Chapter 4: Breaking the Engagement

Pang Yu and the other quietly crept outside the main hall and secretly peered in through a crack in the window.

At that moment in the Pang family main hall, two women were not sitting in the chairs but standing in the middle of the hall. The one with both hands on her hips was none other than Pang Yu's cheap mother. "Listen, Sister Liu, we've been neighbors for years. When has your big sister here ever spoken a false word? I told you our Yu'er is fine. The head injury is real, but it's not as serious as you're making it out to be. And here you are, rushing over at the crack of dawn before the shop's even made its first sale, to bring this up. You run a business yourself — you sure picked a fine time for this."

The other woman's voice said, "It was the head of the house who insisted I come. I had no choice, did I? And it's not me saying this about Young Pang's injury — everyone's talking. They say Pang Yu's head definitely had a cut, and let's not even get into how it happened. But a head wound exposed to the wind, maybe some wild ghost possessed him. Young Pang's mind was always a bit... well, you know, but nothing major ever happened, and life went on. But after this head injury, the way he talks and acts is all strange, often spouting nonsense out of nowhere. Yesterday he shaved his beard off, insisted the barber scrape his chin completely clean — who on the whole street does that? I also heard he wanted to shave his head, but luckily the barber didn't dare. Is he going to be a monk or what? Marrying my daughter off to him, I just can't set my heart at ease."

Pang Yu cursed and rubbed his smooth chin. In the Ming Dynasty's standard for handsome men, a fine beard was absolutely essential — growing a beard was all the rage. The old Pang Yu, at seventeen or eighteen, had already grown a short one, which counted as a quality asset left to Pang Yu. But Pang Yu found that beard quite displeasing, so yesterday he went to the street and had a barber shave it all off, and the whole neighborhood spread the news until everyone knew.

Pang Yu's mother's voice said, "A young man isn't some old scholar — keeping a beard or not is his own business. Sister, if you want to break off the engagement, you can't rely on such frivolous excuses. An engagement has the marriage contract as proof, the Village Elder as witness, and every neighbor far and wide knows of it. If one could break it off just because they felt like it, what would be the point of the marriage contract?"

"Sister Pang, look, we don't want this either, but Young Pang's mind is getting more and more foolish. When the relatives and in-laws start gossiping, my husband's pride is thin-skinned... this is all so unsatisfactory. It would be better if both families just looked elsewhere — everyone would be comfortable then."

Pang Yu, listening outside, broke into laughter. Beside him, Pang Ding pursed his lips and said, "Breaking off an engagement is shameful, and you can still laugh, Young Master."

"What's so shameful about breaking off an engagement? You think your young master can't find a wife?"

Pang Ding's eyes suddenly reddened. "Our Medicine Shop has never earned money against our conscience. Why must we suffer this misfortune? Without the medicine shop, who would be willing to marry you? Does Heaven really not protect good people?"

Seeing his genuine emotion, Pang Yu patted Pang Ding on the shoulder and said, "Don't be sad. Our family won't collapse. If the Old Man in Heaven won't protect us, your young master will."

Pang Ding looked at the confident young master before him with doubt. "Young Master, what method do you have?"

"I don't know yet, but your young master has always played to win. As long as you don't give up, hope will always appear."

"So you steal my silver?"

Pang Yu raised his hand to smack Pang Ding's head, but just then a loud slap sounded from inside the hall — who knew what his cheap old mother had slammed her hand on. Following it was his old mother's righteous and imposing voice: "The Great Ming Law: an engagement is not something you break off just by saying so. Only if the husband's family fails to marry without cause for five years are you permitted to break it."

Aunt Liu also slammed the table. "Listen, Sister Pang, we've been like sisters for years. Whether to break the engagement or not, I'm still discussing it with you — is there any need to drag the Great Ming Law into this? I know your family's Young Pang is a Runner, and that's all he is — a Runner. Put nicely, he serves in the yamen; put bluntly, he's an errand boy for every office. My uncle on my mother's side is a Clerk in Anqing Prefecture. If you want to drag this into it, then I absolutely must break this engagement now."

Pang Yu whispered to Pang Ding, "There's going to be a quarrel. We ought to say something too, right?"

Pang Ding nodded firmly. "We should. But what's good to say?"

Under Pang Ding's dumbfounded gaze, Pang Yu strode into the main hall, flicked his sleeve in the pose he had imagined, with a whoosh — and once both women had turned to look at him, Pang Yu, his face solemn and imposing, declared: "Hmph, do not bully a youth for being poor!"

The two women froze for a moment. Aunt Liu said blankly, "Sure enough, he's truly bewitched, isn't he."

His cheap old mother came to her senses and spat twice. "Poor youth my foot! Our old Pang family has far more money than his Liu family."

"What kind of talk is that? Doesn't your Pang family just run a crude Medicine Shop? My old Liu family's shop hasn't earned less than thirty taels a year — when it comes to having money, does it fall to you? The year of the fire, it was my husband who helped you fight the fire and move the medicinal materials, burned his beard completely off. Otherwise, how could your shop have lasted until today?"

"Has our Pang family never helped you? Every time you couldn't make ends meet, wasn't it our Pang family that bailed you out? You've only had a slightly better life for two or three years, and now you turn around and disown people..."

The line Pang Yu had thought would land with resounding force had no effect. Hostilities in the hall reignited, fiercer than before.

Since Pang Yu had already entered the main hall, he didn't want to retreat now, so he found a seat and sat down, his head swiveling back and forth, turning toward whoever spoke. He listened with keen interest as the two women quarreled for a quarter of an hour. This was the most entertaining scene he had witnessed since arriving in the Great Ming Dynasty. Even the occasional spray of spittle from the two women onto his face could not dampen his spirits — he was so delighted he couldn't keep his mouth shut.

Seeing the battle reach a stalemate, the old maidservant of the Pang household also joined the fray. In the courtyard, spittle flew through the air as the battle raged fiercely. His cheap old mother held the home-field advantage, and with the maidservant's support, her offensive surged wave after wave, seizing territory in a relentless City Assault. The home Team gradually took control of the situation on the field. The visiting Team, Aunt Liu, could not withstand it and had to switch from offense to a defensive counterattack, fighting and retreating the whole way.

His cheap old mother, leading the maidservant, pursued and attacked all the way to the main gate, forming a two-ghost pounding on the door formation. Pang Ding, who had been hiding outside earlier, seeing the favorable situation, also entered the field to help. The Pang family became three against one. Amid the cheering of enthusiastic spectator Pang Yu, the home Team's two wings flew forward while the center cut off the flank, just waiting for the cross for the fatal strike.

The match neared stoppage time. Aunt Liu fought while retreating, her defensive counterattack looking more and more like the national football team. Sure enough, at the doorway, her formation fell into disarray. For a moment, she failed to watch her step, and her back heel caught on the threshold, sending her bottom-up, flat on her back out the door.

Pang Yu, at the back, shouted in Excitement, "One to zero!"

Aunt Liu scrambled up in a sorry state, didn't even brush off the dust, threw out a "You just wait," and was about to flee in panic.

Pang Yu chased after her to the doorway, disappointed, and called out loudly toward Aunt Liu's retreating figure, "Aunt Liu, take it slow! Why not stay and eat before you go?"

Aunt Liu turned her head and spat. The Liu family shop was on the same street. Under the gaze of the surrounding neighbors, Aunt Liu ran while slapping the dust off her backside, her body twisting grotesquely, and soon turned the corner and vanished down the Road Passage.

Amid Pang Yu's applause, his cheap old mother returned in triumph. Pang Yu now took a closer look. This old mother had a thin, gaunt frame, dressed like a working woman. Although the weather was sweltering, she still wore a dark stiff-starched cotton jacket, with an apron tied around her Waist. Her forehead was covered in beads of sweat, a few strands of hair plastered to it, among them already white hairs.

Her face showed not a trace of the joy of victory. She merely looked at Pang Yu with a face full of motherly kindness, her voice plunging from a high octave straight down to a low octave, as if afraid of frightening Pang Yu, and said softly and gently, "Yu'er, you needn't mind her. The Liu family is just seeing that our medicine storehouse collapsed, and the medicinal materials are all... gone. That Liu family, those shameless snobs."

"Mother, I am worried."

"What are you worried about? Marriage arrangements are always handled by the parents. You mustn't take Aunt Liu's wild nonsense to heart. Our old Pang family can pull through this trial."

Pang Yu shook his head solemnly and said, "What I'm worried about is that although our Pang family has won the first battle, this is at most a first-half victory. Victory is temporary, but breaking an engagement involves both sides. In the second half, we might have to play an away game. Seeing that Aunt Liu's combat strength is not weak, it's quite possible the Liu family could turn defeat into victory."

"Our family has reason on our side. How could she turn defeat into victory?"

"But our family has now suffered a flood. The goods are gone and can't be liquidated, there are still debts outside, and the capital chain has already snapped. The primary problem is to resolve the capital. Whatever fixed assets or Intangible Assets there are, liquidate whatever can be liquidated."

His old mother, hearing the nonsense coming from his mouth, thought her son's foolish sickness had flared up again. At a moment like this, she couldn't bear to Scold him, so she couldn't help but sigh, and thinking of the recent string of bad luck, she silently lifted her apron to wipe away a tear.

Pang Yu looked up and said, "Mother, is the Liu family daughter good-looking?"

"Pah, what's good-looking about her? With a mother who looks like that, she couldn't give birth to anything good-looking either."

"If she's not good-looking, let's just find another one. You can't compromise when finding a wife."

His cheap old mother rolled her eyes and glared at Pang Yu. "That won't do. Before, when our family business was good, they rushed over to marry in. Now that they see we've hit a streak of bad Fate, they want to break it off. As if such a good thing exists. Even if it's to be broken, it won't be them coming to our door to break the engagement, and they dare say your brain was beaten silly — what do they take our Pang family for? Who among the neighbors and street folk would still respect us in the future?"

After saying this, his cheap old mother went to the courtyard to sort the medicinal materials, all the while still indignant, incessantly enumerating the Liu family's faults, from ten years past to ten years ahead — in short, it was the Liu family that had wronged the Pang family.

Taking advantage of his mother's talking, Pang Yu tiptoed and slipped out the main gate. In a moment, he was outside Aunt Liu's shop front. Aunt Liu was also inside loudly enumerating the Pang family's faults. At the doorway, two neighbors were listening to the excitement. The crowd of onlookers had not yet formed a scale. Seeing Pang Yu approach, before Pang Yu could even greet them, the two neighbors fled in panic.

Pang Yu went straight from the shop front to the back quarters. The moment Aunt Liu saw Pang Yu, she immediately shut her mouth and said, somewhat awkwardly, "Young Yu, you know it too — it's not that Aunt Liu looks down on you, it's just that, well..."

"Aunt Liu, I understand." Pang Yu drew close to Aunt Liu and lowered his voice. "In a situation like this, what parent doesn't want their own daughter to marry better? I understand it all. But my mother is also looking out for my good, and she's not wrong either."

Hearing mention of his mother, Aunt Liu's eyes immediately widened and she was about to erupt in anger. Pang Yu hurriedly added, "We're all neighbors and street folk. My mother wants to save face, and Aunt Liu and Uncle Liu are also people who care about face. Making a scene not only makes us a laughingstock, it also hurts the harmony between our two families. And if, Heaven forbid, someone gets so angry they fall ill — tell me, who wants to see that?"

Aunt Liu sighed and said, "Exactly. Wasn't I just trying to discuss it with your mother? Look at how she acted, even dragging the Great Ming Law into it."

"Aunt Liu, let's not drag in the Great Ming Law and all that irrelevant stuff. In short, you want to break the engagement, and my mother won't break the engagement, right? Both sides are making no Concession. Carrying on like this is no solution — the problem must be resolved. Your nephew here has an idea. Let's the two of us discuss it..."

Aunt Liu looked at Pang Yu, this fool, her face full of suspicion. "What do the two of us have to discuss?"