Chapter 6: Broken Engagement

At that time, people still held onto some superstitions. With a guilty conscience, Song Fu didn’t dare make a vow—he simply stayed behind Song Jianjun and refused to step forward.

At this point, Song Jianjun already knew this was Wang Huimin’s doing. That girl had acted fast.

“Xiaowei, there’s no need to question Song Fu anymore. It’s true. I just found out about it today. I’ve already taught him a lesson, and you gave him a beating too—let’s all calm down a bit now.”

Hearing his uncle admit it just like that, Song Fu panicked, “Uncle, what are you saying?!”

Song Jianjun shot him a glare. “You did this, and you’re still afraid to admit it? Haven’t I taught you anything? If you dare to do something, you should dare to face it. Are you even a man?”

Song Fu didn’t dare say another word.

Xu Xiaowei said nothing more, his face cold, and turned to leave, heading straight toward Zhang Chunyan’s house.

Seeing him leave, Song Fu muttered bitterly, “Uncle, no one even knew about this, it must’ve been Wang Huimin who told him!”

“Did you see the way Xu Xiaowei looked? He might blow this up! What if the marriage falls through now?”

Song Jianjun didn’t know what to say to him anymore. “You’re only scared now? What’s the use? If the marriage’s off, it’s off—you and Wang Huimin aren’t a good match anyway.”

“If things really get out of hand, then you’ll marry Zhang Chunyan. Otherwise, her reputation will be ruined—how’s she supposed to find a husband?”

Hearing this, Song Fu shook his head like a rattle drum, “No way, Uncle, I’m not marrying Zhang Chunyan!”

“She’s not as pretty as Wang Huimin, and her personality is bad too. If I married her, my life would be miserable.”

“Besides, if her reputation is ruined, that’s her own doing—not my problem. We won’t call off the engagement with the Wang family. With all that bride price on the table, they’ll still have to marry Wang Huimin off to me.”

Hearing such shameless words, Song Jianjun gave him a piercing glare, making Song Fu unable to meet his eyes.

“If you think she’s not good enough, why did you mess around with her and ruin a perfectly good engagement? You should take responsibility like a man.”

“Wang Huimin already told me she absolutely refuses to marry you. Even if you force it, it won’t work. Let’s wait and see what the Zhang family says.”

Song Fu, scolded into silence, felt utterly wronged but didn’t dare talk back. All he could do now was hope the marriage wasn’t really off.

Meanwhile, Xu Xiaowei angrily arrived at Zhang Chunyan’s house. Half the afternoon had passed, and Zhang Chunyan had been nervous the entire time, fearing Wang Huimin would sabotage her.

And sure enough—what you fear most is what comes.

When she saw Xu Xiaowei’s figure at the gate, her heart dropped. “Xiaowei? What are you doing here?”

Xu Xiaowei’s face was dark as he briefly greeted her parents, then pulled Zhang Chunyan outside into the courtyard.

“You know exactly why I’m here. Tell me what’s going on!” He shoved the folded letter into her hands.

Zhang Chunyan had no idea what had happened. She quickly opened the letter, and the moment she read the words inside, her face changed.

“Where did you get this letter? I didn’t write this at all!”

Xu Xiaowei didn’t believe her for a second. “Zhang Chunyan, we’ve been classmates since we were kids—I know your handwriting like the back of my hand.”

“This letter is clearly yours, and you even asked Wang Huimin to give it to Song Fu, asking him to meet up with you. The stuff you wrote in there—it’s disgusting. After everything between us, how could you do this to me?”

At this point, Zhang Chunyan’s parents realized something was wrong and quickly came outside.

“Xiaowei, what’s going on? If there’s something to talk about, do it inside. Don’t take it outside,” they said anxiously.

They had long seen Xu Xiaowei as the ideal son-in-law and had secretly coached their daughter on how to win him over. Now that the wedding was almost set, they couldn’t let anything go wrong.

Realizing what Xu Xiaowei believed, Zhang Chunyan instantly knew this was Wang Huimin’s doing. Furious and panicked, she said, “Xiaowei, I swear I didn’t write this letter!”

“You don’t understand—this morning, the Wang family accepted a 1,000 yuan bride price from the Song family, agreeing to marry Wang Huimin to Song Fu. So how could I possibly write something like this to Song Fu now?”

“If I needed to talk to you, I’d go straight to your house. Why would I use Wang Huimin as a go-between?”

“The letter talks about me and Song Fu. Why would I stir up that kind of trouble for myself? It makes no sense! This is clearly Wang Huimin trying to ruin our relationship because she doesn’t want to marry Song Fu and couldn’t stand seeing us happy.”

Xu Xiaowei’s mother, Li Guiqin, grabbed the letter and read it quickly. Her face twisted in anger.

“Xiaowei, this is impossible! Wang Huimin hasn’t been to our house today, and Chunyan never gave her a letter. She’s clearly framing Chunyan!”

“That girl has a twisted heart. Chunyan treated her like a sister since they were little!”

Zhang Chunyan’s father, Zhang Yongfa, also looked furious. “That Wang girl is too much. She’s trying to ruin Chunyan’s whole life! I’m going to their house to settle this!”

Even after all that, Xu Xiaowei didn’t believe them.

“No need. I already went to the Song house. Both Song Fu and Song Jianjun admitted it—Zhang Chunyan really was involved with Song Fu.”

“Whatever happened between you two, my parents are furious now, and I can’t be with you anymore.”

“Let’s consider this engagement over. Uncle Zhang, Auntie Zhang, I’ll be going now.”

As Xu Xiaowei turned to leave in anger, Zhang Chunyan quickly grabbed his arm.

“Xiaowei, please don’t go! Just believe me this once, okay?”

“This really has nothing to do with me! It’s clearly the Song family and Wang Huimin working together to ruin our engagement!”

“Are you really going to throw away what we had just because of someone else’s lies? You promised you’d always treat me well!”

Tears welled up in her eyes. Though she wasn’t particularly pretty, she was still young, with a youthful, pitiful expression.

And of course, Wang Huimin wasn’t going to miss such a dramatic moment—she had been waiting for it.

Right on cue, she “happened” to arrive at the Zhang house.

Seeing the people pulling and yelling in the yard, she walked up looking a bit confused. “Xiaowei? You’re here? Didn’t Chunyan say you were meeting tomorrow?”

The moment she saw Wang Huimin, Zhang Chunyan looked like she’d seen a mortal enemy and rushed up to grab her.

“Wang Huimin! You still have the nerve to come to my house? Tell Xiaowei right now that you wrote that letter and it has nothing to do with me! If you don’t make this right, I swear I won’t let this go!”

Her parents also glared furiously at Wang Huimin. They wouldn’t let anyone ruin this engagement.

But Wang Huimin just put on a shocked expression. “What are you saying, Chunyan? Didn’t you give me that letter yesterday and ask me to deliver it to Xiaowei? What does it have to do with me?”

“How could I have written something like that? You sealed the envelope yourself. I didn’t even open it. What happened—what’s all this about?”