The Heiress's Game

When Li Xiaoxiao came out of the detention center, she was holding her phone in her hand. On the screen was a message from her mother, Zhou Xiulan, saying that her electric scooter had run out of power halfway and that she should take the bus home by herself.

Li Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes and stuffed her phone into her pocket.

She stayed inside for fifteen days, lost weight, and her cheekbones became more prominent than before, but her eyes remained the same—mostly white with little black, and she looked at everything with an air of "the whole world owes me something."

When she got home, the first thing she did wasn't to take a shower or eat, but to try out her mobile banking app.

The balance is still there, but I can't transfer it out.

Alipay is locked, and WeChat Pay is also unusable.

"That ingrate Li Chunjing." She gritted her teeth, forcing the words out.

"I'm her only sister. Her own flesh and blood. And this is how she treats me."

Zhou Xiulan poked her head out of the kitchen, holding a bowl of noodles: "Have some hot noodles first—"

"Eat, eat, eat! All you ever think about is eating!" Li Xiaoxiao snapped, turning around. "If you weren't so useless, would I be a deadbeat now?"

Zhou Xiulan placed the noodles on the table, opened her mouth, then closed it again.

For Li Xiaoxiao, being restricted in her spending was worse than being imprisoned.

At least there's a time limit to jail time; you'll be released after fifteen days.

There's no time limit to the spending restrictions; as long as she doesn't repay the money, this label will be permanently stuck on her forehead.

She couldn't take the high-speed rail, couldn't fly, couldn't stay in hotels, and couldn't even get a loan from online lending platforms—once big data credit checks, all platforms rejected her.

She felt as if Li Chunjing had tied her feet with a transparent rope, making her stumble wherever she went.

But Li Xiaoxiao has one peculiar characteristic: she never looks for reasons within herself, but only for opportunities in others.

She found the opportunity while scrolling through short videos. A matchmaker account was talking about bride prices—"In a certain province, the average bride price starts at 500,000 yuan, and can reach as high as 800,000 yuan."

The accompanying picture shows a row of brides in wedding dresses standing in front of the hall, each holding a bright red wedding gift plaque.

Li Xiaoxiao stared at the number 500,000, her eyes slowly narrowing.

The short, stocky man surnamed Sun was someone she had asked Zhou Xiulan to find out about in her hometown. He said he was willing to offer a dowry of 100,000 yuan, which she thought was quite a lot at the time.

Looking back now, I realize how narrow-minded I was. What can 100,000 yuan do? She owes Li Chunjing more than that.

If she could marry into a province known for its high dowry rates, she could get five or six hundred thousand yuan, pay off the court debt, and still have a large sum left over. The consumption restrictions would then be lifted.

Then she can do whatever she wants with the remaining money. What can Li Chunjing do to her?

The idea took root in her mind faster than anything else, and the next morning she used her phone's navigation to find a local matchmaking agency.

The matchmaking agency is located in an alley in the old town. The storefront is small, with a large red "double happiness" character and the phrase "A thousand miles of marriage are tied by a single thread" pasted on the glass door.

When Li Xiaoxiao pushed open the door, a matchmaker in her forties with permed hair was sitting in front of her computer eating sunflower seeds.

The matchmaker looked up at her, then put on a professional smile: "Beautiful lady looking for a partner? Come, come, have a seat and fill out a form."

Li Xiaoxiao sat down, crossed her legs, and her first words made Hongniang choke on the sunflower seed shells.

"Could you recommend places with higher bride prices? I mean, provinces with high bride prices, starting at 500,000 yuan?"

The matchmaker put down the melon seeds, coughed twice, and looked her up and down.

Today, Li Xiaoxiao wore a bright pink fitted knit top with a low neckline, a black leather skirt, and platform shoes.

Her makeup was heavy, and her false eyelashes fluttered like fans. The matchmaker had been in the business for over ten years and had seen all sorts of people, but it was rare to see someone ask for a dowry of 500,000 yuan right off the bat.

"Beautiful lady, are you a local?" the matchmaker asked.

"Yes, I was born and raised here."

The matchmaker sighed, opened and closed the small notebook in her hand, and said in a tone that was almost patient:

"Beautiful lady, to tell you the truth, if you want to find a family in a province with high dowry requirements, first of all, you have to be a local. Grooms in provinces with high dowry requirements only want girls from their own province; they don't want girls from other provinces."

According to their custom, the bride price is meant to give face to the bride's family, and the bride's family is expected to reciprocate. If you're a girl from out of town and you marry into their family, they might worry that your family won't contribute much.

Besides, how much dowry can you afford? A bride price of 500,000 yuan means a dowry of at least 300,000 yuan is expected. Do you have that?

Li Xiaoxiao's expression changed slightly, but she quickly returned to normal.

"Then I'll go somewhere with a lower dowry, around 300,000 should be fine."

The matchmaker picked up the registration form, her tone slightly cooler than before: "What's your educational background?"

"Associate's degree".

"What kind of work do you do?"

"I'm currently unemployed."

The matchmaker stopped writing.

She put down the registration form and looked at Li Xiaoxiao, as if to confirm whether she was joking:

"Sister, let me tell you the truth. Families who can afford a dowry of 300,000 to 400,000 yuan also have high requirements for the woman."

"Work experience, education, family background—they'll look at all of that. You're currently unemployed, and then—"

The matchmaker was even more shocked. "You actually have a criminal record? It's not that I don't want to help you, but that's the going rate, and there's nothing I can do about it."

Li Xiaoxiao's face turned red.

She hadn't expected that even someone who ran a matchmaking agency would know about her criminal record. She instinctively glanced back at the doorway, as if afraid someone would come in and overhear: "How did you know?"

The matchmaker sighed, not answering directly, but only saying:

"Information is so transparent now; court documents can be found online."

Sister, I'm not trying to discourage you, I just want you to face reality.

With your terms, forget three or four hundred thousand, you'd be lucky to even get a hundred thousand.

Li Xiaoxiao sat there thinking for a while, then her eyes suddenly lit up, and she leaned closer: "What if I don't marry myself?"

The matchmaker was stunned: "What do you mean?"

"My mom," Li Xiaoxiao said, her tone as light as if she were selling a used appliance.

"My mom is in her early fifties. She looks alright, cooks well, and is in good health. She's just a bit old."

Are there any older men around here who are willing to pay a bride price?

"Not too much, two or three hundred thousand is fine. I'll collect the bride price when my mother marries into the family."

The melon seeds in the matchmaker's hand fell directly onto the keyboard. She stared at Li Xiaoxiao with her mouth agape for several seconds, unable to utter a single word.

Having worked in matchmaking, she'd heard all sorts of outrageous demands—luxury cars, villas, even the prospective spouse's parents being deceased.

—But she had never heard of a daughter coming to a matchmaking agency and asking to marry off her own mother in exchange for a dowry.

"You—does your mother know you're asking this?" The matchmaker lowered her voice, her tone filled with shock that was practically written all over her face.

"She doesn't know yet, but she'll definitely listen to me," Li Xiaoxiao said matter-of-factly.

"She has nothing to do at home anyway. After she marries into the family, she can do housework and cooking for someone else. It'll save me a lot of trouble, and she'll have someone to take care of her. Isn't that great?"

The matchmaker picked up the dried sea buckthorn fruit on the table, took a swig to calm her nerves, and then said in a tone that suggested she no longer wanted to take on this business.

"younger sister,"

"That's your mother."

"I know it's my mom, so what? She can get married on her own, and she's not that old—"

"Alright, alright, I can't help you with this. You should ask someone else."

The matchmaker pushed the registration form back with a swift and decisive motion, moving her chair back half a meter as well.

Li Xiaoxiao was stunned: "What do you mean? Isn't the purpose of opening a matchmaking agency to introduce people to potential partners?"

The matchmaker stood up and opened the door.

"Let's go, little sister, I can't take this order. Don't go to any other place either, it'll be the same no matter where you go. Go back and think it through, whether people live for money or for something else."

When Li Xiaoxiao came out of the matchmaking agency, she was still muttering to herself, saying that the matchmaker was incompetent and only knew how to introduce poor guys to people.

She took out her phone from her bag and sent a voice message to a friend, speaking as she walked:

"These days even matchmakers are so unreliable. Let me tell you, one day I'll find someone who's willing to pay 800,000, and then I'll marry my whole family off to him."