CHAPTER 264: CHAPTER 255: MARRIAGE PROPOSAL

By the tenth day of December, the academy had officially started the holiday, and Yu Xiaolian took her little team by carriage back to Taohua Village.

The carriage was driven by Sun Mancang. Although Sun Mancang hadn’t attended school during this time, he spent all day mingling with these schoolboys and had learned quite a few characters. Yu Xiaolian often saw Sun Mancang secretly using sticks to practice writing on the ground and knew he wasn’t unwilling to learn; he was just reluctant to spend money.

Letting his two younger brothers teach him after school seemed quite good.

Knowing that Sun Fengshou was getting married, Yu Xiaolian prepared a lot of things. With Sun Hu, Mandun, Manfeng, and Manzhi in the carriage, it felt very crowded.

Sun Manzhi asked Xiaohuzi, "Your dad is finding you a stepmother, are you scared?"

Sun Hu’s mind briefly flashed with the image of Mrs. Xu, but he quickly pulled his thoughts back.

"I’m not scared, what should I be scared of? I’m not living with them."

He had grown up and was no longer the child who clung to his parents.

He used to be close friends with Sun Manzhi; they were the same age and grew up playing together.

But for some reason, he now felt that Su Jingyue was a better friend.

Logically, since Su Jingyue was better in martial arts and studies, Sun Hu should have been jealous, but he wasn’t. Instead, his friendship with Su Jingyue had surpassed that with Sun Manzhi.

Sun Manzhi was also quite intelligent, but compared to Su Jingyue in reading and learning, he fell short.

Sun Manzhi had his own cleverness; he wasn’t good at arithmetic but had a glib tongue and a good memory. He could recite articles very quickly and managed to charm their Confucian teacher, who liked Sun Manzhi very much.

The younger ones of Sun Manzhi were very curious about the bride Sun Fengshou was about to marry, and chatted excitedly about it the whole way.

Upon arriving at Taohua Village, Yu Xiaolian asked Sun Mancang to deliver the things she brought back to Sun Fengshou’s house while she, with a few young ones, walked home on the thin snow.

"I heard that the bride Fengshou is going to marry is an old maid."

Upon entering the main hall, Yu Xiaolian saw Sun Dalin’s wife sitting chatting with her mother.

Sun Dalin’s wife doesn’t believe that a nineteen-year-old girl who hasn’t gotten married yet can be good.

A girl not married by nineteen and having been rejected by a suitor; surely, she has some defect, either unattractive or with a bad reputation.

"I say, Fengshou should rather find a widow with children. At least the widow has given birth before..."

Sun Dalin’s wife was interrupted halfway by Sun, who, displeased, said, "Sister-in-law, stop spreading rumors. Fengshou’s bride is the Village Chief Qi’s niece.

The reason she didn’t marry at nineteen was because the year she was supposed to get married at sixteen, her Scholar father suddenly fell ill and died. Her fiancé’s family was in a hurry to marry their son and couldn’t wait for the three-year mourning period, which is why the engagement was canceled."

Sun, venting her anger, looked up to see Yu Xiaolian coming through the curtain.

Seeing Yu Xiaolian still wearing autumn clothes, she pulled a face and said, "Lian’er, why don’t you wear more clothes? What if you catch a cold?"

Yu Xiaolian laughed, "Mom, I’m not cold."

Since winter had set in, people have caught colds one after another, but Yu Xiaolian remained perfectly fine.

Even though she wore fewer clothes than others, she didn’t feel cold at all.

Seeing Yu Xiaolian return, Sun Dalin’s wife didn’t dare linger. She quickly drank the tea on the table, grabbed two handfuls of melon seeds and put them in her pocket, and bade Sun farewell before leaving.

Every time Yu Xiaolian returned, she would confront Sun Dalin’s wife, and gradually she understood that Yu Xiaolian didn’t favor her—this dislike was openly apparent. Thus, whenever Sun Dalin’s wife saw Yu Xiaolian, she would promptly vanish from her sight.

"Mom, does she come here to mooch from us every day?"

Sun said helplessly, "She doesn’t come every day, but she visits once in a few days, and your dad already finds her quite annoying."

Indeed, Yu Changhe now also looked down on Sun Dalin’s wife.

Because whenever she came, she would filch something from the Yu Family. Although it’s usually trivial things, the behavior is quite irritating.

Yu Changhe even told Sun that if Sun Dalin’s wife keeps this up, he’s going to find Sun Si and ask him to discipline his elder daughter-in-law.

But Sun thought that for such small matters like peanuts or melon seeds, it wasn’t worth causing unhappiness between the families and asked Yu Changhe to bear it for now.

"Mom, you weren’t like this before, why are you becoming so soft now?

I think Dad’s approach is right. You shouldn’t condone Yang; your indulgence will only allow her to become more brazen."

Sun was thinking that since her family was living well now, if she made an issue over peanuts and melon seeds, it would seem petty.

"Mom, she’s actually testing your limits little by little to see how much you can tolerate. Right now, it’s just some peanuts and seeds, but if you keep silent, she’s sure to go even further."

Sun nodded, "Mom understands. Next time she comes, I’ll make sure to reprimand her."

Yu Xiaolian was quite agitated, "Mom, the next time she comes, don’t even open the door for her. If she does come in, don’t serve her tea or offer her peanuts—she’s no guest to us, and I can’t stand her."

Sun explained, "Originally, your uncle Daji didn’t open the door for her today; she hollered saying Mantao’s wife didn’t have milk to feed the baby, asking us what powder we were feeding the children.

She wanted some to feed Mantao’s newly born son, so she sat down to talk for a bit. Before I managed to get her milk powder, she saw you and scampered off like a mouse scared by a cat."

Sun Mantao’s wife had given birth to another son, making it three sons for Sun Mantao.

Unfortunately, Mantao’s wife had no milk, and the baby cried constantly. Mantao’s wife could only feed him rice soup daily.

Sun Dalin’s wife saw that Sun had no milk but her twins were chubby, so she asked Grandma Sun what the Yu family’s dragon and phoenix twins were fed.

Grandma Sun mentioned cow milk powder.

The speaker spoke carelessly, but the listener paid attention, leading to Sun Dalin’s wife coming for milk powder.

"Mom, Mantao’s brother’s child is still young, giving him some milk powder is okay, but the plastic feeding bottle mustn’t be given, and they shouldn’t even see it."

Sun nodded in agreement, knowing that the plastic bottle shouldn’t be exposed.

She always fed the children by hiding with Yu Changhe in the room, feeding them and then putting the bottle away.

Now it’s winter, and the family’s waste land has been plowed, leaving only the task of going to the distant mountains to gather firewood.

Since Sun Daji and Sun Sanji couldn’t stay idle and went to chop firewood every day, the wood had already piled up like a mountain, enough for the winter.