Chapter 78: Resolutely Seeking to Cancel the Marriage

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Tang Ailian couldn't understand why, since Li Xinye had known Liu Qingyu for a long time, he didn't just pursue a relationship with her from the beginning. Instead, he got engaged to her and brought her into the Li family ahead of time. Could it be that at that time, Liu Qingyu looked down on his family's poverty? Or maybe Liu Qingyu didn't want to sacrifice her chance to go to college and marry into the Li family to support him, so Li Xinye chose to engage with Tang Ailian instead? Or perhaps, Li Xinye initially made a deal with Liu Qingyu, using her to support his college education and planning to marry her after graduation, while misleading Tang Ailian into believing they were engaged?

In her previous life, Li Xinye had graduated from college without taking responsibility for his family. It must have been because of Liu Qingyu's attitude. This was probably why Liu Meilan kept the previous Tang Ailian in the Li family, as she was sure to take care of Li Xinye's siblings as well.

Tang Ailian felt a surge of resentment. In her previous life, she had been played for a fool by Li Xinye's family and Liu Meilan, resulting in a lifetime of suffering. Now, in this life, Liu Meilan still wanted to use her and marry her off to Li Xinye to continue their exploitation and greed.

She would never agree to it!

In this life, without her sacrifices, she wanted to see how Li Xinye could afford to go to college and how he could have a loving relationship with Liu Qingyu.

"Don't worry, I won't marry you!" Tang Ailian declared. For some reason, she suddenly took out the jade pendant hanging around her neck. "I already have a boyfriend, and he's much better than you."

Li Xinye became angry when he heard that Tang Ailian already had a boyfriend. "You unfaithful woman! You're engaged to me, but you're secretly dating someone else? You're an unvirtuous woman!"

Tang Ailian was shocked. Engaged to him? "You're talking nonsense. When did I get engaged to you?"

Li Xinye triumphantly said, "When my dad retired, he arranged our engagement for us. So, you're my fiancée. You have me as your fiancé, and you're dating someone else. You're an unvirtuous woman."

Tang Ailian was utterly confused. "But don't you like Liu Qingyu?"

"My mom told me that if I marry you, we'll have a lot of money. But I like Liu Qingyu." He seemed conflicted.

Then he suddenly smiled, "I'll marry you first, get your money, and then Liu Qingyu will like me because I'll have money. Just you wait; I'll marry you and your money."

Tang Ailian was taken aback. Li Xinye, at this age, was already thinking of using her money to marry Liu Qingyu. In her previous life, he had done just that, but he hadn't mentioned it beforehand like this time.

Tang Ailian's face turned black.

"Mom, I saw Li Xinye at the brigade office today. He said I stole his sweet potato rice noodles."

"What did you say? Li Xinye said you stole his sweet potato rice noodles?" Liu Xiujian couldn't believe her ears as she looked at Tang Ailian.

Liu Xiujian was dumbfounded for a while and couldn't find the right words to say. She never doubted that Tang Ailian would lie. Li Xinye dared to say that Tang Ailian had stolen his sweet potato rice noodles? At that time, only Liu Meilan and her son Li Xinye were in the house. No one else could have known. Both of them were just over a year old and couldn't remember anything. This had to be Liu Meilan's doing!

She had been so good to Liu Meilan and her son. During the years of famine, who didn't consider food as valuable as life itself? But she had given Liu Meilan over 60 pounds of sweet potatoes the first time, over 30 pounds the second time, and even though it was just 5 pounds the third time, it was sweet potato noodles!

Even when her daughter helped someone with an illness and received 40 yuan as payment, she got 12 yuan worth of good fabric, and she gave one piece of it to Liu Meilan, saying it was for making new clothes for Li Xinye.

But Liu Meilan had the audacity to say such things behind her back!

Liu Xiujian suppressed her anger. "What else did he say?"

"He also said...," Tang Ailian recounted everything Li Xinye had said to her, except for the part where she intentionally provoked him by claiming she had a boyfriend.

She asked, "Mom, did I really get engaged to him?"

Liu Xiujian said vehemently, "Engagement? Who said that? I don't acknowledge it. Even if your father and his father arranged something, we won't accept it! We'll definitely cancel it, especially since we need to get the betrothal gifts back."

She absolutely would not let her daughter be wronged. They had to cancel this engagement. Even if her husband disagreed, she would insist on it and cut ties with Liu Meilan in the future.

Liu Xiujian made up her mind and sent a telegram to her husband at the brigade's telegraph office, expressing her strong opposition to Tang Ailian's engagement to Li Xinye and requesting her husband to find a way to cancel it, especially insisting on retrieving the betrothal gifts.

However, after her husband received the telegram and read it, he replied with just a few words: "No engagement, no cancellation."

Liu Xiujian finally felt relieved. Indeed, her husband had never agreed to the engagement; it was purely Liu Meilan and her family's wishful thinking. As long as they didn't acknowledge this engagement, how could they forcibly marry off their daughter? Going to the authorities to cancel the engagement would only acknowledge that it had existed in the first place. Therefore, she let the matter drop and no longer concerned herself with Liu Meilan.

A month later, the villagers of Longtou Village noticed a sedan car outside Tang Ailian's home, and they saw an old man with a dignified appearance and a long white beard sitting inside the car. People whispered to each other, speculating whether this was Tang Ailian's esteemed master.

It turned out that Ailian really had a master!

(End of chapter)