Zhou Quan shook his head with a helpless bitter smile, "How could that be? I didn't know your family situation was like this. I should have asked before. Now I feel that marrying me is a bit of a disservice to you."
"Given my circumstances, I can't give you the happiness a normal man can provide, I..."
“I’ve thought about it. Until my leg heals, I’ll go sleep with my second brother to preserve your reputation. If you ever want to leave, I’ll give you a divorce certificate.” Zhou Quan felt that this was the only promise he could make to her and the only thing he could do for her at the moment.
Li Mai chuckled, "Have you thought about how your parents and family feel? What will they think of me if they know we sleep in separate rooms? Have you thought about what the villagers will say about me when I go out?"
I suppose people in this era would also value these things, right?
If even a paralyzed man is unwilling to rest in the same room as the new bride, could it be that there's something wrong with the bride?
"ah?"
Zhou Quan was stunned. He hadn't expected it to be so complicated. In this situation, shouldn't people usually feel indignant on behalf of Li Mai, who had married a paralyzed man like him?
"Whether we share a room or not is none of my concern. What I do think is that to prevent your family from worrying about you, it would be best if we didn't share a room. Didn't you yourself say that you can't do anything to me, so why would you worry about my reputation?"
“From the moment I learned about this marriage and decided to respect my grandmother’s last wish to marry into this family, I considered every possibility. So, for at least the next three years, I will not leave this home or your side. We’ll talk about the future after you get back on your feet.”
When Zhou Quan heard Li Mai say this, he stared at her blankly again. He felt relieved that she had said this. She was a sensible girl who knew how to do what was best for everyone.
But why did a dull feeling rise in his heart again?
"Thank you!" He uttered only these two words in the end.
Li Mai smiled at him, thinking that this could be considered an agreement between them.
...
At the hour of You (5-7 PM), Zhou Lin and Zhou Lei carried a chair over to take Zhou Quan away, and Li Mai followed them to the main room in the middle to perform the wedding ceremony.
Farmers don't have many customs. Since the groom had already lifted the veil in the bridal chamber, he didn't put it back on. Zhou Tao took a round fan from her trunk and gave it to Li Mai. Li Mai then used the fan to partially cover her face and held the wedding ceremony with Zhou Quan.
Afterwards, Li Mai was accompanied by Zhou Tao and Zhu Zhu to the adjacent bridal chamber to talk and rest. Zhou Quan was left behind to accompany the elders to the banquet and to toast and thank the elders who had come to witness his wedding.
Although the Zhou family hadn't seen Li Mai's full appearance, they had gotten a general idea and knew that their eldest daughter-in-law was indeed as beautiful as Xiao Tao had described. They were all delighted, but at the same time, they felt a little sad for their eldest son.
The two look very well-matched, but it's a pity about the eldest son's legs!
The Zhou clan patriarch, who is seventy-two years old this year, looked at Zhou Quan with great sadness and said regretfully, "Xiao Quan should have been living such a happy life, but alas, fate is unfair!"
Uncle Zhou sighed and nodded, "Who says otherwise? We thought Xiaoquan's life would end like this, but we never expected him to have such a good wife."
Zhou Wuye nodded, "Yes, Xiaoquan, you'd better treat this wife well, otherwise if she runs away, your family will lose both people and money."
I heard that the betrothal gift was ten taels of silver, which completely emptied the family's coffers. Those ten taels were earned by Xiaoquan with his own two legs.
Zhou Quan listened silently to his elders and nodded, "Yes, Great-Grandpa, Second-Grandpa, Fifth-Grandpa, I will treat her well."
Zhao told them to talk and prepared to go to the kitchen to prepare the meal, but Zhou Quan called out to stop her.
"Mother, wait a minute, I need to tell you something."
Zhao stopped, turned to look at him, and asked softly, "What's wrong? Did your wife make any requests?"
Zhou Quan shook his head. "No, I talked to her for a while and asked about her family situation. Does your mother know anything about her family situation?"
Zhao nodded. "Yes, I know. She has no parents, only a grandmother who is over sixty years old. I was thinking that after you two get married, I would have Xiaolin bring her grandmother to live with us so that we can take care of her."
"Doesn't Mother know about her grandmother's passing?" Zhou Quan asked softly.
Zhao was stunned, her face instantly changing. "What? Her grandmother is gone? When? Your Aunt Zhou didn't say anything!"
Zhou Quan sighed softly, "Just as I thought."
“Three days ago, the day after our marriage certificate was signed, she took poison and attempted suicide. I guess she had arranged with Aunt Zhou not to let us know, and I guess her grandmother didn’t want to be a burden to her.”
"She had no idea about this marriage agreement. She fell into a coma the day her grandmother had the accident and only woke up at noon today. But the feng shui master said that she wouldn't wake up until her grandmother was buried. So the clan chief of the Li family led the villagers to bury her grandmother this morning."
As Zhou Quan said this, his fists were clenched tightly. He felt sad for Li Mai and also felt sorry for her.
Even if they heard that it was a stranger who had encountered such a thing, they would still feel sorry for her. How much more so when it was the experience of their own daughter-in-law that had happened to her today. Zhao's eyes instantly reddened.
The Zhou family elders were even more incredulous, saying, "We didn't even know about this."
Zhou Quan said softly, "I guess Li Mai's grandmother begged Aunt Zhou to come back and not say anything, because she was afraid we would dislike Li Mai because of it."
Zhao sniffed. "How could we possibly look down on this? We know, we should go and lend a hand."
"Xiaomai was unconscious for three days, so she probably didn't eat anything. We even fed her dumplings. Won't she get an upset stomach? Oh dear, how come we didn't know anything beforehand?"
“This morning, your Aunt Zhou came to ask me if I wanted to go and welcome the new bride back. I thought I'd let her try, since Xiaomai is nineteen and there's only an old woman there. Mother felt that the sooner she came back to our home, the better, so she agreed.”
"At the time, I was thinking that if I could bring you back, I would let you get married today. If I couldn't bring you back, I would go with your aunt another day."
As she spoke, Zhao looked apologetically at her son.
Zhou Quan sighed, "Thank you, Mother. She didn't say she felt unwell. Now that we've brought her back, let's leave it at that. From now on, we'll treat her better. Another day, I'll accompany her to visit her grandmother's grave."
“Then let’s go on the seventh day after his death. Mother, please make some preparations, and our whole family will go,” Zhao said softly.
"Alright, then I'll trouble Mother to make the preparations," Zhou Quan said softly.
"It's no trouble at all. As long as you two are doing well in the future, it's worth it for your mother to work a little harder." After saying that, Zhao Shi hurried to the kitchen to prepare the meal.
Zhou Lin and Zhou Lei quickly went to help.
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