The situation was not as Yi Xiaofan described. As mentioned earlier, Li Yuzhu broke off the engagement with Dong Qing the day after they got engaged. She sent the engagement gifts to the matchmaker, but he refused to accept them. He then asked the matchmaker to return the engagement gifts to Li Yuzhu and wrote a letter insisting on getting married on the sixth day of the third lunar month.

Li Yuzhu had no choice but to act without consulting Dong Qing first, hastily marrying him on the 26th day of the second lunar month. Otherwise, she wouldn't have gotten married just over a month after getting engaged.

To Li Yuzhu's surprise, Yi Xiaofan did not let him go, because she underestimated the extent of this person's shamelessness, which far exceeded her expectations.

(Let me briefly talk about something related to this book, and tell you a true story from my village in the 1980s: After the man and woman got engaged, they went to the city together, and the girl discovered that her fiancé had picked someone else's bag.)

The girl never wanted to marry a thief, so she returned home and broke off the engagement the next day. In those days, breaking off an engagement was very simple; she just had to return the betrothal gifts given by the man to the matchmaker, who would then pass them on to the man.

Logically, after the girl annulsed the engagement, there was no longer any marriage contract between her and the man. The matter was considered settled, and they would each find their own marriage partners, start families, and have children. When they met again in the future, they would treat each other as strangers, greeting each other if they wanted to, and passing by if they didn't.

But could the man let this go? Because he was no good person; he was always a shameless scoundrel. Later, when the man asked the girl to continue being his fiancée, the girl absolutely refused. In the end, he and the girl died together.

The real case involves reality, so I won't go into too much detail. I'll just give a general overview without going into the process and details. Besides, in those days, it wasn't just that one couple who committed suicide together because of a broken engagement.

The plot of this book is based on real-life events from the 1980s and is not entirely fictional.

You might not believe it, but in those days, a girl really wouldn't dare to blindly break off a marriage with a scoundrel. The story depicted in the book is quite humane compared to what actually happened in reality. Sometimes reality is even more cruel than fiction, sometimes involving bloodshed and death.

Let me also mention similar incidents from the 1980s. Back then, many women committed suicide after their engagements were called off. I know of at least ten such cases. My cousin committed suicide because her engagement was called off. After her death, my aunt was bedridden for more than three months and never recovered. My aunt died because of her.

There was another girl who committed suicide after her fiancé broke off the engagement. I once sat down with her parents and talked to them. When her mother mentioned this incident, she cried so hard that I cried too. Her daughter committed suicide by drinking pesticide. After she died, her skin turned black, and the blackening of her fingernails and toenails was even more obvious. She was only twenty years old when she died.

In those days, real-life physical education material couldn't be written about. I'm someone who came from that era. If it could be written, I could write several articles without even doing research. The descriptions in the book are just the tip of the iceberg compared to reality; they're not far off the mark at all. If real-life physical education material from the 1980s could be written about, I guarantee it would make you cry. Some of the cases were truly appalling.

Continuing from the previous text;

Upon hearing this, Dong Qing understood everything. She realized that her current state over the past year was all Yi Xiaofan's fault, and she had become his tool for revenge against his wife. She snarled, "Yi Xiaofan, are you even human? What are you trying to do?"

Yi Xiaofan said, "It's simple. You divorce Li Yuzhu immediately, and I'll return the IOU to you. Our debts will be settled. Otherwise, return the three thousand six hundred yuan to me right now."

Li Yuzhu said with tears in her eyes, "Yi Xiaofan, you're a scoundrel."

Yi Xiaofan said, "You should have known long ago that I'm a scoundrel. You should have divorced your wife and married me immediately, or I won't let you off the hook."

Li Yuzhu wiped away her tears and asked, "You, surnamed Yi, tell me, what do I need to do to let me go?"

Yi Xiaofan said, "Let's make a bet. If you lose, you'll divorce your wife and marry me immediately. If you win, Dongqing's debt to me will be settled. Otherwise, you'll pay back the money right now, and as long as you pay back the money, I'll never bother you again."

Where can I borrow 3,600 yuan? I just borrowed 400 yuan from my sister when I had my baby. Even if I borrow from them now, I don't have that much money. Where else can I borrow from?

Li Yuzhu asked, "Tell me, how does the betting work?"

Yi Xiaofan took out a deck of cards from his pocket. He took out all the face cards, including A, 2, 3, J, Q, and K. He said, "I'll make the bet too complicated for you, you won't understand. These cards have the same number of suits and honors. You can shuffle them randomly. If you flip over a suit card, you win; if you flip over an honor card, I win."

His approach is called reckless gambling; to put it bluntly, it's all about luck. He flips the cards, stares at them, and draws them to see who wins or loses, with a 50% chance of winning.

Li Yuzhu thought to herself: If I lose the bet, I'll kill myself tonight. Once I'm dead, let's see who you marry.

Thinking of this, she said, "Honey, I don't trust his playing cards. Go out and buy a new deck."

Dongqing said, "You can't gamble with him. I'll find a way to pay him back."

Li Yuzhu angrily said, "He's forcing you to pay off the debt now. Does he expect you to have time to figure it out? His goal isn't to collect the debt, it's me. He's been gambling with you for a year with a specific purpose in mind; he's only after me. He won't give you a chance to raise the money. Don't be so naive, okay? And don't let your wife look down on you. Go buy some cards!"

Dong Qing couldn't bear to watch his wife gamble with Yi Xiaofan. He knew his wife's personality best; if she lost the bet, she wouldn't live to see tomorrow. If she wanted to die, he couldn't even stop her. She would rather die than marry such a scoundrel.

Seeing her husband standing there motionless, Li Yuzhu said, "You rascal, are you going or not? If you don't go, I'll kill myself right here in front of you!"

Now that things have come to this point, there's no way to avoid it, and Yi Xiaofan won't give her a chance to escape. What was the point of him spending a whole year playing with Dong Qing if not for this moment?

Dongqing had no choice but to ride his bicycle out of the house to a store to buy playing cards. But buying playing cards was more like buying a death warrant for his wife. What if she lost the bet? Would she even be able to survive?

Dong Qing thought to himself, "Damn it, anyone can play the blame game. If I lose, I'll tie my wife to the bed and I won't give her a chance to commit suicide. I just won't divorce her. Let's see what your grandson can do to me."

Dong Qing quickly returned home after buying the cards. He said, "Yi Xiaofan, the debt is mine. Men should settle their own affairs. How about this: I'll gamble with you. If I win, I'll let my wife go and pay back the money I owe you later. If I lose, I'll chop off one of my hands, and I'll still pay it back when I have the money. How does that sound?"

Yi Xiaofan said, "No, I'll bet with Li Yuzhu. Of course, I can pay back the money immediately. You can only choose one of these two options."

Li Yuzhu said with tears in her eyes, "Husband, can you reason with a scoundrel? Give me the cards."

Dongqing reluctantly handed the cards to his wife.