Reborn before the famine, kicking away the scumbag's family and living a carefree life.

30. Annulment of engagement (3)

"You got divorced, and instead of being ashamed enough to hide away, you encouraged your sister to break off her engagement as well. I know it's because you wanted to have your sister by your side, so you'd have company. After all, there are so few divorced people, and you're the only one in the whole Daben village. If your sister is there to help you break off your engagement, then no one will talk about you anymore. Is this really good for your sister? You're actually hurting her."

Mother Zeng was clearly trying to sow discord between the two sisters.

Su Jinyu, however, was not buying it: "My older sister is right. Even if I never get married in my entire life, I will never marry into a family where the wife is beaten. Breaking off the engagement was my own choice, not something anyone encouraged me to do."

Su Ke: "Ayu, do you really want to call off the engagement?"

Su Jinyu: "In the year since we got engaged, Zeng Jianming said he was good to me, but I didn't feel his kindness. He would tell me every day that the bride price was going to my family and it wasn't worth it. He said that I was going to live with my husband's family and should think more about them and not ask for a bride price."

"Think about it, how could I dare to spend my life with someone as selfish and calculating as him?"

Liu Yulan said angrily, "The bride price is a custom. Only people who elope and secretly get together do not need a bride price. This is a custom passed down from the older generation. It is a way for the man to treat the woman. We are asking for a bride price of one hundred yuan, which is not much in the village. Besides, we are not going to use it ourselves. We are going to use it to buy chickens and eggs to nourish our daughter when she has children."

“When your family got engaged, they made excuses and said that the bride price would be given at the time of the wedding. It turns out that they were just trying to fool my daughter into not giving the bride price. Now they are using the famine as an excuse to not give the bride price.”

Su Ke: "My daughter is right. Your family is so calculating, so let's just call off this marriage! Besides, your family has a habit of beating women. My daughter is not going to suffer that. Even if she never gets married and stays at home, I can still support her."

Mother Zeng's face flushed red and then turned pale.

Su Jinyu had promised her son that she would persuade her parents not to ask for a bride price. Her son told her that they would definitely succeed in discussing the marriage today. Unexpectedly, Su Jinyu not only asked for a bride price, but also tripled the amount, which led to so much talk.

Zeng's mother panicked. If the marriage fell through, how could she explain it to her son?

"We can discuss the bride price again! It's not like we won't contribute anything."

Liu Yulan: "This is no longer about the bride price. We want to break off the engagement because we've discovered that your family is not someone we can entrust our affairs to."

"You're breaking your promise. We're already engaged, how can you just call it off like that? I demand an explanation from your family."

Su Jinru: "What explanation do you want? Although we're engaged, we didn't receive any betrothal gifts from your family, so the engagement doesn't count. Just make it clear that there's no relationship between us now."

Mother Zeng said domineeringly, "No, why should you say whatever you want? Our family doesn't agree."

Su Jinru: "So what if you disagree? Are you going to kidnap me? There are militiamen patrolling the village all the time."

Mother Zeng was so angry that her lips trembled.

"Give us back our money."

"Why should we pay it back? Paying it back means giving it to someone else before, and then that person giving it back. You didn't give anything in return, so what are you going to pay back?"

"When we got engaged, we bought two bottles of wine and two packets of candy."

Liu Yulan: "Our family even treated your family to a meal!"

Su Jinru: "Two bottles of wine, two packets of candy, right? How much are they worth? Five yuan, right? I'll give them back to you."

"You think you can get rid of me with five yuan? Ten yuan!"

Su Jinru: "Ten yuan it is. Call the team leader over to be a witness, otherwise your family will deny it later."

"I can call the captain, but he has to give me back my fifty yuan, otherwise it won't work."

"Are you pushing your luck? Think about the consequences. If I spread the word about how your family went to great lengths to deceive us in order to avoid paying a bride price, I think you'll have to travel 50 kilometers to find a wife in the future."

"And there's the story about the men in your family beating women behind closed doors; there are plenty of people in the village who love to hear this kind of gossip."

Good girls are unwilling to marry into families with a history of domestic violence.

Moreover, their family went to great lengths to avoid giving a dowry of 100 yuan. Such a family has a terrible reputation; it's no wonder that a girl from a good family would be unlikely to marry into it.

A family that beats the wife behind closed doors—whether it's the one beating or the one being beaten—keeps it a secret from outsiders, obsessed with saving face. It's unbelievable that such a family values ​​face so much yet acts so cruelly.

When Zeng's mother heard that they were going to publicize their family's affairs, she felt very uneasy.

"Don't tell anyone. I just want you to pay me back ten yuan."

"Five yuan!" Su Jinru insisted. "You won't listen when I try to reason with you; you have to make me angry."

"You just said it was ten yuan."

"You said fifty yuan!"

"Fine, fine, five dollars it is. But I need to go find my son; I can only annul the engagement if he agrees."

“Go ahead! Whether your son likes it or not, we are determined to annul the engagement. Once you've thought it through, come and let us know so we can go to the team leader's house together to write this annulment certificate.”

"It's fine if we don't go to the team leader's house to get him to write this certificate. Anyway, from today onwards, our family will not recognize this marriage. Five yuan, we'll only give it if we write the certificate, otherwise we won't give it. Whether we write the certificate or not, our third sister will agree to marry into a good family in the future."

Zeng's mother left in a dejected manner.

Soon, news spread throughout the village that the youngest daughter of the Su family and the son of the Zeng family had broken off their engagement.

That day, Zeng Jianming found Su Jinyu.

"Ayu, how could your family do this? We haven't even broken off the engagement yet, and your family is already spreading rumors that we've broken off the engagement."

"Didn't we already call off our engagement? We made it clear to your mother that day!"

"Ayu, don't be misled by your older sister. She's having a hard time herself and wants to drag you down with her. You have ulterior motives."

“That’s my older sister. I know her better than you do. I won’t allow you to talk about her like that. Our relationship is my own decision, and it has nothing to do with my older sister.”

“How can it not have anything to do with your older sister? Before your older sister got divorced, we were on good terms. But ever since your older sister got divorced, you haven’t come out to see me. The other day, my mother went to your house to discuss the marriage. Your parents didn’t say anything. It was your older sister who kept urging you to break off the engagement.”

“Jianming, let’s part amicably. You’ll meet a better girl than me in the future. We’re not a good match. You should persuade your parents to go to the team leader’s house and get the annulment certificate. We’ll return the five yuan your family spent on the engagement, and then we’ll be even.”