"Bastard! The most shameless!" Lord Yao slammed the teacup in his hand heavily onto the high table beside him. The celadon cup shattered and the scalding tea splashed everywhere!
This Jiangnan gentleman, who always paid attention to his manners, was now trembling with anger, and even the gray hair at his temples was shaking slightly.
It was not because he felt sorry for the illegitimate son who had been wronged, nor was it because he felt sad that Sang Wenyin had run away, but because this deception was like a loud slap in the face of the entire Yao family.
In order to cover up the scandal of their daughter's elopement, the Sang family actually sent a lowly maid to the Yao family as a scapegoat, treating the Yao family as the biggest fools in the world!
The hall was completely silent, with only the heavy breathing of Master Yao and Cui Yan's suppressed sobs as the sounds were heard.
"Father!" Yao Zhenyun finally exploded. He took a step forward, his red eyes almost dripping blood. "The Sang family has gone too far! I'm taking my men back to the capital right now! I'll bring that bitch Sang Wenyin back, even if it means tying her up! Let the world see the true face of the Sang family!"
If he doesn't vent this anger, he will never be able to hold his head up high in his life!
"Nonsense!" Lord Yao shouted.
Yao Zhenlin stepped forward almost immediately and spoke calmly, "Zhenyun, calm down! The capital is thousands of miles away from Jiangnan. Sang Wenyin had already vanished when we left the capital. That's plenty of time for her and her lover to find a place where no one knows them and live together forever! If you chase them now, not only will you come up empty-handed, but if you cause a big uproar, won't everyone laugh at our Yao family? Are you afraid that the people in the capital won't know about our marriage-substitution scandal?"
He looked at his father, and his meaning was clear: this family scandal must never be spread again.
Yao Zhenyun's chest heaved violently and his teeth chattered, but he knew that his brother and father were right.
Is this the only way to swallow this great humiliation? He stared at Cui Yan, who was kneeling on the ground, with a look that wished he could eat her alive.
"Then what do you say we should do? Do you want me to acknowledge this bitch?" Yao Zhenyun's roar was filled with desperate anger.
Mrs. Yao, who had been silent all the time, raised her eyes at this moment. Her face was also very pale, and there was heartache in her eyes, but more of it was consideration for the future of the family.
"Master," she looked at Lord Yao, her voice as calm as possible, "Now that things have come to this, should we write a letter to the Sang family to ask for clarification? After all, this involves the marriage between the two families..."
She always held on to a glimmer of hope, hoping that this was just a rebellion by the servants of the Sang Mansion and that the Sang family was unaware of it.
There was no change on Lord Yao's gloomy face.
After a long silence, he squeezed out a word from between his teeth: "Write."
Soon, a letter was sent to the capital by express horse.
After a few days of agonizing waiting, the Sang family's reply arrived.
Lord Yao practically snatched the envelope and tore it open.
Everyone in the hall held their breath.
The letter wasn't long. Lord Yao quickly scanned every word. His face, initially livid, gradually hardened, finally solidifying into an extremely cold expression.
He didn't even hand the letter to Mrs. Yao beside him. Instead, he crumpled up the letter paper and envelope into a ball and threw it to the ground.
"This is too much!" Lord Yao growled from the depths of his throat. "You villain! You are absolutely shameless!"
Mrs. Yao picked up the piece of paper with trembling hands and looked at it with Yao Zhenlin beside her.
"...I've heard some rumors spreading back from Jiangnan, but they're truly absurd! My eldest daughter, Sang Wenyin, was safely escorted away by the Jiangnan Yao Mansion's wedding procession on an auspicious day and time. Countless eyes in the capital witnessed this, and the bridal sedan chair and ceremonial procession were in full splendor. I wonder who, my nephew, maliciously fabricated the rumor of a 'substitute marriage,' and dared to defame our Sang family so much! I hope my nephew will thoroughly investigate the source and refrain from instigating such treachery. The one marrying into the Jiangnan Yao Mansion is, without a doubt, our Sang family's legitimate daughter, Sang Wenyin! Please do not believe these treacherous words and harm the harmony between our two families!"
After reading the letter, Mrs. Yao felt dizzy and almost fainted.
Yao Zhenlin's hands were shaking slightly, and anger was burning in his chest.
The Sang family has chosen the most shameless and cruel way - to stick to their mistakes and fight to the end!
Lord Yao took a few deep breaths, his eyes looking terrifyingly sinister.
He looked at Yao Zhenyun, his voice icy cold: "See? The Sang family has shame! They insist that it was Sang Wenyin who was sent here, just to force us to swallow this loss completely! Admit it, then we will bear the stigma of being a substitute bride and become the biggest joke in Jiangnan! Deny it? Make a fuss? The Sang family's loss of virginity is a scandal, and our Yao family's marriage was replaced by a maid, which is even more of a joke! They will bite us even harder than we do! Both families will be wallowing in the mire together!"
"So?" Yao Zhenyun's face was pale and his voice trembled.
"So?" Lord Yao's cold gaze swept over Cui Yan, as if he were looking at an object. "You must acknowledge her! She is Sang Wenyin! From today on, she is your wife. The Jiangnan Yao family will marry the daughter of the Sang family! As for the Sang family..." Lord Yao's eyes flashed with a cold light, "I will argue with them myself!"
That so-called "theory" is definitely not an upright means.
Yao Zhenyun felt as if struck by lightning, his body swaying. "I...how could I..." His voice was hoarse.
Marrying a poor woman was tolerable, but marrying a lowly maid as his wife? How would he establish himself in the Yao family? How would he establish himself in Jiangnan?
Yao Zhenyun felt completely hopeless.
Those brothers who were not close to him on weekdays also gathered around him, which was rare.
A hand fell on his stiff shoulder. It was the brother who had teased him at first. "Come on, Zhenyun, think about it... At least you married her alive, right? It's better than me spending a fortune to marry her, only to find she was a sickly woman who couldn't survive more than half a year. Besides," he leaned closer and lowered his voice, "the dowry the Sang family gave was really generous, a mountain of gold and silver, it's not a loss..."
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