Upon hearing Yang Chuxia’s words, the Qian Family sister-in-law’s face turned black. She glared fiercelty at her own younger sister-in-law.
When Ms.Liu heard Yang Chuxia call her, she put her shoes back on, faced the Qian boy, and bellowed, "You said that Qian Yuhua’s child is yours just now, didn’t you?"
The Qian boy was about to say yes, when his elder brother threatened him. "Mind your words, boy. Don’t you dare disrespect our sister. With your immature and babyish demeanor, how could you ever be a match for our sister?"
The Qian boy was taken aback by this, especially when he was met with Qian Yuhua’s brother’s fierce gaze. He was scared into silence.
Yang Chuxia snorted coldly, "Are you even a man? You want to abandon your own child?" Pointing at Qian Yuhua, she said, "Look closely, that is your son, and that is your wife."
The Qian boy suddenly gathered up his courage and said, "Big brother-in-law, stop scaring me. Yuhua’s child is mine, not the Yang family’s. You can’t let Yuhua abort the baby. I’ll go home and ask my mother to come to your house and propose marriage. I’ll marry Yuhua."
"I disagree!" Old Madam Qian, who heard the conversation, yelled out. "We don’t marry within the same village and surname. This is the rule. I disagree!"
Hearing this, Yang Chuxia thought Old Madam Qian was old-fashioned. If her daughter wasn’t pregnant, it would make sense for her to disagree. But now there’s already a child, what’s the point in saying no?
However, this was none of her concern. The Yang family was now ready to back out.
She turned to Old Madam Qian and said, "Madam Qian, now that everything is clear, the child of Qian Yuhua is not from our Yang family, and we won’t be the scapegoat. Your attempt at marrying your daughter into our family is no longer viable. You knew that your daughter was pregnant and yet purposely concealed it. This raises questions about your family’s moral integrity. Even if we, the Yang family, decide to terminate this marriage agreement, it would be completely justified. Therefore, would Madam Qian please return our betrothal gifts as listed in the document?"
"No way!" The Qian family sister-in-law, unwilling to comply, interjected. There were so many things, especially the betrothal gifts from before, which included a pair of silver bracelets she had taken.
Moreover, they had already consumed all the alcohol and meat. Where would she find replacements?
Therefore, she stubbornly retorted, "If the groom’s family is the one terminating the marriage, they should not ask for the betrothal gifts back."
Ms.Luo, who was standing aside, couldn’t hold back anymore, "My, you really have no shame; the party initiating the break-off of the engagement does matter. If it’s the bride’s fault which led to cancellation, you must return the money. Or do you think we can be easily bullied?"
After saying all that, she turned to Yang Chuxia and said, "Xiaxia, this shameless woman is being unreasonable. Judging by her dissolute behavior, she’s probably grabbed all the good stuff. Even if we ask her to return them, she probably can’t. Why not have your househelp go directly into the house and move the stuff? Whatever is on the list, take it, whatever is not, just substitute it with something else, until you’ve made up the amount."
Yang Chuxia looked at Ms.Luo. Hearing her words, she thought Ms.Luo was quite resourceful in dealing with situations .
The Land Officer’s wife was also on the edge now, truly appreciative of Ms.Luo’s help, and she turned to Old Madam Qian, "So, is it a final refusal from you? If you refuse, we may just have to resort to other means."
She was still considering the somewhat friendly relationship between Land Officer Yang and Qian Yuhua’s father, so she found it necessary to reiterate her demand.
Naturally, the Qian family sister-in-law and the Qian family elder brother were unwilling to comply.
However, Old Madam Qian knew they were in the wrong on this issue and it couldn’t be avoided; hence she agreed.