flstandardbreds Chapter 39: Disaster Year
Chapter 39: Disaster Year
He sighed softly and said with great sorrow: "My granddaughter is indeed possessed by a fox demon. The fox demon has great magical powers and is very good at deceiving people. Even my second son and his family have been bewitched by her and cannot tell right from wrong."
"Hmph, that's your family's business. I don't care. Just tell me whether you will give the silver or not." Wang Dahu glanced at them coldly. What fox demon? It was just a trick to deceive people. His mother made a living from this. How could she not know it? But he didn't intend to say anything more.
"Give, give, give. We don't have so much silver right now. Can you give us less?" Old man Li was a person who bullied the good and feared the evil. He didn't dare to offend Wang Dahu, but he didn't want to pay the silver, so he had to ask tentatively to see if he could give less.
"Of course, you can even not give it to me." Wang Dahu suddenly raised a smile.
As soon as these words were spoken, Old Man Li and Old Lady Li had a hunch that something bad was going to happen. How could they give up the money so easily when they came here specifically to ask for it?
"What do you mean?" As soon as he was told that no money was needed, Li Laosi immediately became interested.
"Your granddaughter Li Xiaoxiao hasn't been engaged yet, right? I've taken a fancy to her and would like to marry her to me. I don't want the silver, I'll give you another ten taels of silver as a betrothal gift." For a rural girl to be engaged, the maximum amount of silver she would get would be ten taels of silver, plus an additional four taels, it would be fourteen taels in total, which was considered very prestigious in the village.
Wang Dahu fell in love with Li Xiaoxiao after just meeting her once. She was indeed a little whore born of an old whore. She was so impatient to find a man before her sister even went out. Old Mrs. Li was secretly complaining about her but did not show it on her face.
"My granddaughter is beautiful, smart and capable. She is only sixteen years old this year. In two years, she will grow up to be even more beautiful. I wonder how many people will want to marry her by then." What Old Lady Li meant was that the money was not enough and more money had to be given.
"Add another five taels." Wang Dahu knew that Old Lady Li wanted to raise the price, but she was right. Li Xiaoxiao would definitely become more and more beautiful, so it was worth spending more money.
In just a few words, Li Xiaoxiao's marriage was settled. After leaving the Li family's gate, Wang Dahu was in a very happy mood and called his brothers to go for a drink together.
And then he suddenly thought that now that Li Xiaoxiao had separated from the family and lived separately, he had given all the betrothal gifts to her grandparents. If her parents didn't receive them, and they didn't marry their daughter to him, that would be troublesome.
Thinking of this, he turned around and went to Li Xiaoxiao's house again.
Li Xiaoxiao didn't tell her family about Brother Hu's matter to avoid worrying them. She had already resolved the matter anyway, but she didn't expect him to come again.
"Xiaoxiao." Wang Dahu didn't dare to get too close to Li Xiaoxiao's house, and called out softly from a distance.
Li Xiaoxiao felt her scalp tingling after hearing this. This guy changed his character after going to the Li family. The Li family must have given him some kind of love potion.
"What are you doing here again? The Li family won't give you money, and there's nothing I can do about it. Go find them." Li Xiaoxiao looked around and saw that there was no one around, so his tone was not good. There were five people just now, and now he was the only one left. He was completely confident in dealing with him and was not afraid that he would play dirty tricks.
"I'm not here to ask for money. Your grandmother has betrothed you to me, and I'm here to tell you." Wang Dahu looked at Li Xiaoxiao as if she were his own wife. The more he looked, the more he liked her. He was usually domineering, but when he saw the girl he liked, he finally felt his heart fluttering, and his voice unconsciously became much softer than usual.
Li Xiaoxiao was nearly drowned by her own saliva. Was Wang Dahu kicked in the head by a donkey?
"I have already separated from them. It is not their turn to decide my marriage. You can find whoever agrees to your marriage."
It's really immoral that the Li family wanted to sell her so quietly. They would never do anything that other people would do.
"Since ancient times, marriages have been decided by parents and matchmakers. They are your elders and have already promised me. You cannot go back on your word." Wang Dahu became anxious when he heard this.
"You yourself said that it was your parents' orders. Are they my parents?" Li Xiaoxiao spread his hands. It was really funny.
Wang Dahu's original excitement was gone, and he couldn't help feeling annoyed with the Li family.
"So what will you do, then you will marry me?"
"I won't marry you, no matter what. You're not my type." Li Xiaoxiao is not a indecisive person and she refused directly.
"good very good."
After saying that, Wang Dahu left without looking back. Li Xiaoxiao faintly heard the sound of his fingers clenching tightly.
Later, Li Xiaoxiao heard that the Li family's house was smashed by Wang Dahu, all the things were smashed to pieces, and eight taels of silver were stolen. She couldn't help but smile knowingly.
It was raining, and it had been raining for several days in a row, not too heavy nor too light, but continuously. Every household had a worried look on their face. The wheat in the fields was at the harvest time, and if it continued like this, the yield was bound to be reduced.
Li Xiaoxiao's family didn't live well either. They had no land, just a thatched hut. With five people walking back and forth, the house was crowded and small.
It was raining outside and without an umbrella, she couldn't go anywhere. Li Xiaoxiao felt like she was going to molder.
Finally on the seventh day the rain stopped and the long-awaited sun hung high in the sky.
Although it didn't rain, the fields were muddy, the wheat that hadn't been harvested yet had already sprouted, and there were cries of grief everywhere.
This year's grain production is destined to decrease, and taxes are heavy at this time. If the court shows mercy, some taxes can be exempted, but this possibility is not high unless a major famine occurs.
Li Dahai was also worried. He was a genuine farmer. The harvest from the fields was a big deal, affecting his family's livelihood for a year. The sprouted wheat could be eaten, but the taste was very bad. For families with many children and few fields, it could not solve the problem of food and clothing.
Sure enough, not long after, people in the village started selling their fields. Normally, the best farmland was sold for ten taels of silver per mu, but now no one was buying it at nine taels of silver.
Li Xiaoxiao wanted to buy a piece of land. He had eighty taels of silver before. He gave fifty taels to Li Quanfu to build a house and the Li family gave five taels of silver for medicine. He used three taels of silver. Li Huawen was about to start school, so he would probably use seven or eight taels of silver. In other words, he had twenty-four taels of silver left.
Twenty-four taels of silver was only enough to buy two acres of land. Li Xiaoxiao wanted to take this opportunity to buy more and decided to go into the mountains again.
It had just rained and there were many snakes, insects, rats and ants, so it was not suitable to go into the mountains. Two days later, Li Xiaoxiao finally went into the mountains.
Li Huawen wanted to go with them, but Li Xiaoxiao disagreed. He was young and although he had learned archery for a few days, there were too many unknown risks in the mountains, like the spotted snake she encountered when she first went into the mountains. Fortunately, she reacted quickly, otherwise the consequences would be hard to say.
Another point is that she wanted to take out another wolf corpse this time, but it was inconvenient with Li Huawen around. There were not many prey on the mountain, and she didn't plan to walk too far, so she couldn't hunt too many animals.
The next day, under Li Huawen's resentful gaze, Li Xiaoxiao went into the mountains.
Still fully armed, the weather is even hotter after the rain. The plants in the mountains have drunk so much water for so many days in a row, and they all grow lush and leafy, swaying in the wind.
Li Xiaoxiao walked the same route she had taken last time. The marks she had not made for so many days had grown new bark and had faded a lot, so she marked them again.