After my luck was stolen, I led my whole family to defy fate and change our destiny.

Li Xiaohan and her mother were discussing how to get the Gu family to break off the engagement when a servant came to report that Madam Gu was waiting in the main hall.

Li Xiaohan was suddenly startled. "Mother, she must have come to make us fulfill our marriage agreement, to make me marry into the family before Lord Gu issues his judgment."

"Mother, I won't marry him, I won't marry him! His family is so despicable!"

Li's mother sighed, her head throbbing from her nagging. "Wasn't it all because you begged for it? Besides, it's not necessarily about you marrying into the family."

Li Xiaohan was so anxious that tears streamed down her face. "How could it not be? After what happened to their family, could they find someone better than me? They'd still try every means to marry me."

"That's so despicable, so shameless, so brazen! If you don't go and break off the engagement, I will!" he said, striding out.

"stop"

Li's mother pulled her back and scolded, "This is improper! What kind of daughter breaks off an engagement herself? You wait here, I'll go and talk to her."

Li Xiaohan's crying stopped abruptly. Worried, she quietly followed.

Li's mother rushed into the main hall to greet Su Xiuran, "Madam Gu, I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting."

Su Xiuran had almost finished her cup of tea. The Li family hadn't come to yesterday's full moon banquet, so she knew what they meant. She felt a chill in her heart, but also a little relieved. Such a family was not good enough for her son.

Her eyes flickered slightly, recalling what Gu Linglong had said. With the same fake smile as Li's mother, she stood up.

"I had only sat down for a short while..."

Madam Li urged, "Please sit down, please sit down. I'm ashamed to say that my daughter wasn't feeling well yesterday, so I stayed at home to take care of her. I've made it difficult for Madam Gu to celebrate her daughter's one-day celebration. I hope Madam Gu won't be offended."

Su Xiuran forced an even bigger fake smile. "How could that be? We're all mothers, we can all understand."

Madam Li nodded, then asked somewhat warily, "I wonder what brings Madam Gu here today?"

Upon hearing this, Su Xiuran put her handkerchief to her lips, looking as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.

"I'm really embarrassed to talk about this at this time..."

Alarm bells rang in Li's mother's mind: She really was here to force her daughter to fulfill the marriage agreement; how despicable...

Li Xiaohan, standing outside the door, gripped the door frame tightly. Everything was just as she had thought. The Gu family couldn't find a better woman than her, so they wouldn't let her go.

They came to her house to force her to marry them. What a despicable and shameless person. I remember knowing that Madam Gu was looking for a daughter-in-law.

She deliberately appeared wherever Su Xiuran was, trying her best to please and flatter her.

Since ancient times, people have always judged each other by their talent, appearance, and social status. She even spent a hundred taels of silver to have a palace maid teach her manners.

Even for fame...

All of this was so that she could marry into the Gu family.

Otherwise, how could a fourth-rank official like the Physician have caught Su Xiuran's eye, let alone enter the gates of a first-rank mansion?

She went to great lengths to marry into a wealthy and powerful family, only to be met with such a hostile attitude. She felt it was all for nothing and was filled with resentment.

Li's mother smiled and said, "Madam Gu, please speak freely."

"Then...then I'll tell you?"

Li's mother's heart was in her throat. "Yes, go ahead."

Su Xiuran took a deep breath. "I want to borrow money."

Li Xiaohan, standing outside the door, was completely bewildered.

Li's mother: "??????"

That's it? ? ?

Li's mother hesitated, and all the words she had prepared to refuse the marriage were stuck in her throat.

"Borrow...borrow money?"

Su Xiuran nodded without hesitation: "Yes, as you know, Mrs. Li, my husband is currently in prison and needs to be taken care of in various ways. We are really short of money..."

Lending money now is like throwing good money after bad, it's like throwing meat buns to a dog, never to be returned. She was about to refuse when Su Xiuran said something else.

"That's one thing; the other thing is that we've come to annul the engagement."

Li Xiaohan: "???"

Li's mother: "????!"

Li's mother was puzzled again. Why is it not what I imagined?

"Break off, break off the engagement?"

Su Xiuran took out the birth certificate and token, saying, "Our master is in prison, and the final outcome is still unknown."

Su Xiuran took out a handkerchief and dabbed at the corner of her eye. "Perhaps a few years in prison, perhaps demotion, perhaps exile, or perhaps..."

"In short, no matter the outcome, Xiaohan will suffer if she marries into this family. Xiaohan is a good girl, and I don't want to be a burden to her. She deserves better..."

Upon hearing this, Li's mother was overjoyed, but at the same time felt a little ashamed for imagining that the other party was forcing her into marriage.

It's different when she initiates the annulment than when the Li family does it; if the Li family does it at this juncture, they'll be condemned.

But if it was the man who proposed it, and he said it so eloquently, it would have satisfied the Li family's desire to annul the engagement without bearing any infamy.

She appreciated the gesture, saying, "Leaving aside whether we can become in-laws, how can we not help the Gu family when they are in trouble? I'll have the steward give us one hundred taels to tide us over."

"This...is..."

Mrs. Li reassured her, "Madam Gu, please accept it without worry. You don't need to return it."

"But……"

Thinking Su Xiuran was embarrassed, Li's mother said, "Take it. Back then, didn't Lord Gu help our master too?"

"Not enough..."

Mother Li: "..."

Li's mother almost couldn't maintain her fake smile. "Then...that two hundred taels?"

"Then thank you very much, Madam Li."

Mother Li: "..."

Su Xiuran didn't ask for much. Back then, when Langzhongling had just passed the imperial examination and needed to be transferred to another region, he had no connections and no money, so he approached Gu Mingtang hoping that he could help him.

Moved by compassion, Gu Mingtang gave him fifty taels of silver, indicating that he did not need to repay it. He only hoped that the other party would become a good official who served the people and a righteous and kind person with a pure heart.

Li's father said that this is how officials and people should behave, and promised to repay double when he became successful. However, in the years since he was transferred back to the capital, he has only mentioned once that he is still saving money.

The Li family owned at least four or five shops in the capital, and with the assets transferred out over the years, how could they possibly have less than one hundred taels?

The Gu family didn't care, after all, Gu Mingtang had said it didn't need to be repaid.

After the Gu family's incident, Li's father did not make any statement. Su Xiuran felt that Li's father was not a kind person with good intentions, and he was also sorry for Gu Mingtang's compassion back then.

It's just a matter of getting back the money that was donated back then, with interest.

Su Xiuran and Li's mother exchanged their children's birth certificates and tokens, and returned the marriage certificate, thus dissolving the engagement.

Looking at the returned token, Li's mother finally felt at ease, and her smile became more genuine.

"Madam Gu, please stay for dinner. We have a chef from Yangzhou who is exceptionally skilled in Yangzhou cuisine."

"No need to trouble yourself, I have a lot of things to do at home."

After thinking for a moment, Li's mother agreed, "Then I won't keep you."

"Um…"

Li's mother saw Su Xiuran to the door. She should have been very happy about the annulment of the engagement, but something just felt off...

But I can't quite put my finger on what's wrong.

Seeing that the two were about to come out, Li Xiaohan hurriedly returned to her room and started smashing things again without saying a word.

The maidservant squatted down to pick it up. "Miss, the engagement has been called off, why are you still unhappy?"

Li Xiaohan said angrily, "What do you know? You think she can just back out like that?"

Little maid: "..."

"Miss, isn't this what you wanted?"

"What do you know, you little brat? The merchant's sister isn't as simple as you think. Who knows what she might do to me with this annulment of the engagement?"

The maidservant: "..." It seems like Miss is seriously ill.

"Oh, I thought you'd be happy if the Gu family begged you to break off the engagement."

Enraged that her thoughts had been guessed, Li Xiaohan slapped the maid across the face.