Chapter 161 Marriage Discussion

Chapter 161: Discussion of Marriage

Bi Yun and Huang Ye followed him closely; when Meng Wan rested at home, they stayed with him as well. Huang Ye was used to working in the fields at home and had more stamina than Meng Wan and Bi Yun.

After eating, he quickly took Meng Wan's laundry to the courtyard to wash. Bi Yun found the mosquito-repellent incense made by Qing Xing from their luggage—there were many poisonous insects in the mountains, and the shack wasn't tightly sealed, so snakes or bugs might crawl in at night.

Meng Wan leaned on the bed to rest, using the free time to discuss Bi Yun's marriage.

"All the Tao brothers are at the yamen. After you marry, don't live in the village anymore. I'll give you a dowry, and have his family offer betrothal gifts. You two buy a small one-courtyard house in the county town for convenience. If you miss Aunt Chang, you can go back and visit." Officially, Bi Yun was still his servant, and even after being freed from slave status, without a natal family, others might gossip. After all, young people enjoy more freedom living on their own.

Moreover, to put it bluntly, the entire Red Mountain Village now benefitted from Meng Wan's grace and lived well-off. He didn't care whether the Tao family had many sons or not, but if Bi Yun was to marry into that family, the Tao family must show sincerity.

"I... understand, Brother Wan." Bi Yun added incense sticks to the burner, raising one hand to wipe tears while the other continued to gently and carefully bury the incense.

He stressed the syllable "Ge" heavily, a title Meng Wan had never been called before.

Meng Wan was taken aback, then shook his head with a smile.

After resting half a day at home, the next day Meng Wan cut sugarcane for another half day. After several days of cutting, with their many hands working quickly, they managed to harvest all three hundred acres of sugarcane.

Before leaving Red Mountain Village, Meng Wan also went up the hillside to check on his chickens. These chickens ate grass and insects on the mountain; some were about to start laying eggs. This year, the chickens must lay enough eggs—thousands—for hatching next year.

Bi Yun carried a basket of dried mushrooms onto the cart, along with mountain goods gifted by the villagers, filling an entire cart. Since these were everyone's goodwill, Meng Wan didn't refuse and brought them all back to the county town.

When they returned to the county town, dusk was falling and the city gates were about to close. The soldiers guarding the gate had been replaced from old men to several young men, ten per shift, with three shifts rotating for guard duty and patrol, making the gates so tight that no one could sneak through.

"That looks like the carriage of our County Magistrate's husband," one guard recognized Meng Wan's carriage.

"Open the gates quickly. It's Meng Fulang."

The guards hurriedly pushed open the gates and welcomed Meng Wan and his party into the city.

The carriage curtain was lifted, and Bi Yun politely said to the guards, "Thank you for your trouble, brothers." Having followed Meng Wan for years, he had learned some social graces.

The guards looked past him to see Meng Wan dozing in the carriage, and said with flattering smiles, "You're too polite, Yun Geer. It's late; Meng Fulang must be tired. Please enter the city quickly."

The carriage entered smoothly and headed straight for the new house behind the yamen.

Qiuse, who lived in the gatehouse, heard the noise and came to open the door. The yamen runners who lived in the county town went home; those like the Tao brothers, who lived farther away, slept in the yamen dormitory.

Meng Wan got off the carriage with Bi Yun and Huang Ye, while Xue Sheng led the horse and cart into the yard.

Song Tingzhou came out carrying a baby less than two months old. From a distance, the infant in the swaddling clothes looked like a ball of snow white, showing that his skin tone took after Meng Wan. His eyes were also similar, shaped like peach blossom petals, appearing large and moist due to his young age.

"Son, Father's back." Meng Wan trotted forward. Since he hadn't washed or changed clothes, he didn't dare to take the baby. He eagerly looked over Song Tingzhou's arm at his adorable little son.

Song Tingzhou held the baby steadily, looking at Meng Wan with a hint of concern in his eyes. "You've lost some weight."

Meng Wan touched his face. "It's not even half a month, so I couldn't have lost much. I think I was overstuffed before—it was just water weight!"

"Come on, let me go in and bathe first," he said impatiently.

As a new father, this feeling was something he couldn't have imagined before having a child. It was somewhat novel, a bit thrilling, and overflowing with paternal affection. In short, every bit of his own child seemed pleasing.

The little one only ate and slept all day, never left alone for a moment. While Meng Wan bathed, Song Tingzhou changed his diaper and fed him some warmed goat's milk.

Meng Wan bathed and came out smelling fresh, ready to play with his son, only to find the little one lying in the crib, eyes closed, his cheeks rosy and fair as he slept.

He gently touched his son's cheek. "A Yan is asleep? Then Father will take you out to play tomorrow."

"A Yan is still too young to recognize his father or miss him. But I'm different." Song Tingzhou had followed behind him for a while without getting Meng Wan's full attention, finally managing to utter this complaint.

Meng Wan realized he had inadvertently neglected his husband and quickly soothed, "Oh dear, I'm sorry, husband. I thought our love was stronger than gold and didn't need to be spoken aloud. I didn't expect to make my Zhou Lang misunderstand. It's my fault."

He draped his arms over Song Tingzhou's shoulders, stood on tiptoes, and leaned in to kiss him, but Song Tingzhou turned the tables, pulling him close by the waist and pressing him against the bedpost for a thorough kiss.

Having gone without intimacy for so long, Song Tingzhou couldn't hold back once they started. His voice husky, he called out, "Xue Sheng, come in."

Xue Sheng was leading the horse to the stable and unloading luggage with Qiuse. He was called over, and Song Tingzhou handed the still-sleeping baby, crib and all, to him. "Take this to Bi Yun's room and have him look after it."

Once Xue Sheng left with the child and the room was completely quiet, Song Tingzhou pressed Meng Wan onto the bed and kissed him deeply. The bed curtains were lowered, leaving only two entwined shadows dancing under the lamplight.

—

Chang Jinhua went to bed early and rose early. Huang Ye helped her prepare breakfast. When she saw many dried goods in the kitchen, she asked, "All these brought from the village? What time did you get home last night? I didn't hear a thing."

Huang Ye took out two bamboo shoots to stir-fry. "Yes, madam. The villagers gave these to the master. Inside, there's also a small bag of dried wood ear mushrooms. We arrived just after dusk last night. The young master was awake."

When A Yan was mentioned, Chang Jinhua's face showed a kindly expression. "Did A Yan sleep in your room last night? Don't use last night's milk; reheat some fresh for him later."

"Yes, ma'am," Huang Ye replied.

The weather was bad outside that day. Song Tingzhou got up, ate breakfast, went to see his son at Chang Jinhua's place, and then went to the yamen to work.

For the past three years in Heshan County, newly reclaimed wasteland had been exempt from land tax, but the small amount of land held by commoners and the land owned by country gentry were still subject to the tax.

The three taxes—land, poll, and household—together placed a heavy burden on ordinary people, breeding resentment toward the court. The national treasury didn't grow rich from these taxes, but not collecting them would lead to even more debt. It was a vicious cycle not easily broken.

In previous years, when people couldn't pay taxes, they either borrowed from the local government or sold their children, eventually becoming tenant farmers for landlords and gentry.

This year, tax collection in Luyun Town had improved significantly. In other towns, because of terraced fields, many families could at least eat their fill, but they still struggled with taxes.

Such was the plight across all of Lingnan, and Song Tingzhou couldn't change it overnight. Busy with tax collection recently, he had no time to accompany Meng Wan to Red Mountain Village.

Meng Wan slept soundly at home, not getting up until nearly noon. He washed, changed, ate something, chatted with Chang Jinhua, played with the baby, and then had Xue Sheng take him to the sugar workshop outside the city.

The sugar workshop was built not far from the soldiers' garrison and close to the city gates, so no one reckless would dare cause trouble.

This workshop was built over several months: Old Gan described the workshop to Meng Wan, who then hand-drew the blueprints and consulted with craftsmen. It consisted of seven zones: sugarcane storage, pressing, filtration and sedimentation, boiling and sugar-making, cooling and molding, finished product warehouse, and living quarters for workers (sleeping and eating). It occupied about eighteen mu, roughly twelve thousand square meters in modern units.

If Heshan County wasn't under his control, Meng Wan would never have dared build it so large. Even this much land was obtained through Song Tingzhou's favoritism, with a heavy discount.

At present, with fewer than a thousand mu of sugarcane entering the workshop, it was somewhat wasteful. But since Meng Wan built the workshop on such a scale, his goal wasn't just these two villages or even the town—it was to drive the entire Heshan County's sugar industry.

In other words, whether Song Tingzhou made things easier for Meng Wan or Meng Wan was offering Song Tingzhou a performance boost was debatable.

Of course, aside from being a couple, no one would imagine a xiaoge like Meng Wan behaving so boldly. At least Qin Jiao, upon seeing such a large-scale sugar workshop, was startled once more, yet felt a strange sense of pride.

He thought his Crown Prince brother-in-law could never have imagined that sending him to Lingnan would lead to such a big change.

Meng Wan made a tour of the workshop, seeing the sugarcane being processed methodically. After Red Mountain Village finished hauling, Red Mud Village also began carting sugarcane to the county town. The women and xiaoge selected by the village heads to work in the workshop initially felt uneasy but soon worked with full effort. Why? Because Master Meng paid them eighty wen per day, more than the men.

And if they worked well and kept their mouths shut, they could be transferred to the central zone, where those working on filtration and boiling earned over a hundred wen per day. Working all the way to the end of the year—how much would that be!

That evening, Meng Wan returned from the workshop to play with his son. At dinner, the child was taken care of by Bi Yun.

After dinner, Chang Jinhua called him to her room for a talk. "Shouldn't Bi Yun be thinking about marriage? Our family doesn't force people to stay unmarried."

Meng Wan peeled a golden orange, giving half to Chang Jinhua. "Don't worry, Mother. I've already prepared his dowry. How could I not let him marry?"

"From what you're saying, it sounds like you've found a good match?" Chang Jinhua remarked, eating a slice of tangerine, sounding surprised.

The tangerines came from trees in the homes of villagers near the county town, brought by oxcart to sell. Chang Jinhua had bought two baskets and stored them in the cellar.

"Just wait and see. If he's serious, he should come calling in the next few days. If not, I'll look for someone else suitable." Meng Wan picked the tangerine with the prettiest rind, washed it, and gave it to his son as a toy, watching the baby, whose eyes weren't focusing yet, kick his legs wildly on the little bed—finding him unbearably cute.

He does like the baby, but a baby this age is fussy at night, and he's not about to bring him into his room to sleep. He plays with him until he's had enough, then makes a quick exit.

Chang Jinhua, who still couldn't get enough of her grandson, busied herself sewing two cloth tigers for A Yan to play with. Meng Wan advised her that while she could sew if she liked, she shouldn't do needlework at night, for fear the dim lamplight might hurt her eyes.

Now that there were more servants in the household and many hands to care for the child, sometimes Chu Ci, when not at the Miao family, would come over to help with the baby. Chang Jinhua appreciated Meng Wan's concern and followed his advice, only doing needlework during the day when A Yan was napping.

On the third day after Meng Wan returned to the county town, the Tao family finally couldn't resist and came to call.

"So it's you, young man. I didn't expect that." Meng Wan looked at the silent, shy Tao Jiu before him, quite surprised.

He'd thought it would be the more clever ones, Tao Shi and Tao Shiyi.

Tao Jiu mumbled, "Yes."

Meng Wan was speechless. What a dull, tongue-tied guy.

Chang Jinhua, however, liked those who were honest and steady. She invited Tao Jiu and his white-haired mother to sit down. "Have a seat and tell me. How old are you this year?"

"Twenty-three."

"You're not that young anymore. Why haven't you married yet?"

"Because there are many brothers in the family, and three older brothers still haven't wed."

"Right, right. Wan Geer told me your family has eleven brothers?"

"Yes, I'm the ninth."

Tao Jiu's mother, having seen little of the world, was even more nervous and ill at ease. It was Tao Jiu who answered Chang Jinhua's questions, answering each question with a brief reply.

In the past, the Tao family was the poorest in the village, with many brothers, little land, and many mouths to feed. Now that the brothers had all secured positions in the yamen, they spoke with a newfound confidence in the village.

This year, several of the older brothers had earned a good sum of money thanks to Meng Fulang. The ten or so brothers had also been quick to reclaim wasteland, and the family grew more grain than ever before. As life visibly improved, their mother started arranging their marriages.

Logically, the older brothers should have married first before it was his turn.

But Meng Fulang had once given money to treat their father's illness, saving the old man's life, making him their family's benefactor.

Moreover, he couldn't stand to keep Bi Yun waiting. Even without Meng Wan's message delivered through Bi Yun, he would have come to propose. It was just that Tao Jiu didn't know the proper way to ask for a maidservant from a wealthy family. After asking around and getting no reliable information, he had delayed for some days.

On the ground lay a pair of plump geese. Tao Jiu also brought two bolts of cotton cloth, a jar of liquor, and two packets of pastries and fruits.

Seeing that he was sincere enough and the two were in love, Meng Wan didn't intend to make things difficult. But some things had to be said in advance to avoid future disputes.

Tao's mother, clearly an ineffective woman who had only been brought along as a figurehead, Meng Wan still addressed her: "I know your family has many sons, all needing wives. With so many sisters-in-law living together, it's inevitable that disagreements will arise. In the future..."

This time, Tao Jiu was quick to respond, "I've saved some silver. After we marry, I plan to rent a house in the county town first. I'm just afraid it might be too shabby for him."

Tao's mother nodded in agreement, "Yes, yes." She pulled a handkerchief from her bosom, carefully unwrapped it to reveal a silver bracelet, old and oxidized black in places.

"This was given to me by my mother-in-law. One went to the eldest brother's wife. This one is for Bi Yun. As for the young couple's affairs in the future, I... I won't butt in."

Meng Wan was satisfied. Poor as they were, the Tao family's attitude was acceptable.