Chapter 158 Goddaughter
"This girl is grown up and needs to get married. Do you want to raise her to be an old maid?"
“Madam Ye, listen to my advice. Being a stepmother is not easy. You’ve already married off all these girls. You’re still young. Don’t stay with someone who doesn’t know what’s good for him. Find another family to marry into…”
Er Ya grabbed a broom from the yard and yelled, "Get out! Get out of our house!"
"Sharp-tongued and quick-witted, no man will want you in the future!" the matchmaker shouted to Ye Wan as she walked out.
"Madam Ye, for your sake, I won't hold your girl against you. I'll come again."
Ye Wan saw that Er Ya's eyes were red and tears were falling in the blink of an eye, so she handed her a handkerchief.
"Why get so angry? It's not worth ruining yourself."
Er Ya stomped her foot, "Mother, aren't you angry? You just let them talk about eldest sister like that."
Her older sister is such a good person, how could she marry a fat man who's fatter than a pig?
Ye Wan only found out later that the matchmaker had seen Da Ya when she went to the bookstore. It just so happened that the Nie family wanted to find a wife for their son and insisted on a beautiful one, so they set their sights on Da Ya.
"Don't worry, she won't be able to make you angry tomorrow."
Er Ya: ?
What's the meaning.
The next day, Sanya ran happily into the yard and shouted,
"That crooked-mouthed matchmaker from yesterday actually broke her leg; it's truly a miracle."
"What does this have to do with us? I guess he's done too many bad things and is getting his comeuppance. Don't shout when you go out. Do you want some canned food?" Ye Wan waved her hand, beckoning Sanya over.
She made canned pears during a quiet autumn day, and they're perfect to eat now.
"Eat, Mom is the best to me." Sanya looked at Ye Wan with bright eyes, her eyes showing dependence.
"Mother, I want to learn martial arts from my great-aunt."
Ye Wan fed her a piece of pear, "Aren't you already learning?"
Sanya is growing up so fast, she's already so big in the blink of an eye.
Sanya stuffed a large piece of pear into her mouth, making her mouth look like a steamed bun. "That doesn't count. I want to learn my great-aunt's real skills."
Ye Wan gave the remaining pears in the pottery jar to Sanya, saying, "Then go ask your great-aunt. If she's willing to take you in, then you can learn; if not, you can't force her."
"Okay, thank you, Mom."
After Sanya left, Daya came.
"Mother, thank you."
Daya knew that the matchmaker couldn't have broken her leg for no reason. She asked around and found out that the Nie family was a living hell.
Matchmakers, in their pursuit of money from matchmakers, have pushed many girls into dangerous situations; she deserved to have her leg broken.
"Since you call me Mother, there's no need for thanks." Ye Wan looked at the graceful Daya and felt a little emotional. Daya would be thirteen after the New Year this year.
Thirteen... that's still too young. Getting married is probably out of the question.
"Mother, Auntie agreed!" Sanya ran happily out of Aunt Hui's room.
Huigu said, "Third Miss, you will practice your martial arts with me for an extra hour from now on."
Previously, both Sha Niu and Ye Wan learned from Hui Gu, but later, when it got cold, Sha Niu left, and Ye Wan couldn't keep going, so only San Ya was left to learn.
Since the child is interested, she will teach him. Anyway, she has nothing else to do on weekdays, so this retirement life is really leisurely and carefree.
Sanya: "I don't want to learn that. I want to learn how to kill with throwing knives and poison silently!"
Upon hearing this, Hui Gu's face crumpled up. She tried to recall when she had ever demonstrated poisoning with a flying knife in front of the Third Sister.
Sanya clung to Huigu's arm and shook it, "Grandma, please teach me, otherwise I won't be able to protect the people I want to protect in the future."
Hui Gu's lips twitched. "It's useless for a young lady to learn this."
“It’s useful. Mother said we should all have a skill. My eldest sister studied with my maternal grandfather, and my second sister learned everything from my maternal grandmother, including flower arranging and accounting. But I can’t do anything. Auntie—”
Hui Gu couldn't stand the little girl clinging to her, and seeing that Ye Wan had no objections, she finally agreed.
I was thinking that it should be okay since she taught me, right?
What if this girl's father gains merit with the lord and returns to find that his daughter has either thrown knives or poisoned him...?
Damn it, when exactly did the Third Sister see her throwing knives?
...
...
"Damn it, my son has taken a liking to her. That country girl is lucky beyond her wildest dreams. And she even dares to refuse the marriage proposal. If you ask me, just pull her in through the back door, and when my son is done with her, throw her into a beggar's den!"
The crooked-mouthed matchmaker, with two canes between her legs, listened to Mother Nie's grumbling and felt much better.
She put down her teacup. "Madam Nie, you're right. The girl I used to teach to read and write was barely good enough to be Young Master Nie's wife. But now it seems that even being a concubine would be too kind of her."
Mother Nie's face turned ugly. "Go, have someone tie that wild girl up. She'll be crying and begging my son for mercy."
A servant standing nearby hesitated before speaking, "Isn't this... a little inappropriate?"
It would be one thing to marry someone into the family out of the blue, but to then ruin them like this is utterly ridiculous.
“What’s wrong with that? This is too kind of her. The county magistrate is just a good-for-nothing now. What can he do to our Nie family?” Mother Nie proudly touched the gold hairpin in her hair. Her family was related to the Minister of War.
The crooked-mouthed matchmaker chimed in, "Grandma Nie is right. That's too kind of her to that country girl. I heard her father is a scoundrel; he's not even good enough to be a concubine. I'll head back now."
After saying that, he walked home with difficulty, leaning on his crutches.
Before the matchmaker even arrived at the door, her own daughter was already standing there, asking, "Mother, what's going on? Didn't you promise to find me a handsome husband? Why hasn't anything happened yet?"
"It's not easy to find such a handsome young man, just like a beautiful woman. The county magistrate searched Min County from top to bottom, but he didn't see many good-looking ones."
The matchmaker felt a sharp pain in her leg and asked her daughter to come and help her.
"I heard that the young master of the Liu family is handsome and even became the third-ranked scholar in the imperial examination."
"The Liu family...they're not here, so don't even think about it. Go and hire a donkey cart for me; I'm going out for a bit."
The crooked-mouthed matchmaker touched her broken leg and felt increasingly uneasy. How could she have broken her leg while getting up in the middle of the night?
It must be that Lin Daya who's her nemesis.
Just wait and see. If she won't be a proper wife, then she'll be a concubine.
"Qing Shuang, you and the others will come with me today."
As the girls grew up, Ye Wan stopped calling them "Da Ya" and started calling them by their full names.
"Mother, where are we going?" Daya came out wearing a light green vest, looking pretty and charming.
Ye Wan was in a good mood. "Let me take you out for a walk. Staying indoors all day isn't good for your eyes."
"Mother, shall Sanya and I go too?" Erya asked, her red coat making her look a little bulky in the winter.
The last one to appear, Sanya, was dressed in all black, with her hair tied up, making her look like a tomboy. We originally wanted to make her a different color, but Sanya refused, insisting that black was more dirt-resistant.
"Go, all of you come together. I'll teach you something today."
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