Chapter 56: This Is Going To Cost Me My Life

“Hey, why such a big reaction? I’m just showing my determination…”

The matchmaker looked at the Sun family’s strong opposition with a guilty, downcast face.

Miss Sun waved her hand and said, “Don’t do that, you’re making this show of determination and we couldn’t stand it.”

…

After the matchmaker left, Sun Dasha blinked and said, “Sister, if Cai Xiao’e really doesn’t work out, then forget it. But please don’t let the matchmaker marry me. She has body odor, I can smell it from far away.”

Miss Sun patted Sun Dasha’s arm and said, “Brother, settle down. With your brother-in-law here, Cai Xiao’e will definitely be yours.”

Zhao Baili nodded and said, “Exactly. With me here there is no reason this won’t work out. Besides, your brother-in-law will throw you a grand banquet, a feast with endless food, invite all those who looked down on us over the years, and show them who we are now. They won’t be able to reach us!”

Miss Sun slapped her thigh and said, “Right, throw a banquet, a three-day feast. We’ll order twenty fat pigs from Butcher Zheng’s place and put on a grand show so they all know we are not who we used to be!”

The three of them were full of ambition. The matchmaker soon returned with good news: the Cai family agreed to the engagement and accepted the betrothal gifts.

Hearing this news, Zhao Baili laughed out loud, “Good, well done.” Miss Sun happily told Sun Dasha, “Brother, your Xiao’e is secured.”

The three were very happy. They paid the betrothal gifts. Zhao Baili found a house for Sun Dasha and then widely distributed invitations, inviting old friends and colleagues in the catering industry to attend Sun Dasha’s wedding.

Once people have money, friends gather easily. The catering colleagues who used to look down on Zhao Baili suddenly treated him as an honored guest. Quickly Zhao Baili gathered a group of buddies. They would drink and make merry in Sun Dasha’s new house. After all, Zhao Baili had the money, so why not have fun.

The fat pigs were ordered. Everything awaited Sun Dasha’s wedding to Cai Xiao’e, ready to watch a cabbage get gobbled up by a pig.

But an unexpected turn came the day before the wedding: Hu Yiping returned. Yes, the Hu Yiping who had a childhood engagement to Cai Xiao’e. What had Hu Yiping been doing all these years? He had been living large and had gone out to the western trade routes.

It turned out that after Hu Yiping ran away frightened by his father, he hid in a nearby freelance caravan’s wagon that was carrying goods to the northern grasslands. By the time he crawled out, he was already over a hundred li from Yanggu County.

By today’s standards, a hundred li is not far, about fifty kilometers, a quick ride back, a $10 taxi ride.

But back then, transport was very undeveloped. For an eight- or nine-year-old to be a hundred li from home was like a chasm. The caravan owner was kind and asked Hu Yiping whether he wanted to go back home or come along.

This trip to the west was to take goods to the northern grasslands to sell. It was a long journey. Hu Yiping was terrified at the time. He thought he might not be able to make it back alone, and if he returned his legs would be cut down, so he decided to go with them to the northern grasslands.

So he told the caravan he would follow the man to the northern grasslands. The caravan man had been a bachelor for years, had not married, and dealt with desires at brothels. People without a fixed home like him found it hard to get a proper wife and was lonely.

Seeing that Hu Yiping was a good kid, he kept him with him. Over time he took him as a godson. But he basically treated him like a real son. He had no real son, so he treated Hu Yiping as his own.

Hu Yiping went with the caravan to the west. The business did well and expanded. Hu Yiping worked hard and became a capable assistant, a young boss in his own right.

Years passed like that and the young man turned out capable and neat. This time he went to Xuzhou to buy goods and passed through Yanggu County. He thought, “Goodness, I still have a home. I haven’t seen my parents in a long time and don’t know how the old couple are. I also have a childhood engagement. I cannot be like my godfather and never settle down. That would be bad.”

So he returned to Yanggu County, first to visit family and second to bring money to marry Cai Xiao’e and settle down. But just after he returned he heard from his mother that Cai Xiao’e was going to marry Sun Dasha.

Sun Dasha was someone that Hu Yiping knew. Sun Dasha was a bit dull-witted and they had fought a lot as children. Someone like that didn’t deserve to marry Xiao’e. No way, I must go to my future father-in-law’s house and find out, he thought.

So the day before Cai Xiao’e was to marry Sun Dasha, Hu Yiping went to the Cai household. Arriving with generous gifts, he entered and knelt before Cai Xiao’e’s father, banging out kowtows and crying, “Father-in-law, I am here to atone for my faults. Your son-in-law has been unfilial. These years I have not shown filial respect to you.”

The head of the Cai household was stunned. Sun Dasha did not look so spirited. If he looked like that, his daughter would not be trying to kill herself over it.

“Who are you?”

Mr. Cai asked, and Hu Yiping stood up and said, “Your son-in-law, Hu Yiping!”

“Who? You said who?”

The old man’s eyes widened. Hu Yiping bowed deeply again and said, “Father-in-law, your son-in-law Hu Yiping has come to take home Little Sister Xiao’e as his bride!”

When Mr. Cai heard that, he knew it was over. Things were serious. He glared at Hu Yiping and ground his teeth, “You bastard. If you had come back a few days earlier it would have been fine. If you had come a few days later it would have been fine. But you had to come back at this crucial moment. Aren’t you trying to kill me?”

What he meant was, if he had returned a few days earlier, Mr. Cai could have called off the Sun family’s proposal, saying, “My Xiao’e’s fiancé has returned, we cannot accept your proposal.”

If he had come back a few days later, once Cai Xiao’e married, then that was the end of things because they couldn’t reverse that decision.

But coming back at this critical moment, how to handle it? The old man was distressed. Hu Yiping did not care and just pushed his way in, truly bold in his foolishness.

“Where is Little Sister Xiao’e? Where is my Little Sister Xiao’e?”

Mr. Cai blocked him and said, “No, you cannot go in. You cannot go in. Yiping, just consider that I have wronged you. Today you cannot go in.”

Hu Yiping ignored that and forced his way in. Mr. Cai’s old arms and legs were no match for Hu Yiping, who had been on the western routes, and he was shoved hard and fell. Hu Yiping then rushed inside.

At that moment, Cai Xiao’e’s mother saw what happened. Cai Xiao’e’s mother was famous near and far for her big mouth and inability to keep things secret. She rushed over and cried, “My daughter, oh no! My son-in-law is here to snatch you away!”

Cai Xiao’e was inside crying her heart out. She absolutely could not agree to marry Sun Dasha. She had been thinking of threatening to kill herself tomorrow, but she did not expect her mother to shout like that.

“Son-in-law, don’t you only have one daughter? What son-in-law are you talking about?”

At that moment, Cai Xiao’e opened the door and their eyes met directly!!