This matter has been tightly concealed by their family, and now they are soothing and compelling the Xu Tianfa’s family to let Xu Lianzi have a miscarriage first. After Brother Qian passes the examination and secures an official position, they will marry her as an equal wife. Yet the reason Village Chief Sun would propose a marriage to Gu Jinxiu on behalf of his eldest grandson is also because of Xu Lianzi. The Xu family is pressing hard, showing a readiness to fight to the death, while Sun Youqian’s academic performance is mediocre, and with the incident involving Xu Lianzi, it’s impossible for him to become the son-in-law of a wealthy family in the county anymore. Seeing that Sun Youqian was unlikely to succeed, Village Chief Sun gave up on the idea of him marrying into a wealthy family. Instead, he turned to use him to connect with the Gu Family and get a share of the spice business. With her old cunning, Matchmaker Lao could tell by the appearance of the women of the Sun Family that her suspicions were true. She immediately became smug: "If you don’t want this old woman to spread the word, compensate me with five taels of silver. Once I have the money, I’ll take my leave; otherwise...hehe, this old woman will let the whole Tianfu County know. By then, your Brother Qian can forget obtaining an official position or even getting married!" What decent girl would marry such a scoundrel who has already been involved with several women before even getting married? She added, "Don’t think I don’t have the means. I know a few other matchmakers in the county town. If I tell them about your eldest grandson’s affairs and let Widow Zhou make a scene, your Sun Family can wait to be thoroughly embarrassed." The two young men beating the drums were stunned. Mommy, the eldest grandson of the Sun Family turned out to be such a shameless creature? After their shock, they demanded, "We also want compensation, five taels of silver each. If you don’t pay, we will spread the word about the affairs of your Sun Family, and your family won’t be able to lift its head in the village." Sun Liuzi only knew about the affair between the eldest young master and Xu Lianzi, and he never imagined that his family’s eldest was so capable, even getting tangled up with a widow in the county town, then... "Granny, are we calling for help or not?" "Shut up, stand aside!" Granny Sun glared at Sun Liuzi, wishing she could slap him a few times. Calling villagers over for help at this time, wouldn’t it let the whole village know about the disgusting things Brother Qian had done? After scolding Sun Liuzi, Granny Sun pointed at Matchmaker Lao and said, "You’re spouting nonsense. My Brother Qian is studying the sage’s books, how could he do such things? You’re just slandering to blackmail our Sun Family. Don’t even think about it." Granny Sun said this, but her tone was inexplicably weak. Ms. Sun Fang, holding onto Granny Sun’s arm, whispered advice, "Mother, shall we call Father out? This matter concerns Brother Qian’s future. We can’t handle it; we need Father to intervene." Hearing this, the matchmaker looked at the tightly closed doors of the main house and laughed, "The Sun Family’s eldest daughter-in-law is right. This matter, Granny Sun, you can’t handle it. You need to call Village Chief Sun out here." Inside the main house, Village Chief Sun’s face had already turned as black as the bottom of a pot. This little bastard Brother Qian, aside from Xu Lianzi, actually got involved with Widow Zhou in the county town. How did the elders raise such a child to cause such a scandal? Village Chief Sun was livid, angry at Sun Family’s eldest son, angry at Sun Youqian, angry at the Gu Family for not appreciating their favor, chasing Su the matchmaker out, and angry at Matchmaker Lao for failing to arrange the matters and daring to make trouble in his home. However, Matchmaker Lao knew too much, and without paying silver, they couldn’t suppress the things Brother Qian had done. Village Chief Sun pondered for a moment and finally took out ten taels of silver, passing them to an old man in the house. The old man had sold himself into servitude to the Sun Family when Village Chief Sun’s grandfather was alive; he was an old servant of the Sun Family, deeply loyal. After receiving the silver, he immediately bowed and left, throwing the ten taels of silver in front of Matchmaker Lao, saying: "Take the silver and scram!" He warned again: "Remember, if you dare utter a word about this outside, the Sun Family will not spare you!" Matchmaker Lao and those two lads saw the silver and immediately pounced on it, the three of them grappling over two ingots of five taels each. "You little brats, let go of it right now! These five taels are mine, do you really think you can take all ten taels?!" Matchmaker Lao slapped the hands of those two lads and pretended to bite them, finally managing to snatch back five taels. After getting the silver, Matchmaker Lao patted the dust off her clothes, tidied her hair, and shouted towards the closed main house: "Village Chief Sun, rest assured, this old woman keeps her word. After taking your family’s silver coin, I’ll keep what happened with your eldest grandson to myself, not a word will slip out." The two drum-beating lads also said: "Village Chief Sun, rest assured, we brothers won’t spout a word either." The three left the Sun Family abode cheerfully with the silver coin. The people of the Sun Family were furious. Granny Sun stormed into the main house and said to Village Chief Sun: "Old man, have you gone mad? That was ten taels of silver, just given away like that; what a huge loss." Village Chief Sun was already furious. Upon hearing Granny Sun’s questioning, he slapped her across the face, angrily saying: "What a fine grandson you’ve spoiled! Has he never seen a woman before? Flirting with an old woman in the county, losing all face for the Sun Family. If this gets out, it will be even worse than what happened with Xu Lianzi. Just wait for that bastard to be ridiculed for life and expelled from his private school." Scholars value personal morality above all, and after Brother Qian’s shameful deed, no private school or academy would accept him. Granny Sun, now frightened, disregarded the pain on her face and weeping, asked Village Chief Sun: "Old man, what should we do about this?" "What to do?" Village Chief Sun sneered: "Brother Qian can forget the path to an official position. Let him marry the Gu Family’s daughter and focus on business from now on, using the silver he earns to pay for his younger brothers, Old Second and Old San, to study." Ms. Sun Fang was displeased to hear this. Old San was her second brother’s son, so why should her son Youqian earn money for him to study? But given the disgraceful incident involving Youqian, Ms. Sun Fang dared not object. Granny Sun worriedly said: "The Gu Family beat up Matchmaker Lao, which means they’ve rejected our marriage proposal. Can Youqian still marry the Gu Family’s daughter?" Village Chief Sun sneered: "So what if they’ve refused? She’s just a country girl. If Brother Qian can fool a thirty-year-old widow, wouldn’t he be able to deceive a teenage girl?" He looked up at Sun Liuzi in the yard and ordered: "Go to the county and bring back the eldest grandson, and tell him that the Eldest Miss Gu is an exceptional beauty, and he must give his utmost effort." "Right away!" Sun Liuzi immediately hitched up the mule cart and rushed to the county to find Sun Youqian. Sun Youqian, who didn’t mind having several women, upon hearing that Eldest Miss Gu was a beauty, hurried back in great excitement, planning to take his time to win her over. Unfortunately, before Sun Youqian had a chance to deploy his tactics for deceiving girls, on the third afternoon, a steward, two clerks, and a large group of government officials arrived from the county, surrounding the Sun Family compound. The Sun Family was completely bewildered. Village Chief Sun quickly went forward with a smile, deferentially asking Master Tian: "Elder Tian, what brings you, the County Magistrate’s favored one, here? Are you passing by on official duties?"