A few village girls were gathered together, chatting.
“My mom said Shen Chi is about to get engaged.”
“I didn’t expect Shen Chi to be taken so quickly. My mom also said that Shuang’ers are usually hard to match up, so Shen Chi’s really lucky. Generally, the better off villagers are, the earlier they get engaged.”
Before this, some people were still guessing that Shen Chi had ruined his reputation and probably no one would want him. Maybe he’d end up like Chen Xiaomi, dragging it out until very late before getting engaged, becoming an old Shuang’er who couldn’t get married.
Lu Tong was good-looking and had people coming to propose marriage early on, but Tang’s standards were too high, so it kept getting delayed year after year.
Zhang Ya said gloomily, “It might not be true yet. Maybe they got it wrong.”
Zhang Ya’s mother, Aunt Ma, had previously gone to Lu Lin to propose marriage but was rejected. When she heard rumors that Lu Lin chose Shen Chi, she was almost furious to death.
There had been gossip in the village that Shen Chi was shamelessly throwing himself at Chen Xiaocai, but no one actually believed Chen Xiaomi would agree to the match. Now, many felt they had tried to scheme and ended up losing out instead. [mfn]偷鸡不成蚀把米 (tōu jī bù chéng shí bǎ mǐ) – lit. to try to steal a chicken only to end up losing the rice used to lure it (idiom) / fig. to try to gain an advantage only to end up worse off[/mfn]
“Matchmaker Wang said so herself, so it shouldn’t be wrong,” one little girl said.
“But my mom said Matchmaker Wang lies through her teeth and could make the dead sound alive,” a chubby kid said. After speaking, she seemed to realize she’d said something she shouldn’t have and timidly covered her mouth.
At the Lu’s’
Tang Shi grumbled, “What is Chen Xiaomi thinking, arranging someone for Chen Xiaocai so early? He should be more picky instead of casually settling on a Shuang’er for him. It’s only because Chen Xiaocai is young and doesn’t understand that he agreed. When Chen Xiaocai grows up later, he’ll blame Chen Xiaomi. Marriage isn’t a joke.”
Lin Xiu’er smiled, feeling more mockery toward Tang in her heart.
Tang was certainly picky, but she was too picky that she never found anyone good.
Lu Chengyu found a useless young lady, and Lu Tong found a stuffy scholar with baggage. Not long after the wedding, Lu Tong had already run back home several times after arguing with her husband and mother-in-law. Each time she came back empty-handed to freeload. Tang didn’t think it was embarrassing, but Lin Xiu’er certainly did.
“Isn’t it because some villagers were making a fuss? All that fussing actually turned the fake into real,” Lin Xiu’er said sarcastically. “I wonder how much engagement gifts Chen Xiaomi will send for his brother.”
When Lu Chengyu got married before, it was quite extravagant. Everyone in the village knew Chen Xiaomi had money, so they were very curious about how much Chen Xiaomi would give in engagement gifts.
Tang narrowed her eyes and said, “The villagers really weren’t wrong. That little Shuang’er Shen Chi is really calculating.”
Tang felt irritated thinking about how the family had previously sold their farmland to Granny Shen.
She didn’t expect that the Shen family would actually become in-laws with Chen Xiaocai. In a way, the Lu family’s fields had ended up in Lu Lin’s hands.
A few days later, Chen Xiaomi, Lu Lin, and Matchmaker Wang rented another donkey cart and went to the Shen family.
They already had one donkey cart, but for the sake of appearance, Lu Lin rented another one.
The two donkey carts passing through the village attracted quite a few people to come watch the excitement.
Chen Xiaomi appeared before the villagers with a noticeable baby bump, which set off a wave of murmurs.
There had been rumors in the village before that Chen Xiaomi couldn’t have children, so this sight proved those gossips wrong.
Chen Xiaomi noticed that many villagers were staring at his belly and couldn’t help curling his lips.
He felt that the villagers all saw him as a man, so seeing him pregnant probably seemed unbelievable to them.
The engagement gifts Chen Xiaocai sent included rice, flour, bowls, dishes, fabric, clothes, and shoes. The fabric was good quality cotton cloth, which was far cheaper than silk, but practical and durable. The most eye-catching items were two silver bracelets, each weighing nearly two taels. All the items together were worth about five taels of silver.
Such engagement gifts were already quite good in the countryside. Some poorer families might only give basic items like rice, flour, grain, oil, fabric, or baskets when getting engaged, with no bracelets at all.
The engagement gifts were already quite respectable, but not too excessive or jaw-dropping.
With Lu Chengyu’s precedent, some people thought Chen Xiaomi was being stingy. Despite earning so much money, his gifts still seemed a bit lacking. Originally, some villagers wanted to marry their daughters to Chen Xiaocai, hoping to squeeze a fortune out of Chen Xiaomi.
After delivering the engagement gifts, Lu Lin and the others returned home.
Both sides agreed that after completing the engagement, Granny Shen and Shen Chi would return to town to work.
“Shen Chi is so lucky to have found a match so early.”
By evening, Granny Shen’s house was full of people coming to join the excitement.
“These bracelets are quite heavy. Sending two at once, Chen Xiaomi must really be making money.”
“Ah Chi, you’re really fortunate!”
Shen Chi was surrounded by everyone, his face slightly flushed. Most people said nice things, but there were still exceptions.
“I heard that Lu Lin bought a bear in town before, and it cost twenty taels. Compared to that, this engagement gift is nothing to Chen Xiaomi.”
The speaker was Aunt Zheng, who had been the first to set her sights on Chen Xiaocai. Aunt Zheng didn’t expect that her random spreading of rumors about Shen Chi and Chen Xiaocai would actually hit the mark. She privately felt she might have even helped Chen Xiaomi, which made her feel very frustrated.
Granny Shen smiled. Aunt Zheng’s words were obviously saying that Chen Xiaomi didn’t take their grandson seriously. She didn’t take it to heart. This was just the engagement, and Chen Xiaomi spending so much silver was already very respectable.
She also knew about Lu Lin spending twenty taels to buy the bear, but that was a bear! The pharmacy in Lin Town only offered eight taels for the bear gallbladder. Later it seemed they took it to Liu Town to sell, where the pharmacy was more generous and offered twelve taels.
The bear hide was also worth a lot. Adding it all up, there wasn’t much difference.
“It’s already quite a lot,” Granny Shen said.
Seeing Granny Shen smiling and not at all discouraged by her words, Aunt Zheng felt annoyed and said, “Shen Chi, I asked Matchmaker Wang. The reason Chen Xiaomi settled on you was because he heard you’re good at calculating accounts and can help with business. Don’t just randomly work for people.”
Shen Chi curled his lips, thinking, It’s not like I’m some young lady from a rich family. How could I not work? It’s the same wherever I work.
Chen Xiaomi had taught him arithmetic, probably hoping he would help in the shop. Being able to work in a shop was much better than digging in the dirt for food.
“I can work,” Shen Chi said.
“Ah Chi, I didn’t expect you to be so capable. Good men are hard to find. When you meet a good one, you should hold on tight and not let go. My daughter doesn’t have your ability,” Aunt Zheng said, her words laced with sarcasm, making Shen Chi feel embarrassed.
“Your daughter just likes to make a fuss over everything. When a young man picked up her handkerchief, she kept pestering him for compensation. That’s really heartless,” Zheng was shameless, so Granny Shen couldn’t be bothered to be polite anymore.
“Granny Shen, what do you mean?”
Granny Shen glanced at Aunt Zheng and said, “Just talking casually. Why are you getting angry?”
Seeing that the several people present only knew how to say nice things and flatter Granny Shen, Aunt Zheng felt bitter and got up to leave in a huff.
“Granny Shen, don’t mind her. She’s just jealous.”
Granny Shen smiled and said, “What do I have to be angry about?”
With Chen Xiaocai and Shen Chi’s engagement settled, the women in the village knew that Shen Chi would soon be part of the Chen family.
Now that many villagers needed to sell their embroidery to Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi, naturally some wanted to curry favor. So, someone secretly told Granny Shen that the rumors about Shen Chi and Chen Xiaocai had originally been spread by Aunt Zheng.
Although Granny Shen thought Aunt Zheng was too vicious, spreading rumors about her grandson when he was so young, since the bad thing had turned into a good thing, Granny Shen didn’t want to argue with Aunt Zheng anymore. But she hadn’t expected Aunt Zheng to come and cause trouble for her.
Many guests came and went, and it was very late before Granny Shen saw off all the visitors.
Except for the bracelets, all the engagement gifts Chen Xiaocai sent were placed in Shen Chi’s room.
After seeing everyone off, the grandmother and grandson finally had a chance to properly sort through the engagement gifts.
“Grandma, look at this.”
“What?” Granny Shen saw what Shen Chi brought out and was immediately startled.
“H-how could it be this?” Granny Shen took the two land deeds, her fingers trembling slightly.
Chen Xiaomi’s engagement gifts weren’t excessive, and many people had complained to Granny Shen, saying that Chen Xiaomi and Lu Lin had earned so much money but were still being stingy, probably not really taking her grandson seriously.
Granny Shen felt those people were just jealous because her grandson had made a good match.
Chen Xiaomi had a lot of money, but that was Chen Xiaomi’s own business. What Chen Xiaomi gave was already enough. Most villagers didn’t have that much when getting married.
“Grandma, are these land deeds?” Shen Chi asked.
Granny Shen nodded, “They are indeed land deeds.” Their own family’s two land deeds.
Granny Shen had previously bought Lu family’s two mu of land for Lu Lin, then agreed to exchange her own two mu of land to Lu Lin. However, because crops were already planted in the fields, Lu Lin told Granny Shen they’d transfer ownership after harvesting. Now these two land deeds appeared in the box.
Since Chen Xiaomi sent the land deeds over, these two land deeds should also be part of the engagement gifts.
Granny Shen bit her lip. She had originally thought those two bracelets were the main items, but it turned out these land deeds were probably the real treasure.
These two land deeds were worth at least ten-plus taels of silver. Compared to that, those two silver bracelets didn’t seem like much.
“Where did you find them?” Granny Shen asked.
“In the bracelet box. The box has a hidden compartment, and the land deeds were in there,” Shen Chi said.
Granny Shen said nervously, “What’s this about? How could land deeds be casually placed there? What if we hadn’t discovered them? Could it be that Chen Xiaomi forgot where he put the land deeds?”
Shen Chi hesitated, then said, “Actually, Xiaocai told me about it.”
Granny Shen looked at her grandson and said, “Xiaocai told you?”
Shen Chi nodded, “Xiaocai said this box was custom-made by a specialist and was very expensive. He told me not to lose it.”
Granny Shen immediately felt reassured. Chen Xiaocai must have known there were land deeds in the box to give her grandson such instructions.
As they say, wealth shouldn’t be flaunted. Granny Shen felt Chen Xiaomi and Lu Lin were still being proper. Living a good life quietly was what mattered. Making a big show wasn’t useful. Look at Lu Chengyu, who made such a fuss marrying a young lady from a wealthy family, but what good did it really do him?
“Good! Grandson, you’re blessed!” Granny Shen was in an excellent mood. For Chen Xiaomi to gift two mu of land straight away showed he must be very satisfied with her grandson.
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