Wealthy beyond measure, yet you call me a sister-supporting-brother demon?

Yuan Sheng tilted his head back and wiped away his tears with the back of his hand. "I'm fine. I just took a trip to the underworld and got a little excited."

Zhu Chenxi's bright eyes were a little timid, her long eyelashes fluttering. She clenched her fists and mustered her courage to say, "My mother spent twenty taels to buy me as a bride to bring good luck, but my stepmother didn't give me a single copper coin as dowry. I... I'm good at embroidery, I can earn money to pay back the money."

After saying that, she deliberately showed the other half of her face to Yuan Sheng so he could see it clearly.

The conversation was the same as in the previous life, except that in the previous life, when Yuan Sheng heard her mention the word "embroidery," he kicked her in the chest and knocked her off the bed.

Zhu Chenxi has a fist-sized red birthmark around her eye. Half of her face is stunningly beautiful, while the other half is plain-looking.

In his previous life, just seeing this face was enough to make Yuan Sheng feel humiliated. When he heard about the exorbitant dowry of twenty taels, Yuan Sheng wanted nothing more than to kick her to death.

In the early years of its founding, the Great Qian Kingdom was engaged in continuous warfare, resulting in a severe shortage of population. The government then issued a decree that any woman over the age of eighteen who was unmarried would have to pay a tax to the government every year, similar to a "leftover woman tax".

A string of coins was worth one tael of silver. It was considered impressive for an ordinary farming family to save three or four taels of silver after a year of hard work. Which family would be willing to hand over a string of coins to the government every year?

Therefore, it is very easy to find a wife in the Great Qian Kingdom.

For an ordinary family, preparing the betrothal gifts—goose, wine, wedding cakes, fish, meat, and cloth—along with a dowry of six hundred coins, was already quite respectable. This entire preparation would cost only two taels of silver.

The daughter's dowry was actually quite substantial, including a large wooden dowry chest, clothes, bedding, washbasins, and other items, totaling well over three taels of silver. Families who cherished their daughters would also put some treasured items in the dowry chest, such as silver hairpins and strings of coins.

Zhu Chenxi's stepmother demanded twenty taels of silver from the Yuan family as a bride price, but gave her no dowry whatsoever, only the tattered hemp clothes covered in patches that she was wearing...

That's why Yuan Sheng in his previous life was so furious.

However, these are minor issues for Yuan Sheng now. First of all, the "birthmark" on Zhu Chenxi's face is due to fetal toxins, and he had already hired a research team to develop an antidote in his previous life; he remembered the Chinese medicine formula.

As for making money, it's even simpler. As one of China's richest men, his business philosophy and the vast amount of modern knowledge in his mind make making money as easy as drinking water.

But he had to hurry, otherwise his older sister and brother-in-law would be in trouble.

Yuan Sheng gently stroked Zhu Chenxi's red spots, "I can heal your face, as for the money... I'll earn it."

Zhu Chenxi's almond-shaped eyes were filled with surprise. The red spots on her face were from when she was born. How could they be cured?

Also, why is the young master different from the rumors?

Rumor has it that he was a lazy and good-for-nothing scoundrel who disrespected his parents and disliked his sister. He was known for judging people by their appearance and spending a fortune to marry a woman who was considered unattractive, so it was only natural that he would complain and beat her.

He treated her gently, without the slightest disdain, and Zhu Chenxi's heart felt as warm as if it were soaking in lukewarm water. "My lord, actually... when I was at my parents' home, I hid two or three taels of silver while doing embroidery, in the cracks between the stones in the pigsty. My family must have borrowed money to marry me. Tomorrow, you and I will go back to my parents' home and retrieve the money first."

Hmm? This didn't happen in my past life. In my past life, he would beat and scold her at the drop of a hat, trampling on her like a blade of grass. It's normal that she didn't confide in him.

Yuan Sheng knew his young wife was clever, but he never expected her to be this clever, managing to save a fortune of two or three taels of silver under such a stepmother.

Yuan Sheng remained calm and composed. "Take the money for now. I'll let you know if you need anything."

After recovering from a serious illness, Yuan Sheng was still weak and went to rest without doing anything.

Yuan Sheng lay on the bed, pondering the matter of money.

His fever spiked, and his parents spent several taels of silver on doctors and medicine. Later, they consulted a fortune teller to prepare items for him to use in a "lucky charm" ceremony and a dowry, which cost another twenty-five taels.

His family's savings of a dozen taels of silver were far from enough; the other dozen taels were borrowed from his parents, with the largest portion coming from his eldest sister, Yuan Pan'er, and her husband, Zhou Changlin.

In the previous life, it was because of these ten taels of silver that my eldest sister and brother-in-law lost their lives.

My brother-in-law, Zhou Changlin, is from Dongshan Village, which is adjacent to Shanhou Village.

The eldest sister and her husband were childhood sweethearts. Since their mother was busy with farm work, Yuansheng was raised by his sisters, especially his eldest sister, Yuan Pan'er.

Yuan Pan'er carried Yuan Sheng on her back whenever she went to gather pig feed, wash clothes in the ditch, pick mushrooms on the mountain, or hoe weeds in the field.

The eldest sister's husband, Zhou Changlin, is fourteen years older than Yuan Sheng. When Yuan Sheng was a child, Zhou Changlin often lingered around Yuan Pan'er and naturally often took Yuan Sheng out to play.

Zhou Changlin dug up sweet potatoes for Yuansheng and roasted them. He also wove grasshoppers for him. Yuansheng was very sweet-talking and charmed Zhou Changlin. The two were very close, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Yuansheng was like a son to him.

As Yuansheng grew older, their relationship became somewhat distant.

Having faced life and death, Yuan Sheng was moved with compassion by Zhou Changlin's plight, and Yuan Pan'er was heartbroken. That's why she took out ten taels of silver to help him ward off bad luck and save his life.

However, Zhou Changlin's parents were still alive, and as the eldest son, there was no reason for him to divide the family property, nor did he have any money. Zhou Changlin knew where his mother's secret stash was hidden, so he secretly took the key to the money box and stole ten taels of silver to save his brother-in-law's life.

Yuan Sheng recalled that, according to the timeline of his previous life, this matter was going to be exposed tomorrow.

Zhou Changlin's mother, Old Lady Wang, will discover tonight that ten taels of silver are missing from her money box.

That's ten taels of silver! An ordinary family, without illness or disaster, might work hard for a year and only save three taels. Ten taels of silver would take the Zhou family three years to save!

The ten taels of silver naturally caused an uproar in the Zhou family.

After being interrogated by the elderly couple, Zhou Changlin confessed.

Upon hearing that Zhou Changlin had actually wasted ten taels of silver, the hard-earned money of his entire family, on a marriage to bring good luck to his good-for-nothing brother-in-law, Old Madam Fang nearly fainted.

Old Master Zhou gave his daughter-in-law, Yuan Pan'er, a hard order: she had one day to get back the ten taels of silver, or the Zhou family would divorce this ungrateful daughter-in-law.

In the previous life, her eldest sister Yuan Pan'er returned that afternoon. She knew the family was in trouble, but they were truly desperate and could only tell her parents what her father-in-law had said.

When Yuan Laifu and Sheng Guihua heard that their eldest daughter was going to be divorced, they immediately panicked. They knew that borrowing ten taels of silver had completely angered their in-laws.

They knew they were in the wrong, and their family had long since run out of money; their only option now was to sell the land.

In his past life, when Yuan Sheng heard that the land was going to be sold, he immediately started cursing at his sister Yuan Pan'er. He said things like, "A married daughter is like water spilled from a bowl; she still wants her mother's land after marriage. She deserves to be divorced! She can go wherever she wants after being divorced, just don't come back to live off her parents' family."

Yuan Sheng even threatened Yuan Laifu and Sheng Guihua, saying that if they dared to sell their land for their daughter, he would jump into the river.

The elderly couple loved their daughter more than their son, and quickly pulled Yuansheng back from jumping into the river.

Yuan Pan'er's heart was broken when she saw her younger brother, whom she had always cherished, treat her like this. She was utterly heartbroken.

Thinking of the strict orders given by her in-laws and the difficulties her parents were in, she ran out of the house without crying, making a fuss, or saying a word, and jumped into the clear water river by the village.

Zhou Changlin caught up and saw his wife being submerged in the river. He quickly jumped in to save her, but he couldn't save her. Zhou Changlin was also swept away by the river and drowned.

Thinking of this past event, Yuan Sheng's nose stung with tears. He was a real bastard!

In this life, he wants his sister and brother-in-law to enjoy all the riches and honors!

He wanted to repay the ten taels of silver that his sister and brother-in-law had lent him a hundredfold!