Chapter 56 Matchmaker Liu Announces Good News
Unlike Hao Yu, Wang Xiaozhi preferred Miss Zheng, so she sent someone to Zheng Family Village first.
In order to arrange the marriage, Jiang Yuan revealed some of Hao Yu's assets to Wang Xiaozhi, such as the land and house that Hao Yu originally intended to give him.
Even so, Wang Xiaozhi and her carefully selected, highly-regarded matchmaker, Liu, still failed to arrange the marriage.
The Zheng family disliked Hao Yu for three reasons: first, he was nine years older than Miss Zheng; second, his background was unclear; and third, he was overly kind.
Matchmaker Liu did offer explanations for these three points, but the Zheng family still politely declined the marriage proposal.
Wang Xiaozhi was very disappointed; Ms. Zheng was her top choice, it was such a pity.
After a moment of sighing, Wang Xiaozhi rallied and asked the matchmaker Liu to help her find a husband for the Chen family in the neighboring Lingshan Town.
As mentioned earlier, Ms. Chen's parents and brothers no longer expect her to return the normal amount of betrothal money to the family.
They were terrified that she would bring bad luck not only to her husband, but also to her father, brothers, and all male creatures. So they were eager to find her a husband who was healthy, had no bad habits, whose family was easy to get along with, and most importantly, who was not afraid of her reputation as a jinx.
Strictly speaking, Hao Yu, who couldn't lift heavy objects with one hand, didn't meet the Chen family's requirements. However, after hearing from Matchmaker Liu that this old injury wouldn't affect Hao Yu's hunting skills and that Hao Yu had a substantial family fortune, they all felt that this minor flaw was tolerable.
They were eager to agree to the marriage, but considering Miss Chen's stubbornness in preferring to have nothing rather than something bad, her parents eventually told the matchmaker that they needed to inquire about Hao Yu first.
Seeing that they did not refuse outright, Liu, the matchmaker, felt a glimmer of hope. She smiled and agreed, and made an appointment with the Chen family to come back in five days to hear their reply.
Five days passed quickly, and five days later, Matchmaker Liu arrived in Mingfu Village with good news.
After finding Wang Xiaozhi and explaining the situation, the two of them went together to the end of the village to find Hao Yu.
"Brother Hao, what a joyous occasion!" Pushing open the courtyard gate, Liu the matchmaker's face immediately lit up with a smile as she saw Hao Yu come out to greet her after hearing the commotion.
Xie Wanniang, Xiao Yang, and Jiang Yuan were busy in the kitchen when they heard this. Jiang Yuan immediately put down the radish he was washing and rushed out.
Xie Wanniang and Xiao Yang curiously peeked in and greeted Wang Xiaozhi and Matchmaker Liu with smiles.
Matchmaker Liu greeted everyone warmly before returning to the previous topic.
“The Chen family has agreed to come and take a look!” She tossed her handkerchief aside. “And they’ve also said the time is up to you to arrange.”
Although the Chen family is superstitious, they are still quite devoted to Miss Chen. Whether in the past or present, they will first inquire about the man and his family and their financial situation before deciding whether to let Miss Chen meet him.
While information gathered through inquiries may not be guaranteed to be true, it's always better to ask around than to rely entirely on the matchmaker's eloquent words.
Even if you don't find out the best information, at least you can significantly reduce the chances of making a mistake.
The fact that the Chen family has agreed to arrange a marriage between Miss Chen and Hao Yu means that they are quite satisfied with the information they have gathered.
Since the very opinionated Miss Chen agreed to come and meet him, it is clear that she is quite satisfied with Hao Yu's personal qualities.
This is indeed good news worth celebrating.
Accompanied by Wang Xiaozhi, Hao Yu invited the matchmaker Liu into the main room to sit down. Soon, Jiang Yuan served two bowls of brown sugar water that Xie Wanniang had quickly prepared.
At the same time, Hao Yu also took out the large storage box that Jiang Yuan had made with the village carpenter to hold snacks such as walnut shortbread, rice cakes, candied winter melon, dried apricots, dried pears, and roasted peanuts.
The box, which was only lightly varnished, looked extremely plain, but what was inside opened the eyes of Matchmaker Liu.
After putting a piece of candied winter melon into her mouth, Matchmaker Liu thought to herself, "It seems that what Wang Xiaozhi said was not just boasting. This Hao Yu really is a landlord with some wealth."
After drinking the brown sugar water and having a few snacks, the matchmaker, Liu, discussed the specific time for the meeting with Hao Yu and then took her leave.
Because she refused to stay for dinner, Hao Yu, who was repeatedly asked to stay but was refused, finally chose to give one of the rabbits that Jiang Yuan had caught that morning to the matchmaker, Liu, as a token of her gratitude.
Matchmaker Liu left happily with the rabbit, while Wang Xiaozhi was dragged to the kitchen by Xie Wanniang.
After seeing off Matchmaker Liu, Jiang Yuan wisely went to the Chen family and invited Chen Zhao and their two children to have dinner with them.
With four more mouths to feed, Xie Wanniang simply prepared an extra main dish on top of what was already prepared.
For the main course, she prepared brown sugar pancakes, and for the side dishes, she made pheasant stew with dried mushrooms and sauerkraut stew with pork belly and frozen tofu.
When the food was served, she added a plate of fried peanuts, a plate of scrambled eggs with dried radish, a plate of dried fish, and a plate of dried mutton to make the meal look more abundant.
The men chatted about village gossip while eating, while the women and children focused on eating their bread and vegetables.
Xie Wanniang's favorite dishes are pickled cabbage and frozen tofu, the children's favorite dish is fatty but not greasy pork belly, and Wang Xiaozhi's favorite dish is pheasant stewed with dried mushrooms.
After a delicious and hot lunch, everyone was completely satisfied.
After the meal, Wang Xiaozhi and Chen Zhao didn't rush to leave. Chen Zhao stayed in the main room with Jiang Yuan and Hao Yu to look after the children, while Wang Xiaozhi went to the kitchen to help Xie Wanniang and Xiao Yang wash the pots, pans, and chopsticks, while chatting quietly with Xie Wanniang.
"You really can't predict fate. I never expected that the Zheng family would reject such a good marriage prospect as Uncle Hao without even asking around."
Xie Wanniang smiled. Wang Xiaozhi and Hao Yu were close, so naturally she thought he was good in every way. The Zheng family had never had any contact with Hao Yu. When they heard that he was nine years older than Miss Zheng, and that he was an outsider, and that he had taken in the homeless Jiang Yuan for so long... they were bound to have some doubts.
After all, if we look at Hao Yu's situation in a positive light, it means that "he is kind-hearted and of good character, so he will definitely treat his future wife well. Moreover, once the new wife marries into the family, she will be able to take charge of the household. Not only will she not have any elders to oppress her, but she will also not have any messy relatives coming to bother her."
Ms. Chen and her family were clearly thinking positively.
The Zheng family, on the other hand, were clearly thinking the worst.
In their view, Hao Yu was old, so he would inevitably age quickly and die young. Furthermore, he had no relatives to rely on, so wouldn't they have to help his married sister in the future?
Not to mention his excessive kindness; he even took care of the neighbor's child for two years. With such a lack of understanding, who wouldn't feel uncomfortable living with him or being his relative?
Miss Zheng was only twenty-three years old. She was pretty, gentle, and most importantly, she had a wealthy family and an older brother who had already passed the imperial examination.
Although her brother and sister-in-law were unwilling to support her for life, they did not shortchange her on her dowry. This is why, even though the Zheng family asked for such a high dowry, no one in the surrounding villages felt that her family was being unreasonable.
It's normal for girls with good qualities to be picky, both themselves and their families.
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