"Then what is the proper way?" Yang Tiandi persisted.
"Let's get married?" Yang Tiange, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up. "My aunt used to be our family's daughter. After marrying my uncle, she lived in his house for a long time. Even though my grandmother missed my aunt so much, she couldn't stop her, so this is definitely the right way."
"Great!" Yang Tiandi clapped his hands and said, "Then I'll marry Shuangshuang, and you'll marry Wanwan."
“Wanwan says I’m a bad person, so you should marry her,” Yang Tiange objected.
The two argued endlessly about who should marry whom, and it took them a long time to reach an agreement. Then they started discussing how they could get married.
Sitting to the side, completely ignored and having no say in her own "life's most important matter," Wushuang's small hand trembled, and a piece of green bean roll fell to the ground, rolling all the way to the door before stopping.
Chapter Index 43 | 42.5
Chapter 43:
Wuxia laughed so hard she bent over. [www.qiushu.cc has tons of great novels]
Sitting to the side, completely ignored and having no say in her own "life's most important event," Wushuang's small hand trembled, and a piece of mung bean roll fell to the ground, rolling all the way to the door before stopping.
Before heading south, she had hoped for a childhood sweetheart relationship, but facing the lively twins, Wushuang couldn't muster any other feelings.
They all look like immature brats, while Chu Yao is much more normal.
However, upon further reflection, she realized that one shouldn't only look at the present. Chu Yao is in her prime now. In another ten years or so, when she grows up, won't she become like in her previous life, struggling to find a wife? Who knows what kind of problems she might have? It's better if her cousins are around the same age as her...
Wait, what does this have to do with Chu Yao?
Wushuang shook her head forcefully, throwing the intruding Chu Yao away.
As for twins... everyone knows that children have short memories, and they'll forget about today's topic in a few days, right?
Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned; the twins took the matter extremely seriously.
When their punishment of kneeling facing the wall was over, they left the ancestral hall and immediately went to their mother, Zhao, to express their stance.
As Madam Zhao sat at the octagonal table in the side room looking at the account books, she saw her two little sons, who looked almost identical, walk in hand in hand, resembling a pair of Wuxi clay dolls, so cute that they melted her heart.
However, once the mud doll started talking, revealing its mischievous nature, it became anything but cute—
"Mother! I'm getting married!" Yang Tiandi announced excitedly, gesturing wildly.
"Who are you going to marry?" Zhao asked, frowning, that unpleasant premonition resurfacing.
“Princess Yu Rong, Chu Wan.” Yang Tiandi answered readily and quickly, but the consequence of speaking too fast was that he inadvertently revealed his little thoughts, “Let’s hold the wedding tomorrow, so that Wanwan can stay in our family forever.”
Zhao didn't know whether to be angry or amused.
After being punished, it seemed like I had learned a lesson, but in reality, my thoughts remained unchanged; they were just expressed in a different form.
Her youngest son is so adaptable, so why isn't he very clever when he's learning to read and write at home?
"Mother, I want to get married to my brother on the same day!" Yang Tiange added with a blank expression.
"Who are you marrying this time?" Zhao felt a slight headache coming on and rubbed her temples. "Could it be my cousin Wushuang?"
Yang Tiange looked up without speaking, but his eyes were filled with surprise and admiration for his mother's brilliant foresight.
Zhao tapped her index finger lightly on the account book, secretly pondering how to dispel the strange thoughts in her sons' minds.
Her father-in-law had personally beaten, scolded, and punished her, but in the end, it was just a change in form but not substance. Now, all she can do is stall for time.
Zhao took out a handkerchief, pretended to dab two dots on the corners of her eyes, and said softly, "I am really touched. You are all so young and you have taken care of your life's important matters on your own. I don't need to worry about you at all."
The twins were still young and only listened to what was said on the surface. When their mother praised them, they smiled innocently.
"However, you probably don't know this," Zhao suddenly changed the subject, sighing, "getting married is actually an extremely difficult thing."
Yang Tiandi immediately asked, "What's the difficulty?"
"Do you have any silver?" Zhao asked in return.
“Of course!” Yang Tiandi held up the sapphire blue carp-shaped purse hanging from his waist. “I get eight taels of pocket money every month, and I save any that I don’t spend.” He counted on his fingers. “It must be at least a hundred taels.”
Zhao raised an eyebrow and said, "What good are a hundred taels? Living a good life and supporting a wife and children is not as cheap as buying snacks and miscellaneous books. Come, sit down and let me do the math for you."
As she spoke, she patted the two drum stools on either side to signal them. The twins quickly climbed onto the stools and looked up at each other, waiting for their mother to continue.
Madam Zhao said unhurriedly, "The first thing to prepare before the wedding is accommodation. You need servants, a study, a master courtyard, and you also need to consider the future children and relatives who will stay when they visit. At the very least, it should be a three-courtyard house. If you want to live more comfortably, it would be best to have a four-courtyard house. That would cost at least five hundred taels. If you want a better location with a garden or something, even a thousand taels might not be enough."
"But after Dad and Mom got married, they still lived with Grandpa and Grandma and didn't move out?" Yang Tiange noticed the inconsistency and raised a question.
“Your father is the eldest son and also the only son, so he has to take on the responsibility of caring for your grandparents, which is why they don’t live separately. There are many of you brothers, and although everyone should be filial to their elders, if you all get married and live at home, there won’t be enough space.” Fearing that her son would find something amiss and make it impossible for her to explain, Zhao preemptively asked, “Do you know why there isn’t enough space?”
The twins exchanged a glance.
One person said, "There are too many people!"
Another said, "The house is too small."
Madam Zhao nodded and said, “That’s all right. Take Cousin Wushuang for example. Right now, she has two head maids, two wet nurses, and more than a dozen second and third-class maids. And that’s just for those who serve her closely. There are even more maids and servants who do menial tasks. Add to that those who prepare horses and carriages when she goes out, those who protect her, and those who manage her dowry, land, and shops, and there are at least dozens of people. When your three brothers get married, they will probably be girls of similar status to Wushuang, and each of them will need just as many servants. As for the little princess, her status is what it is, so the number of servants will be doubled at the very least. If all five of you live at home after you get married, there will be hundreds more people. How could we possibly accommodate them all?”
The twins not only learned poetry and songs at home, but also math, so they naturally understood what was being said and could do the math.
Taking advantage of the situation, Madam Zhao pressed on, saying, "After you all move out, you'll have to support more than just your wives and children; you'll also have to support these servants. They need food, clothing, shelter, and transportation, and you'll have to pay them a monthly wage. Right now, in our household, the servants' monthly wages range from three hundred coins to two taels of silver. With dozens or even hundreds of people, the monthly wage expenditure alone would be close to one hundred taels. And that doesn't even include food and clothing..."
She paused here, looking at the twins' embarrassed expressions as they counted on their fingers how much they would spend in a month after getting married. She coughed lightly, covered her mouth with her hand, and hid the smile on her lips.
"Mother, if I can't earn that much money, won't I never be able to get married in my life?" Yang Tiandi's ears drooped down, and he said with a worried look on his face.