Bride Swap Backfire: My Cousin's Rebirth Made Us a Power Couple-Chapter 40 - 37: Calling off the Engagement (Part 1)

Xu Su Ying’s anger flared the moment she heard Chen Wanyue’s words.

She knitted her brows and shot back, "Let’s not even get into whether that soporific incense was ’blown in by the wind’ or whether it costs money. Let’s talk about what use there would be in using it on a little slip of a girl like you. Do you know the location of some hidden treasure? Can you predict the future? Using that stuff on you would be like a blind man lighting a lamp—a complete waste of wax."

At these words, Chen Wanyue was absolutely fuming. "Aunt, how can you be so insulting?"

"Insulting you is getting off easy! If I weren’t afraid of people saying I’m bullying a child, I’d want to slap you! Now, pay me back immediately. If you don’t, I’ll go find your parents."

"But I didn’t do it on purpose..."

"So you don’t have to pay if it wasn’t on purpose? By that logic, does accidentally killing someone mean you don’t have to go to prison or pay with your life?"

"I... No wonder Grandmother doesn’t like you. Aunt, a daughter-in-law as shrewish and difficult as you... no one could possibly like you."

"As if I care whether you like me! I want you all to see me differently... Ah! Jing, what is that in your hand?"

Zhao Jing walked in from outside the main gate, holding an oil-paper umbrella, his pace unhurried.

Rain drizzled down and a thin mist began to rise. He was dressed in a cyan long-robe that accentuated his refined, gentle features, making him appear as slender and upright as a stalk of green bamboo.

Zhao Jing opened his clenched fist.

His fingers were long and pale, his knuckles even, exuding an elegance that spoke of a strong, noble character.

But at this moment, no one was looking at his hand. All eyes were fixed on the object in his palm: a sapphire-blue sachet embroidered with a crane soaring through the heavens.

The sachet was exquisitely made with superb craftsmanship, and the embroidery was of the highest quality. A sachet like this would cost at least half a tael of silver in Qingshui County.

But the key wasn’t the sachet’s value, but its significance.

On closer thought, wasn’t this sachet one of the engagement tokens the Chen and Zhao Families had exchanged years ago?

Xu Su Ying finally dredged up this old memory from the depths of her mind.

Comparing the faded image in her mind with the exquisite sachet before her, she was certain. This was the engagement token from her memories.

One was simply new and bright, while the other, despite being carefully preserved for years, had inevitably faded and grown dull.

Of course, that wasn’t the point. The point was, why on earth was Jing bringing out the engagement token now?

Xu Su Ying had a suspicion, but she hardly dared to believe it.

She asked Zhao Jing tentatively, "Jing, what are you doing?"

Before Zhao Jing could answer, Chen Wanyue lunged toward him as if she had seen a treasure, trying to snatch the object from his hand.

Zhao Jing reacted instantly, taking a step back.

Chen Wanyue lunged at empty air. Her eyes flashed with fury as she stared at him. "That belongs to my family!"

Zhao Jing ignored her and simply bowed to Xu Su Ying. "Aunt, I must trouble you to call for the Chen family elders. I have already notified my uncle and several other respected elders to come to your home."

"Jing, are you trying to..."

"It is just as you suspect, Aunt. This engagement was originally arranged to form a happy union between our families, and more importantly, to repay a debt of gratitude. But now, not only does the Chen family’s grandmother feel it is not a good match, but Miss Wanyue herself also harbors much resentment. That being the case, why must we force it?"

Zhao Jing smiled, a carefree air about him. He bowed again. "Since things have come to this, there is no need to try and dissuade me, Aunt. I only ask that you make this trip. Thank you for your trouble."

Xu Su Ying let herself be ushered out the door in a daze. It wasn’t until she was almost at the Chen family’s old residence that the reality of the situation truly sank in.

’That boy Zhao Jing is breaking off his engagement with Wanyue...’

’Good! It’s about time!’

’This son-in-law was fated to be hers. She wasn’t afraid of gossip. As soon as Zhao Jing broke off the engagement, she would immediately send a matchmaker to sound him out. She had to act before anyone else could react and lock in the marriage between Zhao Jing and Wanqing.’

After Xu Su Ying left, Chen Wanqing busied herself.

She instructed her younger brother, "Take Jing to your room to wait for now."

Without so much as a glance at Chen Wanyue, she quickly cleaned up the broken porcelain on the floor, then lit the stove to boil water for the tea she would serve the elders when they arrived.

Xu Su Ying had not yet returned from the Chen family’s old residence when the head of the Zhao Village, who was also Zhao Jing’s uncle, arrived.

He was followed by several more elders from the Zhao, Qu, and Chen families.

Thirty years ago, the Zhao Village hadn’t been very large, with just over a hundred households at most.

Later, during the great drought in Guanzhong, people fled their homes to survive, and many of them ended up settling in the Zhao Village.

Without a doubt, both the Chen and the Qu clans had moved in later.