Chapter 496: Chapter 496: Severing Ties

When Aunt Zhao mentioned Su Lifeng, Su Qing found she had a vague impression of him, but not a strong one. That Su Lifeng had never tried to get close to her. In the memories of her former self, he had never bullied her, but then again, he had never helped her either.

He was, for all intents and purposes, a complete stranger.

Naturally, Su Qing paid no mind to a stranger.

"Anyway, the people from the Old Su Family have nothing to do with me from now on."

From what Aunt Zhao and Zhao Fangni said, Su Qing learned that the Old Su Family was not doing well at all. They were now practically the poorest family in Lihua Village. Combined with their poor social standing, the Old Su Family’s reputation in the village was now terrible.

Su Qing had no intention of dealing with the Old Su Family in their current state. As long as they didn’t come looking for trouble, she would completely ignore them.

"That’s right." Aunt Zhao nodded. "You rarely come back to Lihua Village now, and you have no contact with that family anyway. It’s best to just pretend they don’t exist."

The group didn’t talk much more about the Old Su Family. Aunt Zhao made a lot of delicious food for Su Qing. After eating at the Zhao family’s home, Su Qing went to visit a few other aunties who had been good to her in the past, giving them gifts as well. It was at Aunt Tao’s house that she heard news about Zhang Erlai.

"Su Qing, do you remember Zhang Erlai?" Su Qing had come to visit Aunt Tao, who naturally invited her to stay and chat. As they were talking, Aunt Tao brought up Zhang Erlai.

The time Er La Niang tried to make Su Qing her daughter-in-law had caused a huge stir in the village.

Of course, Su Qing remembered Zhang Erlai. She had even done business with him at the black market back in the day. It was just that after she went to Yun Province and Beijing, she lost contact with him.

Although Su Qing knew Zhang Erlai quite well, the villagers—and Zhang Erlai himself—were unaware of this. Their impression was still stuck on the incident where Er La Niang, coveting Su Qing’s money, had tried to marry her to her son. Fortunately, Zhang Erlai was a sensible person, not foolish like his mother.

"Yeah, I remember him. What happened?" Su Qing asked curiously.

"Let me tell you, Er Lai has disowned his mother," Aunt Tao told Su Qing, her eyes glinting with schadenfreude. She had never had a good impression of Er La Niang. ’Honestly, if I had such a promising son, I’d be doting on him endlessly. How could she dare to cause such a mess? I really don’t know what that Er La Niang was thinking.’

"What? He disowned her?!" Su Qing was genuinely surprised. In her memory, Zhang Erlai had always been quite filial. During the New Year last year, his mother had demanded he pay the bride price for her maternal cousin. Zhang Erlai had been furious, but he never mentioned disowning her. Why the sudden change now? "Aunt Tao, what happened?"

"Let me tell you, that Er La Niang is just completely unreliable. She forced her own son to disown her, all for the sake of her nephew." Aunt Tao launched into an animated description, and Su Qing began to understand the situation in Zhang Erlai’s family.

It turned out that last year, Er La Niang had promised to provide the bride price for her nephew, but Zhang Erlai refused. Because of this, her brother and nephew nearly disowned her. When the nephew’s marriage subsequently fell through, her brother came over and chewed her out, claiming he no longer had a sister. Er La Niang had to beg and plead before her brother reluctantly forgave her, but he warned her that if it happened again, he would sever all ties.

Later, her nephew was set up for another potential marriage, and so they came back to Er La Niang for money, expecting her, the aunt, to pay the bride price. This time, however, they’d learned their lesson. Instead of asking for the money directly, they told Er La Niang they had arranged a marriage for Er Lai. The bride’s family, they claimed, not only required no bride price but would also provide a large dowry.

Er La Niang’s brother told her that once the wedding was over, she could just take the dowry from her new daughter-in-law and give it to her nephew to use as his bride price.

As Aunt Tao relayed the story, her face filled with disdain. "I have no idea what that Er La Niang was thinking, sacrificing her own son to pave the way for her nephew. You don’t need a brain to figure out that if a woman’s family doesn’t want a bride price and even offers a huge dowry, there must be a catch."

"And then what happened?" Su Qing asked.

"That blockhead, Er La Niang, actually agreed to her brother’s suggestion. Without even telling Er Lai, she went and finalized the marriage arrangements with the other family," Aunt Tao said. "By the time the villagers and Zhang Erlai himself found out, they were already preparing for the wedding."

Su Qing’s eyes widened. "And Zhang Erlai agreed?"

"Of course he didn’t," Aunt Tao said. "You have no idea. When Zhang Erlai found out, he went absolutely ballistic. He stormed over to his maternal uncle’s house and wrecked the place. Oh, the commotion it caused was incredible! It stunned two whole villages. Zhang Erlai only stopped when the brigade captains from both villages came to intervene."

Aunt Tao paused, thirsty from all the talking, took a few sips of water, and went on. "Oh, you should have seen it. Zhang Erlai was really something. He smashed his uncle’s house to smithereens. Anything that could still be used, he broke it. He didn’t hold back at all. His uncle was so furious he threatened to report him to the police and have him thrown in jail. But then we heard Zhang Erlai’s side of the story. Turns out, his uncle had set him up with a disabled girl. She was deaf, had a lame leg, and was half-blind. You tell me, wasn’t that just setting him up for a life of misery? No wonder her family didn’t want a bride price and was willing to throw in a dowry."

Su Qing gasped. "A match like that, and his mother actually agreed? Did she even know about the girl’s condition?"

"She knew! Of course, she knew," Aunt Tao said. "That’s why I say Er La Niang is a complete fool. She neglects her own perfectly good son to dote on her nephew. Does she really expect that nephew to take care of her in her old age?"

Su Qing was at a loss for words. ’This Er La Niang is really something else,’ she thought. ’I don’t even know what to say. Zhang Erlai must have had terrible luck for eight lifetimes to end up with a mother like her.’

Aunt Tao continued, "Once Zhang Erlai explained all that, the brigade captains from both villages were furious. The captain from his mother’s home village gave his uncle a thorough scolding and ordered both him and Er La Niang to go call off the engagement. After they returned to our village, Zhang Erlai went straight to our own brigade captain and declared he wanted to disown his mother."

"I bet Er La Niang refused," Su Qing said with a cold laugh. "She’s still counting on Zhang Erlai to support her."

"You got that right," Aunt Tao said. "The moment Er La Niang heard he wanted to disown her, she was in front of the village committee office, rolling on the ground and wailing about how unfilial he was. The whole village gathered around to watch the show, but not a single person felt sorry for her."

Aunt Tao curled her lip in disgust. "We’ve all heard of people selling their daughters and granddaughters for bride price money. But who’s ever heard of someone selling their son to get a dowry? Especially selling your own flesh-and-blood son for the sake of your nephew."

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