Chen Wanyue shook her grandmother's arm, swaying it back and forth. "Grandmother, please, you have to help me arrange the marriage with the Li family. Li Cun has a great future ahead of him. If I marry him, I can help my second brother. Then our family can have a Scholar of our own, which would bring honor to our ancestors. Even when you've passed on, you'll be able to hold your head high before my great-grandparents."
The old woman's heart was a tangled mess. "Is Li Cun really that good? But his marriage to your older cousin is about to be finalized. You're trying to snatch..."
"It's 'about to be finalized,' which means it isn't finalized yet, right? They haven't even compared their birth charts! What do you mean, snatch? Between cousins like us, there's no need to use a word like 'snatch.' Grandmother, my dear grandmother, just say yes. Am I snatching my cousin's marriage? No, I'm clearly saving my older cousin from a sea of misery. You know it too—that mother of Li Cun's is a real handful. Everything they eat and use in that house needs her approval. She even dictates whether her son and daughter-in-law step out with their left foot or their right."
"My older cousin, the way my aunt raised her, is very strong-willed. She's not the type to let herself be pushed around. Once she marries into that family, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law are bound to be at each other's throats. What if all that conflict makes my cousin sick? Tell me, would that be worth it?"
"But me, on the other hand, as long as I can live a good life, I can endure anything. I don't mind being meek and submissive. As long as I can be an official's wife, I'd even agree to wash my mother-in-law's feet every day."
Chen Wanyue had a silver tongue, twisting this matter of snatching a fiancé into a win-win situation for everyone.
The old woman already favored her and was eager for a chance to one-up Chen Dachang's first wife. It would be a way to show off her own abilities—and her descendants' abilities—to her deceased parents-in-law.
So, she licked her lips, tempted. "Then... you want your grandmother to look into this for you?"
"Oh, I have to trouble my very own, dear grandmother again. Only you would sincerely go to such lengths for my sake. My parents? Their heads are full of nothing but money; they barely know who I am! Grandmother, my dearest, dearest grandmother, if I ever make something of myself, I will absolutely bring you to live with me and care for you myself."
The old woman was so amused she couldn't stop herself from smiling, though she tried to press her lips together and feign composure.
"I raised you. Who would I dote on if not you? But there's no need to take me in. I have my own sons and grandsons. If I let my married granddaughter support me, people would start gossiping about your father and your brothers..."
The old woman then went on about her own hardships.
She complained that Chen Wanyue's parents only cared about money, dumping her on an old woman to raise when she was just a few months old.
The grandmother, having no milk of her own, had to watch the baby wail with hunger. She had to swallow her pride and seek out nursing mothers in the village. Later, just to keep Chen Wanyue's belly full, she went so far as to buy a milk goat.
The old woman only spoke of her own good deeds, conveniently omitting how she would throw the baby onto the bed when she was in a foul mood, or how she would leave the child home alone all afternoon to go play cards. She also failed to mention that when she bought the milk goat, her third son's wife was pregnant again, and a midwife had already confirmed she was carrying a grandson.
It was for this grandson that the old woman had steeled herself and bought a nanny goat that had just given birth.
But the old woman would never tell Chen Wanyue any of this, just as she would never defend her third son and his wife for being so money-minded.
She was desperate for her granddaughter to be close only with her, to treat her even better than her own parents.
The thought that a future scholar in the family could help her own grandson made the old woman all the more tempted by the idea of swapping the fiancés.
In truth, if it were simply a matter of "snatching" a fiancé, things would be much easier.
Unfortunately, the marriage arrangement with the Zhao family was one they couldn't afford to lose.
First, they lived in the Zhao Village, so it wasn't wise to offend the Zhao family. Second, that good-for-nothing daughter of hers had also married into the Zhao Village and, after many years, had only given birth to three girls.
The grandmother worried about her daughter, terrified she would be divorced.
At such a critical time, her granddaughter insisted on breaking off the engagement with Zhao Jing. That was absolutely out of the question!
Chen Wanyue had realized this, which was why she needed to offer Zhao Jing a seemingly better marriage arrangement to placate the Zhao family.
But pulling this off would be no easy feat. Worried, the old woman drank another cup of tea.
"I'm fairly confident I can persuade the Li family. The problem is Zhao Jing's family. Mr. Zhao the Scholar is pedantic, and Mrs. Zhao isn't the sharpest tool in the shed. They pride themselves on being a literary family that values rules and propriety above all else. I doubt they'll agree to this easily."
'And then there's the main branch of the family...' The old woman sighed. She couldn't think about it. The more she did, the more her head ached.
Seeing that her grandmother was now thoroughly convinced, Chen Wanyue's spirits lifted, and she felt a renewed surge of energy.
She then took a yellowed piece of paper from her sleeve. "The Zhao family will be the easiest to deal with. Grandmother, look at this."
The grandmother took the paper, glanced at it, then tossed it back to Chen Wanyue, grumbling, "What are you showing this to me for? You know perfectly well I'm an illiterate old woman."
"Oh, Grandmother, you may not be able to read words, but can't you recognize yellow temple paper? It's written clearly on here that Zhao Jing's and my birth charts clash. If we marry, it will surely lead to a loss of both life and fortune."
'Come to think of it, the master's prediction was pretty accurate.'
'After I married Zhao Jing, his mother passed away within days. The family held a funeral, and what little Silver Coins they had were completely spent.'
'After that, my sister-in-law came down with a serious illness and nearly died. And then there was the part where I took the family's Silver and ran off with another man…'
The grandmother gave Chen Wanyue a sidelong glance. "Just a moment ago, you said it was a blind fortune-teller who told your fortune. How did it suddenly become a master from the temple?"
"Well, that's because I didn't trust the blind man's words, so I made a special trip to the temple to have a master read my chart. And as luck would have it, their two readings were identical."
"Grandmother, all you have to do is show this yellow paper to Mrs. Zhao. Zhao Jing is her only son. She will agree to the swap, if only for his sake."
'Then again,' she thought, 'since De'an and Zhao Jing are close in age and get along well, they've always been good friends. Because of that, Zhao Jing's family is closer to the main branch.'
'Living in the same village, I've heard my fair share of gossip from the local women.'
'They say Mrs. Zhao is always praising my cousin, saying her skills in the kitchen are superb—whether it's soups, stir-fries, or flatbreads, she's a master of them all.'
'They also say her needlework is exceptional. When De'an tore Zhao Jing's clothes, she mended it so perfectly that you couldn't see the tear unless you looked very closely.'
'With Mrs. Zhao so fond of my cousin, she'd surely jump at the chance to have her as a daughter-in-law for Zhao Jing, wouldn't she?'
The grandmother accepted the yellow paper, her resolve firming. "I'll go to the Zhao family in a little while."
"Then, after you've been to the Zhao family, I'll have to trouble you to make a trip to the Li family as well. Let's try to get this all settled within the day."
At this, the grandmother's brows knitted together. "I've been running around on your behalf since early this morning. Your grandmother's legs are going to be worn down to toothpicks."
"But who told you to be the best grandmother in the world? Please, just put up with it a little longer and help me this one time."
"But what about the Li family..."
"My cousin and I each have our own merits. I have a soft temperament; my cousin has a strong one. I'm not one for joking around, while my cousin is constantly interacting with people. I'm a homebody who rarely steps outside, while my cousin is out and about every single day... As long as you explain all this clearly, if Mr. Li truly wants what's best for his son, he'll know which one of us to choose."
"You may be wonderful in every other way, but you're not as beautiful as your cousin, and your dowry isn't as rich. Those are undeniable shortcomings."
Chen Wanyue was displeased. "What do you mean I'm not as beautiful as my cousin? If she is a dazzling peony, then I have the grace of a magnolia... And taking a step back, doesn't the old saying go, 'When marrying, marry for the heart, not for wealth; when taking a wife, choose virtue over beauty'? A woman like me won't lead her husband astray. On the other hand, with a face like my cousin's, what man could possibly control himself? If he ruins his health, how will he ever pass the imperial examinations?"
"As for the dowry, who knows what my cousin will actually get. My aunt said before that she'd give her two acres of fertile land as a dowry, but with sons in the house, would they really let a daughter walk away with prime farmland? Besides, I have grandparents and my own parents. Can't you all pitch in a little more for me? It's not like I can't pay the family back. Once Li Cun is successful, I'll make sure the Chen family prospers too."
With all her sweet talk and honeyed words, Chen Wanyue bewitched her grandmother, whose heart began to burn with ambition. Suddenly, this seemed possible, and that seemed possible, too.
And so, after a brief rest, the old woman trotted out the door once more on her tiny feet.
Only after she watched her grandmother disappear into the distance did Chen Wanyue close the courtyard gate. She then picked up the basin of clothes to hang them out to dry.
She appeared calm on the surface, but inwardly, her palms were sweating.
The more easily she had spoken of her plan, the more uncertain she truly felt.
Because after she had opened her eyes this second time, events from her past life were happening all over again.
For instance, the buck-toothed family had still extorted a hundred copper coins from her own. Her parents had still come home yesterday and argued for some unknown reason, with her father slapping her mother again. And Baoshan had still taken a liking to Zhao Can's next-door neighbor, Chunyue, eagerly taking her boiled eggs to try and win her favor...
But Chen Wanyue told herself it wasn't that she couldn't change fate; it was that she didn't want to, wasn't willing to, or simply couldn't—for now.
'If I truly want to, if I'm truly willing, I can absolutely make everything go according to my will.'
'So, I'll give this everything I've got.'
'If I can truly escape the fate of my past life and set foot on a brighter path, then maybe that is the meaning of my rebirth.'