NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3: Break Off The Marriage Engagement (1)
Although Duan Yixin was a little confused at first, after thinking about it carefully, she was sure that her soul had occupied someone else's body. It's a pity that she didn't inherit the memory of the original owner except the language of this world. Therefore, she really has no feelings for these villagers and this ruined village.
Duan Yixin observed the villagers for a long time before walking to Chi Xinru and her mother. She stood a few steps away from them and asked, "Miss Chi, do I still have a family? Do you know where my home is?"
Madam Chi was stunned when she heard Duan Yixin address her daughter as Miss Chi in a polite but indifferent tone. She looked at her daughter and asked, "Xinru, what happened between you two?"
Chi Xinru looked at her mother and said heartbrokenly, "Mother… Xin Xin, she– she has lost her memory. She must have hurt her head when she fell last night. Fortunately, after suffering a night of high fever, she woke up this morning. But… after waking up, she forgot everything."
As soon as she finished speaking, Madam Chi and the nearby villagers who were watching them were shocked. They couldn't believe that a gentle and kind-hearted young woman would encounter such a terrible thing.
Looking at their pity-filled eyes when they looked at her, Duan Yixin thought, 'It seems that the owner of this body is living a pitiful life.'
After calming down, Chi Xinru wiped her tears, turned to look at her, and said, "Xin Xin, you can call me Xinru like you used to. Your grandfather passed away two years ago, and now you are living alone. But don't worry. You still have a fiancé who has been engaged to you since the two of you were young."
Before Duan Yixin had time to ask who her fiancé was, a young man suddenly shouted out of nowhere, "I want to break off my marriage engagement with Duan Yixin!"
As soon as these words came out, everyone looked at the young man who spoke. Duan Yixin saw a young man walking over, and a young woman followed him while holding his hand shyly. She raised her eyebrows slightly with interest and looked at them calmly.
Upon hearing this, Chi Xinru pointed at the young man and retorted, "Tang Zizheng! Do you know what you just said?!"
When the young woman saw Chi Xinru's angry look, she pulled Tang Zizheng's sleeve. She looked at him and called softly, "Elder Brother Zheng… It seems that I would still be better off leaving this village. Now that bandits have killed my whole family, I really shouldn't stay here and become a burden to you."
Seeing her pitiful, reluctant, and scared look, Tang Zizheng felt his heart stabbed by a blunt sword. He patted her hand gently and softly whispered, "Ying'er, don't be afraid. As long as I'm here, they won't dare to do anything to you. Please stop talking about leaving, alright?"
After listening to his words, the young woman nodded obediently, then lowered her eyes shyly. When Tang Zizheng raised his hand to caress her cheek, the village chief, who had just arrived, became furious when he saw how intimate the two of them were when they talked to each other.
He pointed at his second grandson with a trembling finger and asked, "Erlang! What are you doing?! Don't you know you are a man with a fiancée? Look at how you behave right now! Don't you feel ashamed?"
Tang Zizheng was stunned for a moment when he saw that the person scolding him was his grandfather, who rushed over furiously. He thought that his grandfather, as the village chief, would have no time to be here because there were still many problems for him to deal with after the bandits' attack.
This is the reason why he dared to break off his engagement with Duan Yixin in public. By the time his grandfather found out later, his and Duan Yixin's marriage engagement should have been terminated.
Looking at his shocked expression, the village chief snorted, then looked at Duan Yixin and said, "Yixin, don't take Erlang's words to heart. He is just temporarily confused. I will scold him later. You don't need to pay attention to him."
Duan Yixin glanced at Tang Zizheng and the young woman's hands that intertwined together, then she looked at the village chief and said calmly, "This grandpa, I don't have any feelings for him. If he wants to break off the marriage engagement, I have no objection."
After finishing speaking, she thought, 'This is not even my marriage engagement. It would be better to terminate this troublesome marriage engagement now since I have this opportunity.'
As soon as these words came out, the women gasped in surprise. As women, they know how vital a clean reputation is to women. Even if she is just a village woman, once her reputation is tarnished, there are only two endings for her. The first one was locked in a pig cage and drowned by the villagers, and the second one was banished from her clan and disowned by her family.
Although the second ending sounds better than the first, it is difficult for a woman to survive without the support of her family and clan. Ultimately, she is either forced to live a life worse than death or sell her body to survive.
The village chief was shocked for a moment when he heard Duan Yixin's words before saying, "Nonsense! A wedding is the parents' order and a matchmaker's words. There has never been a rule that a woman can make decisions about her marriage. Moreover, your grandparents are the ones who decided this marriage engagement between you and Erlang when they were alive. Do you want to break this marriage engagement and tarnish your grandparents' reputation and let them be scolded as liars even after they die?"
Hearing this, Duan Yixin calmly pointed at Tang Zizheng and the young woman's hands and asked, "They already behave like this in public, and you still want me to accept this marriage and let them step on my head? Don't you think this is more humiliating to me than breaking off the marriage engagement with your grandson?"
She paused for a moment and added, "Or, do you think that because I am an orphan without a family, you can force me to accept this marriage, even if your grandson is the one who wants to break off the marriage engagement with me and is also the one who breaks his promise first?"