Chapter 018 Ex-fiancé's House
Xu Zhenying turned around and looked at Manager Niu with a smile, "Manager Niu, I forgot to tell you that the officials came in a hurry that day, and I was thrown into prison before I had time to pack anything. The marriage certificate is probably still in the Xu family's backyard, but now the Xu family's yard has been confiscated-"
"What?!" Niu Zhangshi raised his voice, his expression instantly becoming very ugly, and he wanted to walk away in anger. "After all this talk, are you just teasing me?"
Niu Zhangshi made a gesture and shouted to his men to pull back the cart of supplies.
"Don't get angry, Chief Ox." Xu Zhenying's expression remained unchanged, but he spoke calmly, "Although I don't have a marriage certificate, my parents are here. I'll have my father write a handwritten letter of annulment. According to the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the effect is the same, and the marriage can be annulled."
Manager Niu was sulking and only thinking about how to do his job, but Mrs. Zheng kept urging him to get the marriage certificate back.
Now that the money has been spent and the things have been given, there seems to be no other way.
But Manager Niu was unwilling to let Xu Zhenying get his wish, so he naturally pretended to be unwilling.
"Miss Xu Liu is really good at talking. Business is all about trust, and you kept saying from the beginning that the marriage certificate was with you!"
Xu Zhenying knew that this old fox was just playing tricks on her, so she wasn't in a hurry. Instead, she was calmer than Manager Niu. "Manager Niu, you can take your time to think about it, but we're leaving soon. Alas, I'm just worried about how you'll report back. The marriage certificate is long gone, and this thing has been delivered. If you go back empty-handed like this, I'm afraid Madam Zheng won't let you go so easily."
Niu Zhangshi glared at him, "Are you threatening me?"
Xu Zhenying smiled. "That's not a threat. Wouldn't it be nice if we could work together to get what we need? You take my father's handwritten letter of annulment and report back, and I take the supplies you brought and disappear quickly. Isn't that a win-win situation?"
Niu Zhangshi snorted twice, knowing that there was nothing he could do at this point. He was just being played around by her, and he was in a bad mood. He said coldly, "In that case, why don't you write me a letter of annulment!"
Xu Zhenying smiled and turned to Xu Degui beside him and said, "Dad, please write a letter of cancellation of engagement and give it to Manager Niu."
Xu Degui felt mixed emotions as he watched Xu Zhenying bargaining for a truckload of supplies.
He wondered for a moment how his daughter became so eloquent, and at the same time he lamented that the Zheng family was a worthless family.
Just looking at Xu Zhenying's unmoved face, as if the only thing in her eyes was the truck of supplies, and she didn't care at all about her engagement being broken off, she just let her be.
Never mind, my daughter is right, a forced melon is not sweet.
What's more, it wasn't just his daughter who had her engagement broken off. Even Xu Yinxi from his second brother's family had her engagement broken off. Thinking about it this way, what was there for this small Zheng family to be nostalgic about?
At that moment, Xu Degui waved his hand and began to write the letter of withdrawal of engagement under the watchful supervision of Niu Zhangshi.
Manager Niu turned to Xu Zhenying and urged, "Sixth Miss, you take the supplies. The carriage belongs to our Zheng family."
"I know, I know."
Everyone in the Xu family was beaming with joy, guarding the cart of supplies. Huang Cui'e sat happily in the carriage, checking each item one by one. Suddenly, she looked up and saw Xu Zhenying's face. She was startled and said, "Sixth girl, is everything settled?"
Xu Zhenying nodded and began to give instructions in an orderly manner, "Aunt, move the things down quickly. This carriage belongs to the Zheng family, we have to return it to them."
Without waiting for Huang Cui'e to call out, Xu Zhenying continued, "We're about to set off, so we need to hurry. Fourth Aunt, go up and count and distribute the items. Each person will receive a straw raincoat and straw sandals, and each family will receive a bag of large luggage. I've just asked the escort, and all male members of the Xu family over the age of fifteen must wear shackles, so the luggage will have to be carried by us women and children. I suggest that, with the exception of Xu Meixiao and Xu Huirong, who are under ten, the rest of the Xu family share the weight of the luggage equally."
Huang Cui'e's mind raced, and she quickly said, "How can that be possible? I'm the only laborer in my family, right?"
"Don't worry, Auntie." Xu Zhenying spoke calmly, her tone neither hurried nor impatient, asking everyone to calm down and listen to her arrangements. "Fourth Auntie will distribute the supplies first, then give them to the younger generations equally, and then distribute the rest. Let's get moving!"
Huang Cui'e always felt that she had not gained any advantage and wanted to shout a few words, but the escort on the other side had already started to urge her.
Everyone in the Xu family had to act quickly.
Only the second branch of the Xu family did not move.
Xu Lezhi stood aside, looking up and complaining to Lian Qiuzhi, "Mom, when did it become Xu Qingying's turn to be the head of our Xu family? Grandma is really something. Why do we have to listen to her orders? It's just a small exchange of supplies, is it that serious?"
"Don't worry about them." Lian Qiuzhi pulled the little ones behind her, squatted down and straightened her daughters' clothes and hair, and said earnestly, "They say a fallen phoenix is no better than a chicken, but we can't belittle ourselves. Especially at times like this, we must not lose our integrity and dignity, otherwise we will be no different from them."
Xu Lezhi snorted, seeming quite disdainful.
Lian Qiuzhi saw the people from the eldest wife rushing into the carriage and rummaging around, shouting and arguing in the crowd for a few pairs of straw sandals and a few water bottles. This instead attracted the attention of the people from the Fang family, and some even covered their noses and laughed, as if they were extremely disdainful.
Lian Qiuzhi was proud and arrogant, and could not stand such humiliation. She straightened her body even more and stood motionless in the crowd, as if she wanted to separate the second branch from the others with her arrogant attitude.
She wanted people to know that even though Lian Qiuzhi had fallen on hard times, she was still a person of integrity and upbringing at heart, and was not the same kind of person as the Xu family.
Xu Yinxi frowned.
She did look down on her aunt's petty behavior, but she also felt that at a time like this, she shouldn't be concerned about her demeanor.
She was panicked and full of fear about the trip to Qianzhou.
But the mother didn't care.
Seeing Lian Qiuzhi's calm demeanor, Xu Yinxi could only console herself with the thought that her grandfather was still serving as an official in the imperial court. Perhaps the officials would take good care of them along the way. He might even send someone to give them some money to support their lives once they reached their destination.
In this case, exile is not a big deal.
But just as she was thinking this luckily, Xu Yinxi thought of the expression of the nanny in the prison that day, and another terrible guess came to her mind: Will her grandfather really care about them?
She shook her head and put aside this terrible conjecture.
The consequences would be too terrible and she couldn't afford it.
Xu Deyuan had originally wanted to ask Lian to get some supplies, but as soon as things got tangled up, he naturally didn't want to argue with Lian anymore, so he just raged at the concubines: "What are you standing there for? Why don't you go over and help?"
Xu Deyuan looked at the truck full of supplies and felt his back straighten. Although he had not suffered any physical pain in prison these few days, he had lived a life of luxury for many years. Now he was dirty and unkempt, and he felt uncomfortable all over.
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