The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure-Chapter 56 - Speechless
56: Chapter 56: Speechless
56 -56: Speechless
Song Chongjin was both angry and hateful, and he didn’t care about Mother Song crying in the background.
He charged straight to his maternal family’s home, rummaged through the boxes and cabinets to find clothes and shoes, and he packed them up in a pile to take back home.
The two aunts from the Song Family were not willing to let the matter go, as the clothing was made of fine cotton fabric, and the shoes were painstakingly crafted with multiple layers.
These items were truly exceptional and a rare sight in the countryside.
The two aunts simply couldn’t bear to give them to the men in their own family, and had planned to sneak off to town to pawn them, hoping to exchange them for some food.
That’s why they had kept them.
Now, as these items were being taken away, it felt like cutting flesh from their own bodies!
While cursing out loud, they shouted for the men of the household to lend a hand.
The men of the Song Family were all cowards, who only acted tough and unyielding in front of their wives.
Faced with the image of Song Chongjin’s furious and threatening demeanour, none of them dared to intervene, they just feigned death inside the house without coming out.
The aunts from the Song Family, despite their crying and shouting, couldn’t stop him, and only managed to leave a few scratches on Song Chongjin with their desperate claws.
As he was about to exit the door, they hurriedly turned to Song Tiedan, crying for help,
Song Tiedan, worried that Song Chongjin would not only rummage through the clothes and shoes but might also come to their house to search for things, after a moment’s thought, decided to stand guard by the door.
After all, he was the grandfather, surely Song Chongjin wouldn’t be bold enough to push him aside and rob the place right then and there?
Therefore, after dawdling for quite a while, when he finally did come out, he had hoped to assert his authority in front of this cheap grandson.
He had just started to scold him, calling him a little beast and unfilial, but instead of intimidating Song Chongjin, he ended up frightening Song Chunhua, who was following behind, and she fainted on the spot.
The Song Family kept their distance, wary of the bad luck, and also afraid that Song Chongjin would hold a grudge against them, so they stopped causing trouble.
There was nothing Song Chongjin could do; he had intended to cause a big scene and take the opportunity to have a clear break from the Song Family, but now with his mother, an unhelpful ally, fainting away, what was he to do?
He had to carry her back home first and then summoned a doctor to take her pulse, only to find out that Mother Song’s health had never truly recovered.
She had merely been taking tonic herbs and doing no heavy work, which gave the semblance of normal health.
If she had continued taking the tonics uninterrupted, she might have been alright, but after stopping for a while and suffering such a shock, there was a fear that it might affect her longevity.
Song Chongjin indeed hated the Song Family for their shamelessness and also despised his own mother for being so clueless.
She was so easily persuaded by her sister to give away the medicine that could have saved her own life, a culmination of utter foolishness!
Having no other choice, he wrote a new prescription and continued his mother’s medication.
Luckily, he had been cautious about giving her money, fearing that Mother Song would move everything back to her maternal home, so he only gave her a small amount for pocket money and saved the bulk of it himself.
After settling Mother Song, he obtained the list of wedding gifts from her and went through the items one by one, making sure everything was accounted for.
He then went to the Wang Family to discuss the cancellation of the marriage.
No matter how kindly he tried to persuade them or resorted to angry words, Wang Yongzhu stubbornly refused to call off the engagement; sometimes Song Chongjin even despaired to the point of wanting to give up completely.
To just accept his fate, marry a girl from the countryside, and entangle himself with his blood-sucking so-called relatives from the Song Family for life.
But whenever he thought about spending the rest of his life like this, he couldn’t accept it!
When he was scorned by the members of the Song Family as a freeloader who ate for free; when the members of the Song Family talked behind his back, calling him a bastard without a father; when he sought help from his mother but found none, as he was bullied by his Song Family cousins; when he had a high fever and was delirious, overhearing the Song Family persuading Song Chunhua to give up on him and find another man to marry…
It was then he swore in his heart that one day, he would make the members of the Song Family regret the way they mistreated him and his mother.
As he grew older and learned more about the ways of the world, understanding that the Song Family, being Song Chunhua’s natal family, was expected to provide support like ‘blood is thicker than water’ in the eyes of outsiders.
Added to the fact that Mother Song was muddle-headed, as long as she lived, he could never sever his ties with the Song Family.
He understood then that he needed to leave—to leave the Song Family, to leave this mire.
He didn’t want to sink into a decline and become like the useless people in the Song Family, nor did he want to be bled dry by the Song Family for the rest of his life!
He began to plot and plan, slowly saving up some silver coins, making friends outside, and calculating to take Mother Song away from Qilidun to a place far away, away from those blood-sucking relatives.
There, he would marry a quiet and literate girl, unlike his clueless mother.
He hoped for someone sensible, who could manage the household well, to lead a good life.
If one day his so-called Noble Patron father’s family came to claim him, he could proudly tell this so-called father that he had managed just fine without him!
So, he would not marry any girl from Qilidun, no matter who it was!
He wanted to distance himself far from Qilidun and sever any association with it.
He knew the Wang Family Young Lady liked him, with an infatuation that was unrestrained, passionate, and overwhelming.
He also had no intention of dragging any girl into the quagmire that was the Song Family.
Regardless of the Wang Family Young Lady’s temperament or appearance, no matter how infatuated she was with him, it could not overcome Song Chongjin’s desire to leave that place.
He had thought that the marriage discussion might drag on for a long time.
However, after the Wang Family Young Lady had fallen into the water, she seemed to have come to a realization, understanding that no girl would cling to a man in the face of his displeasure.
The Wang Family Young Lady agreed to call off the engagement, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
But somehow, seeing her agree so readily to break off the engagement made him feel an inexplicable discomfort.
At this moment, when Wang Yongping asked why he was so insistent on calling off the engagement, if he really was that heartless,
He was at a loss for words.
After a long while, Song Chongjin spoke softly, “You know the situation of my family.
Any parent who even slightly loves their daughter would not marry her to me; it would be like throwing her into a fire pit!
I carry the blood of the Song Family; I have no choice.
But I can’t ruin someone else’s daughter!”
Wang Yongping was speechless.
Although he was impetuous, he was not brainless.
He knew the situation of Song Chongjin’s family, his foolish mother, and the bloodsucking relatives from his maternal family.
If his sister had not been blinded by beauty and insisted on starving herself to marry Song Chongjin, Old Granny Zhang would never have considered forming an alliance with the Song Family.
Shaking his head, he patted Song Chongjin’s shoulder, “Brother, does this mean you’ll never marry in your lifetime?”
Song Chongjin lowered his head and fell silent.
Wang Yongping had a fight with Song Chongjin and then saw that Song Chongjin was especially sensible, not asking any redundant questions.
He suddenly felt that Chongjin was a good person.
Hearing his words, it seemed he wasn’t truly heartless but rather kind-hearted, not wanting to harm his younger sister.
In comparison with the Li Family, the difference was clear!
Now, he felt inclined to confide and poured out all the grievances in his heart.
It was then that Song Chongjin understood why Wang Yongping had sought solitude in the mountains to vent; for a man, it was indeed an enormous humiliation.
Miss Li and the He Family boy had truly acted without honor.
If they genuinely cherished each other, they should have approached the Wang Family to break off the engagement first, then be together openly and legitimately, leaving no room for criticism.
Instead, they had caused such a scandal.
The Wang Family lost face, but what dignity did the Li and He families have?
