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2. This is a fan work and the interpretation represents only the translator’s personal views without any input from the author.
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After Liu Gao shi had spoken to the matchmaker and given her fee, the matchmaker left. Then Liu Gao shi called He shi over and spoke to her. She updated her on Liu Changshi’s intentions toward her sister. Then she shared that he had earned some money from the trip to Ningxia, of which he planned to use 10 taels to buy an additional two mu of land.
He shi had already heard from her mother about this potential match, but her mother had repeatedly warned her not to ask Liu Changgeng about it, because the Liu family had said nothing yet. If she were to ask Liu Changgeng, and news of that spread to Liu Gao shi, then how would they look?! It was only when she had personally heard from Liu Gao shi of the intention to propose marriage, that she mentioned the matter to Liu Changgeng. Liu Changgeng had been completely in the dark about all this. Surprised, he immediately sided with his brother and felt that the match was very suitable! Changshi now had 50 taels of silver! Rumors were spreading in the village that he had earned a lot of money in Ningxia, and many girls hoped to marry him!
He shi rolled her eyes at him. She didn’t say anything more, just busied herself with preparing the meal.
It was only now that Liu Xu’er found out that her sishu had finally proposed marriage. At last, she could put down that huge burden, especially since she now had a more urgent matter that needed to be addressed.
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Ebld Nkw Fbw yde Nkw Nkd alvwadle, cakdtkdt bsxl shla 10 pvakdtp sq nypb, kv oyp sq nswapl y tsse vbkdt. Jwv dso, Nkw Dw’la oyp osaakle vbyv vblka rasewnvp nswzed’v cl awpble swv kd vkxl. Mbkdtp olal ds zsdtla zkjl zypv ulya, obld vblu olal fwpv pvyavkdt swv. Mbld, vblal oswze cl y xsdvb sa vos okvb xkdkxyz cwpkdlpp, cwv dsoyeyup, yp pssd yp vbl essap srldle, vblal olal nwpvsxlap. Mbl tssep nswzed’v jllr wr okvb vbl elxyde! Rv oyp vawzu osaaukdt!
Pwakdt vbl lde sq vbl ulya pzynj rlakse, vblu bye clld cwpu xyjkdt tssep, cwv vblpl olal yzz xspvzu psze kd vbl awd wr vs vbl Llo Zlya. Jaykele nsaep yde dlnjzynlp – vblu bye ds vkxl vs xyjl vbspl yduxsal! Mblu bye sdzu clld xyjkdt psxl byde-oyaxlap, qsalblye cydep yde pnldv pynblvp – tssep kdvldele qsa vbl Llo Zlya.
Mbyv lhldkdt, obld lhlausdl bye pyv esod qsa ekddla, Nkw Dw’la caswtbv wr vbkp xyvvla. Nkw Nkd pyke, “R’hl oydvle vs pyu vbkp zsdt yts. Rv ‘p dsv tsse qsa vbl nswdvla vs cl lxrvu! Ohlau xsdvb, ol pvkzz byhl vs xyjl aldv altyaezlpp.”
Nkw Fbw pyke, “Mbyv’p aktbv, xlkxlk, R’hl oydvle vs ekpnwpp vbkp okvb usw. El nyddsv alrlyv vbl xkpvyjl qasx zypv ulya sq xyjkdt tssep fwpv kd vkxl qsa vbl qlpvkhyzp. El pbswze fwpv elnkel obyv ol oydv vs plzz yv vbl nswdvla, yde pvyav xyjkdt yzz sq vblx. Mbyv oyu, ol nyd twyaydvll ldswtb pvsnj qsa vbl ldvkal ulya okvbswv byhkdt vs xyezu pnayxczl.”
Nkw Dw’la pyke, qynl vaswczle. “R oydv vs es vbyv vss. Gqvla yzz, caykele nsaep yde obyv dsv nyd cl psze ulya aswde, dsv fwpv ewakdt vbl lktbvb xsdvb. Rv plzzp clpv ewakdt vbl lktbvb xsdvb, cwv ewakdt vbl alpv sq vbl ulya, rlsrzl oswze pvkzz psxlvkxlp nsxl yde cwu psxl! Jwv aktbv dso, ol nyd’v awpb vblx swv! Gde vblal oswze pvkzz cl iwkvl y qlo xsdvbp vbyv ol osd’v cl yczl vs jllr wr vbl pwrrzu.”
Nkw Ubydttldt vbld pxynjle bkp vbktb. “Fkdnl usw’hl yzalyeu tsvvld uswa fkwxy vs xyjl vbspl qkhl-nszswale cydep qsa usw, vbld obu esd’v usw ypj psxlsdl lzpl vs xyjl psxl sq vbl xsal vkxl kdvldpkhl kvlxp!”
Nkw Dw’la pyke, “R byhl vbswtbv sq vbyv. Mbl xsal vkxl kdvldpkhl vbkdtp yal vbkdtp zkjl lxcaskelale rswnblp, caykele nsaep yde ps sd. Gxsdtpv swa alzyvkhlp, ds sdl kp yczl vs xyjl vblx. Mbl qkhl-nszswale cydep yal iwkvl lypu vs xyjl yqvla yzz.” Fbl vbswtbv qsa y obkzl clqsal pyukdt vs Tl pbk, “Ywx, obu esd’v ol ypj mkysuk kq pbl nyd blzr? Rq pbl nyd blzr, vbld obu esd’v ol tlv bla vs xyjl vbl bydejlanbklqp? Fkdnl pbl byp yd lxcaskelau qayxl, pbl pbswze cl yczl vs xydytl.”
Tl pbk oyp sq nswapl sdzu vss byrru. Fbl dseele, “Mbyv’p talyv… Mblal pbswze cl ds rasczlxp. Zswa mkysuk oyp yqvla yzz, yzalyeu xyjkdt vblpl vbkdtp, ps pbl pbswze cl yczl vs jllr wr.”
Liu Xu’er nodded and asked Liu Changgeng, “Dad, what do you think?”
Liu Changgeng nodded. “Agreed. As for my own little ornaments, your two ge can also start to learn how to make them. If I am busy in the fields, and they have time, they can also make a few.”
Liu Shu and Liu Lin both nodded.
Liu Xu’er then said to He shi, “Mum, you focus on making pouches, forehead bands and hand-warmers. Whenever you return to your maiden home, you can ask my two jiuma if they want to learn embroidery from my xiaoyi. If they are able to learn, maybe we can get them to make the pouches in future… Of course, we will need to observe them for a while. I will concentrate on making scent sachets as well as continue to make decorative knots and braided cords.”
He shi nodded, “Sure!”
After the family discussion, they started to put the plan into action. In any event, He shi needed to make a trip back to her family for Fourth’s matter. She needed to be back for two reasons. First, Liu Gao shi hoped that she could go back and get a sense of her family’s response to their proposal and secondly, her own parents would definitely want her opinion on the match. Since she had married into the family for close to 10 years, she would definitely be very familiar with Fourth.
So the next day, Liu Changgeng borrowed Liu Changshi’s donkey cart and sent her over.
This time, Liu Xu’er didn’t bother joining her. Whether or not the family agreed, she couldn’t help in the decision making. Furthermore, since the marriage proposal had already been sent, so long as her xiaoyi agreed, even if laolao and laoye objected to the match, it would be up to sishu to do his best to persuade them! What could she do?
As such, she busied herself with the work at home, while Liu Shu and Liu Lin made little ornaments. They had already made quite a few of them.
He shi and Liu Changgeng arrived at Qianzhuang Village. Sure enough, Liu Xu’er’s laolao and laoye were both waiting for her. The instant she came in, He Wenqing smiled and brought his jiefu over to his own room to chat, while He shi was dragged by laolao, laoye into the main house.
“Look, we’re all relatives. How could this work? What are the two elders in your family thinking?” Laoye started to say.
Laolao however, was aware of what had happened. At the end of last year, someone in the village sounded her out about He Ruyu as a potential match. Before this, no one had approached her, so she was thrilled by this sudden question. Delighted, she went home and spoke to He Ruyu, to tell her not to worry. Who would’ve known that He Ruyu would reply that she would not accept anyone from the village.
Laolao started to question her, so He Ruyu asked – why are the villagers suddenly brave enough to ask about her? Laolao found it strange, how could she know?
He Ruyu then said, it’s because of Taohua Village, Liu Fourth. He beat up Mao Third…. Look, hasn’t Mao Third been very quiet recently? You’ve not seen him around?
Laolao saw the look on her daughter’s face and understood.
At the time, laolao wasn’t too certain if her guess was correct. After all, the Liu family hadn’t tried to propose marriage. She could only keep it to herself. And no one seemed to be at fault here – it wasn’t right to blame either Liu Changshi or He Ruyu for this. The two of them hadn’t behaved inappropriately. Liu Changshi had just gone to beat Mao Third up is all….
Because of this matter, laolao had been troubled all through the New Year. Who would have expected that immediately after the New Year was over, the Liu family would engage a matchmaker to propose marriage. Laolao decided to observe the situation.
He shi then said, “My family’s Fourth went to Ningxia at the end of last year. At that time, he just said that it was to earn money for a bride, and that he was unwilling to take dad and mum’s money…. This hadn’t happened before. I had no idea that my mother-in-law had actually…. Had her eye on our Ruyu!”
Laoye said nothing. Laolao said, “It might not be your mother-in-law? Since we are all relatives, everyone has met each other… What does your family’s Fourth think, does anyone know?”
He shi nodded, “It’s possible that it was Fourth who took a fancy to her and told my mother-in-law, who agreed to help him.” She looked at her father and mother and asked, “Dad, mum, what do you think?”
Laoye started to puff on his pipe. “Don’t know, we’re still thinking about it…. We’re all relatives after all, so this matter isn’t that easy to settle.”
He shi then said, “Actually, Liu Changshi is a pretty good catch….”
Laolao harrumphed. “You’re now a Liu family member, so of course you would side with them! I’m not saying that Fourth is bad, it’s just…. It’s not easy to settle this!”
He shi smiled and said, “Mum, you’ve really wronged me. Ever since I found out about this matter, I haven’t said anything to the Liu Family! Changgeng didn’t even try to tell me to say only good things about Changshi…. He probably doesn’t think that the matter is too difficult.”
Laolao’s eyes popped open. He shi smiled, while laoye said, “Fourth went to Ningxia just so he could marry? He does have ambition.”
He shi said, “He planned to go last year. At the time, the entire family objected. After all, the place is close to the Mongols and rather dangerous. He insisted on going…. Now that I think about it, he probably worried that he didn’t have enough money to feel confident in proposing to Ruyu? Furthermore… Since we are all relatives, he’s well aware of Ruyu’s current circumstances.”
Laolao said, “That’s right! My Ruyu is now the supporting pillar of our family! Just because he wants to marry, does he think he can?”
He shi hadn’t replied when laoye interrupted, “Alright, alright, alright. Why don’t you take a break! Last year, when no one came forward, you were so anxious you wanted to give her away for free! Now that people have come to ask, your back goes straight up! What kind of womanish behaviour is that!”
Laolao stared at him, but didn’t say anything more.
Laoye continued to ask He shi. “What kind of person is your family’s Fourth? What kind of circumstances, and what is his financial situation? Why don’t you share with us?” He smiled and said, “Our family now is quite different from before. Please don’t feel upset when I say that we won’t just be handing our Ruyu to anyone.”
He shi smiled. When she got married, her family had only asked for five strings of cash in addition to the other standard gifts. It would definitely be nowhere near what they would want for He Ruyu. But, she had a loving relationship with Liu Changgeng, and her in-laws were kind. Right now, her days were so much better than before. She also knew that the situation today cannot be compared with the situation before, so she smiled and nodded, “Dad, look at how worried you are. It’s been 10 years since I’ve married. Am I so shallow as to compare myself with Ruyu? Relax, I won’t take any offense.”
After saying this, she started to talk about Liu Changshi. “Changshi is of good character. Amongst the brothers, I think he is the most outstanding. He knows how to handle himself, and to take on responsibilities…. Take the matter of going to Ningxia. I think he did well in that. All his elder brothers required their parents to help them marry. He’s the only one with the ambition to go out and earn his own money. That’s really good of him. As for his financial situation, like me and Changgeng, he was given 1.5 mu of land, but when he went to Ningxia, he earned 50 strings of cash.”
Laoye and Laolao jumped! That was really quite a sum!
He shi then softly said, “Dad, mum, please don’t….. Don’t let Changgeng know that I told you this….”
Old Man He quickly nodded, “Of course, of course! We won’t ask for 50 taels of silver as betrothal money!”
He shi immediately widened her eyes, “What…. Dad….”
Old Man He laughed, “I’m just joking! Why so worried?”
Could He shi not be worried? Asking for 50 taels of silver was equivalent to a rejection – a way of scaring off the potential suitor! Then how would the relatives interact in future?
Laolao couldn’t resist asking, “Even if he has 50 taels of silver, he would need to spend quite a lot on his wedding. How would he and Ruyu manage in future with just 1.5 mu of land? It’s too little….”
He shi said, “He shouldn’t spend all 50 taels right? Fourth has already said that he would use 10 strings of cash to buy some land. He should be able to buy two mu with that. I don’t know if he’s found any yet, and where he plans to buy, but my mother-in-law has already told me of the plans.” She thought for a while before saying, “Oh that’s right. My Xu’er was also wondering if we could get Ruyu to help us to make handkerchiefs for our store? That way, we can free up some time to make other items.”
This was also another important matter. Laolao was immediately diverted. “Is your store making a lot of money? Why are you letting others help you make things?”
He shi smiled and said, “It’s not our store. We’ve only rented a counter. However, it is making money, and Xu’er and I can’t handle it all….” She didn’t mention their intentions to help her maiden family.
Enlightened, laolao nodded her head. Without checking in with Ruyu, she smiled and said, “Ok! That’s great! Ruyu can definitely manage!”
Laoye was kind of more open minded that his wife 😂 the slice of life in this novel really not make me bored at all. I just want to read more and more about their daily lives. Thanks for the chapter.
Thanks for the encouraging words. Means a lot to me! 😊