Rebirth begins with an arranged marriage

Chapter 4 The Prodigal Son

"Hey? You little brat! I told you to open the door, what are you doing..."

The man's voice came from inside the courtyard. He had already reached the door and greeted Tang Zhengjin and Tang Huaiyi with a smile.

"Please come in, son-in-law—"

The middle-aged man in blue clothes with a stubble called out so enthusiastically that not only was Tang Huaiyi slightly embarrassed, but even Tang Zhengjin, who wanted to facilitate the matter, looked a little awkward.

If it doesn't work out and you change your mind, wouldn't that make you a laughingstock?

"No need to be so polite. We're just here to get acquainted and familiarize ourselves with the place," Tang Zhengjin said politely as the father and son followed the middle-aged man into the courtyard.

The bearded man said, "Come on in, no need to bring anything. Once the son-in-law arrives, make it like home..."

As he spoke, he pointed to a girl who looked to be about ten years old: "This is Sannizi."

"Come on, Sanni, call him brother-in-law!"

The young girl looked at Tang Huaiyi, hesitant to call out his name, and gave him a slightly appraising look: "I'll go see what's wrong with my eldest and second eldest sisters."

After speaking, he turned around and went into the house.

"Why?"

The bearded man, somewhat displeased, gave Tang Zhengjin and Tang Huaiyi a dry laugh: "You flatter me, my daughter is just not presentable."

Tang Zhengjin didn't want to go along with it, so he said, "My child is just being unreasonable..."

"That's good, that's good..."

The bearded man looked at Tang Huaiyi and nodded repeatedly in satisfaction.

He shouted again, "Everyone, get out of the house right now! Erni, bring tea and water! Dani, go kill the chicken!"

As he called out again, three girls emerged from the dilapidated mud house.

Tang Huaiyi finally met the thin and frail Li Xiujuan. As soon as they met, Li Xiujuan's face turned rosy and her eyes reddened.

He hurriedly poured water with his head down, then hid back inside with his sister.

The blush on Li Xiujuan's eldest sister's face had faded to almost nothing. When she saw Tang Huaiyi looking at her, she glared at him and hurriedly left with the chicken.

Tang Zhengjin quickly advised Li Xiujuan's father, "Don't kill the chicken, it's too much trouble. We just came to take a look—"

"That won't do! It's the son-in-law's first time visiting. If we don't treat him well, people will laugh at us!"

After several rounds of back-and-forth banter, the two finally started talking again, catching up on each other's families, discussing this year's wheat harvest, the rainfall, and even mentioning a particularly heavy rainstorm a couple of years ago... It was all just casual rural conversation, and for a while, they were quite amicable.

Tang Huaiyi also realized that Li Xiujuan's father's biggest worry was that he had no son to support him in his old age, so he was thinking of finding a son-in-law to live with him.

Both the Tang and Li families are relatively poor, and Tang Huaiyi's parents and Li Xiujuan's father are willing to facilitate this matter—if I don't say something, this matter will probably be settled today.

However, this matter cannot be discussed by only oneself.

Now that we're at Li Xiujuan's house, we need to make things clear with her...

Thinking to himself, Tang Huaiyi looked towards the inner room.

………………

"Second sister, is he your husband? He's quite handsome."

Outside, people were chatting and laughing, while inside, they were also whispering among themselves. Sannizi Li Xiuzhi whispered to Li Xiujuan.

Li Xiujuan shook her head and didn't say anything.

"What's wrong, sister?" Li Xiuzhi asked.

"He's a good person, but I want to go back to school," Li Xiujuan said, her head down.

"That won't do. Our father is going crazy hoping for a pillar of the family." Li Xiuzhi shook her head. "If you're talking about going to school, that's definitely out of the question... If our father gets angry, he might really marry you off to anyone."

As they were talking, Li Xiuzhi glanced outside and was immediately startled: "Oh no, he's coming!"

Li Xiujuan was also taken aback and quickly stood up.

At this moment, Tang Huaiyi had already reached the door of the inner room.

Tang Zhengjin's expression immediately darkened, and he called out, "Huaiyi?"

Where are you going?

What are you doing, peeking around like that? Aren't you ashamed?

Tang Huaiyi said with a smile, "I'm just talking to my classmate..."

Tang Zhengjin gritted his teeth and glared: "You—"

"Of course, of course..." Li Xiujuan's father chuckled and said, "How can the young couple not talk when they meet? Let them talk, we'll talk!"

With those words from him, Tang Huaiyi walked to the door of the inner room and came face to face with Li Xiujuan.

"Tang Huaiyi..."

Li Xiujuan nervously twisted her hands together, glanced at him, and quickly lowered her head again.

"Um, Li Xiujuan, shall we talk?"

After Tang Huaiyi finished asking his question, Li Xiujuan looked up at him, then lowered her head again, her face burning hot.

What to talk about...

Her voice was barely audible.

Tang Huaiyi lowered his voice: "Let's talk about our schooling..."

Li Xiujuan was stunned, then her eyes lit up: "We..."

Then, disregarding her embarrassment, she strode outside, saying, "Come on, let's talk outside!"

Tang Huaiyi nodded and followed, then looked at his father and Li Xiujuan's father.

Li Xiujuan's father smiled broadly: "Go for a walk, we'll be back for stewed chicken at noon!"

Tang Zhengjin was relieved and nodded to Tang Huaiyi.

In their eyes, both families agreed, and the young couple was happy to be together, so this marriage exchange was practically a done deal.

Tang Huaiyi followed Li Xiujuan out of the mud-brick house, and what came into view was a rounded curve that was swaying back and forth.

Inside the courtyard, Li Xiujuan's eldest sister was killing a chicken, draining its blood into a rough porcelain bowl.

The focused look and curves made Tang Huaiyi's imagination involuntarily fill in the blanks he had seen before, and his throat tightened slightly.

Coming to his senses, Tang Huaiyi felt a little embarrassed—although he had experienced many teachers, his body was currently at its most energetic and vigorous stage.

No wonder he's like this; he's just inexperienced with physical ailments.

Hearing footsteps, Da Nizi Li Xiufang, carrying the chicken she had just killed, turned around and saw her second sister leading that scholarly and handsome male classmate from behind. She then silently glanced at the man again.

After they left the courtyard one after the other, Li Xiufang couldn't help but sigh slightly, holding the dead chicken and lost in thought.

I wonder what his brother looks like.

If only they looked like him... They were born of the same parents, so they couldn't be too ugly, right?

However, someone who needs to arrange a marriage to get a wife probably isn't very capable.

………………

Stepping out of the low mud-brick courtyard wall and the dilapidated gray wooden door, Li Xiujuan led Tang Huaiyi through the narrow streets to a grove of lush green trees.

"It's not appropriate to talk about school at home; my dad would definitely get angry if he heard about it."

Under a locust tree, Li Xiujuan stopped and asked, "Tang Huaiyi, what are you thinking?"

"I want to go to school, but my family doesn't have the money and doesn't want me to," Tang Huaiyi said. "What about you?"

So that's what he thought too!

Li Xiujuan felt relieved to finally find someone who shared her thoughts: "I also want to go to school, but my dad won't let me."

After saying that, he looked very distressed: "I don't know what to do either... Tang Huaiyi, what do you think we should do?"