I just want to be a princess, no, you want to be a queen

Mother Yang asked anxiously, "What did the uncle say?"

"Of course he doesn't want to be criticized. But the family has no money, and he can't just watch his father-in-law die."

"That consumptive bastard, if you don't have money, you shouldn't see a doctor. Why are you harming my daughter?" Mother Yang cursed angrily while taking out the betrothal gift given by Butcher Zheng.

She took out a tael of silver and stuffed it into Yang Pan'er's pocket, saying, "Take it for now. The most urgent thing is to give birth to a son. Look at your father. He has been very kind to me since I gave birth to my son."

Mother Yang said as she looked at her son who was eating candy, her eyes full of anticipation: "When your brother grows up, you will have someone to support you."

"Jiabao, let me hug you." Yang Pan'er picked up Yang Jiabao, tears streaming down her face.

Yang Xier watched this scene without saying anything. She packed up the food on the table and went out to take it to her father. Yang Nian'er carried the kettle, grabbed two sweet potatoes, and caught up with her second sister.

A sweet potato for each of the two sisters is their breakfast.

Yang Tiezhu sat in the fields to eat his meal while the two sisters continued carrying corn home. After several trips back and forth, they finally finished carrying the whole load.

"Second sister, shall we go catch grasshoppers?"

After Yang Nian'er finished piling the corn, she looked up and found that her second sister was missing. She suddenly remembered that Butcher Zheng had asked her second sister to look for him tonight.

By the river, under a crooked tree, Yang Xier looked at the turbulent water and walked slowly forward. The water soaked her straw sandals and gradually submerged her.

"Second sister!"

Yang Nian'er rushed over, pulled her second sister ashore, and cried in her arms. If she had come a little later, she would have lost her second sister.

Yang Xier patted her sister's head and said slowly, "Nian'er, you know, our parents only gave us bodies, but our souls are free. As long as I dare to give up this body, my soul can return to where I want to go."

"Second sister, don't do this, I'm scared!"

Yang Nian'er raised her head and mustered up the courage to say, "Second sister, let's go to a place where no one knows us."

"Silly girl, do you want to be captured by some unknown man and become his wife, or be sold to a brothel?" Where can a woman go here?

Yang Xier was not actually seeking suicide. She just wanted to try and see if she could go back to the modern society where she had lived happily for three years.

But even if this is a world she hates, she is reluctant to risk her life.

"I'm fine!" She pushed her sister away and smiled sadly: "I should go find Butcher Zheng."

"No!" Yang Nian'er blocked the road, shaking her head like a rattle.

Yang Xier said: "Nian'er, I'm going to marry him in the future. What good will it do me to annoy him? I don't want to be beaten by him. I'm afraid of pain."

"Just say you have something to do. Just one night, it's okay. By the way,"

Yang Nian'er thought of an excuse to shirk responsibility: "When I was stealing the medicine, I heard Doctor Li say that eating fried grasshoppers can help with fertility. I told Mom to catch some for my eldest sister today and go home later. Even if Butcher Zheng goes to find Dad, he will just think that Mom and Dad don't allow you to go."

"Okay!" She was also afraid at the thought of doing that kind of thing.

The grasshoppers were already at the end of their strength in the autumn, their jumping height reduced to half. Before long, they had strung six strings of foxtail grass.

Yang Paner's in-laws' home was in Changshui Village, five miles away. The two of them walked along the ditch towards Changshui Village, holding dogtail grass with grasshoppers on it.

"Miss!"

Yang Pan'er was cooking in the yard. When she heard the sound, she turned her head and saw Yang Nian'er coming in and putting six strings of grasshoppers tied with dogtail grass on the stove.

"Sister, stir-frying this will help you have a baby." She told Doctor Li's secret recipe.

These days, Yang Pan'er has been in extreme fear. When she heard her sister's concern, tears fell from her eyes.

"You must be hungry after running such a long way!" She picked up the hot pancakes from the pot and handed them to her two sisters.

"Thank you, sis!"

Yang Nian'er happily reached out to take it, and Yang Xi'er hurriedly grabbed her sister's hand and pulled it back.

"We just ate, so we're not hungry. Big sister, you go do your thing, we're leaving."

After saying that, he pulled Yang Nian'er away.

There were only a few pancakes in the pot. If my eldest sister's parents-in-law knew that she had given some to her sister-in-law, they would definitely criticize her.

Not long after they walked out, they saw the eldest sister's mother-in-law leading a lame old man in his forties towards home.

The eldest sister's mother-in-law walked briskly, introducing her daughter-in-law as a sweet and charming woman. The old man listened, his withered face brightening with joy.

"Second sister, what should I do?"

After the people walked away, Yang Nian'er poked her head out from the alley beside her, her eyes full of anxiety.

"Let's go and have a look!"

If my eldest sister really became a pawned wife, she would never be able to hold her head up in the village for the rest of her life.

Yang Xier pulled her sister to the gate of the yard and heard a shrill wail coming from the house.

"Boss, how could you leave me alone and go away?"

The lame old man came crawling out, his face uglier than if he had seen a ghost, muttering incomprehensible curses. The two sisters looked at each other and ran inside.

In the east room, Old Man Zhang was lying on the kang with his head hanging outside the edge of the kang, two bricks hanging around his neck, his eyes turned outward, and his tongue hanging out long.

He actually hanged himself.

Zhang Fengshou stood at the head of the kang, like a wooden stake, with clear bloodstains on the palm of his slightly open hand.

Yang Nian'er pointed at Zhang Fengshou in surprise. Before she could speak, Yang Pan'er squatted down and covered her sister's mouth, sobbing: "My father-in-law didn't want to be a burden to the family, so he left on his own."

The neighbors heard the noise and rushed over. Yang Xier pretended to play along with her elder sister for a while, then pulled her younger sister out of the suffocating room.

"What did you say?"

On the quiet and deserted path, Yang Nian'er looked at her second sister in shock. After a long pause, she said, "Brother-in-law treats my eldest sister very well."

"What's good about that? He's just doing it for his own face."

In his heart, the eldest sister was just his private property. Yang Xier was so extreme that she was worried that if the eldest sister said a few words to the men next to her, he would beat her.

"But at least my eldest sister doesn't have to suffer anymore." Yang Nian'er was very happy and suddenly stopped: "Second sister, shall we kill Butcher Zheng as well?"

"What are you talking about!" Yang Xier quickly covered her sister's mouth. She didn't expect that her sister, so young, could have such thoughts. She was so shocked that she broke out in a cold sweat.

She advised: "Sister, this is his own family, no one will interfere. Even if her mother-in-law knew, she would not be willing to let her son go. But Butcher Zheng is an outsider, how can it be the same? Besides, killing is wrong."

"I know. I'm doing this for you." Yang Nian'er pouted and walked forward.

Yang Xier stepped forward and held her sister's hand, and said with emotion: "Nian'er, have you heard a saying, I could have endured the darkness if I had never seen the sunshine."

In fact, Butcher Zheng was one of the more affluent of the surrounding villages. Marrying him would at least mean she wouldn't have to starve.

But, she has been to that world.

In that world, she could go to school, work, and control her own destiny, without having to carefully please men just to make a living.