But the family's son had always been in poor health. Otherwise, no matter how beautiful Mrs. Li was, given how poor the family was, they would never have agreed to this marriage.
Mrs. Li's father was into drinking, carousing, and gambling, spending every bit of silver he got his hands on, leaving the family in dire poverty.
The other family paid a lot of silver, basically buying Mrs. Li, hoping to turn things around for the son, but who could have known that on the eve of the wedding, the son would die of illness.
Even though the other family's son died, they insisted on marrying the girl to give the son a ghost marriage.
Old Li disagreed, he still had a younger son who wasn't married! If he lost the silver, wouldn't he have to sell his daughter again?
Since the other family's son died naturally, it couldn't be considered breaching the engagement.
