The arrogance in Mother Jiang's heart was like a balloon, easily punctured by someone, and in an instant, all her energy was gone, rendering her ten years older.
"You don't need to use these words to provoke me!" Mother Jiang turned her face away, inevitably recalling the difficulties over the years, "The Jiang Family is different from other families, only you are not a child born into the Lu Family, otherwise, you would understand."
This was a mockery that Xu Qinghuan was not the child of Song Wanlin and her current husband.
Xu Qinghuan laughed, "Fortunately not! I wasn't trying to mock you; I was merely stating the facts. After all, if you truly don't have the authority to annul the engagement for Jiang Chengxu, I wouldn't have come to you."
Mother Jiang grew increasingly suspicious, looking at Xu Qinghuan in confusion, "What do you intend to do?"
Xu Qinghuan laid out the photos, pushing them over slowly, and as expected, Mother Jiang's gaze was fixed on the photos, practically glued to them. Her pupils dilated rapidly, the color drained from her face, as if she had seen a demon.
"My condition is simple, give me the engagement document and sign this annulment statement!" Xu Qinghuan laid out a printed annulment statement on the table.
Mother Jiang stood there, unable to see enough, reaching to take the photo of Father Jiang and his mistress embracing in a kiss. Xu Qinghuan had snapped more than one photo; this was just one of them.
But Xu Qinghuan swiftly took it back, Mother Jiang glaring angrily at her, eyes filled with bloodshot rage, "What do you want? Give it to me!"
She was nearly going mad.
Xu Qinghuan stood up and gently patted her shoulder, "Aunt Jiang, I've made it very clear, give me the engagement document and sign the annulment statement!"
Xu Qinghuan's pat was skillful, and Mother Jiang whimpered out and started to sob, covering her face and crying loudly.
Xu Qinghuan didn't pay her any mind, just waited patiently.
After a long while, she couldn't help but say, "Aunt Jiang, you should have suspected this early on, right? Just didn't dare to think about it, even more afraid to face it. Things have reached this stage, better to accept it.
I can't wait here indefinitely. If you can't handle it, I'll have to find another solution."
"What solution do you intend to find?" Mother Jiang asked unkindly.
"Naturally, I'll report it!" Xu Qinghuan waved the photos in her hand, "Please have the organization help resolve it."
Mother Jiang wavered for a moment, she considered fighting tooth and nail, but ultimately, thinking of her son, she asked, "Who is this woman?"
"Give me five hundred bucks, and I'll tell you who she is, where she lives, her background, everything I know," Xu Qinghuan smiled malevolently, not thinking it inappropriate.
In later years, hiring a private detective to investigate a mistress costs quite a bit.
She just earned thirteen hundred from her job, and now she still had one thousand nine hundred eighty-two yuan and three cents on hand. At this time, that was a large sum of money, but money doesn't bite the hand, and the more, the better.
Mother Jiang didn't say a word but dragged herself heavily into the room, soon coming out with an engagement document written on red paper.
Xu Qinghuan also had a copy.
"Here you go!" Mother Jiang took a deep look at the document before handing it over, feeling a wrenching pain in her heart, as if she was doing something she would regret later.
She seemed to be losing her mind.
Xu Qinghuan accepted it and handed over the annulment statement for her to sign, along with a box of ink pad.
She prepared adequately.
Mother Jiang now looked as mechanical as a zombie, and Xu Qinghuan even suspected that if she asked her to hand over the family passbook, she might comply.
With the matter handled, Xu Qinghuan got up intending to leave, but at the door, Mother Jiang called out to her, "Wait!"
Xu Qinghuan didn't turn around, hearing Mother Jiang ask, "Who is she?"
With a sob, she sounded very pitiful.
Xu Qinghuan turned around, extending her hand, "Five hundred bucks!"
Mother Jiang bit her lip, eyes red, as she turned, tears involuntarily rolled down. She returned to the room, coming out and slapped five hundred bucks into Xu Qinghuan's hand, angrily saying, "Now can you tell me?"
Xu Qinghuan said, "Lives on Yuzhong Road, Jixiang Lane, named Fang Xinrou, thirty-four years old, ex-husband Qiu Guangtao, former bank union president, now the whole family is in Xiangjiang, Fang Xinrou is his fifth concubine, has a fourteen-year-old daughter named Qiu Lianxue."
Mother Jiang almost lost her balance, unable to fathom her husband was involved with such a person, couldn't help asking, "What is this slut's background?"
Xu Qinghuan restrained herself and said, "Her mother used to be along Qinhuai River, specifically I don't know."
Such a background managed to be a match for her.
Descending the stairs, Xu Qinghuan still heard Mother Jiang's wailing, she took a deep breath and walked out towards the sunset.
"Xu Qinghuan, what did you say to my mom? How can you cause her sadness?" Jiang Chengxu rushed over with eyes wide in anger, speaking furiously to Xu Qinghuan, "Have you not caused enough trouble, insisting on making chaos until the end, then you're satisfied?"
Xu Qinghuan stepped back and coldly laughed, "What trouble have I caused?"
"Xu Qinghuan, my greatest virtue is my strong sense of responsibility, my greatest flaw too is my strong sense of responsibility, I am truly a responsible person, but that does not mean I will indulge your baseless antics."
Jiang Chengxu pointed at his family door, lowering his voice, "My mom was initially dissatisfied with our marriage."
Xu Qinghuan chuckled, took out two engagement documents, raised them, ripped them apart with a tearing sound, holding them high, saying loud, "Jiang Chengxu, no need for anyone's satisfaction, no need to care about who is dissatisfied, your and my engagement ends here, from now on, we're no longer connected, you and I will go our separate ways!"
She gradually tore the engagement documents into fragments, then grabbed and threw them, scattering them in the wind, at this moment, felt utterly relieved.
Jiang Chengxu's heart seemed to be tearing apart as well, he never expected Xu Qinghuan would truly annul the engagement, how could he lose her?
Jiang Chengxu's face turned slate blue, then bright red, then deathly white, grabbed Xu Qinghuan's wrist, "You dare annul the engagement! You ripped the engagement document? Do you think tearing the engagement document means our agreement is void?"
At this moment, Xu Qinghuan didn't feel like she'd entered a book, which book has such shameless, limitless male protagonist?
Though generally good-natured, she punched Jiang Chengxu's face, hitting him backward, "Jiang Chengxu, be a man! I have annulled the engagement with you, from now on, no entanglements, if you dare persist, I'll make you regret having met me!"
Throughout the residential yard, heads poked out of every window to look over.
Jiang Chengxu's nose bled profusely, bruises and swelling on his face, he raised his fist, resisting the impulse to act, "You dare hit me? Xu Qinghuan, have I been too indulgent with you? Our marriage was arranged by Jiang Family elders! Can you really annul it?"
"It's a new society now, arranged marriages are outdated, what, you want a revival? I hereby declare, my engagement with you Jiang Chengxu is nullified, if you dare babble any further, I'll report you and Xu Manman for adultery!" Xu Qinghuan's last bit of patience ran out completely, her voice exceedingly loud.