Chapter 788
Li Qingshi's Wedding
Before Sun Weiwei could even speak after Sun Dafu said this, Sun Jialin became anxious and quickly said to his father, Sun Dafu, "Dad, what time is it? You still don't agree?"
Sun Dafu was furious when he looked at his spendthrift son. He rolled his eyes at him and said, "You worthless bastard, if you hadn't done such a despicable thing, would I be in this predicament? Shut your mouth!"
Seeing that Sun Jialin was about to say something more, his mother quickly tugged at his sleeve, and Sun Jialin wisely shut his mouth.
Sun Dafu then turned to Sun Weiwei and changed his tone, saying, "Weiwei, look at society today. Where have you ever heard of a woman divorcing her husband? How about this, we each take a step back. I won't divorce your mother, and your mother won't divorce me. How about we find a middle ground to get a divorce?"
Sun Weiwei looked at Sun Dafu and said, "I'll say it again, only my mother can divorce you, I won't accept any other idea!"
Sun Dafu said to Sun Weiwei, "Weiwei, no matter what, I am your father. I raised you all these years. How can you bear to humiliate me in this way?"
Sun Weiwei said, "Humiliation? You are not worthy to mention the word 'humiliation' in front of me. Since I can remember, when has my mother and I not spent a day in humiliation? You not only saw it but also helped the evildoers. I don't need to remind you of this again and again. The humiliation you suffered today is nothing compared to the humiliation my mother and I have suffered over the years. My patience is limited. You should weigh the pros and cons yourself!"
Seeing that Sun Weiwei was determined to do this, Sun Dafu had no other choice. If he did not agree to her request, he would not be able to pay back his unfilial son Sun Jialin's gambling debts and the money he spent hiring robbers. If he could not pay them back, the Sun family would either be ruined or even lose their lives. Compared with such serious consequences, he could only put his pride aside for the time being.
Thinking of this, Sun Dafu said to Sun Weiwei with great embarrassment, "I agree!"
The happiest person to hear Sun Dafu's words was Sun Jialin. After all, as long as Sun Dafu agreed, Sun Weiwei would help him pay off his debts. Once the debts were paid off, he wouldn't have his hands chopped off by those people. The biggest beneficiary of this deal was Sun Jialin.
When Sun Weiwei saw that Sun Dafu had agreed, she had her mother write the letter of divorce herself. After her mother finished writing it, Sun Weiwei handed the letter of divorce to Sun Dafu and asked him to sign and affix his seal.
Sun Dafu took the letter of divorce written by Sun Weiwei's mother, picked up a pen, and wrote his name on it with trembling right hand. Then he shakily put his fingerprint on it and handed it to Sun Weiwei.
Sun Weiwei was very satisfied after seeing it. She read the letter of divorce aloud to everyone, and then displayed it in front of everyone, saying loudly: "From today onwards, my mother, Li Meiyun, officially divorces her husband, Sun Dafu. Everyone here is a witness!"
Upon hearing Sun Weiwei's words, Sun Dafu felt deeply ashamed. If there were a crack in the ground, he would have crawled into it immediately.
Seeing that his father, Sun Dafu, had agreed to Sun Weiwei's request and even signed the document, Sun Jialin anxiously said to Sun Weiwei, "Sun Weiwei, your father has done as you said, so you must keep your promise!"
Sun Weiwei said to Sun Jialin, "Look how anxious you are. You don't need to say anything more. I will naturally keep my word!"
After saying that, Sun Weiwei said to the magistrate, "Your Excellency, I have paid off Sun Jialin's debts, but you should deal with the fact that Sun Jialin colluded with robbers according to the laws of the Great Jing Dynasty!"
Sun Jialin was stunned by Sun Weiwei's words and shouted at her, "Sun Weiwei, you broke your promise! Didn't we agree to live in peace after Father signed the divorce agreement? Why are you asking the magistrate to punish me?"
Sun Weiwei and Sun Jialin said, "I said that after I paid off your debts, the Sun family would be at peace. It doesn't mean that you, Sun Jialin, are above the law. Even princes are subject to the same laws as commoners. What are you? If you break the law, you should be punished according to the law. Otherwise, are we going to condone your continued breaking of the law?"
Sun Dafu and Sun Jialin's mother, Zhao Shuping, also angrily said, "Sun Weiwei, we've done everything you said, so why won't you let Jialin go?"
Sun Weiwei said, "The current dynasty has its own laws. It's not that I don't want to let him go, but what he did seriously violated the laws of the Great Jing Dynasty and he should be punished!"
After saying that, she didn't want to talk to them anymore. She took out six hundred taels of silver from her pocket and handed it to Sun Dafu. Then she said to Sun Dafu, "From now on, my mother and I have nothing to do with the Sun family!"
After Sun Weiwei finished speaking, she left the Sun family with her mother. Behind her, she first heard Sun Jialin's pleading voice, followed by insults, but Sun Weiwei ignored them and strode towards the gate of the Sun family.
The other wedding processions followed Sun Weiwei out of the Sun family's gate.
Once everything was ready, the musicians began to play, and the person in charge shouted, "Raise the sedan chair!"
The large wedding procession then left the Sun family's gate amidst the music.
Sun Weiwei, sitting in the bridal sedan chair, had tears in her eyes and was feeling unwell. The reason she was able to take out so many silver notes at once was because she had prepared them before returning from Qingyun Road a few days ago.
Of the six hundred taels of silver notes, four hundred taels belonged to him, one hundred taels belonged to Li Qingshi, and one hundred taels were borrowed from Lu Wan'er.
Sun Weiwei prepared so many banknotes in advance because she wanted to help the Sun family renovate their house, but more importantly, she wanted to help her mother renovate her home.
If she only helped her mother repair the house, the Sun family would probably not agree. So Sun Weiwei thought of repairing the entire Sun family mansion for her mother's sake.
However, after Sun Weiwei returned to the Sun family, she saw that the Sun family members treated her mother as badly as before, and of course, they treated her the same way. Sun Weiwei couldn't bear to see her mother continue to suffer, so she changed her mind about repairing the Sun family house. Every day, she tried to persuade her mother to leave the Sun family and live with her in Qingyun Dao, but her mother refused no matter what she said.
Later, Sun Weiwei thought of giving the money directly to her mother so that her mother could have a better life in the future.
However, the mother firmly refused to accept the money from her daughter, Sun Weiwei, so Sun Weiwei had no choice but to give up.
At first, Sun Weiwei did not intend to have her mother divorce Sun Dafu, nor did she intend to sever ties with the Sun family!
However, after failing to steal her valuables and robbing Li Qingshi, Sun Jialin directly encouraged his father to take advantage of her dowry and ask her to help pay off her debts. Sun Dafu, completely disregarding her feelings and only concerned with protecting the Sun family and Sun Jialin, adopted an aggressive stance towards her. Sun Dafu could protect the Sun family and Sun Jialin so much because of Sun Jialin's situation, while she not only had to help them pay off their debts but also had to endure Sun Dafu's insults. At that moment, Sun Weiwei's heart was completely broken.
It was then that she decided she could use this opportunity to completely sever ties between herself and her mother and the Sun family. That's why Sun Weiwei did it. Presumably, her mother later agreed to write the divorce papers because she saw Sun Dafu's cold attitude towards her.
As for why Sun Weiwei didn't defend Sun Jialin in front of the county magistrate, it was because Sun Weiwei knew Sun Jialin's character too well. If he wasn't severely punished this time, he would definitely do it again and again.
If such a person is not dealt with, he will surely go astray in the future, which would probably be a fatal blow to the Sun family.
Punishing Sun Jialin now is actually a form of protection for Sun Dafu and the Sun family. This is the last thing Sun Weiwei can do for the Sun family after helping them pay off their debts.
But even at this point, Sun Jiafu is still protecting that good-for-nothing Sun Jialin. Both he and Sun Jialin are his children, so why does Sun Jiafu only side with him? Is it just because he is born out of wedlock?
Sun Weiwei, who had never experienced fatherly love since childhood, felt a pang of sadness upon thinking about this.
Meanwhile, Sun Weiwei's mother, sitting in another sedan chair, was also experiencing a mix of emotions. Although she had only felt a little love from Sun Dafu for the first two years after marrying into the Sun family, she had been living a life of asceticism.
However, having spent nearly twenty years in the Sun family, and having spent all her youth there, Sun Weiwei's mother, Li Meiyun, still felt very sad at this moment, but this sadness was an emotion that was hard to describe.
There was a sense of mourning for her past youth, sadness for Sun Dafu's terrible attitude towards her over the years, and a feeling of regret for leaving the Sun family's constraints. In short, Li Meiyun was filled with mixed feelings at this moment. If you asked her what kind of sadness she was, even she herself couldn't say for sure.
Regardless of what Sun Weiwei and her mother felt, from this day forward they had no further connection with the former Sun family!
At the same time, Lu Zhenyuan, who was sitting in the sedan chair, felt very sad for his adopted daughter Sun Weiwei after seeing her family situation. He felt that his adopted daughter was a very brave and resourceful person, and he couldn't help but give Sun Weiwei a thumbs up in his heart for what she had just done.
Each person carried their own unique feelings, and so, accompanied by lively music, the wedding procession headed towards Kaoshan Village.
The wedding procession returned smoothly thanks to Lu Zhenyuan's personal presence.
Fortunately, Li Qingshi set off early today. Even though he was delayed at the Sun family's house for a while, the wedding procession returned to the city gate of Kaoshan Village just before dusk.
Yu Daoquan, the guard standing on the city gate, saw that it was Li Qingshi's wedding procession returning and quickly ordered the city gate to be opened.
Then, with great joy, he shouted towards the city gate: "Li Qingshi has returned from his wedding... Li Qingshi has returned from his wedding..."
With Yu Daoquan's shout, the people inside the city gate, who had been preparing for the festivities, began to light the firecrackers that had been laid out on the ground.
Amidst the deafening sound of firecrackers and the enthusiastic shouts of the villagers, Li Qingshi and his group passed through the village gate and headed towards the courtyard where Li Kanshan lived.
The large wedding procession only stopped when it reached the gate of Li Kanshan's courtyard.
Both elderly men, Li Kanshan and Li Laosan, were dressed in very appropriate and festive clothes, and looked particularly energetic. They were already waiting at the gate, their faces beaming with happy smiles.
At this moment, Li Meiyun, who was the first to get off the sedan chair and was Li Kanshan's daughter, saw her father, whom she hadn't seen for many days, at the door. She excitedly rushed up to him, grabbed his hand, and said excitedly, "Dad, I've come back to see you!"
Since getting married, Li Meiyun has rarely returned to her parents' home. She can't even remember the last time she came back. Her father was very happy and excited to see his daughter whom he hadn't seen for a long time.
However, after the initial excitement, he quickly came to his senses and said to his daughter, Li Meiyun, "Meiyun, today is Weiwei's wedding day. Why are you back? You should be staying at the Sun family's house!"
Soon, her daughter Sun Weiwei and son-in-law Li Qingshi will hold their wedding ceremony. Li Meiyun does not plan to tell her father, Li Laosan, about divorcing Sun Dafu now, because there are too many people around, and it would be too troublesome to explain.
After her daughter Sun Weiwei and son-in-law Li Qingshi completed their wedding ceremony, Li Meiyun would find an opportunity to slowly explain this matter to her father. Then, she casually made up an excuse and said to Li Laosan, "Father, today is Weiwei's big day. I wanted to come and see her off in person. I told her husband's family and came over!"
Li Laoshan smiled and said to his daughter Li Meiyun, "The Sun family seems to be quite good. Ordinary families wouldn't allow you to do this. When we get back, please give my regards to Dafu!"
Li Meiyun said, "Okay, Dad!"
Meanwhile, after Li Qingshi introduced them to everyone, Lu Zhenyuan and Lu Wan'er were led to the main hall in the courtyard.
Then Li Qingshi carefully helped Sun Weiwei out of the sedan chair, and after leading her across the brazier in the courtyard, they returned to the main hall inside.
At this moment, the two oldest elders, Li Laosan and Li Kanshan, were seated in the most prominent positions in the hall, while Lu Zhenyuan and Li Meiyun were seated closest to them on either side.
After all, Lu Zhenyuan was the highest-ranking official among them, and he had taken time out of his busy schedule to travel a long way to get here. Initially, the master of ceremonies had arranged for Lu Zhenyuan to sit in the main seat.
Although Lu Zhenyuan was a high-ranking official of the imperial court, he was extremely humble and always respected the elderly. Later, after Lu Zhenyuan repeatedly declined, the master of ceremonies arranged for him to sit next to the two elderly men, Li Laosan and Li Kanshan.
After Li Qingshi and Sun Weiwei completed their wedding ceremony and various rituals under the guidance of the master of ceremonies, they were finally escorted to their bridal chamber. (End of Chapter)