Transmigrated as an Unwanted Ugly Girl

Chapter 364 - 193: Kicked in the Head by a Donkey

The next day, Li Changyu asked Zhang Huai to join him in gathering people to plant willows.

The moment he saw Zhang Huai, the events of the previous night came to mind. He couldn’t help but look him up and down, an odd expression on his face. ’I really saved you from a heap of trouble,’ he thought. ’But this is just a temporary fix. These problems will keep coming unless you announce to the whole village that you intend to marry Juhua.’

Zhang Huai found the stare baffling. He glanced down at himself; his clothes, though old, were clean and tidy. Seeing nothing amiss, he asked suspiciously, "What’s wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Li Changyu chuckled. "It’s nothing. I just think you look especially dashing and full of spirit today."

Zhang Huai shot him a look. "Fine, don’t tell me. But stop staring, you’re giving me the creeps. Save those fancy words for the Li family’s second son!"

Hearing this, Li Changyu thought of Li Changyun and couldn’t help but laugh.

The two of them headed to Li Changxing’s house first. After fetching him, they went one by one to get Li Changyun, Li Changming, Sun Tiezhu, Big Mouth Zhao, Liu Ershun, Liu Sanshun, and Huang Xiaodun. Before long, a whole boisterous crowd of young men was hard at work by the river.

It wasn’t exactly serious business. The group spent half the day working and the other half laughing and roughhousing. They knocked off early in the afternoon, heading back to the village amidst cheerful chatter.

When Zhang Huai got home, he asked his mother to boil a pot of water for a bath. In the meantime, he chopped up some carrots, mixed them with acorns, and stirred up a large bucket of pig feed before carrying it over to feed the pigs.

He took off his outer clothes, slipped into a ragged shirt, and donned a straw hat. He quickly cleaned the pigsty, then hauled two buckets of water to rinse it clean before finally taking a break.

This was an idea he and Qingmu had figured out together—they’d laid thick wooden planks on the pigsty floor to make it easier to wash. Otherwise, who knew what a mess the pigs would make? They couldn’t just scrape off a layer of the earthen floor every time it needed cleaning, could they?

He’s heart ached seeing her son working nonstop the moment he walked in the door—cleaning the pigsty, feeding the chickens, moving firewood, and sweeping the yard. After the water was boiled, she called for him to go bathe while she began making dinner.

She sat by the stove’s firebox, feeding the flames while thinking about Grandma Huang’s questions from that morning. ’I’d better tell Huai Zi,’ she resolved, ’so he’s aware of the situation.’

After his bath, Zhang Huai came out feeling refreshed. He picked up a book and sat in the doorway to read.

He put the rice on to simmer, then gathered her son’s dirty clothes. Tossing them into a wooden basin, she pulled up a small stool and sat down across from him, intending to talk while she washed.

She eyed the short jacket her son was wearing. Though neatly mended, it was faded from washing. "In a few days, I’m going to the market to buy some fabric and make you a couple of new outfits," she told him. "You don’t have a single decent set of clothes; everything is patched and re-patched. Sigh! Qingmu dresses much better than you do now."

Zhang Huai, absorbed in his book, was startled by his mother’s words. He frowned and said, "Qingmu is Qingmu. His family’s doing better than ours now, so why should we compare ourselves to him? Rich people wear silk and satin—can we compete with that? These clothes are perfectly fine once they’re patched. It’s a waste of effort to make new ones."

He sighed helplessly. "’Clothes make the man.’ We’re not trying to compare ourselves to the wealthy, just make a couple of decent cotton outfits. If you dress more neatly, you’ll look more spirited. And if Juhua were to see you..."

Zhang Huai thought his mother was rambling, and now she was dragging Juhua into it. He quickly interrupted her. "Mom, what are you talking about? If Juhua doesn’t like me, no clothes in the world will help. If she does like me, she won’t look down on me for being poor. Ultimately, aren’t we working this hard for ourselves? At most, it’s to show her that I’m a diligent man who isn’t afraid of hard work."

Seeing her son didn’t want to hear it, He didn’t press the matter. She sighed. "Huai Zi, I’m just anxious. If Juhua understood your feelings, we could afford to wait no matter how long it took. But you have other troubles at the moment. Several people have come to sound me out about finding you a match. I’ve turned them all down, but my excuses are wearing thin."

Hearing this, Zhang Huai’s expression grew serious. He closed his book and asked, "Didn’t we agree to wait two years before considering marriage proposals?"

He shot him a sidelong glance. "Who are you kidding? They’re asking to arrange an engagement now and marry in two years. You just keep pushing it off, but if you refuse too many times, people will start to gossip, won’t they? We’re not in a position to be acting so high and mighty. If you just said you’d already picked out a bride, then no one else would have anything to say."

When her son fell silent in thought, she continued, "Grandma Huang came by today to feel things out. She asked what my thoughts were, and if I wanted help picking a wife for Huai Zi. She said someone had entrusted her with the matter, and if I was interested, she’d arrange for a viewing. If I wasn’t, she’d say no more. I had no choice but to say I wasn’t interested. I also told her that our Yangzi is studying very hard, and that his father and brother are both working with all their might to build up the family’s fortune so he can pass the exam to become a Scholar. Everything else, I said, has to wait."