Aries thought for a moment and realized that what she said made sense. So she put the stool down, collected the silver, and got ready to leave.
All the thugs were already on the ground, so no one stopped her. As for Liu Zhao, who was still standing, she was too afraid of getting beaten, so she could only watch helplessly as Aries walked away with their gambling den's silver.
Just as she reached the door, Aries remembered she had forgotten something.
She stopped and turned to look at Liu Zhao.
Seeing her stop, Liu Zhao suddenly had a bad feeling—was she coming back to beat her up again?
When Aries turned her head to look at her, Liu Zhao's heart tightened, and her eyes involuntarily moved to the bench lying on the ground.
It was long, wide, and solid!
Just thinking about how loud it sounded when it hit people made her feel sore all over again.
Aries noticed her reaction and glanced at the bench too, but this time, she had no intention of picking it up.
"Give me back the IOU."
She had just remembered that she hadn't taken back the IOU for the 20 taels of silver that her original self had signed.
As soon as Liu Zhao heard that, her legs didn't even go weak. She quickly ran to the back to get the IOU while calling out, "Aries, please wait a moment. I'll get it right away!"
Seeing how eager she was, Aries didn't say anything more and just waited at the door.
The people who had been watching finally snapped back to their senses. They didn't expect to witness something so satisfying today.
They had wanted to teach those scumbags a lesson for a long time but were too scared and didn't have the strength. They also feared revenge from the gambling den. Aries had finally helped them vent that anger.
Still, since they were inside the gambling den, they didn't dare to cheer or clap, afraid of being targeted later. So they just stared at Aries with admiration.
Aries didn't pay any attention to them. When Liu Zhao finally came running back with the IOU, Aries asked, "I don't need to give you my copy, right?"
Liu Zhao quickly shook her head. "No, no, you can keep it!"
Aries glanced at the IOU she got back. Seeing that it looked fine, she turned and left.
After watching Aries leave and making sure she wasn't coming back, Liu Zhao finally let out a long sigh of relief.
When Aries walked out of the gambling den, carrying more than 300 taels of silver, she strolled around thinking about what she needed to buy.
The house was too run-down. There was nothing at all, not even proper bowls for eating—just chipped ones. So she needed to buy a lot of daily necessities.
And that broken straw hut needed to be torn down and rebuilt. Winter was coming, and that leaky, drafty hut couldn't keep anyone warm.
Thinking about that, Aries felt the silver she had wasn't nearly enough—definitely not enough to build a house.
So, she had to find a way to get more silver.
Aries had thought about taking something from her space to exchange for silver. But in such a small place, there probably wasn't anyone rich enough to afford it.
So she decided she had to go to the county town or somewhere even more prosperous. That would also give her a chance to get familiar with this women-dominated world.
Although she still planned to live long-term in Aries Village, she couldn't stay ignorant about everything.
The capital was only a day's ride by fast horse. Aries wondered if she should go check it out.
After all, the capital must be the most developed place. It made sense to go there to learn more about this world.
Once she made up her mind, Aries stopped worrying and started thinking about what to buy.
Because there were too many things to buy, she had to get a carriage.
Even though she had space to store things, she couldn't keep riding on Sixth Aunt's ox cart. Now that she had some money, she could afford her own carriage.
Besides, she had been given a second chance at life—she should enjoy it, not suffer.
So in the end, Aries drove a carriage full of goods back to Aries Village in a high-profile way.
As soon as she entered the village, people noticed right away.
Most of them were staring at the carriage, then at the things inside it, and finally at Aries who was driving it.
In the village, only the village chief and Sixth Aunt's family had an ox. That alone made people jealous. And now, Aries came back with a horse-drawn carriage—it instantly caused a buzz.
"Aries, where did you strike it rich?"
"Where did this carriage come from?"
"Wow! That horse looks strong. Must have cost a lot!"
"Aries, did you get rich?"
"Heh! I wonder if she stole or tricked someone?"
"Could be. She's done sneaky things before."
"Aries, where did you get all this stuff? Did you break the law?"
"Maybe she even killed and robbed someone!"
"There's nothing Aries wouldn't dare to do!"
After lunch and a nap, Mawen woke up and saw Ning was obediently washing clothes and hanging them to dry in the yard. Feeling like he had to act like the master, he went over to nag Ning a bit before heading out for a chat.
Mawen was the gossipy type. If he didn't go out and chat every day, he felt uncomfortable.
So today, like usual, he joined some other gossiping husbands in the village square and quickly got into the mood.
One of them asked, "So Aries really recovered? I saw her go out this morning—did she go to town again?"
"That son-in-law of yours is pretty useful. He came in and fixed Aries up right away!"
Mawen rolled his eyes and said proudly, "Of course, my Aries is blessed and lucky. She was up and about early this morning!"
Then he changed his tone and curled his lips, "But Ning isn't her real husband—just a companion servant. Don't get confused. My Aries will marry a proper husband one day!"
The others secretly laughed. "With a daughter like that, she still dreams of marrying a decent man?"
They didn't say it out loud though. Instead, they played along and praised Aries.
Mawen was too sharp-tongued. He wouldn't let anyone say a bad word about Aries without fighting back for a whole day.
Because of that, no one in the village, except for the older generation, dared to criticize Aries in front of him.
While they were chatting, they heard the commotion at the village entrance. And of course, where there's noise, there's gossip—so they all went to see what was going on.
In the crowd, Aries heard a loud, excited "Aries!" from Mawen, and she immediately felt relieved.
She wasn't good at dealing with crowds. Now that Mawen was here, she didn't have to say anything.
As soon as Mawen saw his daughter and the carriage, his eyes lit up. He rushed through the crowd trying to climb into the carriage.
But the carriage was a bit high, and Mawen was too excited. He nearly slipped and fell. Thankfully, Aries caught him in time so he didn't hit his head on the frame.