Seeing that the family was busy and in chaos, Mrs. Cheng invited the cook to come over. After a little inquiry, she found out what was going on.
She chuckled and said to the fifth brother, Xia Youliang:
"The old couple are still too soft-hearted."
After saying that, without caring about Xia Youliang's reaction, he called Liu Lang over and gave him a few words of advice. Liu Lang nodded and ran away.
A moment later, the fourth family living by the South Lake received the news.
Ever since the day Xia Youcai proposed to break up the engagement, he knew that sooner or later he would have to face the old couple coming forward to mediate.
Jiang felt helpless and didn't want to go. Her eyelids had been twitching since she woke up this morning, and she felt a little uneasy.
Xia Youtian comforted her: "Don't be afraid, don't say anything. I'll take care of everything. Just take care of yourself."
Jiang suppressed her uneasiness and nodded.
She always pays attention to etiquette. Whenever she goes back to her parents' home, she always brings some food to share with everyone. Now that she is going to the old house, she naturally cannot bring anything empty-handed.
After much deliberation, I finally prepared a small jar of Xia Daohua’s newly developed mushroom sauce, and also brought a piece of ruler as a souvenir.
This mushroom sauce is very popular now and is sold at a higher price than kimchi.
It was quite generous of Mrs. Jiang to take out a small jar.
When the old couple sent Silang to invite them, the couple from the fourth room took the gift and left leisurely.
As soon as I walked outside the gate of the old house, I saw Liu waiting there:
"Fourth brother, sister-in-law, you are here, please come in!"
Liu's face was full of enthusiasm and she treated the fourth couple very kindly.
Xia Youtian and Jiang exchanged a glance, and Xia Youtian said, "I dare not accept Sister Liu as your fourth brother. My relationship with the eldest brother of the Xia family has been severed."
As soon as Xia Youtian said this, Liu's face froze.
She never expected that Xia Youtian, who had always been honest and kind and never argued, would be so disrespectful to her in front of outsiders.
The old couple came out upon hearing the noise. Without even looking at Liu, they addressed the couple from the fourth room directly:
"Arita, if you're here, come in quickly, why are you standing at the door?
You're not tired, but your wife is a twin, how could she not be tired? Why didn't you tell her to go inside and sit down and rest, and let her come here to stand here as punishment?"
Xia Youtian felt so ashamed after hearing what Zhou said that he hurried to support his wife Jiang.
Jiang blushed in embarrassment, and quickly picked up the gift in her hand to cover up the conversation, and handed it to Zhou:
"Mom, this mushroom sauce was invented by Daohua. I think you'll probably like the taste. Try it today and see if it suits your taste. It's not big, so you can adjust it as you see fit. It's also very soft and comfortable to make a pair of shoe uppers or something."
Zhou took it with a smile: "Old Fourth's wife, you are a filial son. Come in quickly, don't tire my dear grandson."
The couple from the fourth room followed Zhou's instructions and went into the house, leaving Liu at the door.
Liu was extremely angry, but she still had to put on a smile.
She took a few deep breaths until the muscles on her face were less tense and her smile less distorted, then she returned to the battlefield.
The couple from the fourth room entered the house and saw the fully laid out table. They discovered that Mrs. Liu had even hired a cook.
Although the meal prepared by the chef was not a high-end meal that cost ten taels of silver per table, it was obvious that the dishes were exquisite, the ingredients were rich, and a lot of thought was put into it.
Liu actually invested such a huge amount of money, it seems that what he wants is not small!
Xia Youtian and Jiang looked at each other. Jiang's face was full of worry. Xia Youtian shook her hand, indicating that she should not worry and that he would be at the forefront of everything.
Old Master Xia and Mrs. Zhou sat at the table, and the fourth wife and her husband, Mrs. Liu, and Jinhua were also seated. The second, third, and fifth wives were also invited to join them.
Originally, Liu was reluctant to let the other three wives accompany her. After all, if the fourth wife and her husband were not polite, she would only be embarrassed in front of the fourth wife, and the degree of shame would be different from being embarrassed in front of the whole family.
But the old couple insisted that the apology must be made with sincerity.
If you can't apologize in front of everyone, saying it in private won't show your sincerity!
Liu had no choice but to agree, but she also mentioned one condition: except for Jinhua, no younger people were allowed to be present.
The old couple felt that this request was not excessive. Besides, they sincerely hoped that the first and fourth wives could put aside their past grudges and reconcile as before. This little thing was naturally not worth mentioning.
As a result, only the adults from the five families sat at the table, and the children were excluded.
Fortunately, in order to prevent the children from making trouble and also because she felt sorry for them, Old Lady Zhou instructed the cook in advance to fry a large pot of meatballs for the children.
This way, the children will have something to eat and can play in peace without disturbing the adults' work.
At the banquet, Liu, along with Jinhua, made a sincere apology to the fourth couple in front of the old couple and the heads of several other families.
However, her sincerity is only reflected in her attitude.
When it came to the specific mistake she had made, she began to be vague, saying only that she shouldn't have allowed Jinhua and Lihua to clash, causing the two children to misunderstand each other...
Then he asked Jinhua to kneel down and kowtow, begging for forgiveness from the fourth couple.
If Xia Youtian and Jiang Shi refused to forgive, Jinhua would kneel before them and not get up.
After saying this, Xia Youtian and Jiang's faces turned ugly.
They thought that if they came here today, they would definitely be forced.
They also knew that since even Xia Youcai was not present, this so-called apology must not be very sincere.
But they didn't expect that Liu would resort to this trick, making Jinhua kneel in front of them and forcing them to accept this so-called apology.
Xia Youtian thought for a moment and said word by word:
"Jinhua, get up quickly. This is a matter between me and my elder brother. It has nothing to do with you, a junior. Don't get involved."
"Uncle, I won't get up. This is all my fault, and I've been punished... If you don't forgive me, I won't get up!"
Xia Youtian looked embarrassed:
"Jinhua, you didn't let me down, you let Lihua down.
If you want forgiveness, you have to go and talk to Lihua.
Although I am Lihua's father, whether she is willing to forgive you is not up to me. In this world, there is no reason for a father to pressure his own daughter to accept an apology from an outsider.
So even if you kneel to me, it will be in vain.
You are a young lady with a delicate body. If you get cold air in your legs, it will be no joke."
Seeing that Jinhua still refused to get up, Jiang Shi went over to help her up, even with her big belly.
"Jinhua, get up quickly! Don't kneel for too long. It's hurting your body."
When Jinhua saw the thin shrimp-whisker bracelet on Jiang's wrist, she suddenly became furious and snapped Jiang's hand open. "Don't pretend to be nice! If you hadn't instigated this, how could my fourth uncle have severed his relationship with my father?"
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