Chapter 1: The Silly Girl is Called Off

In the summer, in the southeast, a thick mass of dark clouds was gathering in the sky, gradually moving together.

The villagers in the area were experienced, and upon seeing the dark clouds, they all rushed back to their homes to avoid getting drenched like a drowned chicken when the heavy rain arrived.

On a stone bridge in the south of Wutong Village—

“Cousin Luoxi, look! There’s a huge fish in the river!”

A rural girl, somewhat pretty and around thirteen or fourteen years old, first glanced around to confirm that there was no one nearby. With her anxious heart about to do something bad, she felt a bit more settled.

She looked at her cousin, a girl who was fourteen, and a cruel glint flashed in her eyes. Since there was no one around, she immediately exaggeratedly pointed at the surface of the river and shouted, attempting to lure her cousin to check it out.

“Where? Where?” The girl called Cousin Luoxi appeared to be slow-witted; upon hearing that there was a fish, she ignored how dangerous her position was and leaned forward to look in the direction her cousin was pointing.

Seeing her cousin, Luoxi, leaning so far out over the bridge, the girl looked around again and, confirming that no one would notice what was happening, decided to act ruthlessly and directly pushed Luoxi into the river.

“Splash.” When the person was pushed down, a huge wave splashed up.

“Help! Help! Ugh…” Luoxi, having been pushed into the water, couldn’t float and could only struggle desperately. Her instinct to call for help made her open her mouth, but the river water mercilessly poured in, causing her to swallow several mouthfuls.

Standing on the stone bridge, the girl who pushed Luoxi watched her struggling cousin in the water, inwardly thinking with malice: Lin Luoxi, go die! Hurry up and die! Anyway, you’re foolish; the sooner you die, the better for me. It will clear the way for my future…

Watching her so-called cousin shouting for help in the water with an expressionless face, the girl remained unaffected. Once the river calmed down, she let out a breath of relief and quietly left as if nothing had happened.

What she didn’t know was that beneath the stone bridge, someone had seen the entire incident and quietly saved Luoxi.

After the girl on the bridge left, he dragged the unconscious girl he had quietly rescued and slowly moved her toward the shore.

Just as he was getting ready to carry the child to the shore, the long-awaited heavy rain fell unexpectedly.

The torrential rain poured down, accompanied by thunder and lightning, the wind and rain intertwining, as if announcing to everyone that a hidden murder had just occurred.

The crops, nearly scorched by the sun, finally regained a glimmer of vitality with the arrival of this rain.

The villagers hiding under the eaves saw the arrival of the heavy rain, and their sorrowful faces finally broke into smiles.

However, the Lin family in Wutong Village was not as happy as the other villagers.

Lin Dayou, the head of the household, thought he had heard wrong. Looking uncertainly at the woman sitting at the lower end of the seat, with a large red flower on her head and exceptionally bright red lips, resembling a matchmaker who had just come from a child’s wedding, he couldn’t believe his ears and hesitantly asked, “Aunt Zhang, what did you just say?”

Aunt Zhang, seeing Lin Dayou’s expression, rolled her eyes in disdain, dodging the rainwater dripping through the gaps in the thatched roof. “Dayou! It’s not that I don’t wish your family well; it’s just that Scholar Wang asked me to call off your engagement with Luoxi.”

As Aunt Zhang spoke, her hand reached into her sleeve pocket, feeling the warmth of the one or two silver coins that had been heated by her body, feeling very satisfied with the Wang family’s generosity.

Seeing Lin Dayou’s family home, which was bare and empty, Aunt Zhang looked at it with disdain. If it weren’t for the money, she wouldn’t want to step into a house that even a rat would despise.

Seeing Lin Dayou react like he had been struck by lightning, his eyes wide with disbelief, looking like someone who couldn’t handle a storm, she felt even more contempt.

However, thinking about Scholar Wang’s accomplishments and status, if she successfully acted as a matchmaker between Scholar Wang and the Lin family, there would be no need to worry about earning money in the future.

With this in mind, she wanted to hasten the cancellation of Lin Dayou’s marriage proposal, moving on quickly.

“You can’t blame them; when your two families made the engagement, who would have guessed that your eldest daughter would turn out to be foolish? Now, Scholar Wang is…” Her implication was that their silly daughter was unworthy of the Wang family now that he had achieved the status of a scholar.

Lin Dayou slammed his hand on the table in anger. “Nonsense! This marriage was arranged when his father thought our family was still doing well. I only consented out of friendship and out of his sincerity.”

“Who would have thought that once his father passed away, that brat Wang Guangrong would be so eager to break off the engagement with my daughter?”

“I suspect he looks down on our family now that we’re in dire straits, and he thinks that because he’s just become a scholar, our daughter is no longer worthy of their family, thus hastily wanting to ditch her…” Lin Dayou was honest but not foolish; he quickly pieced together the reasons.

He had initially thought that the Wang family was sincere and loyal, believing that once their daughter married into the Wang family, they would have peace of mind.

To his dismay, the first thing Scholar Wang did after becoming a scholar was to call off the engagement with his daughter. Such a heartless act! He truly felt that he had been blind before.

He realized that if his daughter was really abandoned by Scholar Wang, who would still dare to come and propose marriage to her in the future?

“Aunt Zhang, it’s not that I’m unwilling to annul the engagement, but once it’s done, my daughter’s reputation will be ruined. What do you expect us to do?”

At this moment, Lin Dayou’s tone was pleading, as if by doing so, he could convince Aunt Zhang to retract her earlier statements.

“Dayou, it’s not that I, as a matchmaker, am being heartless. I’m just the middleman. I know very well that it’s better to break ten temples than to ruin a marriage, but this matter, I really can’t do anything about it.”

Seeing Lin Dayou’s expression, Aunt Zhang, with a hint of sympathy still lingering in her heart, held back her harsh words.

At this moment, a woman, dressed in patched but clean clothing, came in holding a bowl of brown sugar water that she had borrowed from the neighbors, feeling embarrassed to face Aunt Zhang’s visit. Hearing her husband’s words, she understood why Aunt Zhang was there.

She brought the brown sugar water to Aunt Zhang, nervously saying, “Aunt Zhang, please have some sugar water.”

Fearing that her hospitality would be inadequate and that it might offend Aunt Zhang, which could jeopardize her daughter’s chances with the Wang family, she appeared very humble in front of the matchmaker.

Lin Dayou, seeing his wife come out, anxiously said, “Wife, quickly plead with Aunt Zhang! She represents the Wang family and has come to break off the engagement with our daughter…”

Hearing this, Wang Shi’s face turned pale; the inevitable had finally arrived.

Since their daughter’s high fever had led to her having a slow mind, their family had already exhausted all their resources in trying to treat her.