Chapter 3 It turns out the Lin family stole the marriage.
The thought of her daughter still being mentally impaired filled Lin Wangshi with sorrow.
She desperately wanted her daughter to get better soon, but the thought of being gossiped about behind her back made her wish her daughter could be a little simple-minded so she wouldn't be subject to the world's rumors.
Meanwhile, Lin Dayou and his son braved the heavy rain and rushed towards Wangjia Village.
Perhaps even the heavens took pity on Lin Luoxi's plight, for just as the Lin family father and son rushed to Wangjia Village to seek justice for Lin Luoxi, the heavy rain suddenly stopped, revealing a ray of sunshine.
After arriving at Wangjia Village, the rain stopped, which was the perfect opportunity for the Lin father and son to make their move. They wanted to rush in and argue with Wang Xiucai, but it seemed that Wang Xiucai's family knew that the Lin father and son had returned, so they locked the gate early and pretended that no one was home.
The Lin family father and son had found out that the Wang family was at home, so the fact that they dared not open the door meant that they also felt they had gone too far.
Enraged, Lin Dayou disregarded any semblance of male dignity, grabbed his two sons, and began to hurl insults at the Wang family at the door, calling them ungrateful bastards.
Despite Lin Dayou's honest appearance, the three of them stood at the Wang family's gate in front of the neighbors and recounted how much money the Wang family had secretly asked them for over the years, such as subsidies for Wang Xiucai's studies.
They stood in front of the Wang family's house and exchanged insults with the mother and son for almost a whole day, until they had insulted the mother and son so much that they had no face left and had to give up.
Lin Dayou criticized Wang Xiucai, saying that in their eyes, he used their family's money to study, and after passing the imperial examination, he betrayed them and repaid kindness with evil, thus wasting his education.
Even Wang Xiucai's mother, who was prone to tantrums, was scolded by Lin Dayou and his two sons until she hid back in her house, locked the courtyard gate, and dared not come out.
She was afraid that Lin Dayou would make a scene at the county private school, which would affect her son's chances of passing the imperial examinations.
While arguing with Lin Dayou and his son, she couldn't help but feel fortunate that she had foresight. Otherwise, it would have been so unlucky to have married into such an uncultured family. Thinking of this, she couldn't help but vomit a few times towards the door.
Hearing the shrewish woman from the Wang family spitting at them and insulting his eldest daughter, Lin Dayou was furious and wanted to break down the door to kill the arrogant mother and son, but was stopped by his eldest son.
When the people of Wangjia Village heard Lin Dayou recount how the Wang family had asked the Lin family for so many benefits before the marriage was even finalized, and how they had directly abandoned the Lin family's eldest daughter, they all felt disgusted by this behavior. Therefore, no one stood up to speak up for the Wang family.
But they didn't dare speak up for Lin Dayou, because Wang Guangrong was currently a scholar, and there was no guarantee he wouldn't pass the imperial examinations. The Wang family's shrewish mother was not to be trifled with, and they didn't want to offend the Wang family because of Lin Dayou...
When Wang Jia's mother saw that Lin Dayou was so angry that she wanted to rush to her house to beat him up, none of the people from Wangjia Village who were watching the commotion outside stood up to help.
If an orphan and a widow are really beaten, they'll be left with no one to turn to for help. They should shut up and stop talking.
Quickly lead your precious son to the backyard, and while no one is watching, have Wang Xiucai climb over the back wall and hurry to the county.
Otherwise, if she stays at home, she's afraid the Lin family might do something to harm her son. It's better to go to the private school to avoid trouble for now.
Wang Xiucai had been scolded all day, his face and dignity completely exposed by the Lin family. He was filled with shame and indignation and had long wanted to escape. However, his mother sent him away, which was exactly what he wanted. He fled as quickly as possible.
Seeing that they had rendered the Wang family powerless to retaliate, Lin Dayou led his son back to Wutong Village with great pride and arrogance.
However, because of Lin Dayou's commotion, the whole village within a ten-mile radius knew about the story of Wang Xiucai breaking off his engagement with his fiancée after passing the imperial examination. The news spread like wildfire.
Women are all so pitiful. A girl who has been rejected by her fiancé is like someone who has lost her chastity. Forget about finding a husband in the future, it will be difficult for her to even survive.
After all, this society is very harsh on women and very lenient on men. As long as you have money, who cares if you are a heartless man or a murderer? People will still be willing to marry their daughters to you.
Most men felt that Wang Xiucai's actions were not wrong. After ten years of hard study, he finally made it through the tough times. Who wouldn't want to marry a wife who could help him and save him years or even decades of struggle?
Lin Dayou took his sons to Wangjia Village and cursed for most of the day, having already vented all his resentment. When he returned home, he saw Lin Wangshi climbing onto the roof to repair the leaking roof.
She quickly stepped forward to lend a hand, but after working for a long time, she still couldn't find her eldest daughter. A bad feeling crept into her heart, and she quickly came down to ask Lin Wangshi, "Honey, where did Da Ya go?"
Lin Wangshi came over carrying a bundle of thatch and replied, "Your eldest brother's son, Luo Dan, went to play with her and took her out. She should be at your eldest brother's house."
Now that you mention it, I realize my daughter has been gone for quite a while, and I start to feel uneasy.
For some reason, Lin Dayou's eyelids kept twitching when he heard that he was going to his older brother's house. His relationship with his older brother's family was very ordinary, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it was a stalemate.
Because of their parents' favoritism, all the good things were given to Lin Dayou's older brother, Lin Daguang, which caused Lin Daguang to always look down on Lin Dayou. The children were also very disharmonious, so how could they possibly let Lin Luodan come to play with his daughter?
Realizing this, he immediately put down what he was doing and saw Lin Wenqian and Lin Wentao in the yard. He called out, "Wenqian, Wentao, come with me to find your sister..."
Seeing Lin Dayou's serious and anxious appearance, the brothers Lin Wenqian and Lin Wentao immediately followed.
Seeing her husband rushing out with their two sons to look for someone, Madam Lin saw that her husband was in a great hurry.
Ignoring the fact that her roof was still leaking and unrepaired, she threw aside the thatch in her hand, grabbed her little daughter, and ran outside to look for Lin Luoxi.
As soon as Lin Dayou, Lin Wenqian, and Lin Wentao arrived at the gate of his elder brother Lin Daguang's house, they heard Zhang the matchmaker's distinctive voice and his elder brother's excited conversation coming from inside.
"Matchmaker Zhang, this time, our family wants to thank you for your help in getting my daughter connected with the Wang family. Please take this money."
"If it weren't for your intervention, my eldest daughter's marriage wouldn't have gone so smoothly. Please accept this small token of my respect."
"After we become in-laws with the Wang family, we'll give you an even bigger red envelope." The voice was so loud, as if they wanted everyone to know that their daughter had caught the eye of the scholar Wang's family.
The conversation coming from inside puzzled Lin Dayou greatly. How come they didn't know that his older brother was engaged to someone?
Which Wang family? But now is not the time to worry about that.
After listening carefully for a while and not hearing Lin Luoxi's voice, he turned around and wanted to leave.
But upon hearing what Zhang the matchmaker said next, Lin Dayou's eyes instantly turned red with anger.
"That's nothing. The most important thing is that your Luo Dan and Wang Xiucai are a perfect match, a match made in heaven..." Zhang the matchmaker said, showering her with compliments.
"That's right. Any normal person knows that they should choose a smart and beautiful woman who can help their future as their wife. The second son's wife is unlucky and stupid, so naturally no one would want her..." A sarcastic voice suddenly rang out.
That voice belonged to Lin Dayou's most hated and disgusting eldest daughter-in-law in the Lin family—Lin Dayou's gossipy sister-in-law.
Upon hearing that familiar voice, Lin Dayou felt his grievances and shame reach their peak, and his clenched fists cracked loudly.
Without caring about anything else, he kicked open the already flimsy door and rushed in, interrupting the conversation inside.
"I really never thought that my brother's family would be so shameless, and that their daughter would be so shameless, actually trying to steal her own sister's fiancé. They really have no sense of shame..." Lin Dayou roared angrily at everyone in the room.
Lin Dayou no longer cared that his family was sitting inside. As soon as he entered, he unleashed a barrage of attacks on Lin Daguang.
His wife and children were his Achilles' heel; not even his blood relatives could be bullied in the slightest.
Lin Dayou's appearance really startled everyone in the main room.
It was only after Lin Dayou pointed his finger at them and started cursing that the members of the Lin family's eldest branch came to their senses.
"Second brother, you're acting like a madman. Don't you have any respect for us or your eldest brother? You're even yelling and cursing at him..." The gossipy eldest sister-in-law of the Lin family's eldest branch spoke with utter disdain when she saw that the person who came was Lin Dayou.
Lin Dayou was already furious. He couldn't be bothered to argue with his gossipy sister-in-law anymore. He glared at his parents, who sat at the head of the table in the main hall, their eyes blazing with anger.
With a face full of anger and pain, he asked in a heartbroken voice, "Father, Mother, do you even consider me your son, your brother?" Knowing that his older brother wanted to steal his daughter's marriage, not only did you not stop him, but you even supported him. Is this how parents should act?
"Lin Luodan just can't get married, so she insists on stealing her own sister's marriage. I knew it! This marriage has been arranged for over ten years, why is she suddenly coming to break it off? Turns out it's because my relatives can't stand to see us doing well..."
When the old man of the Lin family saw his youngest son questioning them in anguish, he just silently smoked his pipe, not uttering a word, and no longer looking at Lin Dayou.
When the old lady of the Lin family heard Lin Dayou loudly accusing them, she became furious and walked over, took her cane, and hit Lin Dayou hard.
"You beast, are you trying to attract the whole village by shouting like that, so they can laugh at the Lin family?"
"Besides, that idiot of yours isn't even worthy of carrying my granddaughter's shoes. He still dares to dream of marrying Scholar Wang. We've already shown her some leniency by breaking off the engagement."
She would say all sorts of hurtful things to Lin Dayou without holding back at all, just because he was her son. It was as if Lin Dayou wasn't her biological son, but the child of her enemy.
Lin Dayou was hit on the shoulder blade by the old lady's cane. He was caught off guard and the pain was so intense that he saw stars and almost fainted.
But the eldest daughter had not yet been found. She was barely holding on, her face pale, and she stood there swaying precariously, just looking coldly at Old Mrs. Lin.
"I'll teach you to look at me like that, I'll teach you to look at me like that..." Old Mrs. Lin felt humiliated by Lin Dayou's disappointed gaze and angrily hit him even harder with her cane.
At the entrance of the Lin family compound, the commotion caused by Lin Dayou's angry kicking of the door had already attracted the villagers who had all been watching the spectacle. They all leaned over the wall of the Lin family's main house and peered inside.
Hearing the conversation between Lin Dayou and his grandmother, I felt like I'd stumbled upon a juicy juicy story.
Unexpectedly, a drama of two women vying for one man actually unfolded right before their eyes.
Because they didn't know the specific details, they were just imagining various scenarios based on Lin Dayou's words and the connection between the two incidents of Lin Dayou's family breaking off the engagement.
However, everyone was shocked and sighed when they saw Old Mrs. Lin beating Lin Dayou so severely. It turned out that Old Mrs. Lin, who was usually a kind person, was so cruel to her son in private.
Seeing that Old Mrs. Lin was not willing to give up, everyone started talking about it.
Seeing the fierce argument unfolding in the Lin family and the crowd of onlookers gathered outside, Zhang the matchmaker stood up and quietly slipped away through the back door of the Lin family's main house when no one was looking.
She didn't want anyone to know that she was the one who arranged the marriage with the Lin family, otherwise who would dare to ask her to be a matchmaker in the future?
Lin Wenqian and Lin Wentao saw their grandmother, who was showing favoritism to the extreme, hitting their father, and immediately stepped forward to stop her.
One of them stood in front of Lin Dayou, saying, "Grandma, if you want to hit someone, hit me. My dad did nothing wrong. It's my uncle's family that went too far, which is why my dad acted this way."
A cane, which was about to be used to stop the old lady Lin from committing violence, was firmly grasped by someone. "Grandma, please stop hitting my father. You're about to beat him to death."
Lin Daguang had just been verbally abused by Lin Dayou, and he already wished Lin Dayou were dead. If he weren't outmatched, he would have rushed up and torn a piece of flesh from Lin Dayou.
Now that he sees his mother helping to deal with Lin Dayou, he's happily sitting on the sidelines watching the show, hoping his mother will beat Lin Dayou to death or cripple him.
Seeing how protective Lin Dayou's two sons were of each other, she was filled with jealousy and muttered, "Second son, this is the good son you raised. He doesn't even know how to respect his mother now. He knows how to rebel against her. No wonder his parents like him."
Lin Dayou doesn't dare to lay a hand on the old lady of the Lin family, but he can make a move on Lin Daguang!
Already furious from the beating, Li Dayou was further enraged by Lin Daguang's interference, especially since Lin Daguang had stolen his daughter's marriage. Li Dayou raised his fist and charged forward.
"You son of a bitch, you disrespectful bastard! I'll beat you to death! All you ever do is steal other people's things. You stole from me before, and now you want your daughter to steal my daughter's marriage..."
Lin Daguang was spoiled by his parents and became quite overweight, making him no match for Lin Dayou, who was used to doing farm work.
The reason why they were able to suppress Lin Dayou was partly because the two elders of the Lin family helped to keep watch, and partly because Lin Dayou was too lazy to bother with such people, which made Lin Daguang think that he was very capable and acted arrogantly over Lin Dayou.
He was pinned to the ground by Lin Dayou, who punched Lin Daguang repeatedly.
Old Man Lin saw Lin Dayou get his precious son off the bed, grab a long bench, and was about to smash it on Lin Dayou's head.
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