If you aren’t reading on lazysakuratranslations.com then these translations were stolen!
Although she didn’t like the Ji family, Zhao Liniang still prepared a relatively generous gift for the bride’s first time returning home. There was a small basket half full of vegetables and four eggs, and finally, a piece of cured meat. Usually for the first visit home, they would give some common farm products that weren’t worth much money. Zhao Liniang was even willing to give a big piece of meat. This was already considered very generous for the husband’s family. This showed the importance they attached to Ger Yan and gave him face to see his family.
The cured meat was prepared for Lin Lixuan when he got married. Lin Lixuan had purchased four catties of fresh fatty meat and five catties of cured meat. The fatty meat was rendered into lard and completely used up during the wedding banquet. All that was left were two catties of cured meat. The cured meat had been processed and could be stored for a long time. In the past few days, there would be fingernail size pieces of meat mixed with the fresh green vegetables, so there wasn’t much meat left. Zhao Liniang’s heart hurt when she cut the meat, but she gritted her teeth and sliced the piece of meat in half.
She handed the bamboo basket, which was filled with goods, to Ji Yan. Zhao Liniang sent them out the door.
This was Lin Lixuan’s first time leaving the Lin family’s courtyard and curiously looking at Jade Creek Village’s scenery. They left early. The morning dew was clear on the weeds by the roadside, and only a haze of orange appeared in the corner of the mountains, but the village was already bustling.
He didn’t know where the Ji family was located, so he closely followed Ji Yan. He turned his head and asked the youth beside him, “Do you want me to hold it?”
Ji Yan shook his head and gently smiled as he said, “It’s not heavy. Lin-dage1, I can hold it.” Ger Yan had been in a good mood since they left. There was a permanent smile on his lips, and two small dimples could fainly be seen on his cheeks. He looked very cute.
Being rejected, Lin Lixuan didn’t force him. Although he pitied the youth in front of him, he still regarded him as a man. Shuang’ers looked about the same as a man besides the mole in between their eyebrows that indicated they could get pregnant. Although Lin Lixuan had inherited some of the original owner’s memories, he still wasn’t a native from here. The only Shuang’er he’d met was Ji Yan, so he was still a bit confused about the genders of this place.
An older man with a hoe over his shoulder, sickle in his hand, and wearing shabby and short clothes walked over to the two of them. The old man’s bronze arms were exposed, and despite his old age, the tense muscles still looked very strong. He recognized Ger Yan, and as soon as he saw him, greeted him with a smile, “Morning, Ger Yan.”
Ji Yan smiled and nodded, then said, “Morning, Grandpa Cheng.”
Lin Lixuan also said hello.
The old man’s wife and child passed away early. He was alone for most of his life, and because he had no children or grandchildren, he took great care of the juniors in the village. He had a good relationship with Ji Yan.
Grandpa Cheng’s pair of delicate eyes swept over Lin Lixuan, and he said in surprise, Xiucai Lin, are you…okay now?”
“That’s right. I was a fool in the past… But after marrying Ger Yan, my mind somehow cleared and I’ve thought about what I did in the past.” Although he wasn’t the one who did the stupid action, he had now become this place’s Lin Lixuan. The things the original owner did in the past couldn’t be blamed on him.
“It’s good that you thought about it. You need to live well with Ger Yan in the future,” Grandpa Cheng said happily. A few days ago, he was pitying Ger Yan for his bitter fate of marrying a fool. Who knew that Xiucai Lin wasn’t a fool anymore. This really was a huge joy.
Ji Yan turned to look at Lin Lixuan, nodded, then looked at Grandpa Cheng with embarrassment. The old man laughed.The bark-like outer corners of his eyes wrinkled as he asked, “Are you accompanying Ger Yan home to visit his family for the first time.”
“That’s right.”
“…”
Grandpa Cheng casually chatted with them for a bit, then carried the hoe and continued walking forward. After taking a few steps, the old man wondered in his heart: Why does it feel like…Xiucai Lin is different from before?
The old man had lived for so long. He was familiar with every household in the village, and it wasn’t like he’d never seen Lin Lixuan before in the past. In the past, Xiucai Lin, when he encountered a rustic man who survived off the land, he would act like he was better than them. Today, however, he chatted with the old man in a friendly and polite manner. He even spoke incomprehensible words that he didn’t understand…
However, it was normal for Xiucai Lin to change after experiencing something so traumatic. He hoped the couple could live a good life now.
Lin Lixuan walked with Ji Yan and attracted the attention of the villagers. They were being watched like monkeys, especially by the few women who were standing and talking in groups on the edge of the field. They watched the two of them but didn’t go up to talk to them. They only pointed at them one after another. Who knew what they were saying?
Lin Lixuan had long gotten used to these kinds of gazes during modern times. He didn’t take those aunties and uncles’ gazes to heart and generously let them watch. He was not afraid of their chatter. However, Ji Yan, who was beside him, seemed at a loss. He nervously pulled on his sleeve. “Lin-dage, let’s hurry and go.”
“Say…is Xiucai Lin not a fool anymore?” a middle aged woman wearing a white scarf on her head asked in surprise.
A forty or so year oldShuang’er, who had a scar on his face, said, “It seems like it. Look, he’s not smirking like he did in the past anymore. He seems like a normal person now. I saw him talking to Grandpa Cheng earlier too.”
Another gentle looking auntie said, “Look, he matches Ger Yan quite well.”
Gossip flows from one person to ten, ten to one hundred. “The Lin family’s Xiucai Lin, who had been a fool for three years, isn’t a fool anymore!!!”
This exciting news instantly swept through the entire gossip circle in Jade Creek Village.
These past few days, Zhao Liniang also told the villagers she came across that her son was cured and wasn’t a fool and didn’t smile and laugh all day anymore. However, nobody believed her! Because in the past, whenever Lin Lixuan showed just a little sign of normality, Zhao Liniang would be convinced he was cured and told everyone in the village.
Now that her son really became better, nobody believed her.
Now that everyone had seen Lin Lixuan acting normal, they realized that Zhao Liniang hadn’t been lying. Xiucai Lin was really cured.
Wasn’t Ger Yan very lucky to have married a Xiucai. And looking at it…he seemed very good as well?
The Ji family also had two new brides that needed to go home for a visit for the first time.
Three days ago, all three couples had their wedding on the same day. This was a common practice in the village, since you had to set up a banquet and spend a lot of money for a wedding. One can save a lot by having them together.
Old Lady Ji handed the two baskets to the two new couples respectively. A man with a simple appearance but strong muscles took the basket handed by his grandma with a smile on his face. Standing beside him was a delicate looking Shuang’er who was about a head shorter than him. The Shuang’er held the man’s arm, looking cute and helpless.
The other handsome man with excellent facial features didn’t seem too happy to receive the basket. He didn’t smile and looked completely reluctant.
“Accompany your wives back home,” Old Lady Ji instructed. She was a short woman and looked a bit mean, with very high cheekbones. She was also the person with the most say in the Ji family and was in charge of everything. Old Lady Ji’s husband passed away young, and she raised her three sons all by herself. They were extremely filial to her.
Old Lady Ji’s eldest son was named Ji Youcai2. The villagers all called him Eldest Ji. He was kind-hearted, a bit silly. and wasn’t very good at speaking. He was an honest middle-aged man. He didn’t have any other strengths besides focusing all on farming. Of the three sons, he was Old Lady Ji’s least favorite. The other two sons had already married, but Eldest Ji was still single. Old Lady Ji used the excuse that her eldest son had a hard life and wasn’t suited to get married early. In reality, she just didn’t want to pay a betrothal gift for Eldest Ji to get married. The second and third sons have already married, but Eldest Ji was still single as always. Fortunately, he’d later met a woman who’d escaped from famine, Li Yue’e. She was willing to marry him without wanting anything. And only then was he finally able to get married.
When Li Yue’e first agreed to marry him, countless men in the village were envious of Eldest Ji. This was probably the best time of Ji Youcai’s entire life.
Li Yue’e was an extremely beautiful woman. Even if she was escaping from famine, her clothes were black, and her face was covered in dirt, it didn’t deter from her appearance. She claimed to be a maid of a young lady from a large family, but because the family suffered from disaster, she was forced to escape. However, some of the women who liked to gossip in Jade Creek Village talked behind her back and said she was the woman of that family’s young master. She was chased out because she made a big mistake…
After she married Eldest Ji, she gave birth to a son and two Shuang’ers. The eldest son’s name was Ji Qian. The Shuang’ers were the eighteen year old Ji Yan, and the nine year old Ji Yu. Ji Qian, Ji Yan, and Ji Yu all inherited Li Yue’e’s appearance. They were extremely remarkable.
Old Lady Ji’s second son, Ji Youjin3, also worked in the fields. He was a sincere person, but his wife, Liu Yufeng, was shrewish and lazy. She made a fuss inside the village all day long and was always thinking of ways to avoid work at home.
Ji Youjin had two sons. His eldest son, Ji Shu, worked at the dock in the county town. He married last year, and his wife was the daughter of a merchant. The second son Ji Ya, looked simple and honest and was also an honest person. He married three days ago on the same day as Ji Yan. He married the delicate looking Shuang’er, Zhao Qingqing, from Zhao’s Village4.
Old Lady Ji’s favorite child was her third son, Ji Youyin5. Ji Youyin knew how to attract love, had a nimble mouth, and he was the youngest. Old Lady Ji really loved him. When he was fifteen or sixteen, Old Lady Ji found a carpenter master to teach him the craft. His two older brothers made a living from the fields, while he made fine furniture. His life was much more prosperous than the eldest or second son.
He had a son and a daughter. His son, Ji Xuan, still studied in the county town’s academy. Similar to how Zhao Liniang was willing to do anything to have Lin Lixuan study, Old Lady Ji was also extremely partial to her precious grandson and was willing to use the family’s shared money to send him to study. The other grandchildren stopped studying after learning a few words. The only one who stayed at the academy was Ji Xuan.
His little daughter was Ji Ru. She had been pampered and spoiled rotten by her mother, Liu Li, since she was young. Liu Li was looking forward to her daughter climbing the ranks.
Eldest Ji’s eldest son, Ji Qian, his Shuang’er, Ji Yan, and Second Ji’s second son, Ji Ya, all got married on the same day. Speaking of which, the dowry for Ji Qian and Ji Ya’s marriage all came from the thirteen taels of silver Old Lady Ji received from Zhao Liniang.
Wow, we were introduced to sooo many characters! Well now we know Ji Yan’s entire family lol. His grandma sounds like a B.
- Dage can be boss or eldest brother. It’s kinda like ge, but more respectful. Will be keeping this term as is when I translate. ↩︎
- His name means “has wealth”. Old Lady Ji really has some naming sense there. Wait till you hear her other sons names ↩︎
- Name means “has gold” ↩︎
- Zhao’s Village is the name of the village. A ton of villages name themselves after surnames of the people who live there. So most of the people in Zhao’s Village is surnamed Zhao. ↩︎
- Name means “has silver” ↩︎
