Divorced by her husband's family and rejected by her own! She defiantly turned her life around

Looking at the mess in the courtyard, Lu Yunzhou knew he had acted impulsively and shouldn't have threatened Master Zhou. He was no match for him now, so the best course of action was to ask Master Zhou for some time.

He knelt down in front of Master Zhou with a thud. "Master Zhou, you are a magnanimous man. I was just talking nonsense. Please forgive me. I will definitely repay you after the examination."

As I've said before, I have my reasons. The reason I sought to reconcile with my ex-wife and then married a new woman is ultimately because of one thing: my illness. It's an illness that can't be cured by medicine or food. Only the person destined for me can cure my illness, and that person is my ex-wife, Liu.

The reason I married a new woman was entirely because Lady Liu refused, so I had to find another way.

"Mr. Zhou, I truly love your daughter. Once I recover and pass the exam, if you are still willing, I can marry Miss Zhou properly and will certainly treat her well."

"And what about your new wife? Where do you place her?"

"Master Zhou, I have no feelings for her. I haven't even seen her true face yet. She's just a scheme I came up with. She doesn't win my heart."

If Miss Zhou marries into the family, she will be my wife.

"Hahahaha, what a heartless, ungrateful, and shameless scoundrel! If I were to marry my daughter to him, I would be out of my mind and blind."

I'll give you some time to raise the money. You must repay it after the college entrance exam. However, you'll need to provide collateral and have someone act as guarantor, with everything clearly written down in black and white.

Master Zhou knew very well that fickle and treacherous people like Lu Yunzhou were the most insidious.

"Mr. Zhou, my family doesn't have anything valuable to pawn, what do you think?"

"I heard that your family is a large-scale farmer in the village, with dozens of acres of fertile land. You can use the land deeds as collateral."

Upon hearing this, the Lu family members turned pale instantly. This land was the foundation of their Lu family, the basis for their descendants' livelihood, and it was impossible for them to mortgage it.

Lu Yunzhou just wanted to get through the current difficulties as soon as possible. She believed in herself. As long as he could successfully participate in the academy examination, he would definitely pass the county-level examination and become a scholar. It didn't matter if he temporarily mortgaged the property. When he passed the county-level examination, countless people would fawn over him and rush to give him gifts.

Just like before, he was only a student at the lowest level, but Master Zhou had high hopes for him and gave him money to spend. Thinking of this, he looked at Master Zhou, then at his parents and elder brother.

"Master Zhou, this matter is of great importance, and I must discuss it with my family."

"Alright, I'll wait here. Don't keep me waiting too long; my patience is limited." Seeing that there was nothing for him to do and that it wasn't appropriate for him to stay, the village chief was about to take his leave when Lu Yunzhou stopped him. "Uncle Village Chief, please don't go yet. We might need your help later. Please rest in the yard for a while."

The matchmaker didn't dare ask for money anymore and slipped away. She waved goodbye to Granny Liu and hurried off, afraid of being beaten if she left too late. When she passed Master Zhou, she gave a smile that looked more like a grimace. "I... I'm not a member of the Lu family. I'm just a matchmaker."

Master Zhou glanced at her, waved his hand to signal her to leave quickly. The matchmaker was overjoyed and ran faster than a rabbit. She pulled open the door latch and rushed out, then turned around and closed the door. Only then did she clutch her chest and gasp for breath.

The villagers gathered around her curiously. "Auntie, what's going on inside?"

"I don't know, but it was pretty scary. I'm not going to talk to you guys anymore, I need to go home right away."

Lu Yunzhou called his parents and elder brother into the main room to discuss mortgaging the land. Wang Cuicui went in with a child. This land belonged to their eldest son's family. If it was all mortgaged and they couldn't get it back, their eldest son's family would starve!

Granny Liu glared at Wang Cuicui as she entered. She found her displeasing no matter how she looked at her. She didn't have Zhou's skillful hands to do embroidery; all she had was a silver tongue that could sweet-talk people, and she had even managed to make her son distant from her.

"Father, Mother, Elder Brother, you've all seen it. There's really no other way now but to mortgage the family's land and send Master Zhou and his ilk away. Otherwise, I don't know what outrageous things they might do next."

Lu Decai was in tears. Asking him to hand over the land deeds was more painful than cutting off his own flesh. "Those fields in the family were bought up bit by bit by your great-grandfather. When your grandfather passed away, he repeatedly told him that the family's fields were the foundation of the Lu family's descendants, and no matter how difficult the situation, they should not be sold unless absolutely necessary."

Now it's going to be ruined by my own hands.

Lu Decai knelt on the ground, "Grandpa, Father, your unfilial son Lu Decai is useless. He can't protect the family business you've worked so hard to build. Today, it will be ruined by me."

"Zhou'er, is there no other way? These fields are our family's lifeline!" Granny Liu cried, wiping away her tears.

"Father and Mother, your son has no other choice."

"But don't worry, Mom and Dad. Now that your son is married, he'll get better soon. Once he passes the imperial examination and becomes a scholar, he can get the land back. At that time, they'll have to beg me and watch my face."

"Our family has a total of 40 mu of paddy fields and 18 mu of dry land. What do you think we should do?"

"Father, how about this? I'll mortgage 20 mu of paddy fields. Is that alright?"

"Okay, that's settled then."

Wang Cuicui felt a little more at ease. It was just that if they couldn't get these paddy fields back in the future, it would be a loss for the second branch of the family. The remaining paddy fields belonged to the first branch of the family. As for her younger brother-in-law taking the imperial examination, given his health, she dared not gamble on it.

Lu Decai suddenly felt as if he had aged several years. He stood up shakily and said, "Old woman, come with me to get the land deed."

A little while later, Granny Liu brought over the land deeds for 20 mu of paddy fields, handed them to Lu Yunzhou, said nothing, went back to her own room, and silently shed tears with the old man.

Lu Yunzhou took the land deed to the courtyard. "Master Zhou, this is the land deed for 20 mu of paddy fields. It's temporarily mortgaged to you."

Master Zhou glanced at him sideways and said, "You owe me 452 taels of silver. You think you can get rid of me with 20 mu of paddy fields? I've already inquired. Your family has 40 mu of paddy fields. Bring me the land deeds, and you don't need to use any collateral for the remaining 52 taels."

"We were already being very kind, letting you harvest the ripe crops in the fields. Isn't that a bit unfair?"

"Master Zhou, why don't you wait a moment? I'll be right back."

Wang Cuicui objected immediately. "Husband, if you give away all the land, our eldest son's family will have nothing left. How will we survive then? If I have a few more sons for you, how will you support them? You can't expect us to suffer with you."

"My parents are the heads of the household; what can I do?"

"Let's hurry and go in to take a look. If it's really no good, we'll negotiate. You'll have to listen to me then."

When the two went inside, Lu Yunzhou was trying to persuade the elderly couple, "Father, Mother, don't you know my abilities? I will definitely get the land deed back for you."

"Zhou'er, all the family's money has been spent on you these past years. You must live up to our expectations and get the land deed back."

"Father and Mother, what if we can't get this land deed back? Wouldn't we all starve? To be on the safe side, I suggest that you give the deed to our eldest son's family for the 18 mu of dry land. That way, we'll have some kind of guarantee."

I've already promised my husband that I'll give him several sons in the future. Without land, how will we raise our children?

Granny Liu looked at her eldest son, "Eldest son, is this also your idea?"

"Mother, I think what Cuicui said makes sense."

"Fine, your brother has just run into some trouble, and you've already started to have ulterior motives. What if your brother becomes successful in the future? Will you still want to test him?"

"Mother, we have no ill intentions, we just need a guarantee."

"Father and Mother, since my eldest brother wants it, we'll give him the 18 mu of dry land. Don't worry, your son will definitely not let you down."