Old Master Lian, in his conduct, is much more subtle and reserved than Lady Zhou. This is his way of hinting to Lian Shouxin to bring out the silver.
"If it’s my grandfather speaking, he will definitely be clear about it, saying it’s a loan and would be paid back later. But if my father voluntarily brings the silver over, everyone will know our family is now well-off. My father, being shy, would be embarrassed to bring up the matter of repaynt. If my grandfather then ntions the borrowing and repaying, it’s a whole different matter... Didn’t my grandfather always say before that he’d rather not borrow money in this lifeti? If he opens his mouth to borrow from us, he must think it’s a loss of face. But if my father offers the money willingly, it would look good for him, and everyone in the village would admire him."
"Look how smart he is; without even speaking, my father does everything following his wish.... No matter how busy, he’s there on call, supplying everything, and Doctor Li is just like a doctor raised at ho!"
The family mbers all shook their heads and sighed. In the past, especially with Lady Zhou by comparison, they all thought Old Master Lian was the best old man in the world. They were even willing to wrong themselves for this old man. However, such sentints were being slowly worn away by Old Master Lian himself.
"Is it that people get muddle-headed when they grow old?" Lady Zhang wondered, baffled.
"If you say he’s muddle-headed, my grandfather understands everything else very clearly," Lian Manman laughed.
"No wonder the Second Master asked him if only the eldest is his biological child and the others are all picked up," Lady Zhang said. "This ti, how co the Second Master’s couple has learned to be cunning and won’t agree to anything Old Master wants, just fixating on those twenty or so taels of silver?"
Here, cunning isn’t a derogatory term, nor a comndatory one, but a colloquial village term describing soone as smart and clever. It depends on the speaker’s tone to distinguish whether it’s praise or mockery.
"They’ve been taken advantage of too many tis in the past," Lian Manman couldn’t help but laugh, "and they’re no longer willing to be fooled."
Old Master Lian’s credit with Lian Shouren has collapsed!
"With all this trouble, does it an the matter of proposing marriage for the eldest has fallen through?" Lady Zhang spoke to herself.
"I don’t think he’s given up yet," Lian Shouxin said.
...
Sure enough, after drinking dicine at ho for two days and mostly recuperating, Old Master Lian started arranging the marriage proposal for Lian Shouren.
"...Since there’s nothing going on now, after every al, our grandfather takes his eldest son out visiting, asking people everywhere to arrange a marriage.... They say a poorer family is okay, but the person must be good. They say the body should be robust, the temper good, looks passable, and definitely younger than his eldest son... If all other conditions are t, even with a child, the Old Lian Family can support them." Lian Yeye ca running to share the news with Lian Manman.
"He also said not to find soone too young, preferably between twenty and thirty, that’s best. He also said the Old Lian Family won’t treat people badly..." Lian Yeye mimicked Old Master Lian’s matchmaking words in detail.
Lady Li and Lady Zhang overheard the conversation. Having more life experience than the younger girls, they caught the implications behind the words.
"This is intending to find a young one for your eldest master," Lady Li remarked to Lady Zhang.
"Might be hard to find," Lady Zhang said, "If it were before, without the whole Taicang incident, and if he was still a Scholar, perhaps it would’ve been doable."
"That’s why they’re saying they won’t treat people badly and plan to compensate with money," Lady Li remarked.
"Has Yaya’s mom been visiting your house recently?" Lian Manman asked Lian Yeye.
"She has, why wouldn’t she? She’s still visiting every day. Most of what we know was told by her. Otherwise, I wouldn’t know so much," Lian Yeye said, "Just not like before, sitting for the whole day. Now she nags at us as soon as she arrives at our house, saying our grandfather is so biased. She said she needs to keep an eye on things back ho, worried that if she turns her back, our grandfather might really bring back a widow."
Lian Yeye finished speaking and pursed her lips in a smile.
"I’ve heard too, now the Second Master’s family of three is very busy. They have to keep the house in order, and also visit outside daily, badmouthing the eldest everywhere, afraid that soone would say yes to marrying in," Lady Zhang laughed.
Breaking the wedge, a common village idiom in Thirty Mile Camp’s tenant farr families, roughly translates to causing disruption. The word "wedge" is particularly vivid. For instance, in woodworking, to take apart two tightly fitted pieces of wood, the best thod is to chisel in a wedge and pry the pieces apart.
Whenever Lian Shouyi, Lady He, and Si Lang caused trouble, they didn’t forget to ntion the feud between Shouxin Family and the group with Shouren, explicitly telling others not to think marrying Shouren would connect them to Shouxin Family or get benefits from them. On the contrary, becoming in-laws with Shouren would an making a mortal enemy of Shouxin Family.
Old Master Lian and Lian Shouren were busy asking people to arrange a marriage, while Lian Shouyi and Lady He were busy causing trouble. Now, this whole situation had beco the villagers’ laughingstock.
Lian Manman shook her head with a smile; a family with intensified conflicts pulling in opposite directions cannot live well.
"There’s constant quarreling all day with no peace, yet still sit at the sa table for als after quarreling," Lian Yeye described the current situation in the old house, "Oh, Sister Manman, the other day I even saw Er Ya. I heard our grandfather also pleaded with her family, begging my aunt to reach out to all the old relatives, saying they have to find a suitable match no matter what."
Even thought of old relatives whom they hadn’t visited for years, showing Old Master Lian was truly determined and urgently wanted to get this done.
However, the result was contrary to his wishes.
Here’s the first part of the update, asking for Pink, with more updates to follow later. (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welco to go to Qidian (qidian) to vote for recomndations, monthly tickets, your support is my biggest motivation.)
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