Chapter 85
"Uncle?"
Shu Shouyi had heard of this word before; his best friend in Wupai Village was his uncle.
If Uncle Xun were to become Uncle... Shu Shouyi nodded firmly; he was willing!
Upon receiving Shu Shouyi's approval, Xun Yi was naturally overjoyed.
When Shu Wanxiu saw him in the evening, she immediately understood that the deal had been made.
Two days ago, Shu Yanrong personally came to Wupai Village to reply to Shu Wanxiu, informing her that the marriage was feasible.
So, as the sun set and a gentle breeze blew, Xun Yi cautiously lowered his head and asked, "May I now propose marriage?"
Although Shu Wanxiu's face was flushed, she nodded shyly.
Xun Yi felt light as a feather from head to toe. In his previous life, he had never experienced a moment of joy that surpassed this.
Overjoyed, his eyes even welled up with tears.
Unafraid of being laughed at, Xun Yi gathered all the necessary tools for the marriage proposal in a single day.
When it comes to proposing marriage, it's no longer possible to do it secretly.
So he happily invited Lin Xinghua, the matchmaker, along with Pang Zhishan and Chen Sanhe, to go up the mountain in a grand manner.
Meanwhile, Shu Wanxiu had invited two close elders, Shu Yanrong and Xu Zhen, to oversee things early in the morning.
With the help of a matchmaker, the two parties successfully exchanged their birth dates and times.
Pang Zhishan led Xun Yi to Fayuan Temple, the most popular temple in the county, and asked the highly respected abbot to perform a divination for the two of them.
This step involves marriage compatibility analysis.
Xun Yi hadn't slept a wink the night before.
He was on edge, having prepared for the worst before he came—if his birth dates didn't match, or if the divination results weren't satisfactory, he would pretend that no calculation had been done.
He's determined to marry Shu Wanxiu!
The abbot looked him over carefully, then used his birth date and time to calculate for a while, and finally recited a Buddhist chant before handing him a pair of divination blocks.
It wasn't a heavy object, but Xun Yi felt it weighed a ton when he held it in his hand.
He bent his knees and knelt on the prayer mat, and heard the old abbot's voice coming from afar.
"You must be sincere and tell the Buddha what you want before you throw the divination blocks."
His eyelids trembled several times before he could barely close them, and cold sweat trickled down his hair in strands.
Finally, with a crisp "thud!" the divination stick landed on the ground.
When Pang Zhishan was young, he did not believe in these things. As he grew older, he could not be said to be a devout believer, but he no longer rejected them.
Xun Yi's tense expression and actions made him inexplicably break out in a sweat, and he leaned out to look at the divination symbol on the ground.
As the two waited with bated breath and anticipation, the old abbot stroked his long beard and announced the divination result with a smile.
"—Great fortune."
Everything went very smoothly from then on.
He swiftly presented the betrothal gifts and then privately discussed with Shu Wanxiu the month they wanted to set the wedding date, asking a fortune teller to select an auspicious day.
The rice plants have flowered, and the rice ears have changed from shriveled to plump.
The rice has passed its water-thirsty period, and not only is there no need to add water to the fields, but the moisture should be controlled as much as possible and the fields should be dried out.
Indeed, after months of hard work, the rice has grown into a plump and golden variety, and it is time to harvest.
My uncle's family owns a lot of land, so he still can't come to Wupai Village to help.
This time, however, Shu Wanxiu had a tall and strong helper.
The couple has now set their wedding date, which will be after the autumn harvest.
Xun Yi had no elders in the clan and did not have to do farm work at home, so it was only natural for him to come to the Shu family's fields to help his future wife with farm work.
The villagers of Wupai are simple and honest. Although they might make some jokes when they see this, they don't gossip or spread rumors.
The aunts had once advised Shu Wanxiu that having a man in the family would make life easier.
Shu Wanxiu didn't understand at the time, so she didn't take it to heart.
Only now did she realize how much effort it saved—Xun Yi had finished harvesting four rows of rice, while she had only just finished harvesting the second row.
After a sigh of resignation, she reluctantly went to the edge of the paddy field to pour out some water.
"Brother Xun, please rest and have some water."
"Thank you." Xun Yi straightened up and drank a bowl of wine in one gulp, then wiped the sweat from his brow with the handkerchief draped around his neck. "The sun is too strong. You should take Shouyi home and cook."
Shu Wanxiu glanced at the sky, but before she could offer her opinion, a chuckle came from beside her.
Lin Xinghua put down her sickle and laughed so hard she covered her stomach with one hand.
"You little rascal Xun!" She pointed at Xun Yi with two fingers.
"Does loving your wife have to be this much? Shu'er left home at 5:45 AM, and it's not even half past 9:00 AM yet. Even if you count to the maximum, she's only been out for less than two hours! She's barely finished eating breakfast! And you're already making her go home to make lunch?"
Her voice was incredibly loud, prompting another auntie nearby to chime in, "That's just how it is! It's only young men who know how to care for others!"
The two blushed deeply. Shu Wanxiu hurriedly put the bowl of water that Xun Yi had finished drinking back on the ridge of the field, changed her bending over to squatting, and hid her whole body behind the lush rice seedlings, silently cutting the rice one handful at a time.
Xun Yi smiled, his face flushed.
With the wedding day fast approaching, he was much more generous than when he first went to the Shu family to propose marriage.
Once the laughter subsided, he quietly put down his sickle, went to the edge of the field to wash the earthenware bowl he had just used to dredge water, poured a level bowl of water, walked into the field, and carefully squatted down to present it to Shu Wanxiu.
Why don't you drink it yourself?
Shu Wanxiu's face was still flushed.
She stretched her head out like a turtle and quickly glanced at the outside of the rice seedlings.
Seeing that Lin Xinghua and the aunt who had spoken earlier had both gone back to harvesting rice, she said in a low voice, "I...I'm not that thirsty."
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