Traveling Through Those Years Of Farming (Quick Transmigration) - Chapter 31

“The person the matchmaker introduces is really good. You’re getting older. If you wait any longer, the only marriage proposals we get will be from widowers or men with problems.”

Seeing her daughter remain calm and unruffled, Jiang Bai’e can’t help but feel angry; she thinks her daughter’s marriage seems like a solo performance put on by herself.

Which girl in the village doesn’t marry by the age of fifteen or sixteen? Only families that are truly struggling and cannot afford to lose a laborer let their daughters reach eighteen or nineteen and still remain single.

Although their eldest daughter isn’t particularly striking, she is tall and strong, clearly built for bearing sons. On top of that, she has a talent for bringing money into the household. With these two qualities, Jiang Bai’e believes her daughter deserves to marry the best young man in the surrounding area.

“That boy is nineteen this year. His marriage is delayed because he is studying. Now the elders at home are anxious, insisting he marry before establishing a career, and the matchmaker immediately thinks of you.”

Maybe because of Tang Dingyuan’s success, Jiang Bai’e privately hopes to find a scholar for her daughter. Otherwise, if Tang Dingyuan truly has good fortune and passes the imperial examinations, and the girl from the second household becomes a government official’s wife, while her own daughter—who is superior in every way—ends up marrying a man who works in the fields and has to bow to her, wouldn’t that be frustrating?

“I hear he seems gentle and has passed the student exam, which means he has some talent.” Jiang Bai’e doesn’t really understand the exam system but thinks that if this man has passed the student exam at nineteen, he can’t be worse than Tang Dingyuan. Little does she know that being a student isn’t a big deal. Tang Dingyuan hasn’t taken the exam yet, but if he does, he will easily pass all the tests.

Jiang Bai’e doesn’t know much about the imperial examination system but feels that the fact he has passed the elementary examinations at nineteen means he is not necessarily inferior to Tang Dingyuan, who has been praised so highly by outsiders but has yet to achieve any scholarly distinction.

How could she know that being a Tongsheng is not a significant achievement at all? The reason Tang Dingyuan hasn’t passed the exam is that he has not yet taken it. Otherwise, passing it would be an easy task. If he takes the exam, he will surely pass the county, prefectural, and academy tests in one go and return with the title of scholar.

In fact, Tang Dingyuan’s teacher plans to have him take the county exam next year.

“Sounds pretty good,” Lu Miao chimes in. In fact, she is also somewhat worried about her eldest granddaughter’s marriage.

“What’s the situation with the boy’s family?” Lu Miao doesn’t ask Jiang Bai’e this question but directs it to her husband and oldest son. 

The information Jiang Bai’e has must have come from the matchmaker. A matchmaker’s words are often untrustworthy; who knows what lies she might tell just to earn a thank-you gift?

Old Butcher Lu and Lu Jiafeng have been slaughtering pigs and livestock in nearby villages for years, so they are quite well-informed. The family of the matchmaker is the youngest son of the village chief from the neighboring village, so they should have some familiarity with each other.

“Mother, that family—”

“Shut your mouth!”

Jiang Bai’e anxiously wants to list the conditions that the matchmaker mentioned, but unfortunately, she is silenced by Lu Miao and can only swallow the remaining words back down.

“The village chief of that village?” Old Butcher Lu frowns, as if thinking. “Their family also raises pigs. The father seems kind and friendly, but his wife is difficult. She is too stingy. Every time we negotiate the price for castrated pigs, she always tries to find faults and pays less after the work is done.”

Although he eventually gets paid, her sour expression makes the whole process unpleasant. If Old Butcher Lu isn’t in charge of livestock in this area, he wouldn’t want to work for that family.

“This… doesn’t mean much. They are just good at saving money.” Jiang Bai’e’s smile looks a bit forced. The village chief’s wife may be shrewd, but that’s not unusual. Every head of the family is careful with their money.

“Life isn’t meant to be lived like that. Someone like her could easily offend people without realizing it.”

Old Butcher Lu looks at his eldest daughter-in-law. What does she mean? Does she think he is being unfair and charging too much?

“Father, now that you mention it, I remember.” Lu Jiafeng places his hand under the table and tugs at his wife’s sleeve. “I went to that family to collect pigs before, and I saw the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law fighting.”

Many rural families raise pigs not just for food. When the pigs are big enough to be slaughtered, they hire a butcher, keeping a small amount for their own meals and selling the rest. 

Generally speaking, when collecting pigs, the payment is based on live weight rather than being broken down into cuts like at a meat stall, which allows for quite a bit of profit margin at the butcher shop.

Few families keep the whole pig. If they do, they have to pay the butcher a labor fee because slaughtering a pig is hard work, and the butcher can’t do it for free.

“The village chief’s wife wants to keep all the pork belly and two hind legs of the pig, saying it’s to nourish her hard-working younger son who is studying. The other daughters-in-law aren’t happy, arguing that the youngest does nothing at home and spends all day with his nose in a book. Why should he eat better than the men who work hard at home? Moreover, they raised this pig; they were hoping to sell it to fix the roof of their house. Now the mother-in-law has taken the best parts, so how much money can they make from the leftover meat? This is why the mother-in-law and daughters-in-law get into an argument, and some even say they want to split the family.”

Lu Jiafeng recounts what he saw. The daughters-in-law are right; the pork belly and hind legs are the most valuable parts of a pig. Many families only keep a small piece if they want to keep anything at all. Now the village chief’s wife has taken all the best parts. The money from selling the remaining meat won’t be much.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Jiang Bai’e’s face lights up with joy, indicating that the couple from the village chief’s family is quite partial to their younger son. Any benefits in the future will surely be directed toward her daughter’s family.

“Sister-in-law is very practical,” Lu Jiafu says, slurping his porridge. Usually, she complains about him, feeling their family eats free meals at home. Now, she is already happy that the young man is favored, even before he becomes her son-in-law.

Jiang Bai’e feels embarrassed. Seeing the amused expressions of her second branch and his wife, she stammers and can’t say anything.

“Hearing what the eldest son says, I should think more about this marriage,” Lu Miao says, not as optimistic as Jiang Bai’e.

In the countryside, people marry young. That family has been hesitant to arrange a marriage for their studying son, which shows they are somewhat picky. They might be waiting for him to pass the exam so they can choose a girl with a better family background and character for him.

Lu Miao analyzes the situation based on her husband and son’s words. The parents favor the younger son, and the brothers and sisters-in-law have long been unhappy about it. When they mention dividing the family, it isn’t just a thought made in anger.

The situation in that family is clearly more severe than in theirs. Although both families have parents who favor their younger sons, Old Butcher Lu and his wife still maintain a balance by making their son and daughter-in-law work. Even if they slack off and don’t accomplish much, at least they have to show some effort.

In contrast, that family not only provides their youngest son with good food and drink but also spends a lot of money to send him to school. This isn’t just favoritism; the whole family supports this scholar. It is no wonder the brothers and sisters-in-law grow more resentful.

Lu Miao figures the brothers and sisters-in-law are serious about wanting to split the family, and even the parents can’t stop them. They are eager to find a marriage for their promising youngest son, hoping to find a girl with a rich dowry so they can continue supporting him after the family splits up.

That’s why the matchmaker thinks of the eldest girl. No one in the area can earn more than her eldest granddaughter.

However, Lu Miao is not optimistic about this marriage. If her suspicions are right, the couple and the boy are very ambitious and might not want a girl from a butcher’s family. If the other family lives an average life, it would be fine, but if they have dreams of success, her granddaughter could become a burden in their eyes.

However, if the other party truly leads a mundane life, why would they marry off the eldest daughter to him? Are they unhappy with their comfortable life and actively seeking to complicate it by finding themselves three ancestors to grind them down?

“Mother!” Seeing her mother-in-law not supporting her, Jiang Bai’e grows more anxious.

“The eldest girl doesn’t like anyone. People say she has high standards and won’t accept any suitors. In the past two months, fewer people have come to propose marriage for her.”

Jiang Bai’e is confused. Is she the only one in the family who really cares about the eldest girl? Why doesn’t anyone else worry about her future?

“Ah—” Lu Miao sighs at her daughter-in-law’s words.

“Eldest girl, what do you think?”

Honestly, at her age, if people didn’t know she was good at making money, the marriage proposals would stop completely. The girl is growing up; she can’t stay at home forever. If that happens, the whole family might end up being gossiped about behind their backs.

People wouldn’t think it is because the eldest daughter doesn’t want to marry; they would assume the family is afraid of losing their golden goose and won’t let her get married.