Chapter 22: Marriage Proposal (III)
Chapter 22: Marriage Proposal (III)
Huo Xue-shi couldn’t speak as eloquently as Cheng Yujin. Hearing the lengthy, continuous rebuke, she could only choke a bellyful of anger. Now that Cheng Yujin finally stopped talking, she seized the opportunity to shout: “Absurd! Obviously you are an impostor, deceiving my son and deliberately grabbing the life-saving grace. My son cannot bear that and decided to cancel the engagement.”
“When Marquis Huo woke up after I found him, I told him that I am Yichun marquis manor’s eldest miss, Qingfu Junzhu’s daughter. Later, the ones who carry the marquis down the mountain were also my mother’s servants. Madam Huo, please say clearly, which part of me is an impostor? When did I grab someone else’s credit?”
“The life-saving grace is obviously not yours…”
Cheng Yujin smiled. She bowed at Madam Zhou and asked: “Madam Zhou, please judge. I found Marquis Huo inside a cave. At that time, there was no one else nearby. Then I asked my people to carry him to the villa estate. Is this a life-saving grace?”
Madam Zhou looked at Cheng Yujin, who knew when to advance and retreat, and always maintain her politeness. Then she looked at the angry Huo Xue-shi and her distorted face. Madam Zhou sighed: “Of course it is.”
Cheng Yujin smiled slightly, but she concealed it almost instantly. She finally fixed her gaze on Huo Xue-shi’s eyes and said with a slow, concise tone: “Madam Huo, did you hear? I have never done anything sorry to your Huo family. Yet you always slander me, and now even accuse me of faking the life-saving grace! Marquis Huo may be the apple of your eyes, but for me, he is no different from other men in the world. I, Cheng Yujin, don’t owe you and your son, and he is not worthy. Huo Changyuan went back to his own words, treating marriage as a plaything, arrogant, and conceited. Having been tangled with this kind of man before, I could only blame my bad luck, and have nothing else to say. But Madam Huo, you must remember that this marriage contract is your family’s fault. Proposing marriage without checking the truth, this is the first fault. Breaking your own words and promise, this is the second. After canceling the engagement, still slandering my reputation, and pushing all the blame, this is the third. Knowing that you have offended my Cheng family, yet still came to this manor to propose to the sister of ex-fiancee and provoke me and my sister’s relationship, this is the fourth.”
Cheng Yujin inhaled a breath. Four things, then just rounded it up. She quickly opened her mouth again: “You admit the wrong person yourself, then refuse to admit your mistake, and instead frame the life-saving benefactor for faking the credit. This is the fifth mistake. If you want to cancel the engagement, then just cancel. But I won’t allow you to trample on my reputation. This kind of injustice will surely meet heaven’s retribution.”
Cheng Yujin’s voice was loud, but very calm and composed. After she finished talking, the whole hall fell into a silence. Everyone was looking at her in a daze. Huo Xue-shi felt a series of numbers smashed her eyes, and her brain was full of one, two, three, four, five. She couldn’t utter a single word. After scolding Huo family into the dirt, Cheng Yujin politely saluted: “Madam Zhou, grandmother, I will retire first.”
Madam Zhou subconsciously asked: “What about Marquis Jingyong and second miss marriage talk……”
“The one who destroyed our engagement is him, and I am powerless. Meeting such a former fiance, Cheng Yujin can only admit her bad luck. As for who the Marquis will marry later, this little girl doesn’t care.” Cheng Yujin smiled lightly, then turned around and dignifiedly walked away.
When she went out, Cheng Yujin saw Cheng Yumo’s pale face, standing at the door timidly: “Eldest sister…”
As if she didn’t see the girl, Cheng Yujin passed by quickly. After Cheng Yujin has gone, Cheng Yumo’s face turned even paler.
After Cheng Yujin left, everyone was stunned. After listening to her words, Madam Zhou also felt that the broken marriage contract was completely Huo family’s fault. What’s more unreasonable was that after canceling the engagement, they still wanted to step on the former fiancee’s reputation, denied Cheng Yujin’s life-saving grace, and accused her of stealing others’ credit.
Huo Changyuan looked decent from the outside. But actually such a person in private?
Qingfu listened to the scolding just now. She followed Cheng Yujin’s momentum and threw a peculiar glance at Ruan-shi: “Since the engagement until now, the eldest girl has done nothing wrong, but suffer an innocent stigma. Since Marquis Huo has taken a fancy to your second branch’s girl, as an older sister, will Yujin still fight with her?”
After saying that, Qingfu was still dissatisfied. She deliberately shook her fan and said, “Second sister-in-law also wasn’t honest. If you and your daughter fancy Marquis Huo, when he first came to discuss the marriage, you can say directly, ah. Yet you have to wait until eldest girl’s engagement was fixed and the marriage contract being formalized before you started to work hard behind our back. Now you happily get your wish, but the eldest girl has to suffer marriage cancelation. Tell me, is this a proper thing to do?”
When Cheng Yujin barged in, old Madam Cheng’s complexion wasn’t good. But she knew that Cheng Yujin had a sense of proportion. Once it came to reputation, all girls in one family would bear the brunt. If one of them had a bad reputation, her sisters wouldn’t have it good either. That’s why old Madam Cheng wasn’t afraid that Cheng Yujin would blurt out about Cheng Yumo’s scandalous act. During this time, old Madam Cheng conducted her own investigation about what happened in the villa estate that night. From the servant girls’ mouth, she knew that Cheng Yumo had disappeared all night, and it was when Cheng Yujin went out to search for Cheng Yumo the next morning that she accidentally ran into Huo Changyuan. From these facts, combined with Huo Changyuan’s attitude, the old Madam roughly guessed what happened.
In any case, Cheng Yumo’s innocence has been ruined. If she could not marry Huo Changyuan, she had to hang herself to death. The fact that Cheng Yumo and Huo Changyuan spend one night together could only rot in the hearts of all concerned parties. Once words went out, all women in Cheng family’s would be dishonored, and they could never talk about marriages again. As the eldest sister, Cheng Yujin would be the one who bore the biggest brunt.
Cheng Yujin was very smart, and old Madam Cheng appreciated that the most. Even when her biological sister did such a thing, Cheng Yujin still kept her head composed, and always aimed at the Huo family with logical reasons and high moral ground, pushing all mistakes to them. From her words, Huo family was ungrateful, and she Cheng Yujin was the victim, the most pitiful and innocent.
T/N:
I love Yujin’s scoldings…. those are my favorite parts of this novel