Reborn to Ruin the Scumbag Who Made Me His Second Wife

Four:

Not one of them agreed, of course.

Every last one of them jabbed a finger at me and called me crazy, and their daughters flushed red with anger right along with them.

I laughed to myself.

In my last life they'd worked so hard to talk me into it, acting like the dual-household arrangement was some great blessing. And now that it was their own turn, suddenly they didn't want it?

"Don't do to others what you wouldn't want done to you. You can't bear to make your own daughters concubines, so what gives you the right to force me into it?"

"Henry and I did go through the wedding rites, yes, but only because he tricked me, and we never registered the marriage, so it doesn't count. He and Mavis are the real married couple. It has nothing to do with me!"

I turned to leave.

Henry grabbed me at once.

He didn't dare lose his temper.

His voice came out pleading.

"Beth, I'm begging you here."

"After all these years together, are we really going to split up over something this small?"

"I don't want the dual-household arrangement either, but you've seen the state Mavis and my mother are in. I can't be loyal and be a good son at the same time. Just help me out, all right?"

I rolled my eyes and shook his hand off.

"You don't want it?"

"One man taking two wives, and you're the one who's torn? Who tied you up and dragged you off to register the marriage, hm?"

"You keep going on about the dual-household thing, about helping your older brother take care of Mavis. Funny, I never heard of anyone taking care of a woman all the way into her bed."

The crowd doubled over laughing, and Henry's face got uglier by the second.

But then I switched course.

"Still, I could agree to it. It's not impossible!"

Henry's eyes lit up.

"Good. Whatever you say, I'll agree to it."

I nodded.

"You know, of course, that my parents had a pair of twin sons before they had me."

"So if you agree to let me take two more husbands, a triple-household arrangement, then I'll agree to you and Mavis. How's that?"

Five:

There was no way Henry would agree to that.

His face went black and he cursed me for having no shame, said I was picking a fight on purpose, but the more he said, the more he choked on his own words, because everything coming out of his mouth was contradicting what he'd just said.

Mavis started wailing that she wanted to die, saying over and over that she was the one in the way, that she never should have gone on living, that she should just go join the Cox family's older brother.

Stella dropped down onto the ground too and started keening, sobbing to the ancestors that this unfilial daughter-in-law of hers was going to hound her to death.

Henry didn't know which way to turn. He had no idea what to do.

I didn't argue.

I turned, went back into the house, picked up my dowry box, and started to leave.

But the moment I reached the doorway with the box in my arms.

Stella, who'd been wailing a second ago, came rushing over.

"You're not leaving. The dual-household matter is already settled. Henry and Mavis have registered, you and Henry have already done the rites, and there's no changing it now."

"So this tea, you'll serve it today whether you want to or not."

"And another thing, you and this dowry walked through the Cox family's door, which makes it Cox family property!"

I nodded slowly as it all came clear.

No wonder a man who'd never much liked me had suddenly shown up to ask for my hand. In the end it was all about the money. They wanted me to pay out and work myself to the bone as their stepping stone.

I laughed.

"So I'm not just here to be a concubine, I'm here to be your piggy bank too?"

"What, did I owe you people in a past life? I hand over my money and myself along with it?"

"How can you be this shameless?"

"And you still have the nerve to talk about ancestors. You've dragged your ancestors' names through the mud."

Stella's face went black with rage.

I gave her a hard shove that sent her sprawling face-first, pushed the door open, and made to walk out.

Henry let out a shout.

"Enough."

He stepped in front of me, slammed the door shut, and looked at me with a dark, sunken stare.

"They're right. A wife's like dough. You knead her into shape by hitting her!"

"I've been too good to you. That's why you've turned this disobedient."

"A few of you, come help me tie her up."