Transmigrated Farmgirl's Scheme to Get Rich - Chapter 188
Mr. Cao took Zhao’er to the house, and governing official Wu was lying on the kang unmoving. He had told Xiaoyue to collect the wheat in the courtyard, as the day of drying wheat would’ve gone to waste if it turned dark and dew collected on the wheat.
Xiaoyue had run to collect the wheat, and Dagan had helped her. One of them opened up a large bag, and the other shovelled wheat inside with a wooden shovel. Before long, they had collected the bags of wheat, but they still had to carry it into the house.
Dagan bent down to grab a bag of wheat, and Xiaoyue grabbed two of its corners to give him a boost, “Father was being too stubborn and didn’t ask me for help with the heavy lifting. I can contribute as well!”
Dagan grabbed the bag of wheat and walked towards the house with large steps, “If you have heavy lifting that needs to be done in your household in the future, just call me. I have enough energy, and I’ll be fine with this much extra work.”
“How could I? We’re not related in any way, I can’t just constantly ask you for help!”
When governing official Wu heard the two talk while lying on the kang, he thought, As of the present, I only have two daughters and no sons. Xiaoyue is already thirteen, and can already consider marriage, and it’d be best to find a live-in husband for her. However, most of the young men willing to be live-in husbands aren’t up to snuff. [1]
Governing official Wu had watched Dagan grow up. He was a generous person and was lazy. The only reason he was still unmarried at the age of twenty was due to his poor familial conditions.
He was older than Xiaoyue by a few years, but how could that be considered a flaw? So far it seems like the two of them get along well, and it’d be good if this marriage could occur. [2]
It was hard for Dagan to have received his job at the workshop, and he wouldn’t lose it no matter what. It was fortunate that both of his parents at home were able-bodied, and his two younger brothers were able to pick up the slack.
When the sun had just risen the next morning, he took his family’s old ox over to governing official Wu’s fields to till them, and only hastily rushed to the workshop at mid-morning without even bothering to change his clothes.
Thankfully, there were only three and a half acres of farmland to till, so he could till all of it in a few days by working for a few hours every morning and evening.
Dagan went back to governing official Wu’s to hand them work from the workshop, and also asked him what they were planning to grow this fall and if they had prepared the seeds for it yet. Governing official Wu’s waist had gotten much better, and he was able to move slowly, “I’ll be fine after a few more days, let me handle planting the seeds!”
“It takes three people to use a seed plough well. When the time comes, let me help out!”
Governing official Wu was about to speak out but swallowed his words. It was an insult in the countryside to be called someone’s live-in husband, and it would be equivalent to slapping someone across the face.
He found an opportunity to ask Xiaoyue about marrying Dagan. Although she didn’t say it, he could tell from the bashful expression on her face when he mentioned Dagan that she liked Dagan.
After long deliberation, governing official Wu thought of a good way of arranging a marriage between the two. They wouldn’t say to the public that Dagan was a live-in husband, nor would they write that contract. However, their family would organise everything about the wedding, and after they marry, they’d live with him. In the future, when they had children, one of them would have the surname Wu.
After making up his mind, he then decided to ask a matchmaker to raise the topic of an engagement with Dagan’s family. Mrs. Liu was famous in the village for being hard to deal with, and this engagement would be a hard sell, so it would be necessary to find a matchmaker who was especially good with words.
Usually, when people in the village wanted to get married, they would use governing official Wu as the matchmaker. However, now governing official Wu wanted to arrange a marriage, he was at a loss. After thinking about it for a long time, he decided to employ the famous Matchmaker Wong from Qianshui Town. She was famous in all of the surrounding villages, and it would cost several silver taels just to compensate her for her time.
For the happiness of the daughter, and for him to have someone to rely on in his old age, governing official Wu forked over the money. He asked someone to deliver a message to Matchmaker Wong, for her to come over. After she heard that there was money to be earned, she immediately agreed to come over.
“Governing official Wu, don’t worry. Who wouldn’t agree to being able to marry a wife without needing to pay a dowry? You live in the same village, so he can help out both families. You aren’t even writing a contract requiring him to be called a live-in husband, or change his surname to his wife’s, so what would he be disgruntled about?”
At the very end, he lowered his requirements to the bare minimum, and didn’t even require any of their children to have the surname Wu.
Matchmaker Wong found her way to Dagan’s family by asking for directions, and when she entered, she instantly congratulated them, “Congratulations, congratulations! Your family is about to experience an auspicious event!”
These words made Mrs. Liu freeze, but she recognised Matchmaker Wong and knew she was someone that typically would never appear around here, so didn’t dare to tarry.
“Matchmaker Wong, what have you come here for? You congratulated me as soon as you entered, have you found a wife for my eldest son Dagan?”
Matchmaker Wong slapped her thigh and said jovially, “Haven’t I! Your son has grown up to be virtuous and hard-working, and a young lady has taken a fancy to him!”
Mrs. Liu was overjoyed when she heard this, and hurriedly asked who it was. When she heard it was governing official Wu’s family, her smile froze on her face, “How could this be? Matchmaker, you must’ve misheard!”
Matchmaker Wong casually sat down on a stool in the courtyard, “I just came from governing official Wu’s house, and he told this to me personally. He holds your family’s Dagan in high regard, and wants to entrust his eldest daughter Xiaoyue to him.”
“How much of a dowry does he want?”
Matchmaker Wong dismissively waved her hand, “There’s no need for a dowry. He just wants the two children to stay with him after marriage.”
Mrs. Liu’s expression switched to the complete opposite after she heard this, “If they stayed with him after marriage, wouldn’t Dagan become a live-in husband? No way! I knew it was too good to be true!”
There had been people who wanted Dagan to be a live-in husband before, but Mrs. Liu and her husband rejected them instantly. Dagan was their family’s eldest son, and if he became another family’s live-in husband, not only would their children have a sullied reputation, their family would also have a sullied reputation, and it would be even harder for Mrs. Liu’s remaining two children to find a bride.
If it was someone else, they would have backed off after that, but Matchmaker Wong wasn’t just any other person! How many engagements had she arranged in the past?
Matchmaker Wong gave Mrs. Liu advice with a warm expression on her face, “Governing official Wu said there wouldn’t be a contract stating that he would be a live-in husband, and if they had children in the future, they would follow your surname. It’s just that governing official Wu’s family doesn’t have any young men to help out with the heavy labour, so Dagan would just need to help out in the future. Besides, even if he was willing to marry his daughter to your family instead, would you be able to afford the dowry and the wedding?”
It was just doing a little more work! Initially, she had her eye on Mo Ling because she was fine with her son helping his mother-in-law’s family with the labour. However, it still didn’t sound pleasant for her son to live with his father-in-law.
“Matchmaker Wong, this is a large event, and I am unable to make the final decision on my own. Could I discuss this with my son before giving you a reply?”
How could arranging a marriage be done in a single trip? If it was so easy to arrange a marriage, governing official Wu wouldn’t have gone to such a large expense to hire her.
Matchmaker Wong got up, “Naturally, it is important to discuss the rest of your son’s life. However, this marriage is one that would be hard to come by, so it would be unwise to pass it over. Xiaoyue has a gentle temperament, and if she was willing to be married to another family, she would easily be able to find a husband with good family conditions and a congenial family. How would the opportunity land to your family?”
Every word Matchmaker Wong said was reasonable, but Mrs. Liu was still a little disgruntled with it, and ultimately still felt like she was losing face.
At night, when the entire family was sat around the dinner table when Mrs. Liu mentioned what Matchmaker Wong had said. Her husband immediately said with a dark face, “No way, I’d rather him be a bachelor for life rather than become a live-in husband! It’s shameful!”
When the head of the household spoke, no one dared to disagree. Dagan hastily finished his food and placed his bowl on the table before saying with his head lowered, “I agree to this marriage!”
The silence around the dinner table was terrifying. Dagan’s father slammed his hand on the table, “If you dare become a live-in husband, don’t bother recognising me as your father.”
Mrs. Liu was unable to hold that sharp tongue of hers, “You still recognise yourself as his father? What use are you?! If you were able to earn enough money for him to marry a spouse, how would we have to contemplate this matter!”
P.S. I think you can figure out what the outcome is going to be from the Part 1 in this subtitle.
[1] In ancient China, a bride is expected to live with her parents-in-law. A live-in husband is like that, but in the other direction instead.
[2] If you find it weird, like I do, just mentally age Xiaoyue up five years. Still kind of concerning, but much less so for the Western audience (I’m assuming at least some of my readers are Western here).