Chapter 364 - Yu Hangs Marriage (1/2)
“Where’s Little White?” Usually when Liu Huifang went into the back courtyard, that little proud white dog would always give her a look of disdain. If she tried to tease him, he would even bare his teeth at her! Little Black had a much better temper. In fact, Little Shitou often pulled on the black dog’s mouth here and there and he never got angry. Instead, he would also play along.
“That fellow is quite smart. When he found out that Xiaocao couldn’t bring him along to the prefectural city, he got angry and ran up into the mountains to find his father, Big Gray. It's fine. Ever since that pack of wolves came down the mountain last year and got destroyed, there haven’t been any savage beasts around the mountain!” Yu Hang watched as Liu Huifang entered the back courtyard and fed the rabbits and prepared the chicken feed. He also hurriedly went up to help as he inwardly exclaimed that Liu Huifang was a hard working little lass.
After adding some water into the chicken coop, Liu Huifang was just about to leave when she saw the little roe deer called Tiny romping about in the vegetable fields. She was afraid that the animal might trample the vegetable and stealthily went over. When the little roe deer wasn’t aware, she caught it and held it in her arms.
Perhaps it was because she had fed her home’s chickens today with feed containing mystic-stone water, but the little roe deer didn’t try to flee when she came closer. It was only after that it was caught in her arms and turned its head back to look that the animal was startled. The little fellow froze for a second before it started to struggle. The little roe deer had a surprising amount of strength and easily broke out of the confines of Huifang’s arms.
“Oh no!” Liu Huifang knew that the Yu Family’s siblings all adored the little roe deer. She was afraid that the roe deer might hurt itself, so she inadvertently let out a cry of alarm when it leapt out of her arms.
However, it was a false alarm. In midair, the little animal rotated its body three hundred and sixty degrees and lightly landed on the ground. Within a blink of an eye, it ran into its little den and hid behind the building to look at her. If the little roe deer could talk, it would definitely let out a long sigh of relief and say, “Oh my goodness! I was almost caught by a human. The master was truly right——I need to be cautious every moment!”
When Madam Liu got back home, it was just in time for her to see her oldest son escorting a little girl out of the gate. The little girl’s face was flushed a bright red and she seemed a bit shy. After looking a bit closer, she realized that it was Shuanzhu’s Huifang. Madam Liu went into the back courtyard and saw that both the chickens and rabbits had been fed. Furthermore, last night, the wind blew hard and the trellis for the cucumbers had fallen over. Now, the trellis had been rebuilt and standing tall. After asking around, she found out that Huifang was the person that fixed it.
That night, when Yu Hai got home, Madam Liu couldn’t help but ask her husband, “Isn’t Brother Shuanzhu’s eldest daughter about the same age as Xiaosha, ah?”
“Yup! Our oldest was born at the start of that year, and his daughter was born at the end of that year. Why are you asking about this?” Everyday Yu Hai went back and forth between the prefectural city and Dongshan Village. In addition, he was also in charge of slaughtering pigs, so he was quite busy. His youngest daughter had begged him to hire someone from the village to help. However, he felt like there was nothing much to do these days. The family had Madam Liu and Yu Hang to keep an eye of things, so he was more than able to keep up with the work. Thus, he decided to not take her advice for now.
Once it was time to harvest the wheat next year, he would have to supervise his family’s farmstead as well as the young royal prince’s eight hundred mu plantation. By then, it wouldn’t be too late to hire someone to help.
Madam Liu pursed her lips and smiled, “After the New Years passes, our family’s Xiaosha will be fourteen. He’s the oldest in the family and in the future will be the head of the family. We need to start considering his future marriage prospects early. Furthermore, we have to make sure our eyes are wide open when picking out brides for him. We need to find a girl who is hardworking and generous and avoid someone like Madam Li or Madam Xiong. Women like them, who only know how to be lazy and take advantage of others, would only cause a lot of unnecessary trouble for the family. We need to make sure the family will be peaceful and in harmony in the future!”
Yu Hai was a bit hesitant, so he asked, “Isn’t it a bit too early to start considering marriage for him? Xiaosha is only thirteen years old and we’ve only had a better situation with our family in these past two years. He’s only started hitting his growth spurt and still looks like a large child…”
“How is it too early now? It’s not like we’re trying to get him married this instant. We first need to look at the prospects among our close friends to see if there are any suitable maidens and give the two children some opportunities to interact with each other. If they end up liking each other, then we can start discussing a possible engagement. This would likely take at least two to three years of work. By that time, our oldest son will be around sixteen to seventeen, which is the perfect time to get married!” Madam Liu silently lamented in her heart. In a flash, all of her children were getting older and she was slowly getting older as well...
Yu Hai scratched his head and said, “How about we wait until I get Xiaosha’s opinion in two days? I’m afraid that he’s still too young and doesn’t see girls that way! Oh right, so why did you suddenly start thinking of this today?”
“Today, Brother Shuanzhu’s Huifang came over to give us two little hens. I wasn’t home at that time, so Xiaosha was the one who invited her in. That child Huifang is truly a hardworking little lass. When she saw that our family’s chickens and rabbits hadn’t been fed yet, she quickly made sure to give them their food. She even fixed up the cucumber trellises that had fallen over yesterday night. When Xiaosha was escorting her out, the little lass had her head lowered and looked shyly at our son. Do you think that Huifang is somewhat interested in our son?”
“We can’t let this type of talk out as it can affect that little girl’s reputation ah!” Yu Hai thought about his son, who resembled his wife. His son had a finely sculpted face and was growing quite tall. Everyone who saw him complimented with the phrase ‘a good looking young fellow’. It probably wasn’t a lie that his son was a good prospect.
Madam Liu glared at him and indignantly said, “Do I need you to remind me? Aren’t we talking behind closed doors right now ah? Our family’s Xiaosha has a good height and also handsome looks. Furthermore, his family’s situation is not bad. I’m also not someone who would be an evil mother-in-law to my future daughter-in-law. Whoever marries into our family will truly fall into the honey pot ah!”
Yu Hai guffawed, “Are there people like you who compliment themselves so much?”
Madam Liu stretched out a hand to pinch Yu Hai’s side as if she was trying to be fierce. However, that image was soon shattered when she couldn’t hold back her giggles, “Was there anything I said that was not right ah? However, we really need to make sure we get our oldest son’s marriage settled sooner rather than later. Everyone says that the eldest sister-in-law is like a second mother. We need to find someone who will be fair and reasonable, so she’ll treat Xiaocao and the other siblings well.”