◎ Breaking the Engagement ◎ 

“Song Chunhua, what do you mean? How can you talk to your elder brother and sister-in-law like that?” Fang Yuehe glared at them, holding onto the wooden table in the Liang family’s main room. 

Liang Zhiqing ignored Song Chunhua and said to Liang Zhigao sternly, “Zhigao, look at what kind of wife you have. We are doing this for your own good and for Baozhen’s sake.” 

For my own good? Liang Zhigao used to respect his older brother, but what does he hear from them now? Their calculations are clear and obvious. 

“Brother, there’s no need for you to meddle in our family’s affairs. We’ll handle the breakup with Chen Siming on our own. You two should just go about your business,” Liang Zhigao said, tapping his tobacco pipe on the table, making it clear he wanted them to leave. 

This was the first time Liang Zhiqing had been treated like this by Liang Zhigao. His younger brother had become bold enough to speak to him this way. Furious, he turned and left quickly. 

Fang Yuehe chased after him. She ran so fast, but she nearly didn’t catch up to her husband. “Zhiqing, what kind of people is your brother’s family? They mess up things so badly. A perfectly good match is ruined because of them. We meant well, but they don’t appreciate it. Hmph! Who are they hoping for her to marry? No decent city person would marry her!” 

As she spoke, she began to feel regretful. It was a chance to marry in the city. A few days ago, she told her second son to ask her cousin to arrange a job for him after she moved to the city. Now, everything is gone! 

Hearing his wife’s words, Liang Zhiqing suddenly stopped, turned around, and headed in the opposite direction from home. 

“Hey, where are you going?” Fang Yuehe turned around, quite confused. 

“Now that things have reached this point, she has to get married. Baozhen isn’t young anymore. Since the engagement with Chen Siming is off, we need to find a new match for her,” Liang Zhiqing thought about his second son, who was working as a temporary worker at the commune’s grain station. The grain station manager had met Baozhen twice and seemed interested. He smiled and said, “Let’s find a new match for Baozhen.” 

*** 

In the Liang family, Liang Zhigao handled all major matters. When it came to breaking off the engagement, he led Liang Baojun into the city. Because he was worried about affecting his daughter’s reputation, he even discussed the matter with the brigade and the team leader, so that if anyone spread rumors in the future, he would have someone to help. 

Liang Baoying stayed home with Liang Baozhen. The whole village had been talking about the incident for the past two days. It had been going on for a while. She felt sorry for her sister. How could she have met such a person? 

And today is the 28th day of the lunar calendar, which was originally the day Liang Baozhen was going to get married. 

“Baozhen, don’t be sad. If you have any worries, don’t keep them to yourself. Talk to me.” She was very concerned about her sister. No one would feel good about such a situation, especially with the wedding just a few days away. 

Liang Baozhen rested her arm on the table, propping her chin up with her hands, and stared blankly. She wasn’t very sad, but she felt more anger and confusion. That person was really good at pretending and deceiving everyone. If she had married him, would it have turned out as badly as the book described? 

“Don’t worry about me, Sister. Go on with what you need to do. I’ll be fine on my own.” 

“Are you really, okay?” Liang Baoying thought she wouldn’t be able to stay as calm as her sister. If it were her, she would probably have considered jumping into a river. But then she thought, her third sister had always been more level-headed than she was. 

“Yeah.” Liang Baozhen sent her elder sister out, stayed in the room to rest for a while, and then got up and went out. 

Song Chunhua asked her to rest at home for a couple of days while waiting for the fuss outside to settle down. She was right, since some narrow-minded people were still making sarcastic comments. At this age, girls always seem to suffer, no matter what. 

As soon as Liang Baozhen left the house, Song Jianguo returned home. He had just come out of the fields and went home to drink some water and mainly to catch his breath. 

“Why are you back already?” Liang Baoying saw her husband drenched in sweat and hurriedly poured him a bowl of water.  

After drinking the water, Song Jianguo wiped his sweat and glanced at Liang Baozhen’s room, looking a bit annoyed. “Where’s third sister?” 

“She left. She said she was bored staying at home.” Liang Baoying didn’t notice her husband’s unusual expression and continued talking. “It’s such a mess right before the wedding. Chen Siming is really something.” 

Song Jianguo’s mouth twisted in disapproval. “This issue is really due to Mother not handling things properly. There were still other things that could be done…” 

Making things escalate like this had closed off all possible options. He had hoped his brother-in-law could help him find a way back to the city, but that was no longer an option. Frustrated, he said, “Baozhen should have spoken more with him. A match like this is hard to find.” 

“How can that be? That would just make Baozhen suffer,” Liang Baozhen thought her husband was just talking nonsense because he had worked too long. “Anyway, rest up. Let’s go out together later.” 

… 

Liang Baozhen went out with the bamboo basket on her back and passed by the neighbor’s house, she saw that the door of the Dong family was closed. The Dong couple had not been able to raise their heads for the past two days. Knowing that their daughter was having an affair with someone else’s fiancé, they felt ashamed and deliberately asked the team leader to assign them a job in the farthest field. They were not willing to talk to anyone. 

As for Dong Jiayan, no one has ever seen her. 

Liang Baozhen went out specifically to verify whether the contents of the book were true. According to what was written in the book, her family had a big secret, which even her parents didn’t know about. 

There is a cemetery on the back mountain of Damei Village where many families in the village have their ancestral graves. However, due to the Cultural Revolution, the area has become quite desolate. 

A few lonely graves lie under the shade of trees. When the wind blows, some leaves sway and fall to the ground. 

Liang Baozhen approached her grandparents grave, which was at the very edge, surrounded by a pile of messy leaves. 

She measured the distance with her feet and pulled away the weeds about six meters from the ancestral grave. Liang Baozhen touched the ground, turned around, took out the hoe from her backpack, and started digging. 

Soon, the hoe hit something slightly hard inside, and a little yellow light appeared in the dark soil. 

Putting down the hoe, Liang Baozhen dug with her hands and really found the “yellow croaker” here—a total of twelve gold bars. 

The book states that two years after Liang Baozhen got married, the movement ended. The hero of the book, Chen Siming’s brother, came to Damei Village with his younger siblings and accidentally discovered the gold bars buried by Liang’s grandfather while strolling around. 

This money is the symbol of the protagonist’s good luck. The Chen brothers used it to start a business and became very wealthy. 

Looking at the golden “yellow croaker,” Liang Baozhen was horrified. What was said in the book was true. 

Years ago, Grandpa Liang once saved a man who was passing by at the Damei Village. The man gave him gold bars as a reward. but Grandfather Liang had been uneasy about keeping them. He couldn’t spend them at that time and was worried about theft, so he couldn’t sleep properly. 

He decided to bury the gold bars next to the family’s ancestral grave and was planning to tell his son about it later. Unfortunately, he passed away suddenly, and the Liang family didn’t even know they had the gold bars. Eventually, the Chen family took it. 

Liang Baozhen wrapped the “yellow croaker” with leaves and put it in the bamboo basket, then added a few more layers of leaves on top. Then she carried the basket back home. 

No matter what, this thing has to be moved to another place first. The hero in the book has great luck, and perhaps he will have the opportunity to come to this ancestral grave and find the gold bars. 

She was in a hurry to go home and was concentrating on walking when suddenly, she saw a few pairs of tattered straw sandals in front of her. 

When she looked up, she saw a few village scoundrels with messy hair that looked like a chicken coop. They were smiling at her with ill intentions.