As Song Yuemei and Qingshan returned home, Song Yuemei did not quarrel with Qingshan but stated her objective immediately: "Qingshan, I'm telling you, I will settle accounts with you later for this matter. You tell your family that if they want to take in that little slut and the child in her belly, they must produce ten taels of silver. Otherwise, I will fight this to the bitter end, and I won't agree."

"Ten taels of silver, Yuemei? Where am I supposed to find ten taels of silver for you? Don't you know how much money we have? We still owe several taels outside for building the house?" Qingshan asked.

Song Yuemei shot Qingshan a glance: "I am talking about your family, not our family. Your family means your father, your mother, and your second uncle's side. You also know that our family owes people money. Although the fish pond has been set up, who knows how long it will take to yield fish? Furthermore, your good second uncle has already taught the entire village how to raise fish. Many people are raising fish now; who knows if we'll even make money then? With the cost of building the house, there isn't a spare bit of money. Have you thought about how we will live in the future? And you went out and attracted a little slut—how do you plan to support her? Then there's my family; my brothers haven't even married yet."

Qingshan hadn't grasped the implications of Song Yuemei's words at first, so he asked, "But this is my business; how is it suddenly our family's business? Aren't your family and my family all one family?"

"They are your family; they are not my family. Regardless, you just need to go get ten taels of silver from your mother and father, and then I'll agree to this. Otherwise, don't even think about it," Song Yuemei stated.

Only then did Qingshan fully understand Song Yuemei's meaning. She clearly intended to extort money from his parents to subsidize her own household and her maternal family. Qingshan disagreed somewhat, saying, "Yuemei, how about we just drop this matter? Don't go asking my parents for money. They gave us a few taels when we divided the property. How can they suddenly produce ten taels? My father is still working for my second uncle and repaying debts; that money hasn't even been fully paid back."

"I don't care about that. Your father earns such a high wage every month, and your mother is constantly scavenging. She must have quite a bit saved up over the year. If they don't have it, they can borrow—it's not the first time. Don't mention the division of the household. Speaking of which, I grit my teeth just thinking about your mother," Song Yuemei said, staring at Qingshan.

"Yuemei, don't be like this. From now on, any money we earn will be given to you, alright? I won't keep a single cent. Just don't go asking my parents for money; I really can't bring myself to ask," Qingshan pleaded.

"The household money is supposed to be given to me anyway. Our money is ours, and your parents' money is theirs. This time, I specifically want your parents to provide this money because of how swiftly your mother threw us out when we separated the property. In short, stop talking—do exactly as I say. If you don't bring back this money, that little slut won't set foot inside," Song Yuemei declared before walking into the inner room.

With no other choice, Qingshan walked toward his parents' room. This time, Qingshan truly didn't know how to begin. He was the one who caused the trouble, yet now his wife was using his own family's reputation as leverage to demand money from his parents. What kind of situation was this? Although Qingshan wasn't exactly filial, he still possessed a sliver of conscience and felt unwilling to watch his parents being exploited like this. However, if he didn't follow Song Yuemei's demands, her entire family would surely never let him off the hook.

Lost in thought, Qingshan arrived at his parents' courtyard. Inside, Mother He heard footsteps outside and came out. Seeing that it was Qingshan, she called him in and asked what Yuemei had said. Having no better option, Qingshan reluctantly laid out Song Yuemei's demand.

Upon hearing Qingshan's words, Mother He became agitated: "Good heavens, Qingshan! You two are finding sneaky ways to scheme against us old folks! And you start off asking for ten taels right away! Go back and tell Song Yuemei that whatever she wants to do with her own family's affairs, she can do, but I won't get involved!"

"Mother, this isn't my idea. I tried to persuade Yuemei, but she wouldn't listen. She said there was no room for negotiation. I'm helpless," Qingshan murmured.

"That Song Yuemei is certainly good at scheming! Ten taels right off the bat. With those ten taels, they could marry off all her brothers! To take money from her husband's family to pad her maiden family—she certainly knows how to think ahead," Mother He cursed.

Song Yuemei's demand was somewhat within Erniu's expectations. This made things slightly easier; it was just a matter of money, which was better than having no solution at all initially. Zhao Shi watched Mother He rant about Song Yuemei this way and that without offering any constructive advice. She called out to Mother He and asked, "Now it boils down to this money. Are we giving it or not? What do you two think we should do?"

"Of course, we're not giving it! Why should we give it to her? I just don't believe it," Mother He exclaimed, stamping her foot.

Erniu watched the situation drag on all morning until it reached this point. The only path left was to pay, plain and simple. If they truly wanted to cause a public scene, why would they have gone to all this trouble? Erniu thought for a moment before saying, "Big Brother, Big Sister-in-law, in my opinion, we should just pay the money. It's best to resolve this matter quickly. Mother still has one more..."

"Ten taels of silver! Think of all the things that money could do! If we are frugal, we could build a small courtyard with that! It's easy for you to say since you aren't the one paying," Mother He retorted, glancing at Erniu.

Hearing Mother He's words, Erniu stood up and said, "Since Big Sister-in-law thinks my suggestion isn't good, I have no other recourse. I'll head back now; I still have things to do at home." After saying this, he bid farewell to Zhao Shi and Dajiang and left.

Erniu had wanted to leave long ago. He truly didn't wish to get involved in this matter; it was only because his mother had come looking for him before dawn that he couldn't refuse and followed along to see what happened. He had followed them around arguing for so long without even eating, only to be treated poorly by Mother He—it was infuriating.

When Erniu returned home, he asked Ziqing to prepare some food. Huang Shi saw that the maids and children were in the courtyard, so she didn't speak. Instead, she pulled Erniu into the inner room, inquired about the situation, and Erniu explained everything. Huang Shi sighed but said nothing else.

Lin He knew that something must be happening at her paternal uncle's house again. She saw her father was gone in the morning and asked her mother where he had gone. Her mother said her paternal uncle's family had an issue and that Grandmother had summoned her father. Lin He knew that since her grandmother had shown up before dawn, there must be something going on, but since it concerned her paternal uncle's family, Lin He didn't have the mood to pry. As long as it didn't disturb their own household, she didn't care what they did. (To be continued.)