Chapter 1: The Beginning of the divorce

Chapter 1

"Oh no, big brother. Mom has fainted!"

"Come quick!"

"What?"

"Mom, what's wrong with you?"

"Quick, press on her philtrum! Use more force!"

...

Amidst the cacophony, Li Yao felt a searing pain on her philtrum that instantly jolted her awake.

As she opened her eyes, she found herself lying on a wooden bed, surrounded by four peasant children with anxious looks on their faces.

Seeing her open her eyes, joy spread across their faces.

"Mom's awake!"

"Thank goodness, Mom is alright!"

...

Li Yao sat up, completely baffled.

In front of her were five children of varying ages and sizes, four boys and one girl, dressed in coarse hemp clothes mended all over with patches.

Except for a pair of cloth shoes with holes worn through on the girl's feet, the rest were barefoot.

"Did you guys just call me..."

The children looked at each other, a little apprehensive as they replied, "We called you Mom!"

Li Yao's mouth twitched.

She was an orphan.

Taken in and trained by a mysterious old lady when she was six, she eventually became a top-notch assassin.

A month ago, the old lady passed away peacefully, so she retired from the profession and bought herself a farm with idyllic scenery, intending to live a quiet and comfortable pastoral life from then on.

But the farm had barely been purchased when she went to sleep after the first night there and woke up to find herself with so many children?

What exactly was going on here?

Suddenly, a flood of unfamiliar memories poured into her mind, like a rising tide.

Li Yao was even more confused.

She had actually crossed over!

And crossed over into some ancient era of unknown time and space!

The original owner was also named Li Yao and was also 31 years old.

Married for over ten years, her husband had died half a year ago, leaving her a widow.

The four boys in front of her were all her own flesh and blood, while the gaunt, pale-faced girl was her eldest daughter-in-law, married into the family for more than half a year.

And the original owner was the shrewdiest shrew in the entire He River Bay Village, even the whole Bai Chuan County!

Once she opened her mouth, it was bound to bring darkness upon the land.

With hands on her hips, she knew no match.

The villagers called her the terror of ghosts and fright of dogs. The dogs would even walk around her when they saw her coming.

Li Yao walked out of the shabby, dilapidated thatched hut.

In the yard were over twenty people from the Ding family. Seeing her unharmed, they started clamoring again.

Their words, implicit and explicit, accused the Wang family of being too poor, like a toad lusting after a swan... and so on.

Li Yao was livid. She put her hands on her hips, "All of you, shut up! Marrying a chicken then follow the chicken, marrying a dog then follow the dog, don't you understand this simple logic? If you thought we were too poor, why didn't you make it clear when you were proposing the engagement? You had your eyes in your crotch back then?"

"Lady of the Wang house," Xiaoyan's father said arrogantly, "If you agree to call off the engagement, I'll return the bride price immediately. Back then, your family gave 500 wen. I'll be generous now and give back 1,000!"

"You think I'm begging?" Li Yao retorted. "People surnamed Ding, take your people and get lost! Don't blame me for being impolite!"

"You... I'm giving 1,000 wen already. What more do you want?" Ding's father yelled. "All your family assets combined aren't worth that much!"

"However poor or rich my family is, what's that got to do with you? An engagement settled is an engagement kept! If you dare go back on it, I'll sit at your front door every day and curse up a storm at your ancestral graves!"

"You shrew, looking to get beaten again?"

Ding Laoer, Xiaoyan's brother, charged aggressively again. It was him who had pushed the original owner down just now.

Li Yao thought, he's coming at the perfect time.

A gentleman uses his mouth not his fists, but she knew dozens of ways to kill this brat without him even knowing how he died.

Not only would she not back down, she strode right up to meet him. Dodging a blow, she grabbed Ding Laoer by the hair while delivering a precise knife-hand strike to the vital point on the back of his neck, using the perfect amount of force.

Ding Laoer only felt his whole body go numb, suddenly devoid of any strength. He could only let Li Yao throw him to the ground.

"You actually dare to lay hands on me?"

Li Yao picked up a broom and began whacking him randomly.

After several whacks in succession, the Ding family realized Ding Laoer was just lying there limply, and quickly came over to pull Li Yao away.

"Anyone else?" Li Yao held up the broom and challenged the crowd arrogantly, "Not afraid to die then come on!"

Her sons also rushed to her side, fists clenched, looking ready to brawl.

The Ding family finally witnessed the might of the number one shrew in He River Bay Village firsthand. The women didn't dare run their mouths anymore, fearing a beating. Some of the Ding men wanted to step up and regain some face, but were stopped by Old Ding.

This was He River Bay Village.

Quarreling was one thing, but if several grown men started beating a widow and orphans, the onlooking villagers would definitely not just stand by.

If things escalated, it would not end well.

"Alright, alright!" Old Ding said, "Since you refuse to call it off, then it's not called off! But if you want to marry our Xiaoyan, you'll need at least ten taels of silver for bride price! And a new house! Don't even think about it otherwise!"

Li Yao sneered, "Why don't you take a piss and take a look at yourself, is your family worth that price?"

"You..." Old Ding was so angry his beard shook. He stamped his foot heavily. "We'll see how it all turns out! Let's go!"

The indignant Old Ding had people help the limp Ding Laoer up, and left dejectedly.

The villagers who had come to watch the show also began to disperse, talking amongst themselves as they left.

"If she didn't keep moving things to her maiden family until her own kitchen pots couldn't even boil water, they wouldn't have come to call off the engagement in the first place."

"Poor second young master Wang. He'll probably be a bachelor all his life now."

"With a mother like that, how could he even think of taking a wife? Not starving to death would be a great blessing already."

...

Li Yao knew the original owner's character better than anyone. She had no time to care about idle gossip.

Right now, she was faced with a very serious problem.

She was hungry.