Chapter 67 Su Tai Gets Married
Chunhua's eyes were slightly red, and she silently shed a tear, smiling and sobbing, "Sister knows what you are thinking, but I am already eighteen years old, and I will be an old maid next year. What kind of good man can I marry?
Moreover, we have no parents and no relatives or elders, so even if we marry into our husband’s family, we may not be able to live a good life.
Although the Ke family lives in the ice field and the conditions are a bit difficult, Aunt Han told me that their family are all honest, decent and kind people. She also said that it is not easy to find a wife there, and the family that finds a wife will only love and pamper her and will not treat her harshly, which is not a bad idea.
The most important thing is that they are willing to give me ten taels of silver to marry me. With these ten taels of silver, I won’t have to worry about the winter this year. Next year, you can work hard for another year, and you can get married after the autumn harvest.”
Chunhua expressed her thoughts.
The Ye An brothers and three others cried and shook their heads, refusing to agree no matter what.
Xia Hua, who was silent on the side, looked calm, "Why are you crying! Tomorrow Miss Su is getting married, you come with me to Aunt Han's house to meet her and ask her carefully. If it's really like what Aunt Han said, it's not impossible for her to get married. If you can't bear to let your elder sister go, I can marry her!"
Chunhua and her three siblings were stunned by Xiahua's words.
Ye An was anxious, "Second sister, we can't bear to part with you either."
"Why are you talking so much nonsense? If it weren't for this family, my elder sister and I would have been married long ago." Xia Hua turned her face away so that they could not see the tears on her face.
Before dawn the next day, Su Tai was dug out of bed by Han.
Su Yu was pregnant and it was not convenient for her to come, so she asked Su Yan to help Su Tai with her makeup and dressing, and with the help of her mother-in-law Quan Lian, everything went on in an orderly manner.
At this time, the butcher brought half a pig's leg, and Huang also brought more than 300 eggs, all of which were ordered by Han.
Tao and Su Nizi were helping to make steamed buns in the kitchen.
The entire Su family was bustling with people coming and going.
Chunhua brought her younger brothers and sisters over, first said a few auspicious words to Han, and then was taken to the kitchen by Ruan Xiaoyu.
When Mrs. Tao saw them, she was surprised at first, but then she suddenly realized what was going on and assigned them the task of washing vegetables. As if she was afraid that Su Nizi didn't know them, she introduced them to her, "The five siblings are surnamed Ye. They just settled down in our village this year. They are all good children who know how to be grateful."
Su Nizi's heart moved, and she looked at Chunhua and Xiahua carefully, praising them with a smile: "They are really good looking."
"That's right! He is diligent and sensible, but it's a disaster year, how difficult it is!" Tao shook her head, feeling regretful.
Su Nizi hesitated for a while, then found a gap and went over to work with the five siblings of the Ye family.
She said in a voice that only they could hear: "I am Xiaotai's aunt. My brother's sister-in-law came to propose marriage before, and they were talking about my son."
The five siblings of the Ye family did not expect Su Nizi to speak so bluntly, and for a moment they did not know how to respond.
Su Nizi was also a little embarrassed, scratched her head and said, "Our family is in the ice field, and the food and clothing are definitely not as good as here, with only two meals a day.
In the morning, I would cook a pot of goat milk and add some milk pancakes, and in the evening I would eat goat milk and mixed noodle dumplings.
Every day when I open my eyes, the man goes out to herd sheep and drives them back in the evening. What the woman has to do is to clean the house, wash clothes, clean the house, and make clothes when she has nothing to do. There is nothing else to do. "
Ye An opened his eyes wide and asked, "Isn't it very cold on the ice field? Will the water be very cold?"
Su Nizi nodded without hiding anything, "The rivers on the ice field all come from the glaciers, so they must be cold, so we choose to wash clothes when the weather is good and the sun is strong. We probably wash clothes once every three to five days, not every day.
If the weather seems not right, we will also store fodder for the sheep. Women also have to help at this time, because when grazing, we will settle wherever the grass is lush and green, and moving is a common thing.
But this is also because we are too poor. This year, the sheep were sold at a good price, and the child’s father said he wanted to buy a piece of land in the town and build a house, so that the woman can live in the town if she doesn’t want to move to a far place.
You don’t know that there are towns on the ice field, but there are not many of them, only one every several hundred miles. Those who can settle in a town are from wealthy families. I could only envy them before, but I never thought that there would be such a day for my family!"
When the five siblings of the Ye family saw Su Nizi's expectant look, they were inexplicably happy too.
Xia Hua asked again, "Does it cost a lot of money to buy land and build a house in the town?"
Su Nizi hesitated for a while and shook her head. "There are few people in Bingyuan. It costs about 40 taels of silver to build a house like my brother's. But ordinary people can't even save 2 taels of silver in a year, and 40 taels is unthinkable.
This year, thanks to the good fortune of my village, the village chief told my wife today that every year we should count the families in the village who want to buy sheep, and let my brother go and talk to them. Then we can earn some money by herding the sheep back.
I don’t ask for the same amount as this year, I’ll be satisfied if I can get a few dozen taels.”
As they were talking, the brothers Ke Zhengping and Ke Zhengliang appeared at the door of the kitchen and shouted to Su Nizi, "Mom, your uncle wants you to go over and meet your relatives."
Su Nizi quickly put down the work in her hands, said something to the five siblings of the Ye family, and ran away.
After a while, Ye Chunhua and the others finally got to know the appearance of the Ke brothers.
Xia Hua said: "She looks OK, not too bad."
Xia Hua's youngest brother whispered, "I heard that the youngest daughter of the Ke family is very beautiful. If the sister is pretty, the brother must not be that ugly."
"That's true." Xia Hua muttered and looked at Chun Hua, "Sister, what do you think of this place?"
Chunhua did not answer on the spot, but just said: "Let's talk about it when we get home."
Around noon, the wedding procession arrived.
Shen Yi sat on the donkey, looking very pleased with himself.
Amid the villagers' cheers, he strode into the backyard.
After a while, Su Tai was carried out, and after bidding farewell to her parents and brothers, she was helped into the bridal sedan.
The bridal sedan was a large one specially hired by Shen Yi with eight bearers, and this scene alone was enough to make the villagers talk about it with relish.
Wait until the relatives leave.
Some village women came up to Han and asked, "Xiao Tai's mother, how much betrothal gift did the Shen family give to Xiao Tai?"
Han held up two fingers.
Everyone subconsciously guessed, "Two taels?"
Han shook his head.
The other party instantly gasped, "It can't be twenty taels! This Shen Yi is too generous!"
Huang sneered at the side and said, "What's that? You only think about how much dowry Chen Yi gave Xiao Tai, why don't you think about how much dowry Xiao Tai brought? A working ox, a pair of sheep, a lot of furniture, quilts and jackets, as well as jewelry and silver. All these together are more than twenty taels!"
When everyone heard this, they realized it was true. They immediately stopped envying Han and started to envy Shen Yi instead.
Han Shi smiled secretly at the side. In fact, the betrothal gift given by Chen Yi was two hundred taels, but she didn't dare to say it, for fear of arousing jealousy from those with ulterior motives, so she kept silent and let everyone guess.
(End of this chapter)
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