Chapter 17 – What an Outrageous Rumor

The words spoken by the two of them landed like a bombshell, leaving everyone at the table utterly stunned.

Lu Huaizheng was the first to recover, his sharp gaze locking onto Lu Cheng. “Did you force Xu Nuo to say that?”

“Dad! That’s such a serious accusation!” Lu Cheng widened his eyes, looking completely wronged. “I’m a soldier, not a bandit—how could I possibly do something like that?”

“You think I’d believe that?” Lu Huaizheng slammed his chopsticks onto the table with a loud smack. “She came all this way just to marry you. She’s been here only two days and now she wants to call off the engagement? If that wasn’t your doing, then what was it?”

Lu Cheng opened his mouth to speak, but—

“I—”

Cheng Wanying’s expression turned stern. “Lu Cheng, a person must keep their word. You agreed to this before, and now it’s time to follow through.”

Lu Cheng couldn’t take it anymore. “Why should I? There are plenty of ways to repay a life-saving debt—why must I do it by marrying someone? Why should I have to give up my entire future for—”

Before he could finish, Lu Huaizheng exploded in anger. “Shut up! There’s no place in this family for someone like you! If it weren’t for Xu Nuo’s mother saving your mother, you wouldn’t even be alive today!”

The moment Lu Huaizheng lost his temper, the entire family stiffened, not daring to breathe too loudly.

Lu Cheng, especially, fell silent.

And right then, his heart began to feel an unfair bit of resentment toward Xu Nuo. What do you mean by calling off the engagement? That’s basically tattling in disguise!

“Uncle Lu, please don’t be angry,” Xu Nuo’s gentle voice sounded, drawing everyone’s attention. “This wasn’t something Lu Cheng forced me to do. It really was my own decision to call off the engagement.”

“Child, is it because he treated you badly?” Cheng Wanying quickly stepped in, afraid Xu Nuo might be feeling pressured. “If he bullied you, you can tell me—I’ll make sure to teach that brat a lesson!”

Xu Nuo smiled faintly. “No, I wasn’t wronged. Lu Cheng doesn’t want to marry me, and I don’t particularly want to marry him either. Just like he said—‘a forced melon isn’t sweet.’ Aunt Cheng, it’s best we call this engagement off.”

But Lu Huaizheng wouldn’t accept it. “No. Since the engagement was made in the past, it should be honored now. If your mother were still alive, I believe she would want to see this fulfilled.”

“Uncle Lu,” Xu Nuo continued calmly, “the truth is, my grandmother only sent me here to escape a marriage arranged by my second uncle. Now that I’ve managed to get out of the countryside, all I want is to be able to live in the city. Whether I get married or not… honestly, it’s not that important to me.”

That was what she truly thought.

At the time, she had figured—if Lu Cheng turned out to be a decent person, then sure, she could marry him. She’d have to marry someone eventually, after all.

And marrying him would help her get out of the difficult situation she was in.

But now that it was clear he wasn’t interested—well, she wasn’t desperate either.

“I see…” Cheng Wanying and Lu Huaizheng both hesitated.

“Yes! That’s the right attitude!” Lu Cheng suddenly clapped his hands. “They say men should be self-reliant, but I think women should be too!”

Lu Chen gave him a sharp glance but said nothing. His lips were pressed into a tight line.

“Nuo Nuo, if that’s truly how you feel, then we’ll respect your decision,” Cheng Wanying said. “How about this—you can stay here, and we’ll help you find a job.”

“Yes, that’s a great idea!” Lu Cheng added quickly.

Cheng Wanying glared at him. If it weren’t for you refusing to marry her, would the girl be saying all this? She already said it—forced feelings don’t last. Clearly, she came here willing to marry!

Still, she felt grateful toward Xu Nuo.

In this matter, Xu Nuo had given the Lu family plenty of face, not making things harder for them.

“That’s right, Xu Nuo. If there’s anything you need, just let us know,” Lu Huaizheng said sincerely. “As long as it’s within our power, we’ll do our best to help.”

Hearing that, Zhang Man lifted her eyes toward Lu Huaizheng. Just what kind of luck does this Xu Nuo have? There were almost no women who could make her father-in-law speak to them like that.

“I’ve already found a job,” Xu Nuo said. “It’s just that I can’t handle the household registration issue on my own. Uncle Lu, if you could help me solve that, I’ll have no more requests. After that, I’ll take care of everything myself.”

She had rural household registration, and the household system was like an invisible wall that separated her from this city.

If she couldn’t get it sorted, she’d be forced to return to the countryside. And as a young woman with no one to rely on, who knows what her second uncle might do—he’d probably sell her off to someone for marriage.

To put it bluntly, the only reason she had considered the marriage was because it could help her solve her hukou (household registration) issue.

In this era, marrying a soldier was undeniably one of the best prospects a woman could have.

Lu Huaizheng gave a slight nod. “Alright, I’ll help you handle the household registration issue—but it might take a bit of time. For now, just stay here. Once everything is sorted out, if you want to move out, it won’t be too late.”

“Okay.” Xu Nuo readily agreed.

As soon as she said that, Xu Shan nearly lost it, though she didn’t dare show it on her face.

What was this now?

Just like that, a perfectly good marriage was canceled?

That useless wretch Xu Nuo! What’s wrong with marrying the son of a military commander?

She could’ve lived a life of comfort without ever getting her hands dirty—what kind of pig-headed logic was this to turn it down?

Now that Xu Nuo’s engagement was void, what reason did she, Xu Shan, still have to stay here?

Fuming internally, Xu Shan happened to glance up—and saw Zhang Qiang leering at Xu Nuo with that slimy gleam in his eyes.

She couldn’t help but silently curse: Men really are all pigs. See a pretty girl and you turn into a slobbering idiot!

As she was internally cursing, Zhang Qiang suddenly turned his head toward her—and gave her a toothy grin.

Xu Shan froze, surprised and pleased at once. She blushed and lowered her head slightly.

Meanwhile, Lu Cheng, having just had the engagement called off, finally let out a huge sigh of relief: Fantastic! Tomorrow, I can finally go explain everything to Jiang Miaomiao.

“Let’s eat, let’s eat,” Lu Huaizheng said as he picked up his chopsticks again.

Just as everyone began eating, there was a knock at the door.

Aunt Lin got up to open it and was surprised to find a group of women standing there. Looking closer—weren’t these all the wives of the high-ranking officers from the compound?

“Aunt Lin! Is Wanying home?”

“She is,” Aunt Lin nodded. “They’re just having dinner. May I ask—?”

“Well, since she’s home, great! Let’s head in and have a look at what kind of feast the Lu family’s cooking up tonight!”

Laughing and chattering, the group pushed right into the house.

“Who is it?” Cheng Wanying asked when Aunt Lin returned, her expression oddly complicated. “What’s going on? Guests?”

Just as she spoke, the living room was suddenly flooded with people.

“Oh my goodness!” Cheng Wanying was genuinely startled. “Sister-in-law Zhang, Sister Lin, Sister Liu—you’re all here?!”

“We came to congratulate you, of course!” It was Zhang Cuihua, Lei Ming’s mother, who spoke first. “Wanying, you sure kept this quiet! Your son’s getting married and didn’t even breathe a word!”

“Exactly! We were all stunned when we found out!”

“Yeah! How did this childhood engagement even come about?” Liu Aimin looked curious. “My Yang Dong told me, and I didn’t believe him at first! But once everyone started talking about it… well, it must be true!”

Snap! Lu Cheng’s chopsticks broke clean in half, and he nearly ground his molars to dust: Lei Ming, Yang Dong, Yang Pan—you bunch of gossiping bastards! I told you not to spread it! Not to spread it!

A wave of dread surged in his heart. I’m done for. If this engagement doesn’t go through now, my old man’s really gonna put a gun to my head and make me marry her!

Cheng Wanying was frozen in place, stunned. “This… this situation… we just decided earlier today…”

—That the marriage was off. But now, she couldn’t even get the words out.

“So? Have you set the wedding date yet?” Zhang Cuihua asked eagerly. “If you need any help, just say the word! Everyone’s saying it—you and Old Lu really are top-notch people! Even after all these years, you’re still honoring a childhood engagement!”

“Absolutely!” Liu Aimin grabbed her hand warmly. “You’ve done a wonderful thing! This must be a load off Old Lu’s mind too, right? Honestly, we never imagined Lu Chen kept saying he didn’t want to marry because he was waiting for this childhood fiancée!”

Lu Cheng, hearing that, suddenly caught something odd.

Wait a second… what?

“Hold on! Who did you say was getting married?” he quickly asked.

Liu Aimin blinked. “Your big brother, Lu Chen! What? Is there a problem?”