Hearing her mother-in-law smashing pots and bowls and making veiled insults again, Jiang Cuicui numbly picked up a pile of dirty clothes and prepared to go to the river to wash them.
She has learned her lesson. When her husband is home, no matter how much her mother-in-law insults her, she must never talk back. Otherwise, it won't just be a few words of abuse. The last time she talked back, Wang Laoliu broke her arm. It took more than half a year to heal. Because she couldn't bear to go to the hospital, she just got a splint put on at a small clinic in town and didn't even have time to buy medicine. Now, whenever it rains, her arm hurts terribly.
Before they even reached the door, they heard it being kicked open from the outside.
Jiang Cuicui was startled, thinking that they had come to collect debts from her husband again, and stood blankly in the yard with her bamboo basket.
Inside the house, Wang Laoliu heard a loud crash as the front door was kicked open. He didn't know what he had done wrong outside, but he got up and tried to climb over the wall to run away. However, the men brought by Shan Yan grabbed him by the ankle and pulled him down from the wall, causing his chin to bleed!
His mother, Li Sanmei, cried out in pain, slapped her thigh, collapsed to the ground, and began to curse loudly.
Jiang Xiaoman didn't know Jiang Cuicui, but he was very familiar with Jiang Cancan. When he saw Jiang Cuicui's face, which was about 50% similar to Jiang Cancan's, what was there to hesitate about?
"Hello, are you Jiang Cancan's older sister, Jiang Cuicui?"
The woman, who had a blank expression, paused for a moment, then nodded blankly.
That's it!
Jiang Xiaoman was channeling his inner Oscar-winning actor today. After confirming it was really her, he grabbed the bamboo basket of dirty clothes from Jiang Cuicui's arm, tossed it to the ground, and urged her anxiously—
"Aunt Cui Cui! You need to go home and see your grandma! She's too sick to get out of bed, and Can Can is studying out of town and can't come back in time. The family is counting on you now!"
What? Grandma is sick?
A hint of anxiety immediately appeared on Jiang Cuicui's numb face.
Jiang Xiaoman nodded secretly, knowing that this aunt cared about her grandmother, so it seemed that this aunt was a kind-hearted person.
"What are you doing? Cui Cui is our daughter-in-law!" When Li Sanmei saw Jiang Xiaoman, a grown man, actually pulling and tugging at her daughter-in-law, she immediately became agitated and started cursing with a string of foul language.
Shan Yan's face immediately darkened.
He had no intention of showing any mercy to women. Besides, Li Sanmei was an old cucumber with age spots and wrinkles on her face, covered in dirt. Her face wasn't even as clean as his floor. What was there to pity?
However, he, as the "big brother," didn't need to do anything. With just a glance, his henchmen rushed forward and subdued Li Sanmei in a few moves, then stuffed her mouth with the old lady's fallen shoe.
If you can't speak properly, then shut up! If you anger Brother Yan, he may not hit women, but he can make your son take the beating instead!
Jiang Xiaoman's script for today portrays her as a spoiled brat who uses her family's numbers to snatch someone away. Seeing that Shan Yan's men have subdued the two, Jiang Xiaoman arrogantly pushes Jiang Cuicui towards the Wang family's main room, urging her on—
"Auntie, hurry up and go inside to tidy up. Great-Grandma is still waiting for you at home."
What the hell? Jiang Cuicui was the wife he married for eight thousand yuan. They agreed that once she married into their family, she would have no further connection with her own family. How long has it been? And now Jiang Cuicui is being asked to go back and take care of the old people there?
He disagrees!!!
Jiang Xiaoman rolled her eyes at him.
"My aunt only married into your family, she wasn't sold into it. What? The elderly in your family are too sick to get out of bed, can't you let her go back and take care of them for a few days? This is unfilial!"
"Pah! Jiang Erchun from your village promised me personally that if I gave him eight thousand yuan as a bride price, Jiang Cuicui would have nothing to do with your Jiang family afterward!"
Another eight thousand yuan!
Is she, a living person, only worth eight thousand yuan?
Jiang Cuicui clenched her fists in anger and embarrassment.
But... after all, it was her own father who promised it, and he had even taken money from him. Jiang Cuicui gritted her teeth, wondering if the boy in front of her, who claimed to be her nephew, would be willing to lend her eight thousand yuan first.
She had absolutely had enough of the torment inflicted by Li Sanmei and her son Wang Laoliu!
What's eight thousand yuan?
If she could regain her freedom, even if she went to the city to work as a nanny, she could probably save up eight thousand yuan a year, right?
If Jiang Xiaoman were willing to lend her money so she could divorce Wang Laoliu, she would even be willing to pay him back double!
But would Jiang Xiaoman be willing to lend it?
"What eight thousand yuan? Go find whoever took your money! Anyway, I'm definitely taking my aunt away today." Jiang Xiaoman rolled her eyes again, and kindly reminded Wang Laoliu, "Oh right, I forgot to tell you, Cui Cui's father, who took your money, Jiang Erchun, has already been arrested for abandonment and is eating free meals from the state. If you want to get your money back, you'll probably have to go in first."
Wang Laoliu: "..."
Shan Yan almost burst out laughing.
This guy is way too into his role! A small-time millionaire with tens of millions in assets, yet he can't even spare eight thousand dollars. Who would believe that?
Sure enough! For some reason, Wang Laoliu pointed at Jiang Xiaoman and began to curse loudly—
"I see!"
"Your Jiang family thinks that because Jiang Erchun is locked up, they have no men to back them up, so you want to take Jiang Cuicui back and sell her again? You're dreaming!!"
“Let me tell you, Jiang Cuicui is my wife! Her father promised her to me himself! I even paid eight thousand yuan as a bride price.”
His reminder made Jiang Xiaoman suddenly realize something—
"You said Jiang Erchun promised you that, but where's the proof? Did you and my aunt get a marriage certificate?"
The courtyard fell silent instantly.
Jiang Cuicui trembled all over.
Oh right, how could she forget? She and this man never got a marriage certificate!
Back then, Wang Hui hired a matchmaker and spent 8,000 yuan on betrothal gifts to bring her home. Since she had no dowry, the two of them simply held a wedding banquet at home, allowing Li Sanmei to take the opportunity to collect the money she had given as gifts. As for going to the county town to get a marriage certificate...
The round trip by bus would cost more than a hundred yuan, and Li Sanmei couldn't bear to waste that money. Anyway, many families in Langshan were like that back then. Some families had three or four children, but they hadn't even gotten a marriage certificate yet.
Jiang Cuicui used to think that having a marriage certificate was unimportant.
But now, when she's made up her mind to leave this family, whether or not she has a marriage certificate is extremely important!
Jiang Xiaoman had guessed this as well, and immediately burst out laughing.
"Hahaha~ You haven't even registered your marriage with my aunt, and you still have the nerve to call her your wife?"
Yan Liangpeng, who had been playing a minor role and hadn't even had a single line yet, was also speechless.
Langshan is a notorious area for its lack of legal education, and the entire county's public security system knows about this.
Hearing Jiang Xiaoman's merciless mockery, Officer Yan's face turned red.
This is all because they didn't do their job properly! But the publicity work isn't under his jurisdiction. Those old men in the publicity department always only report good news and never bad news. What can he do?
Fortunately, Jiang Xiaoman's target of mockery was not Officer Yan.
He was mocking Wang Laoliu, who was ignorant of the law.
"Uncle Wang, now I think you really have to go to the prison and demand an explanation from Jiang Erchun."
"Who told you to try and save those nine yuan on the marriage certificate? But I should thank you, because you didn't get a marriage certificate with my aunt. Your marriage isn't legally protected at all!"
"Also, about that eight thousand yuan of yours, go find whoever received it back then. I'll take it home with my aunt. I see your family is quite busy, so I won't bother you any longer."
I originally thought I would have to pay eight thousand yuan to force the other party to dissolve the marriage with Jiang Cuicui.
To my utter surprise, Wang Laoliu had never actually registered his marriage with Jiang Cuicui.
Why would you give them any money?! Whoever took your eight thousand yuan, go ask them for it back!
The eight thousand yuan saved is enough for Grandma Jiang's family to cover their living expenses for almost half a year.
"Auntie, is there anything else you want to take back? If not, let's leave now. If you need anything, we can buy it when we get back."
Jiang Cuicui glanced at Wang Hui, who was firmly pinned to the ground, and shook her head with a wry smile: "That's all. They were afraid I would run away, so they didn't give me a single penny."
If she had managed to save any money, wouldn't she have wanted to find a chance to escape after all these years?
Even if she goes out and becomes an unregistered resident, never able to return to Langshan for the rest of her life, at least she will be free.
Shan Yan and Yan Liangpeng never expected that the script they had agreed on would be completely messed up by Jiang Xiaoman, that unreliable director, as soon as filming began!
If this were an adaptation of the original novel, their hastily assembled production team would probably already be pelted with rotten eggs by angry book fans.
Unfortunately, the autocratic "Director Jiang" didn't care about the script at all; on his set, everyone did what he wanted!
You don't even have a marriage certificate, what kind of legal husband are you pretending to be here? Bah! If you want money, go inside and find that shameless old bastard Jiang Erchun!
However, considering that Yan Liangpeng, this "special guest actor," wasn't always available for reshoots, Jiang Xiaoman pulled him out again and took the opportunity to threaten Li Sanmei and Wang Hui and his mother—
"Let me tell you, Wang Laoliu, Jiang Erchun may be easy to bully, but the rest of the Jiang family are not pushovers!"
"See this guy? This is my cousin. He's now a criminal investigator in the county's Public Security Bureau."
"Let me tell you, if you know what's good for you, you'd better break up with my aunt peacefully."
"If your family dares to bother my aunt again, hehe... if you really want to enjoy the free meals provided by the government again, then I'll grant your wish!"
Jiang Xiaoman, with his round face, made some tough remarks. Yan Liangpeng, who was being dragged along as a tool by Jiang Xiaoman, was so embarrassed by Jiang Xiaoman's acting that he was digging his toes into the ground.
Help!!! Such terrible acting! Could this old Wang really have believed it?
Haha~ Officer Yan really underestimated the deterrent effect of his uniform on scum like Wang Laoliu.
To put it simply, when Wang Laoliu was being humiliated by Shan Yan's henchmen, he only suffered a little physical torment.
However, when Jiang Xiaoman said that Yan Liangpeng was from the "Criminal Investigation Team of the County Public Security Bureau," Wang Laoliu suddenly curled up into a ball as if he had an epileptic seizure.
Yan Liangpeng suspected that he might have been harassed by some bad-tempered prison guards while he was inside. But how can you say that? How many of those who can get free meals in prison are truly innocent?
Yan Liangpeng has no sympathy for people like Wang Laoliu. When they were being bullied inside, did they ever think about the people they had injured, maimed, or even killed when they were running rampant in the countryside? Were they also curled up on the ground like him now?
He wasn't even wearing a uniform or showing his police ID, yet Wang Laoliu was terrified. It's easy to imagine that if he wasn't feeling guilty and scared, how could he have been so afraid to utter a single word upon hearing the words "County Public Security Bureau"?
Seeing that her son was silent, Li Sanmei was also frightened.
The fact that her son was in jail made her family look inferior in the village. Li Sanmei was even more afraid of the police than Wang Laoliu. She didn't understand the law and didn't know that the police had to handle cases according to the law. Even if they wanted to arrest Wang Laoliu, they needed solid evidence to arrest him.
Wang Laoliu was handcuffed and taken away from her home in the middle of the night by the police in the same way before. Now the police have come to their house again. Are they going to arrest her son again?
Looking at the arrogant Jiang Xiaoman, Li Sanmei suddenly realized something—
"Take Jiang Cuicui away!"
"We don't want this daughter-in-law anymore!"
"We don't want the bride price anymore!"
"Take her away! Don't take my son, waaaaah..."
Chapter 261