Chapter Three: Which of You Two Will Become My Son-in-Law?
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The slap fell so swiftly that no one present, not even Jiang Yuan, had time to react.
“Sister-in-law! You struck me!?”
Aunt Jiang clutched her cheek, her face filled with disbelief.
Mother Jiang remained hunched awkwardly in place. “You mustn’t curse at Yuan’er. She isn’t married yet. You’ll ruin her reputation…”
She was still as timid and useless as ever, yet a warm current passed through Jiang Yuan’s heart.
“Help! They’re bullying me! I came here out of kindness to help, only to be threatened with a hammer by my niece and slapped by my sister-in-law! Why is my life so miserable?”
Aunt Jiang simply threw back her head and wailed at the top of her lungs.
“What a family of lunatics! If you ask me, let them fend for themselves!” Uncle Jiang pulled his sobbing wife into his arms, his eyes bloodshot.
He opened his mouth as though he meant to say more, but upon seeing the iron hammer Jiang Yuan raise, he hurried toward the door.
“Let’s go! Bah! What kind of people are they?”
The two of them dragged each other away, cursing and grumbling, though the haste in their retreat betrayed their panic.
“Hugu’er! Shut the door! Chase the dogs away!”
Jiang Yuan watched them leave with a mocking laugh. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Mother Jiang’s small movement and promptly shifted the hammer to her other hand, hiding it behind her back.
“Yuan’er…” Mother Jiang looked at her nervously, her eyes full of worry.
Noticing that her mother was staring at the hammer, Jiang Yuan carried it over and set it beneath the eaves by the door. Then she turned back with what she imagined was a sweet, obedient smile.
“Mother, I’m fine. I was only trying to frighten them.”
Yet at the sight of that smile, Mother Jiang looked as though she had seen a ghost.
Only then did Jiang Yuan remember that the original owner had been spoiled rotten. She had treated this timid mother like a servant, summoning her whenever she pleased and rarely showing her the slightest kindness.
For her to suddenly become gentle and obedient was more terrifying than the sun rising in the west.
Jiang Yuan’s thoughts raced. She pressed her lips together, then glanced at the snow beside them, her voice carrying a trace of awkwardness.
“Mother, I was spoiled far too much before. I’ve reflected on it these past few days, and I feel that I can’t go on being willful. If a marriage is lost, then so be it. But Father is gone now. As your eldest daughter, and as Hugu’er’s elder sister, I should shoulder my responsibilities and help you hold this family together.”
Jiang Yuan had lost her parents at a young age. Whenever she met her relatives, they exchanged nothing but sarcasm and abuse, so she had little idea how ordinary children were supposed to speak with their parents.
She carefully arranged her words, hoping only that Mother Jiang would not notice anything strange about her.
After she finished speaking nervously and slowly looked toward her mother, she met a pair of reddened eyes.
“Yuan’er, you’re the one who has suffered.” Mother Jiang covered her mouth. No longer able to suppress the pain and grievances in her heart, she pulled Jiang Yuan and Jiang Hugu’er into her arms and held them tightly.
“It’s Mother who has failed you. You’re both good children…”
The small boy, Hugu’er, also had tears in his eyes as he patted Mother Jiang’s back.
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“Mother is the best mother in the world. Having you and Big Sister is enough. Hugu’er doesn’t want a brother-in-law, nor Uncle and Aunt.”
Though Jiang Yuan had been tempered by years of hardship in society, she still felt her nose sting at those words.
—
“Officer, it’s not that I’m deliberately opposing you. You can see for yourself that there aren’t any empty houses in our village. We can only ask the villagers whether they have any vacant rooms they can spare.”
In the square at the center of the village stood a group of knife-carrying constables with fierce expressions. Five people were gathered in their midst.
Though those five wore ragged clothes and had disheveled hair and dirty faces, three of them still faintly retained an air of wealth and refinement.
Curious villagers crowded around the square, whispering among themselves.
“I heard they’re young masters and a lord’s family from the capital! How strange!”
“Masters and young gentlemen? From now on, they’ll have to roll around in the fields just like us!”
“Those two young masters are so handsome. And that other one—look at all those muscles. He must be very capable.” A young girl spoke with flushed cheeks.
“Handsome, are they? Does your family have a spare room? Take one home and marry him,” someone teased.
People from the north spoke without restraint, but the faces of those in the middle of the square changed drastically.
“No matter! As long as they have somewhere to stay, that will be enough. Then we can report back and be done with it!” The burly constable in charge waved a hand dismissively.
“Oh, yes, yes! Very good!”
The village headman nodded and bowed, then looked toward the crowd, which had grown larger after hearing the sound of gongs and drums.
“Is anyone willing to take them in?”
His words fell like a pebble into the sea. Not a single person answered.
Remembering the bits of silver that had just been pressed into his hand, the village headman gritted his teeth.
“Whoever takes them in will receive one pound of rice per person!”
Yet the crowd continued to murmur uneasily.
“Village Headman, taking in five more people isn’t just a matter of having five extra bodies in the house. They’ll need five more pairs of chopsticks. Where do we have surplus grain?”
Someone shouted from the crowd.
Winter had arrived two months early that year. Much of the harvest had not even been gathered in time, and it was only thanks to the sovereign’s reduction of taxes that the villagers had any hope of surviving the winter.
As it became clear that no one was willing to take them in, sweat began to pour more heavily from the village headman’s brow.
“I’ll take all of them.”
A clear, cool voice came from outside the crowd.
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The villagers parted to make way, and Jiang Yuan walked into the square with calm, measured steps.
“Isn’t that Jiang Yuan? Didn’t she send all her grain and silver to Lu Bai? And now she dares take in five men?”
“Shh! Didn’t Jiang Yuan just break off her engagement with Scholar Lu? Perhaps she’s taken a fancy to one of these handsome men! If my family had enough grain, I’d take one home too. They’d be especially useful at night!”
Many people whispered and laughed among themselves without making any effort to lower their voices.
Jiang Yuan’s expression did not change, but inwardly she cursed the original owner from head to toe.
What an impressive reputation you’ve made for yourself, Jiang Yuan!
The village headman frowned at her.
“You truly intend to take all of them?”
He was not worried that Jiang Yuan could not afford the burden. He was concerned that she might change her mind.
Jiang Yuan nodded.
Bringing the five men home proved rather troublesome.
Apart from the villagers’ strange and knowing looks, the five themselves were quite a handful.
The strongest of them, Xie Changzhi, was silent and taciturn. The two who looked like servants went wherever they were told without complaint.
The other young man, Xie Yanzhi, and their father, Xie Tingyun, were another matter entirely. One moment they complained that their feet hurt; the next they were asking whether she could support them.
Suppressing the urge to slap the two men, Jiang Yuan led them into the courtyard, then exchanged a glance with Mother Jiang, who stood bewildered at the entrance.
She turned around and looked at the two young men.
One stood with his eyes lowered, obediently staring at his toes. The other surveyed the dilapidated courtyard with open displeasure and disdain.
“You two can decide between yourselves. Which one of you will marry into my family?”
Xie Yanzhi, the dissatisfied and critical one, widened his eyes at once.
“Marry into your family and live in this wretched courtyard? Impossible!”
The other man beside him trembled faintly.
Behind them, Xie Tingyun’s face had turned livid, as though he had suffered the greatest humiliation imaginable.
Jiang Yuan let out a cold laugh.
“Do you think you still have a choice? Without me, you’ll be sleeping in the streets tonight, in this heavy snow. Either one of you marries into my family, or you can get out!”
Xie Yanzhi’s face flushed crimson, but he merely stiffened his neck and refused to speak.
Suddenly, Xie Changzhi, who had kept his head lowered all along, seemed to stumble. He lurched forward.
Jiang Yuan reacted swiftly and caught him by the arm.
The exposed skin of his body immediately flushed bright red. Jiang Yuan heard him say softly,
“Miss, I am willing to marry into your family.”
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