The Red Mansion Big Liar.

Chapter 491 Arrogant at first and respectful at the end

"My nephew Xue Ke greets his aunt!"

In the front hall of the Mei family, Xue Ke bowed and said, "This is my eldest brother from my uncle's family!"

"Hurry up and sit down! Hurry up and sit down! We are all family, please don't be so formal!"

Madam Mei asked them to sit down while asking, "How is your mother-in-law?"

The three words "mother-in-law" sounded particularly harsh in Xue Pan's ears. He had no memory of the instructions given by Aunt Xue and Second Madam Xue. He was about to lose his temper when Xue Ke, who was standing beside him, grabbed his wrist.

He had no choice but to shake off Xue Ke's hand in anger and sat down heavily on the chair.

Xue Ke smiled awkwardly at Madam Mei and said, "Thank you for your concern, Auntie. Mother is doing fine. She is now staying at Rongguo Mansion with my eldest aunt."

When Zhang Yun逸 rushed to Rongqingtang, he was taken to Qixianzhai by Jia Baoyu and introduced to Jiang Yuhan.

But later on, he learned what had happened from Mrs. Xue Er.

Although Aunt Xue had said before, favors become less and less valuable the more you use them, so she would rather not trouble Zhang Yun逸.

But having the engagement broken off is already humiliating, and at this time, if it is only based on inducements, I am afraid that the Mei family may not be willing to agree to it.

Therefore, he used the Rongguo Mansion, which had a close relationship with Zhang Yun逸, as a banner, and tried to use both intimidation and inducement.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Mei was not aware of this relationship, and did not understand the hidden meaning in his words.

Instead, he said with surprise, "Oh? Your mother is here too? I wonder if your sister has also come to the capital?"

Although children need to observe mourning for three years after their parents' death, it is possible for them to get married within a hundred days.

People in ancient times married early. Not to mention that Mei Pi was already sixteen and would be twenty in three years. The Mei family had now lost their source of income, so they naturally hoped to welcome Baoqin into the family as soon as possible so that they could use her dowry to supplement some of the household expenses.

Originally, although she had this idea, she was worried that the Xue family would object. In addition, the journey was too long and too rushed, so she had to give up the idea.

The surprise on her face made Xue Ke misunderstand, and he smiled and said, "I'm here! I arrived in the capital the other day, and I took the Ningguo Mansion's boat. The old lady of the Rongguo Mansion likes my sister very much, and asked the second lady to recognize my sister as her goddaughter!"

"That's good! That's good!" Mrs. Mei said with great relief, "Then go back and tell your mother-in-law that we can discuss it tomorrow and get the wedding done as soon as possible within the 100-day period!"

Xue Pan and Xue Ke became furious when they heard this.

Madam Mei did not notice the changes in their expressions, and said to herself: "Don't worry! Although the master made a mistake, the emperor has just ascended the throne, and there is news that he will grant amnesty to the whole country, and the daughter-in-law will marry into the family..."

Before she finished her words, Xue Pan could no longer hold back and suddenly stood up, shouting, "What wife! Old..."

I wanted to call her an old hag, but I didn't think Mrs. Mei could bear that title, so I changed my words and said, "To tell you the truth! We are here today to break off the engagement!"

Mrs. Mei was frightened by Xue Pan. By the time she realized what was happening, she was already speechless.

But she saw her son walking in from the hall with a stern face, and angrily asked, "Are you here to cancel the engagement?"

Seeing Xue Pan revealing the truth, Xue Ke simply waited and watched.

"You are Mei Pi, right?"

Xue Pan glanced at Mei Pi and said disdainfully: "I'll tell you the truth! Not to mention that you are not worthy of my little sister, your father is blind and dares to impeach Brother Yi. I, Xue, will definitely not agree to this marriage!"

Although he spoke his mind, Xue Ke just thought he was just like himself, and brought out the great god Zhang Yunyi to intimidate the Mei family.

He thought to himself, I didn't see my aunt remind Xue Pan yesterday, could it be true that a man is away for three days?

So he became more and more silent, and let Xue Pan take the leading role.

"Who do you think you are? How dare you speak nonsense here..."

Mei Pi was furious, but Xue Pan was so big that he didn't dare to get close to him. He could only glare at him from afar with a red face and said indignantly, "Who wants to marry a merchant like you?"

"That's perfect, let's break up!" Xue Pan said, "Brother is my father, let's settle the matter today!"

"No!" Mrs. Mei finally reacted at this time.

Mei Pi also reacted, snorted coldly, and blurted out: "Want to cancel the engagement? It's not that easy!"

He was not very satisfied with the marriage in the first place, and he just coveted the dowry from the Xue family.

I accidentally said what was in my heart.

No one knows a child better than his mother. Mrs. Mei understood the implication of her son's words.

She hurriedly said, "This marriage was arranged by the master and your second uncle. Now the master's body is still warm, and you actually... This is really too much!" Although the new emperor ascended the throne, she also heard the news of amnesty, but her son was not ambitious, and the Mei family lost its backbone. Even if they escaped punishment, they would not be able to escape the fate of decline in the future.

It would be unlikely to marry into a family like the Xue family again, so she didn't want to give up this marriage.

"Brother Yi has done me a favor. Not to mention that my second uncle is gone, even if he were here, I would definitely ruin this marriage!"

At this point, Xue Pan glanced around, patted his chest, and said disdainfully: "All this talk is nothing but money! Tell me, how much money do you want?"

"Don't even think about it!" Mrs. Mei looked timid on the outside and looked at her son guiltily.

Fearing that Mei Pi could not resist the temptation, she hurriedly spoke first, but was surprised to find that her son did not seem to react and just stood there in a daze.

She couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and then said, "How can you cancel the engagement just like that? My Mei family is a family of scholars, how can we allow you to humiliate us like this? Don't think that my Mei family has lost its power and can allow you to humiliate us. If you continue to make trouble here, we will go to court now!"

In ancient times, marriage contracts were still very binding unless both parties were willing.

Even if Mei Lian committed a crime and the matter was brought to the government, the marriage would not be cancelled as long as the Mei family was determined not to cancel it.

In the original novel, Zhang Hua agreed to cancel the engagement and accepted the compensation. Wang Xifeng could use this as an excuse to instigate Zhang Hua to go back on his word, not to mention the Mei family's firm attitude?

"Aunt, calm down!"

Seeing that the situation was getting serious and difficult to resolve, Xue Ke spoke up to smooth things over: "We didn't mean that. It's just that what big brother said is the truth. As the saying goes, relatives should protect each other. Big aunt and the second wife of Rongguo Mansion are sisters. They are related to Mr. Zhang. They are all relatives. She has done a favor to big brother. It would be fine if she didn't ask for favoritism from Mr. Mei, but how could she..."

Breaking off the engagement at this time would inevitably be suspected of currying favor with the powerful. The Xue family knew they were in the wrong, and if they really wanted to embarrass the Mei family, they would resolutely refuse to give in.

Even if Zhang Yun逸 was willing to help, he might not be able to achieve his goal.

By then, the two sides would have fallen out, and Xue Baoqin would have no choice but to marry into the Mei family, and one can imagine what her life would be like.

His words were reasonable and logical. Not only did he bring up Zhang Yunyi, he also gave the Mei family a way out.

Mrs. Mei naturally knew why Mei Lian was asking for punishment, and she was ready to take advantage of the situation to back off.

But before she could speak, Mei Pi, who had been silent the whole time, spoke first: "Uncle is right, Daddy's action is really inappropriate. It will make our relatives sad and our enemies happy. I don't agree with it either!"

The Xue family and Zhang Yunyi are separated by several layers, not to mention that he has forgotten about the engagement, so how can they agree or disagree?

However, Mei Lian caused such a big fuss that even the Zhen family was ransacked, and the incident was all caused by Zhang Yun逸, and Zhou Huaiwei and Zhou Huaide were actually brothers.

He had also seen him at the dinner table, and with the series of follow-up events such as Zhang Yunyi being conferred the title of marquis, how could he not know Zhang Yunyi's name?

At first, he was so angry that he didn't realize who the Yi brother Xue Pan was talking about was until he mentioned it again.

Mei Pi's attitude, which was rude at first but respectful later, stunned the three of them.

Xue Pan was the first to react and shouted, "Who is your uncle?"

Mei Pi smiled and said, "Yes, yes, yes! It was my fault. I hope Big Brother Xue and Second Brother Xue will not blame me!"

Xue Pan was a soft-hearted person, and seeing his attitude, he didn't know how to respond for a moment.

Xue Ke, however, understood what Mei Pi said and immediately asked, "So, you agree to cancel the engagement?"

"The flood washed away the Dragon King Temple. The eldest son of Minister Zhou's family is my close friend, and his brother is a student of Lord Zhang. This... all these are easy to talk about!"

Mei Pi nodded and bowed, but then changed the subject and said, "However, words are not enough. We can't just listen to your one-sided words, right?"

"I, Xue Pan, am a man of my word. How could I lie to you..." Xue Pan patted his chest and was about to say more, but was stopped by Xue Ke.

"According to what Brother Mei said, as long as Brother Yi is willing to come forward..."

"Of course!" "Second Brother Xue also saw it. It's not easy to entertain guests at home. I dare not trouble Lord Zhang to come in person. If the Marquis is free, Second Brother Xue only needs to tell him that I will hold a banquet at the restaurant as an apology to my father."

Mei Pi is both the Marquis and Lord Zhang, with a fawning face.

Xue Ke suddenly felt that he had figured out what was going on, and he quickly leaned forward and said, "It's us who are being rude. If that's the case, let's go back and ask Brother Yi!"

He thought for a moment and added, "In this case, there is no need to rush. Let's wait for our uncle to be buried in peace!"

Of course, he was not simply considering the Mei family's feelings, he also wanted to leave enough time for his own family.

……

(End of this chapter)