Silver disgraced his friend’s family, becoming a laughingstock in the neighborhood.
However, the marriage was already sealed, and cancelling it would turn both families into a joke. After much persuasion from the parents on both sides, his friend reluctantly agreed.
Unexpectedly, the new bride kept threatening to end her life and refused to consummate the marriage with Silver’s friend, insisting on finding Silver.
This enraged Silver’s friend, who decisively divorced her.
As the entire family had become a laughingstock, they moved away overnight and, harboring a grudge against Silver, didn’t inform him either.
After being sent back home, the woman seized an opportunity to steal some money from her family and, having gathered information beforehand, found Silver’s home.
To avoid arousing suspicion, she lied, claiming to be his friend’s sister. Knowing the family had moved away, she conveniently said they all met with a tragic accident, leaving her alone.
Initially intending to live at the Yang Family residence and getting closer to Silver, she believed that if she behaved well and eventually confessed her deep affection, Silver would surely accept her.
Who knew, within a few days, Silver’s mother noticed something amiss and promptly devised a plan to send her away.
The woman became anxious, fearing that all her plans would be in vain if she was sent away.
Especially when she discovered the Yang Family was arranging another marriage for Silver, the woman became consumed with jealousy.
Seizing an opportunity, she confessed to Silver, but before she could finish, Silver interrupted, explicitly stating that he only regarded her as a sister and had no other feelings.
The next day, Silver’s mother handed her a packed bundle containing some clothes and money, suggesting she move to town where an embroidery store run by the Jiang family was hiring embroideresses.
As long as she was willing to learn, they would provide room and board along with wages. After saving some money for a few years, the Yang Family would even add some to help her find an honest man to settle down with.
The woman despaired, agreeing on the surface. Once in town, she entered the embroidery store but had no interest in her work. With the money she had, she somehow became involved with some local thugs, asking them to procure a potent poison.
She then rented a house, sent a message home claiming she was getting married, and hired people to stage the act.
As planned, she poisoned Silver. Her intention was to mute him and cripple him, ensuring he would depend on her for life.
Unbeknownst to her, the thugs were not so easily deceived. They took the job as they had a grudge against Silver.
With Silver around, the thugs’ lives had been hard; many had been beaten, and the townspeople increasingly ceased to fear them. Persisting would make survival difficult.
Upon learning someone intended to harm Silver, they agreed to the scheme without payment, especially with money from the foolish woman.
They saw this as a perfect opportunity.
According to the woman, the poison was temporary; once she and Silver consummated their relationship, given Silver’s character, he wouldn’t abandon her.
Unfortunately, her plans fell apart like a mantis trying to catch a cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
The thugs replaced the poison with a stronger one that not only ruined his voice but also forever ended his chances of fatherhood.
Just as the woman thought everything was going according to plan, the thugs revealed their true colors.
The thug playing her husband consummated the marriage for real.
Silver was thrown into the wilderness by the thugs.
The next day, the thugs fled with the woman and the money.
Throughout the journey, the woman had to cook and do laundry during the day and provide warmth at night, unable to live or die.
Believing she had everything under control, she realized the harshness of the world.
Eventually, they took her to Jing County, traveled extensively by water, and eventually sold her to an old widower in need of a wife when they grew bored and needed money.
The old widower was a widower because he liked to beat his wives. His previous wife died from his beatings, earning him a terrifying reputation; no family would dare marry their daughter to him.
After being mistreated by the thugs, the woman’s obsession with Silver had long been extinguished.
She served the old widower obediently. The old widower, having been deprived for years, had a beautiful, skilled wife once more and so restrained himself for two months.
After two months, he got drunk and lost his temper, beating her.
The next day, seeing her bruised and battered, he initially apologized.
The woman clung to hope, knowing she had no other place to go. The past two months were her most stable days since being taken by the thugs, and she dared not leave, aware of the dangers a woman faced alone.
The old widower’s apology and good treatment over the past two months led her to forgive him.
However, after breaking the initial restraint, he beat her every few days.
Knowing her value, he restrained himself, inflicting only superficial injuries.
At first, she resisted and pleaded, but eventually grew numb.
The thugs’ potion wrecked her body, rendering her infertile. The widower, in drunken rages, cursed her for being a barren hen.
In this world, a woman who couldn’t bear children was worthless. She felt she owed him, so she served him diligently, not daring to defy him.
Occasionally, in the dead of night or when beaten, she recalled her maiden days, like memories from a past life.
She dared not think of Silver, trying to force herself to forget.
Suddenly seeing Silver before her, all her repressed guilt resurfaced, and she collapsed.
After confessing everything, she knelt and begged for mercy, claiming she had already been punished for her sins.
Tortured by thugs, sold to the widower, and beaten for nearly ten years, she felt she had paid her dues.
Towards the end, she even blamed Silver, claiming if he hadn’t disturbed her mind, she might have obediently married his friend and not ended up this way.
Silver silently took out a porcelain bottle, and the woman’s face changed upon seeing it.
A decade later, she still remembered that bottle vividly! This was the bottle of poison she had received from the thugs, mixed it into the wine, and handed it to Silver, watching him drink it.
"What... what are you going to do?" The woman panicked.
Silver swiftly restrained her and forced the potion down her throat, watching her writhing and screaming in agony without a flicker of emotion in his eyes.