“Besides, marrying me right now isn’t a burden on you at all. If anything, you’re doing me a huge favor.”
Although Lin Wan had spent two hundred copper coins to buy him, she knew that forcing something never led to a good result.
She didn’t expect Gu Zhixing to suddenly fall in love with her. After all, her own interest in him currently stemmed largely from his good looks. But marriage was still something that ought to be entered into willingly by both parties. At the very least, he needed to agree before there could be any future between them.
“If the government forcibly arranges a marriage for me, who knows what kind of man I’d end up with? Rather than leaving my fate in the hands of the authorities, I’d rather control it myself. At least when I look at you, I find you very pleasing to the eye.”
Lin Wan spoke frankly, laying out all her thoughts without reservation.
The rest was for Gu Zhixing to consider.
After their conversation, Lin Wan went to Village Head Zhang’s house and borrowed the family’s ox cart.
She planned to visit the county town the next day and had many things to purchase. Having an ox cart would make things much easier.
Village Head Zhang agreed immediately without the slightest hesitation. Before she left, he even stuffed a basket of fresh vegetables into her hands, all grown by his family.
While there, she also heard a piece of village gossip.
The butcher Old Wang, who lived on the eastern side of Qinghe Village, had also bought a man from the village entrance that day.
The Wang family was considered fairly wealthy within the village. Wang Daya was also approaching seventeen years of age.
Ordinarily, finding her a husband shouldn’t have been difficult. The reason she remained unmarried was entirely due to her own reputation.
Wang Daya was famous throughout the village as the “fat girl.”
She stood barely one and a half meters tall but weighed over two hundred jin. As the Wang family’s only daughter, she had been spoiled since childhood. She was lazy, gluttonous, and quick-tempered.
Many families had once been interested in the Wang family’s prosperous butcher business, but after learning about Wang Daya’s personality, they quickly abandoned the idea.
No one wanted to marry home an ancestor to serve and pamper.
Unexpectedly, the Wang family had solved the problem today by simply buying a husband.
Lin Wan paid little attention to the matter.
After arranging to pick up the ox cart early the next morning, she returned home.
Meanwhile, chaos had erupted inside the Lin family household.
As soon as Old Madam Wu’s two daughters-in-law learned what had happened that day, they began making a scene.
Everyone in the family knew that Old Madam Wu had hidden away a considerable amount of silver. Each household had long been plotting ways to benefit from it.
As the saying went, birds of a feather flock together.
Every member of the Lin family had their own selfish calculations.
And now?
Old Madam Wu had gone to squeeze benefits out of Lin Wan, only to lose thirty-three taels of silver instead.
Thirty-three taels!
Not three copper coins.
Not three taels.
A full thirty-three taels.
The entire Lin family probably couldn’t gather that much money even if they pooled together all their assets.
The two daughters-in-law immediately demanded that the money be taken back.
Old Madam Wu’s expression darkened.
The silver had practically been snatched from her hands. How could she not be heartbroken?
But under those circumstances, if she hadn’t handed over the money, she would have gone to jail.
At her age, with her old bones, she would never survive imprisonment.
She would die behind bars.
“So you all want this old woman to die in prison, is that it?!”
She slammed her hand onto the table.
Bang!
The room instantly fell silent.
Old Madam Wu had always ruled the household with an iron fist. The family’s fields were all registered under her name, and both daughters-in-law had spent years flattering and obeying her.
If not for the thirty-three taels, neither of them would have dared make such a fuss.
Lin Dahu, the eldest son, finally spoke.
“Mother, are we really just going to let those siblings keep all that silver?”
Although Old Madam Wu’s expression remained ugly, she gritted her teeth and replied,
“I’m definitely getting that money back.”
The moment he heard that, the third son, Lin Dali, eagerly stepped forward.
“Mother, how are we going to take it back? Why don’t I gather some people and march over there? I refuse to believe that little bitch would dare keep the money from us!”
“No.”
Old Madam Wu immediately shook her head.
“Village Head Zhang is protecting them. And that dead girl forced me to sign a severance document today. If we make trouble now, it’ll be difficult to explain ourselves.”
If Village Head Zhang hadn’t been present earlier, she never would have surrendered the money so easily.
To ordinary villagers, the village head was the highest authority they ever interacted with.
He also controlled the labor conscription quotas each year.
Anyone wishing to continue living peacefully in the village absolutely could not afford to offend him.
Lin Dali was hot-tempered.
Hearing this only made him more anxious.
“Then what do we do? If we wait too long and that little bitch spends all the silver, it’ll be too late!”
“Exactly, Mother,” the eldest daughter-in-law added.
“Our Yaozu still needs to attend school. If we can’t get that silver back, how are we supposed to pay his tuition? And if he can’t study, how will he become a high-ranking official and earn you an honorary title?”
Lin Yaozu was the eldest grandson of the family and Old Madam Wu’s favorite.
The moment she heard that her precious grandson’s education might be affected, she immediately became uneasy.
Her sharp eyes shifted as she thought.
Then she said,
“Dahu, tomorrow go visit your eldest sister…”
While the Lin family plotted how to scheme against Lin Wan, she had already returned home.
Their house contained three rooms.
Normally, Lin Wan and Lin Sheng occupied one room each, while the third had remained empty for years.
Tonight, Gu Zhixing and Lin Sheng would temporarily share a room.
As soon as Lin Wan stepped into the courtyard, she saw Gu Zhixing slowly walking out of the house, supporting himself.
“Waiting for me?”
After locking the gate behind her, she walked toward him.
Gu Zhixing nodded lightly.
“Yes.”
He raised his right hand.
Only then did Lin Wan notice the sheet of paper he was holding.
“This is the marriage contract I just wrote.”
His voice sounded much gentler than before.
“If you think everything looks fine, we can take it to the yamen tomorrow and have it officially stamped.”
After the conversation they’d had earlier, there was no point in being awkward about it.
Gu Zhixing had borrowed paper and brush from Lin Sheng after Lin Wan left and personally drafted the contract.
In the past, he had never imagined himself marrying.
Nor had he ever imagined being bought home as someone’s husband.
Although he had known Lin Wan for less than a day, he found himself surprisingly unopposed to the marriage.
His only concern had been his failing health and the possibility of harming her in the future.
Yet Lin Wan’s earlier words had dispelled much of that worry.
Even though he suspected she might simply have been comforting him, part of him still wanted to believe her.
Since they were going to marry, the marriage contract naturally had to be written by his own hand.
The only issue was that he hadn’t held a brush for so long that his strokes felt slightly rusty.
Looking at the contract being offered to her, Lin Wan was genuinely surprised.
She had expected him to spend several days thinking it over.
His face alone gave the impression of someone difficult to pursue.
Yet she had only gone out for a short while.
By the time she returned, he had already written the marriage contract.
That level of decisiveness and efficiency deserved praise.
After her initial surprise, she accepted the paper and began reading.
Gu Zhixing’s handwriting was truly beautiful.
In her previous life, she had been raised by her grandparents. Her grandfather loved calligraphy, and years of exposure had taught her to appreciate good penmanship.
A person’s handwriting reflected their character.
Gu Zhixing’s script was bold yet elegant, the ink rich and flowing. Each stroke moved like drifting clouds and curling smoke, completed in one seamless motion.
The man was handsome enough already.
Even his handwriting was pleasing to behold.
As expected of the man she had chosen.