Chapter 311: Chapter 311: A Happy Event for the Ji Family
Compared to the stir caused by Song Jing’s wedding, Ji Liantang’s marriage two days later attracted significantly less attention.
The only reason it generated any buzz at all wasn’t because of the groom, but because of the bride.
The bride’s status was certainly no match for the dazzling daughter of the Academic Administrator, but for a country village, she was quite a catch—Du Caizhu, the only daughter of Master Du from West Village.
Does that name sound a little familiar?
Well, it was the very same family the Ji family had nearly arranged a marriage with for Ji Liantang several years ago!
But that year, Ji Liantang passed the exam to become a child student and refused the match, no matter what. The whole affair caused a very unpleasant falling out between the two families.
Who would have thought that after five or six years, the broken engagement would be mended?
Onlookers didn’t know whether to praise Du Caizhu for her steadfast affection or to praise Ji the Fourth for his incredible luck.
It was obvious he wasn’t fated to become a Scholar, and the Ji Family was growing more destitute by the year. Yet, against all odds, he’d effortlessly found a wealthy girl to be his safety net.
Sigh. It just goes to show you should never be too quick to laugh at others. You never know when they’ll manage to turn their lives around.
The day before the bride was to be welcomed, her dowry was carried over in a seemingly endless procession. It stirred up most of the village, and even those with little initial interest ran over to watch the spectacle.
Someone took the trouble to count and tallied a total of nine chests and trunks.
That was astounding!
You have to understand, an ordinary family might give their daughter a single chest as a dowry. A girl from a poor family, or one not doted on by her parents, might not even get a chest at all. She’d just have a few second-hand garments wrapped in a floral cloth and be sent off to her new in-laws.
A woman without a dowry would naturally be looked down upon by her in-laws. She wouldn’t dare say a word, even when scolded or beaten.
But a woman with a large dowry had much more standing. When her mother-in-law gave her a hard time, she could at least retort with confidence, ’I’m not relying on your family to feed me!’
With a dowry on the scale of Du Caizhu’s... tsk tsk. Wouldn’t she be able to do whatever she pleased in the Ji household?
The crowd of onlookers started to clamor, urging Granny Kang to open the chests so everyone could feast their eyes.
This was something of a local custom. To show off, some families would line up square tables in their courtyard when the bride’s dowry arrived, displaying each item for all to see.
The Ji Family had been under a cloud of bad luck recently, having lost both face and dignity. Granny Kang had wanted to use her fourth son’s wedding to stage a unique spectacle and redeem their family pride, but then Song Jing had to go and hold his own event two days earlier. What was that, if not a deliberate jab at her son?
Granny Kang was eager to seize the opportunity to win back some prestige, but the people from the Du Family who delivered the dowry weren’t playing along.
It was hard to say what their reasoning was. Perhaps they were worried about items going missing with so many people and their prying hands around. The chests were locked up tight and they absolutely refused to open them.
The only things on display were cabinets, quilts, and a "posterity pail," which was filled with red-dyed eggs and auspicious fruits.
Some people guessed that all the fine things—clothes, jewelry, and silks—were probably packed away inside the locked chests.
As if terrified people might not know, Granny Kang hollered from the side that her fourth son’s bride’s family had also included twenty mu of top-grade fertile land in the dowry!
WHOA! That sent the crowd into an uproar.
For farming folk, what could possibly be more enticing than land?
Compared to twenty mu of fertile land, the tightly sealed chests suddenly lost their allure. The crowd swarmed Granny Kang, bombarding her with questions from all sides.
Granny Kang’s chin, which she’d kept lowered for days, was finally held high again. The smug look on her face was a sight to behold.
However, someone remembered what she had said before. "Hey? I seem to recall you telling everyone that the dowry included over a hundred mu of land, not to mention houses and shops in town..."
And they weren’t the only one; quite a few people remembered it.
After all, at the time, Granny Kang had run all over the village, going from house to house to proclaim her son’s amazing prospects. How could anyone forget?
Just as she was basking in the glory, someone threw a bucket of cold water on Granny Kang’s parade. Her expression instantly soured, but she remained defiant.
"A hundred mu? You must have misremembered!"
They might have forgotten other things, but there was no way they were mistaken about the hundred mu of land.
The person who had asked was about to argue the point with her.
But a quick-witted person with sharp eyes tugged their sleeve and gestured with their chin toward the members of the Du Family standing nearby, a silent warning that people from another village were watching and it wasn’t the time to make a scene.
Granny Kang seized the opportunity and quickly slipped away.
A few of the village women stood by a doorway, chatting about the hundred-mu matter.
"Hmph! They might have promised a hundred mu back then, but the Ji Family suddenly went back on their word. Do you have any idea how much face the Du Family lost? Now he can’t become a Scholar, so he comes crawling back to marry their daughter. If you were them, would you be happy? It’s a wonder they’re even giving twenty mu!"
"That’s true. If it were me, I wouldn’t give a single mu! Master Du is being quite generous..."
"Isn’t that the truth? He’s one of the wealthiest men for miles around! It’s a shame that with such a large estate, he couldn’t produce a son. With only one precious daughter, of course he’d dote on her. No matter how much he resents the Ji Family, if his daughter is dead set on marrying, what can he do? The dowry won’t be what was originally promised, but he can’t let his own daughter be mistreated either..."
"Mistreated? Twenty mu is a huge amount! The land my family has passed down for generations isn’t even ten mu! Sigh, comparing yourself to others will only make you angry!"
"Wait, she’s their only daughter? Then after Master Du and his wife pass away, doesn’t that mean their entire family fortune will..."
Everyone turned to look at Ji Liantang, who stood at the entrance to the Ji Family’s main hall, beaming as he chatted and laughed with the male relatives from the Du Family. They all exchanged knowing glances.
"Tsk tsk, what do you expect from a scholar? He’s got a calculating mind."
"That Du Caizhu is a strange one, though. With her family’s wealth, she could marry anyone. Why is she so stubbornly set on Ji Liantang? What does she even see in him?"
"What else could it be? The only thing Ji the Fourth has to offer these days is his pretty face."
And she had guessed the reason correctly.
Among Ji Qingshan’s four sons and one daughter, the most handsome were the late Ji Lianbai and the fourth son, Ji Liantang.
Because of his years spent studying, Ji Liantang was fair-skinned and had a delicate, scholarly air, which made him seem even more handsome. He looked just like one of those pretty-boy scoundrels from the romance novels—a beast in fine clothing.
Years ago, Du Caizhu had gone to the market in town and caught just one distant glimpse of Ji Liantang. She was instantly, hopelessly smitten. She had spent all these years with her head in the clouds, dreaming of nothing but marrying him.
A few of the village bachelors also gathered to lament.
"Sigh! A man either has to win the birth lottery and have a good father, or he has to marry a rich woman to change his fate."
"Stop daydreaming. You think it’s that easy to marry a rich woman? For starters, you’ve got to be at least decent-looking. And you, with your sorry face..."
"Get outta here! Can’t a man dream? What if some rich young lady takes a liking to me someday?"
"Haha, you’ve got a better chance of that happening in your next life..."
But all talk aside, no one was openly mocking the Ji Family anymore.
Ji Liantang certainly couldn’t compare to Song Jing, but then again, how many people could?
Song Jing was now the son-in-law of a government official; he had already soared into the clouds. He was too far removed from their lives, making his success feel unreal and hard to identify with.
For the common folk, the drama surrounding the Ji Family was far more exciting. At least this was something they could hear with their own ears and see with their own eyes.
When Ji Liantang eventually inherited Old Du’s fortune and became Master Ji, who cared if he never became a Scholar? He’d still live a happy life, wouldn’t he?
The villagers’ excitement and curiosity were thoroughly piqued. On the day of the wedding, the Ji Family’s house and courtyard were packed with people. Some even perched on walls or climbed to the tops of trees, all just to catch a glimpse of the rich man’s daughter who came with a twenty-mu dowry.
They waited and waited. The sun was already high in the sky before the wedding procession finally, belatedly, arrived.