Chapter 275 Let's go propose marriage too.
Xie Liangchen was painting with his back straight and sleeves rolled up. When he heard the words "Jiang Pangya," his hand paused subconsciously, and the ink smeared into a blob. He frowned slightly, turned his brush, and the blob of ink instantly blended into the landscape, leaving no trace.
He didn't look up, and said in a steady voice, "Her family has plenty of people every day, what's so special about that?"
"I'm warning you, don't go looking for trouble with her anymore. And don't go stalking her house all the time. Your illness has just subsided a bit, do you want to get another beating?"
Upon hearing this, Afu's eyes darted around as he chuckled, "Young Master, what am I afraid of now? That good-for-nothing husband of Jiang Pangya has already run away. Now that Jiang Pangya has been abandoned, you wouldn't believe it, but everyone in the surrounding villages knows that there's a beautiful young widow in our village who also has excellent medical skills. There are so many people eyeing her; yesterday when I went out, someone even asked me about her."
As he spoke, Afu couldn't help but click his tongue twice: "I really didn't expect that after Jiang Pangya lost weight, she would still be quite pretty. It's like she's a completely different person. Yesterday I saw her going up the mountain to pick fruit, and quite a few men in the village went up to her to fawn over her."
Hearing this, Xie Liangchen finally stopped writing, glanced at Afu, and asked, "What exactly are you trying to say?"
Afu rubbed his hands together and stole a glance at Xie Liangchen's expression: "Young Master, I wanted to ask you, do you really mean this?"
Xie Liangchen frowned: "What do you mean?"
Afu: "That's exactly what I mean."
Afu continued, "You wouldn't believe it, but today I saw another man come to her house. He was helping her fetch water and chop firewood in the yard, busy as a bee."
"And that guy surnamed Ma. He's the eldest son of the Ma family who works for the yamen. I saw him carrying a basket to give gifts to Jiang Pangya."
“Those are all peasants, not even as good-looking as Jiang Pangya’s previous good-for-nothing husband. Compared to you, young master, they are worlds apart.”
As Afu spoke, his tone shifted to one of earnest concern: "You're getting on in years now, and I think among all the villages around here, only Jiang Pangya is any good. Let's be honest, she's definitely still a virgin. She's always been fond of you, but she refused to sleep in the same room with that man before. Later, that man fell ill, so he probably couldn't do anything. And then he ran away, probably because he disliked Jiang Pangya's previous appearance and didn't want her."
"However, there are quite a few decent-looking men who come and go from her household, but Jiang Pangya doesn't seem to be interested in any of them. Young master, what do you think is the reason for this?"
Xie Liangchen's hand gripping the pen tightened suddenly. He averted his gaze somewhat flustered, sat back down at the table, and continued drawing. However, he didn't put down his brush for a long while, saying, "How do I know what she's thinking?"
Afu leaned closer to Xie Liangchen and said with certainty, "In my opinion, she is definitely waiting for you! Otherwise, why would she go through all that hard dieting to become so beautiful?"
"Don't spout nonsense!"
Xie Liangchen looked at Afu in shock.
Afu shrank back slightly and continued, "Young master, it's not that I'm speaking recklessly, but think about it, after seeing such a handsome young man as you, how could Jiang Pangya possibly be interested in those peasants? Besides, I just secretly observed her, and she's really having a tough time these days. She has so many children to raise, and elderly parents to care for, and yet she's been abandoned by her husband, leaving her to manage the household alone. But those people aren't her family."
You know about her family's little devils. The eldest was expelled from the academy, the second has been sneaking around since he was a child, and the youngest, even at such a young age, has sharp teeth and claws, so he's obviously not a good one either.
In my opinion, even if she raises the child to adulthood, he won't be affectionate with her. He might even end up raising a tiger that will devour her, leaving nothing but bones.
"Young master, she's from our household, after all. How can you just stand by and watch her suffer like this without offering any help? She did at least help you heal your arm."
Xie Liangchen pursed his lips, sensing something was amiss, and narrowed his eyes as he looked at Afu: "So, what do you want now?"
Afu was still lost in his daydreams: "I think, young master, why don't we propose marriage? We can marry Jiang Nuanzhi and live a happy life together. Just like before, our family can live well. Then you and she can have two children, and she won't have to raise other people's children anymore. You and her husband are different; even in the most difficult times, you didn't abandon her because of her looks, did you? She'll definitely be moved then."
Jiang Pangya is always good at making money, so marrying her means we'll never have to worry about food or drink. Your journey to the capital for the imperial examinations will surely be much smoother. Once we have enough money, we can even buy a couple more servants to do the work and live the good life we used to have.”
By the end, Afu's mouth was split open all the way to his ears.
He's really had enough of this life.
It truly seems endless.
These past two days, he went to town to find work, but people looked down on him because he was a slave and refused to hire him. In the end, he could only work at the dock carrying bags, barely earning a dozen or so coins a day, and now his shoulders are calloused.
These past two days, the young master's hand has finally healed, and he can paint again, so life has become a little easier. But his paintings aren't as valuable as before!
In the past, when the young master was a minor marquis, a single painting could be worth thousands of taels of silver.
But in this desolate wilderness, these people simply didn't recognize it! Some even asserted that the young master's painting was a forgery, a copy of Young Master Xie's work. They knew they were being set up, but they couldn't go without food and drink, so they had no choice but to bite the bullet and let those people haggle over the price. The man was extremely exploitative, offering only ten taels of silver for each painting.
They also said that if one painting is sold, the price of the second one will be halved.
This is the third painting the young master has sold; he'll probably only get two and a half taels of silver. The family barely survives on these paintings and the dozen or so coins he earns carrying sacks.
Food prices are rising sharply every day, and I don't know how we're going to survive this winter.
There will be a small exam next year, and there will be many places where money will be needed. We can't just sit around and eat our money away with these ten or so taels of silver, can we?
He even considered working for Jiang Pangya's family, having heard that their workers could be paid twenty coins a day, plus food.
One day, as he passed by, he could smell the aroma of meat from afar. In this day and age, who would feed their hired workers meat? His mouth watered! Unfortunately, even when he shamelessly begged for some, Jiang Pangya wouldn't give him a single piece.
Even if he wanted to do some work, Jiang Pangya wouldn't have to.
"How dare you spout such nonsense! You really deserve to be punished!" Xie Liangchen stood up abruptly, ink spilling and staining the corner of his clothes, but he seemed oblivious. He pointed to the door and roared, "Kneel outside for two hours and clear your head!"
"Young Master, I..."
"Get out!"
Seeing that Xie Liangchen was truly angry, Afu slunk out and knelt down. However, he still didn't understand why his young master had suddenly become angry.
Xie Liangchen clenched his fists tightly, pursed his lips for a while, and finally stood up and left the house as if he had made up his mind.
(End of this chapter)
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