Chapter 8: The Power of Money Is Useless

“Oh, isn’t this Du Yun of the Du family? Just yesterday, you were acting all proud, saying you wouldn’t marry anyone, and now you’re here making a racket with a bunch of snot-nosed kids!” The swaying figure was none other than Aunt Dong, who had been thrown out of the Du household by Du Yun the previous day.

Aunt Dong’s face was brimming with smug scorn as she scrutinized Du Yun—whose trousers were soaked from catching fish—and the other disheveled children. “Look at the state of you! Don’t you have a single decent piece of clothing left? Tsk, tsk, tsk. How pitiful it is to be poor.”

“You—!” Du Bai, ever hot-tempered, already harbored a grudge against Aunt Dong for trying to marry his sister off to that fat, swarthy man. Now, hearing her sneering taunts, he nearly lost his temper on the spot.

“Xiao Bai!” Du Yun grabbed his hand and shook her head, stopping him from charging forward. They were all just a bunch of frail children; not a match for a fight. If anyone got hurt, it would hardly be worth it.

Du Yun gave Aunt Dong a long, deep look. This insult would not go unanswered; she quietly made a note to herself to settle the score, with interest, one day.

Aunt Dong, noting Du Yun’s reaction, gleefully shook the small bundle in her hand, letting a corner of blue fabric peek out. “Look at this—no wonder the Dong family is the richest in the village! They’ve already given me several bolts of cloth just for matchmaking, even before the deal is settled. If you marry into the Dong family, you’ll never see a day of hardship again!”

She glanced at Du Yun’s expression as she spoke, intent on flaunting her windfall and ridiculing her, convinced that a girl of this age couldn’t resist the allure of money and new clothes.

Just yesterday, she had tried to persuade Du Yun nicely, only to be met with haughty disdain. And now? She caught her wallowing in mud and water all for a few little fish. As long as Du Yun showed the slightest wavering, she would be at her mercy going forward.

Aunt Dong was already imagining her triumph as her eyes darted to the basin in Du Yun’s hands. She glimpsed a flash of silver—those were some sizable fish. She swallowed greedily.

Times were hard for everyone except the Dong family; even a bite of meat was a rare luxury throughout the year. Aunt Dong’s mind spun, searching for a way to coax Du Yun into agreeing to the match—or, better yet, to wrangle a fish out of her.

“If the Dong family’s so wonderful, Auntie, why don’t you marry your own daughter to them?” Du Yun, having lived a whole lifetime, saw straight through Aunt Dong’s intentions. She shot back coldly, then skirted around her and strode for home.

“Slow down, sister…” As Du Yun hurried away, her younger siblings trailed after her, calling out. The littlest ones, like Du Yin and Du Tong, hadn’t understood Aunt Dong’s words at all, but Du Qin and Du Fang looked at Du Yun with open envy.

“Hurry home, or the fish will suffocate.” Du Yun’s tone was brisk, and her pace even faster.

“Hey, hey, hey! Where do you think you’re going?” Aunt Dong, still basking in her own boastful display, had expected Du Yun to beg or at least try to curry favor, perhaps offering a fish as a bribe. Instead, Du Yun had simply walked away, leaving her fuming with indignation.

“Sister Du Yun, Sister Du Yun…” As Du Yun hastened home, her siblings clustered around her. Du Qin and Du Fang, their thin faces flushed, gazed at her with shining eyes, full of longing. “Did the Dong family propose to you? Are you really going to be the daughter-in-law of the richest household in the village?”

“Don’t listen to her nonsense. I never agreed to marry into the Dong family.” Du Yun, her mood unsettled, sounded cross. Yet seeing her two cousins so dazzled by the thought of wealth, she remembered that they, too, would soon be of marriageable age. She decided it was time for a lesson.

“Listen to me, Fang, Qin. Marriage is the most important decision in a woman’s life. If you let yourself be blinded by a family’s wealth and ignore the character of the man you’re marrying, you’ll end up ruining your whole life.” She stopped and spoke sternly to them.

“But… if you have such a good match, why are you saying this?” Du Fang, only two years younger than Du Yun and strong-willed like her own mother, couldn’t help but protest at her cousin’s reluctance toward such a wealthy suitor.

“Why am I saying this? Come here, let me explain.” Du Yun could tell Du Fang was full of resentment, and Du Qin, though quiet, looked just as puzzled. She knew girls their age might not yet understand, but they were forming their own ideas. For the sake of her family, she patiently began to explain.

“Let’s put it this way: say I have a hundred coins right now, and I can make one coin a day. But I love eating meat and buying pretty clothes, so I spend five coins a day…” Du Yun didn’t mention Dong Yuejin’s womanizing or how he would one day gamble away his fortune—those things were not for girls to hear. Instead, she started a simple calculation.

“Wow, a hundred coins is a lot!” Du Fang focused on the total sum.

“Earning a coin a day is amazing,” Du Qin said, eyes wide in disbelief.

“Five coins a day could buy loads of meat—enough for me to eat for days!” little Du Tong added, ever the foodie.

“Spending five coins a day? What a wastrel.” Du Bai, still sulking from before, gave his own verdict.

Du Yun hadn’t expected her example to be misunderstood so thoroughly and could only reiterate, “This is just a hypothetical. If someone has money, but spends far more than they earn, do you think you should marry such a person?”

“Of course! They have a hundred coins!” Du Fang blinked, thinking it sounded good enough.

“Silly girl. You see the hundred coins now, but what about after five days, or ten, or a year?” Du Yun began breaking it down, “If you earn one coin but spend five every day, you lose four coins a day. In five days, that’s twenty coins gone. Ten days, forty coins. Keep going, and the whole hundred will be gone in less than a month—maybe you’ll even end up in debt. Now, do you still think that’s someone worth marrying?”

“Oh, is that how it is!” The children, never having considered things so far ahead, were taken aback by the calculation and could no longer say with confidence that such a person was marriage material.

“That’s right. When it comes to marriage, you can’t just look at how much money someone has now. You have to see if he knows how to earn money, too. Do you understand?” Seeing their blank faces, Du Yun suddenly felt her mood lift.

“Come on, let’s get home and put the fish in water. Tomorrow, I’ll cook fish stew for you all!” With a wave, she led the children back home, their cheers trailing behind her.