After buying two stacks of paper money and returning to the village, Xia Chunmei went directly to Xia Ping'an's grave to burn it for him.

In fact, Xia Ping'an should be considered a wealthy man. After Xia Chunmei took the villagers fishing last time, many villagers burned paper money for him.

Just like in the human world, the underworld often requires some patronage.

When Xia Chunmei returned from the cemetery, she deliberately made her eyes red and swollen.

"Chunmei, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Xia Mingshi and Xia Hongfen immediately came over to check on her.

"Grandma Ming, Aunt, I... mmm..."

"Oh dear, why are you crying? What's wrong with you, child? Tell your aunt."

"Fan Baowen and Xia Xiumei..." Xia Chunmei told them everything she had seen at the teahouse.

"What?" Xia Mingshi exclaimed in shock. "I really can't tell that Fan Baowen is capable of this."

"That shameless bitch Xia Xiumei, she actually... she has completely disgraced our Xia family!" Xia Hongfen cursed angrily.

"At such a young age, she had an affair without a matchmaker and even got pregnant secretly. What a shameless slut! Stealing her own cousin's fiancé, what a despicable woman!"

"That heartless bastard Fan Baowen has gotten another woman pregnant, and he even had Fan Jiangshi come to discuss the wedding date! I won't let them get away with this! What do they take our Xia family's daughters for? I'm going to confront them!"

"Auntie, I want to break off my engagement with Fan Baowen!"

When Xia Mingshi heard that Xia Chunmei wanted to break off the engagement, she was shocked: "Chunmei, breaking off an engagement is not something to be taken lightly."

In this era, even if it's the man's fault, and even if the woman takes the initiative to break off the engagement, the woman is still the one who suffers the loss after the engagement is broken off.

People tend to view women with prejudice; that's just how unfriendly they are towards women.

“Grandma Ming, Aunt, I’ve thought it all through. Fan Baowen is a scholar, and in principle, he should value propriety, righteousness, integrity, and a sense of shame the most. But look, his legal wife hasn’t even entered the house yet, and he already has a child with someone else.”

The Fan family even came to discuss the marriage in a hypocritical manner. I had heard before that Fan Baowen and Xia Xiumei had an ambiguous relationship, but they wouldn't admit it. Now, they're even pregnant! I want to call off the engagement!

Xia Chunmei took out the betrothal letter from the room: "Aunt, please come with me."

Xia Mingshi, unaware of the details, only felt that it was not good for the girl to break off the engagement, so she advised, "Chunmei, Fan Baowen made a mistake, but the Fan family still came to discuss the wedding date, which means that the Fan family recognizes you as their daughter-in-law. You have a skill, and as long as you are strong enough and do not pass on your skills to outsiders, especially not to the Fan family, then the Fan family will not dare to bully you."

This is a good opportunity to control them. There's no need to break off the engagement. Although it wasn't your fault, outsiders won't see it that way if you do.

Xia Chunmei knew that Xia Mingshi was genuinely thinking of her, but she was a modern person and her views were different from theirs.

"Grandma Ming, after what happened, Xia Xiumei will definitely become Fan Baowen's concubine. I don't want to face that annoying face every day."

I don't want to work hard to support a woman who's stealing my husband, and I certainly don't want to work hard to earn money so my man can support another woman!

Xia Mingshi was speechless.

Xia Chunmei continued, "The man I'm going to marry in the future can be a little poor or a little ugly, but he must be responsible for his family, respect his wife enough, and treat his children equally and have enough patience."

Xia Mingshi stared blankly at Xia Chunmei without saying a word.

She knew Xia Chunmei was a strong-willed person, and besides, Xia Hongfen hadn't objected. No matter how good their relationship was, Xia Hongfen was still an outsider, so she didn't try to persuade her any further.

Xia Hongfen actually knew that Fan Baowen was going to marry Du Lanlan, and that the Fan family was plotting to ruin Xia Chunmei's reputation in order to break off the engagement. Otherwise, she would not have agreed to Xia Chunmei breaking off the engagement.

Since the other party is determined to annul the engagement, it's better to cancel it now, at least the woman is in the right.

Xia Chunmei has no parents, and when she went there, she also invited the clan chief Xia Xintian and his wife to come along.

When they arrived at the Fan family's house, the Fan family members were just about to leave, seemingly on their way to find Xia Chunmei.

"Chunmei, Auntie, you're here! Come in and sit down." Seeing Xia Hongfen's angry face, Madam Fan was afraid that she would lose her temper in the yard and ruin her son's reputation, so she hurriedly invited them into the house.

No sooner had she finished speaking than Xia Hongfen rushed over and started scratching Fan Baowen: "You bastard, you've wasted all your education! I'll beat you to death, you bastard!"

Fan Baowen was concerned about his reputation, and since Xia Hongfen was, after all, an elder, he dared not and was too embarrassed to fight back in public. Xia Hongfen scratched and clawed him, leaving several nail marks on his face and pulling out a few clumps of his hair.

"Auntie, let's talk this out, don't fight." The Fan family members quickly stepped forward to break up the fight.

“Auntie, let’s go inside and talk,” said Madam Fan, pulling Xia Hongfen along with her.

Xia Hongfen shoved the person aside and said sternly, "Let's talk right here! Let everyone be the judge!"

Xia Hongfen's loud voice instantly attracted the attention of many people.

Xia Hongfen shouted, "My niece said before that if Fan Baowen and Xia Xiumei were in love, the marriage between the two families would be called off, and she was willing to give you both a chance. But you said there was nothing going on, and you even came to us pretending to discuss the wedding date. In the end, you even got pregnant. Fan Baowen, what kind of bullshit books did you read?"

Fan Baowen's face turned bright red, and he was filled with resentment, especially as his neighbors began to gossip.

"What? Fan Baowen has a child with another woman?"

"Baowen doesn't seem like that kind of person."

"Could there be a mistake?"

...

The people of Fanjia'ao were utterly shocked when they heard the news, and none of them could quite believe it.

"How could you be mistaken? My niece saw it with her own eyes! He even said he wanted to marry her in a grand and glorious way!"

Fan Baowen, where do you place my niece? How can you face her? How can your Fan family face my deceased father?

You were the ones who proposed the engagement, you were the ones who discussed the wedding date, and now you've done something so despicable! My niece will not marry into a family like yours!

Xia Hongfen promptly pulled out her niece's marriage certificate and threw it at them: "Annease the engagement! Give me my niece's marriage certificate!"