Upon hearing this, Xiuxiu's mother's expression changed drastically.

Carpenter Cai, however, seemed to have been enlightened, his eyes flashing with a sharp light. How could this be done?

Xiuxiu's mother sneered:

"Fine, I won't back out! I'll set the wedding date for sixty years from now, and I'll marry her when she's eighty."

“I’ll just go home now and spend a few taels to buy a maid and take her as a concubine! She can have as many sons as she wants. She likes being my fiancée so much, so let her be my fiancée for life.”

"Decades later, I will come back to propose again, hoping that you will still be alive to spend that twenty taels of betrothal gift!"

The villagers all gasped. What a cunning move... truly ingenious!

In this way, Xiuxiu's mother will never be able to get the remaining nineteen taels of betrothal gifts.

Xiuxiu, however, was stuck there, unable to get married or receive a bride price.

Xiuxiu's mother's vision went black: "You dare! I'll report you to the authorities."

"Come on! I'll tell the official that you tricked him into marriage. Let's see if he falls for your act."

Xiuxiu's mother finally couldn't take the blow, rolled her eyes, and fell straight down.

"Hey, Xiuxiu's mother." Tie Niu's wife and the village head's husband quickly caught her.

I helped her lie down slowly on the ground, pinching her philtrum and shaking her.

"Mother!" Hu Xiaosi and the other children also came forward.

Hu Xiuxiu ran out of the house and checked her breathing; she had only fainted.

Hu Xiuxiu breathed a sigh of relief, then rummaged in her sleeve for a while before taking out the marriage certificate and Cai the carpenter's birth chart.

She clenched her fist, stood up, and held up the two items, her expression solemn:

"Dear uncles, brothers, aunts, and sisters-in-law, marriage is a major event that is usually arranged by parents and matchmakers. But things have come to this, and I have no choice but to go against my mother's wishes and make my own decision. You are all here to bear witness!"

Ye Lizheng stepped out from the crowd: "Don't worry, it's not that you're disobedient or unfilial, it's that you have no choice but to do it, we're all watching."

"Yes!" the villagers agreed.

The Hu family fled famine twenty years ago and had no other relatives in the village. For any major issues, they would go directly to the village head.

Now that Ye Li is backing her up, Hu Xiuxiu has nothing to worry about anymore.

She declined the marriage proposal herself!

"Bring out the marriage certificate!" Hu Xiuxiu said, looking at Cai the carpenter.

Carpenter Cai frowned, and for some reason, looking at the pretty Hu Xiuxiu in front of him, he felt a little reluctant to part with her.

But this reluctance only lasted for a moment before disappearing.

What's the use of being pretty if she's a complete disaster! And ridiculously expensive! Not worth it!

Carpenter Cai quickly took out the marriage certificate from his pocket.

The two exchanged their marriage certificates, and with a tearing sound, they both threw the marriage documents to the ground.

Hu Xiuxiu said, "The marriage certificate is torn up now, and from now on, the man and woman will have no connection with each other when they marry."

Carpenter Cai threw the shavings aside: "Since the engagement is off, why don't you return my tael of silver?"

Hu Xiuxiu's lips twitched, and she felt inside Xiuxiu's mother's sleeve again, but there was nothing there.

He touched the other one and finally pulled out a small piece of silver.

"Here you go."

Carpenter Cai accepted the money with satisfaction, and he and his mother left triumphantly, like victorious generals.

Ye Yong and Du Shi all breathed a sigh of relief.

Ye Caiping tugged at Du Shi's sleeve: "Let's go home."

The group then turned back.

...

It got completely dark.

After Xiuxiu woke up, tears kept streaming down her face.

Hu Xiuxiu brought in the porridge and gently placed it on the bedside table.

"You brat, it's all your fault!" Xiuxiu's mother suddenly sat up, wanting to grab Hu Xiuxiu.

Hu Xiuxiu avoided her gaze, looking at her coldly: "What are you blaming me for? I'm not the one who gave birth to seven sons!"

Xiuxiu's mother choked and almost fainted: "I mean, what right do you have to break off the engagement on your own?"

"If you don't want to return it, then what can I do? Fine, you like it this way. I'll sell a bundle of firewood every day, and after a year or two, I'll save up an ounce or two. Then I'll give you an ounce or two, and I'll continue to stay at home."

"After all, this is no different from not breaking off the engagement. Anyway, I won't get married until I'm eighty."

Xiuxiu's mother almost coughed up blood again. She closed her eyes and fell straight back onto the bed.

Seeing her eyelids twitch, Hu Xiuxiu sneered and turned to leave.

Xiuxiu's mother was absolutely furious.

But it's too late to say anything now.

The next morning, Xiuxiu's mother went to find Matchmaker Huang again.

The matchmaker, Huang, immediately kicked them out: "I dare not take on this kind of bizarre business again."

Xiuxiu's mother was furious, so she went to find another matchmaker in town named Hua.

The matchmaker, with her large, fat buttocks, sat down in a chair, waving her handkerchief as she said:

"Oh dear, now everyone in the whole Big Tree Town knows that your Xiuxiu has a hard life! She has seven burdens to carry, who would want to be a sucker for her?"

Xiuxiu's mother: "My Xiuxiu is guaranteed to give birth to a son."

The matchmaker rolled her eyes: "People might have believed that before, but now... after Cai the carpenter's outburst, everyone's been given a wake-up call. You think you can just take a wife like that? And so what if you do? Can't other women have children?"

"Why would anyone spend twenty taels to marry someone like that? She's not young, and she has a child to support."

"The rich are not valued, so they might as well take more concubines. The poor can't afford to marry."

"How about you lower the bride price to three taels? Maybe then you can get married."

Xiuxiu's mother coughed up blood again: "We don't need to just focus on Dashu Town. We can look for neighboring towns or counties."

The matchmaker's eyes widened: "Just say it straight: no one in Big Tree Town is falling for this anymore, so go and scam outsiders! But I'm a matchmaker, not a scammer."

“If one carpenter like Cai has already caused such a scene, what if we encounter an even more ruthless one? Wouldn’t he come knocking on our door with a knife? I wouldn’t dare do that.”

"I'm just giving you a friendly reminder. Things have gotten this big. Even if you contact the county or other towns, they'll find out everything once they ask around Qinghe Village. Don't waste your time."

Xiuxiu's mother collapsed to the ground: "Old sister, please teach me what to do now."

“What else can we do? With her current reputation, she might not be able to get married even if she were a second or third dan. Why don’t you wait a few more years until her younger brothers are older before you marry her?”

Xiuxiu's mother's vision blurred: "How can we wait that long?"

Hu Xiuxiu is already seventeen; in a few more years, she'll be twenty.

Then she's a true spinster! Forget about high dowries; the fact that she can't even get married is enough to make her lose face!

"How about we have your two sons work harder and do more work?"

Xiuxiu's mother shook her head, thinking that trying to pry her two eldest sons out of bed was harder than climbing to heaven.

"Hmph, if you can't do this or that, there's nothing I can do to help you."

Xiuxiu's mother dragged her tired body away from the town.

That's not the worst part. What's even worse is that the carpenter, Cai, is a big chatterbox who loves to seek validation.

The next day, he went to find a matchmaker to arrange a marriage, and told each person about his experiences.

They also portrayed Xiuxiu's mother as a greedy and ruthless shrew who wanted to sell her daughter and leech off her son-in-law.

The name Hu Xiuxiu instantly became a name that struck fear into the hearts of people in the marriage market of Dashu Town.

Xiuxiu's mother was hit hard again, and she even lost a lot of weight.