Farming for Three Meals a Day [Farming Life] 3

Chapter 3

A tall and sturdy stranger arrived in the village, and by the second day, everyone knew about it, gossiping behind his back about this outsider who came to Shanxiu Village to settle down alone.

Heeding his mother’s words, Ye Xi stayed far away from the house halfway up the mountain, even avoiding the riverbank there when cutting grass.

However, his good friend, the young man Liu Li from next door, came to find him.

When he arrived, Ye Xi was sitting under the shade of a tree in the courtyard, sorting soybeans. Seeing him, Ye Xi smiled and brought him a chair. “I haven’t seen you for a few days.”

Li-ge’er sat beside him, resting his chin on his hand, watching Ye Xi’s fair and slender fingers picking out round soybeans from the bamboo sieve. “I went to my grandmother’s house for a few days and just came back yesterday.”

Ye Xi said enviously, “It’s nice to have a grandmother. Unlike my family, there are no elders around anymore.” Father Ye’s parents had passed away, and Liu Xiufeng had lost her parents when she was young.

Unlike Li-ge’er, Ye Xi didn’t have a grandmother or grandfather to dote on him.

Li-ge’er said happily, “My grandmother loves me. She secretly slipped me twenty wen before I left.”

Ye Xi poured out the beans from the cloth bag and started sieving again. “Then your savings have increased again. When the peddler comes in a few days, I’m afraid you’ll buy a bunch of things again.”

Li-ge’er sighed, unwilling to admit his loose spending habits, always buying many things with his copper coins. “If the peddler comes next time, I’ll only buy some silk thread.”

Ye Xi smiled, pretending to believe him.

Li-ge’er reached out to help him sort, and after they had been picking and choosing for a while, Li-ge’er started a new topic. “I heard about a stranger coming to our village as soon as I came back yesterday.”

Ye Xi hummed in agreement. “He’s living in Blind Liu’s old house halfway up the mountain.”

Li-ge’er lowered his voice. “Hey, you don’t know how tall and strong he is. My parents told me to stay away from him. We’re not familiar with him and don’t know his background, afraid he might be someone shady.”

Ye Xi threw a bad bean into the dustpan and nodded. “My brother also said he’s strong and looks like a Hu barbarian.”

Li-ge’er moved his chair closer and whispered to Ye Xi, “Your brother is probably talking nonsense. He doesn’t look like a Hu barbarian at all.”

Ye Xi glanced at him. “Have you seen him?”

For a young man to secretly look at a man was a shameful thing. Li-ge’er nodded slightly and whispered to Ye Xi, “When I went to the river to wash clothes this morning, I saw a figure standing in the morning mist with a fishing net from afar. He was very strong, and the way he cast the net was beautiful and skillful. I hid in the reeds and peeked a few times. When he turned around, I saw his face clearly in the morning light.”

Ye Xi asked, “Was he full of beard, with wide, staring eyes?”

Li-ge’er shook his head. “No, he had shaved his beard, and he looks quite…” His ears turned red, and he continued, “Handsome, a good-looking man.”

Ye Xi laughed at him upon hearing this. “You’re still a young man who hasn’t been engaged yet. How can you secretly say a man is handsome? Be careful, someone might hear you and laugh at you.”

Li-ge’er stuck out his tongue. “Anyway, I’m only telling you, and I’m not afraid of you laughing at me.”

Ye Xi smiled, his eyes curving into crescents.

Li-ge’er looked at his face and sighed, “Xi-ge’er, you’re so good-looking, how did you burn your face? Has it gotten any better?”

Ye Xi shook his head, having accepted the reality. “It probably won’t heal. Look, the burn scar is bumpy and uneven. I’m afraid I’ll have to wear a veil all the time.”

Li-ge’er gently lifted the veil on Ye Xi’s face and quickly glanced down. As expected, he saw a large, uneven scar covering Ye Xi’s left face.

He expressed his worry, “What about the engagement with the Cao family? Have they said anything?”

Ye Xi said calmly, “No news. If they want to break off the engagement, I’ll agree. I won’t make things difficult for them.”

Li-ge’er held Ye Xi’s hand and comforted him, “I heard that the Cao family’s son is a scholar. A respectable family like theirs probably won’t be so harsh and care so much about appearances. Let’s wait and see what they think. If they go through with the marriage as planned, everyone around will look up to them.”

Ye Xi smiled faintly. “If the Cao family is willing to marry me, I will definitely live a good life.”

They talked for a while longer before Aunt Liu from the Liu family stood at the door and called Li-ge’er home.

Ye Xi tidied up the courtyard and went back to the kitchen to cook dinner.

In the evening, when Father Ye and the others returned, the family sat in the main room. A clay stove in the center brewed cooling tea to counteract the heat. The scorching sun had set, and a cool breeze blew through the mountains at night, dispelling the daytime heat.

Boiling water pushed against the lid of the earthenware pot, and amidst the steam, Father Ye puffed on his long-stemmed pipe, relieving the fatigue of the day.

“Tomorrow is the day we agreed with the Cao family for them to deliver the betrothal gifts. Husband, the Cao family hasn’t said anything these days, are they coming or not?” Liu Xiufeng asked worriedly. The worry in her heart hadn’t dissipated these past few days. A child’s marriage was a major event that parents worried about day and night.

Father Ye puffed on his pipe a couple of times, and after a while, said in a low voice, “Hard to say. These days, Xi-ge’er’s face is injured. Apart from sending someone with a string of cash as a gesture of concern at the beginning, the Cao family hasn’t asked anything else. If they want to break off the engagement, we can’t stop them.”

Liu Xiufeng said resentfully, “Then I won’t return the engagement money. I’ll save it for Xi-ge’er as a safeguard.”

When the Cao family got engaged to Ye Xi, they gave five taels of silver as an engagement gift. If they didn’t want to marry Xi-ge’er now, they should at least leave some compensation for him. After all, there hadn’t been any case of a young man being rejected in the surrounding villages.

Once this happened, Ye Xi would become the laughingstock of everyone around.

Father Ye glared at his wife. “Five taels of silver is a lot. The Cao family probably won’t agree. We have to return at least two taels, otherwise, if the Cao family makes a fuss, wouldn’t it make things even more difficult for Xi-ge’er?”

Liu Xiufeng started to tear up, feeling distressed when she thought about her son’s fate.

Ye Xi sat on a low chair by the clay stove. The orange-red firelight flickered on his face, his long eyelashes casting shadows beneath his eyes. He comforted his parents, “Father, Mother, if the Cao family doesn’t want to marry me, just return all the silver. It’ll save us from becoming the laughingstock of others. Our family is poor, but we won’t do anything unscrupulous. We can’t blame the Cao family for this. It’s because I burned my face. They’re not at fault, they just don’t want to marry an ugly freak.”

The Cao family wasn’t just a wealthy family in the next village, it was said they had connections with the government officials in town. Ye Xi didn’t want his parents to cause unnecessary trouble for themselves by trying to stand up for him.

His elder brother, Ye Shan, patted his shoulder. “Don’t be afraid, Xi-ge’er. Brother will protect you and find you a good family.”

Ye Xi nodded. “Mm, Brother, I trust you.”

The next day, most people in Shanxiu Village knew that today was the day the Cao family was supposed to come to the Ye family to deliver the betrothal gifts. The women and aunts who were free gathered at the village entrance to gossip. Life in the countryside was monotonous and dull, and now that such a thing had happened, it was enough for these people to gossip about for a while.

“Hey, do you think the Cao family will come with the betrothal gifts, or will they come empty-handed?” an aunt in the village asked, chewing on her home-roasted soybeans.

Another woman took a handful of roasted beans from her, crunching them as she said, “I guess the head of the Cao family will come to break off the engagement. After all, we all know that Xi-ge’er’s face isn’t just slightly burned. I saw it when the doctor was changing his dressing. Good heavens, it was really scary, his left face wasn’t good at all.”

“Anyway, if it were my family, I wouldn’t dare to marry him. Waking up in the middle of the night and seeing such a face next to your pillow would scare you to death!”

“It’s really a pity about Xi-ge’er’s good looks. My eldest son used to have a crush on him and begged me to propose to Father Ye. Now, he doesn’t mention it anymore.” Aunt Liu from the village entrance said with a pursed lip, her tone carrying a hint of relief.

The Ye family naturally knew about the gossip outside today, but they didn’t pay attention to it, just focusing on cleaning and waiting at home. It wasn’t until nearly noon that they saw a few people walking on the village road in the distance, led by a matchmaker in red silk.

Father Ye stood by the wicker fence in the courtyard, watching intently. Ye Shan went back to the house to call Liu Xiufeng. Liu Xiufeng took off her apron, straightened her clothes, and hurried out.

“Did they bring the betrothal gifts?” she asked anxiously as she came out of the house.

Father Ye snorted, his face dark as a cast iron pot.

Ye Shan replied, “Several people from the Cao family came empty-handed. I didn’t see anyone carrying anything.”

Liu Xiufeng’s face also darkened, and she pursed her lips without speaking. It seemed that their family was destined to lose face today.

As they were talking, the Cao family arrived. The matchmaker leading the way pushed open the wicker gate of the small courtyard, her expression slightly unnatural, but upon seeing the Ye family standing in the courtyard, she put on her signature smile.

“Oh, Master Ye and Mrs. Liu are both here.”

Father Ye didn’t speak, just sat down on a low chair, leaving the Cao family standing there without any intention of hospitality.

Her husband had a temper, but she couldn’t be impolite, lest they become the subject of gossip. Liu Xiufeng said coldly, “Matchmaker Wang, please come in and sit. Guests from the Cao family, please come in and have some water.”

Only then did the Cao family nervously enter the main room. Today, it was the parents of Cao Bin, who was engaged to Ye Xi, along with four uncles.

After all, they were coming to another village to break off an engagement. If anything happened, having more people would be helpful.

After everyone was seated in the main room, Ye Shan went to the kitchen to boil water. Although Liu Xiufeng was resentful, she had to brew some tea leaves and serve tea.

The conversation was naturally started by the matchmaker. After taking a sip of tea to moisten her mouth, Matchmaker Wang said with a sigh, “Oh, this was originally a match made in heaven, a perfect couple, but who knew they lacked fate. What a pity.”

Father Ye sat in the main seat of the main room and snorted, saying sarcastically, “It was you who wanted to propose in the first place, eagerly asking someone to act as a matchmaker, saying all sorts of nice things. My wife and I thought you were sincere, so we agreed to this marriage. Now it’s you who want to break it off. You treat my son like an object, taking him when you want and discarding him when you don’t.”