LW chapter 43

After the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, time passed quickly.

On the second day of the second lunar month, Chen Qing trimmed his hair, cutting off the split and tangled ends. That afternoon, Zhou Yuan came over, and Chen Qing gave him a haircut.

On the fifth day of the second lunar month, Li Xin and Qi Shuning left for the prefectural capital. The college entrance exam began on the ninth day of the second lunar month. Zhou Yuan accompanied them because he had received an assignment.

On the fifteenth day of the second lunar month, Chen Qing and Aunt Sun began spring plowing. They started by tidying up the vegetable field in front of their house. The peas were ripe, so Chen Qing harvested all the pods, loosened the soil, and planted new vegetables in the vegetable plot.

The wheat fields needed weeding and fertilizing, too.

Together with Aunt Sun, Chen Qing helped weed Zhou Yuan’s fields. Next, they prepared for fertilizing.

At that time, the whole village smelled like manure—there was no escaping it. When the fertilizing season finally ended, Chen Qing cleaned up thoroughly.

Zhou Yuan had too much land for Chen Qing and Aunt Sun to help him fertilize it all. Before leaving, he asked Meng Zhuzi to find someone in the village to help.

Before they knew it, it was the first day of March. Li Xin and Qi Shuning returned from the city. Li Xin didn’t mention how Qi Shuning did on his exam, but he did say that the city had beautiful scenery and invited Chen Qing to visit. They should have returned long ago, but Li Xin took Qi Shuning to visit his grandparents, which delayed them.

They had been away for too long, so Li Xin decided to stay home for a while. Perhaps due to the change in seasons, Zhang Yin had been feeling unwell lately. Li Xin asked a doctor to check on him. The doctor said it was probably due to the seasonal change and that it was nothing serious, but Li Xin still wasn’t reassured. Qi Shuning agreed, and the two moved back to the Li household.

Zhang Yin looked a little anxious. She asked Li Xin when Zhou Yuan would be getting married.

Li Xin thought it was suspicious, but since Zhang Yin seemed genuinely concerned, Li Xin said he would go ask.

Zhou Yuan returned a few days later. The first thing he did when he arrived was to report to Chen Qing’s family that he was safe. When he heard that Zhang Yin wasn’t feeling well, he went to the Li household.

Blacksmith Li had recently been busy looking for craftsmen to build a new house. He had agreed with the new village chief to give Li Xin a house, and construction would start in a few days. When Zhou Yuan returned, Li Xin asked him to help find the craftsmen who had repaired his house before. Zhou Yuan readily agreed.

Then, he went to greet Zhang Yin. Zhang Yin spoke with Zhou Yuan for quite a while and asked when he planned to get married. Zhou Yuan replied, “As soon as possible.”

Chen Qing’s mourning period was about to end, and spring had arrived with blooming flowers. He needed to get married before the summer harvest and planting season; otherwise, many things would be delayed. By then, Chen Qing’s family had already started planting corn, and Zhou Yuan had helped carry water several times.

On March 15, Zhou Yuan put on new clothes, brought some gifts, and went to Blacksmith Li’s house.

After hearing the purpose of his visit, Zhang Yin couldn’t stop smiling. However, Zhou Yuan noticed that her face seemed a bit pale.

“Are you still not feeling well?” Zhou Yuan asked.

“It’s an old problem. It’ll get better in a few days.” Zhang Yin didn’t care much. Having been sick for a long time, she was very familiar with her body and wanted to use this time to take care of everything that needed to be done.

After thinking for a moment, Zhang Yin said, “The day after tomorrow is an auspicious day. I’ll ask the matchmaker to come to my house and propose the marriage.”

She asked again, “Have you prepared everything?”

Zhou Yuan shook his head. It was his first time getting married, and he didn’t know what to do.

“In that case, I’ll tell you, and you just write it down. You still have tomorrow, so you’ll have time to prepare.”

Zhou Yuan listened carefully.

“Just get some pastries, dried fruits, candies, eggs, a piece of meat, and a packet of tea. People in our village don’t care about anything else. Just wrap these in red paper,” Zhang Yin said patiently. Although she was a little anxious, she remained patient.

“Is that all? Anything else?”

After thinking for a moment, Zhang Yin said, “If possible, I’ve seen wild geese used as an engagement gift before. But wild geese are hard to find these days, so these basics will do.”

Zhou Yuan nodded. “Alright, I’ll prepare them.”

Zhang Yin asked again, “Do you have enough money? If not, there’s some at home. Just take it in case of emergency.”

Zhou Yuan looked up at Zhang Yin and saw a faint smile on her lips and eyes as gentle as water.

He had been raised by his grandmother since birth. Although she gave him plenty of love, he still wondered what it would be like to have a mother. She should be like Aunt Sun, not Zhang Yin. Even though he joined the Li family halfway through, they treated him sincerely. Although Blacksmith Li didn’t talk much, he, like Zhang Yin, did everything for his own good. Li Xin often bickered with him, but he truly treated him as a brother.

Zhou Yuan said, “I have money. Don’t worry about me. Take care of yourself.”

Zhang Yin coughed twice more. “It’s fine. I know my own health. Stay for dinner tonight. Xinxin and the others will be back soon.”

Zhou Yuan nodded. “Alright.”

Zhang Yin went to cook, and Zhou Yuan and Niu Niu helped her. It was quite pleasant.

The next morning, Zhou Yuan drove an oxcart to town. First, he bought the items that Zhang Yin said were needed for the proposal. Then, he went to the clothing shop to buy new clothes for the three elders. Although he didn’t know their exact sizes, he had a general idea. They could alter the clothes themselves since they knew how to sew.

He wasn’t short on money now. He had silver notes that the general’s household had given him last time, which he had kept for emergencies. He was using the money he had earned from his recent trip and the leftover money from before, which should be enough for the wedding.

Upon returning home, instead of reporting to Chen Qing’s house, he packed the bow and arrows he had prepared earlier, planning to look for wild geese. If he could find them, great, but if not, it didn’t matter. Zhou Yuan spent the night in the mountains without seeing a single feather. When he came down, however, he found a rabbit’s nest. Without thinking, he brought it back.

When he arrived home, Niu Niu was waiting for him in the yard. “Brother, my mother asked me to come get you.”

Zhou Yuan handed him some snacks. “Wait for me a bit.”

He changed his clothes, washed his face, grabbed the items he had bought the day before, and went with Niu Niu to the Li household.

Li Tiejiang from the Li family was at the shop. Zhang Yin had already changed clothes and was waiting for him in the yard. Seeing what he had brought, Li Tiejiang could tell that Zhou Yuan had put a lot of effort into preparing for Chen Qing.

First, they went to Matchmaker Hua’s house and explained their purpose. Although Zhou Yuan had said long ago that he would one day ask Matchmaker Hua to arrange a marriage for him, Matchmaker Hua was still a little disappointed when she learned it was for Chen Qing. In her opinion, Zhou Yuan had better choices.

Zhang Yin smiled and said, “Sorry to trouble you. When do you think is the best time to come?”

Matchmaker Hua smiled and said, “Tomorrow morning.”

Zhang Yin nodded. “All right, thank you for your help.” He took a stack of money from his purse and handed it to Matchmaker Hua. It was their way of showing courtesy to matchmakers.

Meanwhile, Aunt Sun entered Chen Qing’s room carrying a large box.

Chen Qing hurried over and took it, seeing that it was the mahogany box that had been in Aunt Sun’s room.

“Your father made this mahogany box after we got married,” said Aunt Sun, sitting on the bed. “Take it with you when you get married.”

Chen Qing quickly shook his head. “This was Father’s gift—how could I accept it?”

Aunt Sun said, “I have another one. You need your own dowry when you marry. I can’t buy you a new one, so don’t dislike this one.” She opened the box, and it wasn’t empty.

“This is the dowry I prepared for you. Even though our family is poor, we can’t send you off empty-handed; otherwise, we won’t be able to hold our heads high.”

Aunt Sun took a cloth bag out of the box. It contained a pair of silver bracelets engraved with flowers. “My family can’t afford to give you gold, so we’ll have to settle for silver bracelets.”

Chen Qing’s eyes began to sting.

Inside the box were also a new sewing kit, a bronze mirror, a mahogany comb, scissors, and a fan.

“I asked your Aunt Liu and the others to help with the dragon-and-phoenix embroidery. It should be ready in a couple of days.” Aunt Sun patted Chen Qing’s hair. “Ah Qing, this time we’ll marry you off in style.”

Chen Qing hugged Aunt Sun, his tears soaking her clothes.

“Why are you crying? This is a happy occasion.” Aunt Sun patted his back and took out a purse embroidered with twin lotuses from her chest. “Your money is inside. If you ever feel upset, just come home.”

Suddenly, Chen Qing didn’t feel like getting married anymore.

Aunt Sun wiped his eyes and patted his head again. “Don’t think about it, or Zhou Yuan will tear down our house.”

That night, when Chen Qing went to bed, he placed the mahogany box next to the bed and rested his hand on it. Though the box wasn’t warm, his palm felt as if it were being gently warmed.

The next morning, Aunt Sun woke up and swept the yard. Soon after, the Li family arrived with Matchmaker Hua.

Chen Qing was momentarily stunned. He had expected only Zhou Yuan, but not the entire Li family. Even Blacksmith Li came, along with the newly appointed village chief. The more people who arrived, the more serious Zhou Yuan looked.

The Li family and Matchmaker Hua were both amused and speechless by the rabbit’s Zhou Yuan had brought.

Matchmaker Hua smiled politely. “Rabbits are prolific, which is a good omen.”

Standing in the yard, Chen Qing blushed.

He couldn’t remember much about the engagement day. He had sat with his head lowered the entire time, listening to Aunt Sun, Matchmaker Hua, and Aunt Yin talk. Occasionally, he would look up and see Zhou Yuan watching him.

When their eyes met, he slowly lowered his head again.

After exchanging polite words, they finally set the wedding date for April 15.

Before Zhou Yuan left, he glanced at Chen Qing. Chen Qing smiled at him.

After that day, everyone in the village knew Zhou Yuan had proposed to Chen Qing. The engagement gifts filled Chen Qing’s yard—it was clear they had put in a lot of effort.

Since the Lantern Festival, Chen Qing had been embroidering not just his own wedding robe, but Zhou Yuan’s as well. He worked in the fields during the day and embroidered by lamplight at night. When he was about to finish, he asked Aunt Sun to help with the last few stitches.

Looking at the two wedding robes lying side by side on the bed, Chen Qing finally realized that marriage was becoming a reality.

On March 27, Chen Qing finished his mourning period and went with Aunt Sun to the mountains to burn incense for Meng Tao.

This time he came not as Meng Tao’s widow but as the Meng family’s adopted son and Meng Tao’s younger brother.

There were less than ten days left before the wedding.