Betrayed
Steward Liu said, “I specifically asked around in the village. Zhao Danian has a good reputation, he is diligent, honest, and filial. The only downside is that his family background can’t compare to the Shen family.”
Shen Feibai nodded in satisfaction. “Diligent and filial, good! That means he has a good character. As for family background, most ordinary households can’t compare to us anyway.”
The Song family didn’t work out not only because Song Fugui wanted to live off a woman, but also because he wanted to do so while still acting high and mighty, even trying to manipulate their precious Taohua.
The Zhao family was different. They had been farmers for generations, working the land for a living.
For a family like that, if they really married a daughter from a landlord household, they would only treat her like a treasure to be carefully protected; they wouldn’t dare to try anything controlling.
And even if they did develop bad intentions, the Shen family had so many hired laborers that dealing with them would be no problem at all.
Besides, the Shen family’s biggest asset was land, and the Zhao family also made their living from farming, it could be considered a match.
Steward Liu: ?
Is that really how “matching” works?
By that logic, wouldn’t all farming households be suitable matches for their young lady?
The more Shen Feibai thought about it, the more satisfied he became with Zhao Danian. He immediately instructed Steward Liu to contact the Zhao family and arrange for the two young people to meet.
He specifically reminded him, “Don’t make a big fuss when you go. If it doesn’t work out, we can avoid unnecessary rumors.”
Steward Liu nodded. “Rest assured, Master. I know what to do.”
After being exhausted from the autumn harvest, the Zhao family had just planned to rest at home for two days when the Shen family’s steward arrived.
Upon hearing his purpose, the entire Zhao family was overjoyed. Zhao Danian, who had been secretly admiring someone for three days, felt as if a huge pie had fallen from the sky and hit him on the head, he was completely dazed.
Steward Liu carefully observed their reactions. Seeing no sign of greedy ambition, only simple joy on their faces, and Zhao Danian himself grinning foolishly, he felt that aside from their modest background, this family seemed fairly decent.
He said, “Tomorrow, the estate will start preparing for the banquet. There will be many people coming and going to deliver vegetables and meat. Zhao Danian can use the excuse of delivering firewood to come over and find a chance to speak with our young lady and get to know each other.”
Mother Zhao, Li Shi, quickly said, “No problem! Tomorrow I’ll make sure Danian delivers plenty of firewood!”
Even if it was just an excuse to meet, they couldn’t let the Shen family think they were careless or unreliable and leave a bad impression.
Zhao Danian also nodded repeatedly. “I can also help with some physical work. I’m not good at much, but I do have strength.”
Steward Liu became even more satisfied with him and left after finalizing the arrangement.
The remaining three members of the Zhao family were both excited and nervous. Elderly Lady Zhao, determined to help Zhao Danian leave a good impression on the Shen family’s young lady the next day, rummaged through trunks and boxes and finally pulled out a set of clothes with only a few patches. She quickly washed them and hung them out to dry, then urged Zhao Danian to go to the river and take a bath so he could clean himself up properly.
Meanwhile, as the Zhao family was bustling with preparation, Taohua, who had been busy over the past few days tallying the newly collected grain, finally learned about Zhao Danian from Ping’an.
Her entire being went numb.
She had already managed to avoid introductions from the village aunties and elderly women, yet in the end she was “backstabbed” by her own maid. She was furious.
Taohua gave Ping’an, who looked entirely innocent, a resentful glance, then rubbed her face. What else could she do? She still had to stay at the estate for at least three or four more days, and simply abandoning her duties was obviously not an option.
Since that was the case, then she would just meet him.
Inside the Shen family estate.
Taking advantage of the fact that everyone in the estate was busy preparing for the banquet in the next two days, Taohua found a quiet corner to meet Zhao Danian.
Zhao Danian was thin-skinned; his face turned red the moment he saw her, and he didn’t dare look directly at her.
Seeing this, Taohua didn’t rush to speak. Instead, she opened the system panel and scanned his personal information.
【Name: Zhao Danian】
【Age: 19】
【Residence: Third row east side, Daitian Village near Taohua County】
【Immediate family: Mother Li Shi, elder brother Zhao Dashun】
【Assets: One mud-brick rural courtyard (shared family property), 20 mu of farmland (shared family property), 10 taels of silver (shared), 200 copper coins…】
【Hobbies: Farming】
【Bad habits: None】
【Relationship history: None】
Taohua raised an eyebrow as she looked through it.
Overall… it seemed decent?
Although all the family assets were jointly owned, the 20 mu of land were their own and did not require rent. For a rural household whose annual expenses were typically around two to three taels of silver, having over 10 taels in savings could already be considered well-off.
Moreover, there was only a mother and an elder brother in the family, no sisters-in-law, so the household structure was simple, which naturally reduced many potential conflicts.
And there were no bad habits at all. In a village setting, this kind of condition could already be considered quite good, right?
Since that was the case, why was he still unmarried at nineteen?
In rural areas, at this age, people of the same generation would likely already have children old enough to run errands.
Taohua asked out of curiosity.
Zhao Danian quickly explained, “My father passed away a couple of years ago. I observed mourning for him, which delayed things. During his illness, all the family’s money was spent on treatment. It’s only in the past two years that we’ve finally managed to save up a little again.”
Taohua let out an “oh.” “Then may I ask, does your family have any requirements regarding my dowry? And if things work out, how much betrothal gift can you offer?”
Zhao Danian’s mother, Li Shi, had already instructed him on this question, so he answered quickly.
“To be able to marry Miss Shen is already the greatest fortune of my life. We wouldn’t dare ask for much. As for the betrothal gift, my mother said even if we have to smash pots and sell iron, we’ll still put together enough so that the Shen family won’t lose face and you can marry in grandly.”
Taohua observed him and saw that Zhao Danian’s expression was sincere and firm. She could tell he wasn’t casually making promises just to secure the match, but truly intended to work hard to achieve what he said.
While it couldn’t be ruled out that the Zhao family was thinking that greater investment might bring greater reward, as Steward Liu had relayed her father’s words before, farming families naturally held deep respect and awe toward a large landlord household like theirs. Even if they had intentions, they wouldn’t dare act recklessly.
Overall, compared to Song Fugui, Zhao Danian’s attitude was clearly much more sincere.
However…
How should she put it?
The same old issue remained. She couldn’t find any real fault in him, but she also felt nothing special when facing him, just like when she dealt with other tenants.
A calm heart, steady as a rock.
Not even a trace of heartbeat acceleration. How was she supposed to proceed like this?
If Zhao Danian had a personality that matched hers especially well and could make her happy, she might have been willing to compromise a little. But no matter how she looked at him, he was just an ordinary, slightly shy and honest rural man.
As for appearance, he was merely decent, but by no means handsome.
And Taohua admitted it: she was someone who cared about looks.
After all, this was someone she was expected to spend her entire life with. Since she wasn’t lacking the means to find someone good-looking, why should she settle for something average?
Zhao Danian’s favorability toward her was actually quite high, around eighty.
But her system compatibility score with him was still only fifty, as if fifty was an insurmountable peak, firmly blocking everyone equally and making it impossible for her to even convince herself to lower her standards slightly.
Still, seeing how Zhao Danian kept stealing careful glances at her, his eyes full of hope, she felt a little reluctant to reject him outright. In the end, she simply used the excuse that she still had things to handle and ended the meeting.
Zhao Danian didn’t notice her lack of enthusiasm at all; when he left, he still had a foolish smile on his face.
Taohua shook her head and turned away.
After the two parted ways, a delicately featured young woman appeared at the corner.
She first glanced in the direction where Shen Taohua had left, then looked toward Zhao Danian, who was already walking away. Her expression carried both lingering attachment and an indescribable sense of resentment.
After Zhao Danian returned home, Li Shi and his elder brother Zhao Dashun anxiously pressed him for the outcome of the meeting.
Zhao Danian scratched his head and said uncertainly, “It probably didn’t leave a bad impression, I think?”
Before going, he had already prepared himself for the possibility that Miss Shen would look down on them, or even scold him for being a toad lusting after a swan. Yet from beginning to end, Miss Shen had not said a single harsh word, nor had she shown any contempt or disdain.
This not only made him like her even more, but also inevitably gave him a trace of hope he had never dared to have before.
Could he really marry the girl he liked?
But thinking about his family’s situation, he still felt worried. “The Shen family is a landlord family in the city. Even if we smash pots and sell iron, the betrothal gifts we can scrape together probably still won’t compare to what other families in the city can offer…”
Li Shi gritted her teeth and said, “If the marriage can really be arranged, worst comes to worst I’ll borrow from my natal family, and then borrow some more from the village head’s family. I still have a private piece of jewelry from my dowry too, I can sell that as well. As long as we can get you married into the Shen family, anything is fine! A girl with such good conditions, if we miss her, we won’t find another like her again!”
If it were another landlord’s daughter, setting aside whether the other side would even accept them, she would also worry about bringing back some ‘ancestor’ who would turn the household upside down.
But over the past few days, anyone in the village who had seen the Shen family’s young lady or spoken with her all praised her for her good temperament and kind, approachable nature.
Zhao Dashun also said, “Exactly! Which girl in the village could compare to the Shen family’s young lady? Since she doesn’t despise our family, we must show sincerity in return!”
Li Shi nodded repeatedly. “Your brother is right! With our family’s situation, we don’t even have the face to ask for a large dowry from the Shen family. In any case, the Shen family won’t mistreat their daughter and will surely prepare a generous dowry. We’re already taking a big advantage, so we must perform well and not let people think we’re just trying to take benefit from them, that would sound terrible if word got out.”
Zhao Danian nodded with a very serious expression.
He wasn’t after the Shen family’s wealth; he genuinely liked Miss Shen and wanted to marry her and live with her for a lifetime.
Li Shi glanced at her eldest son and said, “After Miss Shen marries in, I don’t need her to serve me as a mother-in-law. As long as she can give our family heirs, everything else is fine! Maybe Dashun can even benefit from her and marry a wife of his own.”
Zhao Dashun’s smile widened. “Whether I marry or not doesn’t really matter. The most important thing is continuing the family line.”
The three of them quickly reached a unified opinion and began discussing how to gather as much money as possible for the betrothal gift.
Zhao Danian didn’t want everything to depend on his mother, so he decided to go up the mountain to gather firewood to sell, and if he could catch a few wild chickens or rabbits to sell, that would bring in even more.
Unexpectedly, not long after stepping out of the house, he was stopped by someone.