However, Zhou was obviously not willing to give in. After all, if she didn't ask for help from the Lu family, what would her husband do?
However, the Lu family was too cold and cold. In the morning, she was having tea and joking with Mrs. Lu's family. She didn't expect that she would become an uninvited guest of the Lu family in the afternoon.
Even if the Lu family doesn't want to help, it doesn't really matter if they come out to meet.
Thinking of this, Mrs. Zhou couldn't help but gritted her teeth and said, "When we held the tea party, we just posted messages everywhere to invite us to come. Now that we are in trouble, we can't avoid it. I didn't expect that your Lu family is such a powerful family." . I really made a mistake back then!"
After cursing this sentence, there was really nothing she could do, so Zhou had no choice but to go and see her former sisters again.
However, the world has always been cold. She ran around and only asked to see all the sisters she was familiar with in the past. Some good sisters from the past sent him away as soon as they heard that it was her who came to the door without even opening the door. Even though some people met, they just said that they couldn't help and made various excuses.
Zhou was very busy but could not count on anyone.
At that time, she couldn't help but fall into despair.
On the way back, she didn't say a word, and she didn't even show an expression.
Zhou Yaoniang couldn't help but feel very disappointed when she saw her mother's expression.
"Mom! What should we do now? How about we go to grandpa's house?"
However, after hearing Zhou Yaoniang's suggestion, Mrs. Zhou gave a wry smile, "Fool, why do you think your grandfather is so kind to us? It's just because your father is a high official, and your mother and I gave rich gifts. Now your father has become For the sake of being a prisoner, your uncle has also become a prisoner. If we go back now, do you think they can show any kindness to us two?"
"Then are we just going to sit back and wait for death?" Zhou Yaoniang couldn't help but said anxiously after hearing this.
After hearing Zhou Yaoniang's words, Mrs. Zhou remained silent.
At the same time, they finally arrived at the door of the house before the drum beat.
But when they returned home, they didn't expect that there was a young man in ragged clothes squatting at their door.
He squatted under the big stone lion.
If it were in the past, Mrs. Zhou would not even give this young man a look.
She did this even today. She said to the servant at the door in disgust, "Why is this beggar squatting at the door of our house? Why don't you send this beggar away quickly? Don't you think it's not unlucky enough?"
Hearing Zhou's reprimand, the servant said in embarrassment, "But this beggar said that he is the young lady's fiancé."
"What fiancé?" Zhou Yaoniang asked in surprise.
Zhou's face was obviously a little flustered when she heard this, "It's nothing, let's go in quickly."
However, just after Zhou said these words, the beggar heard Zhou's voice and saw the other person walking here, and he obviously realized that the other person was the master of the Zhou family.
Therefore, the beggar immediately walked up to Mr. Zhou. He cupped his hands in a leisurely manner and said, "Madam, you are being polite now."
Seeing the other party's appearance, Zhou didn't say a word.
Instead, Zhou Yaoniang unconsciously asked, "Who are you?"
The beggar smiled when he heard this and said, "This must be Sister Yaoniang, right?"
Zhou Yaoniang was obviously not used to it when she heard the other party calling her name so intimately.
The beggar seemed to sense that Zhou Yaoniang was not used to him, so he just smiled softly and said, "Yaoniang may not know me, but it doesn't matter. Let me introduce myself. I am Xu Tianyi from Xijian, Chuzhou. Before you When your father was still an official in Chuzhou, he and my father were good friends. We were born on the same day in the same year, the same month, so your father had made a marriage arrangement for you and me. We agreed that I would come to your house when the girl gets her hairpin in the future. Come and marry the young lady.”
"I don't want my father to be framed by an adulterer before the day when the young lady is born. My father has been imprisoned. The young lady's family has been promoted to the capital, so I have no choice but to come to the capital to marry the young lady now. I hope that madam and young lady will not be offended."
After hearing what the other party said, Mrs. Zhou felt that seeing the other party was even more unlucky than meeting a beggar.
Zhou Yaoniang looked confused.
"Mom, is everything he said true?" Zhou Yaoniang asked timidly after a while.
Zhou wanted to think about how it could be true, but then asked people to drive away Xu Tianyi.
I don't want Xu Tianyi to be one step faster than Zhou.
"Of course it's true, miss. I still have a token of the marriage contract between the two families here."
After saying this, Xu Tianyi took out a small golden lock from his neck.
Then he couldn't wait to turn his little golden lock over, and saw the four small characters "Shuo Zhuo Yao" engraved on the back of the little golden lock. And these four words contain her name.
Seeing the other party take out her own little golden lock, Yaoniang couldn't help but remember that she had the same little golden lock. What was written on the golden lock was a match made in heaven. Don't those four words correspond to Xu Tianyi's name?
Therefore, it is possible that the person in front of her is the baby girl her parents arranged for her when she was young.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but glance at the person opposite. The moment she saw him, Zhou Yaoniang couldn't help but have a fleeting look of disgust in her eyes.
After all, this man was born ugly, and his ragged clothes were not in line with his imagination of his future husband.
Zhou obviously didn't want to be responsible for this marriage.
Therefore, when she saw the other party, Ms. Zhou just said angrily, "I don't know where this beggar came from. He dares to pretend to be the son-in-law of my Zhou family here! Someone is coming! You guys should beat him up quickly." go out!"
After hearing Zhou's words, the Zhou family's servants also wanted to take action against him.
At a certain moment, Zhou Yaoniang couldn't help but have the idea of letting Zhou go.
After all, she had never heard of this marriage, and now that it suddenly appeared, she really couldn't accept it.
If Xu Tianyi was beaten out, she might not have to pay attention to him anymore.
However, when Xu Tianyi was driven away, he was still shouting, "Miss, I am really Xu Tianyi, I am really your fiancé, please save me, miss."
After hearing Xu Tianyi's cry for help, he saw others dropping sticks on each other.
Zhou Yaoniang finally relented.
And she always felt that if she rejected Xu Tianyi, she would be ridiculed. It will even make his parents suffer from the reputation of hating the poor and loving the rich.
How could she be willing to let her parents bear such a reputation? Besides, wouldn't men from such a down-to-earth family in the play always have a prosperous future?
Thinking of this, Zhou Yaoniang couldn't help but whisper, "Mom! He should really be my engagement partner. I don't think he is cheating. Otherwise, just let him in."
Hearing this, Ms. Zhou immediately stared and said, "Let him come in. How can a man like him live with a female family member?"
After the words fell, Xu Tianyi only continued, "Madam, you are right. I can continue to wait at the door for Uncle Zhou to come back. I think it will be the same when I come in after he comes back."
Hearing Xu Tianyi's words, Mrs. Zhou just snorted, "Don't waste your efforts. Your uncle won't see you. Get out of here! Otherwise, don't blame me for being rude."
However, Zhou's words had just finished. The sound of drumming sounded not far away.
Hearing the sound of the drums, Mr. Zhou was ready to go back to the house.
However, Xu Tianyi still refused to leave.
When Zhou Yaoniang saw this, she only said to Xu Tianyi, "You should go back to where you live quickly. It's almost curfew and it's getting late. It would be bad if you are caught by the guards."
Hearing Zhou Yaoniang's kind reminder, Xu Tianyi just smiled bitterly and said, "Yaoniang, I didn't have any trouble all the way to Beijing. I also encountered robbers on the way. I can't afford to stay in a hotel now."
Hearing Xu Tianyi's words, Zhou Yaoniang couldn't help but sympathize.
However, Zhou still ordered someone to close the door directly in front of Xu Tianyi.
However, seeing the door closing, Zhou Yaoniang refused to leave.
She turned to look at her mother and said, "Mom, why don't we just let him come in and rest for a night? Besides, I see that Mr. Xu is not an unreasonable person. Maybe we can take him in and talk to him some reason." If we can just cancel this marriage, why do we have to make things so perfect?"
Hearing Zhou Yaoniang's words, Mrs. Zhou sneered, "You are kind-hearted, but now there are only two female relatives in the house, you and me. Your father doesn't know how to punish him. If he rashly brings a man in, he may cause a lot of trouble." Trouble is coming."
Upon hearing what Zhou said, Zhou Yaoniang said again, "But it's almost getting dark today."
"If he has nowhere to go, he will inevitably be driven away. If he hates us because of this and arranges our family like that old storyteller, we won't be able to hold our heads up. This is what we are not. We should treat him well and make it clear. Because, maybe this matter can be better."
After listening to Zhou Yaoniang's words, Mrs. Zhou thought about it carefully, and then said, "That's it, that's all, you said that, what else does a mother like me have to say. Anyway, our family is not in a good situation now." Where have they gone? It’s hard to tell who dislikes whom. Okay, let him come in."
Hearing Zhou's compromise, Zhou Yaoniang was filled with joy and said, "Thank you, mother."
Then she immediately said to the mother-in-law beside her, "Hurry up and open the door and invite Mr. Xu in."
As Zhou Yaoniang finished speaking, the servants of the Zhou Mansion soon opened the door of the Zhou Mansion.
At this time, Xu Tianyi had not left yet.
When the door opened, Xu Tianyi was sitting on the steps dejectedly.
However, when he heard the door creaking open and saw Zhou Yaoniang standing at the door, Xu Tianyi, who turned around, couldn't help but reveal a look of surprise on his face.
Zhou Yaoniang just smiled and said, "Mr. Xu, it's getting late. No matter what happens, let's talk about it tomorrow. You can stay here for one night first."
After hearing Zhou Yaoniang's words, Xu Tianyi was naturally very grateful.
Then he stood up and walked into the Zhou family's mansion.
At the same time, the drums resounded throughout Shangjing, and the sky gradually darkened as the sound progressed.
