Chapter 26
Grandma Sun's voice was strained, and she could barely eat. It took her a while to find her voice again: "Aqing, Aqing is not suitable for you."
She put the bowl away and went straight to the field without waiting for Zhou Yuan to say anything more. Zhou Yuan was stunned for a moment, then also put away the bowls and chopsticks and followed her to the field to work. Right now, the work was the priority; they could deal with his aunt later.
Chen Qing didn't go back either; he also helped them work in the fields. However, his legs were injured, so he moved much slower. Li Xin stayed by his side, talking to him from time to time.
It took them almost half a month to plant several acres of land. In the last few days, Chen Qing's foot was almost fully recovered, so he went to work and it was faster. They planted Chen Qing's land first, and then helped plant Zhou Yuan's land.
Meng Qi and the others came to help when Zhou Yuan was planting his land.
As a result, the process became faster.
By the time all the planting was finished, it was already early September. With each autumn rain came a chill, and the mornings and evenings gradually began to get cooler.
One of Zhou Yuan's clothes has been finished, with only a little finishing work left. The other one is to be a winter padded jacket, so we need to buy some cotton.
After the autumn planting, there wasn't much work left in the fields. After learning about Zhou Yuan's thoughts, Aunt Sun wanted to talk to Chen Qing, but unfortunately, there were too many things to do, so she could only wait until all the work was finished before talking to him.
Grandma Sun stood at the door, looking at Zhou Yuan's house not far away.
He liked Aqing. It turned out that he had noticed something a long time ago, but she thought that Zhou Yuan was taking good care of them because of Meng Tao's request.
She turned to look at Chen Qing sewing clothes in the yard and sighed. She had wanted to marry Chen Qing off, but honestly, who could be better off than Zhou Yuan?
Looking across the entire Luohe Village, many unmarried men and women in the family have their eyes on Zhou Yuan. He has a well-built house, is down-to-earth and capable, and is handsome. He also doesn't have any elders in his family, so there's no need to worry about getting along with them. If it weren't for his own words that he had a plan, his doorstep would probably be worn down by now.
However, his favorable conditions, or rather the additional benefits that come with them, are not suitable for Chen Qing.
Of course, she didn't think Chen Qing was unworthy of her; her Aqing was perfect in every way.
When Zhou Yuan, with such good qualities, takes a fancy to a widowed man in the village who has been married before, one can imagine how others will talk about Chen Qing.
Chen Qing's personality was like a quail's; he'd bury his head in the sand if there were many people around. She couldn't bear to see Chen Qing fall into such a situation where everyone condemned him. The most hurtful things are always verbal attacks. Especially since Chen Qing had told her about his stepfather, who couldn't withstand the pressure of life and chose to jump into the river.
In particular, although neither family explicitly said it, everyone knew that Li the blacksmith intended to marry Li Xin to Zhou Yuan. The two had met before, and although looking back now, Chen Qing was almost always present when they met, the villagers who were unaware of the situation probably thought that Zhou Yuan was going to marry Li Xin, and Chen Qing was Li Xin's good friend.
If word gets out that Zhou Yuan is going to marry Chen Qing, what will people say about him?
For a widow to be so immoral as to steal the woman her friend desired, Chen Qing deserves to be condemned to death. In the eyes of the villagers, Chen Qing should be drowned in a pig cage.
Some people don't care about the facts; they just can't stand seeing others doing well, especially those who are worse off than them. They just want to keep those people under their feet forever.
These past few days, Aunt Sun has been pondering this matter at night, and she feels that she still cannot agree to this marriage.
She walked up to Chen Qing: "Is this done?"
Chen Qing nodded: "Yes, it will be ready soon."
Looking at the clothes in his hand, which were embroidered with green bamboo, it was clear that a lot of effort had been put into them. She said, "Aqing, how about Aunt Liu makes the last one?"
Chen Qing looked up at Granny Sun, his eyes full of confusion: "Huh? Why?"
"Don't you still need to make your own clothes?" Aunt Sun handed him the clothes. "Aunt Liu's eyesight is good, and she's very experienced in making winter clothes."
Chen Qing nodded, then worried about something else: "Alright then, but do we need to give Aunt Liu money?"
"Don't worry about that, Mother will handle it." She seemed very anxious. "Mother is going out for a bit."
Chen Qing hummed in agreement, and when he looked up again, Aunt Sun had already left the house.
He had originally planned to stuff the cotton with the chicken feathers he had dried in the sun before when making winter clothes and cotton-padded jackets to see if it would keep them warmer, but since his mother had said so, he decided not to do it.
Chen Qing didn't expect that Aunt Sun would still go to see Aunt Hua after going out. Although he had told Aunt Hua some time ago that she would help Chen Qing find a partner, everyone was busy after that, and he didn't know if Aunt Hua had kept an eye out for them.
So she went to their house again.
When Aunt Hua saw Grandma Sun coming to visit, she quickly got up to greet her: "Sister, I was just about to look for you, and here you are."
Grandma Sun took a breath: "Is there any progress on the matter I asked you to do last time?"
Aunt Hua nodded: "I've been busy the past few days. I finally had a free day yesterday, so I quickly took care of this for you."
Grandma Sun sat on the bench at Aunt Hua's house, listening to Aunt Hua talk to her.
"That's right, there's a family in town named Yuan. The eldest son of the Yuan family is twenty-eight years old this year."
Grandma Sun frowned: "He's seven years older than Aqing, and he's still unmarried at twenty-eight?"
"Of course not. Yuan Jia Dalang is a widower with three children."
Aunt Sun stood up: "How can that be? Is Aqing going to become a stepfather as soon as he enters the family?!"
“Listen to me, sister. Your Chen Qing is a widow after all. Isn’t it good for a widower to keep a widow company?” Aunt Hua comforted her. “I told his family about the fact that your Chen Qing wore mourning clothes, and they said they didn’t mind.”
Grandma Sun was stunned. Seeing that she was softening, Aunt Hua said again, "His family is large and prosperous, and the old lady is a kind person. That person is also the eldest in the family. Once Chen Qing marries in, she can be the head of the household."
Grandma Sun asked suspiciously, "Why would anyone in town take a liking to Aqing?"
Aunt Hua could talk the dead back to life: "Well, your Chen Qing may have the reputation of being a widow, but at least he's a virgin, isn't he?"
Grandma Sun frowned deeply. She didn't like Chen Qing being judged like this. Finally, she sighed and said, "No need. It's not appropriate. Aqing is still a child himself. How can he take care of three children?"
She stood up and took out about ten copper coins from her pocket: "Thank you for making the trip. Let's leave it at that."
"Huh? Isn't this enough? Or you can make some more demands, and I'll help you look around some more?" Aunt Hua took the money and chased after Granny Sun to the door. "The main problem is that there aren't many people who can accept someone who has worn mourning clothes."
Grandma Sun shook her head: "Let's forget about it."
Aunt Hua watched as Grandma Sun left, sighed, and turned to see a child walking past her house. She could vaguely make out that it was Li the blacksmith's youngest son.
She didn't mind and turned back into the house. Even if this marriage didn't work out, there were other good matches waiting for her to arrange.
When Aunt Sun returned home, Chen Qing was still making clothes, head down, very focused. But in Aunt Sun's eyes, the clothes were already very well made and perfect.
She sat down next to Chen Qing. At first, Chen Qing didn't react, but then he felt that Aunt Sun's gaze was on him, so he looked up and asked, "Mother?"
Grandma Sun smiled and said, "You've embroidered so meticulously."
Chen Qing laughed too: "The last few stitches are coming. Where did Mother go just now?"
Grandma Sun wanted to talk to him, so she said, "I went to the matchmaker's place."
The smile on Chen Qing's face vanished almost instantly. He put the clothes in the basket and said, "Mother, I don't want to get married. I just want to stay at home."
Grandma Sun said earnestly, "But I can't protect you forever. What will you do after I die?"
Hearing her speak so seriously, Chen Qing was frightened, and his eyes reddened: "May Mother live to be a hundred years old."
Grandma Sun raised her hand and touched his hair: "I just told Aunt Hua not to keep an eye on things for us anymore."
Chen Qing was a little confused and didn't know what to say.
"A few days ago, Zhou Yuan told me..."
Chen Qing's heart was in his throat. He immediately said, "I have nothing with him, Mother, I have nothing."
"How did you know your mother wanted to tell you this?" Aunt Sun laughed. "You've already confessed, haven't you?"
Chen Qing blushed, his eyes reddened, and he looked at Aunt Sun for a long while before saying, "That day, he did say some random things to me, but I didn't. I didn't do anything improper."
Judging from his expression and the halting tone of his speech, it was clear that this was not a one-sided affair initiated by Zhou Yuan.
"I want to tell you what's on my mind," Aunt Sun sighed. "I don't really think highly of the two of you."
Chen Qing's hands unconsciously caressed the needle and thread as he listened intently to what Granny Sun was saying.
"I'm not saying he's bad, and there's no one better than him, but Aqing, have you thought about the consequences?"
What are the consequences?
“If you two really get together, do you know what you’ll go through?” Aunt Sun said. “What will the villagers say? You’re a widow, and you’ve hooked up with the son-in-law everyone in the village thinks you’re a perfect match. From now on, everyone will point and whisper about you when you go out. And what about Li Xin? How will you face her?”
Chen Qing paused, wanting to say something but finding himself unable to utter a single word.
"I know your personality. You even try to avoid people when you go out. Can you really handle this kind of criticism?"
Chen Qing hung his head, looking dejected: "I...I don't know."
"I went to Aunt Hua's place today, but even if she helps you find someone, it might not be a good thing. I'm thinking, maybe we should just let things take their course..."
“Mother, I’m not getting married. You wanted to marry me off in the first place because you were afraid the Sun family would cause trouble, but judging from what happened that day, the Sun family didn’t dare to come, so I don’t have to get married.”
He clutched his chest: "I'll stay at home with you. I really don't need to get married. Like Li Xin said, why should a person need a man to survive?"
Grandma Sun nodded: "But if he can handle all these things well, then I think he's someone I can entrust my life to. What do you think?"
Chen Qing shook his head again, but Aunt Sun squeezed his hand: "I'm giving you the choice. Our Aqing has worked so hard, he should be happier in the future."
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