Ye Yayin nodded, growing even more curious.

“So when the matchmaker came to discuss marriage, Grandmother and my mother sent people to investigate and were very satisfied with their family. My mother, in particular, was afraid they might not be willing, and specifically told the matchmaker that she would provide a very generous dowry for me. Fortunately, Yaming warned us, otherwise this marriage would have truly been settled.”

At this point, she looked gratefully at Ye Yaming: “Luckily, after her warning, Grandfather and my father sent people to investigate in more detail. Only then did they discover that women who married into the Wang family seemed to change completely. They not only competed to use their dowries for household expenses but also constantly extracted money from their maiden families to send to their husbands’ families. Each one claimed that their husbands and sons worked very hard studying for the examinations, so they must eat and wear the best, only then could they pass the Metropolitan Examination and bring glory to the ancestors.”

Ye Yayin frowned, pondered for a moment, then looked at her sister with confusion: “Sister, that doesn’t seem wrong, does it?”

Hadn’t the Ye family sent money to Song Yifeng before? And hadn’t her sister gone over every few days to deliver things, saying the same things?

Although it was the original Ye Yaming who had been so generous to Song Yifeng, the current Ye Yaming still felt embarrassed.

She cleared her throat and said: “The actions might be similar, but the nature is different. Song Yifeng was a mother and son. By becoming engaged to the Ye family, if he didn’t strive to advance, he would bear the reputation of being a parasite for life and couldn’t hold his head high either outside or within the Ye family. Moreover, he was a talented person with a proud heart, so he would only strive to climb higher.”

“But the Wang family, from old to young, all the men lived off women, and because there were many of them, they did so confidently and righteously. Especially since the family had Provincial Graduates and County Graduates, their social status was already higher than merchants. Even if they never advanced further in their lives, their in-laws wouldn’t dare look down on them or show them any disrespect.”

“Most importantly…” she looked at Ye Yaqing, and seeing that she was listening attentively, realized she also didn’t understand the reasoning, so she continued, “If I had married into the Song family, and Song Yifeng lived off my dowry, I would be the most powerful person in the Song family. Madam Yu wouldn’t dare put on airs before me, and Song Yifeng would have to please me in every way. I also wouldn’t be foolish enough to drain my maiden family to support my husband’s family.”

“Of course, the premise is that I must establish myself. As long as I stand firm and manage my dowry well, they would have to bow to me.”

“But look at the women in the Wang family—regardless of how their husbands behave, they consider it their duty to serve their husbands comfortably, and would use all their dowries on their husbands if they could. This is the influence of the Wang family’s environment, and also the result of brainwashing by husbands, mothers-in-law, and sisters-in-law together. Think about it: in a family of several dozen or even a hundred people, if they all tell a newly-wedded bride what she should do, and criticize her with one voice at the slightest deviation, wouldn’t she doubt herself and hurry to correct her behavior?”

“Especially since these girls who marry into the Wang family are only sixteen or seventeen years old, their personalities are not yet fully formed, and their wills are not yet firm—this is the age when they are most susceptible to others’ influence.”

Ye Yayin listened with her scalp tingling.

Even Ye Yaqing, who had heard her father and mother analyze this and gained some understanding, found that Ye Hongchang and Madam Tao hadn’t explained it as thoroughly as Ye Yaming had. She had still been confused, but after hearing Ye Yaming’s words, she broke out in a cold sweat.

Imagining herself being brainwashed daily, eventually becoming someone who drained her maiden family to support her husband’s family and lost her sense of self, she felt chilled to the bone.

She said: “No wonder my father told me to spend more time with you, praising your exceptional wisdom every day. My father and mother knew something was wrong with the Wang family, but they couldn’t quite articulate what it was. After your explanation, I understand clearly.”

Ye Yaming seized the opportunity to offer advice: “People say that marriage is a woman’s second rebirth. Choosing a good family is certainly important, but there are also cases where women marry into good families yet lead miserable lives. And if you unfortunately marry into a family like the Wang’s, as long as you stay clear-headed, always remember to love yourself first and put yourself first, you can still live well.”

“A confused woman worsens her situation; an average woman adapts to her environment; a clever woman changes her environment to make it favorable to herself.”

“For instance, in the case of the Wang family, if you married into their family, you could pretend to agree with them, and then use their need for your dowry to support the family as leverage to control them. They want me to provide money? Fine, serve me well, make me happy, and I’ll give a little. Not much, just a little, and how much depends on my mood.”

Ye Yayin imagined the scene and couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

As a thirteen-year-old girl, she seemed to understand something about the relationships between men and women, but there was still much she was confused about. The image that had just flashed in her mind was of servants attending to their masters, and she imagined grandfather serving grandmother like a servant, uncles and father serving aunts and mother like servants, which she found absurd and funny.

Ye Yaqing, who understood more than Ye Yayin, felt somewhat shy and awkward hearing Ye Yaming’s words.

But when Ye Yayin described the scene in her mind, she couldn’t help laughing out loud as well.

As they laughed, the three of them somehow ended up laughing together heartily.

In her previous life, Ye Yaming had received an elite education from a young age, skipped grades, and walked a lonely path alone. She had never talked and joked with young girls like this.

After laughing together like this, she suddenly felt relaxed all over, as if something that had been weighing heavily on her heart since her transmigration had been lifted.

She raised her head and looked at the sky.

The fate of the Ye family had changed, the engagement with Song Yifeng had been broken off, and she had even sent Song Yifeng to prison. With those poems in evidence, he could never hope to pass the Metropolitan Examination and become an official in his lifetime.

She had completed the task entrusted to her by the original Ye Yaming, who should now be able to reincarnate in peace.

Indeed, that night, Ye Yaming had a dream in which a woman in red clothes bowed gracefully to her, thanking her for everything she had done for the Ye family and for fulfilling her wish.

When she opened her eyes again, the sky was just beginning to brighten—the time when Ye Yaming usually got up.

Ye Yaming touched her chest, feeling as if her heartbeat was lighter and more joyful than usual.

She silently said to the air: “I wish you happiness and fulfillment in your next life.”

…

Without her son, Madam Yu had only a little over fifty taels of silver left—

When she had compensated the Ye family with all their savings, she had kept one hundred taels of silver for emergency household expenses. But she had fallen ill at that time and sent her son to rent a house. Worried that during the move, the hundred taels might be stolen in the confusion, she had exchanged them for two fifty-tael bank notes, keeping one with her and giving one to Song Yifeng.

Besides this, she had two or three taels left for buying groceries.