When Wei Cheng woke up, he remembered that he had to go back to the village to work in the fields every day.

He remembered that he was allocated two mu of paddy fields and one mu of dry land, and when he went back to work in the village, he even planted the land allocated to his elder brother.

Wei Cheng was speechless.

They had already separated, but he still helped to farm their lands. The original owner was still a very honest person.

Good people were indeed more vulnerable to being bullied by others.

He has not done farming for more than ten years, and even if he had the memories of how to do so, he does not want to go farming; he wants to return to his usual doings and do business. If he relied on farming, he would not achieve financial freedom until he was old.

As for the fields in the village, he’ll think about it later.

Wei Cheng went shopping, and he went directly to the market. He also needed necessities such as oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and rice grains, so he needed to buy them as well. The most important thing was to change all his clothes and the bed quilts at home.

Wei Cheng entered the clothes store, which was filled with ordinary fabric, the coarsest cloth, suitable for countrymen to buy, but also cheap and affordable. He wore ragged clothes to come in, and the shop attendant also smiled at him to welcome him as a customer; after all, the market was for the countrymen who came to buy things; there would be no people from the county town who came here.

Even if there were small rich families who came to buy slaves, the market was full of peasant things picked and made by the countrymen themselves, except for fixed small shops, and where the prices were more affordable than in the county town- the slaves of the big households in the county would not come to buy from them, and they would even dislike stepping further.

The shop sells ready-made clothes, and Wei Cheng didn’t come here to bargain. He directly asked the price of a set of rough clothes and quilts- he learned that the clothes ranged from a dozen to fifty or sixty wen, and quilts were more expensive, costing more than a hundred wen.

He bought three sets of ready-made clothes and a quilt, which cost more than two hundred wen.

The attendant in the shop also gave him a discount- it was rare to meet a big customer, and this month’s commission was definitely more than a dozen wen, and he could also buy some meat for his family.

The attendant in the shop smiled brightly, nodded respectfully, bowed his waist, wrapped the bag, and then sent Wei Cheng out the door.

Watching Wei Cheng go away in the background, the attendant thought to himself that he had misjudged this shabby appearance; the clothes were white from washing, the sleeves and corners were frayed, and there were patches on his clothes, but he was so rich.

After this experience, the attendant in the shop would treat every customer who came to buy clothes more seriously. Later, his service attitude and equal treatment made some poor people look for the attendant in the shop after they settled down and got rich.

After buying clothes, Wei Cheng went to buy oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar. His parents’ store sells daily-use items, and it seems that they also have oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar. However, it seems that his elder brother and sister-in-law were the ones watching the store. If he met his sister-in-law, he would definitely see his sister-in-law’s condescending face, so he took advantage of the family’s separation and did not visit their store.

Wei Cheng decided to go to another store to buy, and since it was not in the same place as theirs, he was not afraid of being accidentally seen.

He bought oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, and meat, and then he went to buy some vegetables and brought them home in bags. When he got home, he was inevitably pointed at by neighbors and gossiped behind his back.

He pretended not to hear them.

“Did he get rich? Why was he buying so many things?”

“Maybe he’s just pretending to be a fat man despite being poor.”

“His family just separated him out, so he must have gotten some money- he might be spending a lot of money just to buy things.”

“Let’s just say that he slapped his swollen face trying to pretend to be a fat man. After spending all that money, he would still die of poverty.”

━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

At Qinghe Village

The Zhou family, who had gone on a blind date with Wei Cheng– Zhou Wu, had the idea of promising her own nephew to the poor man because if she found a wife for Wei Cheng, his mother promised to give her thank-you money.

A few hundred wen was big money, but she didn’t like Wei Cheng’s poor appearance. When she took her daughter on the blind date, she also inquired about Wei Cheng’s family background. They had a house and a shop in the county, and there were houses in the countryside with a few acres of paddy fields.

She was very happy to find such a good partner. If he met her daughter and liked her, then her daughter would marry in the county, and she would have a lot of face to show others. The other family also opened a grocery store, and when they became in-laws, when they went shopping, there would be a discount.

It never occurred to her that Wei Cheng had no share in the houses and grocery stores in the county town, and she was assigned a countryman with long, dull mud legs and shabby clothes; how could she marry her daughter to him?

Her spoiled daughter was going to marry a rich man.

But when she got angry, Wei Cheng’s mother proposed that if she introduced someone to come for a blind date and it was successful, she would give her a few hundred wen as a thank you, and she thought of the unmarried ger of her second brother’s family.

A ger who couldn’t get married, a poor man who couldn’t get a wife- it was a perfect match.

After thinking about it, Zhou Wu went to his nephew’s house.

Zhou Wu, who never came to the house and disliked her poor family relatives, suddenly came to visit. Mother Zhou was enthusiastically pulled into the house by Zhou Wu, and it was a really strange sight for Mother Zhou to see.

She was vigilant in her heart; her sister-in-law, who usually looked arrogant and looked down on her family, looked like she was in a good mood today. Why?

Zhou Wu directly explained her purpose for coming here. She wanted to introduce someone to Mother Zhou’s ger, and she even told the other party that he had a house in the county town, fields in the countryside, and his family had a shop in the suburbs of the county town. They lived a happy, prosperous life.

Mother Zhou didn’t believe Zhou Wu’s hype. She remembered that the person Zhou Wu said seemed to be her family’s Zhou Lanlan’s previous blind date; she’d been bragging a lot, and when something was told, the whole village would know.

When they came back later, they didn’t mention it again.

When the villagers saw it, they all said that the other party must have looked down on Zhou Lanlan. They said behind their backs that Zhou Lanlan was in a hurry to find a rich husband, but the rich people didn’t want her. Zhou Wu would not allow others to slander her family’s Zhou Lanlan, as it would ruin Zhou Lanlan’s reputation. She scolded others, saying that her Zhou Lanlan could not look down on a small family in the county, and Zhou Lanlan was going to marry into a rich family and live a life as a young mistress.

Mother Zhou listened to her bragging; she didn’t believe that if the other party was really so good, Zhou Wu would let her ger go.

“Sister-in-law, why didn’t your Lanlan want such a good match?” Mother Zhou asked.

Zhou Wu’s mask suddenly cracked, and her eyes darted with guilt, but thinking of the Zhou’s ger, Zhou Yuan, who was not wanted by anyone, who was not good-looking, and who was not married at the age of eighteen, he had already become an older ger. If she were willing to introduce a man to Zhou Yuan, the Zhou family should thank her.

“Sister-in-law, a blind date was just a date to see one another. The Wei family’s background was not bad, and Wei Cheng was not bad either. Lanlan was just not ready and was waiting for the right time. Besides, it has already been so long, yet your ger has yet to marry; if you don’t do so now, it would be your ger’s turn to be married for cheap. Besides, even if he’s average in appearance, his family background was good. Before, when people came to your house to propose marriage, it was because the man was ugly, or the family was poor, or they had poor character. Your ger was already considered an old ger. If I introduce someone to you, why were you still afraid that I would deceive you?!”

Mother Zhou thought for a while, but she was still worried and asked, “Will the other party marry a ger?”

Regarding this point, Zhou Wu hesitated…

A ger was not easy to marry, he was not petite and feminine, and it was even more difficult to marry a tall and not feminine ger like Zhou Yuan.

Gers were not as good as women, and they could only have one child most of the time, and there was no sense of gentleness and consideration like that of women. The Dajing dynasty’s gers only account for a small part of the population. A ger needs two taels of silver to marry, but a girl needs at least five taels of silver.

It’s better to be born into a family that didn’t dislike gers, but it’s hard to be born into a family that dislikes gers, as they were more costly than giving birth to a girl.

How could Zhou Fajiang like this?! She gave birth to a ger named Zhou Yuan, but it was okay because she didn’t dislike him, and she loved him very much. His three elder brothers did the hard work in the field, while he did some non-tiring work at home.

Whether Wei Cheng liked gers or not, Zhou Wu dared not guarantee it. Although Wei Cheng was poor, he was also a native of the county, so he might not like gers. No, Zhou Wu would not tell the truth for the sake of a few hundred wens that would be given to her in thanks.

“Sister-in-law, don’t worry, if the other party didn’t want to marry gers, I wouldn’t have come here. I also think it’s troublesome, and I don’t want you to agree to marriage immediately. I just want to make an appointment with you to meet up with him first.” When they meet, she won’t necessarily know that Wei Cheng was poor, and when the time comes, she knows that the Zhou family won’t know about his situation, and in the end, if they marry, she’ll profit from it.

Mother Zhou was a little relieved and thought to herself, it’s okay to go and have a look, but the appearance was generally not a big thing, but she was afraid that the man might have a poor character; she would not send her ger to suffer for the sake of marrying him off.

Mother Zhou could only be so cautious as she had encountered it before, and she didn’t believe in being fussy, but she couldn’t see that Zhou Wu, who was not a good person, would be so kind as to introduce someone good to her ger.

Her ger’s marriage has always been her worry. She was able to find people to introduce slowly in the first two years, but later on, she became more anxious, and this made someone want to plot against her ger.

The matchmaker came to the door to talk about matchmaking, and she also said that there was a man in the neighboring village whose family population was simple, and the family was poor before, and had not married anyone until now. They had been thinking about the ger of the Zhou family.

When the Zhou family encountered such a good thing, they originally wanted to agree, but after all, they hadn’t known the man before, so they should investigate him first. The matchmaker also said that they should be reassured. That man, as the matchmaker said, was a long-term type of man who endures hardships and could stand hard work.

If she hadn’t met her mother’s sister, who happened to be married to a man from that village and happened to be the neighbor of the man’s family, who secretly told her that the man had hidden diseases and would beat people when he drank, this matter would not have been said to the outside world, and she had only overheard it.

How could that work? The Zhou family later rejected the marriage and also rejected the matchmaker from that household.

“Sister, I couldn’t make up my mind about this matter. I would give you an answer after the head of the family comes back to discuss it.” Mother Zhou didn’t agree directly. A ger’s marriage was a big deal. After all, she wanted to know more about the man’s character. It was impossible to just wantonly marry her ger to others.

“Auntie, I agree with this matter. I ask Auntie to arrange a time for me.”

Zhou Yuan, who had been standing at the door eavesdropping, came in. He had just returned from planting vegetables in the field when an aunt in the village told him that his aunt had hurried to his house. His family had just recently taken out something to honor their grandparents, and he worried that his mother would suffer, so he hurried home.

As soon as he entered the small courtyard, he heard the loud voice of his eldest aunt, who turned out to be introducing someone to him.

Although he didn’t know what lay in the eldest aunt’s heart, she must be lobbying for it because she had some gains in it, but in the end, it was just a meeting.

His eldest sister-in-law at home secretly said that he would not marry anytime soon, that he would eat and drink for free at home, and that there were too many people in the family to have a good meal. There were too many children in the family, and it was almost impossible to live on. If he gets married, they would have more room to breathe, but it seems that he refuses to marry.

If he gets married, the family would not have to provide for him, and maybe they could still eat a meal with meat.

Zhou Yuan also overheard his few sisters-in-law chatting behind his back. Most of what was said was by his elder sister-in-law. The second sister-in-law was thoughtful but smart and didn’t dare to say more. The third sister-in-law was calculating and hoped that he would marry early, but didn’t say so out loud.

Zhou Yuan also didn’t want his parents to worry about his marriage all day long. If someone introduced a blind date, it didn’t matter to him if he went to see.

Although Zhou Yuan’s temperament was docile, his stubborn side would be revealed when he insisted on it. Mother Zhou refused, but Zhou Yuan agreed. His eldest aunt took the opportunity to say, “Zhou-ger, it’s decided then; Aunt will tell the other party to make an appointment.”

Mother Zhou couldn’t stop her, so Zhou Wu left in a hurry.

At night, this incident caused the Zhou family to be silent for a while.

Father Zhou and the three elder brothers of the Zhou family objected on the spot.

Their eldest aunt was so kind as to introduce someone to them that she must be taking advantage of others.

The people Zhou Lanlan despises were definitely tricky.

But even if they didn’t agree, Zhou Yuan had already agreed- Zhou Wu was difficult and unreasonable, and she would definitely not let him go if he refused to honor his words.

In the end, Father Zhou said that they would just take a look, and if the other party was not suitable, they would just refuse.

Zhou Yuan’s three sisters-in-law secretly rejoiced.

On Wei Cheng’s side, he had a good meal, which included soup, meat, and vegetables, to celebrate his new life. He sneezed and rubbed his nose while eating.

Someone must be talking about him behind his back.

What he didn’t know was that someone had arranged a blind date for him again.