Chapter 147: The Qin Family Refuses to Return the Engagement Documents

Xiao Yi said, "That Xue Yang is utterly unreasonable, and he never treated the Eighth Young Lady well to begin with. I'm afraid this marriage won't be easily annulled!"

"That was entirely to be expected!" Xiao Yi said dismissively. "There's no need to fear. Even if I didn't intervene, Old Madam Xue would never have relented. Xue Yang is easy to deal with. As for the Qin family, we can finally close the net now. I just wonder if this net will catch enough to vent Ah Zhi's anger!"

"How much anger does Your Highness wish to vent?"

"A great deal!" Xiao Yi said.

Enough to make Qin Jianyu regret having been born human in his past life!

In their past life, how he and Kong Linglong had bullied Xue Fanzhi—in this life, she would make them regret it to their very bones.

***

Qin Dalang returned home listlessly, where Qin Jianyu and his wife were waiting for him.

"How did it go? Did it not work out?" Madam Liu, surnamed Qin, asked on tiptoe.

Qin Dalang lowered his head and said, "Let's go inside before we talk!"

Liu Shi and Qin Jianyu followed him into the room.

Qin Dalang sat down, took a sip of water, and said, "It didn't work. Not only does Old Madam Xue disagree, but even Xue Yang is against it this time!"

Liu Shi and Qin Jianyu waited for a moment, seeing that Qin Dalang had stopped drinking water.

Liu Shi asked, "Is that it?"

Qin Dalang paused and said, "Yes, they don't agree. What else could there be?"

Qin Jianyu: "..."

Liu Shi was so angry she almost struck her husband. She and her son had long known that the Xue family wanted to break off the engagement; did that even need to be told by someone else?

"What about you? What did you say?" Liu Shi asked, suppressing her anger.

Qin Dalang replied, "Naturally, I pleaded bitterly and expressed my deepest apologies!"

"You actually pleaded bitterly?" Liu Shi's eyes widened in sheer fury. Were they supposed to hand their dignity over to the Xue family on a platter?

At this point, Qin Jianyu only cared about saving the engagement; as for his father's pride, well, a man who cowered before his wife had none to speak of anyway.

He asked, "Father, why does the head of the Xue family also object to the marriage? That is most unusual!"

"Exactly, it's bizarre. How could Xue Yang object as well?" Liu Shi chimed in.

Qin Jianyu thought to himself that this mother of his always failed to grasp the situation.

"Ah, Xue Yang?" Qin Dalang shook his head. "Xue Yang said that originally, out of consideration for our families' long-standing friendship, he might have been willing to forgive Jianlang. But not anymore. The imperial court is about to assign him an official post, and he's afraid that this scandal will ruin his reputation."

"Assign him an official post?" Liu Shi raised her voice.

"His reputation?" Qin Jianyu echoed at the same time, though compared to Liu Shi's excitement, he was merely astonished. Xue Yang actually had a reputation to speak of?

Qin Dalang nodded. "That's what he said. So this time, Old Madam Xue didn't even have to speak; Xue Yang himself refused."

Qin Jianyu slumped back into his seat in discouragement.

The moment Liu Shi thought of the glory of the Prime Minister's lineage and Xue Qiu—all of which were about to slip through her fingers—her heart ached so fiercely she clutched her chest. "Good heavens! A man like Xue Yang can be appointed to an official post. It must have been arranged by Old General Xue. It's easy to enjoy the cool shade beneath a big tree; why couldn't you have had an uncle like that?"

"This time, it actually wasn't arranged by Old General Xue. You know how Old General Xue views Xue Yang, don't you?" Qin Dalang shook his head. "You won't believe it when I tell you this, but it was actually the Ninth Imperial Highness who arranged it for Xue Yang!"

Why did he use the word "again"?

As it turned out, Qin Dalang's own official post had also been arranged by the Ninth Highness.

"Why is it the Ninth Highness again?" Liu Shi asked with a sour tone in her voice. "Why does this Ninth Highness love finding positions for people so much?"

Couldn't he have found one for their family instead? Why go around handing them out to everyone? When everyone gets one, the honor loses all its value.

Qin Jianyu said, "He must be trying to win over the hearts of the people on a massive scale!"

Liu Shi said bitterly, "Well, the timing couldn't be worse! He gets to buy people's loyalty, but what happens to our engagement with the Xue family?"

Indeed!

Previously, Qin Jianyu had held a shred of awe for the Ninth Imperial Highness; now, he was filled with endless resentment.

The honest Qin Dalang remarked, "You reap what you sow. Why act before thinking? I told you two ages ago not to bully others, not to bully people. Others aren't fools either—who is going to sit quietly and let you push them around? Xue the Eighth isn't an old maid who can't find a husband, forced to marry Jianlang. Just look at what you've both done!"

He turned to Qin Jianyu and said, "Especially you. A man can only have one wife, yet you cast your eyes about, wanting to reap all the blessings of a household with two women. How could that ever work? Have you finally reaped your retribution?"

"What use is it to bring this up now?" Liu Shi glared at Qin Dalang. "Aside from aggravating me and our son, you're utterly useless!"

Qin Jianyu also felt a measure of resentment toward his father. How dare he consider himself the head of the Qin family when he couldn't even manage a simple marriage negotiation? It was thoroughly humiliating.

Faced with the dissatisfied gazes of his wife and son, Qin Dalang flushed red with anger, yet he could never muster up a proper temper. He frowned and snapped, "Fine, I won't say another word to you! I have no ability to persuade the Xue family anyway. Any of you who thinks you have the skill can go talk to them yourselves!"

If the man of the house wouldn't step forward, what good would anyone else's words do?

Frustrated and frantic, Liu Shi cursed, "You're nothing but good-for-nothing trash!"

Qin Dalang stammered, but ultimately swallowed his retort. Flinging his sleeves, he muttered, "I won't lower myself to argue with a woman. In any case, the Xue family is coming to retrieve their engagement tokens; you can just hand them back when the time comes. If we part on good terms, we remain old acquaintances; if we make a messy fuss out of it, we won't even be able to remain relatives!"

With that, Qin Dalang stood up and walked away, utterly unwilling to endure any more abuse from his unreasonable wife.

After he left, Liu Shi spat onto the floor and hissed, "They want to take the engagement tokens back from my hands? Not a chance! If my son can't marry a good wife, that Xue family girl won't dream of marrying into a good household either!"

***

"They really won't return the engagement tokens?" Xue Fanzhi asked, then nodded. "Well, I suppose that was to be expected."

A full day had already passed. True to their word regarding the annulment, Old Madam Xue had sent people to the Qin family to retrieve Xue Fanzhi's engagement tokens and simultaneously return Qin Jianyu's. However, Liu Shi had made an unreasonable scene and outright refused to hand them over.

The envoys sent by the Xue family were so enraged they had nearly threatened to take the matter to court.

Yet such disputes could hardly be brought before officials; or rather, even if reported, the magistracy would be of little use.

Without the engagement tokens, however, Xue Fanzhi could neither enter into new marriage talks nor wed anyone else.

Anxious, Hongxiao asked, "What should we do then? If she keeps withholding them, won't my lady be ruined by that family?!"

Surprisingly, Hongxiao adopted a more open-minded view this time. "In the past, I certainly would have panicked. But now that Old Madam likes my lady so much, and since the First Young Master will sooner or later be the head of this household anyway, it makes no difference whether my lady marries or not. Perhaps not marrying is even better—she can live a life of absolute ease and freedom."

Her words sounded somewhat inspired by personal reflection, yet Hongxiao heartily agreed with them.

In this lifetime, she would never have anything further to do with Xiao Yi. Since she currently harbored affections for no one, if the Qin family truly refused to return the tokens, she simply wouldn't marry at all.

By the same token, Qin Jianyu shouldn't dream of taking another wife either. Though he could still father children without marrying, they would all be illegitimate offspring—and bastards, no matter how they inherited the family incense, would forever be looked down upon by society. Let's see if the Qin family dared to persist, and let's see whose endurance would outlast the other's.