The magistrate's wife laughed and said, "That's because she hasn't been exposed to good things."
Upon hearing this, Grandma Ye and Madam Du perked up.
Grandma Ye asked, "What do you mean by that?"
The magistrate's wife, holding a cup of tea, said, "You're all from the village, and the people you've found are all roughnecks. You've even praised a poor, pedantic scholar to the skies. What good can you possibly have?"
Upon hearing this, Madam Du chuckled: "That's right. That Li Zhiyuan is just like that. He used to seem very impressive, but now that I've seen more of the world, I realize he's nothing special."
The magistrate's wife continued, "And what about the matchmakers in your town? How many good families can they possibly know? At best, they're just some wealthy landowners or small business owners in town."
Grandma Ye nodded: "That makes sense. But Cai Ping herself still has to agree."
“How can you say that, old lady?” the magistrate’s wife said with a smile. “She may be carefree now, but what will she do in the future when you are old and your daughter is married?”
Madam Du: "We're here! And Xuan'er, Yong'er, and Peng'er too."
The magistrate's wife was taken aback: "You...you want your nephews to eat her childless heir?"
Du choked, "No...that's not what I meant...it's just..."
She couldn't explain it clearly; she didn't have that intention, but it seemed like whatever she said was wrong.
After thinking for a moment, he said, "In the future, Jin'er or Huan'er will find a husband, and then we can find a son-in-law who will live with us."
"Isn't that just letting her son-in-law live off her family's poverty?"
Mrs. Du and Old Mrs. Ye fell silent, as if it were indeed true.
The magistrate's wife said, "Old lady, you can't let her be willful. Things are better now, but without a son, she'll always be bullied. While she's still young, she should quickly find a good family to marry into and have another son. That's the right thing to do. Otherwise, she won't have a good old age."
Grandma Ye smiled and said, "Thank you for your kindness and reminder, Madam, but it's up to her to make the decision. I'll try to persuade her later."
"How about this, I'll look around for her and find her a good family."
Grandma Ye hesitated, "This..."
The magistrate's wife chuckled, "Old lady, there's no need to be so cautious. I can act as matchmaker for her. If she doesn't agree, I can't force her, can I? It's just giving her another option."
Grandma Ye thought about it and realized it made sense, and smiled, "That makes sense. Then I'll trouble you, Madam."
The three chatted for a while longer before Ye Caiping and her group returned.
After lunch, the magistrate and his wife left with their constables.
Ye Caiping watched the convoy drive away and breathed a sigh of relief. Old Madam Ye and Madam Du pulled Ye Caiping into the main room and told her about the magistrate's wife wanting to arrange a marriage for her.
Ye Caiping frowned: "No."
Old Mrs. Ye said, "Let's see what kind of family they are first. Besides, they are the wife of the county magistrate; it wouldn't look good if we refused, would it?"
Ye Caiping was furious.
I used to get along quite well with this magistrate and his wife, and we worked together quite happily. Now they're actually trying to arrange a marriage for her. It's like a dog trying to catch a mouse!
She needs to find a chance to refuse.
After Magistrate Lu visited that day, not only Qinghe Village, but also several nearby villages knew that the magistrate had a very close relationship with Ye Caiping.
The Li family —
These past two days, Zhang Shuiniang has been acting as a virtuous wife and loving mother, and Li Zhiyuan couldn't be happier.
But this afternoon, Granny Zhao came again!
News has arrived that Ye Xuanzhong, a student, and the county magistrate have come to Ye Caiping's house!
Li Zhiyuan was so angry that his face was almost contorted.
How could Ye Xuan pass the preliminary examination? He's clearly wasted so many years!
And Ye Xuan is only seventeen years old!
When Li Zhiyuan passed the imperial examination, he was already twenty-five! Ye Xuan was eight years older than him!
Jealousy! Jealousy to the point of being unrecognizable.
What's even more infuriating is that Li Ziming actually failed the exam!
That was his personally trained disciple, whom he had spent a lot of time cultivating and who had received his true teachings, and yet he failed the exam!
...
The day after the prefectural examination results were released, the county school sent a servant to deliver an invitation to Ye Xuan to enroll.
Ye Xuan refused outright; he had his own teacher and didn't need to go to the county school.
Another day passed, and the county school officially held its entrance examination.
Ye Peng was urged by Wei to take the exam.
The results were released on April 30th, and unsurprisingly, Ye Peng was not selected.
Mrs. Wei gave up completely and stopped letting Ye Peng go to school.
Starting in May, Ye Peng began delivering goods for his family's spicy soup business, earning the same wages as Liu Dali. In his spare time, he would do farm work and cut pig feed, finding contentment in his work.
Yinhua breathed a sigh of relief; she was finally less busy.
Ye Caiping had just finished distributing her monthly allowance to her family and was chatting with Grandma Ye: "Let's see if anyone has a puppy and bring a few back."
"Who wants a puppy?" Mrs. Du walked in with a smile. "I heard from Liu Dali that he has a few puppies that are already a month old."
Ye Caiping's eyes lit up: "I want them all."
Du said, "It seems there were five or six."
"Let's go take a look," Ye Caiping said with a smile. After the cassava theft incident, Ye Caiping decided to get a dog.
"Wait, let me give you the money first." Du said, taking out 10 taels.
"What are you doing here?" Ye Caiping was taken aback. She used to live here and received 5 taels of silver a month for food. Now that she has moved out, why is she still receiving 10 taels?
Du said, “We’re running a furniture workshop together, right? You lent us 200 taels, promising to pay you back with a share of the profits. But wouldn’t that mean we’re getting something for nothing? So we’ve decided to pay you back 10 taels every month.”
Ye Caiping nodded: "Okay, I'll accept it."
After collecting the money, Ye Caiping, along with Old Lady Ye, Jin'er, Huan'er, and Xiao Yan, went with Madam Du to see the puppy.
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