Chapter 208: Not Returning the Betrothal Card

Chapter 208: Chapter 208: Not Returning the Betrothal Card

"What in the world is going on?! Someone tell me!"

Old Man Cao slammed his pipe down on the kang table, his old face dark as thunder.

Granny Cao’s sharp eyes shifted from Cao Yunyun, who was covering her face and doing nothing but cry, to Cao Fugui and Mrs. Wang standing beside her.

She pointed a finger at Mrs. Wang and demanded, "Were you the one behind this?!"

"Mother, it’s true I talked to Yunyun about splitting the family, but how was I supposed to know she’d be so dense? To think she’d dare mention it to Hu Liang before she’s even married..."

Mrs. Wang knew she couldn’t deny her involvement and was fuming with frustration.

She had hinted, and then outright suggested, that Cao Yunyun should either wait until she was married into the Hu Family or get physical with Hu Liang first. Once they had a "real" relationship and she had him wrapped around her finger, what wouldn’t he do for her?

’The girl is a simpleton!’

"Besides, you can’t pin all the blame on me. Mother, you’ve taught Yunyun plenty of this kind of talk yourself..."

"Bullshit!"

Granny Cao rushed forward to hit Mrs. Wang.

Mrs. Wang was quick, dodging behind Cao Fugui in a flash.

Cao Fugui shielded her, refusing to let his mother pass no matter how much she cursed and yelled. Granny Cao almost fainted from rage.

In the end, she couldn’t bring herself to blame her own son, so she just pointed past him, jabbing her finger at Mrs. Wang.

"Don’t you try to fool me! You think the Hu Family came to call off the engagement just because Yunyun mentioned splitting the family? What about the matchmaking? You went behind my back and your father’s, goading Yunyun into arranging a match for that girl from the Hu Family. If it had been a good match, that would be one thing, but what did you two do? You’ve ruined a perfectly good marriage for Yunyun!"

Cao Yunyun’s crying paused for a moment, then grew even louder.

Granny Cao turned her head, exasperated with her daughter.

"Cry, cry, cry! You still have the nerve to cry? Don’t you have a brain of your own? You believe whatever anyone tells you. You’d be sold off and wouldn’t even know it!"

"Mother, I know I was wrong. I didn’t want to do it either..."

At first, she really hadn’t wanted to.

It was true the village chief’s family was well-off, and it was also true that his youngest son was the same age as Hu Ximei. The problem was, the proposed match wasn’t for the youngest son, but for their eldest.

The eldest son was indeed handsome; on that point, she hadn’t lied to the Hu Family.

Unfortunately, he was born a violent imbecile who often flew into rages, even beating his own parents when provoked.

He had taken a wife before, who he had beaten to death.

Less than a year later, the village chief’s family was already trying to arrange another marriage. After all, no matter how foolish he was, he was still the eldest son, responsible for carrying on the family line.

Everyone in the village knew about the village chief’s son, so no matter how high the betrothal gift was, no one was interested.

It was then that Mrs. Wang suddenly came up with an idea. She persuaded Cao Yunyun to marry Hu Ximei off to him.

"Think about it. Who knows how long it’ll take them to save up enough money for a new house just by relying on that hot and spicy soup stall. Why not marry that little brat into the village chief’s family? Once Hu Liang gets his hands on that sum of Silver Coin, won’t he be able to marry you sooner?"

"Don’t you always say that little girl is biased, always siding with Ji Huan and treating her better than you? Get rid of her early, and Ji Huan loses an ally. Plus, you won’t have a sister-in-law competing for favor in your new family. It’s the best of both worlds!"

One moment, Cao Yunyun felt it was a terrible thing to do. The next, she felt her sister-in-law had a point.

While she was wavering back and forth, Mrs. Wang brought up Ji Huan again, telling her not to be so stubborn.

How could Cao Yunyun withstand such brainwashing? Her mind slowly began to change.

Mrs. Wang had guaranteed it was a foolproof plan, and she herself had been extra careful. She never expected Hu Liang to find out so early, nor that his reaction would be so extreme.

On the hillside that day, Cao Yunyun had, for a moment, thought Hu Liang was going to kill her.

But he didn’t. Hu Liang slapped himself hard across the face, turned, and walked away with grim finality.

A mix of terror and fear kept Cao Yunyun awake all night.

She hid in her room, not daring to tell her family or go into town.

But she couldn’t hide from it forever.

Widow Xie had come storming to their door, thrown their betrothal card back in Granny Cao’s face, and without a single wasted word, demanded to call off the engagement.

"Mother, help me! Make Brother Liangzi forgive me... I’ll never do it again... *sob sob sob*... I don’t want to break the engagement... I’d rather die than break the engagement..."

Cao Yunyun threw herself to her knees, hugging Granny Cao’s waist and sobbing until she could barely breathe.

Granny Cao was both angry and heartbroken, pounding on her daughter’s back. "You foolish girl! You foolish girl!"

「At nightfall.」

The rest of the Cao Family had gone to bed.

Granny Cao carried an oil lamp into Cao Yunyun’s room and, just as she expected, found her curled up in a corner of the kang, her face damp, her tears never having dried.

When Cao Yunyun saw who had entered, she whimpered, "Mother."

Granny Cao pulled Cao Yunyun into her arms and sighed repeatedly.

"How can you be so clueless? No matter how wonderful your sister-in-law made it sound, do you really think she has your best interests at heart? She’s busy scheming for your brother and your nephew; she doesn’t have time to care whether you live or die. The only one who truly cares about you and thinks about you is me, your mother!"

She had done all the scolding she needed to during the day. She came now because she was afraid Cao Yunyun might do something drastic.

"If the Hu Family hadn’t started doing so well, I would have wanted you to ruin this engagement myself. But you were so fixated... I know you’re angry with me. Angry that I asked the Hu Family for such an expensive betrothal gift, angry that my demands were so high... But Yunyun, I did it for your own good. You’re a young woman; you don’t understand the way these things work. If I demand a high betrothal gift, your in-laws will value you more. They’ll treat you like a real person! As for the new house, if I don’t demand it for you now, you’ll just be squeezed in with that whole big family after you marry. It’ll be much harder to split off and live on your own later..."

"Mother..." Cao Yunyun was speechless. Only now did she understand Granny Cao’s painstaking efforts.

"What good does calling for me do now? You refuse to tell me anything, but you’ll tell that Mrs. Wang everything. And look where that’s gotten you! Why do you think she was so eager to arrange that match with the village chief’s family? It’s because the village chief’s wife gave her seven taels as a matchmaker’s fee!"

Granny Cao seethed with hatred whenever she thought about it.

"That thieving woman is completely selfish! She got her reward, but she’s dragged you through the mud! Just think, if Hu Ximei really had married into the village chief’s family and something terrible happened, couldn’t Mrs. Wang just wash her hands of it? But could you? Even if you did marry into the Hu Family, that Widow Xie would tear you limb from limb! As it is, I’m sure she already hates you!"

Cao Yunyun shivered violently.

"Th-then what should I do? If she hates me, will she still let Brother Liangzi marry me?"

Granny Cao’s old eyes stared at the flickering flame of the lamp, a cunning glint in them.

"What she thinks doesn’t matter. The real pillar of the Hu Family is Hu Liang. That hot and spicy soup stall is his, too. As long as Hu Liang is willing to take you back... Today, I threw a fit and refused to hand over Hu Liang’s betrothal card. Why else do you think I did it?"

An engagement was only considered official after both families had exchanged their betrothal cards.

By the same token, to call off an engagement, each family had to get their own card back.

Granny Cao had adamantly claimed that Hu Liang’s betrothal card had gone missing.