Chapter 5 Chapter 5 Trouble
Zhang's parents have always treated their three children equally. Even though they do value their son more in their hearts, they do not show favoritism in their actions. What their son has is always better than what their daughters have.
Moreover, they valued Zhang Mengzhi more not because of the traditional preference for boys over girls, but mainly because the existence of this son allowed Zhang's parents to hold their heads up in front of outsiders and not be scolded for having no descendants.
Moreover, having Zhang Mengzhi around is also good for the sisters. At least their in-laws won't dare to do anything to them for the sake of their natal family.
It is no wonder that most families favor boys over girls. In addition to their own favoritism, there are also external reasons.
After all, without a son, it is very easy for the family to be taken advantage of. Zhang Mengzhi has seen it with his own eyes, so he is very caring towards his sisters.
With him around, my sisters will have someone to rely on after they get married, and won't be bullied as helpless people.
The most pitiful are those women who have no brothers. After their parents pass away, they are bullied not only by their in-laws but also by their relatives from their own family.
Zhang Mengzhi was awakened by bursts of noise. He rubbed his eyes and sat up.
"You can cancel the engagement, but I will agree to cancel the engagement if you return the betrothal money. Otherwise, forget it."
Mother Zhang said loudly, not caring at all how ugly the other party's face was when he heard the word "dowry".
The girl's family was asked to take out the money they had swallowed, but they were reluctant to do so and decided to default on the debt.
"This mother-in-law..."
Some flattering voices were heard.
"Bah, you are here to break off the engagement, who are you calling mother-in-law? Do you have any shame?"
Although Zhang's mother has a gentle nature, she immediately becomes stiff when it comes to her son.
You can scold her, but if anyone dares to bully her son, Zhang will fight to the death. The three children in the family are her lifeblood, so Zhang, who has never quarreled with anyone, can face the Wang family with a tough attitude.
"If you have any shame, why don't you agree to cancel the engagement? You keep pestering me and refusing to agree. Who is shameless?"
When the Wang family saw that Mother Zhang was not listening, their faces immediately changed and their words became unpleasant to the ears.
"Who is shameless? You can cancel the engagement, but you have to return the betrothal money, right? You want to cancel the engagement but don't want to return the money. I have lived for most of my life, but this is the first time I have seen such a shameless person. To say that your skin is as thick as a city wall is an understatement. You should almost circle the city."
When it comes to money, Mother Zhang is not confused.
Two hundred yuan is not a small amount of money. It is enough to cover their family's daily expenses for several years, so they must get the money back no matter what.
"After all, our daughter is engaged to your son. This betrothal gift is the Zhang family's compensation to Aya. It won't be embarrassing to go back."
The Wang family is even more shameless than one might imagine. They clearly don't want to return the money, but they also want to cancel the engagement without any loss. The beads on their abacus are almost sticking to Zhang Mengzhi's face.
"Who would cancel an engagement without returning the betrothal money? Even if it's embarrassing, it's your Wang family, not my Zhang family."
Mother Zhang would not be fooled by this. Nothing is more important than money.
"No retreat."
The Wang family was determined to deny the payment to the end. Zhang Mengzhi was not at home anyway, so as long as they were thick-skinned enough, they would not have to return the two hundred yuan.
"Wang Hongcheng, get out of here..."
Because of their shameless remarks, Zhang's mother was so angry that she felt dizzy, but she didn't wait for her mother to kick them out of the Zhang family.
“Pah.”
The door of the small room was opened from the inside, startling the people who were arguing outside.
"Zhang, Zhang Mengzhi, you're back?"
When the Wang family saw Zhang Mengzhi standing at the door of the room with a gloomy face, they all started to stutter.
If there is anyone in the Zhang family that scares them, it is only Zhang Mengzhi.
Mr. and Mrs. Zhang are both honest and respectful people. They would not behave like the Wang family. As long as they acted unreasonable a few times, they would have a legitimate reason to embezzle the money.
However, when they saw Zhang Mengzhi, they knew that their plan would not work.
The engagement was also forcibly abducted by taking advantage of their help to Zhang Mengzhi's maternal family. In view of their kindness to her grandmother, even if the kindness was insignificant, Zhang Mengzhi accepted the marriage.
At that time, the Zhang family was not as well off as it is now, so my parents took out all their savings and gave it to the Wang family as a betrothal gift.
You have to know that when they got engaged, Zhang Mengzhi had just turned ten years old!
The Wang family was attracted by the fact that the Zhang family had an independent courtyard in the city and that Zhang's father worked in a state-owned factory, so they insisted on using that insignificant favor to arrange this marriage for their daughter.
Now they went to the Zhang family to cancel the engagement. Although Zhang Mengzhi didn't know the reason, he knew that they would not do this if there was no big enough benefit. The Wang family has always put profit first.
After all, they were his fiancée's family, so he had to find out clearly.
After finding out the truth, Zhang Mengzhi did not allow her family to have any contact with the other party, and did not send any gifts during the Chinese New Year or other festivals.
He thought that it would not be too late to cancel the marriage when he came of age, and then he would not ask for the betrothal gift in order to compensate the girl.
As a result, before Zhang Mengzhi could come to cancel the engagement after two years, the Wang family came impatiently to cancel the engagement, and the Zhang family was definitely not going to accept this.
Don't say that the Zhang family is double-standard. It's not the same thing for the Zhang family to take the initiative to cancel the engagement and for the Wang family to come and make trouble to cancel the engagement.
This betrothal gift naturally cannot be compensation, so the money must be returned.
"Yes, I'm back. You didn't expect that! Fortunately, I'm back. If I hadn't come back, how could I have seen this big show today?"
Zhang Mengzhi's eyes swept across the unnatural faces of the Wang family.
Especially his so-called fiancée, there was a look of horror on her face.
It seems that there is something serious going on in this broken engagement. Zhang Mengzhi, who knew what kind of people the Wang family was, immediately figured it out.
If the Wang family wanted to return the goods, they must have found a buyer with better conditions than the Zhang family who could bring them greater benefits.
"Brother Zhang, I was young and ignorant before, and I mistook the relationship between brother and sister for love. Now I understand and don't want to delay you, so can you forgive me this time? After all, a marriage without love will not be happy, you understand?"
Wang Lingya blinked her big watery eyes and looked at Zhang Mengzhi, wanting to deal with him the same way she usually used to deal with other men.
"Stop blinking. I'm afraid your eyeballs will fall out if you blink again. Your usual tricks don't work on me. I won't eat them."
Zhang Mengzhi didn't give her any face at all. In order to avoid being entangled by the Wang family, he had prevented the Zhang family from having any contact with them for so many years.
Moreover, the Wang family also knew that their act of forcing the marriage was not fair, so they did not dare to come to the Zhang family with the betrothal money to get in the way.
Especially when Zhang Mengzhi looked at them with his pair of clear black and white eyes, the Wang family always felt insecure and even afraid.
The reason for breaking off the engagement this time was because they knew Zhang Mengzhi was away in the countryside and thought he would not return to the city so soon, so the family came to Zhang's house to do some work, hoping to get things done before he returned to the city.
However, what the Wang family never expected was that Zhang Mengzhi would return to the city so soon.
Since they didn’t see him come back after the first college entrance examination, they thought it would take another year or two for Zhang Mengzhi to come back, but now he’s back.
At this time, the Wang family forgot that the reason they targeted the Zhang family was not only because the Zhang family had good conditions, but also because the Zhang family had relatives who were officials in the city.
Although this relative is a bit distant, he is still a relative, isn't he?
Apart from anything else, during the most chaotic times, they relied on this kindness to avoid many troubles and successfully survived the turbulent times.
Those whose family conditions were similar to theirs had long been arrested and criticized by the Red Guards.
The main reason was that the Wang family’s background was not very good. Although they were not landlords, they were rich peasants. Moreover, the Wang family often bullied farmers in the old society. Therefore, they were very afraid that the past would be brought up again and they would be arrested and criticized in those years.
Especially in the past few years, it was so chaotic. If it weren't for my identity as a relative of the Zhang family, I would definitely be the target of criticism. After all, the Wang family has never been a good family, and there are too many people who hate them.
However, now they no longer worry about being criticized, and their daughter has found a better partner, so the Zhang family must cancel the marriage.
It’s just that the Wang family was greedy and didn’t want to return the betrothal money after canceling the engagement, which angered the Zhang family.
Before Zhang Mengzhi came back, the Zhang family had heard the news and had been worried about this matter, so when Zhang Mengzhi came back, he found that they looked tired.
In this day and age, breaking off an engagement does not have a good reputation. They were worried that it would affect their son's future prospects and they did not sleep well for several days.
At first, she was just worried, but she didn't expect that the other party couldn't wait and came to Zhang's house to cancel the engagement on the first day her son returned.
However, the Wang family was also unlucky because they were most afraid of Zhang Mengzhi and deliberately came to cancel the engagement when he was away in the countryside. As a result, he happened to come back today and heard all their shameless lies.
"As for what you said about a marriage without love will not be happy, I agree, but what does this have to do with breaking off an engagement? This is the first time I've encountered someone breaking off an engagement but not returning the betrothal money. Why don't we go to the police station and have a good chat with the police, and ask them to find out why you suddenly broke off the engagement and didn't want to return the betrothal money?"
Zhang Mengzhi is not one of those men who are deceived and manipulated by her.
He has first-rate tea tasting skills. After all, he is a man who hangs out with Mou Dian and Mou Jiang.
Every time he heard Cha Zhi You Cha’s speech, he could identify with the person speaking, regardless of whether he was a man or a woman.
Compared with the characters in the novel, Wang Lingya's level is much lower. People who don't buy into her tricks can't help but get goosebumps when they hear her.
Knowing what the Wang family fears the most, Zhang Mengzhi would not let it go just because of a few words from her.
"Zhang Mengzhi, are you a man? After all, I have been your fiancée for so many years, so what's wrong with spending a little of your betrothal money? I have never seen a man as stingy as you, wanting to take back the betrothal money you gave to your fiancée. With your miserly behavior, don't even think about getting married in the future."
Seeing that Zhang Mengzhi didn't buy her tricks, Wang Lingya's face immediately changed. She looked at him fiercely and even cursed him, cursing that he would never be able to get married.
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