"Oh dear, Big Mouth Sister, it can't be that serious, it really can't be that serious. There must be some misunderstanding."
Granny Zhao was startled. She already felt sorry for her daughter, but then Zhao Da Zui maliciously suggested putting her daughter in a pig cage. She was furious, but all she could do now was try to calm him down.
“Alright, there is a solution to this. It’s not easy for my family to find a wife for our son, and I don’t want the whole village to say that my son is being cuckolded. Here’s what we’ll do: give me ten taels of silver, and we’ll call it even,” Zhao Dazui said.
"Ten taels! That's way too much!" Granny Zhao was astonished. Where did she get so much money?
"That's your family's business. I'll give you three days. In three days, you either take your wretched daughter to be drowned in a pig cage, or give me ten taels of silver." After saying that, Zhao Dazui turned and left.
Looking at her daughter who had been thrown to the ground, Granny Zhao felt both heartache and resentment towards her for being so weak. She went over to help her daughter up and asked, "Dahua, what exactly happened?"
"Mother, I don't want to live anymore. Just let me die. Wu Yong is a bastard. He actually lied to us. He married the eldest daughter of the Qian family. He doesn't want me anymore." Zhao Dahua was utterly despondent at this moment.
"What? Didn't he go to the capital to take the imperial examination? Didn't he tell you to wait for him to come back at home? How could this happen?" Granny Zhao was also surprised; she really couldn't understand what was going on.
After settling Zhao Dahua in, she went to town to find Wu Yong and get some answers. However, she was smarter this time and didn't make a scene like her daughter. Instead, she paid a few coins to a servant to pass on a message to Wu Yong. Soon after, Wu Yong came out and they secretly met in a back alley.
Seeing Wu Yong come out, Granny Zhao hurriedly stepped forward: "Little Wu, what exactly happened? You told us that you would take the money to go to the capital for the imperial examination, but how come you ended up marrying Miss Qian here?"
Wu Yong came out to meet with Granny Zhao, wanting to clarify things. He was also afraid that the Zhao family would keep coming to bother him about this matter. So he sighed and said, "Aunt Zhao, to tell you the truth, I was taking the money to take the imperial examination when I was targeted by thieves at the inn. I lost all my money. I returned to town in a daze and bumped into Ruyi."
Ruyi fell in love with me at first sight. She gave me money to go to the capital for the imperial examination, but I was incredibly unlucky. I fell seriously ill in the capital and failed the exam. When I returned, Ruyi didn't despise me; instead, she was willing to marry me. I couldn't bear to betray her, so I agreed.
Actually, his words were half true and half false. It was true that he lost the money, and it was also true that he and Ruyi bumped into each other by chance in town. Qian Ruyi did indeed fall in love with him at first sight, captivated by his sweet words, and gave him money for his trip to the capital for the imperial examinations. However, instead of falling seriously ill in the capital, he failed the exams due to a lack of talent.
However, when he returned, he told a different lie. Qian Ruyi felt even more sorry for him, and under his sweet words, she secretly pledged her life to him and married him.
"You can't be so heartless as to betray Miss Qian, but you can betray my daughter?" Upon hearing Wu Yong's words, Granny Zhao's heart turned cold. She realized that this man definitely wouldn't want her daughter anymore. Her poor daughter had just miscarried and was now at home, weeping and heartbroken, while Wu Yong was beaming with joy on his wedding night.
Granny Zhao was furious: "Wu Yong, you hypocrite! Don't forget that I have a written agreement in my hands. You have betrayed my daughter so heartlessly. I will take the agreement to the authorities and sue you. We will all die together."
"Oh dear, Aunt Zhao, no, no, no, please don't do this. I'll make it up to you however you want, but you absolutely can't do this. Actually, I still have feelings for Da Hua, but you see, I'm not an official anymore, just a lowly scholar. Even if I go back to the village, Da Hua and I can't be together openly. Hesitating won't be good for Da Hua, don't you think?"
Upon hearing this, Wu Xiucai panicked, truly regretting why he had written that damned agreement in the first place; now he was being controlled by others.
After hearing this, Granny Zhao calmed down. Now that things had come to this, it was not the time to dwell on these feelings and love. So she said, "That Zhao Dazui is asking me for ten taels of silver. I really don't have any. Now that you've become the Qian family's son-in-law, give me the silver now and I'll shut Zhao Dazui up."
Upon hearing this, Wu Yong lowered his head and said weakly, "To be honest, although I am now the son-in-law of the Qian family and seem wealthy, I really don't have any cash on hand. All the money is with my wife."
Granny Zhao was even more furious upon hearing this. She said angrily, "That Zhao Dazui said that if I can't come up with ten taels of silver for her within three days, she'll make my Da Hua drown in a pig cage. If my Da Hua dies, then you won't be able to escape responsibility either."
"Aunt Zhao, don't worry. Give me some time to think of a solution. You go back first, and once I've figured it out, I'll send someone to find you. Don't worry, I'll definitely find a way. I can't just stand by and watch someone die."
When Wu Yong saw that Granny Zhao was getting agitated, he quickly calmed her down. After Granny Zhao left, Wu Yong returned to the Wu Mansion. It was called the Wu Mansion, but it was just a house that Master Qian had bought next to the Qian family's house as part of Qian Ruyi's dowry. The land deed was in Qian Ruyi's name, but it was called the Wu Mansion to give Wu Yong face.
Qian Ruyi had already heard from the servants that Wu Yong needed to go out, and asked him coldly, "Where have you been?"
Wu Yong was truly at a loss; the truth would eventually come out. Now that Qian Ruyi was his man, he had no choice but to rely on her. So, he tried to embellish his words, saying:
“Ruyi, Zhao Dahua’s mother just found me and begged me to save Zhao Dahua. Her mother-in-law wants to drown her in a pig cage and says she will only stop if I give her ten taels of silver. I didn’t want to get involved at first, but I borrowed money from her when I first came to the capital. I didn’t read the written agreement carefully at the time, and it contained a lot of nonsense about me marrying her daughter. Now she’s using the agreement to pressure me, and I don’t know what to do.”
After listening attentively to Wu Yong's words, Qian Ruyi had already made her judgment: Zhao Dahua and her daughter were truly hateful!
Thinking about herself, her mother was a maid of Master Qian who climbed into his bed and secretly went to the countryside to give birth to her. She thought she could live a life of wealth and honor, but she died of illness. Fortunately, Madam Qian, her mother, was an upright person who did not mistreat her and treated her like her own daughter. However, she never expected that her mother would give birth to Qian Duobao and pay less attention to her. She hated it to the extreme and tried to frame her several times, but failed. Later, Madam Qian found out and their relationship cooled down.
She was all alone and destitute; her father only cared about his wife and didn't like her at all. She only wanted to find someone she liked, but unexpectedly bumped into Wu Yong. She was deeply attracted by Wu Yong's temperament, and the two eventually got together. She thought she finally had a home.
Unexpectedly, Li Rouniang started spouting nonsense. Her father had a very bad impression of her husband, and now there was this whole Zhao Pozi thing. Her father absolutely couldn't find out!
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