Feeling guilt in addition to the turmoil in her heart, Luo Qi called her mother.

“Off work?” mother’s joyful voice came from the phone.

“Mom, I want to tell you something.”

“What’s the matter? Tell me.”

It turned out that it would be so difficult to say it. Once she says it, her parents’s joy would turn to disappointment, and her relatives would see the joke she made of her life. She didn’t know if she could bear it.

“Mom, I broke up with Pei Shixiao. He has someone else. I canceled the wedding. I’m sorry. I disappointed you and Dad.”

“Mom?”

“Mom, say something.”

It wasn’t that Jiang Yifang didn’t want to say something. ‘Bang!’—she didn’t hold the phone properly. It slipped from her hand, fell on the tiled floor, the screen shattered, and it turned off by itself.

Luo Qi called again but couldn’t get through.

Soon, her father texted her: [Your mother’s cell phone accidentally got broken.]

Luo Zhiqiu deeply felt like he couldn’t take care of his daughter, and the family was now completely in a mess.

He and his wife were at the eldest brother’s house. His daughter’s wedding dress had arrived at the shop that afternoon. After picking it up, his wife worried that their old house would be damp, so they brought it to the eldest brother’s villa to be kept until the wedding.

The family had been talking, laughing and preparing to eat, when this daughter called—and all the laughter abruptly stopped.

“Does Luo Qi still care about any of us? She canceled the wedding without saying a word? This child is too headstrong, you usually let her do everything and—look at her now—she’s been spoiled by you! For such a big matter, she… she didn’t even discuss it!” The eldest aunt pressed fingers to her forehead, “No way, you call her back quickly and find out what’s going on. Shi Xiao is not that kind of child, there must be a misunderstanding somewhere.

“Is she stupid? Where else can she find someone with such good conditions as Shi Xiao?

“Why are you standing there, call her quickly!”

The eldest aunt was about to be angered to death by Luo Qi.

Luo Zhiqiu looked at his sister-in-law with embarrassment.

His daughter should be very sad now, but what were these things that you wanted him to say? How could he say them?

“I just called; she didn’t answer.”

He had to lie.

“This child—good, very good.” The eldest aunt was thinking how the cooperation with the Pei family might be cut off and said without hesitation, “It’s only been a few months since she had a comfortable life without paying off debts. She doesn’t know how much she weighs anymore. We shouldn’t have paid back the money all at once. She really thinks she’s a wealthy lady and that everyone has to support her. What a good tempered child!”

As soon as the words fell, the eldest uncle kicked her lightly to make her pay attention to her words.

The eldest aunt snorted coldly.

Luo Zhiqiu and Jiang Yifang’s faces were ugly, but they couldn’t say anything back. The eldest brother helped to pay off more than 10 million in advance. It was a great favor. Even if the sister-in-law spoke badly, for the sake of the eldest brother, they had to endure and swallow their opinions.

The eldest aunt directed the eldest uncle, “You call Luo Yu and ask if Luo Yu knows about this. If you can’t do it, go to Beijing. The wedding must be fixed. She thinks if she doesn’t want to get married, then just don’t get married? Allow outsiders to see us as a joke? Whose marriage will last forever? Money is the only real thing you can hold in your hand!”

The eldest uncle was in a dilemma. He was more anxious than anyone else about the impact on his family’s business, but he can’t ignore his younger brother. “Eat first, the dishes are getting cold, let’s talk after dinner.”

Luo Zhiqiu and Jiang Yifang didn’t stay for dinner; they couldn’t stay for a moment longer.

In the car, Jiang Yifang took out her phone and tried to open it again, but the screen was still black and nothing happened.

Luo Zhiqiu turned sideways and fastened his wife’s seat belt, “It should be broken. Buy a new one tomorrow.”

“No need to buy, it’s a waste of money. Just get it repaired, as long as it works.”

Thinking that she still owed the eldest brother more than ten million yuan, she sighed silently.

Luo Zhiqiu gave his mobile phone to his wife, “Call our daughter.”

Jiang Yifang took the phone and put it on the armrest console. “Don’t call. You are not allowed to call. If Luo Qi calls, don’t give her a good face. The cancellation of the wedding, this isn’t over. Tell her, she doesn’t need to come home if she doesn’t want to get married!”

Luo Zhiqiu couldn’t believe it, “What did you say?”

“You listen to what I have to say.”

When she first heard her daughter say that the wedding was canceled, it was like being struck by lightning out of a clear, blue sky.

But after she calmed down, she felt uncomfortable but respected her daughter’s decision.

Jiang Yifang felt very sorry for her daughter. “Once the wedding is canceled, her eldest uncle’s business will be affected, and we owe her eldest uncle so much money. Have you ever thought about how much pressure that would put on her?”

Luo Zhiqiu was silent.

Jiang Yifang did this out of desperation. If the wedding was canceled, then they will have nothing to do with the Pei family. In the next year or two, Luo Qi’s eldest aunt would not stop.

Everyone was selfish, and she was no exception. She couldn’t bear to see anyone beat her daughter down, and she couldn’t bear to see her daughter being crushed so low that she couldn’t hold her head up straight in front of her eldest uncle’s family.

At that time, no matter how harsh the words her eldest auntie would say, she and her husband would have listen and endure. But there is no need to put the pressure on their daughter, just let her be serene and quiet.

In the past so many years, their daughter has never had a good day, and every penny she spent had to be accounted for. In two years time, her daughter would be thirty years old, and she cannot let the best ten years of her life be used to pay off their debts.

“We will find a way to pay back the money owed. We can’t drag her down anymore.”

Luo Zhiqiu was worried about her daughter. “She’s not getting married anymore, if we—her parents—don’t understand her, how will she bear it?”

“How can we understand her? We can’t understand her. Nothing we do can help her at all now. Pei Shixiao hurt her to the core this time. Compared to the emotional damage she suffered, everything else is like nothing.”

Even if they were with their daughter every day, they couldn’t alleviate the pain that Pei Shixiao’s betrayal had caused her.

Jiang Yifang weighed it over and over again before she dared to do this.

It’s not that she didn’t want to give her daughter a good face ever. In the future, perhaps next year, once her eldest uncle’s company survives and nothing bad happens, she would explain things to her.

It’s just a few months, less than a year. Luo Yu happened to be in Beijing, so it was better for her cousin to take care of her than to have to worry about the debts at home every day.

Jiang Yifang reassured her husband, “Our daughter will not be overwhelmed, and this matter will not break her. Back then, our company went bankrupt and owed tens of millions to others. She didn’t even have money to pay for her tuition fees. When you fell ill, that could’ve been the end of the world. But didn’t she still work part-time to finish college and support our family? Our daughter is better than us. You don’t have to worry.”

Luo Zhiqiu only hated himself for being incompetent. He started the car, “I’ll listen to you.”

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