USWHC -Chapter 17 An Oddball Family (Part 7)

“Old woman, are you really planning to keep this girl of unknown origin here and make her the second son’s wife?” Old Master Ji asked in surprise after seeing that Old Madam Ji had actually locked the girl up.

Old Madam Ji replied confidently, “Of course!”

“But we don’t even know who she is. How can you just casually arrange for her to marry our second son?” Old Master Ji immediately objected.

“What do you mean it’s not okay? Haven’t you always wanted to find a wife for our second son? Now there’s one ready-made, and you’re not willing anymore?” she retorted.

“I do want to find a wife for him, but there are so many people in the village. Why pick someone with such an unknown background?”

“The village?” The moment Old Madam Ji heard that, she got angry. “Haven’t I tried finding one in the village? Go ahead and ask around—who would be willing to marry your precious son? If there is one, I’ll go propose right away!”

Hearing this, Old Master Ji immediately fell silent. What? Was there something wrong with Ji Yi? Could it be that he couldn’t even find a wife in the village?

“Yes!” Old Madam Ji sneered with her hands on her hips. “What about Huaihua from the east side of the village? Didn’t you always think she was good? The year before last I even sent the betrothal money. And what happened in the end? Didn’t she still break off the engagement?”

“That’s because she has no vision!” When Old Master Ji heard Huaihua’s name, he didn’t look happy at all. Instead, he cursed angrily.

“Sure, you think our second son is great, but the whole village has no vision. They all say our second son brings misfortune to his wife—what can I do about that?” Old Madam Ji said sarcastically. “Huaihua was perfectly fine. But the moment she got engaged to our silly second son, she somehow fell into a well and almost drowned. Tell me, how many is she now? Every girl arranged for him—has any of them ended well?”

“Take the first one for example! Do you remember Xiao Tao from the neighboring village? Such a good girl. But after getting engaged to your second son, she died at such a young age. They never even found her body! Even now I don’t dare walk through that village when I go out—I’m afraid I might run into Xiao Tao’s family!” The more Old Madam Ji spoke, the more agitated she became.

Old Master Ji had nothing more to say now. “Even so, you can’t just randomly find a girl for him.”

Seeing that Old Master Ji was now only grumbling a little and had basically agreed halfway, Old Madam Ji softened her tone.

“I didn’t just pick someone at random.”

With a proud expression she said, “You saw the clothes that girl was wearing. Meizi was right—those clothes are very valuable! I’ve already thought it through. If the girl wasn’t lying, then she must be the daughter of a wealthy family. Once the rice is cooked”—meaning once things become a done deal—“who else would her money go to? Wouldn’t it all come to our family?”

So it turned out that in just a short moment, Old Madam Ji had already begun calculating in her heart. Since she couldn’t turn the girl into a son-in-law, a daughter-in-law would do just fine!

“But what if she isn’t?” Old Master Ji still looked worried. “Didn’t you hear how she kept saying she didn’t dare go to the authorities?”

“So what if she isn’t? She’s a woman! As long as she can bear children, that’s enough. And if she doesn’t dare go to the authorities, even better—then she won’t dare accuse us!” Old Madam Ji said smugly. “Besides, the New Year is coming soon. When the time comes, we’ll take her around to visit each household to give New Year greetings. A new daughter-in-law should at least bring in some gift money, right? And after the New Year, even if she runs away, we’ll have already saved up plenty of money. Just in time too—Meizi will need to get engaged soon. We have to earn some dowry money for her!”

Who would have thought that Old Madam Ji had already worked out every little calculation so carefully—big money and small money all accounted for.

Old Master Ji sighed and said, “But you shouldn’t only save dowry money for Meizi. You should also think about the second son. After all, without him, how would this family have the life we have now? He helped raise the children and even managed to get us a few pieces of land.”

Before he could finish nagging, Old Madam Ji rolled her eyes and interrupted him.

“Stop bringing up those old matters from back then. I’ve treated him well enough already. I’m even arranging a wife for him! Actually, didn’t you notice? Our second son seems willing about this wife today.”

“Yi is willing?” Old Master Ji snorted in disbelief. “Impossible!”

“Why wouldn’t he be? Didn’t you see how much our silly second son talked to her today? He didn’t seem silly at all! When does he ever talk that much with us?” Old Madam Ji said seriously. “I think this is heaven taking pity on our second son and specially sending him a wife. That’s right—since heaven gave her to us, we’d be fools not to take her!”

The more she spoke, the more confident Old Madam Ji became, as if keeping Zhu Jie here was the most natural and justified thing in the world.