On this day in the middle of the month, Ji Yu arrived at the door of Gu Mansion early in the morning with the betrothal gifts.
As expected, the troublemakers arranged by Gu's father surrounded the gate of Gu's house and prevented Ji Yu from entering.
Ji Yu led a group of people walking in front, beating drums and gongs.
The old men blocked the entrance of Gu's house with their bodies, and the ladies who followed them to watch the excitement, as well as some Lin'an City citizens, women and children.
"Gentlemen, what is the purpose of today?" Ji Yu pretended to be confused and asked the question first.
The old man in the lead was a highly respected scholar in Lin'an City. He spoke first, "We heard that you were going to marry the daughter of the Gu family."
If Ji Yu hadn't heard from his sister that these people had all come to propose marriage to one another, he would have really thought that they had good intentions.
Ji Yu nodded in acknowledgment, clasped his fists and said to the crowd, "Indeed, I am here today to deliver the betrothal gift. The date has been set, it will be at the end of the month, I hope everyone will come and have a drink!"
An old man next to him held his chest and said with a sob, "You...you...you are confused!" What he actually wanted to say is, why do you like the daughter of a merchant family, and why do you look down on the girl from my family.
"I, Ji Yu, would like to ask what is meant by being confused! It is human nature to pass the imperial examination and have a wedding night! What's wrong with marrying your beloved one after you have achieved fame?" Ji Yu spoke each word clearly.
The crowd began to make a commotion. They had heard that Ji Yu had returned a few days ago, so they ran to Ji Shuyao one by one to promote their daughters. When they heard that Ji Yu was engaged to a merchant girl whose engagement had been broken off, the jealousy in their hearts was revealed one by one.
At this moment, someone in the crowd mustered up the courage to shout, "She has been rejected for marriage. She is not worthy of the most talented man in Lin'an City."
Although I know that Qingqing may have suffered a lot of slander, when I heard this, I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. This is Qingqing! She has never done anything wrong, but she was driven to despair by these rumors.
If it weren't for the development of the plot in the book, would she be forced to marry the prefect as a concubine? As a determined person, she would definitely choose to escape from the Gu family, but where could she go after leaving the Gu family? So she died on the way to the capital.
Thinking of this, Ji Yu's voice was filled with uncontrollable anger, "You said she was not clean. How could she be not clean? If the engagement was broken off, then it must be because there was something wrong with the person who proposed to break off the engagement! How did it become the person who was broken off who had the problem?"
"If there is nothing wrong with him, why would others cancel the engagement?" asked a woman who was covered in jewels but had a bad face.
"Then I would like to ask, madam, if your husband falls in love with a daughter of a high-ranking official or a noble family in order to marry into a wealthy and powerful family, is that your fault? It must be you who seduced other men, so your husband was forced to marry into a wealthy and powerful family." Ji Yu said word by word.
"Nonsense. That's nonsense." An old man said through gritting his teeth.
"Then I want to ask you all. Zhao Xiuyong was engaged to another woman in the capital. He wanted to marry into a wealthy family so he chose to cancel the engagement. The fault must be all his! Why do you all have to hold on to this woman?" Ji Yu's voice was sonorous and powerful, and every word was insightful.
"I'll leave what I want to say today. My marriage with the Gu family is settled. If there is any bad word about the Gu family again, I don't mind spreading it in the capital. The student named Zhao abandoned his parents' promise in order to curry favor with the officials. Let's see who can be drowned by the spit of people all over the world." Ji Yu's next words sounded like a threat, and were fierce.
Wang Shanchuan also agreed, "The one who takes the initiative to break off the engagement is the one who is ungrateful and heartless. The one who is broken off is the poor one, why should he be slandered with dirty words?"
Anyway, after hearing this, the prefect would never dare to spread rumors again. As long as the source of the rumor disappears, the spread will die out sooner.
After all, the prefect accepted benefits from Zhao Xiuyong's father-in-law. If he ruined the reputation of Zhao Xiuyong and his father-in-law because of his own selfishness, he would not suffer the consequences.
"You are unfilial! Your parents in heaven would be very sad to know that you married a woman who was rejected by a merchant family!" said an old scholar. He said this out of seniority and a bit of moral coercion.
"Your thoughts are so pedantic and conservative, no wonder you are still a sour scholar after all these years!!" Wang Shanchuan couldn't help but say, but his words were so loud that everyone present could hear them.
He was still a scholar at the age of nearly sixty, which had always been a knot in his heart. He originally thought that if his granddaughter could marry Ji Yu, he might be able to get a juren a hundred years ago.
Now Wang Shanchuan's sarcastic words made his old face blush. He was too embarrassed to stay any longer and just left in anger.
Ji Yu took out another piece of lawsuit paper from his arms and held it in front of everyone.
With an official tone, he threatened everyone, "When you spread the message, the girl from the Gu family was not married. Now that she has married me, I will not tolerate you slandering her. Here is the lawsuit paper today. It will be given to Uncle Gu as a betrothal gift. If anyone slanders her again in the future, I will sue her to the government office and never give up!!"
Everyone was also shocked by this sudden remark. What Ji Yu said was indeed true! If he became an official, it would not be a small crime to slander the official's wife again! Who dares to say anything more!
So no one spread any rumors about Gu Qingqing later. At most, they would say sarcastically that she was lucky because she broke off an engagement and got a better husband, the top scholar.
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