The commotion drew the attention of quite a few people. Before Sun Dazhuang could even ask anyone for a rope, someone tossed a length of rope down from an oxcart,

“Here!”

Wei Hu quickly tied the man up. Song Ning hurriedly packed up his family’s stall, but in the midst of the chaos, he still managed to ask, “Mom, did you sell that hanging scroll?”

“Oh, I sold it at a discount—for one tael of silver.” 

“One tael of silver is fine.”

The group headed toward the young man’s home. Wei Hu carried the New Year’s goods on his back, with the man in tow in front, while Sun Dazhuang and Qiu-ger, who were also going along to help collect the silver.

On the way, they ran into the village chief, who was driving his ox cart home. The village chief saw them and asked,

“Huzi, what’s going on here?”

Chen Cuihua explained briefly, “Village Chief, please take my New Year’s goods home for me. Huzi and I are going to the Cao family’s place.”

The village chief got off the oxcart and called over his eldest son and his wife. “I’ll go with you—this is no small matter. If they outnumber us and you get the short end of the stick, I’m the village chief after all. Xiao’er, you and your mother take the oxcart home.”

The village chief had his second son take the New Year’s provisions for the Wei and Sun families back home, and the group set off for the Cao family’s village to demand an explanation. The young man begged for mercy, “Please, please spare us. My mother and the others don’t know I’m still alive.”

“Bullshit! Because of you, my son Huzi has been the subject of so much gossip that he’s a wife-killer! What a terrible reputation! You tell me if we’re not going, then what did he suffer for?!”

Song Ning nodded in agreement, “We’re going, we’re going.”

This wasn’t just about Brother Wei Hu’s reputation—it was also about those ten taels of silver! How many trips into the mountains would Brother Wei Hu have to make to chop firewood to earn that back? That was all his hard-earned money—they had to get it!

Caojia Village was quite a distance from Daliushu Village—it would take half an hour to get there. The group set off for Caojia Village with the two of them in tow.

It was already late in the afternoon on the thirtieth. Every household was busy pasting Spring Festival couplets and making dumplings. Children, dressed in clothes their parents usually wouldn’t let them wear, were running back and forth, and the sound of firecrackers rang out intermittently—it was a bustling scene.

The group escorted the two men into the village, drawing the attention of many onlookers. “Hey, isn’t that Old Cao’s son? I thought he’d been carried off by a wild beast in the mountains—how on earth is he still alive?”

Chen Cuihua stormed ahead, determined to make the Cao family give her a proper explanation today. Not only had she lost her silver, but she’d also been saddled with a bad reputation—and now it turned out they’d been swindling her family all along!

“Cao Laofa! Cao Laofa! You come out here right now!”

As Chen Cuihua shouted for the Cao family to come out, Wei Hu was still holding the man. Worried that a commotion might break out and he wouldn’t be able to protect Song Ning, he specifically told Sun Dazhuang to keep an eye on the two gers—if a fight broke out, he’d handle it!

The Cao family was in the middle of a lively dumpling-making session. The moment the matriarch of the Cao family saw the ger being held by Chen Cuihua, she was so startled that the dumplings in her hands fell to the ground.

“Xiaowu!”

The Cao family ger covered his face and wept, “Mother, I’ve let you down.”

“It’s not just your mother you’ve wronged! Do you know how much gossip our family has endured all these years? They’ve accused my Huzi of being a wife-killer, and because of that, he couldn’t get married!”

Old Man Cao and his son-in-law and daughter-in-law all came out. Seeing the young ger who had seemingly come back from the dead, they were all stunned. How could he be back?

“Xiaowu, what on earth is going on here!”

Wei Hu shoved the man in his arms out of the way. “We’re here together. We don’t care about your family’s business. Hand over the ten taels of silver we gave as a dowry back then.”

By now, a crowd had gathered at the courtyard gate. “Isn’t that Xiaowu? Wasn’t he eaten by a dog or a wolf? How did he come back?”

“And who’s that man? Did they elope or something?”

With all sorts of rumors swirling outside, Chen Cuihua also let go of him and shoved him over to the Cao family’s side.

“Forget about the fabric and all that—you must hand over the ten taels of silver betrothal gift!”

The old lady of the Cao family, seeing her younger ger whom she hadn’t seen in three years, wept uncontrollably. She raised her hand and began striking herself, crying out, “Tell me what happened! Speak up! How could you be so heartless? Do you know how much your father and I have suffered?”

The eldest son of the Cao family added, “Mother has cried so much over the years that her eyes are nearly blind—and yet you’ve run off with a man!” Faced with the sudden return of their ger, the Cao family was both shocked and furious.

Song Ning watched the scene unfold and thought that this Cao-ger was a bit heartless.

Cao Xiaowu knelt on the ground and began to cry. “Father and Mother, I’m so sorry. Back then, when the engagement was arranged, I—I was willing. It’s just that later I met Brother Yang Wen…”

It didn’t take much to figure out what had happened. The young man had been betrothed, but then he met this man, and the two of them decided to run off together.

Originally, this young Cao-ger hadn’t planned to return to Fengnian Town, but he couldn’t resist Yang Wen’s insistence on going home for the New Year. Yang Wen argued that three years had passed, and Fengnian Town was so big—how likely was it that they’d run into each other?

As luck would have it, Chen Cuihua had just sold that hanging scroll and was happily preparing to head home for the New Year when she ran into these two asking her to buy some window decorations. Chen Cuihua has a great memory; she recognized Cao Xiaowu at a glance and grabbed him by the arm, refusing to let him go.

Cao Da was seething with frustration. “If you didn’t want to get married, just say so—why did you run off?”

“Yang… Brother Yang Wen was taking me away. I didn’t want to at first, but he said… he said he loves me and told me not to tell my family. He said those ten taels of silver are my compensation to my parents.”

Chen Cuihua was furious. “If you want to make amends, use your own money! Why use my family’s silver?!”

Qiu-ger, with his arm around Song Ning’s shoulder, listened with great interest. He even reached into the pouch at his waist and grabbed a handful of roasted sunflower seeds to offer Song Ning. He spat out the seed husk in her mouth with a “pfft.” 

“Could it be that your man is too stingy to pay the betrothal gift, yet still wants to run off with you for free?”

The man heard this but said nothing. Cao Xiaowu’s face turned pale as well. “No, that’s not it…”

Qiu-ger let out a chuckle and whispered to Song Ning, “I think I guessed right—no, I was just guessing.” 

“Brother Yang Wen said his family is poor…”

The Cao family finally figured out what was going on. It turned out this man had tricked their young ger into running away with him! He could have just come out and said it openly—after all, the Cao family wasn’t the kind of unreasonable household that wouldn’t understand. If the ger didn’t want to go through with the marriage, they could have simply called it off.

This man couldn’t bear to part with a few taels of silver for the betrothal gift, so he lured their ger away. If the Wei family hadn’t run into him today, who knows when the ger would have come back!

Enraged, the Cao family father and son pounced on Yang Wen, kicking and punching him relentlessly. “You beast! You beast!”

Yang Wen’s hands were tied, so the Cao family members kicked him again and again, sending him rolling on the ground in agony. If the villagers hadn’t stepped in to stop them, they might have kicked him to death. Yang Wen was beaten so badly that he was spitting blood!

Cao Xiaowu tried to step in to stop them, but his mother, her head buzzing with rage, slapped him across the face!

Chen Cuihua didn’t want to watch any of this. She was eager to get home early to make dumplings for the New Year—she’d already bought the meat. “Enough, enough! You two families can do as you please, but give my family these ten taels of silver.”

The Cao family was a reasonable lot. Mrs. Cao wiped away her tears, went inside to gather the silver, and came back out with a pile of small silver ingots and copper coins.

“Here’s a little over four taels of silver. Take this for now.”

Chen Cuihua wasn’t having it. “Do you really expect my family to make a few more trips? I don’t want to cause a scene for your family.”

The Cao family seemed pitiful, and being reasonable people, they didn’t refuse to pay. Although Song Ning felt sympathy for the Cao’s, their silver had been earned through hard work!

Brother Wei Hu spent every day either hunting or chopping firewood; even when heavy snow blocked the mountain passes, he never rested. His mother wove baskets and cut paper cutouts, while he spent the cold winter drawing floral patterns and writing couplets. The three of them simply wanted to make life at home a little easier.

This is several taels of silver; they can’t just say they don’t want it.

The young man from the Cao family spoke up through his tears, “Brother Yang Wen, please make up the difference with the remaining few taels of silver.” The man was pulled to his feet by the Cao family. “Where are you from?”

Yang Wen explained, and it turned out the family lived not far from his own village. As soon as he mentioned his own family, they knew exactly who he was talking about. Yang Wen had attended school for two years, but after his father and mother died, he went to live with his older brother. He was lazy and good-for-nothing, so he was kicked out. Where on earth would he have gotten the silver?!

Enraged, the eldest Cao brother raised his hand again and slapped him hard several times.

“Cao Xiaowu, how could you be so foolish!”

“Brother Yang Wen, haven’t I saved a few taels of silver with you over the years? Take it and give it to my parents.”

That ger from the Cao family ran off with someone. All these years, the family had relied on him selling trinkets to get by, and the silver he’d painstakingly saved up was all taken by him. The two of them had moved to the neighboring town. If Yang Wen hadn’t wanted to go home to show off a bit, he wouldn’t have been caught.

“Well, I… I spent that silver…”

The young ger from the Cao family turned pale at this. “Where did you spend it?! That was my savings!” 

“I… I spent it at the brothel…”

Hearing this, even Song Ning felt like kicking him a couple of times—what a faithless scoundrel!

In the end, the Cao family had no choice but to ask the village chief of Caojia Village to vouch for them as they borrowed money from several households. Only then were they able to scrape together ten taels of silver to give to Chen Cuihua.

Chen Cuihua snorted and left with her entourage. “You’ve gotten off easy. You’ve made my family unable to hold our heads up for all these years!”

Getting the silver went surprisingly smoothly, but whatever happened afterward was none of her family’s business.

Besides, she was in a hurry to get home for the New Year.

Qiu-ger, with Song Ning on his arm, was still talking to him. “That ger is such a fool. He was trying to protect that scoundrel just when he was beating him up. Didn’t he see that the scoundrel tried to run off on his own back in town?”

“He brought it on himself,” Chen Cuihua remarked.

Qiu-ger chuckled, “But by a twist of fate, it brought Huzi and Ning-ger together, didn’t it? Aunt Cuihua, your family’s days will be better from now on.”

“Qiu-ger, your words are very kind. Thank you all for standing by me today.”

The village chief waved his hand. “Not at all, not at all. I didn’t really do much to help.”

By the time they returned to Daliushu Village, it was already late; the sun was nearly setting. Every household had their couplets up, but Song Ning’s household hadn’t even started getting ready yet.

Song Ning hurried home to write couplets for his family and Qiu-ger’s family. He didn’t accept Qiu-ger’s coins, considering it a token of thanks for his support today.

The three of them got to work right away: Song Ning wrote the couplets, Chen Cuihua mixed the paste, and Wei Hu held the couplets to be pasted. Before long, the house was filled with festive cheer.

Chen Cuihua couldn’t stop smiling; the weight that had been on her heart for so many years had finally been lifted. “This really is a wonderful year!”