When they discussed such matters, Meizi would chime in with a suggestion or two, but her heart was never really in it. She found it odd that Juhua and Liu Xiaomei acted like the heads of their households, even though their parents weren’t the type to shirk their responsibilities.

’Thinking about it now, how ridiculous I was. I’m several years older than them, yet I knew nothing about managing a household.’

Hearing Meizi’s words, however, left Qin and her grandmother heartbroken.

Tears streamed down Gou Dan’s mother’s face. While it was a good thing for her daughter to grow up and become sensible, it pained her immensely to see her so suddenly lose her youthful laughter.

When girls from other families got engaged, they were usually shy and happy, eagerly awaiting their wedding day. Meizi, however, was tense and anxious, facing the life she had chosen with a mixture of dread and determination!

Meizi and Li Changming were engaged! 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

The news sent shockwaves through Qingnan Village, leaving everyone dumbfounded. Some sighed, some were indignant, and others were just baffled.

However, once the wedding date was decided, the engagement was set in stone. The villagers stopped their chatter and instead waited to see how the Li Family would receive their new bride—they didn’t even have enough room in their house as it was.

Ordinarily, Granny Hua would have been parading all over the village, gleefully showing off, but this time, she was silent.

Li Laoda prepared a full set of betrothal gifts, including ten taels of silver, and personally visited the Qin Family home with the matchmaker to make the official proposal.

The two families agreed to hold the wedding the following spring, allowing Meizi to spend one more New Year at home.

At the village school, Zhang Huai said to Qingmu in astonishment, "This is so strange. I mean, Changming is a good man, but with his family’s situation what it is... and Gou Dan’s mother is such a tough character. How could she agree to marry Meizi off to him?"

Qingmu, holding a book in his hands, was silent for a long moment before finally lifting an eyelid to glance at him. "If you’re so curious, why don’t you go ask them yourself? Then our village will have its very own ’Granny Zhang.’ And since you’re educated, your gossip will surely be more spectacular than Granny Hua’s."

Zhang Huai couldn’t help but laugh, giving Qingmu a punch on the shoulder. "I was just talking it over with you! You have to mock me like that?"

One day, Juhua was at home drying chili peppers when Liu Xiaomei arrived. "Why go through all this trouble?" she asked. "Just string them up and hang them under the eaves. They’ll dry in a few days."

Juhua smiled and said, "They don’t dry evenly that way. The parts pierced by the string get bunched together and don’t dry properly. I’m only sun-drying this much; it’s enough for what I’ve been saving up. I’ll use the rest to make pickled chili slices and chili paste."

Liu Xiaomei chuckled. "Your family certainly has enough chili peppers this year. Chili powder, dried chilies, chili paste, pickled slices—can you really eat all that? Here, take this gourd. You can split it open to make a water ladle, and the seeds will be perfect for planting."

Juhua took the gourd, placed it to one side, and pulled up a stool for her to sit on. Then she brought over a wicker basket of shanyu stems to peel. She asked Liu Xiaomei, "Did your family harvest all your shanyu?"

Liu Xiaomei replied, "All of them? My family doesn’t have the spare land to plant that many. We only planted a small patch, so of course we harvested them ages ago. I’ll peel some of these shanyu stems to take back and stir-fry."

"Help yourself," Juhua said quickly. "I picked plenty. If you want more tomorrow, just come and get them. We’re about to harvest all our shanyu, too. They’ll only be in the ground for a few more days. You have to pick the stems from the tips of the vines—the ones at the bottom are already too tough."

The two of them made small talk as they worked.

Liu Xiaomei laughed. "That snake from before really acted as the matchmaker for Changming and Meizi. The villagers are all saying the Li Family should burn three sticks of incense to thank it."

Juhua gave a faint smile. "Well, Changming is a good man at heart. Otherwise, Meizi wouldn’t have agreed to marry him—there’s no rule saying you must marry someone just because they saved your life."

Liu Xiaomei nodded. "My mother said the same thing. She says that Changming is actually a really good person, but saddled with parents like his and such a poor family, his good qualities don’t really get a chance to show."

Juhua didn’t want to discuss the topic any further. After all, Meizi’s situation also involved Qingmu, and that made things unpleasant.

She changed the subject, saying to Liu Xiaomei, "My family is going to build a house soon. You have to come help me with the cooking. Otherwise, I’ll be stuck making meals for all those people for days, and with no one to talk to, I’ll die of boredom. Talk to your mother first and see if she agrees."

"I’ll definitely be there," Liu Xiaomei promised with a grin. "Once the corn harvest is done, we’ll plant the wheat. After that busy spell, all that’s left in the fields are odd jobs, so my mother can manage things at home just fine."

********

Before the wheat planting was even finished, the Zheng Family, unable to wait any longer, threw themselves into the flurry of activity required to build their house.