Su Caier hung her head low, feeling heartbroken. She thought to herself, "I am a bad person. I actually thought about deceiving my husband and keeping him in the dark about my eyes, just so I could stay with him. After all, I couldn't survive in that village anymore after my mother passed away.

Later, my aunt and cousin brought me to the city, saying that I must be married off. They also thought that my eyes would bring them misfortune. But my husband brought me home and didn't mind my leg. He even gave me white rice porridge. I was greedy and wanted to stay.

My mother also said that I wasn't a jinx and not to be afraid... But everyone in the village said so, and my husband must think so too. You can't hide the truth forever..." Su Caier sniffled and wiped away her tears, her golden eyes glistening. "My mother said that I'm not a jinx..." she choked out. "But..." "I'm sorry, I'll leave now." She was heartbroken.

Suddenly, the same hand that helped her fetch water reached out and gently wiped away her tears. But she had shed too many tears, and as soon as one tear was wiped away, another one fell. Zhao Ce didn't say anything, just watched as the girl continued to cry. He sighed and said, "I didn't tell you to leave."

Su Caier sniffled and said, "I know. You're a scholar and not the type to drive me away." "You don't have to say anything. I'll leave on my own." Zhao Ce couldn't help but laugh bitterly. If you didn't look at her eyes up close in the sunlight, you couldn't really tell that they were different. He had sensed that something was off about her in the room earlier, but didn't say anything.

She must have been mistreated because of her eyes before. Otherwise, she wouldn't have begged to stay just now and then suddenly say she wanted to leave.

Where could she go? People with different eyes were considered freaks by the feudal people. But Zhao Ce, as a modern person, knew that it was all about genetics.

Her eyes looked normal, and her vision seemed to be fine, so her eyes probably didn't affect her much. Uncle and the others were waiting in the main room, and Zhao Ce couldn't stay here for too long. He had to deal with this matter first.

He bent down and scooped up a handful of water from the bucket. His palm was dirty. What a guy! No wonder those two people were laughing so hard earlier. Zhao Ce chuckled at Uncle's comment about the weather being too hot.

Uncle was always so cautious around him. Zhao Ce wiped his hands and face with his sleeve, looking over at the girl beside him who was still crying. Although her gaze was hollow, her eyes were like precious gems Bright and sparkling.

Zhao Ce said, "First finish what you were doing just now, don't think too much about it."

Stolen story; please report.

"I'm going to talk to Uncle."

After speaking, Su Caier stood still and whispered, but no sound came out of her mouth. She pursed her lips, lowered her head, and didn't know what she was thinking.

Zhao Ce returned to the main room, and one of the people who was laughing earlier started yelling again. "Zhao Ce, you're too slow!"

Zhao Ce remembered this person. He was his cousin, Zhao Wenhao, the second son of Zhao Youcai.

Zhao Youcai gave Zhao Wenhao a glare, and Zhao Wenhao muttered a little dissatisfied, "Why are you glaring at me? Wasn't I telling the truth?"

Zhao Ce smiled and said, "We did waste quite a bit of time. Sorry for making everyone wait."

After he finished speaking, everyone inside the room looked at him all at once. Had they heard it correctly? Wasn't this bookworm who usually looked down on them apologizing to them today? Did the sun rise from the west?

Zhao Youcai was also surprised, but he quickly regained his composure and grinned, "It's alright, we haven't waited long. Don't mind what your cousin said, he has nothing better to do all day than to mess around."

Zhao Wenhao, who was standing next to Zhao Youcai, secretly rolled his eyes. The others didn't say anything due to Zhao Youcai's status.

Zhao Youcai remembered the main task of the day and quickly asked, "What about the girl? It's getting late, I will take her to the ancestral hall, and let her spend the night there. Tomorrow we'll take her out and have the matchmaker return the excess betrothal gifts. Which family is she from? Where is the matchmaker from?"

As soon as the main task was mentioned, the others didn't say anything. Although they didn't like Zhao Ce because of his previous reckless behavior, they definitely wouldn't sit idly by if someone in their village was being bullied. After all, a village must stick together in order to survive in this ancient society.

However, in the eyes of everyone, Zhao Ce shook his head directly. "Uncle, don't bother. I brought the person back, if we take her back, won't we be harming her?"

"We won't take her back."

Upon hearing Zhao Ce's words, Zhao Wenhao couldn't help raising his voice. "We need an explanation if we don't take her back, five taels of silver!"

"This silver is enough for me to marry Ahua!"

Ahua is the village belle of Shuiqiao Village and also the object of Zhao Wenhao's secret crush. The two families were preparing for marriage negotiations. Zhao Wenhao thought that he could marry with just a betrothal gift of two hundred wen, but because his cousin was a scholar, his father gave him five taels of silver to marry. As a result, he brought back a skinny little girl. Compared to his nephew, his own son was inferior.

Zhao Youcai also said, "Yes, I was confused at the time. Such an expensive betrothal gift should have been checked by me as well. It's really difficult for a scholar like you to handle these matters. If you like this girl, you can keep her. But we must definitely return the excess betrothal gifts. This is not a small amount of money."

Zhao Ce's parents had passed away, and he was the only child left in the family. Zhao Youcai felt guilty at this moment. As the eldest uncle, if he had not been too happy at the time, he would not have let Zhao Ce go to the matchmaker's house alone to pick up his bride.

It was impossible to return the girl, but returning the excess betrothal gifts was definitely possible. As for reputation and the like, they were not the ones who made the mistake first, so they couldn't care too much about it.