Chapter 61 Let's stroll around the market again.
Chen Zhonghua wasn't the only one secretly observing Guo Baiwen.
Grandma Guo was also secretly observing her.
She had met the Chen father and daughter before, but this was the first time she had seen his wife.
Although the clothes she wore weren't exactly what she was supposed to wear, she had a different aura from the people around her.
But what exactly this feeling was, Grandma Guo pondered for a long time, only to find that she couldn't figure it out.
I just felt it was different.
But what exactly is the difference?
When they arrived at the foot restaurant that the Chen family had mentioned, the two families found a larger table, ordered food, and sat down to chat for a while.
Grandma Guo only now realized what this feeling was like.
She opened her mouth in surprise, looking at Chen Zhonghua sitting opposite her, "Madam Chen, you can read?"
Chen Zhonghua smiled somewhat embarrassedly, while Chen Youtian puffed out his broad chest with pride and explained, "My wife's father was a well-known scholar in the surrounding area!"
A scholar?!
Guo Baiwen immediately thought of Master Guo from the academy.
Grandma Guo never expected that Madam Chen's family had once been a family of scholars.
But they were all wives of scholars... so how did they end up marrying hunters from the mountains?
It wasn't that she thought hunters in the mountains were bad—
But given her family's circumstances, there should be other, better options.
There were quite a few people eating lunch at the foot restaurant, so the food was served rather slowly.
Worried that the customers would get impatient, the owner of the foot restaurant even had his staff deliver a plate of cold dishes to each table that hadn't received their food yet, as an apology.
Although it's just a dish of pickled shredded radish, it's quite a dish because it's made with a lot of soybean oil and shredded lettuce.
Not only are the colors appealing, but they also taste quite good.
So everyone ate while continuing to chat.
Grandma Guo and Guo Baiwen then learned the reason why Madam Chen chose to marry the hunter.
It turns out that Chen Youtian didn't always live deep in the mountains. He and Chen Niangzi originally lived in a village not far from this village market.
One family is rich, and the other is poor.
Because her father was a scholar, Chen Niangzi's family had matchmakers from all around her coming of age coming to her door in twos and threes to arrange marriages for her even before she reached marriageable age.
However, her father had made it clear that he only had one daughter in the family, so he did not plan to marry her out of the family and instead invited someone to marry into the family.
After hearing this, many families had no choice but to abandon their plans to arrange marriages.
However, this also attracted many idle peasants who had no stable property but were ambitious beyond measure, who voluntarily asked people to mediate and arrange for them to marry into the family.
Many people came to visit, and the threshold of my house was almost worn out.
However, they couldn't find a suitable husband, and after this happened several times, Chen's father became quite angry.
Perhaps for this reason, Chen's father originally planned to take the imperial examination again next year, both to thwart those people's schemes and to fulfill his long-held dream.
But after leaving the exam room, I don't know if it was because the exam had taken too much of my energy, or because I had caught a cold during the exam period.
After finally getting home, he fell seriously ill and never recovered.
I've spent a lot of money seeing doctors, but there's still no improvement.
Seeing that things were about to get worse, the village elders began to have some ideas.
Scholars do not receive a fixed salary. Chen Xiucai has spent a lot of his family's savings due to illness. Now that there are no male heirs in the family, even his fields and houses are being targeted by others.
So, Chen Xiucai could only hold on for the last few days and arranged for her to marry Chen Youtian, a man from a poor family but who was a decent person, in the village.
Although Chen Youtian was poor, his family had a simple social structure.
As hunters, they could obtain meat and furs by hunting, which was a pragmatic choice made out of necessity and haste.
Hearing this, Grandma Guo couldn't help but feel a little sad.
Chen Niangzi's father was, after all, a scholar. She had heard about such a learned person when she inquired about schools before.
One had to take many exams and pass many other people's tests before finally becoming a Xiucai (a scholar who passed the lowest level of the imperial examinations).
Guo Baiwen never expected that Chen Baoyue's parents had gotten married in this way.
The "Chen" in Chen Baoyue's name should probably be the same as the "Chen" in Chen Zhonghua's name.
When the two of them squeezed out of the crowd together, they looked so amicable that he thought they had known each other since childhood.
Talking about things like this, even if you didn't see it with your own eyes, can still make people feel down.
Seeing that the hot dishes they had ordered were starting to be served, Chen Zhonghua eased the atmosphere and said with a smile, "These are all old stories from the past. I don't know how we ended up talking about this."
"Hurry, hurry, the food will get cold if we don't eat soon, everyone, let's start eating!"
Everyone picked up their chopsticks, and the food at this foot restaurant was indeed quite delicious.
There were six of them, and with the complimentary cold dish from the restaurant, there were a total of nine dishes on the table.
There was meat and vegetables, and I was indeed hungry by noon.
So the group stopped chatting.
Chen Zhonghua ate a couple of bites of food, then picked up the cup of tea on the table, lowered his eyes, and took only a small sip.
Chen Baoyue had known about how she and Chen Youtian got married since she was a child.
Therefore, Chen Baoyue knew from a young age why her mother always wanted her to marry away from the mountains.
But what they didn't know was...
At that time, she and Chen Youtian had just gotten engaged, and before the villagers found out, her father hurriedly sold off all the remaining farmland in the family.
They instructed Chen Zhonghua and her mother to take the money and leave the village as soon as possible with Chen Youtian and his brother.
Before leaving, her father repeatedly instructed her that the money must be kept in the hands of her and her mother.
Regardless of whether Chen Youtian, the man her father chose, was reliable or not, this money was the foundation for her and her mother to make a living in this world.
But after her mother moved away from the village, she soon followed in her father's footsteps.
She kept the money in her possession.
She saved all of it, including the household expenses Chen Youtian had given her after selling leather goods over the years.
So now, even Chen Baoyue and Chen Youtian don't know how much money she actually has.
Although living in the mountains was a bit troublesome, there were fewer people in the mountains, and fewer neighbors and disputes.
Chen Zhonghua felt that living in the deep mountains, in peace and quiet, with the company of mountain beasts and birds, was not so bad.
However, in recent years, as Chen Baoyue has gotten older, there are fewer eligible girls in the mountains, and girls from outside the mountains are unwilling to marry into the area.
Not only will people talk about Chen Baoyue as an "old maid who can't get married," but many people will also have their eyes on Baoyue and want to "eat her up."
As the troubles increased, Chen Zhonghua's desire to move out of the mountains grew stronger.
However, Chen Youtian and Chen Baoyue currently rely on hunting for a living. If they were to move out of the mountains, where would they go, and what would they rely on for a living?
Having been away from the mountains for a long time, and lacking any special skills, they were left behind.
When those skills from the mountains and forests deteriorate, will they really have to do manual labor to make a living?
This is also a problem that will continue to cause headaches.
and--
Chen Zhonghua unconsciously glanced at his daughter sitting next to him again. He was always worried that the girl was getting old but still wouldn't get it, but he couldn't help but worry that one day she would suddenly get it on her own.
When my mother was raising me, it didn't seem like there were this many problems.
She picked up her chopsticks again, took a bite of food from the table, glanced at Guo Baiwen sitting diagonally across from her, and unconsciously ate two more mouthfuls of rice.
I feel like I have a lot more to worry about in the future.
The meal tasted good, but Chen Zhonghua ate it without any enjoyment.
After paying for the meal, I left the restaurant and saw off the Guo family I had met by chance.
Once they could no longer see the group's backs, the Chen family prepared to take their belongings and head home.
The market was less crowded in the afternoon than in the morning. Most of the things that were supposed to be sold in the morning had already been sold, and the necessary items such as oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, needles, and thread had also been purchased.
It would be quite a while before they got back up the mountain, and Chen Youtian was about to ask Chen Zhonghua to carry the heavy things he was carrying.
Of the three people who had walked away, one suddenly turned back halfway.
Did you forget something?
He unconsciously stopped walking and turned to look at Grandma Guo, who was walking a few steps away.
Behind Grandma Guo, Guo Baiwen and Guo Xiaohua, who were still looking confused, stood obediently in place and waited.
Seeing this, Chen Zhonghua unconsciously took Chen Youtian's hand. For some reason, she had a strange premonition that she couldn't explain.
This premonition grew stronger as Grandma Guo drew closer.
Just as she reached them and was about to say something, Chen Zhonghua quickly waved her hand in advance, turned to look at Chen Baoyue standing beside him, who was peeking into the distance, and said softly, "Yueyue, Mother just remembered that we forgot to buy some tea on this trip."
"Go to the stalls up ahead and see if they still have any tea for sale. Your mother and father will wait for you here."
Chen Baoyue, without any suspicion, readily agreed to buy the tea, just as she noticed that her parents and Grandma Guo seemed to have something else to say.
So she wasn't curious, but her eyes lit up, and she couldn't help but ask, "Mother, after I buy the tea, can I wander around the market with the Guo siblings?"
Upon hearing this, Chen Zhonghua only sighed, then looked at Chen Baoyue with a helpless expression that Chen Baoyue couldn't understand.
Fortunately, that look didn't last long. Soon, her mother's gaze returned to the one she was used to, and she nodded with a hint of doting affection.
"Go ahead, go ahead."
"We'll leave before 1-3 PM, so don't forget the time while you're having fun."
Her response was a fleeting glimpse of Chen Baoyue's long braid, her cheerful voice still seemingly floating in the air, "I know!"
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