Chapter 189
Fang Zichen was wiping a jar when he heard this, he paused.
This Ger, really... what does he take me for? Do I look like someone who specializes in blowing up people's kitchens?
And, what's with him? He looks so thrilled by the idea.
He was silent for a moment, then said: "I'm making some little things for our son. Isn't the New Year almost here?"
"Oh~" Zhao Ger pursed his lips, the corners of his mouth drooping slightly. He stood up and walked away sullenly, as if utterly disappointed.
Fang Zichen: "......"
Hey.
Fang Zichen pulled him back and coaxed him: "Okay, okay, blowing up kitchens too. Whose kitchen do you want to blow up?"
Zhao Ger's eyes lit up, and his voice held delight: "The Ma family's. I want to blow up the Ma—"
"The Ma family? Alright, we'll blow it up."
Fang Zichen ground the ingredients while offering the Ma family a moment of silent sympathy—lasting all of zero point zero one seconds.
Some time ago, while out for a walk, he had noticed the Ma family seemed to have added two new rooms. Good thing they built them—otherwise, he wouldn’t even have a proper target to blow up.
In the past, King You of Zhou ignited the beacon fires to fool the feudal lords just to make his beauty laugh. Now, he, the Third Young Master Fang, was blowing up a kitchen to make his Fulang smile. It seemed no big deal either.
[King You of Zhou ignited the beacon fires to falsely summon his feudal lords in order to amuse his favored concubine Bao Si, an act that ultimately destroyed his credibility and led to the dynasty's collapse.]
But this would have to wait until after the New Year.
Early the next morning, the Village Chief and Wang Damei came over. Fang Zichen had already gone to work. They apologized to Zhao Ger about the threshing ground incident. Aunt Liu had already told Zhao Ger everything. Looking at the Village Chief, Zhao Ger was very calm: "The one who spread rumors about me was Aunt He. It has nothing to do with you. If anyone should apologize, it should be her."
Aunt He was in no mood to come at all. After the humiliation she suffered yesterday, she couldn’t bear to imagine what the villagers must be saying behind her back. She hadn’t dared to step outside the whole day. What’s more, with He Huihui still in a bad state, she didn’t dare leave her side.
Zhao Ger's words made it clear: he would not accept this apology. The Village Chief let out a heavy sigh. He had reprimanded Aunt He the day before. Upon hearing the whole story, her husband, Old Man He (her husband), had bluntly declared that he was utterly mortified. Decades of dignity had been stripped away by her actions.
The Village Chief had originally gone to call Aunt He, wanting her to come apologize, but Aunt He absolutely refused. As the eldest brother, acting as a father-figure, he had no choice but to make the trip on her behalf.
Fang Zichen wouldn't accept the apology, and Zhao Ger wouldn't either. The Village Chief was at a loss.
Wang Damei pulled at him, signaling him to stop. She turned and started chatting with Zhao Ger about other things.
In Wang Damei's view, it was fine that Fang Zichen and Aunt He had fallen out. As long as it wasn't with her own family. Putting herself in their shoes, if she herself had been slandered like that, she definitely wouldn't forgive easily either.
Wang Damei had a frank and easygoing nature, which made her well-liked throughout the village. Aunt He, however, was quite the opposite—she was snobbish, overly concerned with her prestige, and rather narrow-minded. Even before Aunt He was married off, the two women had never gotten along.
At that time, the Village Chief (Wang Damei's husband) knew how to read and write a little, and was being groomed as the next village leader. But being the village chief wasn't a grand position: there was no monthly stipend and no real authority. While it commanded some respect within the village, outside its borders, the title meant nothing at all.
Wang Damei's natal family wasn't very well-off. After marrying the Village Chief, Aunt He often bossed her around, saying she had married above her station.
Even though she was talking about her own sister-in-law, Wang Damei held nothing back. She went on at length, covering every grievance, before finally circling around to the subject of the Feng family.
Zhao Ger said in surprise: "Feng Meihua is engaged?"
The Feng family had previously sent a matchmaker to their home. Zhao Ger had never mentioned this to Fang Zichen. The matchmaker and the Feng family never came again. Later, with being busy, Zhao Ger had almost forgotten about it.
"Yes," Wang Damei said, cracking two pumpkin seeds Zhao Ger handed over. These were scooped out from a pumpkin, washed, dried, and then stir-fried. They were a kind of snack. This stuff wasn't expensive, so Wang Damei ate them. "I heard it's with a Bi family from the next village. That family has a son, said to be twenty-one. He worked outside before and only returned this year. The Ma family also sent a matchmaker to the Feng family before, but the Feng family didn't agree."
Most parents who cherished their daughters were reluctant to marry them off to another village. Even if it was just the neighboring one, a strict husband's family could mean not seeing their daughters for the entire year. They would have no way of knowing whether she was happy or suffering. If she married within the same village, at least they would cross paths from time to time. So when the matchmaker from the Ma family came knocking, Feng Meihua's mother felt a flicker of interest. However, the moment she recalled the Ma family's notorious reputation, that flicker was instantly extinguished.
Moreover, Fang Zichen had now firmly established himself. Even if people couldn't become his friends, they absolutely must not make an enemy of him. The villagers were now making money following Zhao Ger's lead. Since he didn't get along with the Ma family, everyone tried to avoid contact with the Ma family as much as possible.
If she married her daughter to the Ma family at this critical juncture, wouldn't that be like boarding the same boat as the Ma family and indirectly opposing Fang Zichen?
That simply would not do! She had already prepared two mu of land, intending to plant chili peppers there next year!
Previously, Madam Feng wanted to marry Feng Meihua to someone in town. But it wasn't easy to marry into town. Those with good conditions naturally wanted to find someone with even better conditions.
Time passed, and Feng Meihua was no longer a young girl. Earlier, Madam Feng had sent a matchmaker to the Fang family, but Fang Zichen had given no response. In her mother's eyes, her daughter was flawless. Yet when Fang Zichen neither visited their home nor sent a matchmaker in return, Madam Feng understood the truth: he simply was not interested.
Though a pity, it was fate.
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