Only after being reborn did I realize that I was the white moonlight of a powerful minister.

Zhou family.

Zhou's mother, indignant, grabbed Xu Zhuling and cried, "Your cousin has changed! He doesn't listen to me anymore. What's so great about Ye Wanning? She doesn't go anywhere with you!"

Xu Zhuling thought so too, but after coming to the capital, she had seen a lot of prosperity and knew that powerful families not only valued one's own talent, but also the power of their family. "Aunt, don't be angry. My cousin has his own reasons."

"He's blinded by greed, insisting on praising Ye Wanning. He's truly unfilial..."

Before Zhou's mother could finish her tirade, the courtyard erupted in chaos.

Xu Zhuling walked to the window and saw Zhou Yu's face was even more swollen. She hurriedly ran out and asked, "Cousin, what happened to you?"

The Ye brothers' expressions changed instantly when they saw Xu Zhuling, especially Ye Mingde's. "Enough with the nonsense. I've brought the tokens today. You two should hand over the marriage certificate first. From now on, our two families will never have anything to do with each other again!"

"Brother, I..." Zhou Yu still wanted to plead his case, but his mother ran out of the house, crying and hugging him, "My son, did the Ye family beat you like this? We must report this to the authorities! Under the emperor's nose, the Ye family is lawless!"

"Mother!"

With a loud thud, Zhou Yu shouted at the top of his lungs.

Zhou's mother was stunned. Her usually obedient son was yelling at her. She stared at him in astonishment, unable to recover for a long time.

Zhou Yu took a deep breath. "Mother, please stop making a scene. Do you know that if you continue to be so unreasonable, my entire future will be ruined!"

"You...you're blaming me?" Zhou's mother looked at her son in disbelief. "Zhou Yu, do you have any conscience? You lost your father at a young age, and your uncles and aunts were unwilling to support us. It was I who went through so much trouble to bring you back to your parents' home. If it weren't for me and the Xu family, would you have been able to pass the imperial examination with top honors?"

Zhou Yu's head throbbed even more. He was too weak to persuade her any further, so he gave Xu Zhuling a wink.

Xu Zhuling went to help Zhou's mother, but Zhou's mother pushed her away.

Ye Mingyue tossed the token to Zhou Yu, saying, "We don't have time to listen to you two arguing. Give us the marriage certificate first, and then we'll settle the score."

"Settle accounts? What accounts?" Hearing that Ye Mingyue wanted money, Zhou's mother stopped crying and jumped up.

"Zhou Yu has used my family's money all these years, shouldn't he pay it back?" Ye Mingyue said irritably.

"Why should I give it back to you?" Zhou's mother refused. "You gave it to me voluntarily, and now you want it back? You're shameless! You keep talking about being a noble family, but I didn't expect you to be so stingy with such a small amount of money. Bah! You're the real scoundrels! You've ruined my son's reputation, and now you're trying to sow discord between us. You're a whole family of black-hearted bastards!"

Ye Mingde was a scholar and had never heard such vulgar language before. Ye Mingyue was much calmer. "I say, Madam Zhou, you keep spouting foul language. Don't you know who has disgraced Zhou Yu? Your Zhou family has done such shameless things. I want to see how much more shameless you can be!"

"Who's shameless? You little brat, who are you calling a jerk?" Zhou's mother rolled up her sleeves, ready to hit him, until Zhou Yu shouted.

"enough!"

Zhou Yu could no longer contain himself. "Zhu Ling, take your mother back to her room." His eyes were sinister. If she weren't his biological mother, Zhou Yu would have already taken action.

This was the first time Xu Zhuling had seen Zhou Yu's face so gloomy. Despite Zhou's mother's reluctance, she still pulled her away.

Zhou Yu looked at the Ye brothers, "Elder brother, second brother, can you give me another chance? My feelings for Wan Ning are genuine. There's an old saying, 'It's better to tear down ten temples than to break up one marriage.' Wan Ning and I grew up together, our friendship is something we've had since childhood. Can you please…"

"No way!" Ye Mingyue interrupted. "With your mother's shrewish ways, I will absolutely not let my sister marry into your Zhou family. Hurry up and bring us the marriage certificate, or we'll have to do it ourselves!"

There was no turning back now.

The hatred in Zhou Yu's heart was beyond words.

The annulment of the engagement was a done deal, and he had completely broken ties with the Ye family. Zhou Yu asked Feng Ran to bring the marriage certificate. As for repaying the money, that was impossible; he didn't have the money, and even if he did, he wouldn't give it to the Ye family.

Ye Mingyue confirmed that the marriage certificate was correct, and then calculated the amount Zhou Yu should repay. "Five taels of silver a month, tuition at the academy, and other expenses, all added up over the years, you only need to repay me five hundred taels of silver. Don't worry, our Ye family never takes advantage of others, you will only spend more, not less."

"Five hundred taels?" Zhou Yu frowned. "Ye Er, it was the Ye family that voluntarily sponsored my education, not something I asked for. Now you want the money you gave me back? Is this the kind of conduct expected of a noble family?"

After a pause, Zhou Yu retorted sarcastically, "Or is it that the Ye family is so poor that they can't survive without these five hundred taels of silver?"

The Ye family is indeed short of money. Zhou Yu knows the Ye family's situation and said this on purpose.

Now that we've broken off relations, there's no need to save face for the Ye family.

Ye Mingde's face flushed red. Logically speaking, the Ye family shouldn't be concerned about such a small amount of money. But Zhou Yu had gone too far, and if he didn't retaliate, he would be letting down his deceased parents.

Ye Mingyue didn't care about reputation or face. "We supported your studies because we considered you our future brother-in-law. If it were a normal annulment of the engagement, we wouldn't want the five hundred taels, but you've done so many shameless things and humiliated my sister like this, so I must get the money back. Zhou Yu, are you broke and can't afford it?"

"So what if it is?" Zhou Yu retorted defiantly. "Do you think you dare to rob me?"

They were all people with official positions and status, so Ye Mingde couldn't easily order them to be robbed. Besides, the Zhou family didn't have the money to search them.

Just as Ye Mingde was wondering what to do, Xie Bohuai entered with his men.

As soon as they entered the courtyard, Xie Bohuai explained his purpose: "The thugs who beat Zhou Hanlin have been found. They died in the dilapidated temple. These things were found on them. Zhou Hanlin, take a look and see if they are yours?"

The person is dead?

Zhou Yu glanced at it and nodded in agreement.

Xie Bohuai returned the items to Zhou Yu, but instead of leaving, he asked Ye Mingde why he was at the Zhou family's house.

Ye Mingde was unwilling to talk much about his family affairs, but Ye Mingyue, unafraid of making things worse, quickly recounted the matter of the annulment of the engagement: "Commander, please judge this matter. Zhou Yu used our Ye family's money to support his mistress, and they even have a child together. Shouldn't we get this money back?"

Ten people came with Xie Bohuai. They didn't expect to hear about the secrets of the Ye and Zhou families. They all looked calm, but they were all wondering what was going on in their hearts.

Zhou Yu's face turned as red as blood. He was in his own home, and no matter how much he tried to deny it, no one else would have heard. Ye Mingyue, that scoundrel, didn't even care about the Ye family's reputation just to drag him down with him.

"Let's all talk about it. Am I right or wrong to come and ask for my money back?" Ye Mingyue looked at everyone. "Anyway, as long as you, Zhou Yu, don't pay me back, I'll keep bothering you. I'll go to the yamen to file a complaint, I'll beat the petition drum. Anyway, I have nothing better to do, I have plenty of time to waste on you."

"Ye Er, aren't you afraid of ruining the reputation of Ye Li?" Zhou Yu said through gritted teeth.

"What I did has nothing to do with the Ye family?" Ye Mingyue disliked reading and didn't care about his reputation.

“I think we should pay it back,” Xie Bohuai suddenly interjected.

Everyone looked at Xie Bohuai.