Hearing Xu's objection, Lin Musheng felt that there was some truth to it, but it wasn't that important: "What do you know? Where are you going to find a suitable girl for Zhiqiang in such a short time?"

“In the village, it’s not uncommon for brothers to marry their sisters before they are married themselves. Why is it that when it happens to our family, people will laugh at us?”

At most, the villagers might say a few sour things about his daughter marrying into a wealthy family.

Why rush the wedding of your son?

He was planning to wait until his leg injury was almost healed before having his father choose a good, capable woman for his son.

We can't have another Xu family member, or this family will fall apart.

"Why is it gone?"

Madam Xu retorted, "I think that girl from the Zhang family is quite nice. If it weren't for the fact that all the money in our family has been spent on your medical treatment, I would have married that girl to Zhiqiang long ago."

She didn't say that Lin Zhiqiang had already taken a liking to the Zhang family's daughter, thinking of saving face for her son. Otherwise, it wouldn't sound good for a grown man to keep saying he wanted to get married.

If word gets out, my son will be even more ashamed to leave the house.

Even Zhang Erni's reputation is being tarnished by her son.

These are her son and daughter-in-law, so naturally she has to protect them.

Xu was merely burying his head in the sand.

The villagers aren't blind; they can easily see that Lin Zhiqiang's frequent visits to the Zhang family are either to hang out with Zhang Erle or to curry favor with Zhang Erni's parents.

Even if you didn't notice it at first, as time went on, it seemed like no one could miss his little sycophantic thoughts.

The men in the Lin family were rather dense and easily blinded by their own involvement, but their daughters-in-law were perfectly clear-headed.

"The Zhang family is asking for such a high dowry, can our family afford it? Besides, that girl doesn't seem like she's capable of doing any work. Are you going to marry her and treat her like a servant?"

Lin Musheng had no interest in the pampered Zhang Erni, saying, "I know what's going on with Zhiqiang's marriage, so don't interfere!"

These words touched a nerve with Xu.

She immediately became agitated, lunging at her husband and demanding, "Lin Musheng, explain yourself! How can I, as his mother, not have a say in my son's marriage?"

It's one thing for her not to interfere with Er Ya's marriage, but why can't she even interfere with her precious son's marriage? This is just bullying.

The more I think about it, the more wronged I feel.

As he spoke, he reached out to punch someone.

"Slap!" Lin Musheng wasn't going to let her get away with it, and immediately swung his large, fan-like hand at her.

This was all happening right in front of his father, and he still let this woman ride on his head.

Before Xu could finish speaking, she felt a sharp pain on her face and then screamed in agony.

That slap was quite forceful, sending her staggering back several steps, almost causing her to collapse to the ground.

Xu was still thinking about the baby in her belly, so she gritted her teeth and held on, but then she turned around and cried as she ran into the house.

Lin Zhiqiang wanted to try again, but after witnessing his mother's painful lesson, he dared not utter a word.

If he angers his father, he'll really beat him up.

His small frame can't handle it.

Mr. Lin remained noncommittal about the farce that had just occurred.

But judging from the relaxed expression on his face, the old man was quite pleased to see that his son had finally stood up for himself and refused to be controlled by his daughter-in-law anymore.

After finishing his conversation with his son, he immediately got up to leave.

Suddenly, he stopped and looked at Lin Momo: "The Shi family will be coming to propose marriage early tomorrow morning. You two sisters should tidy up the house, inside and out, today."

Finally, he added, "I'll head back now."

Without waiting for her two granddaughters to respond, she turned and walked out.

"Yes, sir," Lin Momo and Lin Sanya quickly replied.

"Father, you're leaving now."

Lin Musheng, leaning on his crutches, stood up from the stool and saw his father off.

The second branch of the Lin family has managed to stabilize the situation.

But as the saying goes, "pressing down one gourd only creates another," and the next day, the other rooms were thrown into chaos again.

*

Early the next morning.

A group of about twenty strong men carried the betrothal gifts on their shoulders and entered the village in a grand procession. The woman walking in front was obviously a matchmaker.

In the blink of an eye, it caused a sensation throughout the entire Linjia Village.

"Whose family is this, spending so lavishly on a wedding?"

"Whose house are we taking this to?"

"These dowry items must be worth a lot of money, right?"

"Oh my! Is that Lin's eldest daughter? I think I heard someone say that she just got engaged recently."

"Tch, even wealthy families in the countryside don't give this much in betrothal gifts when arranging marriages for their children. Could it be that some rich family has mistaken you for someone else?"

Among the onlookers, quite a few nodded in agreement.

The villagers had never seen anything like this before, so it wasn't surprising that they thought it was a matchmaker from some wealthy family who had gone to the wrong place.

Someone, eager for a good show, suggested, "Let's follow them and see which house they're carrying to!"

They seemed ready to follow and watch the show.

"Hey, look! Isn't that the young master Shi who lives in the Lin family's old house? He's walking next to the matchmaker!" someone with sharp eyes exclaimed.

"Where is it? Let me see!"

Hey! It really is true.

"So, the Lin family's daughter is betrothed to this young master Shi?"

The people present immediately erupted in discussion, chattering amongst themselves.

Some praised Lin Gensheng for having such a good daughter, others praised Lin Hongmei for her good fortune, and still others praised the good feng shui of the Lin family's ancestral graves.

This made the villagers even more enthusiastic, and they followed closely behind.

After the crowd had passed, Lin Gensheng and his wife emerged from behind the straw stacks by the roadside, one carrying a bucket of water and the other holding a wooden basin, as if they had just come from home.

"Hey, husband, what's going on? Who is that young master Shi engaged to?" Madam Wang stared at her husband, puzzled.

Lin Gengsheng was also full of questions, and retorted irritably, "You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?"

"Take this pot back with you!"

Angrily shoving the wooden basin into her husband's arms, Wang turned and ran to catch up with the crowd of onlookers.

*

Men, women, and children, all with gossipy expressions, followed closely behind the procession carrying the betrothal gifts.

But when they saw that the group of people stopped in front of Lin Musheng's house, the second branch of the Lin family, and even wanted to carry them into the yard, they couldn't help but look at each other in bewilderment.

What's going on here?

Equally unbelievable was the Wang family member who followed behind.

"Could it be that Young Master Shi came to the second son's house to propose marriage? No! When did he get engaged to Er Ya? How come I, his aunt, didn't know?"

Wang felt a tightness in her chest.

She had just arranged a good marriage for her daughter when her second son's daughter got an even better marriage. How could she not be so angry that she would vomit blood?

Their family is better than the second son's family in every way, so how come they lost out on their children's marriage this time?

If that brat Hongmei finds out, who knows what kind of trouble she'll cause?

My father-in-law really kept this a secret!