Chapter 16

Feng-ge's marriage proceeded unusually smoothly. Both sides were interested in each other, and with the help of a matchmaker, they exchanged engagement letters within a few days.

Wu Guihua placed the engagement letter in front of the kitchen god statue in her own home. For three consecutive days, there were no incidents of broken dishes, family quarrels, or restless livestock that would disturb the household.

Of course, Wu Guihua had been very cautious since exchanging the engagement letter. She repeatedly reminded her family to be vigilant, threatening to punish anyone who made mistakes. She even restrained herself from scolding others too much.

Wu Guihua was anxious, but the Young Master Yan seemed even more anxious. According to him, his wealthy merchant father had taken his older and second brothers to the border to buy specialty products such as spices, fine wine, and dry goods. He left only himself and the elderly lady at their villa in the Twenty-Li Slope.

The elderly lady was old, and originally, he had accompanied her to experience the customs of the capital. Unexpectedly, she became fond of the young master.

Young Master Yan was worried that after his father returned with the merchant convoy, they would immediately need to send back a large quantity of goods to their family business to prevent them from spoiling. Their family business was located in the south, and the round trip would take at least two to three months. If anything happened along the way, the wedding might be delayed.

Upon hearing that the wedding might be delayed, Wu Guihua became worried. Feng-ge would soon turn eighteen, and she was determined to find him a good family. The wedding was already scheduled to be late. If it was further delayed, Feng-ge would only get older, which wouldn't be good.

Young Master Yan proposed an idea: let the elderly lady make the decision, and they would proceed with the wedding first. When his father returned, with the elderly lady's support, his father wouldn't be able to say anything.

At this point, Wu Guihua couldn't consider the issue of her younger ger getting married before her older son. She was only concerned about how Young Master Yan's family would view Feng-ge. Would they think that Feng-ge had forced Young Master Yan to defy his parents' wishes and marry him?

To ease Wu Guihua's worries, Young Master Yan specifically brought Feng-ge to their villa in the Twenty-Li Slope for the elderly lady to see. The Yan family's elderly lady really liked Feng-ge and held onto him as if she couldn't bear to let go. She even said that her personal savings would only be given to Feng-ge in the future, not to her eldest and second daughter-in-law, so that he could pass it on to their future children.

Feng-ge blushed and felt embarrassed. After listening to Young Master Yan's sweet and affectionate words, he completely fell for him, wishing to get married as soon as possible.

When Feng-ge returned home, he repeated the elderly lady's words to Wu Guihua, dispelling many of her concerns. Furthermore, when she heard the eldest son Changsheng, who went with them, talking about the beautiful architecture and luxurious decorations of the villa, she realized that as a rustic person, she had no idea how to handle such things. She had no objections anymore.

However, there was one condition: the Yan family required a dowry of ninety-nine taels of silver to ensure a lasting marriage. Of course, they would also provide a bridal gift of one thousand taels of silver. At that time, Wu Guihua's family could appropriately retain a portion and use the larger sum as the dowry, making it look better in terms of face.

In addition to this, the elderly lady had another requirement: after the dowry list was prepared by the Li family, it needed to be brought to the villa for her to inspect and verify.

Upon hearing this, Wu Guihua was dumbfounded. "Isn't this against the rules?"

Who sends the dowry before the marriage agreement is settled…

Young Master Yan also felt embarrassed and scratched his nose. "The families my older and second brothers married into have better backgrounds, and the dowries were generous. The elderly lady pities me and Feng-ge, probably wanting to help add to the dowry under the pretense of inspecting and verifying it… Even if my older brother, sister-in-law, second brother, and sister-in-law notice in the future, they won't have any evidence."

Hearing this, Wu Guihua realized that it was a good thing. She exchanged a glance with Li Mancang, thinking that since they were benefiting from it, they would go along with it.

The bridal gift from the Young Master Yan was one thousand taels of silver!

In fact, Wu Guihua and Li Mancang were fond of their ger. Feng-ge had a sweet tongue and inherited Wu Guihua's astuteness. They were both concerned about him and had prepared his dowry in advance. However, they didn't expect that Feng-ge would marry so well, requiring them to bring out all their savings and even borrow forty to fifty taels.

That was a significant amount—villagers couldn't earn a few taels of silver in a year. Thanks to Village Head Li's generosity, they borrowed as much as five taels.

Seeing the head of the household counting the silver with a worried expression, Wu Guihua couldn't help but say indignantly, "Your second brother is too stingy. He only brought out one hundred wen and called it an advance gift. Once Feng-ge gets married, he better not expect to benefit from it!"

"Given the way things are at the second son's house, he probably genuinely can't bring it out…" Li Mancang rarely spoke honestly.

"What should we do now?"

Li Mancang sighed, "Sell the land."

"Sell the land?" Wu Guihua thought for a moment and realized that selling the land was the only option. After all, once they had the money, they could buy the land back. "Alright, let's sell the land."

Li Mancang wants to sell land, and the people in the village quickly heard about it. However, they just assumed that Li Mancang was trying to climb up the social ladder and pretended to be rich.

Li Mancang couldn't explain the situation to others. Firstly, their family was the one benefiting from the transaction. Secondly, Young Master Yan had explicitly instructed them to keep the matter between their two families and not spread it outside, to avoid causing trouble with his older and second brothers.

During this time, Elder Li and other elders advised Li Mancang to be reasonable and not exhaust their family fortune just to marry their ger.

However, at this point, both Li Mancang and Wu Guihua were already determined and unwilling to listen. They insisted on selling the land. Elder Li and the others saw that their advice wasn't being heeded and stopped trying to persuade them.

When news of the land sale spread from the Li family, Cheng Duo was planning to sell several large and small pieces of leather he had collected during this period.

Selling leather was just one part of it. Now that everything was settled, he needed to go out and see the situation. Otherwise, he would be in the dark about any possible occurrences.

Cheng Duo found Shanzi to guide him. Shanzi was familiar with the Twenty-Li Slope, where his father was contracting land, so Cheng Duo could also bring some food and vegetables to his father.

They agreed on the time, but before they set off, Yong-ge found Cheng Duo and hesitantly requested, "Can you take me with you? I won't cause you any trouble…"

Yong-ge blushed as he spoke because he knew that he would definitely be a bother to Cheng Duo. The place he wanted to go was the various gambling dens in the Twenty-Li Slope. If it weren't for that reason, he wouldn't have thought of asking Cheng Duo for help.

In fact, when Yong-ge learned that Young Master Yan was coming to pick up Feng-ge and Changsheng, he had considered asking them to take him along. However, Aunt Wu adamantly disagreed. She might be afraid of him stealing the limelight or causing trouble and chaos in the wedding, so she firmly refused.

Yong-ge had initially hoped that Feng-ge and Changsheng would speak up for him, but Feng-ge was preoccupied and had no intention of paying attention to him. As for reliable and dependable Changsheng… he did try to speak up for him, but as soon as Aunt Wu raised her voice, he immediately dared not make a sound.

"What are you going to do in the Twenty-Li Slope?" Cheng Duo asked.

Yong-ge awkwardly tugged at his sleeve. "To find my elder first and second brothers."

He had originally planned to stay away from Cheng Duo, but unexpectedly, he turned around and approached him again. It was really… he was afraid that Cheng Duo would think he had no shame and couldn't get rid of him.

But seeing his father's silent demeanor all day, he couldn't bear it.

When Cheng Duo heard that it was about finding Li Da and Li Er, he nervously touched his nose and readily agreed. Then he thought for a moment and said, "You might find it inconvenient to go alone. I'll accompany you."

Cheng Duo was so considerate, yet Yong-ge hadn't said anything about his own difficulties. The warmth he felt when he remembered being rejected everywhere a few days ago surged up, and his eyes turned red.

Cheng Duo was puzzled, "Why are you crying? Who bullied you?"

Could it be that as the family lost sight of Li Da and Li Er, and some people took advantage of their old age and Yong-ge's innocence to bully him?

Yong-ge quickly turned around and wiped his eyes. "No… it's just sand blowing into my eyes. I'm not crying."

Cheng Duo silently watched him, not arguing. He was starting to doubt himself. Was it his mistake? Yong-ge used to be so strong, daring to rescue him from the wolf's mouth and even selling the wolf's corpse to buy medicine…

Although Li Da and Li Er were a bit reckless, they had still sheltered Yong-ge. Now that those two were gone, Yong-ge would become a pitiful victim at the mercy of others.

Cheng Duo's thoughts wandered a bit, and when he realized that he was the one to blame, he showed unparalleled patience when facing Yong-ge. Even his voice became much softer.

On the day they were heading to the Twenty-Li Slope, Shanzi, who was accompanying them, saw Cheng Duo take over Yong-ge's few belongings and put them in his own backpack. Then, when he wanted to take a break, Cheng Duo suggested walking a bit farther, but when Yong-ge wanted to rest, Cheng Duo immediately agreed!

Shanzi: "…" 

Taking advantage of Cheng Duo's absence, Shanzi approached Yong-ge and asked, "Is Brother Cheng going to propose to your family?"

Yong-ge was drinking water and choked suddenly. "Cough, cough… Shanzi, what nonsense are you talking about?!"

Shanzi blinked his eyes and said, "I'm not talking nonsense. If he doesn't want to marry you, why would he take care of you like this?"

His father used to take care of his mother in the same way. When the men in the village pursued their wives, they would speak kind words, show their attentiveness, and help with the work.

Yong-ge lowered his eyelids. He didn't know why, but he dared not think about it anymore…

Yong-ge self-mockingly tugged at the corner of his mouth, then looked up at Shanzi and lowered his voice, "You're mistaken. He's already engaged."

"Oh, then…" Shanzi wanted to say something more, but Yong-ge quickly covered his mouth and whispered, "Don't say anything more. I won't marry him, no matter what. It's impossible between us!"

Just as he finished speaking, Cheng Duo emerged from the woods.

"…"

"…"

The two of them exchanged glances, and Shanzi glanced in Cheng Duo's direction. From such a distance, he shouldn't have heard, right?

Yong-ge pulled his lips in frustration. "If you hadn't brought up all this nonsense, I wouldn't have said anything wrong."

The two of them, familiar with each other, could communicate smoothly through eye contact and gestures without speaking.

Cheng Duo seemed not to have noticed and greeted them, "We're almost there. Let's continue on our way."

"Okay." The two of them answered simultaneously, then obediently got up from the ground, and Shanzi quickly strapped on his backpack.