Chapter 62

Cheng Duo handed the just-acquired deed to Yong Ge, who hesitated for a moment but didn't refuse. Cheng Duo had put in so much effort to seek justice for him and even called it his "dowry"… Yong Ge felt warm in his heart and thought since they were going to get married anyway, he accepted Cheng Duo's heartfelt gesture.

With the farce over, Sha Yang was the first to leave. He couldn't stand Feng Ge; the guy was simply insane. The thought of spending his life with such a lunatic made Sha Yang feel completely overwhelmed. "Sha Yang, wait for me!" As soon as Feng Ge noticed him leaving, he hurriedly chased after him, even ignoring his parents.

Sha Yang's parents felt embarrassed and glared at the crying Wu Gui Hua before following suit.

With the Sha family gone, the Hong family soon bid their farewells as well. Hong Baobei wanted to come over and see Yong Ge, but his elder brother forcefully dragged him away.

Hong Baobei: "Big handsome brother…"

Yong Ge pretended not to hear and looked at Cheng Duo. He saw Cheng Duo raise an eyebrow as if saying, "I was right, wasn't I?"

"…"

Wu Guihua, with tear streaks on her face, heard Hong Baobei's call and glared resentfully at Yong Ge. She was about to scold him for flirting with someone at first sight, even not letting a fool go, but was met with Cheng Duo's cold stare: "Who are you glaring at?"

"N-No one…" Wu Guihua shivered, instantly silenced. She felt the dangerous gaze from Cheng Duo, as if his eyes were lifeless and devoid of any warmth.

Li Man Cang was also taken aback and quickly held onto Wu Guihua. "What are you doing, provoking that star of ill fortune!" He gritted his teeth and scolded her before pulling his vacant-eyed eldest son and taking Wu Guihua away together.

With the excitement over, the crowd slowly dispersed, each returning to their respective homes. Cheng Duo approached Li San Ye with Yong Ge and said, "Uncle Li, I have something I'd like to discuss with you."

Li San Ye guessed a bit, "Is it about your marriage with Yong Ge?"

Yong Ge suddenly looked up at Li San Ye, then turned his head to gaze expectantly at Cheng Duo, his fingers unconsciously tightening.

Cheng Duo didn't disappoint him. He nodded, "Yong Ge's father isn't here, and I wasn't in a hurry before, but now with this incident, if we don't get married soon, it might affect Yong Ge's reputation…"

"As long as you know what's best," Li San Ye breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, even if Cheng Duo hadn't come to find him today, he would have gone to find Cheng Duo in a few days. The news about him and Yong Ge had been widely spread, and it was unacceptable to delay the marriage any further.

When Cheng Duo introduced himself, he mentioned that he was a refugee with deceased parents, and Yong Ge only had his father. Neither of them had any elder to rely on, so Li San Ye readily agreed.

He then asked, "When do you plan to hold the wedding?"

"Of course, the sooner, the better…"

Aunt Qian didn't leave; she had originally worried that Yong Ge might not understand things well and wanted to avoid any advice from Cheng Duo. But unexpectedly, he heard Cheng Duo say that they were going to get married. He immediately stepped forward and warmly said, "That's great! My son, Yu Ge, and Yong Ge are close friends. If you don't mind, I can also help you with the preparations."

"Why would we mind? Thank you so much…" Yong Ge felt embarrassed but still mustered the courage to introduce Cheng Duo and Aunt Qian to each other.

Cheng Duo added, "Aunt Qian, you can call me Cheng Duo. I have to thank you and Shanzi for informing me about Yong Ge's situation. Without your help, I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to save him."

As Cheng Duo spoke, he felt a bit frightened at the thought of that dangerous situation. He reached out and grabbed Yong Ge's hand. Yong Ge was enveloped by Cheng Duo's warm and powerful grip, forgetting to struggle. When he looked back on the scene when Cheng Duo came to save him, the eyes looking at him were bright and shiny.

"What?! The child didn't tell me about this!" Aunt Qian acted as if he was blaming Yu Ge but, in fact, he was very happy and pulled Yu Ge out from behind him, patting his shoulder.

Yu Ge shrank his neck, looking down and exchanging a glance with Shanzi, seeing the smile in each other's eyes.

The news of the Hunter and Yong Ge's upcoming marriage quickly spread among the villagers. Since Huipo Matchmaker protected Feng Ge, her matchmaker career was ruined. Cheng Duo decided to have Aunt Qian act as the matchmaker and even insisted on giving him a two-liang silver matchmaking gift.

Aunt Qian initially felt the gift was too much and wanted to return it, but then he heard from Shanzi that Cheng Duo also asked him to help and gave him two liang silver as well. Aunt Qian understood Cheng Duo's true intention—he was expressing gratitude for their help in passing the message.

In fact, Yu Ge and Shanzi only made one trip, and there was no need for so much silver. But Cheng Duo was sincere, so they accepted it with a thick skin. They helped with the marriage compatibility, exchanged horoscopes, and kept themselves busy with joy.

Little did anyone know that this one incident led Aunt Qian to discover a new sideline job. With a good reputation and a pleasant personality, more and more villagers sought his services. From then on, he was known as "Qian matchmaker"… but of course, that's a story for another time.

Compared to Aunt Qian, Shanzi felt that the tasks Cheng Duo asked him to do were more thrilling. He stood at the entrance of Xie Ji Inn for a long time, peering in, but he didn't dare to go inside.

"Young man, who are you looking for?" The innkeeper had been observing him for a while, guessing that he was looking for someone when he saw him hesitating at the door, so he asked.

Shanzi looked at the well-dressed and elegant innkeeper, stammering in fear, "I… I'm here to deliver a message to Young Master Xie."

"To Young Master? Who sent you? Who are you?" The innkeeper asked casually, but when he saw Shanzi fumbling around and pulling out a red-colored note from his pocket with crooked handwriting on it, he immediately lost interest.

They received hundreds of such notes from various people every year. If anyone who had just seen their young master once came to deliver a note, their young master would be overwhelmed.

Besides, the person who wrote this note seemed so insincere. Couldn't they at least find a scholar to write it on their behalf?

"It's a hunter from our village, he… he's called Cheng Duo." Shanzi saw the innkeeper's displeased expression but still bravely mentioned Cheng Duo's name.

"What nonsense! A hunter from your village? A hunter sending a note to our young master… Wait a minute! You said his name is Cheng and he's a hunter from which village?" The innkeeper asked again.

Shanzi nervously replied, "Yang Village."

"Wait here." The innkeeper said, then hurried back into the inn to discuss with a few of his colleagues. Afterward, he came out and personally led Shanzi towards the main street. "Follow me!"

"""

Outside the Xie Family's trading firm, a crowd of people gathered, all of them laborers eager to get work. They received the news that the Xie Family's caravan had already arrived, and by tomorrow at the latest, they would need laborers' help to transport the goods.

One of the foremen named Ding was stopped outside. When he saw Shanzi walking inside with a man dressed like an innkeeper, he quickly called out to him, "Shanzi!"

Shanzi turned around and saw the foreman who often worked with his father, along with several familiar uncles. He hurriedly ran over and asked, "Ding, why are you all here?"

"We're here to find work," Ding replied. When he saw the innkeeper also approaching, his eyes lit up, thinking there might be an opportunity. He quickly coaxed Shanzi, "Shanzi, your father is also here. Let me call him over to talk to you."

Before Shanzi could refuse, Ding turned around and loudly called for Shanzi's father, Zhao Shugen.

Zhao Shugen was squatting on the street with a group of ragged laborers, waiting for job opportunities. He was an honest and taciturn man, not good at talking, so the foremen usually didn't bring him along when competing for work.

However, when he heard the foreman calling, he didn't dare delay and hurried over.

Shanzi was delighted to see his father, "Dad!"

Zhao Shugen was a bit surprised, "Shanzi, why are you here?"

"I came to help brother Cheng deliver a message!" Shanzi wanted to tell his father that he had also received two taels of silver, but with so many people around, he didn't dare say it.

Zhao Shugen knew who "brother Cheng" was because Shanzi had been talking about him frequently lately, always praising how amazing brother Cheng was. Initially, Zhao Shugen didn't believe it, but now seeing his son standing inside the trading firm, his hands trembled a little, "What message are you delivering, and to whom?"

"To our young master," the innkeeper helped explain and glanced at Shanzi and Zhao Shugen, then he offered some goodwill, "You are from Cheng Ge's village, right? I'll inform our young master about it later."

It was a favor that the young master wouldn't refuse. The innkeeper was trying to please both sides.

Before Zhao Shugen could react, Ding already answered for him, "Yes, yes, we are from the same village as brother Cheng. Thank you, Innkeeper!" 

After saying this, Ding then told Shanzi, "Listen to the innkeeper, and later Uncle Ding will buy you some candy."

From being called "Ding" to suddenly being referred to as "Uncle Ding," it had to be said that this foreman named Ding knew how to take advantage of the situation.

After Shanzi followed the innkeeper inside, the other foremen looked on with envy at Ding's group. The innkeeper's presence held weight, and since he had promised to help them speak to the young master, they were confident about securing the job. The only concern was whether they had enough manpower in case there were a lot of goods to transport.

"Old Ding, how about we team up tomorrow? You have fewer people, and I'll provide ten more. We'll split the wages evenly," said one of the foremen.

"I might not even get this job. The innkeeper just promised to put in a good word," replied Ding politely, but the satisfaction on his face was evident to all the foremen present.

They usually tried sweet-talking and giving gifts, but the supervisors wouldn't always agree to help. However, the imposing innkeeper who called "Mr. Cheng" willingly agreed, indicating that the person from their village, named Cheng, was quite influential and might even be acquainted with the young master of the Xie family.

"Didn't that kid mention he was delivering a message to Young Master Xie?" one foreman remarked.

After rejecting the other foremen's enthusiastic invitations, Ding headed towards Zhao Shugen, smiling brightly as he held his arm. "Shugen, your village has such an impressive figure! Why didn't you tell us earlier?"

Zhao Shugen was confused. He hadn't known about it; he hadn't been back to the village for a long time. The newcomer, the hunter, was more like Shanzi's acquaintance than his own.

Despite Zhao Shugen stumbling over his words and not knowing much, he received unprecedented preferential treatment from the foremen. Especially when Shanzi came out and told his father excitedly, "Dad, I saw the young master inside. He said he'll personally come to our village for the wedding feast!"

"Did Young Master Xie mention anything else?" Ding hurriedly squeezed through the crowd, beaming with a smile.

Before Shanzi could answer, another supervisor emerged from the gate, seeing Shanzi standing with Ding. He walked over and said, "Are you the foreman? The young master wants me to tell you that you should bring thirty men tomorrow to transport the goods."

"Absolutely, absolutely! Many thanks for informing me!" Ding repeatedly nodded in gratitude. When the supervisor went inside, Ding proudly pulled Shanzi closer. "Let's go, today, Uncle Ding treats you to a good meal!"

"Ah, Ding's treating us!" The laborers cheered in unison, surrounding Zhao Shugen and showering him with compliments. Zhao Shugen, usually walking at the back, was now encircled by the crowd, and even though he was reserved, his face was flushed with excitement.