Transmigrated Farmgirl's Scheme to Get Rich - Chapter 168
There weren’t any members of the older generation in the Mo family, and as they were worried something would go wrong if they only sent Mo Feng over, Ms. Liang asked governing official Wu to help out as well. As the governing official of the village, he was supposed to officiate every wedding and funeral, so couldn’t refuse this request.
Mo Yan recorded every item of the dowry in duplicate herself. She handed one copy to governing official Wu, to be given to Zhong Cheng’s family, while giving the second copy to Mo Ling to keep.
The carriages had all been loaded with the goods, so they just had to wait for the predetermined auspicious time to set off. Ms. Liang invited everyone who had come over to enter the courtyard to have tea and rest for a while. Their friends and relatives all came over to give dowry additions, and even Mo Yan’s second grandma gave a few hundred dollars. When Ms. Liang refused it, she forcibly shoved it into Ms. Liang’s hands, “Ling’er’s getting married! I don’t have much money, but I still want to give this as a token of my sincerity.”
They were pushing this money back and forth when they heard Mo Zenian’s voice from the gate of the courtyard, “My daughter’s sending her dowry, how can I, her father, not be present?” As soon as he finished speaking, Mo Zenian strode in with a bag on his pouch, like he had just come back from a long journey.
The people in the courtyard stopped talking, and all looked at him. Mo Yan’s uncle Liang Qiushi, who had been drinking tea in the house the entire time, immediately stood up and walked over. [1]
“Mo Zenian, how can you be so shameless as to show your face here?!”
Mo Zenian chuckled coldly, “This is my family, and it’s my daughter that’s going to be married. What reason do I have to not show up?”
“Didn’t you already separate from my sister? This is no longer your family.”
“Since we divorced, she should leave this place and go back to her natal family. What right does she have to stay in my Mo family’s house?”
Mo Yan gently tugged on governing official Wu’s sleeve, who said, “Brother Zenian, you were the one to sign the divorce contract, and I was the witness. You’re a man, you can’t take back your words.”
Mo Zenian pointed towards Ms. Liang, “It’s because she hid money from me and tricked me into divorcing hastily to get me out of the picture as soon as possible! Look at my daughter’s dowry, it must cost eighty silver taels at least, if not a hundred, and that’s just a small portion of the family’s money. Now, I’m here to take back my rightful portion of the family money, I’ll leave as soon as I get it.”
When Mo Yan heard all of that, she had a sudden bout of dizziness as she realised her father hit all of the checkpoints to be the fabled ‘scumbag husband’. It turns out Mo Feng’s shamelessness was inherited from him. She really wanted to beat Mo Zenian out of her home.
Thankfully, they were just sending the dowry today, and everyone in this family was from this village. If Zhong Cheng’s family was here, they’d lose even more face.
Mo Yan had just thought about beating Mo Zenian up, but Ms. Liang had actually acted on that impulse. She grabbed a thick stick from the courtyard, and violently swung towards him. He dodged and grabbed the stick, and was about to hit back when Liang Qiushi, who couldn’t stand it anymore, went over to smack Mo Zenian across the face.
“You bastard, do you think my sister doesn’t have a natal family or something?”
“You dare hit me, you unskilled farmer?”
The two of them started fighting. Both Ms. Liang and Mo Yan’s aunt went over to help Liang Qiushi, so Mo Zenian was unable to get the upper hand.
Governing official Wu was in charge of the village, and couldn’t turn a blind eye to this. He interposed between the two parties and said, “Alright, you shouldn’t be fighting during this auspicious time.”
His words reminded Ms. Liang, who hastily fixed her hair, “Governing official Wu, Feng’er, you should go first, don’t miss the auspicious time.”
Mo Zenian’s eyes widened as he said, “If I don’t get my money, you can forget about being able to send the dowry.” His face had been bloodied and his clothes had been rumpled from the fighting, making him look very dishevelled.
Liang Qiushi nodded towards governing official Wu and said, “You and Feng’er can go first, I’ll hold down the fort here.” Then, he bowed towards the entourage of people sending the dowry and said, “All of you, thank you for helping out. Please stay safe and take care on the road.”
Governing official Wu and Mo Feng led the entourage out of the Mo family’s courtyard. Mo Zenian wanted to stop them, but his collar was grabbed by Liang Qiushi, “How did I not realise you were such a bastard long ago? If you dare harm my sister again, I’ll break your legs.”
Ms. Li, who had been observing this drama unfold from the side this entire time, nudged Xiuying and said, “See? When a woman is harmed, they need the help of their natal family to support them. You have to maintain a good relationship with your brother’s wife.”
“I know!”
Ms. Liang started ranting, “Mo Zenian, if Ling’er didn’t have such a scumbag of a father, how would her wedding be so rushed? All of this money was earned by our children and borrowed by them, we didn’t use a single dollar of yours!”
Mo Yan’s second grandma went over to scold Mo Zenian as well, “You’re ruining your own daughter’s happiness, what do you have to say for yourself? Do you not know what the word ‘shame’ means? Don’t bother entering the Mo family’s ancestral grave when you die!”
Something in Mo Zenian’s gaze shifted.
Mo Yan went over and extended her hand towards him, “My sister’s sending her dowry today, so all arrivals are guests. Since you’ve come, you need to hand over dowry additions.”
Mo Zenian lowered his head and whispered to Mo Yan, “I didn’t want to do this, but someone kidnapped Zheng’er and want me to pay a ransom for him.”
“Why didn’t you tell the officials?”
“They said the deal was off if I told them.”
Lu Junming, who had been listening by the side, asked, “Was he kidnapped in the Upper Valley?” [2]
Mo Zenian shook his head, “Things didn’t work out in the Upper Valley, so I wanted to come back with Zheng’er. He was kidnapped in the ungoverned region between the Upper Valley and Yi City.” [3]
If this had happened in the Upper Valley, Lu Hong would’ve been able to help, but he couldn’t do much if it was outside of the Upper Valley’s jurisdiction.
“How large of a ransom do they want? Where do they want you to hand it over?”
“They want me to hand over a hundred silver taels at the fork in the road on the north side of Qianshui Town, and it’s supposed to be tomorrow night.”
They spoke very quietly, and Ms. Liang could only faintly hear the words ‘Mo Zheng’. Pretending to not have heard anything, she beckoned them over to have tea.
After the drama was settled, the villagers gradually went back to their homes, leaving only Mo Yan’s uncle’s family.
Mo Yan let Lu Junming take Mo Zenian to his home to discuss paying the kidnappers’ ransom. Once they had left, she entered the house and handed a small wooden box over to Liang Lan, “Sister Lan, thank you for coming, this is for you.”
Liang Lan opened the small wooden box, and inside was a wooden hairpin. It was dark red and shiny, and had a magnolia flower carved on it.
“Although this is just a wooden hairpin, it’s made of high-quality redwood and the engravings aren’t bad, so it’s worth as much as a silver one. I think your natural charm fits this hairpin better than a silver hairpin too.”
Liang Lan closed the wooden box, “I think it looks better than a gold or silver hairpin too, thank you!”
“As long as you like it. Once it’s your turn to send your dowry, I’ll give you dowry additions, how about it?”
Liang Lan wasn’t shy, and agreed happily.
Since they had come all the way here, Ms. Liang invited her brother’s family to have dinner with them tonight. Liang Jinhua helped her cook, and asked her about the divorce.
When she heard that Mo Zenian had a mistress and a bastard son, she told Ms. Liang she should’ve divorce him a long time ago, and even reassured her that it’d be fine if she had to return to her natal family, since there was plenty of room for them.
Liang Jinhua was a gentle soul, and even if Ms. Liang had to return to her natal family, she’d be willing to accommodate her. However, she was too fond of her reputation, and unwilling to cut off contact with her children, which was why she endured for so long and pretended that nothing was wrong each time she returned to her natal family.
Mo Yan went to Lu Junming’s house, and found out from Mo Zenian that after he arrived at the Upper Valley, he was unable to find a job as he had to take care of his son, so became a vendor and sold goods. However, business wasn’t very good, and they were barely able to live off their profits.
This time, he had come back to entrust Mo Zheng to a good family. Who would’ve thought Mo Zheng would be kidnapped?
He was too scared to notify the authorities, and wanted to raise money back home. When he saw Mo Ling’s heavy dowry, he instantly knew they had money. However, he no longer had any reason to receive money from his family, so for the sake of his son, he pretended to have no shame and staged that entire conflict.
Post-translation notes: I bet it’s going to be Lin Xian’er as the kidnapper or something.
[1] So I messed up and I’m officially retconning Mo Yan’s uncle’s family to be Liang Qiushi, Liang Jinhua and Liang Lan. I’m not sure how I made the mistake of thinking their surname was Qiu before, and I’ll change it by tomorrow or so.
[2] Why is everyone listening by the side? Why not behind them?
[3] Poor Mo Zheng…his life is just a series of tragedies, one after another.