Chapter 95 It's all for you
Zhang, also surnamed Zhang!
"Brother Zhang, your knife is rusty."
"Oh, it's rusted."
Xiao Zhang waved it casually, "It's an old knife, passed down from my father. It's fine, it's still quite useful for cutting thorns."
Cut the thorns...
His father was willing to let him use this knife to cut thorns?
"Are you alright? How did you get hurt? It's getting dark, do you want to come to my house first?" Xiao Zhang asked again.
"Won't that be inconvenient?"
"No way! I've been living alone since my dad died."
...
"Xiao Zhang!"
Someone was calling outside Xiao Zhang's dilapidated thatched hut.
Zhang Lin went out to take a look and saw Dingxiang, who was heavily pregnant.
"What are you doing up the mountain so late?"
"Xiao Zhang, tomorrow you should take some game to my house and ask my father for my hand in marriage."
"Huh? Marry whom?" Xiao Zhang was full of questions.
"Nonsense, of course you'll marry me."
Xiao Zhang's eyes widened as he looked at her belly and blurted out, "You're going to be the father of Ning Xiuwen's child?"
"You can't find a wife, can you? So what if I'm pregnant with someone else's child? I can still have the baby for you later."
Seeing Xiao Zhang's stunned expression, Ding Xiang assumed he had no objection and continued, "However, there is one thing: you have to go down the mountain and stay at my house."
"Come to my door?"
"So what if you come to my house? You have no parents, no money, and no land. Isn't it perfect for you to come to my house? All you need to do is hunt some game and go to my house to propose marriage. You don't have to pay for anything."
"Oh, I won't marry her."
"You're not going to marry me?" Dingxiang's eyes widened in surprise.
"If you don't marry, who else can you marry? These days, it costs fifteen taels of silver to get married. Do you have that much?"
You've begged every girl in Liuyun Village, haven't you? Not a single one has paid you any attention!
"If you ignore me, I won't marry you."
Dingxiang covered her stomach in anger.
"Xiao Zhang, think it through. You're not young anymore, and you've never experienced a woman's pleasure, have you? Even though I'm pregnant, I can still..."
"Hurry down the mountain, it's getting dark and you might trip."
Xiao Zhang turned and went into the thatched hut.
Dingxiang was dumbfounded.
When she went up the mountain, she never expected that Xiao Zhang would refuse.
Because he's a bachelor who can't find a wife!
If we let him marry into our family, we'll get a wife for free. Wouldn't he be eager to come?
But he actually refused!
What should we do?
Her main concern was that Ning Xiuwen would harass her at home; Liu had already come to see her several times in the past few days.
What I'm even more worried about is that they might retaliate if they find out about usury.
Although Xiao Zhang was poor, he was tall and strong and skilled.
It would be perfect to have him marry into the family.
But now...
"Then you'll stay single for life!"
I could hear Dingxiang cursing and leaving outside.
Xiao Zhang finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He was genuinely afraid that Dingxiang would run in and cling to him without a care in the world.
"You've begged every girl in Liuyun Village, and no one has paid you any attention?"
Xu Rui, sitting on the wooden bed, looked at Xiao Zhang.
He was strong and had a lot of strength.
Isn't this what the villagers like?
"Uh, they think I'm poor."
Xu Rui continued to scrutinize him.
He wore patched-up burlap clothes, had a slovenly beard, and looked several years older than he should have. The worst part was that he lived in a small thatched hut on a mountain, barely enough to keep out the rain. Who would dare marry their daughter into that family?
"Where did you get the money from hunting?"
"Please, miss, use it."
Xu Rui: "..."
Is Zhang Lin an idiot?
"You're not picky at all?"
"I picked it! When I deliver prey, I'm being selective!" Little Zhang raised his head, looking quite pleased with himself.
"Don't you understand? My father said that I can only marry a girl if she doesn't mind that I'm poor and just likes me as a person."
Unfortunately, not a single girl in Liuyun Village took a liking to me.
nonsense!
Which girl can make her own decisions?
Besides, you're not exactly handsome, so why would anyone be willing to suffer with you when you're just offering up prey?
Xu Rui couldn't understand Xiao Zhang's mind.
But I know he'll never be able to get a wife this way.
If I keep wasting my time, I'll really become an old bachelor.
"Don't stay on the mountain anymore. I'll give you money to build a house in the village and buy two acres of land. Matchmakers will definitely come knocking on your door."
Zhang Lin looked at Xu Rui in surprise.
This man, who speaks with such elegance, is someone I met by chance, and he's offering to give me money to get married!
"My dad also said that there are no free lunches in the sky, only bird droppings."
"Then consider it good luck," Xu Rui said softly, showing him immense patience and gentleness.
If it were anyone else, they would have been annoyed to death by now.
Over the years, Xiao Zhang has actually been quite lonely.
His heart was in turmoil.
"Why are you giving me money? Are you a rich man's son, doing a good deed and giving alms?"
"No, I am Xu Rui, the son of Magistrate Xu. We hit it off immediately."
Xiao Zhang's eyes widened.
A moment later, he suddenly got up and crawled under the bed.
Soon, a smooth, intact tiger skin was thrown out.
Another complete and beautiful leopard skin was thrown out.
Then he climbed out.
“Young Master Xu, I am not poor. I have saved up a lot of wealth and have a lot of silver. I just need to find a wife so I can build her a new house and buy her land.”
But I need to find someone who doesn't mind that I'm poor, someone who values me as a person!
Now it was Xu Rui's turn to be speechless.
He didn't know for a moment whether this was stupidity or brilliance.
"Young Master Xu, I feel an instant connection with you!"
Let's talk until dawn tonight!
...
Early in the morning, a heavy fog blanketed the area.
A group of men with unfriendly appearances entered Liuyun Village.
It headed straight for the east end of the village.
Ning Xiuwen's family.
Liu looked sadly at the clear bowl, with ten grains of rice sloshing around at the bottom.
Looking at her son, still lying on the bed like a corpse, she dared not feel the pain in her stomach anymore.
It's also possible that the pain caused numbness.
"Xiuwen, get up, your mother can't hold on much longer."
"Xiuwen... Xiuwen... Ning Xiuwen!"
"Get up! Get up and go earn money, go to work, otherwise we mother and son will just wait to die!"
"What difference is there between me now and being dead?" Ning Xiuwen said quietly, his back turned.
"Work? Who would want me?"
"You can read, so become an accountant..."
"Hehehehehe..." Ning Xiuwen's voice was hoarse and eerie, making Liu feel numb all over.
"Mother, why don't you go find work? Aren't you good at seducing the master? Go seduce him again and exchange him for a bag of grain!"
Liu froze.
It was as if his face had been ripped off.
"You unfilial son! How could you say such a thing..."
"What did I say? Isn't this the truth? Mother, what good deeds have you ever done in your life?"
Was my dad's hand really injured in an accident?
"On the way we fled famine, wasn't it you who pushed an old man off a cliff and stole his food?"
Liu's eyes widened in horror.
She had her husband's fingers chopped off.
Because he and that woman had discussed that if he passed the imperial examination and became a scholar, he would take her to live in the city and abandon them, mother and child.
So she made sure he would never pass the imperial examination to become a scholar!
The old man, of course, was also pushed by her. If they hadn't been fighting for food, how would they, mother and son, have survived until now!
"Xiuwen... Mother, it's all for you."
"For me?"
Ning Xiuwen turned over, his eyes sunken, his face like a frostbitten eggplant, and he looked old in just a few days.
He stared at Liu with a sinister look in his eyes: "If you hadn't said that Lu Qingqing had no money to be taken from, I would have married her already!"
How could things have come to this?
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