Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside

"Dissolve the engagement?" Ms. Ni, who had been struck until she saw stars, scoffed upon hearing this: "Your family wants to dissolve the engagement with mine? My family is already doing you a favor by agreeing to marry your niece! Mrs. Chen, if you're unaware of certain matters, go back and ask your precious niece, and see how that lowly and shameless thing could have..."

Slap slap slap!

Upon hearing her degrade Gu Yumei as lowly and shameless, Mrs. Chen was thoroughly enraged, and she slapped Ms. Ni repeatedly, straddling her and pulling her hair to start a fierce fight: "You poisonous woman, dirt-hearted cur, if you dare say another word against my niece, I'll chop you to pieces!"

Mrs. Ni, concerned that Ni Ruiniang's unborn child might be harmed, urged with her and Ni Shiliu to protect Ni Ruiniang, and anxiously said to Mrs. Chen who was hitting Ms. Ni hard: "Let go of my lady at once, if you dare hit her again, I will call for help."

"Oh, go ahead, cry out and see, the whole lot of your family barely has five servants, while the Qin, Gu, and Luotian families, including our servants, have nearly twenty people here today. Two of our servants are skilled in martial arts, come on if you're not afraid to die," said Mrs. Chen, scaring Mrs. Ni speechless.

Wan Lifang, who was hiding in the inner room, turned pale with fright, cursing Gu Yumei to death in her heart: Slut, how dare she let her family come to dissolve the engagement? Isn't she afraid that letting this out would make her unable to lift her head for the rest of her life?

Upon entering, Third Grandma saw three sets of bowls and chopsticks on the dining table and knew that besides Ms. Ni and her niece, there must be another person, most likely Wan Lifang.

After searching the place without finding Wan Lifang, she directly burst into the inner room, grabbed Wan Lifang, and dragged him out: "You little rascal, I finally found you, come out with the old lady."

Wan Lifang became angry: "Third Old Lady Gu, how can you be so rude? This is my mother's room, how dare you barge in, are you not afraid of becoming a laughingstock?"

"Heh, you as a beast who impregnated your cousin are not afraid of being ridiculed, so what is an old woman like me, who's almost in the grave and childless, afraid of being laughed at for?" Third Grandma, having been mocked for most of her life for not having a son and also having fought with half the village's women in her hometown, was exceedingly fierce. She hauled Wan Lifang out of the inner room, dragging him all the way toward the courtyard.

Ni Ruiniang, realizing that many from the Gu Family had come today, and with a group of men waiting outside the main courtyard, worried that Wan Lifang would be beaten to death, urgently shouted: "Mrs. Gu, what are you doing? Let go of my cousin at once!"

"Pah, you little slut, you still have the nerve to protect Wan Lifang, better take good care of your belly. If you provoke the old lady, I'll kick out the flesh in your womb," Mrs. Chen shouted, while still fighting with Ms. Ni, scaring Ni Ruiniang into silence, her hands protectively covering her belly, trembling with fear.

"Shrew, shrew, a bunch of uneducated things..." Ms. Ni, having been beaten badly, wept bitterly and cursed at Mrs. Chen and Third Grandma.

Mrs. Chen paid her no mind, using all ten fingers to scratch Ms. Ni's face raw.

Gu Dexing saw Third Grandma dragging Wan Lifang out of the house and immediately rushed over, helping Third Grandma pull Wan Lifang to the exterior of the main courtyard.

As soon as Wan Lifang was outside the main courtyard gate, Gu Dafu and his brothers charged at him, throwing punches and kicks.

Scholar Wan arrived just in time to see Wan Lifang nearly beaten to death: "Stop, stop at once! Gu Dafu, what are you trying to do? Charging into my house without any reason, you're no different from bandits and robbers... I, I will report you to the government!"

Third Grandpa raised his hand, signaling Gu Dafu and the two others to stop, and turned to Scholar Wan, saying: "Scholar Wan, Great Chu has a law which states that those with an official position who fail to maintain private virtue may be stripped of their title if accused and proven guilty."

He pointed at Wan Lifang and continued: "Your son had an illicit affair with his cousin before marriage, not only tarnishing her reputation but also producing an illegitimate child. Moreover, your servant openly stated that Wan Lifang has been in Miss Ni's quarters during this period. Knowing full well about your son's scandalous affairs in your own household, you had the audacity to propose marriage to our Gu Family. You have committed two crimes: lacking in private virtue and deception in marriage. Tell me, if we were to report this to the government office, would you still be able to hold onto your Scholar title?"

Scholar Wan's face turned ashen; his pride in having achieved the status of Scholar was matched only by his fear of losing it.

Still, he retorted, "I, as a Scholar, was unaware of Brother Fang's affair with Ni Ruiniang. And what is this about deception in marriage? Miss Gu willingly came to us..."

"Shut your mouth!" Gu Dafu was furious, rushing over and grabbing Scholar Wan to strike him: "You old fool, dare to slander my daughter; I'll beat you to death today."

What does it mean that 'their daughter willingly came to them'? Is this something a person would say? His Sister Mei was clearly deceived by Wan Lifang. Besides, Sister Mei's honor remains intact, she is still pure. But with Scholar Wan's words, others ignorant of the facts might believe something untoward happened with Sister Mei.

Because of his slip of the tongue, Scholar Wan was thoroughly beaten by Gu Dafu.

Scholar Wan was beaten until he vomited blood, and with tears in his eyes, he pointed at Gu Dafu, "How dare you! How dare you assault a Scholar of the court... I will sue you, sue you until your whole family is exiled!"

Gu Dashan stepped forward and said to Scholar Wan, "According to the Great Chu Criminal Law, if a victim seeks revenge and beats someone, even to death, they are not held culpable; and if the person beaten is a Scholar, as long as there is evidence to strip him of his title, it is no different from striking a commoner, and the assaulter would still be innocent."

These words were taught to him by Good Brother An the night before. Good Brother An, having studied under Scholar Shang, learned a great deal of the Great Chu Criminal Law from him.

Scholar Wan, himself a Scholar and knowledgeable about the Great Chu Criminal Law, was fully aware that Gu Dashan was correct. Despite his anger and blood-spilled bitterness, he had no choice but to relent.

In the end, he asked, "What exactly do you want to do?!"

Gu Dafu replied, "Naturally, we want to call off the marriage. Your son Wan Lifang had premarital relations with his cousin, resulting in a child. Having treated my daughter with such disrespect, denying her the dignity she deserves as a principal wife, we refuse to proceed with this marriage, we are calling it off!"

Gu Dafu took out the marriage certificate from both families along with the betrothal gifts from the Wan Family, and threw them in front of Scholar Wan: "Bring the marriage certificate and my family's betrothal gifts, and write a letter of self-admittance; our family will go to the government office to have the marriage dissolved."

Since they employed an official matchmaker, the marriage certificates had already been registered with the government; to cancel the marriage, another visit to the government office was mandated.

Scholar Wan, looking at the marriage certificate and betrothal gifts that had hit him, trembled for a while before saying, "Write a letter of self-admittance? Dream on, my family will not write such a thing!"

If it were written, the affair between Brother Fang and Ni Ruiniang would no longer be a secret; his Wan Family would become the laughingstock of the entire county. All the scholars in the county, even throughout He'an Prefecture, would know of the Wan surname's failure to teach his children and maintain a clean household, without any discipline—how could he then mingle with scholars in the future?