Chapter 5: The White-Bearded Old Grandpa

"Young Master, Aunt Pang went out to buy vegetables."

"Keep a close watch for me. The moment she comes back, you shout loud at the door."

"Young Master, shout what?"

"You idiot, just shout that the Madam is back, and I'll help you carry the vegetables."

Pang Ding said, trembling with fear, "Young Master, are you really going to steal the betrothal contract to sell it? Is this your never-give-up method?"

"Can't you talk properly? This isn't called selling; it's called monetizing an intangible asset."

"But our family won the argument. If you sell the betrothal contract, Aunt Pang will have no physical evidence. What about the Pang family's reputation? Young Master, how about we don't steal it."

"What do you know? It's precisely when you've won the argument that you can negotiate the price. Otherwise, would that iron miser Aunt Liu offer ten taels? What is reputation? Just an intangible asset. The Liu family wants to break the engagement, so our intangible asset has become a bad asset. I'm calling this bad asset monetization, solving the major problem of our family's broken capital chain. If you don't understand, keep your mouth shut. Get lost!"

After scolding Pang Ding, Pang Yu quietly pushed open the main hall door, entered the bedroom on the left, and, based on the intelligence provided by Pang Ding, quickly found the key under the pillow, then opened the cabinet door of the under-bed chest.

After casually flipping through a few items, he found the betrothal contract. Pang Yu searched a while longer to confirm there was only one copy, immediately locked the cabinet, and returned the key to its original place. Pang Yu hastily scanned the contract once, then tucked it into his chest and went straight to Aunt Liu's house.

"Aunt Liu, take a look, is it this one?"

Aunt Liu reached out to take it. Pang Yu let out an "Aiyo," pulled his hand back, and said, "Aunt Liu, we agreed on this. I'll only give it to you when I see the penalty payment."

Aunt Liu pursed her lips, pulled a money pouch from her bosom, and handed it to Pang Yu. "After so many years as neighbors, Nephew Pang, you can't possibly not trust your Aunt Liu."

Pang Yu weighed it in his hand. In truth, he couldn't tell the amount at all, but with a very expressive look of surprise, he said, "Aunt Liu, something seems off. How much is this?"

"Ten taels. That penalty thing you mentioned, isn't it exactly ten taels?"

"Aunt Liu, this isn't very fair of you. I just read the betrothal contract. Our family gave you eleven taels in betrothal gifts back then, plus a pair of silver bracelets. Since you're the one not honoring the contract, we need to separate the two matters. First, return the deposit, then we talk about the penalty."

Aunt Liu mumbled, "But my daughter waited for you all these years..."

"Waited for what? Don't tell me your daughter was supposed to marry at seven. Lucky for me you don't know about youth loss compensation, or you'd probably tack on childhood loss compensation, and I'd still owe you silver, right? Aunt Liu, just be straight with your nephew. Are you sincerely breaking the engagement, or just trying to get my mother to increase the betrothal gifts? If you're not sincere, your nephew here will turn around and leave, go back and tell my mother that Aunt Liu's engagement-breaking is just an act, that you just think the silver wasn't enough."

Aunt Liu looked a bit embarrassed, then immediately played the sympathy card. "Nephew, look, we're all old neighbors. I won't hide it from you. Our shop here, in a good year, only makes a bit over ten taels annually. If you take away ten taels as penalty, our family won't get by this year. Nephew, you can't let your Aunt Liu and Uncle Liu go hungry. How about a bit less? Give your aunt back five taels, how about that?"

"I don't believe that. Aunt Liu, just now at my house, you said you never made less than thirty taels in any year. I heard it crystal clear. The moment I turn around, it becomes a bit over ten taels. Auntie, you can't just adjust your story based on who you're talking to and bully a junior like me. It's just ten taels of penalty. Could it be that for ten taels of silver, you'd push your own daughter into a fire pit? Knowing full well I'm a fool and still marrying your daughter to me, that would harm your daughter for a lifetime. Think about it, how much suffering it is to carry a child, raising them through all the mess and trouble, how much hard work. A girl who's grown up so lovely, like a flower, like jade, is she only worth ten taels of silver? And speaking of which, this year, your nephew's family, the medicine storehouse flooded, the silver's gone. Never mind me being a fool, this time I also got injured on the head. Who knows if there won't be complications later. I don't want to drag your daughter down either."

Seeing Aunt Liu silent with her head down, her face full of reluctance to part with the silver, Pang Yu licked his lips and continued persuading: "If later your daughter can't endure the hardship and returns to her parents' home to ask, 'Mother, why did you marry me off to a poor and foolish boy?' What would you say, Aunt Liu? Would you say you couldn't bear to part with ten taels of penalty? You couldn't say that out loud. Even just counting the cash, after breaking this off, you can find a new in-law family. With our Liu family sister's looks and family background, wouldn't that bring in thirty or fifty taels? There's no way you'd lose out, Auntie."

Aunt Liu's expression grew worse the more she listened. She had always been considered a smooth talker in the market street, yet today she was rendered speechless by a fool. Though unwilling in her heart, she thought it over and had no retort. Lowering her head, she hardened her resolve and said, "Ten taels it is. Then it's settled. I'm returning all these to you. If your mother comes to make trouble later, you must be a witness and say you agreed to break the engagement."

"Aunt Liu, rest assured, I'm the most trustworthy person. That company I ran... that shop, was rated a Contract-abiding and Trustworthy Storefront for three years straight. If you don't believe me, go ask around. Besides, the betrothal contract is with you now. Without proof, what would my mother come to make trouble about? That would just be making trouble without reason. But don't go shouting everywhere about me giving you the contract. That way, I can figure out how to explain it to my mother."

Aunt Liu made up her mind, turned around, and brought out a small packet of silver from the house and gave it to Pang Yu. Pang Yu looked inside and saw that besides the loose silver, there was indeed a pair of silver bracelets. Smiling broadly, he put them away and handed over that paper betrothal contract.

"Aunt Liu, a pleasure doing business." Without pausing for a second, Pang Yu immediately left the Liu house.

Aunt Liu held the betrothal contract and examined it repeatedly. Although she felt a bit of heartache over the silver, a major matter in her heart was settled. She clutched the contract to her chest and let out a long sigh of relief. "At least I haven't harmed my own daughter by marrying her to a fool. Hey, wait a minute... The logic in his bargaining, how could a fool pull that off? I..."

"Where did I put it? I was just looking at it a few days ago." Pang Yu's mother muttered to herself as she walked around the courtyard.

"Mother, what are you looking for? Do you need my help?"

"No, no need. Just a bit short on some medicine. You go rest." His cheap mother hastily denied it.

The mother bent down to search under the winnowing baskets used for drying medicine, checking them one by one. It was truly nowhere to be found. Her heart seized with anxiety, and she nearly collapsed to the ground.

Pang Yu's cheap father was also in the courtyard. He wore a blue straight robe in the style of a Daoist Robe. Beneath his square, upright face hung a beard. Though not handsome, he looked very righteous. He said to Pang Yu's mother in irritation, "What have you been doing all day? It was perfectly fine in the cabinet. Why take it out to look at it for no reason? With everyday things, you just love hiding them here and hiding them there, until you hide them so well you can't find them yourself."

The mother said aggrievedly, "This betrothal contract was clearly in the under-bed chest... How was I supposed to know?"

Pang Yu felt a guilty twinge in his heart and hurried out to smooth things over. "Mother, what's wrong? What thing is missing?"

The mother knew she couldn't hide it forever. On the verge of tears, she said, "That betrothal contract is gone. Normally it wouldn't matter, but it just happens to be when the Liu family wants to break the engagement. What will we do about all that silver for the betrothal?"

"Mother, Heaven must want our Pang family to break this engagement and took the contract back. I've been dreaming these past few days. There was a white-bearded old grandpa who told me that before, my brain was foolish and my luck was bad, so I need to change to a different marriage to change my fortune. This is the Heavenly Will."

The father shook his head. "Aren't you talking nonsense again? How can dreams be taken as truth? It's fine at home, but don't spout nonsense outside, or who knows how people will look at you."

Pang Yu took only a second to fabricate a lie. "It's true, Mother, look. That white-bearded old grandpa was an immortal. He even taught me to write in my dreams. If you don't believe me, name some medicinal ingredients, and I'll write them."

With that, he went to the counter, took paper and brush. "Mother, name the medicines."

The mother saw Pang Yu's serious expression. Though she didn't believe it at all, she feared dampening her son's enthusiasm and had to reluctantly say, "Licorice, Lotus Leaf, Grass Crow Poison, Fo-ti."

As she recited each one, Pang Yu wrote swiftly. He had practiced calligraphy as a child, but was not very proficient, so his writing came out crooked and twisted.

The father had not held a shred of hope, thinking his son's foolish sickness was acting up again. At least they were at home, so no one would see his scribbles; he wasn't losing face outside. He turned his head, about to leave, when his gaze swept past Pang Yu and happened to see him finish writing. On the table, there actually seemed to be the shapes of several characters. He hurried over to look, and his mouth slowly dropped open wider and wider. Incredibly, only two characters, "Leaf" and "Crow," were written wrong. The character for Crow was written as Crow, at least bearing some resemblance, but the character for Leaf was absurdly wrong, becoming the character for "Leaf."

The father's mouth couldn't close. This son had been foolish since childhood, unable to even write his own name, yet now he had dashed off characters with a flourish. And out of nine characters, only two were wrong, an error rate of a mere twenty percent. It was simply a miracle.

The mother couldn't write, but she had seen the prescriptions at the counter before. Seeing that what Pang Yu wrote looked similar to those, an uncontrollable excitement surged in her heart. She quickly asked her husband, "How is it? How is it?"

The father said to her, his lips trembling, "Two are written wrong, but the others are truly all correct. Yu'er never knew how to write before. Could it really be..."

Pang Yu thought for a moment and realized he had written simplified characters, so naturally some were wrong, but quite a few were also correct. He hurriedly explained, "It's like this. Every time that white-bearded old immortal came, he was riding clouds and surrounded by mist and smoke. Sometimes I couldn't see the blackboard clearly, it was all blurry, so some were written wrong. But I still remembered quite a lot. He also taught me math, English, and stuff... You wouldn't know about those. We can test that later."

The mother said excitedly, "Yu'er, did you see clearly? In your dream, is this white-bearded one an immortal or a bodhisattva? We need to find the right place to offer incense!"

The father sternly rebuked, "If he has a beard, of course he's an immortal. Bodhisattvas are all Monks; where would a white beard come from? Tomorrow you go offer incense at a Daoist temple. Don't go to the wrong place."

The mother knelt in the courtyard, facing the sky above, and wailed, "Could it be that Heaven has opened its eyes? Our family's Yu'er is no fool. He can study and recognize characters. The old Pang family line won't end in my hands. Ancestors protect us!"

Pang Yu's mouth hung wide open. So having a foolish son had placed such enormous mental pressure on his mother. It took him a moment to recover. Remembering the loose ends of the broken engagement, he quickly said, taking advantage of his parents' excitement, "So the disappearance of the betrothal contract is the Heavenly Will. Look at our family this year. We've suffered a bloody calamity, and a flood too. This fortune really must be changed. We must listen to the white-bearded old grandpa, change to a different marriage to shift our luck. It just so happens the Liu family also wants to break it off. We'll let them return the silver..."

"If the silver really can't be returned, then forget it." The father said, somewhat agitated, "No amount of silver compares to my son achieving Spirit Awakening. Your father and mother will rely on you for support in our old age and for our funerals. Since it was spoken by an immortal, this marriage absolutely cannot proceed. Tomorrow I'll speak with Old Liu, find a middleman to witness it, and both families will seek other matches. That will settle it, and also save us from the gossip among the neighbors."

Pang Yu thought to himself that he needed to get his story straight with Aunt Liu. Patting his chest, he said, "I remember there was also a pair of silver bracelets. We can let the deposit go, but the betrothal keepsakes must be returned. Father, Mother, wait here. I'll go right now to break the engagement with Aunt Liu and get the bracelets back."

In a moment, he arrived at Aunt Liu's house. He simply said that his parents had agreed, reminded Aunt Liu not to mention the selling of the betrothal contract, and told her to rest assured and wait for his father to find a middleman to handle the formalities.

Aunt Liu's expression was not good. She looked at Pang Yu with a face full of suspicion, staring for a long time without speaking. Pang Yu didn't know Aunt Liu was suspecting he wasn't foolish. Having no time to deal with her for the moment, just as he turned to leave, he saw a figure flash past the window of the West Wing room. The figure seemed to have a nice build, but when he looked again, it was gone.

Back in his own home, Pang Yu took out the bracelets and silver he had hidden on his person. Smiling broadly, he said to the old couple, "Father, Mother, I got the bracelets back, and also got back the eleven taels of betrothal money. From now on, we have no ties to the Liu family. Aunt Liu said she knows she's in the wrong, feels she's let our old Pang family down, and even gave us an extra five taels as penalty."

Old Pang and the mother stared blankly at the silver. Although these ten-plus taels of silver still couldn't recover the loss from the medicine storehouse, it truly saved them in a critical moment, as if Heaven was indeed helping the old Pang family.

Pang Ding, who knew the truth beside them, couldn't help but say, "The Young Master really has awakened."

Pang Yu looked at the three excited people before him. They were not just happy about the silver; they were happy for Pang Yu from the bottom of their hearts. This family had begun to see hope again. Compared to silver, hope was more precious. He couldn't help but pat Pang Ding on the shoulder and say, "I told you, your Young Master is someone who always strives for victory. Difficulties will always pass."

The father and mother exchanged a glance. "To be able to get things back from that iron miser Aunt Liu, our family's Yu'er is truly no fool! Today is the fifteenth of the seventh month. The ancestors have finally shown their power."