Madam Gu had a general idea of what was going on and didn't want to waste any more time with them. She broke the awkward silence by saying casually, "I haven't congratulated your eldest son yet! He's finally made something of himself!"
Officer Qin looked embarrassed, but Madam Qin replied happily, "Same to you!"
Suddenly noticing the unpleasant expressions on the faces of the Gu family members, and realizing that something was amiss, he quickly changed his words, saying, "Thank you!" He couldn't hide the joy on his face after all.
Fearing that his wife would cause trouble again, Officer Qin steeled himself and said, "My eldest son, you all know about the Emperor's bestowal of this marriage." He glanced at the reactions of the Gu family members.
The Gu family members were also unsure of his intentions, whether he was good or evil, so they remained silent and waited for him to continue.
Seeing the various expressions on everyone's faces, and noticing the expected angry shouts, Chief Constable Qin continued—
"In that case, we have wronged Yaoniang. Dalang also feels guilty and has specially asked someone to bring money to Yaoniang as compensation for breaking off the engagement."
As he spoke, he reached out to Aunt Qin for the silver. Aunt Qin reluctantly opened the box in her hand, handed it to Constable Qin, and laid it out on the table.
Officer Qin took the handkerchief, only to find that it contained a silver ingot of thirty taels. He glared at his wife. The words he had prepared stuck in his throat, and he couldn't utter them.
Gu Yaoniang glanced over discreetly from behind, a mocking smile playing on her lips. Compensation? It was merely a make-up of the money her family had given Qin Yuxiu. After a moment's thought, she understood the Qin family's meaning—the money was returned, the favor was acknowledged, and the two families had no further connection.
It's just a bit stingy.
Gu Pingsheng, realizing what was happening, couldn't hide his anger. Before his parents could speak, he reached out to snatch the bag of silver. Aunt Qin reacted quickly, protecting the silver.
"Who wants your filthy money!"
"Gu Pingsheng!" It was the Gu family couple who shouted in unison to stop them.
Seeing this, Gu Yaoniang spoke up, "Please don't take offense, elders. My younger brother is always impetuous; I don't think he meant any offense." She glanced at the number of silver ingots.
Seeing that Gu Yaoniang was still as gentle and polite as ever, Aunt Qin felt her posture straighten a bit. She stepped forward, took Yaoniang's hand, and pretended to wipe the corner of her eye, sighing before speaking. The regret on her face was genuine; Yaoniang was beautiful, kind, and capable, and she had originally been very fond of this daughter-in-law.
"Now that my eldest son has received the Emperor's reward, our marriage is naturally off. However, Yuxiu has studied hard all these years, and our family is not wealthy enough to give you much."
Yao Niang simply nodded knowingly, and before the others could speak, she spoke first—
"I don't understand what you two elders mean by compensation," she said slowly. "Our two families are very close. When Brother Qin went to Shuojing, we did our best to help him. Now that we are returning all the money, it is only fair for Uncle and Aunt. But I don't know where this talk of compensation comes from?"
She emphasized the word "in full." The Qin family was truly shrewd! Now that the engagement was broken off, they weren't even willing to return much of the travel expenses from back then! If she remembered correctly, the amount given in copper coins and silver shouldn't have been so little. They had only returned all the silver, yet they still wanted to save face by claiming "compensation."
Moreover... silver coins aren't worth as much as they used to be! I remember the year Qin Yuxiu left, a shi (a unit of dry measure) of rice cost 500 wen. Now, more than two years later, it costs 700 wen.
She looked at the Qin couple with a half-smile, making Officer Qin feel incredibly guilty. He knew, of course, that thirty taels of silver was barely enough to pay off his eldest son's debt from the imperial examinations; he had originally planned to earn a little more, just to save face. But his wife was incredibly stingy, secretly keeping the extra ten taels they had agreed upon! Now, he was in a dilemma.
Aunt Qin, however, lacked such a sensitive heart. In her moment of triumph, she couldn't possibly hear the sarcasm hidden in Yao Niang's words. She assumed that Yao Niang was still reluctant to let go of her marriage to Qin Yuxiu and wanted to make one last attempt to cling to her.
She pointed to the silver she had brought and said, "Now we have repaid your kindness! From now on, may you both marry and live well!"
Seeing that Yao Niang didn't respond and her expression was unreadable, she wasn't annoyed.
Aunt Qin was overjoyed at this moment, her face beaming with smiles. How could Yuxiu be so promising? He was the only top scholar in the entire imperial examination system!
Seeing that the Gu couple didn't look too good, Officer Qin quickly said, "It's not that we're ungrateful or that we easily abandoned Yao Niang to seek a higher position. It's just that we can't disobey the imperial decree, and we... have no choice."
Officer Qin spoke earnestly, and a hint of embarrassment gradually appeared on his face: "To be honest, my wife and I have come here today because we have a favor to ask of you."
The members of the Gu family exchanged glances upon hearing this, but remained silent. Officer Qin had no choice but to continue speaking, forcing himself to continue—
"I'm sorry, Yaoniang. My husband and I are both ignorant and naive. We couldn't bring ourselves to say it..."
Seeing this, Mr. Gu sighed, "You might as well just say it." In the end, he couldn't bear to see his brother of decades in such a predicament. Mrs. Gu was furious that her husband had lost his backbone first, and in her anger, she stomped on Mr. Gu's foot under the table, causing Mr. Gu's face to twitch.
Officer Qin rubbed his hands together and said with difficulty, "Yuxiu's letter today is not just to announce good news. She also hopes that you will consider our past relationship and refrain from mentioning that Yaoniang and Yuxiu were once engaged."
The Gu family members were all taken aback. Madam Gu sneered, "You Qin family members are all incredibly shrewd. Our Gu family's fine daughter has been wasted until now, becoming a laughingstock. And you're not even willing to bear the infamy?"
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