Chapter 89 If he didn't get it, no one else can...

Cheng Ying and Cheng Xue walked out of the room, and everyone in the courtyard was stunned when they saw her.

In recent years, friends, relatives and neighbors have rarely seen Cheng Ying because she has been in the army.

When I saw her again, she was dark-skinned and wearing a postman's uniform. Although she looked healthy and sunny with good features, she was still a little less attractive than Cheng Xue, who had always been pampered at home with fair skin and a pretty face.

During this time, Cheng Ying's injury allowed her skin to recover and become fair and clear. She already had delicate features and a beautiful appearance. Today, wearing this fitted, Republic-era style autumn dress, she walked gracefully, exuding both charm and a heroic spirit. She looked stunning.

She stunned everyone at once, and they couldn't help but sigh in their hearts, "Wan Shuhui's two daughters are indeed beauties. No wonder these two girls have always been coveted by others, and Cheng Ying is the object of jealousy between two men."

In the crowd, Long Buxi heard people praising Cheng Ying's beauty. He turned around, saw Cheng Ying, and was amazed. Then, with a smile on his face, he walked step by step from the crowd to Cheng Ying and reached out his hand to her.

When Cheng Ying heard everyone praising her beauty, she felt a little embarrassed and stood obediently under the eaves, waiting for her parents to discuss the engagement.

Long Buxi suddenly walked over and extended his slender, fair hand to her. She was stunned for a moment, then looked up and met Long Buxi's gaze.

For some reason, her face flushed uncontrollably. She placed her hand in his and walked alongside him through the crowd to her parents.

Long Buxi noticed her sudden blush, and the corners of his lips curved slightly. He held her hand tightly, stood in front of Wan Shuhui and Cheng Jiantong, and bowed respectfully to them.

"Uncle, Aunt, today's engagement came in a hurry. I am not very familiar with your Han customs and traditions, and I am not fully prepared. Please forgive me. After I go back today, I will prepare all the betrothal gifts that you said I should give to Cheng Ying and give them to her. As Cheng Ying said, I am willing to marry into your family, but whether I live in your family in the future is entirely up to Cheng Ying."

Wan Shuhui smiled with great pride: "Actually, the wild boar you sent to our family is already a great gift. In all these years, no son-in-law in our surrounding villages has ever sent a whole pig to his mother-in-law's family. This is enough for us to eat for a year!"

You are a Miao person, and your parents have passed away. We don't blame you for not understanding our Han Chinese marriage customs and traditions.

The matter of giving Xiaoying a betrothal gift was just something her father casually mentioned. He said, "If you can do it, then do it; if you can't, Xiaoying and I won't force you."

Most importantly, after you and Xiaoying get married, you must treat her well, then we will feel at ease.

Long Buxi immediately knelt down and kowtowed deeply to her and Cheng Jiantong, promising, "Rest assured, both of you, I will never let Cheng Ying down or betray her. Once we Miao people form a marriage alliance, we will stay together for all eternity and will never do anything to harm each other. I will protect Cheng Ying and you, and I will not let anyone hurt her."

Wan Shuhui was completely relieved. She invited two respected elders from the village to help the two young people go through the engagement process according to the customs of Qingshui Village. Then, as the autumn sun rose, she announced the start of the feast and invited everyone to eat.

The wild boar that Long Buxi was carrying weighed 150 jin (75 kg). Early in the morning, a familiar neighbor had scalded and slaughtered it, and placed it on a row of wooden planks on the left side of the yard.

These meats and offal were made into a sumptuous and delicious dish, including four-happiness meatballs, braised pork, shredded pork with green and red peppers, steamed pork with rice flour, and a stew of pork offal, etc. Plates and bowls were served, and the air was filled with the aroma of meat and dishes.

Wan Shuhui wanted to save face for her eldest daughter and let the surrounding villages see that the man her daughter was engaged to was a capable man.

She didn't hide the whole pig; she took it all out and had the cooks make it into delicious dishes so that the guests who came to the engagement party could eat their fill and have a good time. This would make those who had bullied her and her daughter and spoken ill of them envious, and leave a beautiful story for her daughter and future son-in-law.

Friends, relatives, and neighbors haven't had such a sumptuous meal in years. In previous years, cooking two meat dishes for the New Year or other holidays was considered a sign of a well-off family.

Even if someone is having a happy occasion at home, they will only cook three meat dishes at most. They would not be willing to use a whole pig to entertain guests and set out a table full of meat dishes to entertain them.

The Cheng family was so generous that everyone ate with great gusto, their mouths greasy. They couldn't stop praising Wan Shuhui's family and Long Buxi, saying that Wan Shuhui had found a good son-in-law, and that with Long Buxi being so generous, Cheng Ying would definitely never lack food or clothing or suffer any grievances in the future.

Wan Shuhui was overjoyed and became even more enthusiastic in greeting the guests.

Sun Qinghui's parents sat at a table in the corner of the Cheng family home, eating with several educated youths and Cheng Xue's close friends.

Seeing the lavish spread on the table, Sun's mother tugged at her husband and son's sleeves and whispered to them, "When Qinghui and Chengxue get engaged, our family must also prepare a banquet of this scale. We can't be worse than others, and we can't let Chengxue suffer."

Mr. Sun nodded. “That makes sense. Cheng Xue is a good girl. During the years my husband and I were locked in the cowshed, she took good care of us. If it weren’t for her often sneaking grain to help us, bringing us medicine and soup, my husband and I might have died long ago. Qinghui, you must treat Cheng Xue well. If you dare to bully her or let her down, your mother and I will be the first to object!”

Sun Qinghui said somewhat shyly, "Dad, Mom, don't worry, my heart for Cheng Xue is as clear as day. If I were to bully her or betray her, may I die a horrible death! However, Dad, Mom, your exoneration report is still under review. All of our family's property and money were confiscated during those years. If I were to get engaged or married to Cheng Xue, we wouldn't have the money to host such a lavish banquet."

"You don't need to worry about that," Sun's mother smiled mysteriously. "Your father and I have a backup plan. Our publicly known properties and money have been confiscated, but we still have hidden assets, which are entrusted to your Uncle Song. Your Uncle Song is a close friend of your father's. Although he is abroad, he has kept our hidden assets entrusted to him safe and sound. We can take them back whenever we want. As for your engagement and marriage with Cheng Xue, we can take care of everything."

“Your mother is right. Besides the money we secretly invested with your Uncle Song, Dad also hid some gold and silver jewelry in our ancestral graves. If we dig those things out, it will be enough for our whole family.”

Mr. Sun pushed up his glasses and said, "We'll have a result soon regarding our exoneration. Your mother and I didn't waste those years in the capital. We'll be able to return to the capital soon, and the confiscated family property will be returned to us. At that time, whether you and Cheng Xue are studying, working, or getting married in the capital, you'll have your own house to live in."

Upon hearing this, Sun Qinghui felt a great weight lifted from his heart, and unable to hide the joy on his face, he turned to Cheng Xue and told her about it.

Meanwhile, the Cheng family next door, upon hearing the lively sounds of guests eating and talking in the second courtyard and smelling the rich aroma of various meats and dishes in the air, all turned ashen with anger.

Liu Guifen was already furious after Cheng Ying splashed water on her and she changed into a clean set of clothes. Now, smelling the tempting aromas in the air, she couldn't help but push aside the few simple dishes of bland food laid out on the dining table in the living room.

She said angrily, "Dad, Mom, that second wife's family is going too far! No matter how much we fall out with them, we're still family, even if we're not related by blood. They had a good time and didn't invite us to the banquet, which is bad enough, but that brat Cheng Ying even splashed water on Mom and us, making us feel embarrassed in front of outsiders. Dad, Mom, are you just going to swallow this?"

Huang Cuizhi was naturally unwilling to swallow this insult. She had always disliked Wan Shuhui and her two daughters, especially that brat Cheng Ying. After returning from the army, she took advantage of her status as a retired female soldier and repeatedly went against her. However, Huang Cuizhi was helpless against this brat because she could neither scold nor beat her.

She originally planned to become the mistress of the second wife, selling the two girls, Cheng Ying and Cheng Xue, to some old widowers to earn a large dowry to support her eldest grandsons.

Who knew that after Cheng Ying came back, Wan Shuhui straightened her back and broke off all ties with the Cheng family, letting that brat decide her own engagement and marriage.

The thought of that wretched girl Cheng Ying, who somehow had the good fortune to be able to date an officer from the capital, filled her with a burning hatred.

If either the eldest or third branch of the family had a granddaughter around the same age as Cheng Ying, she would do anything to break up that brat's good marriage and give it to her own granddaughter.

Before she could do anything, that brat broke up with that officer and started dating a Miao man from a remote mountain village. They even got engaged in a rush and had the man bring over a huge wild boar for the feast.

Although Huang Cuizhi didn't like the Miao man, she had to admit that he was really handsome. In all her years, she had never seen such a handsome young man!

Even if this young man is a bit poor, he is strong and capable. Not just anyone can hunt a wild boar weighing over 150 pounds!

Cheng Ying, that brat, is really lucky. She lost a good boyfriend, but immediately found a handsome man.

Huang Cuizhi was filled with envy, jealousy, and hatred. The thought of that brat who opposed her having endless romantic luck, with each of her boyfriends being the kind of man every woman dreamed of marrying, made her feel uneasy, as if something was pricking her heart.

She gritted her teeth and said, "That little whore Cheng Ying is just like her mother, both of them are shameless. She actually instigated the second son to go against us and turn against us! If I don't teach this brat a lesson, she'll really think I'm a pushover and won't respect me as her mother!"

She slammed down her chopsticks and rushed out.

Old Cheng lifted his eyelids and roared at her, "Old woman, we're eating! Where are you going? You're always causing trouble and embarrassing me!"

"I'm not going to make a scene next door, why are you so anxious!" Huang Cuizhi said without turning her head.

She left the courtyard and headed straight to town, asking some acquaintances where Cheng Ying's ex-boyfriend, the military officer, was.

Upon learning that the man named Wei Muchen was being held at the police station, she ran to the station in surprise, gave her name to the police officer inside, explained her purpose, and soon met Wei Muchen.

In a small interrogation room, before Wei Muchen could speak, Huang Cuizhi hurriedly said, "I know you like my good-for-nothing eldest granddaughter, but she doesn't want to continue being with you. She's blinded by greed and doesn't know what's good for her! I have a way to make her willingly be with you, but after it's done, you have to give me a large sum of money as payment for my help."

"Oh? What's your plan?" Wei Muchen asked casually, his face bearing bruises and welts, as he leaned back lazily in the interrogation room chair.

Huang Cuizhi glanced around and saw a policeman standing at the door watching them. She lowered her voice and said, "I have a way to make her sleep with you. No matter how unwilling a woman is to be with a man, once she's slept with him, she'll lose her chastity. If she doesn't marry you, who else can she marry? The man she likes, even if he likes her now that she's a used woman, will he still want her? In that case, she'll have no choice but to marry you, even if she doesn't want to."

Wei Muchen toyed with the medal in his hand, looking at Huang Cuizhi with a cool gaze and said, "You are her own grandmother. If you do these things to her, aren't you afraid she will retaliate against you?"

Huang Cuizhi felt a little scared when she thought of Cheng Ying's fierce and fiery temper, but for her own benefit, she said nonchalantly, "I'm doing this for her own good. She's not willing to marry a good military officer, but insists on marrying a poor man from a remote mountain village. Has she lost her mind? If she marries you and goes to the capital with you to live a good life, she will only understand me and be grateful to me. Why should I be afraid of her?"

Wei Muchen lowered his head, a flicker of emotion crossing his cold eyes. After a moment's thought, he uttered two words: "Deal!"

Since Cheng Ying no longer wanted to be with him and chose to get engaged to another man, wanting to marry that man named Long Buxi, and wanted to escape from him completely, no matter how he tried to keep her, she remained unmoved. Then don't blame him for taking her as he did in his dream in his previous life, trapping her in the secluded basement of that old house in the suburbs of the capital, making her unable to leave him for the rest of her life!

The woman he set his sights on, if he didn't get her, no one else can have her either!