Seeing the crowd outside becoming more and more worked up, and even the Yao relatives trying to distance themselves instead of helping, Mother Yao exploded in anger:
“All of you shut up! Our Yulan is supported by the state and has a respectable formal job. She’s not comparable to your daughters!”
“My Yulan earns three to four hundred yuan a year. Once she marries, all of that salary goes into her husband’s family.”
“Three to four hundred a year means three to four thousand in ten years, plus all kinds of work benefits and company housing. In the future, even her children can get urban household registration through her. Whoever marries her is getting a huge bargain!”
“I’m only asking for eight hundred yuan in bride price and thirty-two legs. How is that excessive?”
“And what you Cheng family just said is offensive. What do you mean by humiliation? As parents, we’re simply securing some guarantees for our daughter.”
“Your Cheng family is drowning in bad luck right now. You’re buried in debt, struggling financially, and still tangled in lawsuits. No one knows how things will turn out.”
“With your current situation, I’ll be honest — I don’t dare let Yulan marry into your family and suffer alongside you.”
“And who knows whether Cheng Yuanche’s leg will recover? If it doesn’t heal and he becomes crippled, will the army even keep him?”
“When that happens, how will a disabled man support a family? Our Yulan is still young. Should she really suffer with him for the rest of her life?”
“You can call me selfish or unreasonable all you want. I’m doing this for my daughter. Today, I must secure some protection for her. If the Cheng family can’t produce the bride price and thirty-two legs, then don’t even think about taking Yulan away.”
Mother Yao was sharp-tongued and deliberately emphasized Yao Yulan’s income.
Although three to four hundred yuan a year wasn’t considered wealthy compared to some fishermen, it was still a stable and respectable job. Compared to ordinary housewives who stayed home cooking and raising children, Yao Yulan’s income was indeed considered high.
This was also Yao Yulan’s greatest pride — the advantage many girls her age envied.
And naturally, it was also the biggest reason she had become such a sought-after bride.
With just a few sentences, Mother Yao successfully painted herself as a loving mother worrying herself sick over her daughter’s future.
Combined with the fact that the Cheng family truly had been plagued with misfortune lately, many villagers’ attitudes began to shift, and some actually started understanding the Yao couple’s position.
Hearing the crowd whispering in support, the expressions of Yao Daqiang and his wife visibly improved, and the two secretly exchanged smug looks.
“You’re talking nonsense! Our Yuanche won’t become crippled!”
Mother Cheng had already endured countless hardships recently. Her voice trembled with tears, filled with both anger and grievance.
“Whether he becomes crippled or not isn’t up to you.”
“Anyway, I’ve made our position clear. Eight hundred yuan in bride price, the Three Turns and One Sound, and thirty-two legs of furniture. Not a single item can be missing.”
“If even one thing is missing, don’t expect to take the bride away today.”
“Our Yulan can’t just casually marry some cripple whose future is uncertain.”
Mother Yao had become too carried away. Her cruel words spilled out without thinking, completely cutting off any possibility of retreat.
The word “cripple” stabbed into Cheng Yuanche’s heart like a poisoned dagger.
“Good. Very good.”
The hand gripping Cheng Yuanche’s crutch tightened so hard his knuckles cracked. Veins bulged across the back of his hand before he slowly forced himself calm again.
Those eyes that had witnessed the smoke and blood of battle now looked as sharp as an eagle’s.
His gaze swept across every member of the Yao family before finally landing on Yao Yulan, who was still hiding behind the doorway without even changing into her wedding dress.
Taking a deep breath and suppressing the fury surging inside him, he loudly asked the person involved:
“Yao Yulan, this additional bride price and the ‘thirty-two legs’ — is this your idea or your parents’?”
“A daughter obeys her parents and the matchmaker’s arrangements. I listen to my parents.”
Yao Yulan herself never came out, but her voice carried clearly from inside.
There was not the slightest hesitation in her tone.
That alone revealed her answer.
Cheng Yuanche understood now.
This wasn’t simply the greed of the Yao parents.
Yao Yulan herself had changed her mind.
She looked down on his injured leg and despised his family’s poverty. She no longer wanted to marry him, but she also didn’t want the reputation of breaking off the engagement herself.
So she had let her parents and brothers step forward, using impossible demands to force him into canceling the marriage instead.
He and Yao Yulan had never been childhood sweethearts.
A matchmaker had introduced them, and their parents arranged the engagement.
Although they grew up in the same village and saw each other often as children, he never held any deep feelings for her. Since his parents approved, he simply agreed as though completing a task.
Before coming today to fetch the bride, his parents had still been saying how sorry they felt toward Yao Yulan — that she would enter the Cheng family only to face crushing debt. They had even reminded him to treat her well in the future.
Now, he only found it laughable.
“Back then, it was your Yao family who sent a matchmaker to my house. It wasn’t me who chased after you.”
“If you no longer wanted this marriage, you could have said so earlier. There was no need to lie and invent excuses. I, Cheng Yuanche, would never shamelessly beg to marry you. My life does not revolve around you.”
“Today I came here to fetch the bride, yet your family deliberately staged all of this and even tried to shift the blame for breaking the engagement onto me. Did you really think I was too stupid to see through it?”
“Since you think I’m not worthy of you, and since you believe the Cheng family is a pit of fire, then as you wish—”
“This marriage is off.”
Cheng Yuanche stood tall and imposing, his gaze like icy blades. His powerful voice carried clearly into every ear present.
The moment he personally declared the engagement canceled, Yao Yulan — hiding inside the house — inexplicably felt relieved.
Yet at the same time, an indescribable panic rose in her chest, as though something important had slipped away from her forever.
The Yao parents also secretly relaxed. Just as they were about to say something, Cheng Yuanche’s cold eyes fixed on them.
Word by word, clear and sharp, he said:
“The face and dignity of the Cheng family are not yours to trample on.”
“The humiliation of today will be repaid in the future.”
Yao Haibo, the Yao family’s second son and someone close to Cheng Yuanche in age, understood his abilities and temperament better than most.
A chill suddenly crept into his heart.
“Cheng Yuanche… what are you planning to do?”
The Yao parents’ expressions also changed instantly. Fear and wariness appeared clearly in their eyes.
But Cheng Yuanche didn’t even spare them another glance.
Instead, he turned toward his tearful mother, his guilt-stricken father, and the angry elders, brothers, and relatives who were furious on his behalf.
His chest rose sharply as emotion clogged his throat.
“Dad. Mom. Today, I was blind and failed to judge people properly, causing our family to suffer this humiliation. Your son has been unfilial.”
“As of today, this engagement is void.”
“It is not the Cheng family who wronged the Yao family today. It is the Yao family’s daughter who worships wealth, despises poverty, and betrayed her word.”
“A woman without virtue or integrity like her is not someone I care for. No matter how poor the Cheng family becomes, we will never allow her to step through our doors.”
“Let’s go home.”
His voice rang loud and firm, echoing throughout the courtyard and into the ears of those secretly listening inside the house.