"Son, you can marry anyone but not that Hehua!"
Every time Auntie Three thought about the recent uproar, it upset her. Why did her son have to fancy Hehua, who was always clinging to Yang Ming?
"Mom, let me handle this. The whole village knows I’m going to marry her, you can’t disagree now."
He had liked Hehua for so many years and had only just mustered the courage to propose.
"Son, even if I agree, consider whether we have the silver. Hehua’s mother is asking for a hundred taels, not just one. Even if I sold our pots and iron, we couldn’t come up with that much!"
Hehua’s reputation was already tarnished, and her mother, thanks to the meddling of Yang Wei, demanded a betrothal gift of a hundred taels, dead or alive. A hundred taels were enough for her son to marry quite a few beautiful brides!
"I’ll sort this out myself!" Yang Wei declared, then stormed out.
But within a few days, trouble arose, and Auntie Three came running for help.
"Yang Ming, Yang Ming’s wife, you must come and see, a menacing gang is trying to take Yang Wei away!"
What was going on? Wasn’t Yang Wei known as a simpleton? How did he get involved with these thugs?
Xiaoxiao and Yang Ming quickly went to Auntie Three’s house to assess the situation. Upon arrival, they saw several burly men—and Xiaoxiao hadn’t brought anyone for back-up. They were already at a severe disadvantage in terms of intimidation.
"Who are you people, and why are you taking Yang Wei away?" Since they were there to resolve the issue, Yang Ming immediately demanded an explanation.
"Who are we? Ask him yourself," one of the toughs said as he forced Yang Wei to kneel with his hands twisted behind his back.
"Big Brother Ming, I... I just borrowed a hundred taels of silver from them!"
"What?" Yang Wei was such an honest and straightforward man; why would he borrow silver?
"But they’re insisting that I sold myself to them and are trying to take me away!"
Yang Wei was now utterly confused, not even sure what was happening. He had barely had the money before it was snatched back, and now they were claiming he’d sold himself to them!
Auntie Three was dumbfounded and collapsed on the ground, wailing, "I knew that Hehua would bring disaster! Demanding a hundred taels, now what do we do?"
Only then did Xiaoxiao and Yang Ming understand; Yang Wei intended to marry Hehua, and her family demanded a hundred taels as a bride price. Lacking the amount, he had resorted to a usurious loan!
"Auntie Three, stop crying, the main thing now is to prevent them from taking Yang Wei away!"
Xiaoxiao quickly helped Auntie Three up; the situation had to be dealt with.
"We’re not bullying by numbers; it’s all clearly written in black and white on this paper!"
Yang Ming took a look at the contract, which clearly stated that Yang Wei willingly sold himself without any mention of the hundred taels. Yang Wei, being illiterate, had been deceived.
Here, a contract was the law. If these men wanted to take Yang Wei, even the government office couldn’t intervene. This was a loss Yang Wei had to swallow, and without money, there seemed to be no way to resolve it.
At that moment, Xiaoxiao’s eyes darted around, thinking of a solution. Did they really have to settle this with money? Or could they make a scene and adamantly deny everything? Or grab the contract and eat it?
But she was also afraid of those burly men. She had no martial arts skills—what if they beat her? She now fully understood how others felt when she showed up with a group backing her.
"What can be done to keep Yang Wei from being taken away?"
"Easy, easy, just trade it for the pickled cabbage recipe!"
"..." It turned out that they were after her all along. This trap was set too cleverly; it couldn’t be resolved with money!
There was no choice but to fight, even if it meant taking a beating! She refused to believe that, having traveled through time, she could be beaten to death.