Peach Blossom.

As soon as Chen Ji finished speaking, everyone in the Man family looked at Man Tangjiao, especially Man Long, whose eyes were nervous and urgent.

Mantangjiao lowered her head, her cheeks flushed, not knowing whether it was because of the anger at being questioned, or the shame of facing such a sensitive question.

"What? You don't dare to say it in front of everyone? Why did you say it so fluently outside that day?" Chen Ji smiled and whispered, with an obviously sarcastic tone.

Mantang Jiao could no longer tolerate such blatant humiliation, so she just raised her head and responded straightforwardly: "My second brother and I have been engaged since childhood, and marriage is a matter of time. Even if I am pregnant, it doesn't matter!"

"Oh..." Chen Ji nodded repeatedly as if he had suddenly realized something. In the blink of an eye, he smiled again: "Miss Man's words are indeed justified. It's amazing! Amazing!"

Everyone present was shocked after hearing these words, even Wang Jing was stunned. His raised fist was eventually suppressed by Chen Ji.

Chen Ji immediately made a gesture of congratulations to Man Long: "She is pregnant before marriage. General Man really has a good way of educating his daughter. I admire you! I admire you!"

After saying this, Chen Ji turned away, leaving the Man family, and the servants of the Chen family followed him.

Manlong's face almost turned ashen. He just waited for all the Chen family members to leave, then raised his spear again.

"Father-in-law..." Wang Jing walked over quickly and grabbed Manlong's wrist. "Ah Jiao and I did not violate any rules. It was just that Chen Ji was rude and flirted with Ah Jiao on the street the day before yesterday. Ah Jiao wanted to piss him off so she casually said she was pregnant and asked him if he wanted to be a ready-made father. Who would have thought he would believe it?"

After hearing Wang Jing's explanation, Manlong became even angrier. He pushed Wang Jing away and pointed at Mantangjiao with a trembling hand: "You lied like this, not to anger him, but to piss me off to death! Where do you want me to put my old face?"

Facing her father's rebuke, Mantang Jiao had no intention of admitting her fault. Instead, she challenged her father: "If you hadn't been so evasive and ambiguous in his "proposal", would he have dared to say those words to me in public? I already had an engagement with the Wang family, and now I'm involved with the Chen family. Where do you think my reputation will be?"

"You, you, you...you unfilial daughter, you actually teach me a lesson?" Manlong was so angry that his face turned red. He picked up the spear and stabbed his daughter.

Wang Jing was startled and quickly stood in front of Mantangjiao with his arms outstretched. When he turned around, he saw that Mantangjiao had already run away. When he looked back again, he saw that Manlong had also bypassed Wang Jing and was chasing after him with a gun.

All the servants in the mansion stared with wide eyes. They saw Mantangjiao, with a light figure and nimble steps like a little monkey, running and jumping over row after row of gift boxes sent by the Chen family. Manlong, on the other hand, staggered and turned left and right among the boxes, and no matter how hard they tried, they could not catch up with her.

Mantangjiao's brother Manxuan had just returned home. As soon as he entered the yard, he saw boxes of all sizes everywhere. He also saw his father chasing his sister around the boxes with a gun. Wang Jingze stood in the middle, his eyes following the figures of the father and daughter.

Man Yu was confused and immediately stepped forward to block Man Long's spear: "Father, what are you doing? How can you point this gun at my sister?"

"Why don't you ask her what she did?" Manlong was so exhausted that he was panting and sweating. He stared at Mantangjiao, still furious: "How could she, a girl in the boudoir, lie and say she was pregnant?"

"Ah?" Man Yu was stunned and looked at Man Tang Jiao.

Mantang Jiao hurriedly jumped down from a box and explained, "That's because Dad is timid and afraid to refuse Chen Ji's proposal, so I had to do this."

"Look...she is more reasonable than me..." Manlong angrily knocked the spear in his hand to the ground again and again, making a series of noises.

Man Yu glanced at Man Tang Jiao and said to Man Long helplessly, "Father, you did something a little unfair. An engagement is an engagement. If it can be changed at will, what's the point of an engagement?"

After hearing what his son said, Manlong felt even more angry and scolded Manxie as well: "Rebellious son! How dare you blame me? This time I must cancel the engagement!"

"No! I don't agree!" Wang Jing walked a few steps to Manlong and said this in a firm tone.

Manlong smiled contemptuously: "How can you have a say here? The marriage was arranged by your father and I, and I only need to tell him to break off the engagement."

Mantang Jiao also came over and took Wang Jing's arm, showing that she would stand by Wang Jing's side. "Even if Uncle Wang agrees to cancel the engagement, I will not marry Chen Ji."

Manlong pulled Mantangjiao to his side and scolded her harshly, "I don't care who you marry, but you can't marry into the Wang family. Only by breaking off the engagement can the rumor that you're pregnant before marriage be dispelled!"

Wang Jing couldn't help but get angry when he heard this. He just walked over, held Mantangjiao's hand, and said to Manlong bluntly, "If my father-in-law insists on breaking off the engagement, you must do so over my dead body first!"

"Do you think you can threaten me?" Manlong said as he was about to resort to violence again.

"Father!" Man Yu grabbed Man Long's arm and couldn't help but say something reproachful: "Can you be more rational? We have been engaged for many years, and the Wang family has not done anything wrong. What reason do you have to cancel the engagement?"

For a moment, Manlong was gagged and couldn't think of any words to respond.

Man Yu quickly bowed to Man Long and consoled him, "I know what father is worried about. I will study hard and practice diligently to bring honor to our family and compete with the Chen family. We cannot exchange my sister's lifelong happiness for it."

Manlong looked at his son, then at his daughter, without saying a word for a long while. Suddenly, he threw the spear away and turned to walk inside.

Tao Ye was in a daze in her dream, watching Manlong's back getting farther and farther away. In the afterglow of the setting sun, she seemed to feel that Manlong was a little hunchbacked, making his back look more vicissitudes and loneliness.

Mantangjiao looked at her father's back as he walked away, and seemed to be feeling very uncomfortable.

Man Yu looked around the yard at the gift boxes and whispered to comfort his sister, "Don't think too much. When father's anger has subsided, we can find a suitable time to return the gifts to the Chen family and say a few nice words. It will be fine if we can make a big deal out of a small matter and a small matter out of nothing."

It was unknown how much time had passed, but the environment had changed. Tao Ye vaguely sensed that the Wang family was already preparing for the wedding. She saw Mantang Jiao walking on the street, and again and again she felt strange looks from people, and even low voices of discussion:

"You're pregnant before you even get married, and you still have the nerve to go out?"

"He's maneuvering between the two families, who knows whose child it is!"

"It's just that I'm relying on the old engagement, otherwise I won't be able to get married..."

Obviously, the lie about Mantangjiao being pregnant before marriage has spread.

What surprised Tao Ye was that those who spoke ill of her and even deliberately let Mantangjiao hear them were not the gossipy old women she had imagined, but young girls. To be precise, they were basically daughters of officials who were about the same age as Mantangjiao and had maids serving them.

Mantang Jiao, on the other hand, looked nonchalant. She ignored all the contempt and just swaggered past those people. She would occasionally spit on the ground and fan it with her hands. She and her maid both sighed: "Who has such a strong body odor? It's so stinky!"

Tao Ye suddenly realized that those sharp-tongued ladies were Mantangjiao's love rivals, and they probably wanted Mantangjiao to break off the engagement with Wang Jing.

However, Mantangjiao would never let others get what they want, and it was even more impossible for her to swallow this humiliation so easily.

One day, the weather was fine and the sound of gongs was suddenly heard in the busy street market. The merchants doing business and the customers who were shopping in the market all stopped their work and shifted their attention.

When everyone looked, they saw Man Tang Jiao and her maid walking towards them, followed by twenty or thirty servants. Two servants were beating gongs, and one servant kept shouting "Excuse me, excuse me" to passers-by. The rest of the servants were all carrying boxes of different sizes. In addition, Shuangshuang was holding a big white goose in her arms. The group passed through the market in a mighty manner, which could really be regarded as parading through the streets.

Sure enough, many curious people quietly followed the Man family team from the side and rear, wanting to see what the eldest lady of the Man family was going to do.

Mantangjiao said nothing, but walked slowly forward with her usual smile. Along the way, more and more people followed her to watch the fun.

When they reached the gate of Chen's house, Mantangjiao ordered the servants to stop and put all the boxes on both sides of the gate. They both shouted inside: "Please come out, Second Young Master. My young lady wants to see you."

The guards of Chen's mansion had to report to the authorities. Soon, Chen Xi, Chen Ji, and fellow generals Chen Chong, Chen Yong, Chen Yao, etc. all came out.

Because on that day Chen Xi had gathered several clansmen to discuss family and national affairs, Chen Ji was among them. When they heard that something strange was happening outside the door, they naturally followed Chen Ji to watch.

It was most likely that Mantangjiao did it on purpose, choosing this time.

Seeing Chen Ji appear, Mantangjiao went up to him, put her hands on her waist and bowed slightly: "Greetings, Mr. Chen II."

Anyone could see that Mantangjiao's arrival was strange, but in front of so many people, Chen Ji could only treat her with courtesy and returned the greeting to Mantangjiao: "Miss Man, please come in and sit down."

Mantang smiled sweetly and replied, "I am not married yet, so it is inconvenient for me to enter your house. I am grateful for the kindness of the second young master. He came to my house a few days ago and gave me a wedding gift. But my father taught me that it is impolite not to reciprocate. I have been thinking about it day and night, how should I return the favor?"

"No need..." Chen Ji was about to speak when he was interrupted by Mantangjiao again.

"No merit, no reward. This gift must be returned. Unfortunately, my family has nothing, and I really can't give you anything commensurate with the gift you gave me. After much consideration, I can only return the original gift. But my father also taught us that we can only return more, not less, so how can we just return the original gift? My brother also mentioned that the second young master is of marriageable age, but he has been looking for a wife everywhere but has failed. So I looked for sisters in my family, intending to be a matchmaker for him, but they were all blind and unwilling to match him. I had to settle for the second best and summoned the maids in my family, hoping to find one to send to him as a concubine, but none of them dared to marry him. I really have no good idea, so I can only give you a swan that I have raised since childhood, as a token of my respect." Mantangjiao spoke very quickly and loudly, and spoke generously and swiftly, without giving Chen Jilu any chance to interrupt.

The so-called "swan" is just the big white goose in Shuangshuang's arms.

Being in public, such words inevitably made Chen Ji feel embarrassed. He could faintly hear the onlookers outside whispering and the strange looks from the tribesmen.

In order to avoid embarrassment as much as possible, Chen Ji barely suppressed his unhappiness, maintained his normal state, and said softly: "Then carry it in."

Mantangjiao looked back at the servants behind her. She seemed to be about to order them to carry the treasures in, but suddenly remembered something. "Alas, this box has been in my house for so many days, and I haven't opened it yet. I don't know what rare treasures are in it. I will not have the chance to see it if I return it today. Please do me a favor and let me open the box and take a look."

Without waiting for Chen Ji to say anything, Mantangjiao just waved to the servants, and they opened the boxes one after another.

The onlookers were also curious about what treasures the Chen family had, and they couldn't help but take a step forward and stand on tiptoe to take a look.

As the dozens of boxes were opened, they all emitted "quack, quack" sounds. In the blink of an eye, toads jumped out of each box. They were both frightened and screamed, and accidentally threw the big white geese in their arms, right at the Chen brothers.

The Chen brothers naturally dodged to the sides, and the big white goose flew into the gate of the Chen Mansion.

Mantangjiao also screamed in panic when surrounded by toads. She shouted "Help", held Shuangshuang's hand, and ran away with a group of servants. The gongs and gong sticks in their hands were scattered all over the ground in panic, leaving a mess.

All the toads chased the big white goose and rushed into Chen's house. The curious onlookers on the street saw this real-life version of "toads wanting to eat swan meat" which was more exciting than a play, and they couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Chen Chong couldn't help laughing and quickly covered her face with her hands. Fortunately, she was not seen by the brothers Chen Xi and Chen Ji. In order to avoid further embarrassment, she quickly said goodbye to Chen Xi.

Chen Yong, Chen Yao and others also said goodbye afterwards.

After the guests left, Chen Xi also turned around and went back to his house, looking as if he had nothing to do with it. Only Ma Da and his servants were busy sorting out the messy boxes and catching toads everywhere.

Chen Ji stood alone outside the door with a gloomy face, looking into the distance at the backs of his family, which had already disappeared without a trace.