It was just dawn when Mr. Zhang got up in the morning. Ah Ruan, who was boiling water in the hall, was stunned by his early rising.
You know, ever since Zhang sold his land and prepared to move to the county, he has become even lazier, acting like a master who is about to live a rich and prosperous life.
It's early spring and it's still a little cold in the morning.
As soon as Zhang came out of the inner room, the cold air hit him in the face. He shivered and wrapped his clothes tightly around himself. He frowned unhappily and muttered, "When will this hot and cold weather end?"
When she caught a glimpse of Ah Ruan sitting in the main room burning a fire amid the smoke, Zhang couldn't hold back her anger anymore and shouted in dissatisfaction, "Why isn't the water hot yet? I didn't raise you to be a lazy young master at home!"
A Ruan showed no expression even though he was being scolded for no reason. He just lowered his head and continued to add firewood to the bottom of the pot.
Zhang looked at his submissive appearance with his head lowered, and she became more and more unhappy. It was like a fist full of strength hitting soft cotton. He didn't feel any pain, but you felt a blockage in your chest and couldn't breathe, it was so aggrieved.
Zhang would rather have Ah Ruan stand up and say something to him so that he could take the opportunity to get angry and scold her, but the other party was a mute who could not say a word.
Zhang mumbled for a few words, and when she saw that Ah Ruan didn't respond, she slowly lost interest, turned around and walked away in annoyance, still muttering, "Useless thing, it would have been better for you to die of illness. You're just a burden if you're alive. ... If you can't get married, I'll sell you to someone as a servant, and you expect me to support you for the rest of your life?"
He didn't lower his voice, as if he wanted to say it deliberately for someone to hear.
Ah Ruan lowered his eyes, pursed his pale lips, and tightened his hands holding the dry firewood involuntarily until his palms were hurt by the firewood. Only then did he loosen his hands, bent his stiff back, and slowly let out a breath of depression.
Zhang didn't care how Ah Ruan reacted to this, she lifted the curtain and went back to the inner room.
The reason why he got up early today was because the wife that Li Bingren told A'ruan yesterday would come to visit him today.
Zhang couldn't help but curl her lips, thinking that the other party was just a poor man, what was there to see? Was he afraid of being at a disadvantage? He didn't even despise the other party because he was a poor scholar and couldn't afford a few taels of silver as a betrothal gift.
If someone hadn't persuaded him that his daughter would pursue a career in government, and if word got out that his brother was a prostitute, it would be embarrassing, so he would have wanted to sell Ah Ruan to a brothel. After all, the money she would get would be more than what she would get from promising her to a poor scholar.
But in order to avoid giving people a chance to gossip about her daughter's success in the imperial examination, Zhang still felt that if she married off A'ruan, no matter how much money she made, the married son would have nothing to do with her. Even if her Zhang family prospered in the future, A'ruan would have nothing to do with her.
His daughter, the top scholar in the imperial examination, refuses to recognize her mute brother.
Zhang felt that she had done her best by raising him until now.
Zhang went back to her room and took a nap. When she woke up, A'ruan had already prepared the meal.
Zhang sat down at the table, reached out to take the only boiled egg in the bowl, cracked it gently, and peeled it carefully.
A thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl was sitting next to him. Seeing his slow movements, she frowned and tapped the rim of the bowl in front of her with her chopsticks, impatiently urging him, "Daddy, peel them faster. I want to eat eggs."
Zhang heard these dissatisfied words, but Feifan was not angry. Instead, she smiled and coaxed softly, "Don't worry, don't worry. Daddy will peel them for you so that you don't eat the eggshell."
He is already a grown man, but he is still like a child, not eating properly. He just waits to eat the egg, but he refuses to peel it. But it was not easy for the Zhang family to have a daughter, so the whole family doted on her very much.
The Zhang family is not a wealthy family, and having an egg every morning is already a pretty good thing. Of course, this good thing belonged to Zhang Youyao, the only daughter of the Zhang family, from beginning to end, and had nothing to do with A Ruan who was drinking porridge in silence.
Not to mention eggs, even the steamed bread on the plate, A'ruan ate one extra, and Zhang wanted to pinch him to death with her eyelids.
When the three members of the Zhang family were eating, they sat next to each other and were very affectionate. They usually didn't ask if A'ruan, who was sitting opposite them, was full, or talk to him, as if they didn't even notice him.
But today, Zhang Shi seemed to be a little abnormal since he woke up early in the morning. Not only did he talk to A Ruan, he also asked him to find some clean clothes to wear later. "When someone comes to the house later, you should go out and see them. Don't dress like a beggar."
In the past, when there were guests at home, Zhang would want to send A'ruan away and not let him get close to others, so as to prevent him from bringing shame to the Zhang family.
But today, he was asked to go out and meet guests?
Thinking back to what Zhang said in the morning about selling him, A'ruan's face turned pale, and his fingers holding the bowl trembled uncontrollably. The coolness of the bowl went from his fingertips to his heart, and his lips trembled from the cold.
Ah Ruan felt cold all over. He calmly put down the bowl that he could barely hold. He pinched his palm with his fingertips to make himself look less trembling, then raised his hand to gesture:
——Then should we cook more food for lunch?
Zhang sneered, "You still expect me to keep them a meal? No need."
After receiving this reply, A Ruan felt relieved. If the person who came was a boy, Zhang would definitely be more attentive and her tone would be more flattering. Zhang was always enthusiastic about things that could make money.
Zhang asked A'ruan to find some nice clothes, but no one would buy him new clothes all year round. What he wore on weekdays were just the clothes that Zhang didn't want anymore. He searched over and over again, but couldn't find any clothes suitable to wear to meet guests.
A Ruan didn't care about these things. Not to mention clean clothes, he even wanted to pick some ashes from the bottom of the pot and smear it on his face.
If the person who came was not a human boy, then A Ruan could probably guess who it could be. Zhang has been trying to arrange a marriage for him recently, and the other party might be here to meet him.
Zhang was eager to marry A'ruan off, so that she wouldn't have to find another husband if the current marriage failed. He didn't give A'ruan the opportunity to smear the dirt on his face. He went back to the room and gave him the clothes that he had only worn twice and felt that the color was too plain.
Zhang only wore this dress twice and washed it once. If others hadn't said that the dress looked plain, he would have been reluctant to give it to A'ruan.
While Zhang was watching A'ruan changing clothes, Li Bing and the Wei family arrived.
Zhang Da was sitting in the main room talking to them. There was no reluctance in his words to marry off his son. After a few polite words, he changed the subject to the betrothal gift.
From her tone, Wei Min felt that it didn't sound like she was marrying off her son, but rather like she was selling an inanimate object.
The matter of marriage was discussed by Li Bingren and Zhang Da, with Sun adding to the discussion. The two sisters Wei Lian and Wei Min just sat there and listened, unable to get a word in.
The hall was quiet for a moment until Zhang came out holding A'ruan's wrist.
The young man has a handsome appearance, waist-length hair and a clean temperament. His eyebrows are lowered, and his long eyelashes cover his eyes. He looks like a person led out of an ink painting. He is gentle and quiet. Just standing there without saying a word is enough to make people unable to take their eyes away.
When Sun saw A'ruan's appearance, her guilt was alleviated a little.
A young man with this appearance is not only inferior to the youngest son of the Chen family, but even the young masters of wealthy families in the county may not be as handsome as him. No wonder the Zhang family's husband wanted to sell him to a brothel.
Wei Min wanted to behave like a gentleman and just take a quick look at her future husband's appearance and then look away, but after taking one look, he couldn't help but take a couple more glances.
It was not until the other person seemed to sense her gaze and looked over here that Wei Min hurriedly withdrew her gaze in a concealed manner, lowered her eyelids and looked at her hands that were placed on her knees and couldn't help but tighten, and restrained her gaze from looking at her future husband, so as not to offend him.
The students studying in Luoyu Academy were of both genders. She had met many young masters from wealthy families, of all kinds, but she had never felt this nervous. It was like there was a rabbit in her heart, bumping around restlessly, making her ears hot and her heartbeat quicken. She was also always worried that she was not sitting properly and would leave a bad impression on her future husband.
When Li Bing saw Wei Min like this, he knew that the matter was settled.
Zhang was very satisfied with everyone's impression of A'ruan, but instead of asking him to sit down and entertain the guests, she dragged him back to the inner room.
Seeing Zhang holding A'ruan's hand, people who didn't know the truth might have thought that the two were very close. In fact, he was just holding A'ruan's hand to prevent him from raising his hand to gesture and letting the poor scholar know that he was a mute.
Wei Min had been a relatively stable person since childhood, and Wei Lian had rarely seen her so emotional. She immediately guessed that her sister must be extremely satisfied with the young man.
Both families were very satisfied, and the next step was to discuss the marriage.
The Zhang family asked for a small dowry and also made it very clear that A'ruan was not their biological son and that his biological parents had not left him a dowry. In the final analysis, it just expresses one thing, that is, when the Zhang family married off their son, there was no dowry.
The Zhang family was not really marrying off their son, but rather preparing to "sell" him for just three taels of silver and a little betrothal gift.
As a matchmaker, Li Bingren had seen a lot of things regarding marriages and finding husbands, but when he heard Zhang talking about money all the time, he felt heartbroken for A'ruan who was locked in the room.
Wei Min asked for five days off. The two families calculated the date and saw that it was an auspicious day two days later, so they simply set the date for two days later and came to carry the body away.
In fact, according to Zhang's idea, she wanted the Wei family to take A'ruan away when they returned, so that he wouldn't have to hang red lanterns on the door.
You can't get much money from marrying off your son. On the contrary, it costs a lot of money to hold a wedding banquet and invite people to dinner. Zhang is not willing to do such a losing business.
He didn't care whether A Ruan agreed to marry or not, nor did he look at his gesturing hands. When two days were up, he pushed and shoved her into the bridal sedan and had her carried away.
The author has something to say: Wei Min: I just met you and my heart is broken to pieces~ovo
————
Let me tell you guys, A Ruan is indeed unable to speak now, but when Wei Min becomes an official in the future and has the conditions, maybe he will be cured (/▽╲)
Wei Min: It’s okay if you don’t say anything. From now on, I will tell you all the sweet words.
Thanks kangraroo for the grenade
Thank you Ling Qianye for the grenade
Love you~(* ￣3)(ε￣ *)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
