street.

The town wasn't big. She walked around the main street, stood for a while in front of the cloth shop, touched the loose silver in her purse, but couldn't bear to go in.

As I turned the corner, I passed a tea stall where several women were chatting and eating melon seeds, their voices so loud that they could be heard halfway down the street.

"Have you heard? The third owner of Yang's Rice Shop is getting a second wife!"

"Another one? How many is this now?"

"Who remembers clearly? Anyway, the last one is gone, and the one before that ran away. I heard they gave a dowry of twenty taels of silver!"

"Twenty taels?" a woman gasped. "Yang San is certainly generous."

"Generous? That depends on who you're spending it on." The woman lowered her voice, but Liu Yiyi listened intently, not catching a single word. "Yang San is almost fifty, and he has a strange temper. I heard he has some unusual fetishes in bed, and he likes to hit people..."

"And people still want to marry him?"

"Twenty taels, sister! Poor girls don't care about such things. Some families are struggling to make ends meet and would be eager to send their daughters over to exchange for money."

"What a terrible thing."

The women sighed for a while, then quickly changed the subject.

Liu Yiyi stood still.

Twenty taels.

The number kept going around in her mind.

Twenty taels of silver was enough to pay the human traffickers' compensation and cover Chen Shuyan's expenses for the county examination.

But someone has to exchange this silver.

Liu Yiyi's eyes flickered.

Chen Tianwei.

That name was the first one that popped into my head. The second wife's family had previously considered selling her, although Wang Jinzhu had thwarted the plan. But that girl was still part of the first wife's family, so it wasn't easy to touch her. The last incident had caused such a huge uproar; if this were brought up again, Wang Jinzhu would probably tear the Chen family's house down.

Then we won't touch Chen Tianwei.

Another person popped into her mind—Chen Shujie.

Chen Shuyan's younger sister, her sister-in-law.

She's only thirteen, a bit young, but there's nothing we can do about it.

Chen Yang, Chen Shuyan's father-in-law, and Chen Xiufen, his mother-in-law, doted on him. What wouldn't they do to support his education? They swindled away layer after layer of the eldest son's hard-earned money without batting an eye.

If you tell them there's a way to get twenty taels of silver all at once, all you need is...

Liu Yiyi swallowed.

Her heart started racing, not from fear, but from excitement.

They will agree.

Will.

People like her in-laws would sell anyone for Chen Shuyan's future, let alone a daughter who would eventually get married. What difference does it make who she marries? Marrying a rich boss is better than marrying a poor boy.

As for those rumors about Yang San—

Liu Yiyi pushed the thought out of her mind.

What does it have to do with her? It's not like she's the one getting married.

She walked around the street again, memorizing the location of Yang's rice shop. The shop was quite large, with sacks of grain piled up at the entrance, and shop assistants coming and going; it certainly seemed to be a well-off business.

When Liu Yiyi returned to the Liu family home, Zhao was washing clothes in the yard. Seeing her return, she said sarcastically, "Oh, finished shopping? Want lunch? There's only one bowl of porridge left in the pot, I don't know if that'll be enough."

Liu Yiyi ignored her completely.

She went inside to pack her belongings and stuffed in a few changes of clothes, moving very quickly.

Liu's mother poked her head out from the kitchen: "Yiyi, what are you doing?"

"Mother, I'm going back."

"Back to the Chen family? It's only been a few days—"

"Being here would only cause trouble for my sister-in-law." Liu Yiyi slung her bag over her shoulder, her expression unusually calm. "Besides, I have a lot of things to take care of at home."

Zhao pursed her lips in the courtyard, said nothing, but her hands moved much more quickly as she rubbed the clothes.

Liu's mother chased after her, walked a few steps to her door, and stuffed a few eggs into her hand. Liu Yiyi took them and walked out of town without looking back.

After leaving the town, we got on the dirt road leading to Chenjia Village.

The June sun was so intense it made people dizzy, and the crops on both sides of the road drooped listlessly. Liu Yiyi walked quickly, her bundle bobbing on her back, her clothes soaked with sweat, but she didn't care.

Her mind was filled with thoughts of those twenty taels of silver.

If this matter is resolved, Chen Shuyan's debt to the human traffickers will be settled. He can then focus on his studies without being burdened by those troublesome matters.

Once he passes the imperial examination and becomes a scholar...

Liu Yiyi's lips curled up.

She quickened her pace, almost jogging, as she entered the entrance of Chenjia Village.

From afar, she saw that the Chen family's gate was open, and there were few people in the courtyard.

The main house was quiet; it was unclear whether Wang Jinzhu was home.

Liu Yiyi paused for a moment, then went around to the back door and headed straight for the second room.

Chen Xiufen was sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) sewing shoe soles when she saw Liu Yiyi rushing in, and she was startled.

"Yiyi? Why are you back? Aren't you at your parents' house...?"

"Mother." Liu Yiyi closed the door, her eyes shining brightly.

"I have good news."