During famine years, I had a divination slip in hand, and my whole family ate chicken, duck, fish, a

The aunties and older women who had just been speaking sarcastically suddenly widened their eyes.

"Mommy, what a fat pheasant! Second daughter, where did you find it?"

"All the prey on the mountain have gone to hibernate, and you still managed to find a pheasant!"

"The wild animals that have been hibernating are quite plump; such a big chicken could be exchanged for so much food..."

……

Ye Cuicui's eyes lit up, and she swallowed hard, saying, "My second sister said she won't exchange the grain; she told my sister-in-law to stew the chicken!"

Eating meat is an extremely luxurious thing in the village.

After a year of hard work, the harvested grain, after paying taxes and various exorbitant levies, barely fills the stomachs of most families, let alone provides meat.

Let alone stewing chicken, we even had to save the eggs to exchange for oil and salt in town.

"They don't even have enough food to eat, let alone meat?"

An older woman scoffed disdainfully, saying sourly,

"A spendthrift is a spendthrift! They don't even have enough food to eat, and they still want meat? In my family, we'd break her legs!"

"Exactly! They're probably thinking of taking it to curry favor with Scholar Fang, aren't they?"

Ye Cuicui blushed instantly.

"Auntie, you're only saying the chicken smells bad because you can't get any, right?"

Ye Qingqing gave a nonchalant reply and pulled Cuicui to leave.

There's no need to be angry; the original owner of this body wasn't really well-regarded by the villagers.

"Qingqing!"

Just as she was about to leave, someone called out to her from behind.

Ye Qingqing turned around and saw a young man dressed in a long robe and trousers, neatly groomed, and exuding a feminine aura.

It is Fang Jincheng.

He was thin and slender, with narrow eyebrows and eyes. Perhaps because he had received some education, he had a scholarly air about him.

Ye Qingqing frowned. This is enough to make the original owner so infatuated?

The original owner was far too easily swayed!

"Qingqing..."

Fang Jincheng spotted the pheasant in her hand at a glance. His narrow eyes lit up immediately, and he stepped forward to her. "Where did you get this pheasant?"

"What business is it of yours where you came from?"

Ye Qingqing took a large step back to keep her distance from him. "What are you doing here?"

"It's nothing, I just came to see you."

Fang Jincheng smiled and said, "She really did seduce me that day, but I swear to God, I'll treat you well from now on, okay?"

Ye Qingqing snorted, "You think you're so kind? If you have something to say, then shut up."

"Um... didn't you promise to help me raise the one or two taels of silver for the academy's tuition? That bag of grain isn't nearly enough. I'm going back to the academy tomorrow, so I came to see if you've raised enough..."

Fang Jincheng's gaze shifted from her face to the pheasant, and he couldn't suppress the smirk playing on his lips.

"Your dad caught a pheasant? That's great! It should fetch at least a hundred or two coins. Figure out the rest as soon as possible!"

As he spoke, he held out his hand. "Are you going to deliver this to me? No need, I can take it myself."

Ye Cuicui felt a sudden urge to breathe, fearing that her second sister would soften her heart again and give the meat that was already in her mouth to Fang Jincheng!

In the past, to please Fang Jincheng, her father would simply boil an egg for her, and she would run to the neighboring village to get it for him.

Ye Qingqing pushed his hand away directly.

"What are you thinking? Who said this was for you? You're still dreaming!"

A look of surprise flashed across Fang Jincheng's face. "Not for me? Then this chicken is...?"

Ye Qingqing rolled her eyes at him. "Is it any of your business?"

Fang Jincheng's face tightened, and he said with a stern expression,

"Qingqing, I know it was my fault, but I just made a mistake that all men are prone to make. Why are you so angry?"

Besides, I swore I'd treat you better from now on, why don't you believe me?

"I believe you..."

Ye Qingqing sneered, "My foot! Fang Jincheng, listen to me! I was blinded by greed before, but from now on we have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Go back to where you came from! I want to break off the engagement!"

"What did you say?"

Fang Jincheng's expression immediately changed, and he said with a cold laugh, "You want to break off the engagement with me? Ye Qingqing, did I hear that right?"

Ye Qingqing raised an eyebrow. "If you can still understand human speech, then you didn't mishear."

When she got home, she told her father to send a matchmaker to cancel the engagement!

Why keep this scumbag around if you don't break off the relationship with him right away?

"Ye Qingqing, I'm going to take the imperial examinations to become a scholar and then a high-ranking official. How dare you talk to me like that?"

Seeing that he couldn't control her, Fang Jincheng was instantly enraged.

Ye Qingqing looked him over again, genuinely curious about where this ordinary-looking man got his confidence.

"If you could become the top scholar in the imperial examination, even the dog in our village could become the village head!"

"Ye Qingqing, stop pretending! You just complain about me flirting with other women, don't you? What man doesn't have multiple wives and concubines? Why can't you?"

Fang Jincheng stopped pretending and said coldly, "If I pass the imperial examination and become rich and powerful in the future, won't you benefit from it? You should support all my expenses at the academy!"

"Fine, I promise you, once I pass the imperial examinations, I'll make you my first wife no matter how many concubines I take in the future. Is that enough?"

Ye Qingqing had never seen such a shameless person before; she almost laughed out of anger.

"Fang Jincheng, have some decency!"

Fang Jincheng was furious. "Ye Qingqing, have you thought this through? If I break off the engagement, you'll only be able to marry a peasant and toil in the fields! You can forget about ever being an official's wife!"

Ye Qingqing gave him a cold look.

"Your father, your mother, and your ancestors toiled their whole lives as peasants, scraping their way to survival. How could they have raised such an ungrateful bastard like you?"

"you……"

Fang Jincheng was so angry he wanted to curse, but then he remembered that the man had come to ask for money to pay his tuition.

If you can't scrape together even a tael of silver, you'll be ridiculed by your teacher and looked down upon by your classmates!

Forget it, I'll just coax her and get the pheasant first.

Fang Jincheng gritted his teeth, his cheekbones cracking, and reached out, suppressing his anger.

"You're a petty woman, I won't hold it against you. Just take this pheasant to pay your tuition, and I won't be angry with you anymore. We can get along well from now on..."

Before she could finish speaking, Ye Qingqing pushed the pheasant behind her and said disdainfully,

"I don't need you to be nice to me! If you can't afford to study, then don't. If you want money, earn it yourself. Stop talking nonsense with me!"

"Cui Cui, let's go!"

As she spoke, she took Ye Cuicui's hand and walked home without looking back.

"Second sister..."

Ye Cuicui took a breath and stared incredulously at the back of her head.

I never expected that my second sister would become such a different person after jumping into the river!

Does the water of the Erlang River have these magical effects?

Fang Jincheng gritted his teeth, stomped his feet, and pointed at her retreating figure, cursing loudly.

"Ye Qingqing, I'm breaking off our engagement. You better not regret it!"

Ye Qingqing didn't even turn her head.

Fang Jincheng panicked. Usually, a few sweet words or a little pressure would soften her and she would give him whatever he wanted!

What happened today? How dare they speak to him, the future top scholar, like that?

He was a scholar, and a man of principle would rather die than be humiliated!

He not only failed to receive the tuition fee but also got a severe scolding. How could he possibly swallow this insult?

Fang Jincheng, his temper flaring, hurried a few steps and grabbed Ye Qingqing's sleeve.

"I told you to leave, stop right there!"

"Clatter"

Under the tugging, several seams on Ye Qingqing's cotton-padded jacket burst open.