"Yaoguang, pay up quickly!" Aunt Li nudged the girl standing there in a daze, urging her.
"Your father went to the battlefield and has been missing ever since. It's hard living for you orphans and widowed. You need a man to stand firm. Qian Yazi picked for a long time and finally found such a good one for you. What are you hesitating about?" The woman next to her chimed in.
"Exactly. Don't you like good-looking ones? Isn't this one good-looking enough?"
Su Yaoguang was getting a headache from all the chattering.
She looked closely. Isn't this Anning Village, the place she hadn't returned to in years?
Seeing these familiar faces in front of her made her head hurt, and memories came rushing back.
Is she back in the past?
She pinched herself hard, and the pain brought tears to her eyes.
This time she returned is crucial, for this was when her ordeal began.
In front of her stood a human trafficker dressed in a manner that clashed with the surrounding villagers, and beside him stood a tall, cool figure.
Su Yaoguang looked at this emaciated but still handsome young version of Xiao Yanci, distaste flashing in her eyes.
She pouted and said forcibly, "Two taels of silver for someone this scrawny is too expensive. Do you take me for a fool?"
Qian Yazi was displeased, pulled open Xiao Yanci's clothes, revealing his pale chest: "Young girl, look closely, this little slave may be skinny, but he's got a good frame. If you want something cheap, I have something cheap in my carriage— he's almost dead, ten cents for you. Do you want him?"
Xiao Yanci lowered his gaze, clenched his hands, striving to endure.
A beautiful man with a pitiful look, even rural women can feel a bit of compassion. In her previous life, Su Yaoguang hesitated only slightly upon seeing that face and bought him. This time, she looked disdainful, opened the carriage door beside, and peered inside, pretending to be really interested in the ten cents 'cheap goods'.
Inside the carriage, a bloody and battered boy curled up there. She glanced at him, recognizing him as the boy who was sold into the brothel in her previous life.
She didn't know his name; she only met him once. When he escaped from the brothel and was just one step away from leaving that alley, his unwilling gaze would later always make her heart ache, wishing she could go back and pull him out, let him escape that den.
Her mother was sick and worried that she had no support, insisting she buy a live-in son-in-law. Since she had to buy one, she decided to save this boy and change his fate.
"I'll take this one for ten cents."
"What?" The woman next to her was furious. "Yao Guang girl, are you out of your mind? He's almost dead. What use is it to take him back?"
"Well, he's not dead yet!" Su Yaoguang said, "Anyway, buying him for ten cents is not a loss. If luck favors us, perhaps he'll survive."
"You're such a miser. How about this, let me give you a discount, one and a half taels." Qian Yazi pulled off Xiao Yanci's top and patted his chest. "Look, Su Family girl, surely this body is worth it."
"I don't want him. Unless he's also ten cents, like the one inside the carriage." Su Yaoguang looked disdainfully at Xiao Yanci in front of her.
Xiao Yanci raised his gaze, his deep eyes filled with stubbornness.
In her previous life, Su Yaoguang couldn't bear to see him with such a look; she couldn't stand to see him aggrieved, wishing to give him everything good.
But now, all she sees is calculation and hypocrisy.
"I can read..." Xiao Yanci's expression was a bit ashamed.
The women beside were shocked.
"He even knows how to read? One and a half taels is a real bargain. Yao Guang girl, pick this one, handsome and educated."
"That makes me even less likely to buy him. I'm buying someone who can work; what's the use of just knowing how to read? Look at his weak appearance, would I have to support him too?" Su Yaoguang said, took out ten cents, and stuffed it into Qian Yazi's palm. "Alright, settled. No more talking. The one inside is mine."
Su Yaoguang didn't want to see Xiao Yanci's hypocritical face anymore and didn't want to continue the chattering. She was eager to go back to her mother, and that one in the carriage needed proper treatment.
"What's with Yao Guang girl today? Did she forget to wake up, picking someone on the brink of death?"
"With injuries like this, even if he doesn't die, wouldn't calling a doctor and buying medicine cost more than buying a healthy one? This girl is usually smart, must've left her mind at home today."
Su Yaoguang asked the village men to help carry the boy back home.
She took the boy's contract of sale, quickly catching up to the people ahead, without giving Xiao Yanci a second look.
Xiao Yanci, this life, who will save you?
"Mother..." Su Yaoguang rushed in excitedly.
The familiar, rundown yard, every piece of furniture here had long been engraved in her mind.
She spent five years supporting Xiao Yanci's studies, and when she followed him to the Capital City the second year, after he became Champion Scholar, she sent someone to get her mother, but her mother was killed by bandits halfway. She hadn't seen her for the last time, the most grieving thing for her. Now her mother was still well, and this time she wouldn't let her die early.
"Yelling, yelling, calling spirits? I'm not dead yet!" A grumpy voice came from inside.
Shortly after, a slightly chubby middle-aged woman with a pale face walked out.
"Did you buy the man?"
Su Yaoguang threw herself into Zhang Zhaodi's embrace.
Zhang Zhaodi stiffened for a moment, worry surfacing on her usually harsh face: "What trouble have you caused again?"
"No trouble, I just missed you."
"Pooh, and you say you didn't cause trouble? Every time you cause trouble, aren't your words as sweet as honey?" Zhang Zhaodi pinched her ear, using some force. "Tell me, what mischief did you get into now?"
"Ouch, ouch... Mother, lighten up, my ear's gonna fall off." Su Yaoguang pleaded.
This feeling is great.
Mother still pinches her ear, that's great.
Seeing her like this, Zhang Zhaodi got even more worried.
At this moment, Su Daniu carried the bloody boy into the courtyard.
"Auntie, your live-in son-in-law is here."
With eyes wide open, Zhang Zhaodi looked at the mess, unsure if it was still breathing, then glared at Su Yaoguang: "You stupid girl, explain what this is all about?"
"Brother Da Niu, please take him to the woodshed."
"Okay." Su Daniu knew a mother-daughter battle was about to ensue, so he sent the person to the wood bed temporarily laid out in the woodshed, then swiftly slipped away like grease underfoot.
Just as Su Daniu left the courtyard, Zhang Zhaodi could be heard furiously cursing Su Yaoguang while tugging her ear.
"You wretched girl, I told you to buy a live-in son-in-law, and you bring back a half-dead thing. Get rid of him immediately."
"He's cheap, mother."
"Didn't I give you three taels of silver?"
"Three taels of silver is all we have; if we buy a man, what will we eat? I only know that without a man, we won't die, but without food, we will starve. Ouch, mother, please lessen your grip... ouch, ouch, ouch..."