The wicked mother-in-law doesn't try to whitewash herself; she only abuses her awful children.

Chapter 11 The Actress Gets Up
If the Zheng family really accepts her, Tong Huaqiong will leave the Gu family without hesitation.

However, all of this remains in the realm of imagination.

After regaining his composure, Zheng, with a gloomy expression, pointed at Matchmaker Wang and asked, "What exactly happened?"

No wonder they didn't specify which girl it was before; they were setting a trap for her here.

Zheng, the scholar, felt that Wang the matchmaker and the Gu family were accomplices, trying to fool him by posing as an old widow who was his grandmother.

Madam Zheng was so angry that she was panting heavily.

What are those old widows in the countryside thinking? They already have grandsons; their sons can't be grandfathers to others.

Even if all that's left for the son to do in the wedding ceremony is his memorial tablet, he still has to marry a virgin.

“Master Zheng, you’re asking me… but I agreed with Widow Tong that it was her daughter,” Matchmaker Wang argued, pointing to the plump peach blossom.

"Bullshit! That's not what you said at my house. You were clearly trying to arrange a marriage for me. No wonder you readily agreed when I said I was bringing peach blossoms to your door. So that's what you were up to. You were just waiting to use me and my daughter as lambs to the slaughter, weren't you?"

“Master Zheng, you’ve seen my daughter’s figure and looks. Everyone says she’s blessed. People come to propose marriage every day, breaking down our door. A wealthy family in the city offered five hundred taels of silver as a betrothal gift just because of her lucky face, but I didn’t agree. You only offered two hundred taels, how could you possibly be betrothing her to Peach Blossom?”

"Sister-in-law Wang, you can't do this to me. I burned severance papers for my deceased husband yesterday, and now you're telling me I chose the wrong person. Do you think the Gu family members are like cabbages, to be picked at will? Do you think I'm easy to bully just because I'm a widow?"

"Dad, if you hadn't died so young, would I be bullied like this?"

Tong Huaqiong clapped her hands and started her act of being unreasonable.

Anyway, the original owner's movements were deeply ingrained in muscle memory, and he could do them effortlessly.

“Aunt Wang, you’re lying through your teeth! You were clearly the one who agreed to marry my mother, so how did it become me when you got to the Zheng family? You think you can get me to marry a dead person for good luck with just two hundred taels of silver? Bah! Just because my mother is a widow doesn’t mean I’m happy to be a widow too. A widow isn’t like land that can be passed down to future generations.”

"I'm an innocent young woman who was betrothed to someone by you without my knowledge. If word gets out, how can I live? You're ruining my chance at a good marriage. I don't want to live anymore, I might as well just smash my head against a pillar and die here."

Gu Taohua often cooperated with Tong Huaqiong in her antics to gain benefits. Seeing Tong Huaqiong act out, her blood boiled, and she immediately followed the script with practiced ease.

Gu Dashu and Liu Yue'e are also familiar with the plot.

Liu Yue'e went up and grabbed Gu Taohua's arm. She wanted to wrap her arms around her waist, but her sister-in-law was too fat for her to hug.

“My poor sister-in-law, you mustn’t do something rash.”

“Aunt Wang, look at the things you’ve done! First you tricked my mother-in-law, and now you’re forcing my sister-in-law to die. You’re supposed to be a matchmaker for happy couples, not a matchmaker for funerals.”

“I told you at home that there was something fishy about this. Even if the eldest son of the Zheng family is in poor health, he can’t marry a widow with a grandson. My mother didn’t believe me. She said that Aunt Wang was kind and wouldn’t lie. Now she’s hit a brick wall and believes me.”

Gu Dashu stared wide-eyed, clenching his fists, and said, "Although I don't want a stepfather, I can't let you bully my mother. I originally sent my mother here to remarry, and now you say you've taken a liking to my sister. Doesn't your Zheng family pride itself on being scholars? Have your morals really fallen so low?"

“If you think my family is poor and try to trick us into selling our sister to you for good luck, you’ve made a mistake.”

Wang the matchmaker was so angry she suffered a heart attack.

The bunch of good boys raised by Widow Tong were not like this at home!

That brat Gu Dashu was the most eager to get his niece into the family.

How come things are turned upside down when it comes to the Zheng family?

"I don't want to live anymore! The whole Qinghe Bay knows I'm going to remarry into the Zheng family, and now I've been slapped in the face. How can I face anyone now?" Tong Huaqiong continued to clap her hands and throw a tantrum.

"You widow, how dare you say that!" Madam Zheng, having caught her breath, pointed at Tong Huaqiong and said in a trembling voice.

“I think I’m a good match! I’m used to being a widow, so I can stay a widow in your family just the same,” Tong Huaqiong said.

Madam Zheng was so angry that she almost choked.

Her son isn't dead yet.

This is a living curse.

“I stopped my mother from remarrying back then, but Steward He promised me the shop manager position and even said my son could be Zheng Xiao Gongzi's study companion. I thought it was for my son's future, so I let it go. Besides, if my mother remarried, there was nothing I could do. Now you're saying you chose the wrong person. Are you taking advantage of the Gu family? You think my mother and sister are free for you to choose from?”

"We, the Gu family, must get an explanation for what happened today!"

Gu Dashu, being shrewd and impatient, saw through Tong Huaqiong's plan: she wanted the Zheng family to give up the idea of ​​a marriage alliance with the Gu family. He had to cooperate!

Although he was still reluctant to part with the two hundred taels of silver, his widowed mother was willing to risk her reputation to act, and he would be letting down his deceased father if he didn't join in.

"Yes, we must get an explanation. Don't bully me just because I'm a widow. Otherwise, let's report this to the authorities and have the county magistrate give us a verdict," Tong Huaqiong said. "You've dismissed me with just a few words, and now my family's marriage prospects are also affected. How can that be allowed?"

"Report to the authorities! The county magistrate would never mistreat an orphan and a widow," Gu Dashu said.

"The phrase 'orphan and widow' is so apt," Tong Huaqiong said, her eyes welling up with tears. Her insistence on seeing the official stemmed from a memory she recalled of the county magistrate being raised by a widow, and a natural sympathy she felt for widows.

If Zheng, the successful candidate in the imperial examination, had actually agreed to file a lawsuit, she might not have lost.

Zheng, the scholar, was absolutely furious with the group of scoundrels from the Shanggu family.

Reporting it to the authorities is definitely not an option.

In Pingchuan County, he cultivated an image of a benevolent person who cherished the poor and pitied the weak.

Since he is portrayed as a great philanthropist, he cannot do anything to bring good luck to his son.

Everyone knows his son won't live much longer. It would damage the Zheng family's reputation if word got out that a perfectly good young woman would become a widow right after entering the family.

The Zheng family still needs to run their shop, and their youngest son still needs to study and become an official.

At this moment, he truly regretted letting Matchmaker Wang find such a family for him.

He originally thought that the country folk, widowed mother, and poor family would be easy to manipulate, so he agreed to let them in without even asking around. He didn't expect that not only did he pick the wrong person, but this family was also too formidable.

What were they thinking? How could a widow even consider marrying her son?

He didn't know whether it was because Matchmaker Wang hadn't explained things clearly enough, causing Widow Tong to misunderstand, or whether Widow Tong was deliberately trying to extort money.

In short, he no longer wanted to know the truth; he just wanted to get rid of this bunch of plagues.

He'll settle the score between Matchmaker Wang and Steward He later!
"Mr. Zheng, you must give us, a widow and her orphan, an explanation!"

"Should we see the authorities?"

"Don't even think about my peach blossoms."

Tong Huaqiong continued to channel her inner Tong Dajiao, while Tao Hua, in coordination with Tong Huaqiong, cried and screamed, wanting to bang her head against the wall. Liu Yue'e and Gu Dashu held Tao Hua up from either side to prevent her from hitting the wall, and Gu Yaozu, at the opportune moment, grinned and wailed...

The entire Zheng family was thrown into chaos.

The usually eloquent matchmaker, Wang, wanted to slip away.

"Oh no! The young master has vomited blood!"

While everyone's attention was focused on Tong Huaqiong and her group, no one noticed that Young Master Zheng coughed up blood due to the stimulation.

The maidservant of Young Master Zheng let out a loud cry, drawing everyone's attention to Young Master Zheng.

"My son."

"Quickly, get a doctor."

Madam Zheng hurriedly went up and held her eldest son down.

"Get them out! Get these greedy bastards out!" Zheng Juren shouted, pointing at Tong Huaqiong.

Tong Huaqiong quickly shut up, untied the bundle on her body and threw it to Zheng Juren, saying, "This is the deposit you made. Four ingots of gold and two hundred taels of silver. Pay one hundred and fifty taels first, and the remaining fifty taels of silver will be delivered to your door a month later. As for the five bolts of cloth, only three are left. Consider the other two as compensation for my reputation."

Zheng, the scholar, wished Tong Huaqiong would disappear immediately, so he picked up a gold ingot and threw it at her.

"Get out of here!"

Then the second piece of gold was thrown at Wang the matchmaker.

"You get out too!"

(End of this chapter)