Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty-Chapter 73 - 72 Jokes

Chapter 73: Chapter 72: Jokes

Chapter 73 -72: Jokes

Chen Afu was caught between laughter and tears, thinking that this man’s way of thinking was truly baffling. Fearing that he might attract the attention of onlookers, she decided to get rid of him as quickly as possible. So, she reprimanded him in a low voice, “My family has already made our stance very clear to Mrs. Li, the matchmaker. Keep your distance from me and refrain from uttering such nonsense in my presence in the future.”

Wang Yingjun still wanted to plead his case, but seeing Chen Afu’s face darken further and her picking up the stick on the ground, he hobbled away in fear.

After taking a few steps, he stopped, then turned around and said, “If Afu doesn’t wish to agree, let it be. If your family ever needs help with any heavy labor, let Dabao come and call for me. I’ll be glad to assist.” He then jogged off into the distance.

Because he was so agitated, he nearly crashed into Chen Aju, who was walking on the same path.

Chen Aju let out a sharp scream and quickly jumped aside, cursing, “Oh my, how revolting, so repulsive.”

She went past Wang Yingjun and walked towards Chen Afu. She was dressed in a brilliant blue satin top, adorned with a collar lined with brown satin embroidered with a few small flowers. Her semi-aged light green cotton skirt and the blue satin ribbons tied around her double buns made her stand out immensely among the village girls, making her look like a landlord’s daughter.

To tease Afu, she raised an eyebrow and said with a broad grin, “Chen Afu, oh I mean, Sister Afu, I heard Wang Yingjun sent a matchmaker to seek a marriage alliance with your family? Seeing how happy you both seemed a while ago, are we about to celebrate your wedding feast?”

The news of Wang Yingjun’s marriage proposal to Chen Afu through a matchmaker spread throughout Xiangluo Village. It was to Chen Aju’s great amusement. She enjoyed the thought of Chen Afu marrying Wang Yingjun, which would annoy and frustrate her.

Mrs. Hu on the other hand, wasn’t too thrilled. She sighed to herself, “That silly girl, Wang Yingjun is so stingy. Marrying him would not only mean that we would lose any benefits from Afu, but we might even lose the benefits we get from your uncle.”

Chen Aju didn’t care about all of this; she just enjoyed the entire spectacle. She had come here, especially to mock Chen Afu.

Chen Afu glanced at Chen Aju, unsure whether the piece of satin she had on came from Chen Ye or Chen Dahu. Either way, both men were devoted to her, and she showed just as much indifference towards kindness as Mrs. Hu did.

Chen Afu replied blankly, “Associating my name with your joyous drinking is a bit premature. I’m not nearly as impatient as you, Aju; why look, there’s that man you’ve been keeping an eye on.”

Just as Chen Aju was about to retort angrily, she turned her head and saw Wu Changsheng passing by on a path near the vegetable patch. She no longer paid attention to her discussion and called out sweetly, “Brother Wu.” She quickly pulled at her satin clothes, feeling pleased for having dressed up prettily today.

Wu Changsheng was wearing a short grey mandarin jacket, looking tall and robust. He looked over and smiled, surprisingly heading towards them. Chen Aju was extremely excited and looked up at him, asking sweetly, “Brother Wu, where are you going?”

Chen Afu was extremely turned off by Chen Aju’s behavior. At this age, girls from the old world would still be junior high students. And yet here was Chen Aju, oozing with amorous feelings without any attempt to hide it.

Wu Changsheng seemed to have not heard her, and from outside the Fence Wall, he smiled and asked Chen Afu, “Afu, are you watering your crops?”

Chen Afu nodded and called out, “Brother Wu.”

Covering up a hint of resentment lurking deep within her eyes, Chen Aju smiled back at Wu Changsheng and said, “Brother Wu, I’ve called your name so many times, why did you ignore me?”

Wu Changsheng seemed to notice Chen Aju only then, turning his head to greet, “Aju.” Turning back to Chen Afu, he smiled and said, “I heard from Shitou that we placed two larks in that bird cage. Do your other two parrots need cages? I could make more.”

Chen Afu quickly responded with a smile, “Our two parrots have become tamed; they won’t fly away even if they aren’t caged. Thanks, but we won’t need any.” She continued going about her task, watering the vegetable patch.

As Wu Changsheng rubbed his hands together, he seemed to be grasping for conversation topics while Chen Afu was busy with her work, hardly ever joining in. Chen Aju was hogging all the conversation, leaving no room for others to interject.

After Chen Afu finished watering the vegetable patch, she told Wu Changsheng, “Brother Wu, I’m off to fetch water now.” She then carried the water bucket towards the well. The water she was fetching this time was for home use.

Seeing Chen Afu leave, Wu Changshen’s face fell, and he began walking back towards the village. All the while, Chen Aju was following him, chattering incessantly. She was ecstatic today because generally, Wu Changsheng would avoid her whenever he spotted her from afar, unlike today, when they took part in an extended conversation.

After fetching water for home, Chen Afu lugged the bucket back and filled it two more times until the large water tank was full. The water in the old yard was used up quickly, so it needed to be filled every one or two days, while the water for the New Courtyard was used slowly and only needed filling every three to four days.

She then headed east of the New Courtyard, where two osmanthus trees grew. It was osmanthus season, and with the wind, many small, tender yellow flowers started to fall. She collected a large teacup full of osmanthus flowers.

After washing the osmanthus flowers, Chen Afu spread them out to dry in the yard, planning to make osmanthus sweet rice balls at midday. She planned to make some and send them to Tang Garden first before making more in the evening so that Mrs. Wang could give them to Uncle Yang at the Xile Restaurant, and he would pass them on to Yang Chao and Yang Qian.

After finishing everything, she headed back to the West Room to rest, sitting next to Dabao and watching him diligently practice writing characters. She marveled at his unusually high level of concentration. Not even Qi Qi, Hui Hui or Zhui Feng playing around him could distract him.

Moreover, his penmanship was quite impressive, even more so than Alu’s. Both Alu and Dabao were taught by Chen Ming, having only started to learn how to write a little over two months ago. As Chen Ming had said, their talent was something one could not simply acquire through envy.

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Looking at Dabao’s adorable little face, Chen Afu thought to herself how whoever had abandoned him had suffered a tremendous loss.

Feeling a little wicked, she contemplated on the other side that if his own family hadn’t given up on him, how else would she have been lucky enough to have him? Feeling joy at the thought, she leaned over and planted a kiss on his handsome little face.

Dabao finished writing his characters, put down his brush, and then looked up at her, frowning, “Mother, please wait for your son to finish writing the characters before kissing him. You must not disrupt me when your son is studying hard.”

In a fluster, Afu quickly replied with a smile, “My apologies, it’s my fault. Please continue with your studies, son.”

Suddenly, a male voice came from outside the fence, “Is Dabao home?”

Upon looking out the window, both Chen Afu and Dabao saw a carriage parked in front of their house. The coachman’s voice belonged to Uncle Yang, who had visited in the past. Two small heads were peeking out from the carriage window – one was Yang Chao and the other, Yang Qian.

Chen Afu and Dabao immediately went to the old courtyard.

After opening the door, Chen Afu lifted Yang Qian down from the carriage and welcomed Yang Chao, his pageboy Li Dong, and a maid, Mrs. Huang, into the courtyard. Meanwhile, Uncle Yang took the carriage to park at the New Courtyard.

Chen Ming and Alu also came out.

Yang Chao greeted everyone, then explained, “My sister and I have been missing Qi Qi, Hui Hui, Dabao and Aunt Chen, so we decided to visit you.”