"Hm." Yang Ruxin smiled faintly, not surprised in the slightest. After all, girls marrying at thirteen or fourteen was quite common in this era.
Xiaoyu saw that she wasn’t interested and changed the topic, chatting about other things instead.
While they were chatting, Li Jiai ca over with her younger sister, Li Jiaya.
"Xinxin." Li Jiai, who had returned today to bring festival gifts to her family, ca over with a basket on her arm. "Xiaoyu’s here too, I see."
"Jiai Sis is back." Yang Ruxin and Xiaoyu greeted her warmly.
"You sent so many gifts over, but we don’t have much to offer in return. I made these mugwort sachets for your younger siblings. They’re for warding off evil spirits... Xiaoyu’s already delivered yours to your ho." Li Jiai said as she handed over the basket.
"Jiai Sis’s embroidery is truly second to none." Yang Ruxin accepted the basket with a smile. "I’ll thank you on behalf of everyone."
"Thank you, Jiai Sis." Xiaoyu quickly chid in with gratitude.
"I’ll take these to Xuexue and ngng." Li Jiaya promptly took the basket.
"They’re over in the side room." Yang Ruxin reminded her.
"I’ll head over too..." Xiaoyu hurriedly followed after them. It was a festival today, and she’d managed to sneak in a bit of leisure ti, so she wasn’t planning to leave early.
"Xinxin." Li Jiai stopped Yang Ruxin, pulling her aside. "There’s sothing I’d like to talk to you about."
Yang Ruxin glanced at Li Jiai. "Jiai Sis, if there’s sothing on your mind, just say it." She then motioned for Du Juan to go stand watch by the door.
"This is sothing I discovered purely by chance." Li Jiai appeared hesitant. "I wasn’t planning to ddle, but..."
"What exactly is it?" Yang Ruxin frowned.
"It’s about Tie Dan."
"Brother Tie Dan? What happened to him?" Yang Ruxin’s frown deepened. Tie Dan was currently away, traveling with the transport team.
"He’s fine, but... it seems he might be fond of a certain girl." Li Jiai sighed. "Honestly, I stumbled across this matter by sheer coincidence..."
Li Jiai had married into Niu Family Village. Her father-in-law was the village head, and their family was reasonably well-off. Her husband, Niu Sanshan, was hardworking, planting crops at ho and doing odd jobs with acquaintances from neighboring villages whenever he had free ti. But now that Li Yi was focused on making herbal tea, and Li Jiaya was preparing dried flowers, Niu Sanshan had started spending his spare ti helping out with them.
A few days ago, Niu Sanshan ran into so old acquaintances in town. The group decided to have a casual drink together. Among them was a man nad Qiu Rang, who, after drinking too much, began boasting about his younger sister, ntioning that several "fools" were utterly smitten with her.
At first, it seed unremarkable—after all, every girl had many suitors.
But Qiu Rang ntioned that one of her admirers was a man nad Liang Tie, and that he was very generous in his pursuit of her.
Since Niu Sanshan had been spending more ti in Dapu East Village recently, he’d naturally ford connections with the locals. He decided to quietly investigate further and confird that this Liang Tie was indeed the Liang Tie from their village.
"When Sanshan told , my heart sank." Li Jiai sighed again. "I even had my mother-in-law inquire about it. It seems the Qiu family only has an elderly father left. Qiu Rang runs the household. They’ve said they don’t want any dowry—just a groom with good character who will treat the girl well... And the girl has said she only wishes to return occasionally to visit her father..." She paused briefly. "Everyone says the Qiu siblings are dutiful, but that girl has a set of silver jewelry that’s reportedly worth four or five taels of silver, given to her by Tie Dan."
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