Zhong Cheng’s smile was more subdued than when he saw Mo Ling, and he spoke with embarrassment, “Isn’t it necessary to choose an auspicious day?”
“There are auspicious days every month, and there are many in the next three months. Just choose one of them!”
The water in the ladle Zhong Cheng was holding almost fell back into the water tank, “I, I have to go back and discuss it with my parents.”
“Did your parents disagree with your marriage?”
Mo Yan got it right on the money, and Zhong Cheng knew it would be futile to lie. He took a long drink before saying, “My parents disagreed after they heard that Mo Ling was kidnapped, and they’re insisting that I marry our village chieftain’s daughter Yue E.”
“What about you? What’s your opinion?”
“Of course I want to marry Mo Ling. I wasn’t supposed to bring the goods here today, I changed shifts with someone so I could come visit.”
The wishes of parents and the words of matchmakers decided one’s marriage. Now ZHong Cheng’s parents didn’t agree with Mo Ling, it would be hard for this marriage to occur.
Hearing Mo Yan’s silence, Zhong Cheng said, “My two elder brothers have already married. I’ve decided to make enough money to buy my own house. We will separate families first, and then I’ll marry Mu Ling.”
“Even after separating families, the groom’s parents must allow the bride to enter their family. Otherwise, forget about it! It’s not like my sister can’t get married to someone else.”
This wasn’t the kind of thing that can be hidden, so it’s better to tell them as soon as possible so they could be prepared.
When Ms. Liang heard about this, she started complaining again as usual, “She should’ve agreed to marrying as soon as possible when he proposed it. Why did she insist on delaying until the end of the year! How can we show ourselves in public now?”
They could ignore all of the previous rumours, but this one really wasn’t something that could be ignored. In any case, they couldn’t let this marriage go wrong, and at the very least they can’t let the other party dissolve the marriage.
“Mother, we haven’t gone to her in-law’s town to inquire around yet. We have to go.”
“The marriage is going to be dissolved, so why bother?”
“Mother, you know that we can’t let this happen. Pack up; tomorrow I’ll go to town to hire a carriage and prepare some things. You and brother should dress well.”
Ms. Liang had no better solution, and had to give it a try. She took out the clothes she made for the New Year and ironed them, and Mo Yan said that she’d get two pieces of jewellery from the firm tomorrow.
Early the next morning, the family went to the town together, first going to the workshop. Mo Yan said that she wanted to rent a carriage, and Chi Jie asked, “Don’t I already have one? If you think it’s okay, you can just borrow it for the day.”
Mu Yan laughed at how she forgot that there was a nice carriage parked in the workshop.
Chi Jie asked Ze Wu to take them there, and Mo Yan asked Lu Junming to go to Zhong Cheng’s house by horse beforehand.
The carriage went to the firm first. Mo Yan picked out some jewellery for Ms. Liang to wear, and dressed herself up as well. Even Mo Feng was dressed decently.
It was the first time Mo Feng had properly entered a business firm. [1] Seeing the spacious venue and the abundant goods made him think to himself that he would be a really respectable person if he was the manager of this business.
Both Mo Yan and Ms. Liang went out, but Mo Feng was reluctant to leave. When Ms. Liang urged him to hurry up, Mo Feng stood at the door of the firm and said, “I’ll go with you as support, but I have one condition.”
“What condition?” Ms. Liang asked casually.
Mo Feng looked back at the firm behind him, “I want to be the manager of this firm! Otherwise, I won’t go today!”
Mo Yan wished she could slap him. Cao Zhang was also at the business firm, and said after he asked about the situation, “I could go instead of Mo Feng!”
Mo Feng glared at him fiercely, “You’re not of the Mo family. How could you go?”
Cao Zhang said, “You don’t have to be a relative to inquire about your in-laws’ reputation.”
“But Mo Ling’s marriage isn’t exactly typical. They don’t want her anymore, and we’re the ones trying to save face.” [1]
Mo Yan gritted her teeth and said, “Okay, get in the carriage!” [2] After saying that, she turned around and got into the carriage, and Mo Feng also ran over.
On the carriage, Mo Yan told Ms. Liang and Mo Feng what they should say when they went to Xiahe Village.
They were nominally inquiring about the marriage, but it was actually a display of strength. They had to pretend to reveal Mo Ling’s dowry unintentionally.
They had six and a half silver taels on them, which was the same as Zhong Cheng’s family’s dowry gift. Needless to say, their dowry would also include all kinds of clothes and jewellery, a whole set of mahogany furniture, plus a carriage.
Hearing that Mo Ling was going to be married off with a carriage, Mo Feng said immediately, “Our family doesn’t even have a carriage! Why should we marry her off with a carriage?”
Mo Yan held back her anger and said, “We’re just talking about it. We need you to talk about this for it to sound more dignified, Patriarch.”
In order to be the shopkeeper, Mu Feng had no choice but to nod in agreement.
“Mother, if you meet Brother Cheng’s parents, you have to call Mo Ling the apple of your eye. You delayed her marriage before you couldn’t bear to see her leave, and she was spoiled and doesn’t know how to serve her in-laws. Finally, you need to say that you hope they could live separately after she gets married.”
Ms. Liang said, “Of course I’ll say that, you don’t have to teach me.”
In short, they must pretend to inadvertently show that their family is rich.
Xiahe Village is almost three times larger than Chenzhong Village.
The carriage entered the village from the north entrance of Xiahe Village. They knew in advance that Zhong Cheng’s family lived in the southwest of the village, near the river. But Mo Yan asked Ze Wu to drive the carriage to the east of the village without telling him why.
When the carriage arrived, Mo Yan asked Ze Wu to find directions. He was shrewd enough to walk towards the women chatting on the street, and ask, “Excuse me, I’m from Chenzhong Village, and I want to inquire about a family.”
They didn’t have anything to talk about, so asked enthusiastically, “Which family do you want to inquire about?”
“There is a young man named Zhong Cheng in the village. I wonder if you know him?”
One woman turned her head to look at the other, “Isn’t that your future son-in-law?” It turned out that she was Yue E’s mother.
The woman’s face was full of joy, but she replied, “The details of the marriage haven’t been finalised yet! Don’t talk nonsense.”
Ze Wu cupped his hands and saluted again, “Zhong Cheng has another marriage?”
The woman who initiated the conversation said, “Another? What are you talking about!”
“That’s strange. In the first month of the year, he had already made a marriage appointment with Miss Mo Ling from Chenzhong Village. We are here to inquire about it!”
At this time, Ms. Liang got out of the carriage and called out, “Ze Wu, get in the carriage and go to Zhong Cheng’s house. I want to see what kind of noble family their Zhong family is to take in concubines. That is not acceptable!”
Yue E’s mother said angrily, “Who are you calling a concubine? Yue E is the most beautiful girl in Xiahe Village. Being Zhong Cheng’s wife is already stooping below her station!”
The woman turned red with anger, and was incoherent for a while.
Post-translation notes: This is going to be rather…interesting. Let’s put it this way, I personally don’t think Mo Ling’s in-laws will be happy with her after all is said and done, and she has in-laws after this at all.
[1] There is no way Mo Feng is nearly this eloquent. He’s proven himself to be a brainless, moronic bastard who can’t be trusted with literally anything.
[2] Mo Yan will regret giving Mo Feng the manager position, very, very soon.
