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The Green Lotus Peasant Girl

Chapters List

Chapter 36: Get Married

Over there, Mrs. Qian was crying. While she didn't howl, she whimpered in an aggrieved voice.

Li Qinghe was slightly irritated by it, but Zhao Wanwan walked up to her and asked softly, "Mother, what's happened?"

Her sudden willingness to step forward was surprising since she was generally the kind of girl who hid inside when two people fought in the past.

As Mrs. Qian bawled, Li Fu leaned on the chair, seemingly falling asleep, and ignored her. When he heard his daughter's question, he felt embarrassed that he could not get off the spotlight, and he said, "Your uncle wants to go to the county with Yan Xi in a couple of days to take the exams. Your uncle is going to marry a woman after the Chinese New Year, but they don't have any money. Both your grandfather and grandmother are too old to work. I suggest you ask your father today for some..."

Needless to say, after these words were spoken, Mrs. Qian lay on the table and cried more sadly.

Zhao Wanwan looked a little pale, "How much money does uncle want?"

As Mrs. Qian glanced at Li Qinghe, she said, "At least five taels, ideally more. A poor family, a rich road¹."

When Li Qinghe noticed her sight, she picked up the teapot and cups and went outside.

Want me to pay, dream on. In addition, from a long-term expenditure perspective, no matter how much money is given to him, it is not enough to support him in the town.

"Five teals?" Zhao Wanwan exclaimed, and then she heard her low voice,"Where is my dowry?"

The voice was low and inaudible. It would have been inaudible if Li Qinghe had not deliberately listened to her.

Obviously, the words meant if Li Fu had already promised to give them the money set aside for her dowry.

"Your father is an iron rooster." When Mrs. Qian saw Li Fu leaning back in the chair and falling asleep, she got furious and said, "I told him to give it to your uncle because he didn't give the land as a dowry. If your uncle passes the exam, you can put the land under his name and save taxes."

Li Qinghe didn't want to hear anymore and went to the kitchen to wash the cups.

The impression she had of Wanwan's uncle was still influenced by what he said at the courtyard door that morning when he asked Mrs. Qian to give him the silver and was accompanied by a half-naked woman that afternoon at the town gate. If such a person passes the exam, there won't be so few talents in the world.

Even after Mrs. Qian had wept for a long time, Li Fu was still not awake, so she went back to her room angrily.

It was getting late, and Li Fu still wasn't awake. Li Qinghe took two quilts to wrap him up after thinking for a while. It would be more troublesome if he became ill.

Li Qinghe raised his hand to tuck the quilt under his arm. It was intended to let him hold the quilt and not have it slide down. Li Fu awoke unexpectedly. After scanning the room, he squeezed his eyebrows and asked, "Did I fall asleep? Where's your Aunt Qian?"

"She became angry and went back to her room." Li Qinghe was unable to cover him properly, and asked, "Will you sleep here or go back to your room?"

As Li Fu waved his hand, "I'm going to bed, you should go to bed earlier too..." Thinking about something, Li Fu asked again, "Has the Zhou family mentioned anything about marriage?"

"Not yet."

Li Fu nodded, "Don't worry. It’s okay to get married at the end of the year."

He used to remind her every day to set a date for the wedding, but now he is not in a hurry to do so?

He probably believed that no matter how hard he urged, I wouldn't be able to get ahead of Zhao Wanwan's marriage.

Hu Yanxi said he wanted to set the wedding date for the sixteenth of the first lunar month when he arrived the next morning. Mrs. Hu had scheduled to personally bring the matchmaker to their home again tomorrow, finally setting up the marriage date.

Early the next morning, Mrs. Hu showed up with a gift for their house. Mrs. Qian's eyes were still swollen, but she smiled. After she accepted the gift, and set the wedding date, and then talked about the dowry, "I have prepared four quilts and four sets of clothes for Wanwan."

Mrs. Hu was quite satisfied with what she said and glanced at the matchmaker.

The Matchmaker understood, stood up, and said, "I've had too much tea, I've got to go outside for a while."

Li Qinghe was sewing fishnets in the yard. Her fishnet had broken and she has been busy for the New Year and has no time to fix it. Matchmaker walked up to her and asked with a smile, "This is a fishnet, right? I heard you made a lot of money this year selling fish."

"Indeed, I earned a lot of silver, but I had to set aside investment capital to buy the fish and feed, and also, some fish died. I only earned a little, which is similar to working part-time." Li Qinghe smiled and seemed to be in a good mood.

Soon after, Mrs. Hu emerged from the house. Seeing Li Qinghe, she smiled and said, "In the future, we will be relatives, so we can get together more often."

Li Qinghe sent her off and turned around when she saw Mrs. Qian at the front door. Mrs. Qian stopped smiling and sighed, "They want five taels, but your father won't agree..." She shook her head, "Qinghe, let Wanwan help you with that fishnet. You need to rest first."

Had Li Qinghe not heard Mother Xu explain the reason for the marriage, seeing her so sad at this time, Li Qinghe would have believed it was the Hu family seeking the dowry.

"I don't need this urgently. I'll just sew it myself." Li Qinghe said.

After that, there was silence. The atmosphere became awkward. Li Qinghe continued working as if she didn't notice anything. Li Fu came out of the house, "I have something to say to you all. Come inside."

As soon as they entered the house, they noticed five taels of silver on the table. Zhao Wanwan glanced at it several times. Mrs. Qian's face was all smiles as she ripped through the packet of snacks that Mrs. Hu brought. She then handed Li Fu a piece and said, "Taste it."

Li Fu did not accept and pointed to the five taels of silver on the table, "This is what I planned to do before. The two girls have a dowry of five taels, so you can share it among you two. Wanwan will be married soon, and when I send you out, consider it to be the love between our father and daughter."

He looked at Li Qinghe again as he continued, "You take your share, and you will prepare your dowry when the time comes. Don't be upset."

After hearing his words, the mother and daughter were stunned. Do they only have half the money?

As she retracted her hand and glanced at Li Qinghe, Mrs. Qian said, " Qinghe, you have ten acres of land and the money you earn from selling fish this time You shouldn't lack this money, right?"

The money must have been set aside a long time ago. There were four large coins and two small coins. Li Qinghe reached out and took her half before Mrs. Qian could stop her. "No matter how much it is, it is father's love. Thank you, father."

'You will all live happy lives from now on,' Li Fu said, waving his hand.

"Qinghe, you don't need this money, can you lend it to Wanwan, and she'll pay you back." The anxious Mrs. Qian continued, "Everyone has times when they don't take advantage of others. You two sisters should take care of each other and support each other......"

"This is Dad's intention." She emphasized, "You robbed my dad, and now you have to take this away?"

"No one is allowed to play with this silver!" Li Fu looked at Mrs. Qian with a solemn warning, "Also with Wanwan's share, don't think of moving it. If I know that her silver did not fall into her hands, do not blame me for going to the Qian family to ask for it back."

He clearly said that she was not allowed to give this money to the Qian family. Mrs. Qian began to become increasingly upset when her thoughts were exposed; she said, "My parents raised me for so long, and now that I'm married to you, can't you help them share their worries?"

Li Fu frowned slightly, "How can that make any sense? I gave the bride price to your parents when I married you. Your parents have received the bride price twice, which should be more than enough. How much filial respect they take, that's their business. The amount of filial respect I offer is my business, they want me to give more, impossible!"

Mrs. Qian’s face turned pale when she heard the two dowry prices, "You still blame me. Where did the two dowry gifts come from? I want them to accept one but it was your Li family that refused! Later...I didn't ask you to marry me, and now embarrass me like this in front of the children..." She couldn’t say any more, and threw the snack on Li Fu and ran out, covering her face. And then they heard her enter the room and close the door with a bang.

 Zhao Wanwan was so terrified that she lowered her head and dared not speak, and retracted her hand which had already touched the silver.

Li Fu's face blackened as he scrubbed off the snacks on his body. He calmed down when he saw her cautious appearance and stuffed the silver into her hand, "You keep it, your mother...in her eyes, no one is more important than her younger brother. You are old, so you should take care of yourself…"

Following the Chinese New Year, on the fifth day of the new year, the villagers started to pick up weeds and wait for the weather to warm up before they planted seeds. Last year, Li Qinghe cleaned her plot of land. She was going to plant this year as well, but she won't be cleaning up wasteland. Together with Zhou Chengkang, she circled the part of the land where she was going to feed the chickens. She planned to build a chicken coop.

Cutting the weed was very exhausting, especially with this kind of weed in the wasteland. In the meantime, Zhou Chengkang looked around and said, "I think we should build a shack and live here, watching the chickens and fish."

Li Qinghe considered this as well. There have been few people who have stolen chickens and dogs, but if there is no one here to watch the large flock of chickens, maybe it will be stolen.

Therefore, the two of them had one more job to do; they built an extra shack for themselves. They built it in the middle of the pond and on this site.

Zhao Wanwan's wedding date was set as soon as possible. No matter how busy these two days were, they still had to entertain the guests early in the morning. The Qian family was here the first day, but Li Fu was very busy. He was busy cleaning the front yard and the backyard and ran to repair the door. The members of the Qian family were left to be received by Mrs. Qian, and Li Qinghe also refused to move forward.

On the second day, many people arrived early in the morning. As a matter of fact, marrying off your daughter was far less fun than marrying a wife. While Li Qinghe stayed in the kitchen to chop vegetables, Mrs. Qian was left in charge of the guests' reception. Even though she was not happy about her own daughter's wedding, she had a smile on her face.

It was almost noon when Hu Yanxi was surrounded by a group of young people who might be his classmates. He appeared polite and gentle. The groom coaxed and took the bride with him. All this time, Mrs. Qian followed them.

After the wedding party left, Mrs. Qian looked in the direction of where the sedan chair had disappeared and wiped her tears. Li Fu also stood for a long time with a little melancholy.

The two girls were supposed to send Zhao Wanwan to the house, but Qian found two directly from her mother's house. She did not ask Li Qinghe to send them nor did Li Qinghe step forward to go.

Li Qinghe watched as the sedan chair left. Her only concern was waiting for the guests to finish their meal and leave before cleaning up after them.

With Zhao Wanwan gone, she was unsure whether Mrs. Qian's lack of passion for work would be better.

After an hour, the villagers finished their meal, helped clean up the dishes and chopsticks on the table, and took away their belongings. By the time the people had almost left, the courtyard only had an empty tables and melon shells on the ground.

As Mrs. Qian clutched her chest, "I feel uncomfortable. I will go back and lie down for a while." She then staggered to her bedroom.

Yu Yan stayed until the very end in the yard. She couldn't help but glance at Li Qinghe's speechless expression upon seeing this. As she approached her, she lowered her voice and laughed, "Are you really going to do all this alone? I am here to help."

Just then, Li Fu came in from the outside. He was going to return other people's stuff. Seeing the two girls holding brooms, he glanced around but did not see Mrs. Qian. "Where is your Aunt Qian?" he asked.


NOTE: Poor family and the Rich road is a Chinese idiom, pronounced qióng jiā fù lù. It is from Qing Shi Yukun's "Three Heroes and Five Righteousness". It means that you should be frugal at home, but you should take more money when you go out to avoid embarrassment.

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