Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

"Third son, go out with the child for a bit. Your older brother and younger brother are here, don't worry. No one can bully your mother." Old Wang couldn't stand his son talking anymore, so he coaxed him out gently.

"Dad, how can the family be without me right now? What big deal could a child possibly have? I can go later." The third son of the Wang family still didn't understand his father's meaning and insisted on staying to protect his mother.

In front of outsiders, Old Man Wang couldn't directly scold his son, even though he was a bit simple-minded, he was the most filial son.

He sighed silently again, then stopped looking at her and instead looked at Liu.

"Sister-in-law, look at my family, we have a lot of people, mostly boys, and they eat a lot. We really can't afford that much money right now. Could you perhaps reduce the amount?"

After hearing his words, Liu remained silent, but Li, standing behind her, looked at Wang Pingping in the crowd and said with a smile, "Pingping is such a pretty girl, with such delicate skin and a longevity lock on her body. At first glance, she looks like a young lady from a wealthy family. Her new dress looks like it's made of silk, tsk tsk! It feels so smooth, so beautiful." As she spoke, Li even moved closer to Wang Pingping and touched the fabric of her dress. Hmph, it really was silk.

Upon hearing Li's words, Old Man Wang followed her gaze, his expression instantly turning sour. But before he could speak, Wang's third son jumped out again.

"Don't touch my niece. Look at your hands! If you tear my niece's new clothes again, can you afford to pay for it?"

"Oh dear, I can't afford to pay for it, I can't afford to pay for it. My Xiaxia has never worn such nice clothes before. If the watermelon hadn't been smashed, we could have bought a piece of silk to make a dress." Li Shi wasn't annoyed by his behavior. She smiled as if she were talking to herself, but everyone in the room could hear her clearly.

Even Wang, who had been keeping her head down, couldn't help but glare at her third son.

Old Wang coughed awkwardly twice, as if about to say something. At that moment, Liu spoke up.

"Brother Wang, do you know how much my third son's watermelons sold for per pound this year?" Without waiting for Old Man Wang's reply, she continued, "Fifty coins! Each watermelon weighs fifteen or sixteen pounds, so one watermelon is worth seven or eight hundred coins. And there were over a dozen that got smashed. Tell me, isn't that worth five taels of silver? Have I included my third daughter-in-law's medical expenses? Here's what we'll do: if you really don't want to pay, we can take this to the village and let everyone judge. If the villagers say, 'Your Wang family only needs to pay us ten coins,' then fine, we'll take ten coins from you. Is that acceptable?"

"Sister-in-law, you're joking. It's just that I really don't have five taels of silver on hand right now. Could you wait a bit and deliver it to my door in person tomorrow?"

“Brother Wang, we’ve been in this village for so many years, we know each other inside and out. Since you’ve asked, it would seem disrespectful of our long-standing relationship if I didn’t agree. Since you’ve said so, I won’t say anything more. We’ll wait for you to bring the money at Lao San’s house tomorrow.” He stood up to leave, but then suddenly turned back and said…

"You should also explain it to her clearly. If you do something wrong, you should clean up your mess. Do you know why I came directly to your house without visiting anyone else?" After leaving behind this somewhat nonsensical remark, Liu left with her two daughters-in-law in a very open and generous manner.

Just as I reached the door, I heard the sound of a porcelain bowl shattering inside the house.

The Liu family and their companions left without pausing for a moment.

"You all go out, I have something to say to your mother." Old Wang said this to his sons and daughters-in-law. The third son seemed to understand at this moment. He looked at his mother a few times with some worry. He wanted to say something, but before he could open his mouth, his wife and son pulled him away together.

"Tell me the truth, what exactly happened?" Old Man Wang asked Wang Shi, barely suppressing his temper.

"..." Wang kept her head down and didn't say a word.

"Even now, you still won't tell me the truth? Your grandson is about to get married, and at this crucial moment, you've caused this mess. If you can't give me a straight answer, you can go back to your parents' house."

"I...I...I just couldn't stand seeing Liu's son getting rich. I just wanted to make things difficult for them, but I never expected it to turn out like this." Seeing that her husband was really angry, Wang didn't dare to hide it anymore and stammered.

"Are you causing trouble for them or for us? They're making their own money, what's it to you?" Old Wang was at his wits' end with this old woman.

Seemingly sensing the helplessness in Old Wang's voice, Wang knew that his earlier words telling her to go back to her parents' home were just said in anger, and she became a little bolder than before.

“I still resented her because of the fight last time, and I was always thinking about when I could get my revenge. I originally just wanted to steal one so that my family could all have a taste, but it was too big and I was afraid that others would see it. Then I remembered the fight last time, and I felt a bit resentful. So I made a snap decision and smashed all their watermelons.”

"Hey, why are you arguing with them? I haven't hidden our family's situation from you. I'm hoping that once their son Chengwen passes the imperial examination and becomes a scholar, we can buy more fertile land and register it under his name, so we can pay less tax. Since we don't have any scholars in our family, we'll inevitably have to ask the Zhang family for favors in the future." Old Wang knew in his heart that the feud between his wife and Liu Shi stemmed from Liu Shi's second marriage to him, which had caused decades of irreconcilable conflict. Ultimately, it was because of him that she had suffered so much injustice for so many years.

"Yes, I understand. I won't let Pingping bully their mentally challenged son anymore," Wang said, head bowed.

"You know that's good. Prepare five taels of silver for me tomorrow. I'll give the money to that person. Don't mention this matter again. It won't do you or our family any good."

Wang hummed in agreement, got up and went back to the inner room. After feeling around on the wall for a while, she actually pulled out a brick.

Turning it over, they discovered the brick was hollow. Wang took out a cloth bag from inside, which was filled with small and large pieces of silver, totaling over twenty taels. She took out a few pieces, roughly five taels. She wrapped the rest in the cloth and stuffed it back into the hollow brick, then filled the hole in the wall. She then went to the outer room and gave it to Old Man Wang.

Now, Liu, along with Wang and Li, went to Xia Yu's house first and told Liu about the incident. They didn't go into details, only saying that Old Man Wang would send five taels of silver the next day, and that she should just accept it. Thus, the matter of the smashed watermelon was perfectly resolved by Liu and her two wives.

Xia Yu watched her grandmother with a heavy heart, thinking how wonderful it would be if the old lady didn't favor boys over girls. Suddenly, as she was thinking this, Xia Yu felt a chill run down her spine. Looking at the starry night sky, Xia Yu wondered if she was asking for too much. Life isn't always so perfect.