At first, Luo Honglan refrained from speaking harshly because she thought that Zhou Yunmei, like Luo Dashan, had her best interests at heart, worrying that she might be bullied if she married into a distant place, hence forcing her to marry Li Shunbai. But the words Zhou Yunmei and Xu He just said were like a wake-up call for Luo Honglan. It turned out that Zhou Yunmei and the others merely saw her as merchandise, ready to sell her to whoever paid the most. Initially, they thought the bride price of US$ 500 from Li Shunbai was a lot, so they insistently pushed her to marry him. But as soon as they heard that Chen Jie’s family was doing better, they immediately changed their tune. Luo Honglan, although honest and sometimes excessively so, was not a fool; she had her own temper. Zhou Yunmei had never seen Luo Honglan speak to her before, and in anger, she immediately wanted to knock Luo Honglan on the head, simultaneously cursing, "You dead girl." But halfway there, Zhou Yunmei’s hand was stopped by Chen Jie, who, extremely angry, said to Zhou Yunmei, "Auntie, please speak politely, no need to get physical, okay?" After that, he looked at Zhou Yunmei with some disdain, furrowing his brows and saying, "It’s just a bride price of US$ 500, I never said I wouldn’t pay it." "Chen Jie," Fang Pingying called out to him. Actually, she didn’t want Zhou Yunmei to know the financial situation of Chen Jie’s family; she was afraid Zhou Yunmei might cling to them in the future. "Sister-in-law, I understand." Chen Jie was not confused; he had long seen through Zhou Yunmei and their intentions. He gave Fang Pingying a reassuring smile and then said to Zhou Yunmei, "Auntie, if you really care only about the bride price, I’ll pay it, right now. But once I’ve paid, as Luo Honglan said, she won’t come back if it’s not necessary. From now on, whatever happens, I’ll handle it, with no need for you to interfere." Hearing this, Zhou Yunmei’s eyes flicked around, beginning to make calculations. Xu He, standing by her side, was quicker with her calculations. She was quite satisfied with Chen Jie’s words. After all, once a girl here got married, even if she wanted to honor her parents, it would only be some trifling gift – and that would be from those better-off families. For the less well-off, not having to provide for the daughter anymore was considered good enough, such as with Luo Cuilan. If marrying off Luo Honglan right now meant receiving such a substantial bride price, then everything else would be easy. Thus, she pulled Zhou Yunmei aside and whispered, "Mom, this is indeed not a bad deal. This young man says later on we don’t have to worry about Honglan. This means we won’t have to bother with the dowry when Honglan gets married, but we can still collect the bride price now, how nice." Luo Zhiming, hearing this, immediately chimed in, "Indeed, judging by the young man’s tone, his family must be better off than Li Shunbai." After consulting among themselves, all three found the arrangement agreeable, and Zhou Yunmei immediately accepted, telling Chen Jie to bring the money and that she would not care who Luo Honglan married in the future. Fang Pingying watched Zhou Yunmei’s elated expression and could not help but sigh and shake her head repeatedly. How could there be such a mother in this world, intending to sell her daughter for US$ 500? Luo Honglan must have felt terrible inside. Fang Pingying glanced at Luo Honglan and saw that while she didn’t speak, a pair of her eyes turned red as she stared at Zhou Yunmei. That look was something Fang Pingying had never seen before, and it was a bit chilling, like the calm before the storm. Fang Pingying actually hoped Luo Honglan would create a storm. This girl was just too honest, to the point of being indistinguishable from foolishness. She always considered her family before herself, never caring about how much she lost. Sadly, no one appreciated her efforts, not even her own mother. After hearing Zhou Yunmei’s words, Fang Pingying gave Luo Dashan a look and saw him sitting on the stone bench, smoking his dry pipe without a word. She then said, "Dad, Mom, if you really agree to Chen Jie’s suggestion, that would mean you sever your relationship with Honglan for US$ 500. From then on, you shouldn’t turn to Honglan for everything, as she’ll be no longer related to you." Perhaps the word ’sever’ sounded too harsh to Zhou Yunmei, and she suddenly changed her mind, yelling at Fang Pingying, "No. We can’t sever ties." Just when Fang Pingying thought Zhou Yunmei had a change of conscience, the heartless words that followed proved otherwise, "US$ 500 to sever ties? I raised this daughter to be this big." In fact, Zhou Yunmei wasn’t really intent on severing ties with Luo Honglan; she just thought that Chen Jie’s family had money, and she wanted to take as much as possible now. The money she had saved before had been spent on Luo Zhiming and Xu He’s wedding, and she urgently needed to save some for her old age. As for Luo Honglan, Zhou Yunmei believed that, in the end, she was her daughter and wouldn’t truly be severed just by saying so. Considering Luo Honglan’s weak character, Zhou Yunmei thought a few kind words in the future would easily earn her daughter’s forgiveness. But others naturally didn’t see all the schemes in Zhou Yunmei’s mind and thought she was simply treating her daughter as a commodity to sell. After hearing her words, Fang Pingying sneered in disbelief and retorted at Zhou Yunmei, "Do you really treat your daughter as a commodity to sell?" "What’s wrong with that? As the saying goes, ’a married daughter is like spilled water.’" Zhou Yunmei rolled her eyes at Luo Honglan and disdainfully said, "Besides, she’s getting married so far away. She won’t come back to her maternal home in the future, and she won’t take care of me when I’m old. If the betrothal gift doesn’t meet my demands, she should forget about getting married." Chen Jie was willing to agree upon hearing this. He had heard from Honglan about her family matters before but didn’t quite believe her, thinking she was exaggerating. But having seen it with his own eyes today, he knew Honglan didn’t have a good life in this family, and he would rather pay more to take her away from this home. He looked at Fang Pingying, wanting to discuss with her, "Sister-in-law, how about..." Content originally comes from novel-fire.net But before he could finish, Luo Honglan, who was always compliant, suddenly burst out with red eyes, pulling Chen Jie to her side and staring hatefully at Zhou Yunmei, shouting, "Don’t give it, Chen Jie, not a cent of the betrothal money! Not just not adding more, even that US$ 500 shouldn’t be given." "You..." Chen Jie and Fang Pingying saw that Luo Honglan was not right, wanting to advise her. But Luo Honglan pushed them aside and then stared fiercely at Zhou Yunmei with a cold expression, saying, "I want to see how my mom and they are going to deal with me. Anyway, when you were not back yet, I had already made up my mind. If they insisted on forcing me to marry Li Shunbai, I’d just die and show them. Then not only will they miss out on that US$ 500, but they’ll also have to spend money for my funeral." After saying that, Luo Honglan coldly laughed, her expression extremely desolate, "After all, she keeps saying I am born from her and should listen to her. If I really want to, I’ll just compensate her with my life. After I die, I want to see who else she can torment."