The commotion has ended, and Shen Shi hurried back to the house to check on Zi Qing. She saw He Shi trying to comfort Zi Qing. In fact, Zi Qing had not expected things to be so serious. After all, she was a modern person, and at the time, her reaction was still quite quick. She only exposed a little below her neck, and her lower body was still wearing underwear. It's just that being humiliated in public made her feel somewhat embarrassed. At this moment, after hearing everyone's argument, she realized that this matter was indeed serious. Not only would the villagers laugh at her, but it might also lead to a broken engagement.

  Because she was not only publicly molested by Da Mao, but also had her skirt removed, revealing her underwear. In ancient times, it is said that if a woman's feet were touched or seen by an outsider, she would have to marry that man. Not to mention the body, so Shen Shi wouldn't let her go out alone. Who would have thought that despite all precautions, the thief was still at home.

  "Mother, don't worry, I'm going to take a bath. Even if Kangping wants to call off the engagement because of this, it's his loss. Where can he find another person as good as me?"

  Mrs. Shen sighed and also knew that her daughter was comforting her on purpose to ease her mind, so she felt a pang in her heart, and tears flowed out uncontrollably, afraid that Zi Qing would worry if she saw her, so she quickly went to boil water to prepare.

  "Qing'er, brother owes you an apology. If it wasn't for brother's wedding, they wouldn't have taken advantage of us. Brother promises you that if Kangping backs out because of this, brother will find someone even better for you. Brother always keeps his word." Zifeng stepped forward and hugged Ziqing to comfort her.

  "Big brother, it's none of your business. Since they have this idea in mind, sooner or later there will be such an outcome. There are a thousand ways to commit a crime, but no way to prevent it for a thousand days."

  "What a good child, why did she have to suffer such things? It's really heartbreaking. Not even as good as pigs and dogs, this good child still has to be calculated, if it's because of this, how can grandma live?"

  On the other side of the old house, Mr. Tian was also very angry and scolded Yan Rendao and Chunyu severely. He said: "Look at the good things you've done. Now you've provoked them, every time I say something they don't listen, insisting on doing it their own way, which one succeeded? Originally today was a happy occasion. Let's talk nicely, coax them not to be angry, and let you in. In the future, let them give you 20 or 30 taels of silver to build a house for you, but you wouldn't listen. Zi Qing has already been engaged. Before the engagement, they opened their mouths and were rejected, and you still have illusions. From now on, I won't interfere with your affairs either. For this, the old man doesn't know how many faces he's lost to me, and you're still not satisfied. Is this what people do? That's your own niece, not an outsider."

  "Sister-in-law and brother-in-law, you've gone too far today. After all these years, don't you understand Second Brother and Sister-in-law? She's not the weak and timid person she used to be. Now that she has money to back her up and her son is successful, what does she have to fear? You should just go along with her a bit, even if it means leaking some money through your fingers, it would be enough for you to get by for a while. But no, you insist on plotting against them, not realizing that the more you scheme against her, the less she wants to deal with you. Look at Second Sister, she doesn't want anything, but Sister-in-law always takes the initiative to give things to her. And this matter of building a house, it was even Little Servant Girl Zi Qing who took charge and made decisions. You tell me, if 30 taels of silver is enough for Zi Qing to take charge, how much does Second Brother's family make in a year?" Autumn Jade said.

  "That little sister said what to do now, I didn't expect them to be so resolute, this really fulfilled that old saying, stealing a chicken without success and losing a handful of rice instead. Otherwise, shall we go and apologize now?" Yan Rend asked.

  "I don't know, and you shouldn't come ask me either. Isn't it just because you've set your sights on Second Brother's family wealth? Now that Zi Fu has won the lottery, you're calculatingly taking advantage of them, aren't you? Who can't see through this kind of thinking? Just seeing you makes me annoyed, let alone Second Brother and his wife. Why don't you just go back home and properly farm your land? I really don't understand, we're all farmers, but Second Brother's family has only a few acres of land and they're able to live well. You, on the other hand, are getting worse with each passing year. Who hasn't given you seeds for watermelon or sweet potatoes? Is it because you spend your days scheming against others and being lazy that you can't blame anyone else?" Autumn Jade said.

  "Can it be the same? His family still has a bamboo steamer." Yan Renda's thoughts were exposed by Qiu Yu in public, and he was somewhat annoyed, but couldn't find a reason to argue back.

  "Stop farting, half of the money didn't even go into your pocket, and for all these years, none of it was spent on Second Master's family. You've had more than half of the children raised by others, and you're still not satisfied. I was blind to have agreed to marry Chunyu to you in the first place. You're like a big black dye vat, staining the whole family black. Why don't you just get out of here before I come after you with a stick?" Old Master stormed in and heard Yan Renda's words, getting so angry that he pointed at Yan Renda and started scolding him.

  Chun Yu saw that Old Master had gotten angry and also knew that today's matter was indeed a bit excessive, so she pulled her husband's sleeve and said let's go home first.

  After this incident, Zi Qing became even more reluctant to leave the house. Every day, she was either in the backyard or indoors, reading books, doing needlework, embroidering flowers, and cooking. Her days were very peaceful. However, looking at Zeng Rui Xiang and Shen Shi's increasingly ugly faces, she estimated that outside, rumors must be spreading wildly. Zi Qing could only pretend to be unaware, coaxing her parents into happiness.

  On this day, just four or five days after the incident, after having breakfast, Zeng Rui Xiang was preparing to go to school when the doorbell rang. Zi Fu brought in Li Zheng and the young man from that day. Zeng Rui Xiang and Shen Shi still remembered the kindness the young man had shown to Zi Qing that day, so they busily poured tea and offered him a seat. Seeing outsiders had arrived, Zi Qing hid inside the house.

  Zeng Ruixiang and Shen thanked the young man, who suddenly looked a bit shy. He scanned the room with his eyes, didn't see Zi Qing, and seemed to be slightly disappointed. Li Zheng was watching him, and he quickly cleared his throat. The young man sat up straight in his chair, while Li Zheng held his tea cup as if thinking about something. Zeng Ruixiang saw that Li Zheng seemed to have some difficulty saying something, so he took the initiative to ask: "Brother Zhou, is there something difficult you can't bring yourself to say? You can speak freely."

  "This is my son Zhou Jixian, he has been in your school for several years, I suppose you are not unfamiliar with him. However, this child is really disappointing, originally I had high hopes that he would become a Xiucai and bring honor to our family, but who knew that after all these years, there's no progress at all. Alas, it's truly embarrassing."

  "Zhou brother is being polite, although the young master doesn't understand the way of reading books, but his nature is still that of a good child, and he's also clever by nature. In the future, doing something else might not necessarily be without prospects."

  "It would be easier if you said it like that, huh. This kid has taken a liking to your family's Zi Qing and even says he's had feelings for her since childhood. For the past few days, he's been pestering me at home to come propose, I think since we're fellow villagers, it's better to take the initiative ourselves rather than waiting for a matchmaker to come knocking on our door. Why don't we go over there and ask for your family's opinion first? If you don't object, then we can formally send a matchmaker over."

  "I'm sorry, Brother Zhou, but my daughter was already engaged in March. Although this matter has come up now, we can't be certain of the other party's intentions, and my son-in-law is currently away on a distant journey."

  "Has the engagement been settled? How come we haven't heard any news about it? Is this just an excuse for you people? To be honest, in the current situation, your daughter isn't very suitable for marriage. Even if the engagement has been settled, breaking off the engagement is a certainty. Which man can tolerate his wife being touched by someone else before she even enters his household, and having her legs seen by the whole village? If our child didn't like her, we wouldn't have come to your doorstep. In the future, my son will be the laughing stock of the village."

  "Brother Zhou, that's going too far. My daughter was still wearing her underpants at the time. Besides, it was an accident that her skirt got torn. Your son was also standing nearby. As for what my daughter will be like in the future, that's our family's business. Brother Zhou, if you have nothing else to say, I won't keep you any longer, the morning class is about to start." Zeng Rui Xiang said as he stood up.

  "Even if she was wearing underwear, her skirt was still pulled up in public, and that's already a loss of dignity. What about your daughter being pulled by the collar, having her chest touched, and the whole village is talking about it, saying she exposed her white chest? Of course, I'm not saying this to humiliate you, but just to make you see the situation clearly. Don't let your desire for face save your child, or else it will be too late. Scholar, what do you say?"

  "Dad, what are you talking nonsense? Can't you speak properly? I knew I shouldn't have let you come." The young man shouted at his father.

  "You little brat, what do you know? Father is still doing this for your own good. This is called saying the ugly words first and making things easier later." Lǐ Zhèng said.

  Shen's anger caused her chest to ache, and she pulled Zeng Rui-xiang to chase people away. Zi Qing was also furious in the house, good things don't spread outside, bad things spread far and wide, let it spread then, but don't add fuel to the fire! Even Bai Hua's chest came out, what can be said about this? Clearly, only a little bit of her neck was exposed, but Zi Qing had no way to rush out and explain. This kind of thing will only get more distorted, and can only rely on the passage of time for everyone to forget.

  Zi Qing was muttering to herself in the house when Zi Fu led another father-son pair into the room. Zeng Rui Xiang and Shen Shi exchanged a glance, thinking to themselves what day it was today, why so many guests had arrived one after another since early morning, and worried that they might have come to propose marriage again, fearing that nothing good would come of it.

  As soon as Zhou Jixian saw the father and son entering the door, he rushed to ask the little one: "Little runny nose, what are you doing here?"

  "What's your name? My name is Zhou Jifu. I stopped running nose 800 years ago, and you're still bullying people?" a thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy replied.

  Ziying heard the noise in the house and only then realized that the one from earlier was the child king of those years, this is the real snot-nosed kid. Ziying didn't know whether to be angry or grateful, such a big scandal had occurred, yet someone still dared to come knocking on the door with a marriage proposal, probably not harboring any good intentions.

  "Xiucai master, we common folk speak crudely, so I won't beat around the bush. This is it: my son has taken a liking to your eldest daughter. Although our family only has two mu of paddy fields, we are an honest household. If your daughter is willing to marry my son, you should provide a more generous dowry. Besides, having a brother-in-law who's an official isn't bad either. Remember to take good care of our son in the future."

  Ziying finally knew whose IQ was lower than the snot worm's. Such a person dared to come to their doorstep to propose, with an air of condescension, truly fearless in ignorance. This also shows from another side how unbearable the rumors outside are, no wonder the old man and woman's faces looked worse by the day.

  Shen was so angry that he couldn't speak, and Zeng Ruixiang was about to scold him when Zhou Jixian said: "You really don't know your own strength. No matter how poor the Zeng family's daughter is, she's not someone who can be matched with a son from your family who doesn't even recognize a single character. Why don't you go home and wash your brain first? Learn to speak properly before coming out again. Don't keep doing things that make people lose face. Whether it's good or bad, we're all from the same village. Who doesn't know that your son is stupid and not like others? The young one isn't clever, and the old one isn't either. And yet you still dare to think about marrying the Zeng family's daughter?"

  "You're talking nonsense, I'm not stupid. When we were young, it wasn't what you said, she was my wife and I still remember. Do you think I forgot? I know what you're thinking, you want to steal my wife from me. You saw how beautiful my wife is and you went up to flirt with her. Do you think I don't know? Someone saw you that day, you pulled my wife aside and talked for half a day, you're the one who made my wife lose face." Zhou Jifu said.

  "Shut up, open your mouth and close it, who is your wife? If you go out and say my sister is your wife again, I'll hit you once if I hear it. Try it if you can't remember." Zi Fu shouted with his fist raised.

  Zhou Jifu let out a loud "waa" and burst into tears, hiding behind his father's back. Zeng Ruixiang furrowed his brow and took the opportunity to say: "You all can leave now, my daughter won't marry any of you, sorry about that. I have things to attend to, so I won't keep you here any longer. Jifu, see them out for me."

  He listened and then left with a flick of his sleeve, glaring at the father-son duo and muttering "fools." The son of the Zeng family had passed the imperial examination, but he wasn't someone to be trifled with. Originally, he thought he could take advantage of this opportunity to gain an advantage, both fulfilling his son's wishes and forming a connection with the Zeng family through marriage. Others might not know, but he was well aware that the Zeng family had become much more prosperous in recent years, buying up a lot of land and even owning shops in Anzhou City. In the future, their daughter's dowry would certainly be substantial. Moreover, it was said that the young daughter of the Zeng family was clever from a young age, and he had seen her beauty at the banquet that day - truly lovely, not at all like a country bumpkin. Alas, what a pity, it would have been better to just talk things over nicely earlier.

  Zeng Ruixiang supported Shen Shi into the house, and Shen Shi hugged him and cried: "This is not a proposal, it's clearly coming to humiliate us! What if Qinger is jilted? What can we do?"

  Zeng Ruixiang patted Shen's back and said, "Don't cry, things haven't reached that point yet. That day, the young man didn't say it, no matter what happens in the future, he will not leave or abandon you. You can rest assured, our daughter is so smart and beautiful, whoever marries her is lucky. If someone looks down on Qing'er because of this, it's not worth entrusting their life to them. In the future, there will definitely be someone with discerning eyes who will marry her."

  Zi Fu returned with a dark face after sending off the guests. Zeng Rui Xiang saw that Shen Shi was emotionally agitated, so he asked Zi Fu to go to school and substitute for him in class for half a day.

  Before going out the door, Zǐ Fú went back inside to see Zǐ Qíng. He stroked Zǐ Qíng's head and said: "Qíng ér don't be sad, if Kāng Píng breaks off the engagement, older brother will definitely give you a better future."