"What do you want?" At this moment, Wu Lian'er felt a sense of powerlessness. The laws of the current dynasty stipulated that if no heir inherited property, it would be taken over by the clan. She had not feared Li Changqing reporting her to the yamen before because she had interacted with the Li clan members and knew they were greedy. A little money to buy them over to her side would render the yamen helpless. After all, in this era, apart from murder, which was a crime, clan matters were usually resolved within the clan first, only escalating to the county yamen if they couldn't be settled.
The problem now was that as a wife of the Li family, she was at a disadvantage when confronting the clan. She wouldn't be in the right if she took it to the yamen. She could only see if their demands were within her capacity to bear.
The clan elder had been waiting for her question. Some less experienced clan members couldn't help but show joyous smiles on their faces. They had already discussed before coming that they wanted to extort a significant amount from Wu Lian'er. Of course, they couldn't go too far, as the Wu family was a respected family in the city. Except for Li Zixin's some achievements, the rest of their Li family was ordinary. They had no chance of winning against the Wu family.
"To my knowledge, you currently possess twelve shops. We don't want money; you just need to transfer the four worst ones to us," the clan elder said composedly.
Wu Lian'er suddenly stood up, looking at them with disbelief. She hadn't expected their greed to be so immense.
After struggling to control her emotions and enduring for a long time, she calmly said, "Isn't what you're asking for a bit too much? Four shops would be worth one to two thousand taels of silver. You're asking me to hand over one-third of the Li family's assets."
"Niece-in-law, you exaggerate. The remaining eight shops are not more valuable? Moreover, the Li family does have some foundation, and you have your dowry. By all accounts, you live much better than us common folk. What you need to understand is that if we were to go to the yamen, these eight shops of yours would definitely be lost. Taking this much is already a favor shown out of consideration for our nephew. We are being lenient," the clan elder said, looking at her with a half-smile, feigning great benevolence.
Wu Lian'er slowly sat down, contemplating the feasibility of the matter. She was no longer a soft-hearted, naive woman. If they asked for too much, she might have taken a risk for the sake of money. If they asked for little, she could have reluctantly parted with it. But this middle ground made her feel uneasy.
Seeing her hesitate to make a decision, the clan elder couldn't help but add fuel to the fire. He said to another elder beside him, "That little girl is still living in the village. I visited a few days ago. The girl is plump and quite cute. It's a pity her fate is so unfortunate, and she can only be a peasant woman for her entire life."
"Who can say otherwise? This matter is quite unusual; it's unheard of within a hundred-mile radius," the other elder immediately chimed in, with a sigh on his face, as if indignant about the girl's tragic background.
Listening to their one-sided talk, Wu Lian'er secretly cursed them. These old scoundrels dared to threaten her. Yet, after much thought, she found herself unable to do anything about them. There were too many people in the village, and she didn't know how many were aware of this matter. If it spread, her reputation would be ruined. The mixing of bloodlines was something everyone disdained.
"My elders are joking. There have been no such strange matters before, and there will be none in the future, wouldn't you agree?" Wu Lian'er raised an eyebrow, looking at them.
"Naturally. As long as niece-in-law meets our demands, such a thing will not happen. Even if it did, we would be the first to step forward and clarify," the clan elder said confidently.
"Then I am at ease. My husband and I have lived in the city for many years and rarely return to the village. I know everyone's lives have not been easy. We are prepared to donate four shops to the clan as communal property. Even if you don't come to the city to do business, the annual rent will improve everyone's lives to some extent. Of course, I hope the clan elder will fulfill his promise. You know, my maternal family is not easily bullied. If I'm pushed too far, we can all go down together," Wu Lian'er said, smiling, while instructing her personal maid to fetch the land deeds.
Everyone nodded. After a moment's thought, Wu Lian'er continued, "You will also hand over that couple and their child to me."
Frankly, the clan elder was hesitant at this request. If he handed them over, he would lose a leverage. But looking at her unyielding demeanor, he guessed that if he refused, the money would be lost.
After weighing the pros and cons, he agreed to her request and quickly instructed someone to bring them from the village.
A handover of people for a handover of shops. Wu Caiwei was also closely monitoring her every move, as these tidings were what she had leaked to the Li clan elder. She did not want those people to die. Of course, she also understood that Wu Lian'er didn't have the guts to kill them immediately. Since the people were in her hands, if she killed them right away, the Li clan elder would be the first not to let her off.
If something happened, she would surely be reported to the yamen and then openly take over all of Li family's assets. Of course, their lives would not be easy recently. However, Wu Caiwei didn't have much affection for that couple. After all, her people had bought the young girl with a small sum of money. She was now kept at her estate.
What surprised her was Li Changqing's change. He had managed to find a steady job as an accountant. Due to his disability, few were willing to hire him, and the salary was low, only one tael per month, but it was enough for the couple to live on. In the past, he would never have cared about such a small sum. Now, he seemed to cherish this life and worked diligently.
Wu Caiwei felt she should maintain a wait-and-see attitude towards him, not knowing if he was truly sincere about changing. If he honestly worked as a humble accountant, she would spare him. Although he had harmed the original host, the original host had raised him for so many years and had feelings for him. Letting him watch the original host live a better life might be a form of torment for him.
Of course, if he became restless, then she would not hesitate to be ruthless.
As Wu Caiwei had guessed, Wu Lian'er severely tormented the couple and threw them onto her dowry estate, imprisoning them to prevent any leaks.
In the beginning, Li Changqing had indeed wanted to reform and live a good life. However, his employer was very stingy and ill-tempered, scolding him every day. This made Li Changqing feel extremely wronged. Thinking that he would have to live such a life forever, he felt a sense of despair.
Not long after, they went to the clinic to see Liu Wenwen. After so many years of marriage, they had not had a child, so they needed to know the reason. The doctor's examination revealed that the problem lay with Li Changqing. He had accidentally ingested some medicine two years ago, and it would be impossible for him to have children for the rest of his life.