Chapter 119 Proposal
Qiao Mianmian laughed because she found Lu Zhao's behavior strange. She had originally thought he was a rigid and boring person, but she didn't expect him to have such a quirky thought.
She looked back at the wooden window and could indeed see the stove.
Being admired by someone, especially a handsome guy, is something everyone has vanity about. Qiao Mianmian felt secretly pleased; it turned out that Lu Zhao had such feelings for her.
The chopped chili fish head was served, and Lu Zhao, carrying the food, prepared to leave. "Auntie, Uncle Qiao, we're leaving now."
"Okay, take it easy," Qiao Mancang said.
Watching Lu Zhao and his servant leave, Madam Lin sighed, "Lord Lu is truly polite." She wondered what would happen to the Lu family next.
As the woman, the Qiao family shouldn't make too many moves before the Lu family takes things further.
However, Lin still found a matchmaker. Since the Lu family hadn't seen any action, it wouldn't stop her from looking for other families.
It wasn't until April, during the Qingming Festival, that Lu Zhao and Qing Jiu went to sweep An's grave, after which Lin Xiahe gave birth to a son.
When the Qiao family learned of the good news, the whole family went to visit them.
Qiao Mianmian held her newborn nephew, who was only a few days old, feeling a warm glow in her heart. "Mom, he eats and sleeps all the time, just like Le Ge'er was when he was little."
"All children are like this; they need to sleep a lot to grow taller and bigger." Madam Lin sat to the side with a smile, then looked at her fourth daughter, "When is your son-in-law leaving?"
“He said he’d wait until after my postpartum period, but I was thinking that the autumn harvest festival is in a little over three months, so I wanted him to go back earlier. With my mother-in-law and you here, there’s nothing for him to do,” Lin Xiahe said.
Qiao Mianmian interjected, "If your brother-in-law wants to spend time with you and the child, let him. Let him see how difficult it is to take care of a child, and he'll cherish you more in the future. Besides, it won't make a difference if you stay home for another half month; you can still study."
"Your brother-in-law said the same thing." Lin Xiahe, now a mother, thought of the way her second sister-in-law looked at the child earlier, and asked softly, "Mom, didn't my second sister-in-law and second brother go to see him?"
“No rush, they’ve only been married for a year, let’s wait another two years,” Lin said. “Your second sister-in-law is a thoughtful person, so don’t talk about this in front of them, or she’ll overthink it. She’s a poor girl, so now that she’s married into our family, let her be more comfortable.”
Having experienced the pressure from her in-laws to have children herself, she is more understanding of her daughter-in-law. Besides, they have tried their best, but the fate of having children is determined by heaven.
Lin Xiahe hummed in agreement. Hearing her sisters-in-law arrive, she quickly said, "My sister-in-law sometimes says a few words, but unfortunately, she and Mianmian are not destined to be together. Do you know, the Zhou family has specially hired a tutor to teach the third young master Zhou. If he fails to pass the imperial examination, he can forget about all his miscellaneous books. This is my sister-in-law's idea, and no one in the Zhou family dares to object."
Madam Lin glanced at her youngest daughter. They hadn't told their fourth daughter about the Lu family's affairs. Sensing the implication in her fourth daughter's words, she could only sigh, "Being stricter with their upbringing is a good thing for Young Master Zhou. Spoiling a child too much will only harm him. You should also remember that if you don't understand anything about raising your children in the future, ask your eldest sister-in-law. She's very capable."
As soon as she finished speaking, all of Wang's sisters-in-law came to the door.
There weren't enough people in the house, so Qiao Mianmian had to leave first. She watched her father and the others talking to her brother-in-law, and was about to have a cup of tea when she was pestered by several children from the Wang family.
"Aunt Qiao, will you be cooking today?"
"I'd like to eat your fried dough twists."
"I want to eat it too!"
"I want to eat braised pork again, it's so delicious!"
...
When the children saw Qiao Mianmian, they stared at her eagerly, as if she were a delicious treat.
It was Wang Heze who spoke up, "Aunt Qiao is a guest today, so we can't let her cook. If you want to eat her cooking, we can have your parents take you to Qiao's Restaurant another day."
Originally, Lin Xiahe wanted to open a restaurant at Qiao's when her son turned one month old. However, she mentioned it to Lin Shi, who said that the restaurant was not short of business and that she could comfortably come and support her grandson when he turned one month old.
After Lin Xiahe mentioned it to her mother-in-law, her mother-in-law ordered a chef from Chunxilou Restaurant.
The children were disappointed when they heard that Qiao Mianmian wouldn't be cooking today. Qiao Mianmian touched their little faces and sat down to drink tea.
The addition of a new member to the Wang family was a joyous occasion, and the Qiao family was also delighted. Before their grandson's one-month celebration, Lin and Chunsheng's mother went to buy silver ornaments.
One was bought for his future daughter-in-law, and the other was bought for his grandson.
After leaving the shop, the two didn't rush back. Chun Sheng's mother took Lin Shi to a dessert shop to drink bayberry soup.
There are no bayberries yet in April. These are wild bayberries picked last year and dried. They are boiled with rock sugar, so they taste more sour with only a hint of sweetness.
Chunsheng's mother finished her bowl in two gulps. "How much longer are you going to look for a husband? Is there still no progress on Mianmian's marriage?"
"It's not that we're picky, it's just that there aren't any suitable ones." Not wanting to talk much about her daughter, Mrs. Lin changed the subject, saying, "You look really good lately; people need happy things to do. Hey, you can eat sour things so well, could you be pregnant again?"
"Oh dear, what are you saying? How old are we!" Chun Sheng's mother covered her mouth and laughed. "If I had children now, wouldn't people laugh at me to death? Speaking of which, you and your Mancang are so loving, why didn't you have more children?"
"How can we afford to raise so many children?" Lin had thought about this, but the family already had five children. If they had a few more, they wouldn't even have enough to eat.
The two joked with each other, and as they talked, Lin finished her plum juice. When they walked out of the dessert shop together, they saw Xu Mingxuan.
Chun Sheng's mother had just raised her hand to greet them when she saw Qiao Mianmian and Xu Mingxuan walking together, so she quickly turned to look at Lin Shi.
Lin didn't know that her daughter and Xu Mingxuan had come out, but now that things had come to this point, she could only bite the bullet and say, "It's rare for Scholar Xu to come back, so I asked him to help me write something."
"So that's how it is. I thought your family and the Xu family were going to become in-laws."
"You can't just say things like that!" Madam Lin said seriously.
"I know, don't worry, I definitely won't tell anyone. But Scholar Xu is a very good person, I heard he's very good at studying, if he can pass the imperial examination and become a Juren, that would be truly remarkable. I don't know the Juren gentleman yet." Chun Sheng's mother thought for a moment, she would have to send some things to the Xu family later, and make good relations with them before Xu Mingxuan became successful.
Mrs. Lin said she didn't understand the imperial examination system, "but I still hope he can pass it, that would be a happy event for our neighborhood."
He said this, but in his heart he was thinking, how could his youngest daughter go out with Xu Xiucai?
Mrs. Lin hurriedly returned to the food shop, but worried about her youngest daughter, she went to look for her again.
Actually, Qiao Mianmian ran into Xu Mingxuan by chance. Qiao Mianmian was going back to the food stall, and Xu Mingxuan was going home, so the two walked together for a while.
Just before they were about to part ways, Xu Mingxuan suddenly stopped. "Miss Qiao, I heard your family is arranging a marriage for you."
Qiao Mianmian: ...Hmm?
"We know each other pretty well, right?" Xu Mingxuan looked up at Qiao Mianmian.
Qiao Mianmian had just said "yes" when a hairpin was suddenly shoved into her hand.
"This...this is...this is for you." Xu Mingxuan stammered nervously, his cheeks flushed red. "It's nothing valuable, it's...this is for you."
He ran away as soon as he finished speaking, without giving Qiao Mianmian a chance to refuse.
It took Qiao Mianmian a while to realize what was happening when she looked at the tassel hairpin in her hand.
Goodness, are all the peach blossoms that were useless in my past life finally here in this one?
Although Xu Mingxuan is good-looking, Qiao Mianmian will not like him. It's not for any particular reason, but just thinking about the original owner of this body makes her feel a little awkward.
However, it wouldn't be good if she returned the hairpin herself and someone saw it.
Qiao Mianmian returned to the food shop with a worried look on her face. Before she could tell her parents about her troubles, her mother dragged her upstairs to the second floor.
"Mother, what's wrong?"
After closing the door, Lin asked her daughter why she had gone out with Xu Mingxuan.
“We didn’t go out together; we just happened to run into each other.” Qiao Mianmian said, taking out a hairpin. “But he gave me this, and I don’t know what to do with it. You can take it and return it to him.”
Looking at the hairpin in her daughter's hand, Madam Lin felt extremely overwhelmed. She walked to the top of the stairs and shouted, "Qiao Mancang, come up here!"
Qiao Mancang sensed something was wrong and hurriedly ran upstairs to ask what was wrong.
Madam Lin tossed the hairpin over, saying it was a gift from Xu Mingxuan, and asked, "What do you suggest we do?"
"Xu Xiucai?" Qiao Mancang was stunned. "He likes Mianmian?"
"Laugh, laugh, laugh, what's so funny? Your daughter asked you to send it back." Madam Lin said sternly, giving Qiao Mancang a wink, indicating what had happened before. "When you send it back, don't say it was sent by Scholar Xu, just say that Scholar Xu accidentally left it behind. Tell the Xu family to keep it safe; something like this must be valuable."
Qiao Mancang looked at his wife and then at his daughter. Seeing that both of them were urging him to leave, he reluctantly went to the Xu family's house.
After spending time together at the stall, Qiao Mancang and Xu Kuan were quite happy, and sometimes they would sit down and have a drink together.
When he arrived at the Xu family's house, he couldn't open his mouth for a moment. After hesitating for a while, he finally took out the hairpin.
Upon hearing this, Xu Kuan immediately understood what was going on, but the fact that the Qiao family returned the hairpin indicated that they had no such intention.
As soon as Qiao Mancang left, he immediately closed the door, called his son out, and said, "Well, so that's why you suddenly changed your mind. So you've secretly taken a liking to the Qiao family's daughter. You're supposed to be a scholar, don't you know that private affairs are wrong? Xu Mingxuan, have you no shame?"
Xu Kuan was angry about two things: one was that scholars shouldn't associate with girls in private, and the other was that he had said before that given their family's circumstances, they should marry someone of higher social standing.
This was the first time Xu Kuan had ever spoken so harshly to his son.
“Father, isn’t Miss Qiao good enough?” Xu Mingxuan protested.
Hearing the father and son arguing, Mrs. Xu, who was inside the house, hurriedly came out to see what was going on.
Xu Kuan frowned. "Did I say Qiao Mianmian was bad? She's good, and the Qiao family is good, but they're not suitable for you. Your father has spent the first half of his life in Bianjing, and now I'm so miserable that I can't even go back to pay respects to my eldest son. Do you want us to stay in Lin'an, living a miserable life? Or do you think you're guaranteed to pass the imperial examination with top honors?"
"Let me tell you, the officialdom isn't something you can thrive in just because you have passion or are well-read. Without someone to promote you, you're nothing!"
"But Father..."
“You don’t need to argue with me. My stance is clear. Back then, our family offended someone and had to leave Bianjing. In the past two years, that person has gradually weakened, which is the perfect time for you to step up. If you’ve forgotten your brother and the Xu family’s past, then so be it.” Xu Kuan turned away from his son, leaving him to make his own choice.
Madam Xu hurriedly said, "My son, the fact that the Qiao family went to such lengths to return the hairpin shows that Miss Qiao has no interest in you. What good will it do if you're the only one pursuing her?"
Madam Xu's words caused Xu Mingxuan's carefully maintained composure to collapse instantly.
Yes, if Qiao Mianmian isn't interested in him, what's the point of him persisting here?
If Qiao Mianmian agrees, he will not be afraid of any difficulties or obstacles ahead.
"Don't argue with your father, we're doing this for your own good," Madam Xu said gently. "You've studied so hard for so many years, and you're about to make it big. Don't you want your ambitions to come true?"
Madam Xu understood her son better; she knew how to persuade him to stay calm.
Hearing this, Xu Mingxuan already knew the answer in his heart, but he felt a lump in his throat. "But Mother, I just..." He turned away to wipe his tears, unable to say the rest of the words.
“I understand, it’s perfectly normal to have feelings for someone when you’re young. But life isn’t just about that. You have a family, responsibilities, and marriage isn’t about liking someone or not. What’s more important is whether you’re compatible.” Mrs. Xu gently patted her son’s back. “Let’s not bring this up again. The Qiao family is a good family, but you two are not meant to be. Don’t ruin the relationship between our two families, okay?”
The wind blew through the Xu family's courtyard, and no one spoke, but they all knew Xu Mingxuan's answer.
Meanwhile, at the Lu family's new residence, Old Madam Lu called Lu Zhao to her side.
“These days, you’ve sent quite a few things to the Qiao family, especially those pearl earrings. Now that the Qiao family knows they’re part of your mother’s dowry, they understand what we mean,” said Old Mrs. Lu. “The Qiao family’s acceptance of the pearl earrings makes their intentions very clear.”
“Grandmother, I…” Lu Zhao blushed, looked at her grandmother, and then fell silent.
"Why can't your mouth be as eloquent as Qingjiu?"
Grandma Lu sighed as she looked at her grandson, "I don't even know if you can win over Miss Qiao. That young lady has a sweet tongue and will praise her to everyone she meets. Although Qingjiu isn't very clever, at least he can strike up a conversation with Miss Qiao. You know, women need to be coaxed."
Lu Zhao nodded.
Grandma Lu didn't believe it. "Looking at you like this, I don't believe you. Fine, I'm worried about you even though I'm staying here. You go out to work every day, but you can't say anything coherent."
She had originally planned to wait until her grandson and Qiao Mianmian spent more time together before proposing marriage, hoping it would strengthen their relationship. However, she called Qingjiu over yesterday to inquire, and her grandson only worked and didn't express any feelings. What was the point? How much longer would she have to wait to hold her great-grandson?
"I've already arranged for an official matchmaker to choose an auspicious date. I'll personally go to the Qiao family to propose marriage on your behalf." Old Mrs. Lu took a deep breath. "Without me, you and Qingjiu would probably be bachelors for life!"
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