Tang Chunsheng held up the pheasant, praising Song Lichuan as if he were some kind of treasure, his face filled with admiration for him.
“Sister, you’ve struck gold.”
Upon hearing Tang Chunsheng’s words, Mrs. Tang finally managed a faint smile on her weary face.
She took Tang Yiren’s hand and patted the back of it gently. “My girl, it seems Lichuan is quite pleased with you. Over the years, I’ve heard your second aunt complain countless times, saying that despite all the game he hunted, he never sent any their way to taste. In earlier years, relying on this marriage arrangement, your second aunt shamelessly went to ask him for some, but he paid her no mind, infuriating her to no end. Now, just after the marriage swap, he sends us a pheasant—clearly, he takes this match seriously. And what’s more, he saved your life, which shows he’s your lucky star!”
Tang Chunsheng shoved the pheasant into Tang Yiren’s hands. She held it, feeling as though the weight in her grasp was a thousand pounds.
Tang Linglong had wanted to swap marriages, but she herself had no such intention. She only wished to escape the engagement with the Wen family and stay by her parents’ side for a few more years. Having already experienced marriage once, she had no desire to marry again, even viewing matrimony as a ferocious beast.
She had originally thought that Song Lichuan, with his cold temperament and formidable nature, might oppose the marriage swap, and she had been waiting for him to cancel the engagement. But now, hearing her elder brother speak this way, Song Lichuan’s reaction was different from what she had imagined. The one caught in a dilemma had become her.
In her past life, she had heard villagers say that Song Lichuan had suffered a fundamental injury while hunting, rendering him incapable of marital relations.
He probably just wanted a nominal wife to conceal his deficiency. In her past life, even when Tang Linglong acted so outrageously, he never made things difficult for her, which showed that his character was reliable.
Perhaps she could enter into a sham marriage with him?
Tang Yiren’s resolve against marriage began to waver.
“I think I heard your father calling for me. Is he awake?” Mrs. Tang exclaimed excitedly as she hurried toward the bedroom.
Tang Chunsheng and Tang Yiren followed closely behind.
Tang Yiren placed the pheasant in a bucket, planning to deal with it after checking on Tang Dahe.
She knew she shouldn’t have accepted the pheasant, but returning it now would be a slap in Song Lichuan’s face, wouldn’t it? She could only accept his kindness for now and find another way to repay the favor later.
After all, she already owed him a life-saving debt—what was one more small favor?
“Husband, how are you feeling?” Mrs. Tang asked, sitting by the bedside.
The Tang siblings stood beside the bed, their eyes fixed anxiously on Tang Dahe.
Tang Dahe was over forty but looked as though he were in his fifties or sixties, much older than his peers.
Now, severely injured, his face was deathly pale, making him appear even more aged than usual.
“I’m actually still alive,” Tang Dahe said weakly. “When that knife stabbed into my belly, I thought for sure I was done for.”
“Thanks to your wonderful daughter,” Mrs. Tang said, wiping away tears. “You have no idea how our girl nearly got eaten by a tiger while trying to save you.”
“What happened to our daughter?” Tang Dahe struggled to sit up upon hearing this.
“Father, I’m right here. You can see I’m perfectly fine, so don’t get so worked up,” Tang Yiren reassured him.
“That’s right, our daughter is fine. Don’t be so agitated,” Mrs. Tang said. “Here’s what happened…”
Mrs. Tang recounted the events of the day to Tang Dahe. She told him about Tang Yiren risking her life to go up the mountain in search of ginseng, and how Song Lichuan had saved her and carried her down the mountain.
As she spoke, Tang Dahe furrowed his brows.
“That Song boy saved our daughter—that’s a great kindness. Our family must repay him properly. However, he carried the girl down the mountain, and many villagers saw it. Those gossips in the village love to spread rumors. If unpleasant talk reaches the Wen family, will they take offense?”
“Father, you left early this morning, so you don’t know about another major event that happened today,” Tang Qiusheng said. “While we were away, Grandfather and Grandmother decided to swap Little Sister’s marriage arrangement with Tang Linglong’s. Now, Little Sister’s fiancé is Song Lichuan.”
“How could this happen so suddenly?” Tang Dahe said angrily. “Marriage is no trivial matter. How can it be swapped so casually?”
“Don’t get worked up. We’re all quite satisfied with this outcome. Swapping is actually a good thing,” Mrs. Tang reassured him.
“Father, Mother, I’ll go prepare the pheasant. Once it’s stewed, Father can have some to nourish his health,” Tang Yiren said.
Tang Dahe watched his daughter’s retreating figure with concern and whispered to Mrs. Tang, “Is our daughter heartbroken?”
Over the past few years, Tang Yiren had cared for Wen Shuyu in every possible way. They had invested so much effort into the Wen family, and now, with the marriage arrangement swapped just like that, wouldn’t all those years of work have been in vain?
They might have wasted some effort, and though it was frustrating, they could endure it. But their daughter had given her sincere feelings. A young girl had devoted herself wholeheartedly to a man, hoping for a loving marriage after their wedding. What did this situation mean for her now?
Tang Yiren returned to the kitchen to boil water for scalding and plucking the pheasant, while her two brothers came to help her.
Mrs. Tang stayed behind to talk with Tang Dahe, taking the opportunity to explain everything that had happened that day and update him on their daughter’s current marital situation.
“So, you’re saying our daughter is willing?” Tang Dahe asked.
“That Song boy is far better than the one from the Wen family. The second branch doesn’t recognize his worth, but we mustn’t be blind to it. I think our daughter is willing.”
“As long as our daughter is willing, then swapping the marriage arrangement is indeed a good thing,” Tang Dahe said, finally relieved.
As night fell, the village, which had been bustling all day, quieted down like a child sinking into deep slumber.
The first branch stewed pheasant soup, and the aroma wafted out, tantalizing Tang Fugui and Mrs. Yang, making their mouths water.
The two waited in their room, left and right, until darkness fell and the scent in the air had faded considerably, but the first branch never brought over any pheasant meat.
The second branch had originally hoped to share some of the pheasant with the elders—even if they couldn’t get meat, a bit of soup would have been nice—so they hadn’t hurried to prepare dinner. Little did they expect that the first branch wouldn’t send over any soup at all.
“Ungrateful wretches, heartless ingrates. Eating so much, I hope their stomachs rot,” Mrs. Zhang grumbled in her room.
“Enough. Your elder brother is badly injured, and that pheasant is to nourish him. Stop coveting that bit of food. Don’t provoke the first branch these next few days. After everything that happened today, they’re already in a bad mood. If you push them too far and they snap, they might tear down the roof. You know your sister-in-law—she’s capable of doing just that,” Mrs. Yang warned in a hushed voice from the doorway.
Tang Linglong tugged at Mrs. Zhang’s arm and cooed, “Mother, once your son-in-law becomes a high-ranking official in the future, won’t you have anything you want to eat? Why bother fixating on that one chicken?”
“Wen family’s son is going to take the Provincial Examination next month, isn’t he? You must arrange the wedding before the Provincial Examination. Otherwise, once he passes, there will be plenty of people trying to curry favor with him. What if he changes his mind then?”
“Grandma, talk to Grandpa and have Tang Yiren and I get married together!” A malicious glint flashed in Tang Linglong’s eyes.