Chapter 84 Annulling the Engagement
Originally, she only intended for Mu Jin to act as her eyes outside the mansion, keeping an eye on Xiao Su's mistress—Xiao Yuyao's biological mother.
These letters were also a pleasant surprise.
When Xiao Yuxuan quietly returned to Lanting Pavilion, Qin Yuan stepped forward and said that Miss Dai had arrived and was waiting for her in the side room where guests were being received.
She handed the letter to Qin Yuan and then quickly went to the side room.
By the end of April, the weather had warmed up considerably, but Dai Cheng was still wearing a thick spring cloak, her pale face hidden in the thin shawl, her lips deathly white.
Dai Cheng is nineteen years old this year. His grandfather is the Minister of Revenue, so he and Xiao Jue are considered a good match.
However, Dai Cheng's grandmother passed away at the beginning of last year, and she observed a year of mourning before finally marrying Xiao Jue this May.
Logically speaking, she should be at home embroidering her dowry and waiting to get married. What is she doing running to her fiancé's house to find her future sister-in-law?
Dai Cheng's fingers unconsciously clenched the thing in his hand, so tightly that his knuckles turned white, and he didn't even notice when Xiao Yuxuan came in.
"Sister Dai, what brings you here?"
Xiao Yuxuan roughly knew why she had come, but seeing her now, she still felt a pang of heartache.
Xiao Jue never cherished such a wonderful future sister-in-law.
Just days before the wedding, he caused a scandal involving the annulment of the engagement, which almost ruined the reputation of the Dai family. Although the wedding eventually took place, the Dai family completely broke ties with the Xiao family.
Dai Cheng trembled, and when she turned her gaze to Xiao Yuxuan, her eyes were already filled with tears.
“Sister Yuxuan, I... I shouldn’t have come to find you, but I really don’t know who else to turn to for help with this embarrassing situation…”
Dai Cheng's grandmother was in poor health. She grew up in Guangdong and Guangxi with her grandmother since she was a child. She only returned to the capital after her grandmother passed away. She didn't have any close friends in the capital. In the past month, the only person she got along with was her future sister-in-law, Xiao Yuxuan. The two often corresponded with each other.
But now that she's faced with this situation, she doesn't know who to confide in, and in the end, after much back and forth, she managed to get the coachman to the Xiao residence.
Although Madam Xiao disliked that she was running around at this time, she heard that she was looking for Xiao Yuxuan and thought it would be good for the future sister-in-law to have a closer relationship, so she gave her a few perfunctory words and let her come over.
"Sister Dai, don't rush, tell me slowly."
Xiao Yuxuan saw what she was clutching between her legs. Although she knew it perfectly well, she didn't show it on her face. She turned her head and ordered Qin Yuan to serve hot milk tea with glutinous rice balls, as well as a variety of sweet snacks.
Only the two girls, one big and one small, remained in the room. Dai Cheng then reached out her hand, revealing the letter inside.
Her voice carried a hint of sadness and disbelief:
"This fell out of your older brother's purse. His friend found it by chance and thought it was a note from me, so he asked me to return it. But it's not my handwriting at all... I wrote to your older brother to ask, and he actually... actually..."
Dai Cheng couldn't continue speaking. She turned her head to look at the lush leaves outside the window, trying not to let the tears in her eyes fall.
After calming down for a long time, she continued—
It turned out that Xiao Jue did not reply to her letter, but went directly to her and said that he already had a woman he liked and that he wanted to break off the engagement.
Although the current dynasty is no longer as harsh on women as it used to be, the breaking off of an engagement before the wedding still inevitably leads to speculation and conjecture about whether the woman has some moral failings that caused the marriage to fall through.
Even worse, some families of women whose engagements were broken off would, unable to bear the malicious speculation and gossip, lead their daughters to become nuns, or the girls themselves would commit suicide.
“I asked him who that woman was, but he wouldn’t say. He only said she was a woman a thousand times better than me. How ridiculous! She wanted to be engaged to my family back then, and now she’s playing the role of a lovesick fool…”
"There are still a few days until the wedding, how could he say something like that? Isn't he trying to kill me?"
Dai Cheng spoke haltingly, while Xiao Yuxuan listened quietly.
She seemed to have been holding back her resentment for a long time, and now she spoke her mind without any restraint. Only then did she realize that the person sitting in front of her was Xiao Jue's younger sister, and she couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.
Dai Cheng sighed and said:
"Fine, I was also at fault in this matter. If I had discovered it sooner, I wouldn't be caught off guard like this today..."
"What does this have to do with Sister Dai? It's clearly my older brother and his so-called crush who are in the wrong!"
Xiao Yuxuan hurriedly interrupted her, afraid that she would really think that she was also at fault.
“Since you are already engaged, elder brother should restrain himself and follow proper etiquette, and wait patiently to marry Sister Dai. Now that someone you admire has suddenly appeared, it's likely that you've already developed feelings for that person. Even if you do have someone you like, you should wait until you get Sister Dai's consent to bring them into the family. Why insist on breaking off the engagement for someone else? I don't know where you've learned your Confucian classics. Such a treacherous act is a disgrace to the Xiao family!”
Her voice was urgent and hateful, and it hit Dai Cheng right where it hurt. Fortunately, her future sister-in-law was on her side, so she wouldn't be completely isolated.
"As for that woman, since she knew that my elder brother was engaged, she should not have been having an affair with him and even encouraged him to break off the engagement."
Dai Cheng pursed his lips and sneered:
"Xiao Jue said that the woman never said she wanted him to break off the engagement. What a 'good girl from a good family'! In this world, there are women who are willing to remain hidden in the shadows even though they know their lover is engaged."
Xiao Yuxuan took the flower-patterned stationery from her hand:
"If love between two people is meant to last, why should they be together every day and night?"
Xiao Yuxuan frowned and hesitated, "This character..."
Dai Cheng was startled, and a bad thought popped into his mind.
"You recognize these words? Do you know this person?!"
Xiao Yuxuan quickly shook her head:
"It just feels somewhat familiar, but I can't quite place it. It seems like I've seen it before at the girls' school. Could it be one of the students there?"
She knew that the letter was written in Xiao Yuyao's handwriting, but with her left hand. Xiao Yuyao wouldn't leave such an obvious handle.
However, she had never seen the characters written with Xiao Yuyao's left hand, so she couldn't say that she recognized them and could only give a vague range.
Dai Cheng had never attended Yuxiu Academy, so naturally she didn't know whose handwriting matched that of this letter.
She frowned, lost in thought.
Actually, the most urgent task is not to find out who that "person he admires" is. Since Xiao Jue can say that the person did not ask him to break off the engagement, it is definitely useless to find that woman.
"Enough. I'm truly weary of the chaos in the capital. Why don't you let your elder brother break off the engagement? I'll go back to my hometown in Guangdong and Guangxi, and after a few years when no one cares about me anymore, I'll just find someone to marry..."
As Dai Cheng spoke, she became increasingly pessimistic, but Xiao Yuxuan held her hand, preventing her from continuing.
She stared at Dai Cheng, her expression serious, and said:
“Sister Dai, after this incident, you have seen that my elder brother is no good man. You should naturally break off this marriage. However, both he and that woman will have to pay the price!”
"Sister Dai, do you believe me?"
Dai Cheng paused slightly, and after a long while, nodded and said softly, "I believe you..."
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