The Mute Wife Who Brings Prosperity-Chapter 706 - 668: Accomplishing the Matter (First Update)
Looking at her daughter who was filled with shyness, Mrs. Yu said, "You heard what Mrs. Sheng said earlier, the Song family is proposing marriage for their eldest son. Do you have any thoughts?"
Ye Ling whispered, "Why is mother asking me about such matters?"
Mrs. Yu raised an eyebrow, "Since your opinion doesn’t count, I might as well reject it directly. That way, they won’t persist and come again next time."
Ye Rong was laughing beside her, and Ye Ling bit her lip in embarrassment, "Mother is teasing me again. Earlier, in my room, Qiaoqiao said that father and mother had already agreed."
Mrs. Yu said, "The old lady cherishes you like her own eyes. Without your nod, who would dare to easily decide your marriage?" As she spoke, she poked Ye Ling’s forehead, "Quick, make up your mind, Mrs. Sheng is waiting to relay the message back to the Song family!"
Even though there were only her parents, brother, and the matchmaker in the hall, Ye Ling still felt embarrassed and shyly asked Mrs. Yu, "What did Grandmother say?"
"Your grandmother said that marriage should be decided by the parents and matchmakers, and we should help you check. I haven’t met that lad from the Song family, but I heard from your father that he’s not bad. So now we’re just asking for your opinion."
Upon hearing this, Ye Ling’s face blushed several degrees more, "Since father and mother are already fond of him, why bother asking me? You can decide on your own."
Mrs. Yu was a famously exceptional woman in Great Chu, brave and carefree, while Ye Ling grew up pampered by the old lady and her brothers, appearing delicate and gentle in comparison to her mother.
Originally, her mother intended to find her a husband from a military family, saying that someone skillful in martial arts would offer a sense of security and protection.
But Ye Ling absolutely refused. When she was little, every time her parents went to battle, the house was left with only her. Her brothers were all training at the martial grounds, leaving her bored. She had to invite a teacher to learn music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, all the while worrying at night, fearing for her parents’ safety.
Now that she’s grown up and can decide on her own marriage, Ye Ling was adamant not to marry someone who leads troops to war. That would be too dangerous. If something went wrong and her husband didn’t return from battle, she’d have to be a widow for life. She wanted to be with her husband always.
Thinking of this, Ye Ling came back to her senses, straightened up from Mrs. Yu’s embrace, "Since mother said it’s the duty of parents and matchmakers, I’ll just listen to father and mother."
As she spoke, the image of Song Yuanbao’s dashing and charming face appeared in her mind. Remembering how he lay drunk among the flowers that day, deliberately asking her to paint, she feared her parents might notice something, so Ye Ling couldn’t stay any longer, covered her face, and ran out of the front hall.
Mrs. Yu watched her daughter’s delicate and lovely back, thinking how fortunate Song Yuanbao was to marry the precious darling cherished by the whole family. Truly, it must be a blessing from a previous lifetime.
The matchmaker, satisfied after receiving the positive reply and exchanging marriage proposals, left contentedly.
Mrs. Yu turned her head to look at Ye Hongjiang, "Old Ye, is that Song Yuanbao really as good as the matchmaker says? I feel a little unsure."
Ye Hongjiang heard and slightly raised his sword-like brows, "Good or not, you’ve already married off our daughter. Do you want to go back on it now?"
Mrs. Yu’s lips slightly twitched, "Didn’t you meet him? How was it?"
"Absolutely dreadful," Ye Rong gave a four-word evaluation from the side.
"Get out of here!" Mrs. Yu glared at him, "Your words don’t count."
"Why don’t they count?" Ye Rong protested, "My eyes are sharp too!"
"You’re not sharp-eyed, you’re biased. Originally quite good, but because of your bias, whatever he does becomes wrong," Mrs. Yu explained but then found it unnecessary, waved him away, "Shoo, shoo, your own matters are far from settled, and Ah Yao’s marriage is none of your business either."
Ye Rong refused to leave, looking at Mrs. Yu, "Mother, people say there’s an order to things. I, as the elder brother, haven’t married yet, and you’re discussing marriage for little sister. Aren’t you afraid of what others might say?"
Mrs. Yu earnestly debated with him, "If people talk, they wouldn’t talk about your sister; they’d talk about you. You’re not getting any younger, yet your marriage is nowhere in sight. What, do you want to remain a bachelor forever?"
Ye Rong had no words to answer to that.
——
Qingteng Residence.
Wen Wan and Song Jiao were leaning over the flat head case in the eastern side room, sketching embroidery patterns. Seeing Mrs. Sheng return quickly, Wen Wan was surprised. She thought the other side disagreed, but upon asking, she learned that the parents over there had already agreed.
Wen Wan was overjoyed, "Not worthy of the Double Generals, they handle things so decisively!"
Song Jiao happily said, "This is the topmost happy event in our house. Aunt, quickly write a letter to inform big brother. He will surely be happy when he finds out."
"I won’t write a letter." Wen Wan held the embroidery pattern up to the light, examining it before continuing, "From the moment he fancied Miss Ye to discussing the marriage, everything has gone too smoothly. Alas, he should taste some hardship, feel some anxiety, otherwise, if it comes too easily, he won’t know how to cherish his wife after marrying her into the house."
Song Jiao thought about it and found sense in this as well.
——
Once the marriage proposal was settled, Wen Wan also became busy. First, she moved a batch of trendy fabrics from the cloth shop to make the first quarter’s clothes for the servants. Next was dealing with Song Erlang’s appointment to work in Shuntian Prefecture. Even though the position was secured because of Song Wei, the Song family couldn’t act proudly, so Wen Wan had to grease the wheels. Then, there were several invitations she had to respond to, from families she couldn’t ignore, so she had to go through the dates on each and visit them one by one.
When things were nearly finished, it was close to the Lantern Festival. Wen Wan got up early that day, had the steward’s wives come early for updates, arranged everything, and then finally went to check out Mr. Ning’s house.
The Ning family had already moved out on the eighth day of the first month. Many furnishings and objects were too large to be moved, so they were converted into silver and included in the payment for the house.
Apart from the furnishings, the household servants who could be let go were let go. At the time, Wen Wan came to see and picked ten or so maids and young men she liked.
This five-bay mansion was bought by Wen Wan for four thousand taels of snowflake silver, with the Ning family giving a discount in consideration of neighborly relations. Otherwise, with the intact interior and valuable objects, it would have been worth much more than that.
Standing outside the gate, Song Jiao looked at the spot where the plaque had been removed from the door lintel, puzzled, and asked Wen Wan, "Third Aunt, why did the Ning family move away?" 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎
She didn’t understand much about court matters, but heard that Mr. Ning’s eldest son held a high official position, seemingly in the Ministry of Revenue.
"Your third uncle said he was involved in a case and got demoted, and won’t be coming back in the future," Wen Wan said. "Their family urgently needed silver, which is why they had to sell the house."
"I see, then let’s go in and take a look!"
Song Jiao was somewhat impatient.
Wen Wan smiled at her, "Alright."
The decoration of the Ning Mansion was entirely different from the elegance of the Song Mansion; it gave off the impression of a nouveau riche, flashy and vulgar.
Song Jiao noticed it and couldn’t help but twitch the corner of her mouth.
No wonder they got demoted; behaving like this, it’s probably only due to the emperor’s leniency that their household wasn’t confiscated.
The aunt and niece strolled through the courtyards one by one, commenting on the current decorations at each place. The literate young servant boys, Duan Yan and Hui Ink, in Song Yuanbao’s room noted it down.
Such a vast mansion, once merged with the Song Mansion, would require either a sedan chair or a carriage to get from the Ning Mansion to the Song Mansion; walking would surely take quite a while.
Standing on the high Observation Pavilion, Song Jiao looked at the combined layout of the two properties, marveling at the size, "If they really merge, it’d be too large. Even if in the future, big brother and Jinbao both marry, there won’t be enough of them to fill so many courtyards! What were you thinking, Aunt, why did you buy such a large house?"
Wen Wan merely smiled silently. She was, of course, thinking far into the future.
Given her status and the current trend, the branches of the Song family would only grow more and more numerous. By then, when Yuanbao, Jinbao, and Duobao have all married, they will have children, and their children will have children as well, proliferating through generations. Two merged five-bay houses would be nothing at all.
"How about Aunt transforms this side into a garden?" Song Jiao suggested, "You’ve often said our current garden is too small and needed expanding."
"Such a large garden, I wouldn’t be able to wander through it," Wen Wan laughed. "However, expanding the section connecting the two houses into a garden is indeed an option."
Song Jiao found this suggestion excellent, turned to Duan Yan and Hui Ink, "Did you hear? Madam wants to transform the middle section between the two houses into a garden. Note it down."
