She placed the teacup on the table, stood up, and said, “The tea on your table is Butterfly Tea picked before the Qingming Festival—five taels of silver can only buy one tael of it. This teacup is from Ru Kiln, and it’s even more valuable than gold. The tea has gone cold, and you haven’t drunk it, which means you simply don’t have the fate to enjoy this cup. You are just a root in the mud, not porcelain, only rubble. Do you think you can change your life by clinging to my Divine General’s Residence? I’m sorry, this may please you, but it makes me very unhappy.”

The lady’s voice was very calm, not deliberately overbearing, yet it pressed people down to the ground. She did not intentionally look down from above, but it was as if she was gazing at an ant from the sky.

All these emotions were conveyed precisely to Ethan Brooks.

This was blatant humiliation, especially the line “trying to change your life by clinging to the Divine General’s Residence”—for any proud young man, this was an intolerable accusation. In order to hold their head high and leave with pride, many people would probably choose to argue angrily, then take out the marriage contract, tear it in half, throw it in front of the lady, and maybe even spit on it a couple of times.

And this was exactly the scene Mrs. Sullivan wanted to see—if it weren’t for the marriage contract being too special and her having no better way, why would she go to such trouble as she did today?

The side hall was silent, not a sound to be heard.

She looked coldly at Ethan Brooks, waiting for the youth’s anger.

However, what happened next was completely beyond her expectations.

Ethan Brooks looked at Mrs. Sullivan and said calmly, “Actually, you misunderstood. I came to the Divine General’s Residence this time to return the marriage contract. I originally came to break off the engagement.”

The whole room fell silent.

The wind came from the garden, making the old bamboo branches under the corridor snap and rattle.

The lady was slightly surprised and asked, “Say that again?”

She didn’t notice that her voice was a bit tense, yet also somewhat relaxed, because the surprise was unimaginable. Whether the youth was just unwilling to lose face and said this on purpose, or truly came to break off the engagement, it was what she wanted to see.

Ethan Brooks looked at her and said seriously, “Actually... I came to break off the engagement.”

In the corner of the side hall, the old maid who seemed to have disappeared for a long time showed a change in her expression.

Mrs. Sullivan’s expression did not change, but her palm gently fell on her chest.

At that moment, the entire Divine General’s Residence seemed to become much lighter.

But Ethan Brooks’s expression suddenly turned serious.

He said, “But now... I’ve changed my mind.”

The spring breeze in the residence turned cold again, the atmosphere became extremely oppressive once more, and in the dark corner of the side hall, the wrinkles on the old maid’s face, deep as countless ravines, suddenly seemed to be washed away by a flood.

Mrs. Sullivan suddenly felt as if she had done something wrong.

She forcibly suppressed the inexplicable unease in her heart and tried to make her voice sound as gentle as possible, saying, “Since you’ve already thought it through, why say such things out of spite? Why not...”

But to her astonishment, the youth had no intention of listening to her any further.

Ethan Brooks picked up his luggage from the ground, slung it over his back, and walked straight out of the hall.

Chapter 2: Why

Watching the youth’s figure disappear at the side hall, a layer of frost settled over Mrs. Sullivan’s face. She wanted to pick up her teacup and take a sip to moisten her somewhat dry throat, only to find that the tea in her cup had also gone cold. She wanted to throw the teacup to the ground to vent her emotions, but although she didn’t care how expensive the Ru Kiln porcelain was, she didn’t want the servants to hear the sound and know her current mood.

She was in a very bad mood now. She could feel the message the youth wanted to convey to her—sorry, this may make you unhappy, but at least it can make me happy. Perhaps it was because she had said something similar to him earlier: Do you think you can change your life by clinging to my Divine General’s Residence? I’m sorry, this may please you, but it makes me very unhappy.

In fact, that youth had always behaved with great courtesy, never losing his composure. With just two sentences of completely different meaning and the act of turning to leave at the end, he had managed to achieve this—perhaps this too was a kind of talent.

The old maid’s face was also extremely gloomy. She walked to the lady’s side and lowered her voice, saying, “Are we just going to let him go like this?”

“I originally thought he was just a proud youth, but now I realize he’s actually a cunning little schemer. If he really wanted to cling to my Divine General’s Residence for benefits, being so cautious that he didn’t even dare drink the tea, how would he dare bring the marriage contract into the residence? The most troublesome thing is... from beginning to end, has anyone actually seen that marriage contract?”

Mrs. Sullivan understood what the maid meant, her face darkening slightly as she said, “But since he’s a clever person, he should know that if he wants to gain more benefits, he wouldn’t do everything all at once from the very start.”

……

……

Ethan Brooks really couldn’t understand what had happened today. He had clearly come to break off the engagement, so how did things end up like this? What he couldn’t figure out even more was, the Divine General’s Residence obviously had many ways to resolve this engagement, so why did the seemingly shrewd Mrs. Sullivan choose such a foolish method?