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

The bridal sedan chair had gone far away, firecracker scraps covered the ground, and the "double happiness" character was still pasted on the door frame, but the atmosphere in the courtyard had turned cold.

Liu Yiyi was dragged by Chen Tianwei for a long time, leaving two red marks on her arm. She shook off his hand and rushed towards Chen Shuyan.

Chen Shuyan's face was ashen, and he didn't say a word.

Liu Yiyi persisted, "We agreed on twenty taels, but your mother only has ten. That brat pocketed the remaining ten in front of everyone. You'd better come up with a plan!"

Chen Shuyan glanced at the neighbors who were still leaving in the courtyard and lowered his voice: "Let's talk inside."

Liu Yiyi refused to go back inside, raising her voice, "Go back to what room! The money was given in public, so I'll say it in public!"

Chen Xiufen sat on the threshold, her hands empty, tears still clinging to her face. She muttered under her breath, "It's all that brat Chen Tianwei's fault. If it weren't for her meddling, we would have gotten the money back long ago."

This sentence is like a fuse.

Chen Shuyan's gaze slowly turned towards the direction of the main house.

"Tianwei is from the eldest son's family." His tone was flat. "If the eldest son's family disagrees, would Tianwei dare to take action?"

Liu Yiyi immediately chimed in, "Exactly! That troublemaker Wang Jinzhu, it was definitely her doing!"

The main room.

Wang Jinzhu was applying medicine to Chen Tianwei inside the house. When the girl was struggling with Liu Yiyi, her wrist was scratched by her fingernails. It wasn't deep, but blood was seeping out.

"Sister-in-law, it hurts." Chen Tianwei pulled his hand away slightly.

"Bear with it." Wang Jinzhu applied the medicine powder to the affected area with a cotton cloth. "Next time, before you act, protect your face and hands. Your face is your appearance, and your hands are for working; you can't afford to hurt these two areas."

Chen Tianwei was slightly taken aback: "Sister-in-law, you're not angry that I'm meddling?"

"If you think it's necessary to intervene, then do so," Wang Jinzhu said, carefully putting away the medicine powder. "But you must be able to bear the consequences after you intervene."

No sooner had he finished speaking than footsteps echoed in the courtyard.

Chen Shuyan and Liu Yiyi walked over side by side, with Chen Xiufen following behind.

Chen Tianfang was chopping wood. The axe paused on the log for a moment, but he didn't look up.

"Brother, sister-in-law, I have a few words to say."

Wang Jinzhu lifted the curtain and came out, leaning against the door frame with her arms crossed.

"explain."

Chen Shuyan cleared his throat: "Today is Shujie's wedding day, and Tianwei and Tianrun came out to stop the family from accepting the betrothal gifts. Does your sister-in-law know about this?"

"Know."

"Does the eldest sister-in-law think this is appropriate? The betrothal gifts are for the family, and Tianwei is preventing us from accepting them. Isn't that breaking the rules?"

Wang Jinzhu glanced at him.

Scholars always speak in roundabout ways; even though they've come to ask for money, they insist on first labeling them as "breaking the rules."

"Yang Laosan himself said the money was for Shujie. If you think it's inappropriate, go talk to Yang Laosan."

Chen Shuyan was momentarily speechless, but quickly recovered: "Sister-in-law, that's not what I meant. I meant that Tianwei shouldn't interfere in the affairs of the second branch of the family. She's a daughter of the first branch, and she's trying to stop the second branch from marrying off their daughter. What will outsiders think?"

Wang Jinzhu scoffed, "Chen Shuyan, after going through all this trouble, what exactly are you trying to say? Just say it."

Chen Shuyan had been waiting for these words. He took a step forward and said seriously, "Shujie's betrothal gifts should have been twenty taels, but we've only received ten. Tianwei ruined this matter; shouldn't the eldest branch of the family make up for this ten-tael shortfall?"

The villagers who hadn't gone far outside heard the commotion inside and turned back to eavesdrop.

Chen Tianfang's axe cleaved into the wooden stake with a "crack," the entire blade disappearing into the wood. He looked up at Chen Shuyan, his gaze deep and intense.

Wang Jinzhu didn't get angry. She went back into the house, brought out a small stool, sat down, and crossed her legs.

"Fine, if you want to settle accounts, then let's settle them."

She held up one finger: "First, the year you took the imperial examination, how much did your travel expenses, food, lodging, writing materials, and inkstones cost in total? How much did your parents contribute? How much did the eldest son's family contribute?"

Chen Shuyan's expression changed slightly.

The second finger is raised: "Secondly, during your years studying at the academy, how much silver did you spend on tuition, books, and clothing for all four seasons each year? Did you earn a single penny yourself?"

The third finger.

"Thirdly, did the food, firewood, oil, and salt your mother and wife ate at home just fall from the sky? As for the land, only your father contributed labor; the rest came from the eldest son's family. How do you account for that?"

Chen Shuyan's lips moved, but he didn't say anything.

Wang Jinzhu didn't give him a chance to breathe.

"You're asking for ten taels of silver right off the bat? Let me ask you, over the years, the eldest son's family has subsidized the second son's family with silver, grain, and labor—doesn't that add up to over a hundred taels? When are you going to pay it back?"

"I--"

"You say Tianwei broke the rules. Then let me ask you, isn't it heartless to marry off a thirteen-year-old sister to a fifty-year-old man?"

The two neighbors who hadn't left exchanged a glance, holding back their words, but their expressions clearly said—this Wang Jinzhu really dares to speak her mind.

Chen Shuyan's face flushed crimson. He opened his mouth several times, finally managing to choke out, "Sister-in-law, that's not how you calculate things. The eldest son's family helping the second son's is simply the family's duty—"

"Helping Shujie that day was just a family's duty," Wang Jinzhu replied crisply.

Chen Shuyan was completely speechless, having shut himself up by his own words.

Liu Yiyi, growing anxious, shouted, "Stop trying to fool me with your words! That ten taels of silver—"

"Shut up," Chen Shuyan said in a low voice.

He knew that arguing any longer would only lead them deeper into trouble; Wang Jinzhu's words could truly bring the dead back to life and the living to death.

He took a deep breath, turned around, and left.

Liu Yiyi stood there, stunned. She looked at Chen Shuyan's back, then at Wang Jinzhu, stamped her foot, and chased after him.

Behind Yang's rice shop, there is a small courtyard with two sections.

Chen Shujie was helped into the bridal chamber by the old woman from the Yang family. Red candles were lit inside, new quilts were laid out, and peanuts, red dates, longans, and lotus seeds were laid out on the table—everything one would expect.

When Yang Laosan came in, he was carrying a pot of wine.

He sat down opposite Chen Shujie and used a ceremonial scale to lift the veil.

The candlelight illuminated a young face; the eyes were small but clear, and when they looked at people, they were direct, without the shyness one would expect from a bride.

Yang Laosan poured two glasses of wine and pushed one of them over.

"Have a drink."

Chen Shujie picked it up and took a sip, wincing at the spiciness.

Seeing her expression, Yang Laosan laughed: "Don't force yourself if you can't drink."

He stood up, walked behind Chen Shujie, and put his hand on her shoulder. Chen Shujie tensed up, her back straight as a stick.

Yang Laosan sensed her stiffness and stopped moving.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and looked her over for a while.

"How old was it again?"

"Thirteen."

"Thirteen," Yang Laosan repeated, then said something she hadn't expected.

"Let's not consummate the marriage yet. We'll talk about it when you turn fourteen."

Chen Shujie looked up at him, her face full of disbelief.

"However—" he changed the subject, "the clothes are off."

Chen Shujie was stunned.

"Let me see, you're the wife I paid twenty taels of silver to marry, what's wrong with that?"

Chen Shujie's face flushed red. She gripped her collar, her fingers trembling.

Yang Laosan didn't urge her; he just sat there, slowly drinking from his wine glass.

The room was extremely quiet, with only the occasional flicker of the candle flame.

In the end, Chen Shujie took matters into her own hands.

The wedding dress was peeled off layer by layer, revealing bruised skin through a tear on her shoulder. Her arms and waist were covered with finger marks from being pinched earlier that day.

She stood there, unsure of what to do with her hands, staring intently at the ground.

Yang Laosan circled around her, occasionally reaching out to pinch her arm and the soft flesh around her waist. The pressure was light, like kneading dough.

"You've lost a bit of weight," he commented. "You need to take care of yourself."

Then he stretched out his hand and slapped her on the buttocks.

The sound was crisp, and the force wasn't exactly painful, but the feeling made Chen Shujie wish she could disappear into a crack in the ground.

"Alright, get into bed like this." Yang Laosan wore his undergarments but let Chen Shujie sleep naked.

His hands were restless, slapping her buttocks a few times, then hitting her private parts a few times. Hearing Chen Shujie's soft moans, he felt increasingly aroused. He even started kissing her, leaving her face covered in saliva.

That night, Chen Shujie went to sleep feeling humiliated, and this happened every day thereafter.

During the day, Yang Laosan put her in charge of the kitchen, provided her with good food and clothing, and sometimes even took her to the shop to review the accounts. The servants addressed her politely as "Madam," and to outsiders, she appeared to be the proper lady of the house.

But once night falls and the door is closed, it becomes another world.

Yang Laosan always made her stand still. Sometimes he would watch for half an incense stick's time, sometimes for the entire time. He would pat the fleshy parts of her body with his hand, not hard, just a few slaps, like slapping a watermelon.

Chen Shujie initially bit her lip hard, each bite feeling like it was on fire. It wasn't the pain, but the humiliation that seeped into her very bones.

The more tense she became, the harder Yang Laosan hit her.

Several times, while sitting on a bench during the day, her bottom would ache slightly, and she had to secretly put a soft cushion under it.

Later she figured it out.

This was his pleasure. The more embarrassed she was, the happier he was.

That way it won't be embarrassing.

Anyway, the door was closed, so no one saw. This was just something that happened in her private quarters, which was much better than being sold to human traffickers and disappearing somewhere, and much more respectable than being stripped naked and robbed of her money by her mother and sister-in-law in public.

She tried to relax, to stop tensing up and to stop biting her lip. Yang Laosan took the pictures and looked at them as he pleased.

Sure enough, Yang Laosan's interest waned considerably, and he became less forceful, sometimes only glancing at her before helping her put on her clothes.

Days passed by like this.