Thirty Pounds of Rice, Bringing Home a Young Bride

In front of them was a young girl with pale, washed-out clothes that were clearly too big for her, with patches all over them.

She wore a belt around her waist, and she looked thin and small.

Her height was estimated to be up to Zhao Ce's chest.

She blinked her big eyes and looked at the two people in front of her, then quickly lowered her head.

Only the long, black eyelashes were left, trembling lightly.

"I... I have cooked the food..."

Before Zhao Ce could speak, Zhao Youcai's loud voice had already shouted, "Ce'er, who is this girl?"

Actually, it was pointless for Zhao Youcai to ask.

A lone man and a lone woman in a room, who else could it be?

Zhao Youcai just couldn't believe it.

Five taels of silver!

He had given Zhao Ce five taels of silver, and he wouldn't really bring back such a small and delicate girl, would he?

With five taels of silver, he could marry even the most beautiful girl in the city!

This was their family's income for a year!

This little girl looked like a small bean sprout, obviously not easy to take care of.

Zhao Youcai thought that his nephew was still young and inexperienced.

He must have been deceived!

When Zhao Ce saw Zhao Youcai shouting, the girl's small body trembled in fear.

Zhao Ce quickly said, "Uncle, there seems to be a misunderstanding here."

When Zhao Ce was sitting outside the room reminiscing about the past, he realized he had forgotten something.

He had forgotten that there was a new member in the family.

Yesterday, the original owner had gone to a brothel and spent all his money, and he was upset.

He remembered taking five taels of silver from Zhao Youcai and telling him to bring the bride back home quickly.

When he was drunk on the way back, he met this young girl who was about to be taken away by her family to find a matchmaker to get married.

Seeing that the girl was quite pretty, he used the remaining money in his pocket to marry her, just to complete the task.

One hand giving the betrothal gifts, one hand giving the wedding invitation.

This transaction... this marriage was thus completed.

The girl had no idea where she had stayed last night and started working in the kitchen early in the morning.

Zhao Youcai stopped and looked at Zhao Ce when he heard the words of misunderstanding. "What misunderstanding?"

"Could it be that the official matchmaker tricked you?"

"No, that's not it. The official matchmaker wouldn't deceive people. Did you secretly find some unreliable matchmakers?"

"No, whoever it is, we'll take this person out of the city and find a matchmaker to explain!"

"Five taels of silver to bring back such a skinny bride, how can that work?"

Zhao Youcai said as he turned to call for people.

In this day and age, unless you're too poor to afford anything. Otherwise, who would marry such a thin bride?

A bride this thin, not to mention the difficulty of giving birth, is difficult to sustain on her own!

The little girl in the room listened to his words and looked at Zhao Ce with some anxiety. "Husband..."

After yelling, she seemed to remember something. She quickly lowered her head.

She had only been in her husband's house for one night, and now she was going to be sent back?

If she was sent back, she would definitely not be able to marry again.

With the character of her uncle's family, she would probably make her go find a place to hang herself.

Thinking like this, her big eyes suddenly became misty.

Zhao Ce looked at the pitiful look in the little girl's eyes and quickly pulled Zhao Youcai, saying, "Uncle, I'm feeling a little dizzy now."

"Don't worry, I'll straighten this out first."

Zhao Youcai asked nervously, "Dizzy?"

"Is it because you've been studying too hard?"

He said, "You take a break first, and Uncle will come back with people in the afternoon."

"These matchmakers, it's really unreasonable!"

Zhao Ce persuaded and pretended to be sick. He finally convinced his uncle to leave.

Zhao Ce sighed. He really didn't know how to explain it, so he had to take it slowly.

Turning to look at the little girl behind him, the little girl also looked up at him.

She had a pair of big eyes with watery light, but she quickly lowered her head again.

Zhao Ce felt that something was wrong, but he didn't think too much about it.

He asked, "What's your name?"

Su Caier lowered her eyes, and her dark, long eyelashes fluttered before she said sadly, "My name is Su Caier."

"Yesterday, my husband brought me back on the way."

Her voice was small and soft, with a hint of trembling due to nervousness.

Yesterday, she was brought back by her aunt and cousin, who said she was almost 16 years old and could not stay in the village anymore.

No matter what, she had to be married off yesterday.

On the way to the official matchmaker, Su Caier had thought of death countless times.

On this day, she was going to be married off, and who could she marry?

It was nothing more than some widowers who were temperamental and couldn't really find a wife.

She is not someone who knows nothing. In the past, there was a man from a village who couldn't find a wife after his first wife died because he had beaten her to death.

His reputation was so bad that no one dared to marry him. Fortunately, she met her husband halfway.

He didn't mind her appearance and gave the betrothal gifts to her aunt instead, and brought her back home. Although it was technically a purchase, it still meant that she was his wife.

As they walked home together, it got late and there were no people on the road. Her husband was too drunk and simply stumbled towards home, falling asleep as soon as they got there. The next morning, she woke up early and did all the household chores.

She was worried about her husband's uncle, who had been so upset the night before and had threatened to take her away.

She begged, "Even though I'm skinny, I'm good at doing chores. Since you've married me, can't you let me stay?" She was afraid that her husband, being an educated man, would listen to his uncle if he spoke up.

She had only just left her old village and had been happy all night about her new life, but now her dream was about to be shattered. Zhao Ce sighed and asked her to stop crying. He asked her to sit down and tell him what had happened.

She explained that her husband had taken her home with him halfway through the journey and that she had intended to register their marriage with the matchmaker.

Zhao Ce tried to remember what had happened the previous night and realized that he had brought someone home with him, but he couldn't remember anything else because he had been too drunk. He rubbed his forehead, feeling helpless.

'Was getting married really just a game in this era?' He couldn't remember how much the betrothal gifts were, but Su Caier said it was just one silver coin. Zhao Ce was skeptical.

One silver coin was probably only worth about a hundred copper coins. In his mind, he quickly calculated that in the Ming Dynasty, one dou of rice was worth around forty to fifty copper coins, which was equivalent to roughly seventeen to eighteen pounds of rice in modern times. He looked at Su Caier, who was still nervous, and thought to himself, "What a great deal! He got a wife who weighs only thirty pounds for thirty pounds of rice!".