In the main house of the Chen family, the atmosphere was peaceful.
A little later, Xu Suying was planning with her daughter. They probably still had several large orders to fill before the new year. For the moment, she was full of energy, with no time to spare for pointless worries.
Meanwhile, the old lady returned home with a dark expression. Just as she stepped into the courtyard, she saw her granddaughter, Wanyue, who was hanging laundry. Wanyue abruptly tossed the clothes back into the basin and rushed straight toward her.
"Grandmother, did Aunt agree to the marriage swap? And what about my cousin? Did she agree?"
"Oof! Oof!" The old lady stumbled backward, steadying herself against a nearby pomegranate tree.
"You little troublemaker, couldn't you wait until I was steady on my feet before pouncing on me? Honestly. It'd be nice if you could run this fast when I'm lying in bed, unable to move."
"Oh, Grandmother, you'll be blessed with fortune, health, and a long life. You have to live long enough for me to give you great-grandchildren!"
"Hush, you shameless girl. That's not something you should say so casually. What if someone overheard?"
"No one will. There isn't a single person at the gate."
Chen Wanyue was dressed in a goose-yellow outfit. Her eyebrows were penciled, her eyes lined, and her lips rouged.
Her cheeks were pale and fair, her eyes sparkled, and a floral pin adorned with various beads was tucked into her jet-black hair. She looked quite beautiful and charming, with a playful and endearing air that was rather pleasing to the eye.
But for some reason, the old lady was reminded of the composed, proper, clean, and refreshing Wanqing. In comparison, Wanyue's excessive makeup seemed to lack a certain bright and pretty charm that came from natural, unadorned beauty.
The old lady said to Wanyue, "What are you doing with your eyebrows and eyes all painted up like that? You're just at home, not going out. Who are you putting on this act for? Quickly now, wipe that rouge off your lips. You're at the best age, when a clean and fresh look is the sweetest and most lovely. Dressed up so fussily, you're just hiding your natural good looks."
Hearing this, Wanyue pressed her lips together, her face stiffening with displeasure.
"I'm already a young woman of sixteen; it's high time I started dressing up. I didn't even do anything excessive, just put on a little rouge and powder. I even bought it with the spending money I saved up myself. Didn't you used to say I look more proper after I dress up? How have I offended you today that you find me so disagreeable?"
When Wanyue started to throw a tantrum, even the old lady got a headache.
The old lady had no desire to argue with her, so she simply darkened her expression and fell silent.
Wanyue knew when to quit while she was ahead. She began to coax and wheedle the old lady toward the main room, diligently kneading her shoulders and patting her back as they walked.
Feeling more comfortable, the old lady looked around. "Is Baoshan not home?"
Baoshan was Chen Wanyue's younger brother. His formal name was Chen Li'an, and he was fifteen this year. Like Chen De'an, he studied at a private school in the county town.
Although they were first cousins, the two did not attend the same private school.
A couple of days ago, Baoshan's teacher had taken his elderly wife to the Prefecture to visit their daughter who had just given birth. As a result, Baoshan got a few days off and returned to the village early.
But since coming back, he was never home. You couldn't catch a glimpse of him all day long. Every time the old lady thought about it, she felt a pang of displeasure.
Chen Wanyue felt the few copper coins in her purse. They were a "filial gift" from her brother. Having taken his money, she naturally had to cover for him.
"Baoshan went to Zhao Can's house to do his lessons. He left right after you went out."
The old lady said nothing, but her expression visibly softened, and a look of satisfaction filled her eyes.
Although Baoshan wasn't the Chen family's eldest grandson, he was her own flesh-and-blood grandson. 'He studies so hard,' she thought. 'Sooner or later, he'll pass the examinations and earn a title before De'an from the first house does.'
'I should secretly give my grandson some more spending money,' the old lady mused. 'Otherwise, a boy his age would feel constrained in his daily expenses, and over time, his personality would surely become warped.'
'She would rather her family eat a little worse than let her grandson feel hard done by. But she couldn't give him too much, either, for fear that Baoshan would fall in with the bad students in the county town and be led astray.'
"And Taian?"
Taian was Chen Wanyue's youngest brother. At only six years old, he was at that age where he was a nuisance to man and beast.
The boy was the type to disappear the moment you let him go. Aside from when he was sleeping at night, he was always out making mischief and never at home.
Chen Wanyue felt a surge of irritation at the mention of her troublemaking brother, and a trace of impatience inevitably showed on her face.
"Where else could Taian be but those few places? All day long, he's either with the other village kids picking wild fruit and stealing birds' eggs on the back mountain, or he's wading in puddles catching fish and loaches. Anyway, he won't starve, and he won't get lost. Why do you worry about him, Grandmother?"
"Of course, since he's a boy who can carry on the family line, he's precious in your eyes… Are you also going to ask if my father, mother, and grandfather are back? They're not! There's a big market today, so business at the sesame cake stall will be good. Father and Mother probably won't be home until after dark."
Speaking of which, the Chen family's life in the Zhao Village was actually quite decent.
Although the whole family had arrived as refugees and their early days were difficult, over the years, the mother and daughter of the first branch had started selling incense at the gates of various private schools. It was unknown how much Silver they had earned, but a few years ago, they had even opened their own shop.
The shop wasn't large, and its wares were simple—just a few types of incense for refreshing the mind, calming the nerves to aid sleep, setting a mood for prayer, or scenting clothes for pleasure. But business was genuinely booming.
As for the Chen family's second branch, there wasn't really one. The second son had married into his wife's family years ago—the Qian Family, who were in the grain business in the county town. Although being a live-in son-in-law didn't sound prestigious, their family was also well-off.
As for the Chen family's third son, he and his wife lived with the old couple.
The old man, Chen Dachang, was skilled at making clay-oven sesame cakes. Crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, his cakes were quite famous in the county town.
Chen Dachang had passed this skill on to his third son, whose wife helped out by selling hot soups and meals at the shop. Their morning business was incredibly good.
On market days, they were so busy they wished they could work the entire day.
Chen Wanyue had no patience for all this miscellaneous chatter. Right now, she only cared whether her grandmother's trip had been fruitful.
She eagerly served the old lady a cup of tea and took out two peach pastries from her own snack stash for her grandmother to tide her over. Only then did she move a small stool over and sit down at the old lady's knees.
"So, are you going to tell me about the favor I asked of you? Did my aunt agree? Did my cousin agree?"
The old lady took a sip of tea to wet her throat. As for the peach pastries, she didn't touch them, planning to save them for her two grandsons.
Wanyue had a cruel and vicious temper. She would beat her own brothers half to death if they dared to snatch her things.
On top of that, she had a sharp tongue. If you tried to lecture her, she was capable of crying for the whole village to hear, causing a scene so embarrassing it was impossible to back down from.
Because she was so shamelessly willing to make a scene, her family rarely dared to provoke her. Otherwise, any other girl who was so selfish and greedy would have been beaten eight hundred times over by now.
After drinking half a cup of tea, the old lady finally spoke under Chen Wanyue's eager gaze. "It's a no-go. Your aunt is dead set against it. As for your cousin, with her parents still alive, her marriage is naturally for her father and mother to decide."
At these words, Chen Wanyue's rather pretty face fell.
"If my aunt didn't agree, couldn't you have tried harder to persuade her? Zhao Jing is a talented man; he could become a Scholar any day now. His mother is also weak and frail—who knows when she might pass away. I wouldn't have to serve any elders, and his younger sister is already of marriageable age. They'll just find a family to marry her off to, and then it would just be the two of us at home, living a cozy life together. How wonderful would that be?"
"If it's really such a good match, would you be willing to give it to your cousin?"
"Oh, Grandmother, haven't I told you? I ran into a blind fortune-teller the other day. He said that Zhao Jing's and my birth charts clash, and if we were to marry, it would bring harm to both of us. On the other hand, that young master from the Li family… if I were to marry him…"
"Don't give me that nonsense. How could you have possibly gotten the Li family boy's birth chart? I'm not going to argue with you about this. Just tell me straight: in that dream of yours, does the Li family boy have a better future?"