Chapter 442: No Breaking Off the Engagement

"I betrothed my fine daughter to you, yet you dared to betray us. If you don’t kowtow and admit your mistake today, I’ll smash your family’s pots!"

In ancient times, pots were highly valued; smashing someone’s pot was comparable to desecrating their ancestors’ grave.

Ever since Scholar Wan tacitly approved of Wan Lifang’s affair with Ni Ruiniang, Wan Lifang has grown increasingly arrogant and spends every night in Ni Ruiniang’s room. Right now, they were enjoying a dalliance when suddenly they heard a burst of shouting. Frowning, he asked towards the door, "Shiliu, who’s making all that racket in the back courtyard?"

Shiliu is Shuzi’s younger sister, who used to attend to Ms. Ni. After Ni Ruiniang became pregnant, she was sent to look after Ni Ruiniang... and the unborn golden grandchild of the Wan Family.

"Yes, this slave will go and ask." Shiliu replied and followed the noise to the second gate of Wan Mansion.

Mrs. Ni had already reached the second gate before Shiliu and was pointing at Gu Dafu: "Uncle, what do you think you are doing? A great man barging into the residence’s second gate like this—this is where the women stay. Your family might not care about separating men from women due to hardships, but our family comes from a scholarly background, a family of scholars, we observe proprieties..."

"Pah!" Mrs. Chen, fuming with anger, rushed over and grabbed Mrs. Ni’s hair, slapping her several times: "A mere house slave dares to shout at an elder from my family? Have you no sense of rules? I will teach you the manners of a servant today!"

Saying so, she slapped Mrs. Ni hard several more times.

Don’t be fooled by Mrs. Chen’s thin and small appearance; she is strong and hits hard—in fact, she made the somewhat chubby Mrs. Ni howl in pain.

Mrs. Chen was infuriated, Mrs. Ni’s words clearly looked down on her family.

"Murder, murder! Someone come quick!" Ni Shiliu, seeing her mother being beaten, hurriedly yelled at the top of her lungs.

Old Ni had already gone to the private school to inform Scholar Wan, and Scholar Wan had now arrived to see Mrs. Chen pulling Mrs. Ni’s hair and slapping her. He exclaimed angrily, "What is going on? What sort of behavior is this? Hurry and separate them!"

"Yes, Old Master." Old Ni rushed over to pull away Mrs. Chen, but Gu Dagui seeing this, immediately lunged over and kicked Old Ni to the ground: "Dare to touch my wife? You think I’m dead?"

Old Ni was caught off guard and kicked so hard that he practically couldn’t get up from the ground.

Scholar Wan saw this and nearly fainted with rage, pointing at Gu Dafu he yelled, "Uncle, what in the world are you doing? Barging into my home and beating people for no reason—how can you humiliate my family like this? Do you still want to continue with this marriage?"

"We won’t continue then! I’m here today to call off the marriage," Gu Dafu spat at Scholar Wan and cursed, "What kind of rubbish has your family brought up? And yet you talk of a scholarly family—doing such beastly acts, aren’t you afraid of being condemned by the Saint?"

Scholar Wan had originally intended to use the threat of calling off the marriage to coerce Gu Dafu, but hearing Gu Dafu’s words, he immediately felt guilty: "Uncle, have you heard some rumors? You must not believe what outsiders say, they are just jealous because our two families are intermarrying, trying to ruin our marriage."

Gu Dafu sneered: "With the despicable acts your Wan Lifang has committed, it would be hard for others to not gossip. I ask you, is Ni Ruiniang not staying at your place? Is she not bearing Wan Lifang’s seed? You set up a marriage with our girl, and yet impregnated another. Does your Wan Family really think our Gu Family is so easy to bully? I tell you, call that beast Wan Lifang out now, or I will immediately smash your pots, your house, and break Wan Lifang’s legs!"

Scholar Wan, who had always thought Gu Dafu simple and honest, did not anticipate him to be this fearsome when angered.

Scholar Wan did not want to lose the marriage alliance with the Gu Family, so he tried to smooth things over with a smile, "Uncle, it’s a misunderstanding, Ni Ruiniang isn’t staying at my home, she went back to her family home for the Mid-Autumn Festival a while ago. On such a major holiday, there’s no way she wouldn’t spend it with her aunt, she truly isn’t here."

No sooner had Scholar Wan finished speaking than he was proven wrong.

"Uncle, who are these people? Why have they run to the second gate of our house? My cousin needs to study yet he’s being disturbed by these people; now he can’t even focus on his books." Ni Ruiniang, holding her lower back and with a belly not yet showing, spoke up.

When Gu Dafu heard this, he looked at Ni Ruiniang, seeing darkness before his eyes and nearly collapsed. He turned back to Scholar Wan and said, "Going home for the festival? She was comfortably staying at your place, even with a swollen belly, and you tell me she went home for the festival! Your Wan Family is going too far in bullying people!"

Upon seeing Ni Ruiniang and hearing her call him cousin, Mrs. Chen knew it was Ni Ruiniang and immediately let go of Mrs. Ni, rushing towards Ni Ruiniang: "You little whore, how dare you ruin my niece’s marriage chances, I will beat you to death today, you shameless thing!"

"Don’t hit her, don’t hit her, oh, cousin has Wan Family’s precious grandchild in her belly!" Ni Shiliu was young and did not know to keep quiet about this matter, only aware that Ms. Ni treasured the child in Ni Ruiniang’s belly, always referring to it as the precious grandchild. Upon seeing Mrs. Chen approaching to hit Ni Ruiniang, she blurted out in fright.

"Wan Family’s precious grandchild?!"

Gu Dafu, Gu Dagui, and Mrs. Chen were all shocked. They had still harbored a sliver of hope, thinking that what Village Chief He said wasn’t true, but Ni Shiliu’s words shattered any self-deception they might have had.

Gu Dafu was livid, rushing over and grabbing Scholar Wan by the collar angrily: "Where is that beast Wan Lifang? Tell me!"

Scholar Wan trembled with fear, looking towards Old Ni: "Where, where is he?"

Old Ni, while on guard against Gu Dafu, replied: "He’s, he’s in the cousin’s room."

Our young master has been sleeping in cousin’s room every night for some time now, something known to everyone in the family, no secret at all.

Hearing this, Gu Dafu nearly burst into tears. After painstakingly finding a family for his daughter, he never imagined ending up with such a beast. What would become of his Sister Mei in the future?

Gu Dafu held back his tears, let go of Scholar Wan, and grabbed Old Ni: "Lead the way!"

He was going to slaughter that little beast.

Old Ni was scared stiff by Gu Dafu, originally intending to chase people away with a stick, but now being dragged forward by the collar, forced to lead Gu Dafu.

Shuzi had already gone to tip off Wan Lifang.

When Wan Lifang heard that Gu Dafu was coming for him, he was so scared he wet himself and quickly pocketed his hidden funds, leaving through the corner gate to hide in the county town for some time.

Upon exiting the corner gate and just as he rounded the street, he saw Gu Yumei crying and running towards his home.

Wan Lifang’s eyes flickered with a cunning plan, and when Gu Yumei got close, he grabbed her and dragged her into the alley by the corner gate.

When Gu Yumei saw him, she immediately pointed and cried out, "Wan Lifang, tell me, do you and your cousin... have, have a child?!"

Wan Lifang said, "Yes, we do, and you probably have my seed in you too."

Yu Mei was dumbfounded: "You’re talking nonsense! I, I am still a virgin."

Wan Lifang laughed: "What virgin? I touched you the other day, so even if you’re not carrying a child, if I spread this around, forget about marriage, you’d be drowned in a pond by the people of Da Feng Village in no time."

Yu Mei, recalling the last time she escorted Wan Li home and how he dragged her into a deserted alleyway to roughly grope her, began to cry desperately: "You, you’re destroying me."

Wan Lifang laughed and said: "How am I destroying you? We’re engaged, what’s wrong with touching you a few times? Besides, which official doesn’t have several concubines? As long as you agree not to call off the engagement, once I gain an official position and become successful, you’ll be the official’s wife, and Ni Ruiniang will be just a concubine under your control. How about it, do you agree?"

He then threatened, "If you don’t agree, I will say that you’ve been slept with by me and have you drowned by the people of Da Feng Village!"