Chapter 604: The leg of 604 can get better.
He finally squeezed past Xiao Yishan and grabbed Xiao Ailiu from the quilt, dragging her out, “Get out…”
“No! No!” Xiao Ailiu yelled shrilly, “Third brother, you heartless thing, how could you do this to your own sister…”
“I am heartless…” Xiao Yuchuan was furious, “You shrew, you’ve been away for so many years, why did you come back now? You should have died out there, why did you come back to be a nuisance!”
“You talk to me …” Xiao Ailiu’s face, slapped by Chuan and Qingyue, was swollen and purplish, “With this attitude towards me, Father and Mother wouldn’t rest in peace under the ground!”
“If you, you cheap character, hadn’t sold the three acres of paddy fields years ago, we wouldn’t have been able to afford the treatment for Fourth Brother’s leg injury. Perhaps if we had had the money then, his leg wouldn’t be crippled!” Xiao Yuchuan raged, “If Father and Mother knew about this beyond the grave, they would be the ones slapping you incessantly!”
Xiao Ailiu denied any mistake, “As I said, it was my dowry, and of course I took my dowry with me when I left. Who leaves their dowry at the maternal home? How was I to know that Fourth Brother would become disabled after I got married!”
“Yes.” Xiao Yuchuan sneered, “No one ever leaves their dowry at the maternal home, but what did Second Brother and I tell you back then? We agreed that the three acres of paddy fields are given to you, but not for you to sell. The paddy fields should have remained with the Xiao Family, and we would pay you rent every year. Even the Chen Family agreed, and what did you do? You insisted on selling it, and even did so secretly!”
“I…” Xiao Ailiu was momentarily at a loss for a retort.
“That’s not the end of it. Second Brother and I spent money to get you new quilts and a few pieces of furniture, and that cost us almost all our silver. This was besides what we had already given you. And what did you do?” Xiao Yuchuan said coldly, “You took away all the slightly less worn-out objects from the house, like bowls, tile jars, and tubs.”
“Didn’t I just want to look a bit more lavish on my wedding day…”
“Fine. A dowry of forty-five taels of silver, even buying a person wouldn’t cost more than thirty taels, marrying a wife in the village wouldn’t cost more than ten to twenty taels, who had as lavish a dowry as you back then?” Xiao Yuchuan said passionately, “Let’s forget the above-board parts. The one tael of small silver pieces I kept in my wardrobe, you actually stole it!”
“Who said I stole it…” Xiao Ailiu denied it, raising her voice, “Well, Xiao Yuchuan, you lose money and you blame me…”
Xiao Yishan frowned upon hearing this, “Third Brother, you were robbed back then?”
“Yes.” He nodded, “I was working as a temporary worker then, and I found my employer’s moneybag. I returned it to him, and he rewarded me with one tael of silver. I came back, planning to hand it over to you, Second Brother, but you weren’t around. I put it in the wardrobe, only to find out later it was stolen…”
Xiao Ailiu said with a pale face, “Second Brother, don’t listen to him. Even if he did have a tael of silver stolen, I didn’t do it. I wouldn’t be a thief…”
Xiao Yishan also said, “Big Sister is right, Third Brother. Even if your silver was stolen, it can’t be proved that Big Sister did it. What if you’ve wrongly accused her…”
Xiao Yuchuan looked disappointed, “Second Brother, you’re just taking her side?”
“I’m just stating the facts.”
“Exactly. There were several of us in our house, and Fourth Brother was also home. It might just be Fourth Brother who stole it…” Xiao Ailiu hadn’t finished her sentence when she shivered at the simultaneous glaring from Xiao Yishan and Xiao Yuchuan.