Chapter 18

"But that money belongs to all of you brothers, and there's Wu'er’s dowry too, you've taken it all. What about your brothers?" Mrs. Zhou said, despair in her voice. "If you marry, this house won't be enough. There's not even enough to rebuild."
Hearing that, Li Qinghe left. To be fair, every able-bodied member of the Zhou family worked hard, so life shouldn't be unbearable.
But as people said, many young mouths can drain a father's resources. The more people there are, the more they eat. In other families the harvest might last until April or May, if lucky, June or July, barely enough to get by. But the Zhous often used up their grain before the year was out. Once the brothers grew a bit they went off to find odd jobs to fill their bellies; life was barely sustainable. Then their father fell ill for a long time and drained the family savings. The past two years have been spent paying debts. Mrs. Zhou probably didn't have much left.
So when villagers spoke of the Zhous, the first thought was "poor."
Li Qinghe returned home. Li Fu was sharpening a blade in the yard; seeing her come in he asked, "You bought the fish fry?"
She gave a small sound of assent. "They're in."
Seeing her distracted, Li Fu continued, "Raising fish is good, but be careful, don't throw your silver away. The harvest is in a couple of days; you'll help with the cooking, okay?"
"Okay." Li Qinghe agreed; living at home, she was willing to help with chores.
At that, Li Fu's face softened. "I want to settle Wanwan's match quickly. I'm not trying to force you, but it seems the Hu family has someone interested. It's a good match. Though Wanwan isn't my biological daughter, I've raised her nearly ten years and I want the best for her. Besides, I see you're good with her... Since you've already picked the Zhou family, could you hurry things along?"
"No." Li Qinghe said irritably. "They've got several brothers, each time one comes down they demand a bride price. What's the rush?"
Li Fu snapped, "If I refuse the Zhous and you're still set on plunging in... such a poor family, everyone avoids them. You're foolish."
Li Qinghe fell silent. Maybe she was foolish, but she only wanted a pure affection. Most men chased after money, if they liked her but found it impractical they'd change course. In this world, only Zhou Chengkang was willing to stay true to her, even if she were gone. She had no reason to push that feeling away.
"Don't push it," Li Qinghe said as she went into the kitchen. "Pushing won't help. The Hu family won't come help with the harvest, do you want to force it before the harvest?"
This time Li Fu was silent.
In the countryside, once two families agreed on a match, the son-in-law was expected to help his wife's family with work. Li Fu's urging probably had that reason. Many families arranged marriages after the harvest: first, the grain was stored and no one was busy; second, it avoided that very obligation.
Of course, some families did arrange matches before the harvest to show sincerity.
The next morning word came from the Zhou household: the eldest had sent matchmakers to Liu Village and arranged a match, perhaps because it was a second marriage, the wedding was set for next month.
That afternoon the second son's marriage to Li Qingmiao was agreed. By evening the third son had been paired with the third daughter of the Zhang family in town.
The Zhou brothers, who looked likely to remain bachelors, managed to arrange three matches in one day, astonishing not just in their village but across the whole town. Mrs. Zhou was without question the most enterprising mother-in-law around.
With that news, even when people saw Li Qinghe going to the wasteland to feed fish, they barely glanced and immediately turned to gossip excitedly about the three new daughters-in-law.
By the next day people suddenly remembered that Li Qinghe had bought wasteland near the western hills, ten acres at once, cutting off a large swath.
Many lamented, ten-odd taels of silver wasted; she could've done something better, even built a decent house. But then they heard the land was registered in her name alone. What did that mean?
It meant whoever married her would get ten acres for free!
Though it was wasteland, it was still ten acres. Besides, she'd already stocked the pond with fish; a few days had passed and the fry were lively, very likely to thrive.
That was all money!
For a while many people openly and secretly asked Madam Qian and Li Fu about Li Qinghe's marriage. Li Fu said there was no rush; Madam Qian didn't respond. One thing became clear: Li Fu had no intention of seizing his daughter's land.
These people grew even more interested and, refusing to give up, went off to Li Xingwang to ask around.
That wasn’t all. On her way to feed the fish morning and evening, Li Qinghe would sometimes run into young men she hadn’t known well before, who greeted her as if they were old friends.
She never imagined that ten acres of barren land could cause such a stir. Watching the dark-skinned, good-natured young man standing before her asking for directions, Li Qinghe fell into thought: had she underestimated how attractive this land would be to farming families?
"Miss, do you know this family?" the young man asked nervously. "I’m not a bad man, I'm from Shan village over there. My aunt married into this area years ago; her surname’s Li. Oh, and my cousin’s name is Qingyu."
Li Qingyu, she was, after all, Li Qinghe’s cousin and lived not far from her. "Go straight from here; when you see a courtyard with a jujube tree, that’s their house."
"Thank you." The young man smiled shyly. "But I don’t really know jujube trees. Could you take me there? Thank you."
A farm family that doesn’t recognize a jujube tree?
Li Qinghe was taken aback, suddenly thinking appearances could be deceiving, this fellow wasn’t as honest as he looked. She was about to say that there aren’t many households with trees in the yards over that way, so he could ask around, when a familiar male voice came from behind: "I’ll take you. I can show you around your village a bit, too."
The simple-looking young man looked baffled. "Who are you?"
"Weren’t you asking for directions?" Zhou Chengkang stepped up beside him, put an arm around his shoulders and led him off. "I’m telling you, your aunt’s house is very close; I know it too..."
Li Qinghe couldn’t help the corner of her mouth curling up.