Chapter 108: The Disfigured Li Xiufen

Jiang Wei had someone load the coal into the horse carriage's cargo bed, then drove off.

In an empty alley, Jiang Wei waved her hand, and all the coal inside the carriage vanished into her space.

Just as Jiang Xiaoxiao thought it was over, she saw her mother drive the carriage toward the neighbor county again.

"Mother, isn't this much stone charcoal enough for our winter? Do we still need to buy more in Qingping County?" Jiang Xiaoxiao asked, puzzled.

Jiang Wei gripped the reins tightly and said, "Stone charcoal is an excellent resource. Since it's cheap right now in the height of summer, we should stock up. I have important uses for it later."

Hearing this, Jiang Xiaoxiao's eyes lit up. "What important use? Mother, what do you plan to do with the stone charcoal?"

"You'll find out later," Jiang Wei teased again.

"Fine…" Jiang Xiaoxiao suppressed her curiosity, yet her mind raced with wild thoughts.

In the modern era, coal was an extremely important resource, widely used in industry, power generation, heating, and fuel, hailed as "industrial grain," possessing unique advantages incomparable to petroleum and natural gas!

But in poor, backward ancient times, there were no massive modern industries, so there was no large-scale demand for coal, and its value was constantly devalued; by stockpiling coal resources now, they could seize a huge business opportunity if they ever had the chance to build factories and industry in the future.

Jiang Wei drove the carriage to several neighboring counties and bought one or two hundred jin of coal in each, never purchasing large amounts at once—this way, no one would grow suspicious.

By the time they returned to Yong'an Town, it was the Shen hour.

The mother and daughter were about to head to the Yuelai Restaurant to find Jiang Yu when they spotted the Li Family Old Woman, whom they hadn't seen in a long time.

On the bustling street, Li Jinfeng was kicked to the ground by the Li Family Old Woman, while a girl wearing a face veil rushed forward, pinned her down, and slapped her wildly, screaming hysterically:

"Aaaah! Li Jinfeng, I'll kill you!! It's all your fault my face is like this! Pay me back my face! Or you won't live to step through the Li family's door today!"

In the struggle, the girl's veil fell off, revealing a horrifyingly grotesque face.

Passersby, visibly terrified, hurriedly stepped aside to avoid her.

Even Jiang Xiaoxiao was startled.

The girl was undoubtedly Li Xiufen.

But Jiang Xiaoxiao stared at Li Xiufen's face and could not believe this was the face of a sixteen-year-old girl.

Her skin was blue-black, covered in blotches, extremely dry and wrinkled, like a shriveled raisin—she looked older than the Li Family Old Woman beside her!

Every time she moved, her hair fell out uncontrollably; her forehead was bald in large patches, terrifying to behold.

Jiang Xiaoxiao glanced twice then looked away, recalling how, not long ago in the village, Li Xiufen had strutted around proudly, her face caked thickly in rouge and face powder—but even then, it hadn't been this bad.

In just over a month, her entire face was nearly destroyed—how many toxic substances had she smeared on it?

The dangers of these inferior ancient rouge and face powders were terrifying; no wonder the old saying went, "Beauty brings misfortune"—ancient beautiful women usually died young because they used vast amounts of rouge and face powder.

Seeing the disdainful glances from the crowd, Li Xiufen grew even more frenzied, clawing at Li Jinfeng's throat as if she truly meant to kill her.

Sun Shi rushed over and shoved Li Xiufen away.

Li Jinfeng scrambled to her feet and hid behind Sun Shi, her eyes fixed on Li Xiufen with unhidden satisfaction.

"You bitch, how dare you show your face!" The Li Family Old Woman lunged at Sun Shi, grappling with her. "You wretched slut—was it you behind this? Did you incite that dead girl to ruin Xiufen's face? How evil is your heart! If I hadn't come to see for myself today, I'd still be fooled by you!"

Sun Shi remembered the child the Li Family Old Woman had kicked out of her womb, and her rage surged—she no longer cared, wrestling with the old woman, shouting back:

"It was your own daughter who chose to smear all that filth on her face! You're old and blind! You're dumping every piece of shit on us mother and daughter! Your daughter's fate is the retribution for what you did to my child!"

Even though she knew Li Xiufen's face had truly been ruined by her own daughter, she was delighted by it!

Since losing her child, she hated the Li Family Old Woman down to her bones—she longed for her to feel the same agony of losing a child!

Li Xiufen's downfall suited her perfectly!

Seeing a crowd gathering, the Li Family Old Woman flopped onto the street and wailed like a broken gong: "What sin has my old Li family committed to get such a wicked daughter-in-law? Heaven is destroying my old Li family! Everyone, please judge this for me..."

But her hysterical performance drew no sympathy from the passersby.

It worked in the village, but not in the town—everyone saw through her clearly, knew exactly what kind of person she was.

Everyone found her foul luck and avoided her.

Sitting in the carriage, Jiang Xiaoxiao shook her head—when she'd still lived in the Li family, the relationship between the Li Family Old Woman and Sun Shi had been so good; Sun Shi could charm them both with just a few words, making Li Xiufen and the old woman giddy with joy.

Who could have imagined how quickly things changed, how the world turned? In just over a month, their relationship had become utterly hostile.

The Li Family Old Woman had screamed on the street for hours, yet no one came to her aid; her wailing paused, and for once, a flicker of embarrassment crossed her face.

But then she spotted Jiang Shi and her daughter driving away in the carriage—like grasping the last straw—she leapt up and lunged toward the carriage.

Jiang Xiaoxiao jumped, thinking she'd come to cause trouble, but the Li Family Old Woman grabbed the carriage's shaft and wailed: "Third daughter-in-law, I know I was wrong—come back, please... I was blind before, didn't see your worth, wronged you, mistook those evil people for treasures—please, for the sake of your late third husband, come back..."

She wept with snot and tears, sounding genuinely heartbroken.

But had Jiang Xiaoxiao not seen the faint greed in the old woman's gaze toward the carriage, she might have believed her lies.

Seeing Jiang Wei unmoved, the Li Family Old Woman turned and grabbed Jiang Xiaoxiao's hand: "Er Ya, Grandma knows she was wrong—come back, please..."

(End of Chapter)