When Ye Qingyu heard this, she understood. When the family was idle, her father and Second Uncle would always go to town to find work. It was hard work that was tiring and paid very little.
But it was better than not having any work to do. Every copper coin counted.
It was rare for her grandmother and her mother to do the work they were doing today. After a busy day, they could earn more than ten copper coins. It was enough for the family to put food on the table for a few days.
"Qingfeng, do you hate me? If I hadn't jumped into the river and needed money to save my life, our brother wouldn't have…" Ye Qingyu deliberately paused and continued with a sad expression,
"I really hate myself! Not only have I not helped the family at all in the past few years, but I've also been a burden to everyone. I disrespected my elders, and I wasn't good to you guys either. I really feel too ashamed to live!"
"Aiyo, big sister, don't say that! You can't think about dying again. It wasn't easy for us to save you!" Ye Qingfeng was so frightened by her words that he almost dropped the bowl in his hands. He quickly put it down and ran to her.
"Big Brother volunteered to work as a long-term laborer at Landlord Li's house. I wanted to go too, but I'm too young and he doesn't want to hire me. It's just three years. He can also get a salary every month. It's a good job."
"A long-term laborer?! Idiot! Idiot!" Ye Qingyu found out her first younger brother's true whereabouts. She was so angry that her eyes were dizzy and her body was trembling.
"He is only 15 years old. He's been studying since he was young and doesn't have much strength. How can he be good at being a long-term laborer? If he really goes to work at the landlord's house, he'll be tortured to death!
I remember that I still have my dowry from before. Sell my dowry. There'll be enough money to buy medicine to treat my illness. How can I let my younger brother sell himself as a long-term laborer!"
The original owner's dowry was prepared three years ago. At that time, the Ye family had not fallen and the original owner was doted on. The dowry prepared for her was worth 50 to 60 taels of silver.
Not to mention in this village, even if it was an ordinary rich family in town, it would be rare for them to prepare such a dowry for their daughter's marriage.
Moreover, at that time, the marriage date between the original owner and Liu Junsheng was set. The original owner also had feelings for Liu Junsheng. The wedding dress that she personally embroidered, the pillowcase, and the blankets were all made of good cloth and embroidery thread.
Later on, when the Ye family lost all their assets. They could only rely on selling their fields and houses to survive. However, other than some jewelry, the original owner's dowry was not sold. She was unwilling to sell things like her wedding dress and blankets.
Seeing that she was unwilling, the family didn't mention it again. They didn't want to make her sad. The family would rather starve and let the original owner continue to keep the wedding dress.
After Ye Qingyu saw this memory, she felt that the original owner was really pitiful and hateful!
She couldn't see her family suffering and didn't help with the work, but she protected her dowry like crazy and kept thinking of the scumbag. How infuriating!
Ye Qingfeng was stunned by his big sister's outburst for a moment before he realized that his big sister was lying to him just now. She didn't know where his brother was at all.
Oops!
Ye Qingfeng slapped his forehead in frustration. He was usually quite smart. Why did he fall into his big sister's trap? No wonder his parents said that before his sister got into trouble, she was smart and had a delicate heart.
"Big sister, you refused to let us sell your dowry previously. Now that something has happened to you, how can Father and Mother dare to touch your dowry? They were afraid that you'd commit suicide again when you woke up, so they could only think of other ways to raise money.
However, apart from two acres of land, nothing else in our family was worth much.
After your accident the day before yesterday, our mother and second aunt couldn't borrow money from their maiden home because we didn't return the money we owed previously.
Our youngest aunt wanted to help us, but she was powerless. Ever since our family fell, her life with her in-laws had been difficult, and she had no money to lend us.
His family had also borrowed a lot of money from the family clan. They usually gave us all kinds of help, and everyone's lives were not easy. Our parents were really too ashamed to ask them for more.
The other villagers know that we're poor, so they won't lend it to us. There's nothing we can do other than letting Big Brother work as a long-term laborer."
Ye Qingfeng explained the Ye family's desperate situation in a few sentences.