古婆子一直有些怕儿子，见儿子变了脸，赶紧笑道，“成，退，真是便宜老许家了。你们退了亲，你就能娶苏姑娘了，更好。若先娶了许兰因，她即使死了，苏姑娘嫁进门也是继室，人家侯府千金……”

“够了！”古望辰大声喝道。

古婆子吓得一哆嗦。

Gu Wangchen endured it for a few seconds, then took a deep breath and said, "Mom, please stop talking nonsense. I'll say it again, don't take other people's money indiscriminately in the future, don't talk about family matters with others, don't say anything about me and Miss Su, and don't cause trouble for me..."

Old Lady Gu hurriedly said, "Okay, okay, I'll listen to my son. Whatever my son says is what I will do."

Xu Lanyin and her brother returned home, and Xu Yuan was still eating cookies. Qin and Xu Lanting were very worried.

Seeing Xu Lanyin coming back, Xu Yuan quickly stood up and stammered, twisting his fingers, "Aunt Yin, I didn't keep my mouth shut and told Uncle Zhou and the mistress."

Xu Lanyin pinched his chubby face and told Qin that she had already reached an agreement with Gu Wangchen.

The second wife's family happily took a large bowl of biscuits to the first wife's house. Hearing that Gu Wangchen was willing to cancel the engagement and return the seventy taels of silver, Old Lady Xu and Xu Dashi were also very happy.

Old Man Xu was still reluctant to part with his grandson-in-law, the Juren Master, and said, "Girl Yin, you have to think carefully. If you don't marry a Juren Master, you can forget about living a rich life. You're also said to be sick, which will make it difficult for you to get married in the future. You are still young, and I have lived a lifetime, so I can judge people better than you. That Gu Wangchen is promising and has a good temper, unlike Miao..."

Old Lady Xu snorted coldly, "Old man, with your eyes, are you really good at judging people? When the second son and his wife were hesitating, it was you who told them how smart and handsome Gu Wangchen was, and that Miao was just vulgar but not a bad person, that the second son and his wife finalized their marriage. Now it seems that Miao is bad, and Gu Wangchen is even worse, neither of them is a good guy. Our girl is stupid, so we can't afford to offend them, so we should stay away from them." Seeing that Old Lady Xu looked upset, she added, "Who doesn't want to live a rich life? The second family would rather give up their rich life and cancel the engagement, which shows that Gu Wangchen is indeed not suitable. If you don't believe me, ask the eldest son and grandson if they also think that Gu Wangchen is not a good person."

Xu Dashi smiled and said, "Grandma is right, Gu Wangchen is indeed not a good person." Seeing the old man's bad face, he said, "Grandpa was too eager for his sister to have a good life, so he made a mistake."

Xu Yuan also immediately said, "Gu Wangchen made Aunt Yin a prodigal son. He is not a good person." He often heard his parents and grandmother scolding Gu Wangchen, and instinctively hated him.

Xu Qingming didn't think much about it, just going along with his parents' wishes. He chuckled to himself, thinking that the second wife's money would buy more land, and he wouldn't have to feel guilty about not giving them money in the first place.

Old man Xu had no choice but to keep his brows down and remain silent.

After having dinner in the main house, Xu Lanzhou and several members of the Xu family went to Xu Lizheng's house and asked him to be a witness.

They returned in a little over two quarters of an hour. Old Man Xu's face was filled with sorrow, and he even staggered as he walked. He glared at Xu Lanyin fiercely, then went back to his room and lay down. He felt even more pain than he had imagined after losing his grandson-in-law, a scholar. The point was, he really thought Gu Wangchen was a good young man, and it was all because of his mother that he got into trouble.

Xu Lanzhou smiled happily and handed a bag of silver to Qin and a small jade pendant to Xu Lanyin.

The small jade pendant wasn't a fine item, worth perhaps a dozen or so taels of silver, but it was still a valuable possession for a family like the Xu family. Especially compared to the Gu family's small wooden comb, it was a world of difference. Xu Lanyin didn't want to keep it anymore and thought about pawning it at a pawnshop someday.

Xu Qingming was still a little confused. When Xu Lizheng heard that Xu Lanyin wanted to break off the engagement, he was furious and scolded the old man and him for being too indulgent with Yin. But tonight, his behavior was extremely unusual. He said, "That Xu Lizheng always has his eyes fixed on the top of his forehead. He usually doesn't like to pay attention to us. But just now after leaving the Gu family, he helped Dad walk a distance and even invited us to his house for a drink."

Xu Dashi said, "It's likely that Li Zheng Xu has other thoughts. His little girl, Yulan, is already thirteen this year. Since my sister broke off the engagement, there's hope for his daughter."

Xu Qingming said "Oh" as if he suddenly understood.

Old Lady Xu curled her lips and said, "No matter how smart a person is, once they are blinded by wealth and fame, they will not be able to judge people clearly."

What an understanding old lady.

Xu Lanyin hugged her arm and smiled, "Grandma, you understand life the best. I want to learn from you in the future."

The old lady had never liked Xu Lanyin and had never been so affectionate with her before. Uncomfortably, she withdrew her arm. She said, "Wealth and money are both good things, and everyone desires them. But you have to think clearly about whether you want to obtain them. If it's yours, think about it; if it's not, don't dwell on it. Alas, if I had thought it through earlier and told Qingyan to stop, perhaps he wouldn't have died..."

When talking about this, the old lady felt sad again.

Qin's eyes also turned red, and she said, "It's not my mother-in-law's fault. Some things are beyond our control... Alas!"

After returning home, the family sorted out their finances. After deducting various expenses and taxes, they still had 196 taels of silver left. With the wild ginseng that could be sold for over 100 taels of silver, the family could live a good life.

The whole family was delighted. Qin praised Xu Lanyin for finally becoming sensible, and asked Xu Lanzhou and Xu Lanting to be nice to their sister in the future.

Xu Lanzhou said, "Don't worry, mother. We will treat you well. If you find a good family, we will prepare a generous dowry for you. If you really can't get married, we will support you."

Xu Lanting also promised, "If my wife dares to treat my sister badly in the future, I will divorce her."

This made everyone very happy.

Xu Lanyin didn't need them to support her, but she had to make her own decision on marriage. She said, "Whether to marry or not, and who to marry, my mother and brother must respect my opinion."

Several people nodded in agreement.

At the Wang family, Old Man Wang and Old Lady Wang were discussing sending someone to the Gu family to propose marriage in a couple of days. This was the first time in all these years that the two of them had spoken calmly.

Only then did Mrs. Wang realize that Wang Sanni actually intended to be Gu Wangchen's concubine. She secretly scolded her for a long time and even pinched her a few times. She said, "Jin Cai Niang was a child bride, much higher status than a concubine. Look at what happened to her. I can beat her any way I want, and I can rub her any way I want. If she were a concubine, she would receive even worse beatings from a concubine. If a concubine was even more cruel, she might even poison her to death or sell her to some shady place."

Wang Sanni shrank back in fear. Every time her sister-in-law screamed when she was beaten, she was terrified. She said, "Mom, my sister-in-law is also a pitiful person. Those things are not her fault. Please don't beat her anymore."