In the courtyard, a woman with graying hair was viciously swinging a rattan cane, lashing it all around the yard at another woman who was desperately shielding several young girls in her arms, trying to protect the children from the cane's strikes. Her own body was already covered in cuts and bruises...
The one doing the beating was this body's grandmother, the matriarch of the Yang Family, Yang Anshi. Her maiden name was unknown, but she was famously known within several villages in a ten-mile radius as a fiercely cruel old woman. Her biggest trait was stirring up trouble without reason, earning her the nickname "Always Righteous." Years ago, she stood at the entrance to the village and cursed for four hours straight because someone picked a few wild vegetables near her garden. Reportedly, her curses never repeated, and she lashed out so severely that the woman who had picked the vegetables was driven to hang herself with a belt on the roof beam. Luckily, she was found in time and her life was saved, but Yang Anshi's infamous scolding cemented her reputation. Hence, people from the village generally did not want to provoke the old devout woman.
The one being beaten was Xun Hui, the mother of this body, also known as Yang Xunshi. She was a pitiful figure who lost her mother at a young age and whose father remarried. The stepmother wasn't kind and saw Xun Hui as a waste of food, so at just fourteen, the stepmother secretly "sold" her to Dapu East Village.
However, Yang Ruxin guessed that there must have been a stepfather, and Dad Xun certainly condoned his wife's actions; otherwise, he wouldn't have neglected his daughter for so many years without a word.
In ancient times, very few people were educated. If a family had one scholar, it was a truly remarkable achievement, often requiring the family to devote all its resources to support that one person's education.
At that time, Yang Baiyue was one of the top young men in the village—handsome and studious from a young age, and Yang's father placed high hopes on him, investing everything to support his son's education.
Yang Baiyue lived up to expectations and successfully passed the examination for scholar and then became a Scholar. At that time, he was the only Scholar in the entire Dapu East Village, and everyone thought that the Yang family would soon produce a government official and change their social standing.
But no one expected such an outstanding man as Yang Baiyue to fall for Xun Hui, who had been brought over to be sold. He insisted on marrying no one but her, and eventually, the Yang family had no choice but to spend five taels of silver to buy Xun Hui.
Back then, in the village, three taels of silver could arrange a decent wedding, so five taels was indeed quite expensive.
Moreover, buying a bride was not a respectable thing to do. It was only those men who couldn't find a wife who would resort to buying one, like the men in remote mountains who were too poor to afford food. They would spend money to buy a bride and then share her among the brothers, all for the sake of continuing the family lineage.
Even relatively well-off families would not consider a girl without parents when arranging a marriage, thinking it to be bad luck.
Although the Yang family wasn't rich, they still owned over twenty acres of land, and Yang Baiyue himself was a Scholar. Yet he married a woman without parents or family, which made the old Yang family feel inferior in the village for a long time.
Because of this, Yang's elderly parents were very displeased with Xun Hui. They didn't think their son was at fault but believed that Xun Hui had a face like a seductress, bewitching and confusing their eldest son.
Therefore, Yang Anshi was perpetually in a bad mood. Scolding and beating were routine, especially since Xun Hui had given birth to three girls in succession without having a son, making Yang Anshi regard her with even greater disdain...