Time passed quietly, and a week had gone by since the scheduled wedding date, but Zhao Honghui still hadn't returned.
Xie Yuyao then went to Sister Qiao's place and proposed to break off her engagement with Zhao Honghui.
Since she has not yet received the betrothal fee, there is no possibility of returning a large sum of money.
She then converted the betrothal gifts into cash and tickets and asked Sister Qiao to pass them on, but Sister Qiao refused.
Sister Qiao's explanation was: "Those were all purchased by Honghui, so if they are to be returned, they should be returned to Honghui."
Upon hearing this, Xie Yuyao stopped insisting and put the money away.
Seeing Xie Yuyao's indifference, the unaware Sister Qiao advised, "Yaoyao, it is said that it takes a hundred years of cultivation to share a boat ride and a thousand years to share a pillow. Can you give Hongfei some more time? If you have other ideas in the future, it will not be too late to break off the engagement."
Xie Yuyao remained unmoved: "Even if the engagement is called off, I'm not going to marry someone else right away. We'll talk about the future later. But right now, I want to regain my free single life."
"But this would be too hurtful to our feelings."
Xie Yuyao had also considered this point. She was not a naive person who was ignorant of the ways of the world, and she knew what this action meant.
But what can we do?
Life is precious, love is more precious, but freedom is the most precious of all.
Seeing that she was determined, Sister Qiao reluctantly agreed to help deliver the message.
That day, Sister Qiao came to Old Master Zhao's house. Yang Chunhua, who guessed her purpose, was flustered and forced a smile. When Sister Qiao mentioned the annulment of the engagement, her expression was more painful than crying.
Sister Qiao felt very sorry: "I don't know why Yao Yao is so determined. Did your family do something that crossed her bottom line?"
When asked this question, Yang Chunhua fell silent. She knew she was in the wrong and had no face to say anything.
Seeing Yang Chunhua's expression, Sister Qiao understood everything. Having learned from her mistake, and knowing Yao Yao's temperament, if she and Honghui were to marry in the future, Yang Chunhua would be more restrained and wouldn't be as controlling as she was with her other two daughters-in-law.
While feeling frustrated, Yang Chunhua also resented Yao Yao for being too heartless. Her eldest son was protecting the country, but Yao Yao only cared about herself. If Honghui were reinstated to the military, she was not cut out to be a military wife. Thinking this way, it was better to break off the engagement, so that Honghui wouldn't be unable to rest easy in the future.
From then on, Xie Yuyao and Yang Chunhua's relationship reached a freezing point, and the two rarely met, treating each other like strangers.
Zhao Hongqin, as a colleague, was with Xie Yuyao almost every day. Xie Yuyao treated her the same as always, and Zhao Hongqin saw that Xie Yuyao did not show the slightest sadness or grief, just as her mother said, heartless.
But she knew in her heart that Xie Yuyao just didn't want to get entangled in trouble and didn't have much resentment towards her older brother. If her older brother came back now, everything could be changed in time.
Despite her inner anxiety, her elder brother's whereabouts remained a mystery, making it impossible for him to send any messages.
Xie Yuyao devoted herself to studying medicine, and her skills improved by leaps and bounds, reaching the pinnacle of her acupuncture skills.
As a result, people from all around knew that there was a highly skilled doctor named Sun in Qingshan Village, and a doctor named Xie Yuyao who had mastered the essence of acupuncture.
More and more patients came seeking her advice each day, providing Xie Yuyao with numerous opportunities for practical experience.
"We have news about Jiang Yan."
One evening, Hui Zi came to Qingshan Village and told Xie Yuyao about Jiang Yan's whereabouts. He shared the information he had gathered with Xie Yuyao and then remarked with emotion, "The people I sent out made a special contact with her. She begged and pleaded, saying that she would rather accept the punishment of the law."
Xie Yuyao then called Wu Lihong and Bei Xiao to the backyard and told them about the situation, saying, "Whether or not to call the police is up to you two."
After all, they were both deeply threatened with death in the fire.
Given Jiang Yan's vicious nature, Xie Yuyao told the two of them without reservation that Jiang Yan was willing to turn herself in, since no matter what Jiang Yan's fate was, it wouldn't be good.
After hearing about Jiang Yan's fate, Wu Lihong and Bei Xiao remained silent for a long time.
Seeing this, Xie Yuyao told the two what she knew about the law: "According to the law, if arson has not yet caused serious consequences, the offender shall be sentenced to imprisonment for not less than three years but not more than ten years."
Upon hearing this, Bei Xiao immediately said, "Then let her stay in that remote mountain valley, lest she be sentenced to a few years and then come out to harm people again."
Wu Lihong also said, "Given her style of doing things, she will definitely try to reduce her sentence during this period. She may be released in less than three years, while we don't know how long we will have to stay."
There's always a saying: "You can only be a thief for a thousand days, not a thief for a thousand days."
If Jiang Yan were to come back to them like a mad dog demanding payment after her release from prison, their safety would be threatened. As long as that family could keep an eye on Jiang Yan, it would be safer for the educated youth than to let her go to jail.
It's no wonder they had selfish motives; anyone caught in the fire that night would find it difficult to escape unscathed like a saint.
However, neither of them paid any further attention to Jiang Yan's situation. Xie Yuyao, on the other hand, asked Hui Zi to send someone to check on her every now and then, in order to prevent her from escaping by some trick and launching an even more insane revenge.
Given her character, she would only blame the educated youth team for all the suffering, and would never look for the reasons within herself.
This also made Xie Yuyao realize that Jiang Yan had attempted to escape several times, but each time she was found and brought back by the production team. The last time, if she hadn't been pregnant, her legs would have been broken.
Jiang Yan used her unborn child to bully and oppress the three brothers. The brothers didn't know who the child's father was, so they simply assumed it was their own offspring and tried their best to meet Jiang Yan's demands, even going so far as to borrow money to buy her fine grains.
Jiang Yan herself didn't know who the father of the child was, treating the fetus like a tool. Her excessive eating and drinking resulted in her body becoming increasingly obese, like an inflating balloon.
When she reached the later stages of her pregnancy, a local woman with experience in childbirth warned her and the family that they absolutely could not continue like this, otherwise they would have difficulty giving birth.
Jiang Yan had grown accustomed to a life of lavish meals and felt that the women were simply jealous of her good life and had no good intentions. She made a scene at the three brothers' restraint, crying that they were unworthy of being fathers.
The three brothers had no choice but to satisfy her while sending the youngest to the commune clinic to consult a doctor.
After learning from the clinic that there were indeed cases of babies being too big for childbirth, the third son returned home and began to control Jiang Yan's diet according to the doctor's advice.
Before she could even give birth after ten months of pregnancy, Jiang Yan was pushed by her hot-tempered second son during a big argument.
She fell to the ground and cried out in pain; blood soon appeared beneath her.
The brothers frantically asked the local production team's midwife for help with the delivery. After two days and two nights, the baby boy, weighing seven pounds and nine months pregnant, was finally born. However, Jiang Yan died from postpartum hemorrhage due to difficult labor.
After learning of the result, Xie Yuyao did not tell Wu Lihong and the others, so as not to trouble them.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
