Chapter 122 Rumors are circulating about the two families…
Guo Baiwen had only agreed to privately assess the other party's character yesterday.
As a result, not long after they got up today, a family who were having dinner in the lobby suddenly heard someone banging on the door.
Is anyone home?
Grandma Guo asked curiously, "Who could it be so early?"
Everyone shook their heads, realizing that none of them had made prior arrangements with anyone.
Only when the doorman came in a panic, saying that someone had brought a lot of things to the door, did everyone get up from the lobby and head towards the door.
When they arrived at the front yard, Mr. Zhao, who was unaware that Guo Baiwen had returned the day before, was criticizing the tea that the cook had hastily served.
"Even though Master Guo has moved to the city, why is he still serving guests the same kind of flower tea that's commonly used in the countryside?"
Sitting next to him, Young Master Zhao advised, "It seems your family doesn't drink tea much. This taste isn't entirely unpalatable."
Upon hearing this, Boss Zhao was about to nitpick something more, but before he could even open his mouth, he saw Guo Baiwen following closely behind Grandma Guo.
He immediately stood up from his seat, "Oh, Master Guo! I didn't know you were home today. This visit is rather unexpected."
One shouldn't hit a smiling face, so Guo Baiwen politely returned the gesture, saying, "It's alright, it's alright."
After just one glance, Guo Songwan, who was originally following behind Guo Baiwen, looked rather unpleasant.
I finally made it all the way from Xiuning County to the prefectural city, but these annoying people still came looking for me from the county town.
I have no idea how they found the location of their new home; it's a bit of a headache just thinking about it.
Chen Baoyue glanced at her quickly, then pretended not to notice and picked up Maiduo, who was bouncing along beside her. "Huh? Maiduo, why are your clothes dirty here?"
“Your aunt just made you a new dress recently, let’s go see your new clothes together.”
After saying that, he carried Mai Duo in one arm and pulled Guo Songwan with the other, and quickly went to the backyard.
Zhao Gongzi, who had originally wanted to greet Guo Songwan, was left watching the three of them leave with a regretful expression. Just as he was about to raise his hand to stop them, he was nudged by the elbow of Boss Zhao beside him.
Suppressing the urge to cry out in pain, he reluctantly lowered his hand.
Besides the Zhao father and son, there was also an unfamiliar old woman who came this time.
Guo Baiwen didn't recognize her, but Grandma Guo looked at her very well. "Old Wang, what brings you here today?"
"Oh my—this is for the momentous occasion of your two families!"
"A momentous occasion?"
They had no idea what happy event it was.
Grandma Guo had a premonition that Granny Wang was going to say something, and was just about to change the subject when someone suddenly arrived at the front door.
They were originally two vendors who delivered ingredients to Guo's shop in Fucheng every day. Because the new shop in Fucheng was not big, they usually washed and processed the vegetables and meat in the yard and then had Mao Mao pull the cart to deliver the goods.
Mr. Zhao and his group arrived suddenly, and the gatekeeper had just rushed in to inform them, so the front door was left open.
When the two of them, along with their young servants, dragged their belongings through the door, they realized that quite a few people from the Guo family had come today, as if they were discussing something important.
"Oh dear, this—", several people made a move to leave through the door first.
Before they could take two steps, Grandma Guo called out to them, "Excuse me, you can wait here for a moment, it will be ready soon."
Seeing that the Guo family still had things to do, Wang Pozi, who had come to act as matchmaker, stopped beating around the bush and directly revealed the purpose of the Zhao family's visit. She then went on to praise the Zhao family for being wealthy and generous.
Upon hearing this, Guo Baiwen realized that the person opposite him was the Zhao family who had previously wanted to marry his younger sister. His eyes involuntarily darted back and forth between the young master Zhao and the other man.
It must be said that his memory is quite good.
In front of everyone, they finally managed to find out the identity of the person opposite them.
When Guo Baiwen was studying at the private school, he had a classmate surnamed Zhao who was the son of the steward of the Zhao family. When they were on good terms, he mentioned that his son was studying in the second class of the private school.
He later entered the academy, and although he didn't see him often, he had heard some of the 'deeds' of this young master Zhao from other classmates.
...That might be a bit unreliable.
Young Master Zhao was clearly unaware that Guo Baiwen had remembered him. At this moment, he still maintained the airs of a scholar, politely bowing to Grandma Guo and Guo Baiwen.
Judging from his current appearance, he could be described as a handsome and talented man.
The Zhao family, salt merchants from the East Market of Xiuning County, were wealthy. This time, Mr. Zhao specially brought twenty taels of betrothal gifts, a piece of brocade, and two pairs of gold hairpins to visit the Guo family, all in order to propose marriage to Guo Songwan.
Wang Pozi, the matchmaker, felt that this marriage couldn't be better, and immediately said sweetly, "Master Guo will be a prominent figure in the future, and my sister will enjoy endless wealth and honor after marrying into the family! My master said that after the marriage, Miss Songwan will be in charge of the household, and she can choose any maids and servants she wants."
Upon hearing this, Guo Baiwen looked troubled. Although the Zhao family was wealthy, they had always been known as "rich but heartless" among many of his classmates at the academy.
Although it's just something said in private, it might be a case of "three men make a tiger," and it's not necessarily true.
But he had once been on good terms with his classmate Zhao. When they ate together in private, he had mentioned a few times that his son, Zhao, was not fond of reading but liked to frequent brothels.
By any measure, they don't seem like a good match.
Moreover—Guo Songwan clearly doesn't like this Young Master Zhao.
So Guo Baiwen chose to speak frankly, saying, "Marriage should be based on character, not wealth. Your son's habit of frequenting brothels is probably unfair to my sister."
Before Boss Zhao could even refute these words, Young Master Zhao instinctively sat up as if struck by a heavy blow and retorted, "How did you know?"
This question is tantamount to admitting guilt without being asked.
Even though Young Master Zhao realized he had misspoke after asking the question, everyone had already heard it, and trying to find a way to make amends seemed rather futile.
Knowing that the marriage was unlikely to happen, Granny Wang originally wanted to try to mediate.
But when met with Grandma Guo's dismissive snort, he opened and closed his mouth a few times, but ultimately couldn't say anything to smooth things over.
"In that case, please find another marriage alliance with your family."
Upon hearing this, Boss Zhao could no longer maintain his smile. His face turned ashen, and he slammed the door shut as he left, taking with him all the betrothal gifts he had brought with him.
Granny Wang had no idea that the young master of the Zhao family was of such character; he seemed perfectly fine when they first met.
Oh dear, I'm afraid I've made a wasted trip today. I wonder if the Zhao family will still be willing to pay her the matchmaking fee.
It really is!
Seeing that the people who had suddenly arrived had all left in a hurry, the group of people who had just come to deliver goods looked at each other, never expecting that they would get such a big piece of gossip on the spot just by delivering goods.
After Grandma Guo settled the bill for the ingredients, before they could even ask if they wanted a bowl of tea before leaving, everyone took their leave with their belongings.
Although others noticed that their marriage had fallen through, when Grandma Guo told Guo Songwan about it, they both felt it wasn't a big deal, considering that the other party was the Zhao family, who had been pestering them all along.
After all, the failure of this marriage was entirely Zhao Gongzi's own fault.
Rather, it's more accurate to say that this matter has finally been resolved, and her embroidery workshop, which had been resting in Xiuning County for almost half a month, can now resume normal operations.
That evening, Guo Songwan began packing her luggage to go home.
Ah Tao was also very happy. Although the city was nice, it was still more lively to work in the embroidery workshop when everyone was together.
Grandma Guo was also very happy. Some time ago, the Zhao family frequently came to the shops and home in Xiuning County to deliver things or bump into each other. The neighbors all had something to say about this.
She thought about it carefully and realized that she hadn't been back for a long time anyway. Since Guo Baiwen's provincial examination results hadn't come out yet, it wouldn't hurt for the young couple to look after the shop for a while.
This trip is perfect; I can go back with Guo Songwan and stay for a few days. If we have extra time, we can also go to Guojia Village to buy some more coarse cloth.
This kind of fabric is perfect for making uniforms for shop assistants.
Compared to Guo Songwan's eagerness, Grandma Guo still had many things to tell him and make arrangements for.
I was thinking of staying two days later, but we only have this one donkey at home, and it wouldn't be worth it to rent a car just to go back.
So, although it was a little late by half a day, the Guo family's donkey cart still set off on time the following morning.
Accompanying them were two young apprentices from Guo's shop in Fucheng.
Fortunately, with the help of Guo Baiwen and Chen Baoyue at the shop in Fucheng, the daily work in the shop was not completely overwhelming.
Today too.
After finally finishing his day's business, Guo Baiwen was carrying the leftover ingredients for hot pot when he got home and was about to cook something simple when he saw Grandma Guo and Guo Songwan at his doorstep.
"Why are you back so soon?"
Didn't we agree to stay in Xiuning County for a few more days?
Including the time spent traveling to and from the destination, I only stayed for three days at most, right?
And didn't Guo Songwan say she was going back to take care of her embroidery shop business? Why did she come back with Grandma Guo?
He had many more questions to ask, but when he saw the way the two of them turned around, he was shocked. "What's going on here?!"
They all looked like they had just been crying, not to mention Grandma Guo, who was still unconsciously wiping away tears from the corners of her eyes!
Guo Baiwen's heart sank. He took two steps forward and looked at them, asking, "What happened?"
Guo Songwan's voice trembled with tears as she spoke, but she managed to explain the whole story, albeit haltingly.
It turned out that after the Zhao family's marriage proposal was rejected, Boss Zhao harbored resentment. When they arrived in Xiuning County a few days ago, they saw people pointing and whispering at the door before they even entered the house.
At the time, they didn't know what was going on. It wasn't until Chen Zhonghua visited them a day later to ask them what was happening that they learned that rumors had been circulating in the streets of Xiuning County just two days prior, saying that—
"Guo Baiwen accepted twenty taels of betrothal gifts and a brocade hairpin from the Zhao family and had already set a wedding date for his younger sister. However, the Guo family felt that they had a good chance of passing the provincial examination and looked down on the merchants. Instead, they wanted to curry favor with the Zhang family, the clerks in the prefectural city, and forcibly broke off the engagement!"
The rumors grew increasingly outlandish, and by the time they reached Chen Zhonghua's ears, they included details such as "Guo Baiwen is a snob" and "the Guo family accepted the bride price and refused to return it."
Even when Grandma Guo wanted to take an oxcart to Guo Family Village to buy cloth, the villagers asked her with some skepticism, "Grandma Guo, are you really planning to break off your granddaughter's good marriage so she can marry an official?"
Hearing such a question, Grandma Guo was almost driven to the brink of madness, let alone Guo Songwan, who was the person involved in the rumor.
You want to argue but don't know who to talk to. You can't just randomly find a street corner and shout out what happened to a passerby, can you?
No way! They'll say something like the Guo family's daughter went insane because she took the initiative to break off the engagement!
So, both angry and anxious, they didn't even pack their luggage before taking the car back to the prefectural city.
Fortunately, these bizarre news haven't reached the prefectural city yet. But knowing her reputation is bad, Guo Songwan has given up on her embroidery workshop. Atao tried to persuade her for several days, but all she could see was her hiding in her room weeping.
Seeing his grandmother and sister looking aggrieved, Guo Baiwen naturally felt very indignant.
The Zhao family dared to pull such a stunt because they knew the Guo family was poor, powerless, and could only suffer in silence!
Since that's the case, going directly to the Zhao family to argue isn't a good idea. Boss Zhao could even just push it onto the people in the city, since it's just a rumor and nobody knows where it came from!
What a scoundrel!
But this matter cannot be let go so easily!
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