Chapter 252 - 148: Call Off the Wedding and Still Give a Dowry 10 Times the Bride Price?

Chapter 252: Chapter 148: Call Off the Wedding and Still Give a Dowry 10 Times the Bride Price?

"I paid a five million betrothal gift, and what happens? The bride runs off to another country with a woman! You think I don’t care about my reputation?"

"If this gets out, how am I supposed to show my face in this neighborhood? Is my reputation worth nothing?"

Chen Mo showed him no courtesy whatsoever, angrily letting him have it.

’So only you guys care about your reputation? I don’t, is that it?’

’Is my reputation not a reputation?’

To be honest, he wasn’t serious about the arranged date with Chen Shuwan, so he didn’t actually feel humiliated by this.

But if the news really did spread, it would definitely affect him somewhat.

At the very least, whenever arranged dates came up in the future, the story of him and the Chen Family would be prime gossip.

"We were inconsiderate. How about this? We’ll return your betrothal gift and add another five million on top?"

After hearing Chen Mo, Zhou Ru realized that this wasn’t just humiliating for them; Chen Mo was losing face too.

Moreover, their family was entirely at fault. Chen Mo had been completely screwed over by them.

So she decided to not only return Chen Mo’s betrothal gift but also give him an extra five million.

"That’s more like it. But I’m going to tell Aunt Li about this and have her find me a new match with a girl from a family with good character."

Chen Mo pretended to agree, but he deliberately brought up telling Aunt Li.

"Let’s not tell Shufang about this. If you’re looking for a match, I can introduce you to someone. I know plenty of girls from excellent backgrounds."

The moment Zhou Ru heard Chen Mo was going to tell Aunt Li, she frantically shook her head, trying to stop him.

She even offered to help him find a match herself.

They were offering Chen Mo the extra five million in the first place precisely because they hoped he wouldn’t publicize the matter.

But if Chen Mo told Shufang, knowing Shufang’s personality, the situation would definitely blow up.

After all, she knew Shufang’s personality very well.

Once Shufang found out that the person she introduced to Chen Mo was involved in something like this, she would surely blame herself and come to their door to demand an explanation.

And as soon as Shufang came demanding answers, the news would spread to everyone.

In the end, their family would still be the one to be humiliated.

The key was, they couldn’t do anything about Shufang. Her husband was no slouch.

He was far more powerful than their family.

"I can’t possibly trust your word right now. How could I dare let you introduce me to someone?"

Chen Mo sneered at Zhou Ru.

"You..."

Zhou Ru’s brow furrowed. She could hear the sarcasm in Chen Mo’s tone.

But then she remembered that she had indeed deceived him, and her daughter had run off with someone.

’It’s only natural that Chen Mo is angry and doesn’t trust us.’

"Chen Mo, how about this?"

"I won’t return the betrothal gift. I’ll give you four times... no, four is an unlucky number. I’ll give you a dowry five times the betrothal gift."

"You take the dowry and don’t say a word about this to anyone. If someone asks, you just say Shuwan suddenly decided to study abroad for a few years and that you’ll get married when she returns. You tell that to anyone who asks."

"After a year or two, you can move away. I’ll cover any losses from selling the villa. If you can’t find a buyer, I’ll buy it from you at market price."

"Then, if anyone asks after that, you’ll just say you two grew apart due to the long distance and broke up. What do you think?"

Old Chen took a drag from his cigarette, head bowed in thought for a moment, before proposing a completely new solution to Chen Mo.

He felt that simply giving Chen Mo a sum of money wouldn’t be enough to resolve this matter perfectly.

What happened had happened, and he didn’t want his family’s scandal getting out.

Compared to the little bit of face Chen Mo stood to lose, their family was facing true, utter humiliation!

His daughter hadn’t just broken off the engagement; she had eloped to another country with a woman!

When he first saw the message from his daughter, his blood pressure nearly went through the roof.

If this got out, he would absolutely become a laughingstock among his friends and neighbors.

His reputation would be in tatters. Who knows how long people would be laughing at him.

Most importantly, if it were just a simple case of breaking the engagement and eloping with a woman, they could still explain it away as their child being immature and them not having disciplined her properly.

It would be embarrassing and they’d become the butt of jokes, but the impact would still be within an acceptable range.

But Chen Shuwan had told Chen Mo that they already knew about her and the other woman, which was very bad.

This meant they knew in advance that their daughter liked women.

But they kept it a secret and deliberately used a large dowry to attract men for arranged dates.

If nothing came of it, that would be one thing. But if it worked, and the man discovered after marriage that his wife was actually attracted to women, wouldn’t that be a cruel deception?

They’d have to get divorced, right? And a divorce means splitting the assets, right?

What is this if not marriage fraud?

This was no longer a matter of an immature child and poor parenting.

It showed that the two of them had deliberately deceived people, tricking the men who came for the arranged dates.

Add to that the subsequent elopement, and it became an attempt at marriage fraud followed by breaking the engagement.

If the full story got out, it wouldn’t just be their own reputations that would be ruined.

Their entire family’s name would be dragged through the mud.

Marriage fraud plus a broken engagement—it was like having every possible debuff stacked against them.

The circle of Modu’s wealthy was only so big, and the circle within their industry was even smaller.

As soon as this got out, everyone in their circle would know instantly.

The deals they were currently negotiating would be dead in the water. They might not even be able to survive in this industry, in this circle, anymore.

After all, who would want to do business with liars?

Even if they were already financially independent, able to retire right now and never worry about money for the rest of their lives...

...the richer people were, the more they cared about face. And for the two of them, reputation was even more important than money.

Given the choice, they would rather their business take a loss than lose face.