Li Qianqian stood behind Xiaoyue and said, "I went to find you. Chunyue went to chop firewood with Shilei, and Xiaodouding took Shuiyue to Aunt Yang's house to see the poplar catkins."

After hearing Li Qianqian's words, Xiaoyue turned to the old man and asked, "What time did you arrive? I hope everyone in Lijia Village is having a good New Year."

The older man said, “My name is Zhu Hegui. I am the uncle of Hu Zhushi from your village. We had a meal at Hu Zhushi’s house, but Hu Zhushi was too sick to get up, so we came here by ourselves.”

Xiaoyue sized up the older man. He wore a dark gray cross-collared cloth shirt that reached above his knees, dark narrow-legged trousers, and a black belt around his waist. He looked both capable and neat.

Xiaoyue couldn't help but look at him with newfound respect and asked, "What's going on here?"

A slightly plump woman in a brown floral jacket continued Xiaoyue's words: "I'm the matchmaker, here to propose marriage for Zhu Yan." The woman pointed to a man wearing bright clothes and light-colored baggy pants.

Xiaoyue turned her gaze to the man. He looked sturdy and honest, and his height and build were of average. He was dressed like a typical villager, and he even wore a bright-colored shirt.

“Okay,” Xiaoyue replied perfunctorily to the matchmaker.

The matchmaker got off the kang (heated brick bed) and sat down on the stool next to Xiaoyue. He looked at Xiaoyue face-to-face and said, "It's also the Zhu family's fault for not informing us beforehand. Originally, when we set off from there, we thought that once we arrived in the village..."

"Hu Zhu's family was supposed to come forward and inform your family first, but when we arrived at Old Hu's house, we learned that Hu Zhu's family was very ill, so we had no choice but to swallow our pride and come over."

Just then, the door was pushed open again, and Liang Qi, whom we hadn't seen for a long time, came into the room.

The matchmaker smiled and nodded at Liang Qi as he entered the house, then said to Xiaoyue, "I watched Zhu Yan grow up. He usually doesn't have to say a word when it comes to the work in the fields; he gets everything done on his own."

Besides, the Zhu family only has one son, and the elderly couple are both in good health. If he were to marry into their family, let me put it this way, it would be like entering a paradise.”

Xiaoyue stole a glance at Zhu Yan, who was sitting on pins and needles, and found it quite amusing.

Liang Qi had already entered the room, so what could she say? Besides, during those days in the trap, they hadn't exactly been intimate, and Xiaoyue couldn't predict Zhu Ting's reaction if he heard these words.

Thinking of this, Xiaoyue stopped the matchmaker who was about to continue and said, "Please have some water."

Then, facing Zhu Hegui, she stood up and said, "I know how far it is from Lijia Village to here. I'll have someone cook for you right away. After you finish eating, you should go back as soon as possible. I won't marry into another village. I appreciate your kindness."

At this moment, the matchmaker who had sat down next to Xiaoyue quickly pulled Xiaoyue back and laughed loudly, "No, no, it's a misunderstanding."

Xiaoyue glanced at the matchmaker who was laughing wildly, then at Liang Qi who had just entered, and finally at Li Qianqian. She saw that Li Qianqian was trying to suppress her laughter, her face flushed red, as if she wanted to laugh but didn't dare to.

Xiaoyue was suspicious but didn't say anything. Finally, after the matchmaker had finished laughing, she said, "Matchmaker, tell me what happened?"

The matchmaker, wiping away tears of laughter, said, "I've come to your house to ask for that girl's hand in marriage." The matchmaker pointed at Li Qianqian.

Xiaoyue felt like she could disappear into a crack in the ground, but since things had come to this point, she deliberately pretended to be calm and said, "Then I'll ask her and then give you a message."

The matchmaker slapped his thigh and said, "Yes, we are sincerely here to propose marriage."

Xiaoyue led Li Qianqian to the back doorway. Li Qianqian laughed so hard she squatted down. Xiaoyue gently nudged Li Qianqian's shoulder as she squatted there, while gritting her teeth and saying, "I'll go back to them right now, no way."

"It's their fault for not explaining things clearly, making me lose face so badly."

But Li Qianqian grabbed his trouser leg.

Xiaoyue said teasingly, "Didn't you say you didn't want to get married? Didn't you say you wanted to be with me for the rest of your life?"

Li Qianqian kept hitting Xiaoyue while pulling her away, preventing her from leaving.

"So you agree?" Xiaoyue asked.

Li Qianqian straightened up and looked at Xiaoyue, saying, "I don't know either. I felt that Young Master Zhu was an honest and down-to-earth person, and I didn't want to leave you. I was just struggling with this when you came back."

They wouldn't let me speak, which led to this huge blunder.

“I think Li Yan is also good. He’s honest and reliable. But once you get married, you’ll have to live your own life. So let’s just settle on this. This place isn’t good! Li Family Village is fine, but it’s just our few villages that have had problems.”

Xiaoyue still feels lingering fear about the chaos and turmoil during the Lunar New Year.

"Let's go to their house the day after tomorrow. If there are no problems, we'll place an order; if there are, we won't."

Li Qianqian nodded.

Xiaoyue returned to the east room and said to the matchmaker, "After we finish planting, we'll take Li Qianqian to see the house, and then we can discuss setting a date."

The matchmaker was so happy that her crow's feet were visible at the corners of her eyes, and she was all smiles.

Zhu Hegui then stood up and said to Xiaoyue, "Let's not eat anymore. It's a long way, let's hurry up and go."

Xiaoyue and Liang Qi escorted them to the outside of the courtyard: "I'll have Li Lei hitch up the cart and take you back."

"The car is at Hu Qing's house. We didn't catch it, so don't bother seeing us off. We'll wait for you at home after the spring planting is finished," Zhu Hegui said.

"Okay." Xiaoyue waved goodbye.

Xiaoyue glanced at Li Qianqian and Zhu Yan and noticed that Zhu Yan was also blushing as he said goodbye to Li Qianqian. Xiaoyue tugged at Li Qianqian and ran into the house with a smile.

Liang Qi followed Xiaoyue into the house. "You scared me! I thought you were being asked to marry someone."

Xiaoyue glanced at Liang Qi but said nothing. Almost a month had passed, and Liang Qi hadn't come to propose marriage, so she had no interest in talking about it.

"Hasn't Lu Xiaomei returned yet?" Xiaoyue asked.

Li Qianqian glanced at Xiaoyue and said cautiously, "I went to see Grandma Ge and Ge Daming and gave them half a bag of rice."

"What!" Xiaoyue was shocked. "You'd eat a hundred beans and not mind the smell, so why are you still associating with the Ge family?"

Li Qianqian said, "After you left, Old Madam Ge came with Ge Daming. My brother and Chunyue went to the mountain to chop firewood. Only Lu Xiaomei and I were at home. Old Madam Ge cried and threatened to hang herself three times."

I heard they haven't eaten for three days, and they've tried to hang themselves and take poison. Having no other choice, Lu Xiaomei took half a bag of grain from the kitchen and brought it to Grandma Ge, wanting to see how Grandma Ge's family was doing.

When Grandma Ge and Ge Daming returned, they found eight corpses lying in the west wing. Terrified, they went to Xiaoyue's house that very night. Xiaoyue chased Grandma Ge away, and she didn't pay attention to what happened afterward.

Xiaoyue said to Li Qianqian, "Is there any meat left at home? Let's make dumplings tonight. I'm so happy, I can finally marry you off."

"Yes, I'll chop the meat right away." Li Qianqian took out the meat, and Xiaoyue went to the front room to get a sauerkraut.

Just then, Lu Xiaomei returned, pushed open the door, and entered the room. Her expression was not good. Xiaoyue glanced at her and casually asked, "Why do you look so pale?"

"Ge Erping is back."