CHAPTER 668: CHAPTER 368: ARRANGED MARRIAGE

In the end, the pounding on the door stopped. Matilda collapsed onto the ground, her eyes filled with emptiness.

In those days, people didn’t place much importance on love, but she had always been different.

She wanted love—a marriage unlike her parents’—she wanted a marriage that had love in it.

But now... she had nothing.

During that period, Grayson Forrest didn’t meet Matilda again.

Even though he deliberately walked by the clinic every day, he didn’t see the girl who used to always smile radiantly by the entrance.

Instead, he bumped into Dr. Xu several times. Whenever he tried to say something, Dr. Xu would shake his head.

Until one day, Grayson couldn’t hold back any longer. He walked up to Dr. Xu and said, "Dr. Xu, please, talk to me."

"Grayson, I know what you want to tell me, and I know you’re a good kid.

But the matter you want to discuss with me—I can’t agree to it.

I think you’re smart enough to understand why I can’t agree.

This is for your own good, so let’s leave it at that. There’s no need to say anything more."

"Matilda doesn’t love Yellow Mount," Grayson said urgently.

"Can love put food on the table? No.

As long as the two of them can live peacefully together, there’s nothing they can’t overcome."

Grayson sighed helplessly. "It’s already been seventeen days. The Holland Family should have received the letter.

But they’ve made no moves so far. Don’t you know what that means? The Holland Family has no intention of marrying Matilda into their household."

Dr. Xu clenched his fists tightly. "I don’t believe the Holland Family would leave their son to fend for himself."

Grayson said, helplessly, "Then can you at least let me meet with Matilda?"

Dr. Xu shook his head. "No. You should avoid meeting each other from now on.

If you don’t see each other, your feelings will naturally fade and you’ll let go."

Grayson couldn’t understand the mindset of people here.

Was a woman’s status really so low?

In his heart, he felt deeply for Matilda’s injustice.

But he wasn’t in a hurry because he knew one thing clearly.

The Holland Family would not come to propose marriage. The Holland Family in Anchester were influential and well-respected.

They would never agree to let their son marry a rural girl.

Policies were bound to change, and perhaps they were waiting—waiting for the moment when they could bring their son back home.

As long as they didn’t come to propose marriage, Grayson would have a chance.

If he couldn’t change Dr. Xu’s mind, he’d just wait.

Time slipped by quietly. The Holland Family still hadn’t sent anyone, and this made the Xu Family anxious.

The Xu Family was one of the prominent families in Little Bull Village, and people started putting pressure on Yellow Mount.

Terrified of being retaliated against in the village, Yellow Mount fled in the dead of night, under cover of darkness and wind.

That night, Grayson was aware of Yellow Mount’s escape.

Because the two of them slept next to each other. The weather had been hot and everyone fell asleep from sheer exhaustion, but Grayson was restless due to his troubles and often couldn’t sleep.

When Yellow Mount climbed out of bed, Grayson pretended to be asleep and didn’t react.

But when Yellow Mount didn’t return after over twenty minutes, Grayson sensed something was wrong.

By the next morning, everyone realized Yellow Mount was gone. They searched everywhere but couldn’t find him; only then did they realize he had fled.

Yellow Mount’s escape created an uproar throughout the village.

Grayson didn’t know what consequences Yellow Mount would face. All he knew was that his threat was gone.

What he thought was good news turned out to escalate matters even further.

Yellow Mount’s escape made Matilda the target of village gossip.

Everywhere Grayson went, he overheard whispers about Matilda.

She had once been the pride of the village, but now she was the subject of such awful contempt.

Grayson couldn’t take it. Occasionally, he would step in and argue with people.

Over time, new rumors began circulating in the village.

They said Matilda was a proud girl, always seducing intellectual youths.

First Yellow Mount, then Grayson Forrest.

Some even claimed Matilda was shameless, that she slept with all four of the youths in rotation.

These rumors caused immense pain not only to Matilda but also to Grayson.

He knew that such rumors could destroy a person.

Matilda grew increasingly quiet; her eyes lost the sparkle they once had during summer nights when he sought her advice on homework and were brighter than the starlight.

Grayson felt that this couldn’t go on. After deliberating deeply that night, he visited the Xu Family in the middle of the night.

Though visiting late at night wasn’t exactly appropriate, he believed that a clear conscience fears no ghosts.

After obtaining Dr. Xu’s permission, he sat down with Dr. Xu and Matilda to discuss matters.

Dr. Xu smoked his pipe in silence, seeming to have aged overnight during this ordeal.

As for Matilda, she had become so thin that her figure was almost unrecognizable. She looked at Grayson, her eyes brimming with tears.

Grayson sighed. "Uncle Xu, I’d like to propose something to you."

"Go ahead, Grayson," Dr. Xu replied.

"Matilda can’t stay in this village anymore. Please let her prepare for the college entrance exams.

Her dream has always been to become a practitioner of Traditional Medicine.

If you keep her confined to this village, she’ll never achieve anything.

Give her a chance to escape the side eyes and judgment. Once she leaves this village, no one will know what happened to her here.

She can finally start living the life she’s always dreamed of."

Grayson’s words lit up Matilda’s eyes. She turned to her father with hope written all over her face.

Dr. Xu paused for a moment and looked at her. Indeed, why hadn’t he thought of sending Matilda away to avoid all this trouble?

"Matilda, do you want to leave?"

"Dad, I do. I dream of it; I want to go study and grow."

After hesitating for a while, Dr. Xu nodded. "Alright, starting today, focus on your studies at home.

You must pass the exam. Your father supports you. Once you leave here, you’ll begin the life you’ve always wanted."

With tears streaming down her face, Matilda nodded resolutely. "Alright."

And so, Grayson’s suggestion ushered Matilda into a new Chapter of her life.

She studied hard every day, and occasionally, Grayson would come by the Xu household to tutor her. Their relationship grew even closer.

Finally, her hard work paid off—Matilda was admitted to the best Traditional Medicine university in Zorchester City.

On the day she left Little Bull Village, nearly half the village came to see her off.

Even though people still gossiped about her behind her back, she was, after all, a fellow villager, and civility was maintained on the surface.

That day, Matilda hugged Grayson in front of everyone, leaving some faces flushed with embarrassment.

But Matilda didn’t care. As she left, she said to Grayson, "I’ll study hard and repay your kindness someday."

Grayson gave her all the money he had, telling her not to let herself suffer and to wait for him to marry her.

Another autumn came and with it the harvest season. Grayson received a spot to return to the city.

That day, Grayson was overjoyed, as he could finally change his fate.

Before leaving Little Bull Village, he repeatedly assured Dr. Xu that he would fulfill his promise to marry Matilda. Dr. Xu trusted him completely and had no doubts.

But Grayson hadn’t anticipated what awaited him back home: in addition to his parents, there was someone else—a woman.

She was a year younger than him and the daughter of his father’s war buddy. During his absence over the past two years, she had stayed at his house to take care of his parents.

Because of her care for them, his parents were determined to have him marry her.

Even before he returned, they had already arranged the marriage with her parents.

When Grayson heard this, he felt utterly bewildered.

Who would’ve thought that someone like him, with progressive thinking, would find himself caught up with parents like this?

They had agreed to marry him to someone he didn’t even like.

Kay Forrest thought his parents had really gone too far this time.

That day, he asked the girl to temporarily move back to her home. He wanted to talk things over with his parents alone.

But his parents refused.

Their fondness for the girl was something he couldn’t quite understand.

With no other option, he decided to start with the girl herself and look for a breakthrough.

That day, he took the girl out for a meal to talk things over.

But to his surprise, the girl was far more upbeat and direct than he’d expected.

"Grayson, before you talk to me, don’t you think you should at least know my name?

This ’girl’ and ’girl’ you keep calling me—I’ll start thinking I’m some courtesan from a brothel."

Her words made Grayson laugh, albeit helplessly. "What’s your name then?"

"My name is Hailey Snow. I’m a year younger than you.

Actually, I know what you want to say—you don’t like how your parents are trying to match us up, right?"

Grayson looked at her. "Seems like you’re also unhappy with how the elders are meddling in this."

"Of course I am. But what can I do? My grandfather said that if I don’t marry you, he’ll marry me off to Wang Er-Mazi instead.

I thought about it seriously and figured you’re a little better looking than Wang Er-Mazi, so I decided I might as well stick with you."