The three corpses were already emitting a foul stench, and if they were to wait until a place was found to bury them, it would take far too long.
The three families eventually opted for cremation based on everyone's advice. They didn't even need to find firewood; each family could simply bring some back with them.
Yun Mingwu's family in Pinghe Village also reached a conclusion at this time. After Li Rongrong's constant pleas, they told Liu Qingying that they would not make any more excessive demands, and even made a big concession on their future dowry. Only then did they agree that Grandpa Qi would not interfere in their family affairs for the time being.
But they didn't let them off so easily. This time, they even brought in several elders, wrote down all the regulations in black and white, and had the parties involved sign them.
Just when they thought the matter was over, Aunt Wu personally brought gifts to Yun Mingwu's house and directly expressed her desire to break off the engagement. She didn't mention Liu Qingying's problem at all, but instead pushed all the blame onto her son, Wu Shan.
She originally wanted to ask her second grandfather and the matchmaker who had arranged the engagement to come forward and cancel the marriage. However, to her surprise, they all told her to handle it herself. In order to avoid future troubles, she gritted her teeth and went anyway.
Despite forcing a smile and repeatedly apologizing to Yun Mingwu and the others, no matter how they tried to win her back or offer to postpone the wedding, she gritted her teeth and insisted on announcing the engagement.
"I know there's been a lot of commotion at home these past few days, please forgive me." Yun Mingwu was genuinely concerned for his stepdaughter and had spent a long time searching in the village before finally settling on Wu Shan.
“Every family has its own troubles, and our family is no exception. Ah Shan has been back for the past few days and has tried to integrate into rural life, but he still hasn’t learned many skills. I’ve had to teach him how to work in the fields many times, and he still can’t use a hoe skillfully. He says that in his current state, he can’t support his family at all. Moreover, everything in the house was provided by his younger brother, and he’s embarrassed to take anything. So he wants to wait until he can be independent before talking about marriage.”
"Then we can postpone the wedding date again." Li Rongrong felt that it wouldn't be a problem to postpone the wedding for a while.
But Yun Mingwu pulled her back, saying, "Sister-in-law, since the child is willing, we support him. Let's call off the marriage between the two families."
Seeing that Yun Mingwu had agreed, Wu's mother quickly got up to say goodbye, otherwise it would be awkward for both of them to stay any longer.
"They're bullying us too much! They said Liu Shan just got back and has nothing, so he can't support his wife and children right now. That's all just an excuse. We shouldn't have agreed to break off the engagement. What are we going to do with Yingying now?" Li Rongrong started nagging Yun Mingwu as she watched her daughter run into the room crying.
"What else do you want from people? If it were me, I would also consider whether I would have a peaceful life after marrying a wife like that." Yun Mingwu would no longer protect Li Rongrong and her daughter as he used to.
If it weren't for Li Rongrong's repeated pleas, and the fact that they were separated now, she really had nowhere to go. She couldn't just push her to the brink, especially since she had contributed to the family over the years. She could only make do like this, but the wounds she had inflicted would inevitably leave scars.
"But how can they, as outsiders, bully us like this?"
“You can’t just say things like that. Since we all live in the same village, we’re all part of the same community. There’s no such thing as outsiders or natives,” Yun Mingwu said, stopping her directly.
"What about Yingying? It's not good to be dumped like this."
"Do you think her reputation is good now? As for her future marriage, you can decide for yourself. I won't interfere anymore. The dowry will be based on the agreement we just signed. If you have any other opinions, you can divide it between you and your daughter as we agreed before."
Yun Mingwu finally saw through Li Rongrong and her daughter's intentions. Moreover, given Liu Qingying's personality, he dared not arrange another marriage for her, as it might end up harming someone else's family.
After saying that, Yun Mingwu ignored her. He still had to go out and find Yun Yang. It was hard for the child to have been hiding outside for the past few days.
Although Yun Yang wasn't present when things happened before, Yun Mingwu felt he should tell him everything, including the agreement with Liu Qingying and her daughter.
After Yun Mingwu left, Li Rongrong ran into the room and started crying. Although they might have been too demanding this time, they had all been together for so many years and had developed a strong bond. It was really unfair that they didn't show any consideration.
At this point, she also felt some resentment towards her daughter, feeling that her demands had gone too far and had angered Yun Mingwu, who was usually easy to talk to.
Topics that are of great interest to everyone always spread particularly quickly.
The matter they had just resolved quickly spread to most of the villagers.
"Why are they making such a fuss? Isn't this just a waste of time and energy?" Yun's mother got the news from her second uncle's house early in the morning.
"That's because A-Wu was too easy to talk to before and didn't want to argue with them too much, which allowed them to take advantage of him. But they forgot that people have a bottom line, and this time they just happened to cross it."
Yun Zhiming also knew that Yun Mingwu used to not only be responsible for village affairs, but also for household chores. He was busy every day, so how could he have time to deal with family relationships?
"However, I think Wu Yong's older brother made the right decision to break off the engagement this time. You know, marrying a good wife can bring prosperity to three generations, but marrying a bad wife can really ruin the family."
However, Yun's mother didn't think so. "Breaking off an engagement is always a disadvantage for the girl, and after this ordeal, it will be difficult for Liu Qingying to find someone from this village again."
"That's her own doing. People used to say that if you don't do stupid things, you won't die. This is entirely her own fault."
"But the price is too high. Things are chaotic everywhere now. We certainly won't feel as safe in other villages as we do here."
"So now they've reaped what they sowed. Ah Wu definitely won't be as attentive to her marriage in the future, and it will be very difficult for her to find someone with the same qualities as Ah Yong's older brother," Yun Zhiming said matter-of-factly.
“Don’t keep calling him ‘Brother A-Yong,’ he has a real name. Besides, we’ll be living in the village from now on, so you can’t call him that.”
"I'm not stupid, I know that much. But I'll be more careful in the future. His older brother's name is Wu Shan, right?"
"Yes, stop chatting here and hurry up and take some water to your son-in-law and the others. They've been in the fields for so long, they must be thirsty." Although Mrs. Yun sometimes likes to gossip, she always puts her family first.
"These two kids are so hardworking. Now we've become the most fortunate old folks in the village," Yun Zhiming remarked as he put the water bottle into the basket.
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