I'm dressed up as the timid eldest daughter, and the whole family has to listen to me!

Seeing that Aunt Luo actually wanted to take Lianhua back, Su Shiyan immediately stood in front of Lianhua.

"Mother-in-law, you can't do this. Lianhua and I are already married, and we even have a marriage certificate. How can you take Lianhua back with you?"

Seeing this, Su Banxia quickly stepped forward, grabbed Aunt Luo's hand, and said:

“Aunt Luo, you can’t do this! You’ve made our family the laughingstock of the whole village. If you take Sister Lianhua back, you’ll have to cover all the expenses of our office. We didn’t go out to do business today, but the revenue from that business alone was at least three taels of silver. Then there’s the cost of the banquet and the guests, which cost ten taels of silver. And the three taels of betrothal money and some gifts we gave your family earlier also amounted to five taels of silver. If you want to take Sister Lianhua away, you’ll have to return twenty-one taels of silver to our family first.”

Upon hearing Su Banxia's words, Aunt Luo was so frightened that she collapsed to the ground. Her recently regained consciousness began to scatter again, and she kept muttering to herself.

"You're harming me, you're cannibalizing me! Where am I supposed to get so much money to give you? You're trying to kill this old woman! What sins have I committed to have become in-laws with you? Oh dear, my life is so miserable, and my daughter's life is so miserable too! How are we going to live from now on?"

Upon seeing this, Fu Bao immediately went to help Aunt Luo.

"Mom, are you alright? The ground is cold, get up first!"

Upon seeing this, Su Banxia immediately walked up to Fu Bao.

"If you also want your sister to take her back, then you should take out this twenty-one taels of silver, and I will let your sister go back. Otherwise, don't even think about it."

Fu Bao had never seen so much silver before, let alone twenty-one taels of silver. So Fu Bao didn't dare to say anything more and simply grabbed Aunt Luo from the ground, trying to pull her outside.

"Mother, please stop joking. Let's hurry back. If we go any later, it will be dark and we won't be able to see where we're going. I'm all wet and cold. Let's go back and change our clothes."

Fu Bao's father was already completely drunk. He was slumped on the table, drunkenly shouting, "One more drink!"

He paid no attention to his wife and son's condition, focusing only on drinking and eating. He was thinking that he hadn't had such delicious food for many days, and he wanted to eat more so that his trip wouldn't be in vain.

Seeing this, Grandma Sun felt a little sorry for Fu Bao, so she quickly said to him:

"Fu Bao, quickly help your father back too. What will happen to him if you leave him here alone? Don't let him embarrass himself here."

Grandma Sun's silence only made things worse. The moment she spoke, Aunt Luo turned to glare at her, her eyes sharp as knives, while she continued to curse.

"Auntie, how could you be so heartless? How could you arrange such a marriage for Lianhua? What am I going to do without Lianhua? You owe our family so much, you can never repay it in this lifetime. Auntie, you are too cruel. I never thought you were such a vicious person. I am your niece, how could you do such a thing!"

Grandma Sun never expected that Aunt Luo would turn on her. Her good intentions had backfired. Aunt Luo had acted unfairly, making things escalate to this point, and now she was blaming Grandma Sun.

Grandma Sun was furious. She didn't know why her niece was so useless and confused. But when she looked up and saw Aunt Luo's miserable state, she couldn't be bothered to argue with her anymore and simply turned her head away.

Seeing this, Fu Bao grabbed Aunt Luo with one hand and pulled his drunken father, who was lying on the table, with the other. He stumbled and shuffled out, afraid that if he stayed any longer, his mother would say something shocking and he would be implicated.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that the plague that had plagued his family of three had finally left, and then they all went back to their tables to eat.

Su Shiyan turned his head and saw Lianhua crying with tears streaming down her face. She watched the three of them leave, biting her lip and remaining silent.

Su Shiyan quickly helped Lianhua back into the house, closed the door, and held her hand tightly, comforting her:

"Lotus, don't worry. Even if you marry me, I will never mistreat you or let you suffer the same grievances you did at your parents' home. If you ever have any problems, just tell me, and I will stand up for you."

At this point, Su Shiyan glanced timidly at the lotus flower, then spoke softly:

“When your mother was being beaten, I was there too, but I was so angry. When I thought about how she hit and bullied you before, I thought I should let my grandma hit her back to vent my anger. So I didn’t stop her right away. Did my actions upset you? I’m sorry, I won’t do it again next time… No matter what, she’s still your mother…”

Lianhua, her eyes red, looked at Su Shiyan and shook her head.

"I'm not angry with you because of this. You did nothing wrong. Today, it was my mother who was in the wrong..."

Hearing Lianhua's words, Su Shiyan felt relieved, so he took out a handkerchief and reached out to wipe the tears from Lianhua's face.

"Lotus, don't cry. Today is our big day, we should be happy. Seeing you cry makes me feel bad too. As for that two taels of silver dowry, our family..."

Before Su Shiyan could finish speaking, Lianhua immediately grabbed his hand and shook her head repeatedly.

“Brother Shiyan, I know, I know my mother went too far. These days, a dowry of three taels of silver is already very high. I can’t keep making you support my family. I didn’t want you to pay the two taels of silver dowry in the first place. This is the best outcome right now.”

Seeing how sensible Lianhua was, Su Shiyan felt that he hadn't misjudged her at all.

“Lotus, listen to me. You know better than any of us what kind of person your mother is. My younger sister told me long ago that if we give this two taels of silver as a betrothal gift to your mother, it will be a waste. She will definitely use it to support your good-for-nothing brother. It would be better to give it to you after you get married, so that you will have some money to rely on. This can also be considered your dowry.”

Before Lianhua could speak, Su Shiyan got up and ran to the dressing table. He took out two taels of silver that Su Banxia had prepared for him and handed it to Lianhua.

"Keep this money safe. You can buy whatever you want to eat or use. If you spend it all, I'll just earn more. I just don't want your brother to benefit from it, since they haven't treated you well..."