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Yingbao and the others only descended from the tree after Li Xu’s figure disappeared.

Yingbao said to Erni and Huzi Jiang Wu, “Don’t discuss what just happened with anyone.”

The three of them nodded.

After picking the fruits, Jiang Wu and Huzi carried the basket home. Erni said, “What’s the big deal? It’s just two people having a chat. In the village, girls and their favorite boyfriends even make plans to cut firewood in the mountains together, spending most of the day.”

“Wen Sister is different from the villagers. Her family’s teachings are very strict. If a scandal breaks out, it will be difficult to find a husband’s family in the future,” Yingbao said.

Erni responded, “Well, she can just marry Master Li then. After all, Master Li is still a scholar. He intends to sit for the examination, and maybe he will become a high-ranking official.”

Yingbao blinked and found that Erni’s words made sense.

However, if Li Xu was interested in Wen Sister, he would definitely plead with his mother to propose marriage for him.

No matter how disparate their family statuses were, he must shoulder the responsibility.

Yingbao silently set a deadline for Li Xu in her heart.

She gave him a month.

If Li Xu didn’t propose to the Wen Family within a month yet still didn’t avoid Wen Sister’s advances, Yingbao would take matters into her own hands. Hmph!

However, before the month was up, the news that Li Xu was to be engaged to Wen Shu came.

Wen’s mother handled the matter as Wen’s father was not present. The witnesses were the school teacher and Elder Mr. Wu

The engagement of the two families was sudden, but everyone was not surprised.

Wen’s mother had been living with Li Xu’s mother, Mrs. An, and her children for a while, so they understood each other’s character.

Wen’s mother admired Mrs. An’s personality and was optimistic about Li Xu’s potential to do well in the future. When Mrs. An formally sent a matchmaker to propose marriage, Wen’s mother agreed without hesitation.

Although the Wen Family hailed from a lineage of physicians, no one in the family had ever taken the imperial examination.

Conversely, under the guidance of Elder Mr. Wu, Li Xu’s academic progress soared. Perhaps next year, he might become a successful candidate in the imperial examination.

Taking into account that Li Xu was already 25 and would have to sit for the examination next year, while Wen Shu was 17, Wen’s mother wrote a letter to her husband setting the wedding date on the eighteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, deciding to hold the wedding ceremony in Dongchen Village.

As for whether any members of the Wen Family would attend, Wen’s mother didn’t care.

As long as she notified her husband by letter, they could come if they wanted, and it wouldn’t matter if they didn’t. As long as her daughter was happy, that was enough.

In June, Wen Silang came rushing to Dongchen Village with two horse-drawn carriages.

He wasn’t happy with his wife’s arbitrary decision, but after meeting Li Xu and his mother, his anger subsided a little.

Seeing that his daughter was happy, Wen Silang had no choice but to suppress his anger and arrange for a house to be built there.

His daughter had to get married from her own home so building a residence was a priority.

In the end, Jiang Sanlang sold a portion of his land to Wen’s mother, an area big enough to build a six-room courtyard.

Clan Leader Chen Fu also sold a piece of his lower-grade farmland to Li Xu so that he could build a house and marry a wife.

Then, Dongchen Village became lively again with a constant flow of carts carrying wood and bricks.

However, a dispute kicked off between Old Chen in the west of the village and the Chu Family.

Chu Man’s elder brother, upon seeing his crazy sister, became incensed. In his rage, he chased after Old Chen and his wife wielding a cleaver to avenge his sister.

Seeing this, Old Chen’s third son picked up a club and smacked Chu Man’s brother, knocking him to the ground.

Thus, the Chen and Chu Families fell out. The Chu Family filed a lawsuit against the Chen Family for alleged mistreatment and abuse of their daughter-in-law.

However, when the county government sent someone to investigate, they found no such matter. Instead, Old Chen’s family was in a mess because of that woman.

As for the scars on Chu Man’s face, nobody knew how they came about. Even Chu Man herself couldn’t make it clear who had hurt her. Her furious and frantic words were not credible at all.

Hence, the County Government ruled that Old Shuan’s family should compensate Chu Family with twenty taels of silver, putting an end to the matter.

Yet after such an incident, Chen Changping was advised to leave the county school, to seek schooling somewhere else.

Chen Changping had no enthusiasm to re-enter an academy. He simply went home and occasionally loitered around to discuss the past and present with Li Xu.

Before they knew it, the twelfth month of the lunar calendar had arrived.

The mansions of Wen Family and Li Xu’s family had been completed and entirely repainted. All the furniture and equipment inside were ready.

Over these years, the An Family also tried their hands at cultivating wood-ear mushrooms. Including their son’s earnings from teaching, they had saved several hundred taels of silver.

About half of this was spent on house construction, and the rest was used for preparing the marriage articles and betrothal gifts.

There were only a few days left until the proper date for her son’s marriage. Mrs. An had invited Ms. Chun and Mrs. Zhou to help her son in sewing new bedding.

They spread clean mats on the ground and sat on the mats to sew quilts.

Mrs. Zhou sighed, “Children have grown up in the blink of an eye. They are all married. Wen Shu was not even ten years old when she came to us.”

“Exactly.”

Ms. Chun was sewing with flying needles and threads, and said sentimentally, “Back then, my daughter Baobao was tiny. Now she has suddenly grown into a young lady.”

In several months, her daughter Yingbao would be exactly twelve years old. She was indeed a beautiful young girl, and none in a radius of several miles was more beautiful than her.

However, it was difficult to find her a family-in-law.

Their own family was of petty bourgeoisie, so naturally, they couldn’t find someone of higher social status.

But how could Chun bear to accept this? Why not wait until her son passes the provincial examination to find a marriage partner for her; she might even have the opportunity to marry into a scholarly family.

Mrs. An looked at Chun and did not interject.

Yingbao of the Jiang Family was still young, so it was inappropriate for her to discuss the girl’s marriage.

In fact, she highly approved of the marriage alliance between Wen Family and Jiang Family, but she could not say it now.

The next day, a caravan of horse carriages suddenly made an appearance in the village. They were grandiose, amounting to over a dozen.

Upon inquiring about the location of Lady Wen’s residence, they all rushed over.

When Wen Silang and his wife heard the news and came out, they saw several people alighting from the carriages.

“Mother, why are you here?” Wen Silang was surprised and hurriedly paid obeisance to Lady Wen.

Lady Wen was almost seventy years old, with a full head of white hair and thin cheeks. Her eyes were incredibly sharp when she looked at people.

“What, I cannot come?” Lady Wen alighted from the carriage with the support of her maidservants, sweeping her daughter-in-law with a cold gaze.

Wen Silang and his wife hurried to support her.

Lady Wen snorted and strode into the courtyard.

A few more people got off the carriages, including Third Lady Wen of the Lin family and her two daughters, Wen Tian and Wen Jiao.

Another was a boy in his early teens, who was the eldest son of Wen Hengchuan and the great-grandson of Lady Wen.

She sat down in the main seat in the main room, with her accompanying maidservant promptly asking the fourth lady about where they might boil tea.

Xiu Zhenniang had the nanny lead Lady Wen’s servants to the kitchen, while she herself greeted her mother-in-law, “Mother, you’ve taken the trouble to travel so far.”

Lady Wen ignored her outright and proceeded to converse with her fourth son, “Why haven’t I seen Shushu and Hengyin yet?”

Wen Silang responded, “Shushu has gone to her young friend’s house, and Hengyin is studying with his master; school hasn’t dismissed yet.”

Lady Wen scoffed, “Isn’t Shushu supposed to get married? Why is she still visiting others? Whose rules are these?”

Lady Wen immediately responded, “Shushu’s friend lives nearby, and there are no strangers at her house.”

“How dare you!” Old Mistress slammed the table and scolded, “When the mother-in-law is speaking, where is it your place to interrupt casually!”

Lady Wen looked up at her mother-in-law, her expressions sinking.

The mother-in-law had just arrived and was already upon her case, was she trying to intimidate her daughter-in-law?