It's bad! The cub raised in the space met the prince and called him daddy

The respected old patriarch had a serious look on his face and stepped forward to pat Shen Wenzhi on the shoulder to comfort him.

He stroked his gray beard, coughed twice and shouted:

"Fellow villagers, please be quiet. I have investigated the whole matter. This matter was caused by a blind woman who spread rumors, and Hu Niu and her mother Ma Zhaodi did not distinguish right from wrong and came to our house to make trouble, which caused a bad influence in the village."

The old patriarch paused for a moment, looked at the villagers' angry expressions and continued,

"Everyone, rest assured. The village will never tolerate this. Today, let the three of them apologize to Qingge's niece and the Shen family, and lock them up in the ancestral hall for three days to reflect on their actions."

After saying this, the old patriarch looked at Li Lizheng with a look of disappointment, motioning him to say a few words.

*

Li Lizheng was in a dilemma and quickly apologized to Aunt Yu and Fang Qingge.

"I didn't manage my family well, and caused a lot of harm to my in-laws. I am too embarrassed to come to your house!"

After saying that, he bowed deeply to them.

Aunt Yu and Fang Qingge both moved away and turned their heads away. Li Lizheng's face turned the color of liver in embarrassment.

**

Just when Li Lizheng was feeling ashamed, Shen Wenzhi suddenly lifted his scholar's robe and knelt down in front of the old patriarch.

"Hey? Brother Zhi, what are you doing?"

"Please ask the old patriarch to agree to this matter for me."

The old patriarch said urgently:

"Brother Zhi, please get up and talk. I know you are a good person. If you have anything to say, get up and talk."

Shen Wenzhi stopped being hypocritical. He stood up, dusted off his scholar robe, and said in a loud voice:

"Since things have come to this, in order to protect my family from being disturbed and to prevent future troubles, I want to cancel my engagement with Li Huniu. Please ask the old clan leader to make the decision for me."

"No."

"You're dreaming."

As soon as he finished speaking, Hu Niu and the headman's wife Ma Zhaodi started shouting loudly as if their eyes turned red with anxiety.

*

Shen Wenzhi didn't even look at them and continued to argue:

"Old clan leader, uncle village head. As the saying goes, marriage is about friendship between two families, not enmity. You have watched me grow up, so I won't say much about my character.

Since the engagement was made, Li Huniu has often come to the academy to make a scene, complaining that the younger generation doesn’t come home often and doesn’t play with her, which has disrupted my normal studies and made me a laughing stock in the academy.”

Shen Wenzhi paused when he spoke here, but Aunt Yu cried out in distress.

"What? Zhi'er, you said she often goes to the academy to look for you? How dare she do that? She wants to hold you back and stop you from studying well!"

Aunt Yu felt chest tightness and shortness of breath, and she was having trouble breathing. She gasped for breath in big, rapid gulps.

When the neighbor Aunt Wang saw her, she hurriedly helped her breathe and called out to her loudly,

"Chunhua, Chunhua, don't be angry. Your health is more important! It's not worth it to get hurt by your anger. The old patriarch will definitely make a decision for Zhige'er."

"Mom, mom, please don't get angry and make yourself sick."

Shen Wenzhi hurriedly stepped forward to support his mother and patted her back gently. He looked at his mother anxiously for a while before she recovered.

He bit his lip hard, looked at the old patriarch and the head of the village and said word by word:

"The younger generation has made up their minds to study hard and strive to enter the official career path, so that they can bring honor to their ancestors and add glory to our Qinghe Village in the future.

But now? Time and again, I am being harassed endlessly. Not only does she want to ruin my future career, but she is also disturbing the peace of my family.

At the beginning, the younger generation firmly disagreed with this marriage, but Li Huniu and her mother came to the door with grandfather's keepsake and cried, threatening to commit suicide. The younger generation's parents had no choice but to agree to it out of filial piety. "

Aunt Yu's tears fell as she watched her son grow up so quickly.

*

The villagers had already gone through shock, astonishment, and anger, and started shouting loudly.

"What does Huniu want to do? She hasn't even married yet, but she goes to her husband's house and makes a scene when she's not happy. She doesn't respect her parents-in-law, nor her brothers and sisters. She also ignores Zhi'er's future. If they get married, she will meet all the seven grounds for divorce."

"Old Patriarch, let me say something. Our Qinghe Village has finally produced a student who will become a scholar or a juren in the future.

Although Zhige'er is not a member of our Li clan, he is still a member of our Qinghe Village. This is a great thing to bring honor to our family! You can't be partial to him!"

"Yes, yes! Marriage is not an enmity, and filial piety cannot be blind. There is no room for negotiation. Cancel the engagement, cancel the engagement! Resolutely cancel the engagement!"

As the anger of verbal criticism grew, more villagers stood up.

"Village head, don't you know what kind of person your Li Huniu is? You can't let Zhige'er suffer for your own benefit.

Now the hope of our entire village rests on Zhige'er."

"Old Patriarch, let me also say this. Our Qinghe Village has been invaded by the Guyue Nation for years, and every family is impoverished.

Now that the Guyue Kingdom has been defeated by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and their troops have withdrawn, our lives have settled down. We hope that our descendants can bring honor to our family.

Now that our village has a scholar named Wenzhi, we must protect this child for our own sake!"

"Well said! That's right! Break off the engagement, break off the engagement!"

The villagers were all excited and applauded the speaker loudly.

*

Seeing that the temperature was almost right, Fang Qingge pretended to be exhausted and said weakly:

"Old Patriarch, I do not accept their apology. My aunt is too old to endure such torture.

My cousin’s knowledge is obvious to everyone, but if he is accused of having a bad moral character because of rumors, his career path will be completely ruined. That’s all Qingge has to say.”

After Fang Qingge finished speaking, he turned to the worried Aunt Yu and said:

"Aunt, don't worry about me. I won't commit suicide until this matter is resolved and justice is done to us."

After saying that, she let go of Aunt Yu's hand, walked slowly into the west wing alone, and stepped over the broken door panel that fell to the ground.

Shen Wenzhi clenched his fists and then unclenched them, then hurried forward to prop up the door panel that had been kicked in, temporarily blocking out the worried looks from everyone who was looking at Fang Qingge.

*

Feeling distressed and worried, Aunt Yu withdrew her gaze, looked at her son who walked back lifeless as if all hope was lost, and then looked at the shaky and kicked-in door of the west wing.

At this moment, the dissatisfaction with Li Huniu seemed to be magnified several times.

She gritted her teeth and said, "Old Patriarch, please wait a moment. Sister Wang will help me into the main hall."

"All right."

Aunt Yu was supported by Aunt Wang into the main hall. She quickly took out the token given by the girl's family and stuffed it into the old patriarch's hand, saying with a tired look in her eyes:

"Old clan leader, please make a decision for our family! Our temple is small and cannot accommodate a huge statue of Li Huniu.

I am in poor health and want to live a few more years. Please help my family cancel this marriage! I will accept any nasty words you say to me in the future."

**