EHCR 18

 Chapter 18: Take Your Money and Get Lost

As soon as those words dropped, even Lin Yong—who had been aggressively shouting with a fierce expression—abruptly choked on his words.

Meanwhile, Jiang Meifeng kept right on arguing, "Who are you? This has nothing to do with you, stop sticking your nose into other people's business."

Shen Che merely raised an eyebrow slightly and cast a light, fleeting glance toward Jiang Meifeng. Even though he said absolutely nothing, the scar at the outer corner of his eye suddenly seemed to carry a fierce, intimidating edge.

"Didn't you want a witness? I am one," Shen Che stated. "I saw you and Lin Yong rolling around in the grass that day."

Having such disgraceful behavior exposed right in front of a crowd left Jiang Meifeng's face burning bright red with shame. She pointed a trembling finger at Shen Che, sputtering "You, you..." for a long while without managing to spit out another complete word.

Instead, she resentfully grabbed onto Lin Yong's arm, her eyes reddening with wronged grievance. "Big Brother Lin, they're bullying me, you have to stick up for me! I already gave you my body, you..."

"Enough," Lin Yong barked out in a sudden surge of fury, fixing a fixed glare straight onto Song Zhaodi. "After today, our engagement is completely broken off. From now on we have nothing to do with each other, you can make it clear to your parents."

With that, he turned to leave, only to be yanked back by Jiang Meifeng.

"Big Brother Lin, since you two have broken off the engagement, you have to get back the bride-price silver you gave the Song family!"

Lin Yong paused to think it over, deciding she made sense, and turned his gaze back to Song Zhaodi.

"Since the engagement is off, we'll let bygones be bygones. Just return the ten taels of bride-price silver, and you and I will make a clean break."

"Let's settle this amicably so nobody else ends up making a joke out of us—it won't do your reputation any good either."

That final sentence was a thinly veiled threat.

Country folk were fiercely obsessed with saving face, and women feared nothing more than having their reputation ruined by gossip.

Yet Song Zhaodi was the absolute last person to care about being laughed at. Besides, it was still up in the air whose expense everyone would really be laughing at.

With a cold snort, she rolled her eyes. "If anyone wants to come watch a joke, let them come ahead. My stance is upright and my conscience is clear, I'm not afraid of anything."

As soon as she finished speaking, she violently kicked over a broken earthen basin sitting by the corner of the wall. The basin tumbled forward from the impact and smashed into pieces with a loud crash right along the path.

A shard landed right in front of Jiang Meifeng's feet. Startled out of her wits, Jiang Meifeng glared with wide, furious eyes and pointed a finger at Song Zhaodi to rain curses down on her.

"Song Zhaodi, you shrew! What, are you trying to hit people now? See if I don't teach you a lesson!"

Taking advantage of Lin Yong's presence to embolden her, she actually raised her hand with the clear intent of delivering a harsh slap.

Seeing this, the two men standing directly behind Song Zhaodi sprang into action.

Xie Sui anxiously lunged forward to pull Song Zhaodi out of the way of the incoming blow, while Shen Che took a broad stride forward, lifting his thick, muscular forearm in an attempt to clamp down on Jiang Meifeng's wrist.

Right at that chaotic moment, Song Yaodong and his wife rushed out upon hearing the commotion, arriving just in time to witness the entire scene.

Amidst the tangled mess, Song Zhaodi nimbly sidestepped Xie Sui's hand, ducked past Shen Che's reach, and collapsed straight onto the ground with a dramatic thud.

"Aiya, people are beating me up! Help! Is there any justice left in this world?!"

With that, she grabbed a broken teapot without a spout from the corner of the wall, hurled it across the courtyard, and took advantage of the moment to mess up her own hair.

"Is nobody going to step in and manage this? You pair of adulterous scum—filthy, shameless dogs—doing vile things and now trying to beat people up on top of it! Do you really think our Song family is easy to push around?!"

At that exact second, the surrounding crowd froze like they had been hit with a pause button, left entirely in shock and bewilderment.

More and more neighbors and curious onlookers rushed over to the sound. Those who had no idea what was going on began whispering amongst themselves, slowly forming a tight perimeter around the yard.

The first to snap back to reality was Shen Che, who glared angrily at Jiang Meifeng and Lin Yong like a righteous knight-errant standing up against injustice.

"You people are going way too far with the bullying! Committing such filthy acts—even as a passerby, I can't just stand here and watch!"

Hearing that, Lin Yong immediately jumped to defend himself. "How am I bullying anyone? I'm refusing to marry her, so she should naturally return my bride-price silver."

Breaking free from Shen Che's grip, Jiang Meifeng chimed in to back him up. "Exactly! Big Brother Lin doesn't even like you. The only reason you're clinging onto him is because you can't bear to part with that ten taels of bride-price silver."

Those words were a blatant insinuation that Song Zhaodi was a greedy woman obsessed with money.

The villagers watching from the sidelines began whispering in hushed tones:

"Didn't they say the marriage between the Lin and Song families was supposed to be finalized by the end of the year? Why is he suddenly calling it off?"

"Aiya, everyone knows Lin Yong is a frivolous playboy. If it weren't for his parents, why would he ever look twice at a girl like Song Zhaodi?"

"True, though Song Zhaodi looks decent enough, she's an honest, plain girl who doesn't know any of those vixen tricks. Look at that Jiang Meifeng—she's practically glued to Lin Yong's body... 啧啧 (tsk tsk)."

"Still, the Lin family is genuinely well-off. Ten taels of silver is enough to keep the old Song family going for several years."

"The Song family has a boy studying for exams, that money was probably spent ages ago. Good luck trying to pull it out to return now."

Sobbing dramatically and wiping away her tears, Song Zhaodi listened while Song Yaodong and his wife grew so furious they tried to step forward to argue, only for Zhaodi to pull them back firmly.

She faked a crying lament, shouting, "Dad, Mom, Lin Yong wants to break off the engagement, what am I going to do now?!" while whispering under her breath, "Don't move, play up the tragedy."

Since she had nothing to lose, she figured she'd let them try to hide it—the harder they tried to sweep it under the rug, the louder she would make sure the whole village shouted about it.

Meanwhile, Xie Sui had finally sobered up. Seeing the three members of the Song family sitting on the ground weeping, a rush of heat went to his head, and he bolted right into the courtyard.

"Yaozu, hurry up and come out, something major has happened at your house!"

Realizing Xie Sui had run inside to call for help, a nervous Lin Yong thought about tossing out a couple of harsh threats and fleeing, but Shen Che completely blocked his escape route.

At some point without anyone noticing, Shen Che had moved right behind Lin Yong, blending into the ring of onlookers and effectively sealing off the pathway with his broad, towering chest.

A wave of regret suddenly washed over Lin Yong. He realized he had let his baseness get the better of him and allowed Jiang Meifeng to talk him into coming here.

At the same time, he genuinely wanted nothing to do with marrying Song Zhaodi or getting entangled with the bottomless pit of poverty that was the Song household.

Relying on the fact that they were under the scrutiny of the crowd and assuming the Song family wouldn't dare pull anything drastic, he decided to just push through, lay his cards on the table, and take back the money that belonged to him.

"Song Zhaodi, crying and playing the victim all you want is useless! I came here today specifically to call off the engagement, and you have a duty to return that bride-price silver."

"Causing a scene like this—what good does it possibly do for you?"

Wiping the remaining tears from her face, Song Zhaodi straightened up and stood on her feet. "If you wanted to call off the engagement, you should have come forward like an honorable man, and I would have returned every single coin of the bride-price without missing a single cash. But instead, you went and entangled yourself with Jiang Meifeng—are you even human?"

"What?!" Song Yaozu—who had just hurried over—looked as though he had just been slapped across the face, his cheeks burning with humiliation. "Lin Yong, you better spell this out clearly for me, what kind of game are you playing?!"

Song Zhaodi glanced past Song Yaozu and noticed that apart from two or three curious student peers trailing behind him, neither Song Dachuan nor Sun Xiuhe was anywhere in sight.

They had presumably been knocked out cold by that potent liquor.

Well, her money hadn't gone to waste after all.

Thank goodness there were no annoying troublemakers around to muddy the waters, making breaking off this engagement a breeze.

Relying on his seniority as an uncle and fueled by the alcohol he had consumed earlier, Song Yaozu didn't hold back, completely forgetting that this wasn't quite the right moment for him to step up.

The moment Song Yaozu spoke up, Song Zhaodi dashed right to his side to file her complaint. "Little Uncle, Lin Yong and Jiang Meifeng are having an illicit affair, and now he's trying to break off the engagement while demanding we return his bride-price silver!"

Having always looked down on Lin Yong anyway, Song Yaozu felt his rage boil over instantly with his classmates watching right beside him.

Pointing a finger straight into Lin Yong's face, he cursed him out furiously. "You bastard, Lin Yong! If your parents hadn't begged and pleaded at our doorstep, why would our Song family ever lower themselves to look at a good-for-nothing playboy like you?!"

As the words left his mouth, a handful of scattered silver pieces was suddenly shoved directly into his hands, the exact amount totaling ten taels.

With a forceful heave, he hurled the silver away as if venting a massive pent-up grievance, roaring, "Take your stinking money and get the hell out of my sight! Shameless piece of trash!"

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