Chapter 121 Grandma Guo herself also felt...
The journey back was very smooth. Since I hadn't written home beforehand, no one came to the city gate to meet me.
When the carriage arrived at the gate of the house, after paying the remaining deposit, they pushed open the door and went inside. Everything in the courtyard was as before.
When they first rented this courtyard, the flowers and plants were growing in a rather messy way because no one took care of them. But over the years, thanks to their care during their spare time, they have managed to tidy it up quite a bit.
At this moment, whether it's osmanthus or any other flower, they are all growing lush and green, each carrying its own fragrance.
Guo Songwan was busy with Atao in her embroidery room when she saw her older brother and sister-in-law return. She was just about to look at the flowers and plants in the outer room to relax her eyes when she saw them return.
Maiduo spotted her with sharp eyes and waved happily, saying, "Auntie—Auntie!"
She quickly put down her needlework and came out to pour a bowl of warm water for him. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming back? We just had dinner at home."
There wasn't much left in the kitchen, so I quickly made a few bowls of boiled eggs with red dates and longan and served them to everyone.
"We just finished lunch. If I had known you were coming back today, I should have steamed more rice earlier."
This is all we have to eat right now.
Fortunately, none of the three were picky, and after washing their hands, they all picked up spoons.
"It's alright, we just ate some dry rations on the way, this is just what we need to tide us over."
But when this was mentioned, Guo Baiwen looked up at her and said, "Didn't you say you just set up your own embroidery workshop in Xiuning County? You don't need to take care of things there anymore?"
Since Grandma Guo opened a Guo's restaurant in Fucheng, her things have gradually moved over.
Guo Songwan was left to live alone in the courtyard in the south of the city. The space was large enough that she and Lin Niangzi hit it off immediately and turned the courtyard in the south of the city into a small embroidery workshop.
The original square house was divided into front and back yards by a moon gate. The front yard, which was closer to the main gate, was used to display embroidery products or to attract customers to come and order embroidery patterns.
The backyard is a place to attract girls who also want to learn embroidery. They can pay to enroll and learn on their own, or they can come and be apprentices for free, but they have to learn and work at the same time.
After completing their apprenticeship, they received better treatment than at the neighboring embroidery workshop. Although both workshops required apprentices to stay and help out for three to five years, she and Lin Niangzi opted for a 50/50 split rather than working for free at the neighboring workshop.
If you feel that the work here is good, after completing your apprenticeship, you can also become a full-fledged embroiderer and take on jobs in the embroidery workshop.
Because of this, originally only Atao from the Guo family came to the embroidery workshop to learn, but gradually, many other families besides Guo Family Village sent their daughters over.
After all, apprentices at the embroidery workshop are provided with two meals a day. Even if they don't end up becoming professional embroiderers, having another skill can make life much easier for their families.
By this year, the embroidery workshop now has more than a dozen embroiderers of all ages.
Fortunately, the Guo family and the Zhao family father and son had a good relationship, and they would help keep an eye on things during their patrols. In addition, carpenter Hu would come to pick up and drop off Lin Niangzi every day, so she was quite safe.
Guo Songwan, who had been watching Maiduo eat with her face in her hands, was taken aback when she heard her brother's question.
"It's not that I don't need to take care of it—" but just thinking about that matter gives me a terrible headache, so I might as well come to the prefectural city to find some peace and quiet.
At this point, Guo Songwan's ears unconsciously turned a little red.
Seeing her like this, Guo Baiwen subconsciously put down his spoon. "What happened?"
Last month, someone came to propose marriage to Guo Songwan. Grandma Guo has been asking her what she thinks about it, whether there is a family she likes or a family she wants to meet.
A marriage proposal?
This is the first time I've heard of this.
"Which family came to propose marriage?"
"I heard that you studied at Yangzheng Academy before, just like you, but you didn't take the imperial examination. Now you've inherited your family business and run a small business."
Unlike other people who are reluctant to discuss marriage, Grandma Guo told her about it almost immediately.
Actually, to be honest, Guo Songwan is not young anymore.
A few years ago, when she was only sixteen or seventeen, Guo Baiwen had just passed the imperial examination and become a scholar. People would often come to her door to ask if she was engaged.
However, Guo Songwan was somewhat resistant to the engagement, and although Grandma Guo found it a bit of a headache, she still refused.
When she turned twenty and Guo Baiwen still hadn't passed the imperial examination, the number of matchmakers coming to her door decreased significantly.
Until now—
There aren't many families that would allow her to choose to hide in the prefectural city for peace and quiet. As Guo Baiwen was pondering which former classmate it was, he heard Guo Songwan's next words.
"However, I don't really like this family."
"What's wrong? Is there something wrong with their family?"
"When Grandma returned to Xiuning County a few days ago, she heard that the family had asked Yang Qiaomai and the others about your chances of passing the provincial examination this time, and what your chances were." Guo Songwan clearly had some reservations about this.
"Why did he specifically choose this time, when you, my lord, are away taking the imperial examination, to propose marriage? Isn't it just to place his bet in advance?"
Just hearing the question made one feel uncomfortable.
Her brother is very capable, but she has now run her own embroidery workshop, and her annual income is much higher than that of Guo's workshop, which relies on small profits and quick turnover.
Even though she still had to share the profits with Madam Lin, she had managed to save up quite a bit of her own money over the years.
After things got better, more people wanted to arrange marriages for her.
Although Madam Lin and Carpenter Hu had a good relationship, and her own brother and sister-in-law also had a good relationship, who could be sure that the matchmaker who came to their door wasn't after her brother and her family's shops?
Grandma Guo even tried to persuade them, saying she was going to ask Grandma Sun to help find a family that was a good match for the Guo family.
However, after meeting several potential partners, they all had reservations about her plan to continue running her embroidery business after marriage.
“I think I’m living a good life now, so why are there so many people staring at me and talking about whether I’m married or not?”
Just hearing about it gives me a headache.
"And then, 'His family members would come to the embroidery shop every now and then, bringing this today and that tomorrow. The matter wasn't even settled yet, but it made people feel like the two families had already made a deal.'"
Grandma Guo initially thought she was a decent person, but after this incident, several neighbors were talking about it.
This seems like a forced sale. Regardless of whether they care whether Guo Baiwen can pass the imperial examination or not, this behavior just seems a bit unreliable.
So Grandma Guo simply let her give the embroidery workshop a half-month break and came to the prefectural city to find some peace and quiet.
Fortunately, we had prepared a lot of needles and thread for embroidery beforehand, so we could continue to do the work we had taken on before. We just needed to wait until it was finished and then ask someone to deliver it to Madam Lin.
"What they did was really too much."
A classmate surnamed Zhao?
The surname Zhao is a common surname in Xiuning County. There were at least a dozen people with the surname Zhao at Yangzheng Academy alone. But just mentioning it like that, he really couldn't remember who it was right away.
Guo Baiwen plans to find someone he knows well in the next day or two and ask them carefully.
But with Guo Songwan here, there's no rush to say these things.
He finished speaking so quickly. After taking a bite of the boiled egg with red dates and longan that was served, it was already a bit cold.
But it still tastes good. After all, aside from anything else, there's a lot of sugar in it, making it very sweet.
Maiduo had already finished her own portion and was now staring longingly at the bowl in Guo Baiwen's hand.
He had been talking to Guo Songwan the whole time, so he ate slowly, and there was still a little less than half a bowl left.
"You can't eat anymore, eating too much will cause indigestion." I don't know why Maiduo has such a good appetite. Her eyes are bigger than her stomach. Even if she can't eat anymore, she will still look at herself and want to stuff some more into her stomach.
After finally managing to calm things down, Grandma Guo returned with the groceries she had bought. As soon as she entered the door and heard Guo Baiwen's voice, she couldn't help but widen her eyes in surprise, "Wen-zai is back?"
"Didn't they usually come back in September?"
Why did you come back so early this time? Did you not do well on the exam?
Grandma Guo's heart sank. Thinking back to how Wenzai looked when he failed the exams the previous two times, she had already planned how to comfort him.
Unexpectedly, when they turned around and saw Guo Baiwen's expression, they realized that it wasn't the case.
"Grandma, I'll come back first and go over to see the results on the day they're posted."
"Oh, that's good! That's good too!" Grandma Guo originally wanted to wait another half a month before she could see her son Wenzai, since Wenzai never looked too good when he came back from the provincial examinations.
She had heard from those around her how difficult the provincial examination was, and knew that many people took three years and then another three years without producing a successful candidate.
Seeing that Guo Baiwen's face was much thinner than before he left, she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. "Are you hungry? Grandma will cook something delicious for you tonight!"
"Grandma, there's no need to go to so much trouble. I already arranged with the restaurant when I came back, and they'll deliver the food to your door in a little while."
Upon hearing this, Grandma Guo's tone turned sour. "Grandma is right here at home, what's the point of spending all that money?"
"Or is it that you've grown tired of Grandma's cooking and no longer find her appealing?"
"Grandma! How could that be! I just saw you were busy every day and wanted to let you take a good rest! You've misunderstood!"
Upon hearing this, Grandma Guo's complexion improved considerably. She put down the basket she was carrying and said, "Never mind, it's good to be able to rest. We don't have much firewood left at home today, so it's fine to eat at a restaurant occasionally."
At this point, she seemed to remember something and continued, "Did you know that someone came to our house a while ago to propose marriage to Xiaohua?"
Xiao Hua has now changed her name to Song Wan, but Grandma Guo is used to calling her by that name and still calls her Xiao Hua from time to time.
Fortunately, they're family, so it's not a big deal to call them by their nicknames.
“That family—really,” Grandma Guo thought for a long time but couldn’t think of a suitable adjective, and finally just managed to say, “You should ask around and see if there’s anything wrong with them.”
"It would be even better if we could find a legitimate reason to reject them directly."
This is actually the most troublesome thing. Originally, it was just a private matter. As long as the two families didn't talk about it, there wouldn't be any problem.
In the past, whether it was matchmaking or simply arranging a meeting, it was mostly the same thing.
But this time, everyone around knows about the situation. If it doesn't work out, I wonder what the neighbors will say about Xiaohua.
But what if, in the end, it really does become a reality because of this...
Regardless of what Xiaohua thought, Grandma Guo herself felt uncomfortable.
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