Chapter 37: Talking about marriage with Qin Wen
The hair and skin of the body are inherited from parents. When Liu and Qin Wen woke up, they both had bald heads. They were angry and annoyed, but they didn't know who did it, so they could only wrap their heads with cloth every day.
The Qin family was in chaos every day. Old Man Qin had a hundred taels of silver given by his eldest brother, Qin Dahai. He didn't care where the money came from, as it was his anyway. He wanted to help Qin Wen get married quickly.
The old couple discussed for a few days, and Liu called Wang the matchmaker again. Wang the matchmaker was in this line of work, and she was well-informed and knew everything that had happened in the Qin family these days. When she heard that Liu wanted to quickly settle the marriage between Liu Xiuying and Qin Wen, Wang the matchmaker took a sip of tea and frowned. This was really the lowest grade of coarse tea.
"Your Qin Wen has been sent to prison, although he only stayed there for one day, Xiuying's family also knew about it. Xiuying's father would never agree to this marriage, but Xiuying liked your Qin Wen and didn't want to break up this fate. But Xiuying's father said that if your family doesn't prepare a separate yard for the couple, you must increase the betrothal gift to twenty taels." Matchmaker Wang pouted and said.
When Old Man Qin and Mrs. Liu heard this, they gasped.
Twenty taels, who wants twenty taels to marry a daughter-in-law? In these ten or so villages, any family that can offer two taels of silver is showing great respect for the new daughter-in-law.
"Aunt Wang, twenty taels of silver is too much. We can't afford it in our current situation. Besides, who would want twenty taels of silver to marry a daughter-in-law?" Old man Qin looked a little unhappy. He planned to end the relationship with this family and start over with another one.
"Brother Qin, you can't say that. Isn't it that your Qin Wen had his fingers cut off while gambling that was widely reported? The girls around here don't like him. He was recently in jail. Which good family would want to be associated with such a son-in-law?" Matchmaker Wang was not in a hurry. Every word she said made the old man Qin and his wife pale.
"Okay, if that's what you say, then we won't say anything. We can go buy a girl from a man in a couple of days. It won't cost more than five taels of silver. The key is that the deed is in our hands, so you can curse as much as you want," said the old man Qin, and then he stood up.
Matchmaker Wang was also a little flustered. After all, if the matchmaking was successful, there would be a half-liang silver gift as a thank-you gift. If the matchmaking failed, she would not get a cent. Matchmaker Wang calmed down a little and said, "If you want to go out and buy a maid, I will not stop you. But I would like to kindly remind you that most of the girls sold there are slaves from criminal families, and some are sold by wealthy families after they have committed crimes. We don't know their characters. We are afraid that someone who doesn't know the ropes will buy a troublemaker and bring trouble to the family."
Old man Qin paused and frowned. What matchmaker Wang said made sense, but the gift that Liu Xiuying's family wanted was too high, and she was not marrying a fairy.
At this time, Qin Wen, who was hiding outside the door and eavesdropping, couldn't help but run in, pulled Liu's sleeve, and said, "Mom, I only want Xiuying. When Xiuying comes home, the two of us will honor you well."
When Old Man Qin heard what Qin Wen said, he was so angry that he wanted to beat him up.
Liu felt sorry for her son and quickly comforted him, saying, "Go out first. Your father will help you with it."
Qin Wen was still worried, and said to Old Man Qin: "Dad, I only want Xiuying. If it weren't for her, I would rather be single for the rest of my life."
Old man Qin picked up his pipe and threw it at Qin Wen, "Get out of here with me." Qin Wen was so scared that he ran away quickly.
Matchmaker Wang smiled brightly and said, "Brother Qin, this is the children's fate. We as parents cannot break their fate. Listen to me, Xiuying is a good child, pretty and capable, with a big butt. I guarantee that she will give your Qin family two fat boys in three years."
Although Old Man Qin felt sorry for the money, he had to agree. After all, Qin Wen was already 22 years old. In the village, young men of this age could have children.
After matchmaker Wang left, Liu was afraid that Old Man Qin would vent his anger on Qin Wen, so she kept saying good things to him, saying that if the child didn't have Xiuying, he would be single all his life.
Unexpectedly, Old Man Qin became even angrier after hearing this.
"You believe he will be single. When he was in the academy, he was always trying to get money from us to go to brothels. He is a man of bad habits," said Old Man Qin, throwing away the teacup in his hand and picking up the hoe to go to the fields. Now the second son also refuses to go to the fields. No one knows where he goes all day long. Old Man Qin is an old farmer. He can't leave the crops in the fields, so he can only go to the fields alone.
Speaking of Qin Erzhu, he has been thinking about Shen these days. She lost so much blood in her head, she must take good care of it. Qin Erzhu went up the mountain alone secretly. He didn't dare to go into the deep mountains, so he could only dig a few traps on the periphery. He went to the traps every day to see if there was any harvest, but the results were not satisfactory. Every day the traps were empty.
But this time he caught a pheasant, and Qin Erzhu was happy thinking that he could make chicken soup for Shen Shi to nourish her body. He walked down the mountain excitedly carrying the pheasant, but he didn't notice that the old man Qin in his field saw the pheasant in his hand.
Old Man Qin did see the pheasant in Qin Erzhu's hand, and he was also happy. The second son did not lie at home waiting for food like the other two sons, but went out hunting to improve his life. It seems that there will be pheasant tonight. Hey, I haven't had meat for such a long time, it's time to make up for it.
Qin Erzhu came to the foot of the mountain carrying a chicken, and Qin Zhen happened to come back from chopping wood, and the two met at the door.
"Daya," Qin Erzhu waved to Qin Zhen.
Qin Zhen walked over and just happened to see the pheasant her father handed over.
"Daya, this is a pheasant I caught in a trap on the mountain. You can use it to make soup for your mother to drink to nourish her body."
"You take it." Qin Erzhu saw that Qin Zhen didn't react, so he stuffed the pheasant into Qin Zhen's hand and said, "I'm leaving first."
Old man Qin was working in the field, thinking about the pheasants, so he stopped hoeing, packed up and headed home.
But when he got home, what was waiting for him was not a pot of chicken soup, but a cold pot and a cold stove.
Old man Qin glanced at Liu and asked, "Why haven't you cooked yet? Is it the braised pheasant or the chicken soup? There's no aroma coming over here."
Liu was stunned and looked at him as if he were a fool. "What nonsense are you talking about? Where did this wild chicken come from?"
Old Man Qin said, "I saw Lao Er bring a pheasant down from the mountain. Didn't he bring it back?"
Liu said: "He came back a long time ago. I saw that he came back empty-handed."
Old man Qin suddenly realized that he had sent this ungrateful person to an outsider.
Old Man Qin called Qin Erzhu over, intending to hold him accountable, and asked Qin Erzhu to take the food back quickly before it was put into the pot.