Ger, So Proud

Chapter 59

“Li-ge, Xiao Ze, you’re back!” The man caught sight of them and immediately greeted them with a smile as bright as a chrysanthemum, “I’ve been waiting at the door for half a day, wondering where you two had gone!”

“I thought who it was, turns out it’s He Bao’er’s Dad coming over,” Dad Li’s voice was indifferent, “What are you waiting for? Isn’t An-ge at home?”

“Oh! Look at me, I didn’t explain clearly. An-ge is indeed at home! It’s just… he probably hasn’t seen me for a long time and misunderstood a bit, so…”

So he shouted at the door for half a day in this cold weather, as if he hadn’t seen anything! If it weren’t for… if it weren’t for… he didn’t know what he was thinking, and the palm of Dad Zhou’s hand was already red from pulling the string of gifts.

“So, he didn’t open the door for you? This child is still young, but…” Dad Li clasped his hands in front of his abdomen, and although his words sounded like blame, when combined with his smile, it was full of irony, “But during this time, maybe something happened at home, and he’s become less sensible. How could he not open the door for his uncle!”

“…”

Dad Zhou was choked by Dad Li’s words for a moment, his face becoming even more unpleasant.

But he just paused for a moment, then shifted his gaze to He Ze who had been standing by silently, “An-ge may not remember his uncle, but Xiao Ze surely does, right? Whenever you come home, don’t you always come to Uncle’s house first?”

“My memory is worse than Xiao An’s, but…”

“But what? There’s no ‘but.’ You’ve been on that mountain for so long, cold and hungry. Go inside quickly. I’ll have Xiao An prepare some hot water for you. Go take a bath first, the meal is still hot. Hurry up!”

Before He Ze could finish speaking, Dad Li pushed and shoved him to the courtyard gate. He didn’t want to argue with this person, so he followed He An who opened the door and entered the house. Dad Zhou, who was behind, had just caught up, but the courtyard gates slammed shut with a bang.

“This child, he seems to have developed a temper! I’ll have a good talk with him later,” Dad Li stopped Zhou in front of him, “What’s the matter with you coming over today? Let’s talk outside, it’s refreshing in the wind. Otherwise, this inner turmoil is making me anxious!”

“Li-ge, you…”

“Enough, enough, I won’t beat around the bush. You know what you did yourself. You’ve humiliated our He family! Our ancestors have been in this He family village for generations. Just as it’s about to end, you’ve made a joke out of our wealth generation. Do you know what people in the village are saying about our family? If it weren’t for the fact that your dead husband and mine were childhood brothers, and you two were orphans, otherwise…”

Otherwise, even if they had to ask the elders of the clan or even resort to the authorities, there would be no peaceful days for the two of them!

Dad Li glanced coldly at Dad Zhou, his expression frosty.

But Dad Zhou was not so easily discouraged. If he wanted face, he wouldn’t have come here. One could see his temperament from He Bao’er.

After talking at the courtyard gate for a long time in a sad and miserable manner, Dad Li unexpectedly remained unmoved. It was only then that Dad Zhou left angrily with the things in his hands.

He looked back several times as he walked away, but Dad Li just glared back at him, and then slammed the door shut with a loud noise, until now, his face finally showed a genuine smile.

When he entered, He Ze had already finished bathing and was sitting at the table eating. He An sat opposite him, resting his chin on his hands and watching him eat.

“What’s wrong, Xiao An, are you hungry too?” Dad Li pulled a stool and sat down next to He An, then with a full heart of satisfaction, he said, “Today you did well, except for letting that shameless person in. Our family has been talked about behind our backs recently! If it weren’t for things getting better, our whole family would have…”

Dad Li’s voice trailed off, then lowered, and He An stood up behind him and helped him massage his shoulders. “Dad, I know, that’s why I didn’t let him in. And a few days ago, He Bao’er came by once and I had to chase him away! They are too bad, even when our family was eating cornmeal porridge, we still sent them white rice!”

“That’s right, they’re too bad!”

Dad Li was amused by He An’s indignant tone, “Just now, Zhou-ge even wanted to give our family gifts. From the way he spoke, they were all top-quality items. What’s that about? Does he really think our family is so shallow! Just thinking about it makes me angry!”

“Alright, Dad, don’t be angry, didn’t you chase him away?” He Ze lowered his head and took another bite of rice.

“This time I chased him away! But what about next time? The time after that? It’s been so many years, I still don’t understand what kind of person Zhou-ge is!” Dad Li said angrily, obviously still upset.

Hearing this, He Ze’s movements visibly paused, “You’re right, we need to find a solution to this.”

Otherwise, if He Bao’er went to the Lin family to cause trouble again, even if Lin Yu endured it, he wouldn’t.

“No, no! Let’s quickly finalize your marriage with Xiao Yu!” Dad Li pondered for a moment, his face dark, “Those two are really scheming, they don’t even consider He Baoer’s appearance, he’s been married once, what do they take you for? A green-haired turtle?”

“…Dad, do you have to speak about your son like that?”

Helpless, He Ze finished scraping the bowl clean a few times, then put down his chopsticks, “I discussed with Lin Yu to finalize the marriage first. There’s not much preparation needed for the engagement. When the time comes, we’ll just let Matchmaker Wang lead us over. You can discuss the date with Father. But you also said the sooner the better, so…”

“Alright, alright! Let’s do it like this!” With his words, the black air on Dad Li’s face finally dispersed, and he patted He An’s hand again, “Your elder brother listened to Dad’s words for the first time, thanks to Xiao Yu’s blessing!”

“…”

Knowing that Dad Li was teasing, He Ze didn’t respond.

The three of them talked about the engagement for a while, and before they parted ways, He Ze gave twenty taels of silver to Dad Li, saying it was an advance payment from him and the innkeeper.

Since He Ze had mentioned before that he had cooperation with the innkeeper, although Dad Li felt that the silver came too easily, he didn’t suspect anything, just told He Ze to thank the innkeeper properly.

Father He came back after the sun had set, and Dad Li prepared a sumptuous dinner. After eating, he pulled Father He into the bedroom. He Ze knew what they were talking about, chatted with He An for a while, and then returned to his own room.

He spent the whole night sleepless.

…

In the blink of an eye, three days had passed. Perhaps due to the intense sun in the past two days, by the third day, the snow had almost melted. He Ze called Liu San and He Dalang and carefully drove the ox cart to the town together.

If it weren’t for them braving the heavy snow to find him these past two days, Lin Yu…

At the tavern table, He Ze downed a glass of wine fiercely.

“You can drink, but not like this! This brother-in-law is safe and sound. Big Brother He and I should toast you properly,” Liu San stood up, his face flushed as he snatched He Ze’s cup and refilled it before handing it back, “Here, Big Brother, you stand up too. Let’s toast He Ze properly!”

“Yes, safe and sound, thank the heavens, this toast is necessary!”

After each of them downed a glass of wine, their chests burned like the atmosphere on the table.

“By the way, He Ze, I heard that He Bao’er’s Dad went to your house again?” After three rounds of drinking, Liu San, his mouth full of oil from gnawing on the braised pork elbow, asked with an expression that was hard to describe.

“The whole village knows about this. What are those two thinking? Do they really think everyone is stupid?” He Ze said expressionlessly.

On the second day after he left the mountain, He Bao’er came to his house again, crying so hard that it broke his heart. After all, they were brothers by blood, and Father He almost softened his heart. Fortunately, Dad Li didn’t open the door.

But if this goes on…

He Ze’s brows furrowed tightly. He had been thinking for two or three days but hadn’t come up with a good solution. He Bao’er was confused, but after all, he had shared more than ten years of friendship with his original body. He couldn’t be too harsh.

“But dragging this on isn’t a solution, right? The engagement is in a few days, right? Aren’t you afraid your wife will be stressed and, like last time, turn the arrow towards himself and…”

“Enough, I’m already worried, aren’t I?” He Ze lifted his glass and took a sip, then suddenly looked at Liu San, “Do you have a solution?”

“A solution…” Liu San moved his wine glass in front of him, and said mysteriously, “It’s not quite a solution, but we need to tailor it to fit! Since He Bao’er is so eager to get married, we…”

“Why? Do you want to marry him?” He Ze raised an eyebrow and chuckled lightly, then raised his cup abruptly, “Alright, thank you, brother, for your selflessness. Let’s drink to that.”

Before he could finish his words, Liu San pulled the cup down, “What are you talking about! I didn’t mean that at all. My marriage has been personally arranged by my father, it’s been two or three years already… Let’s forget about this. I mean, if he’s so eager to get married, why don’t we just let him? Then it’s none of your business anymore, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“He loves marriage, so let’s find someone who hates to marry, too, to add fuel to the fire… hehehe, then you won’t have anything to worry about, will you?”

“Can this work?” He Ze’s brows furrowed so tightly they could crush a fly, “Liu San, I never knew you had a penchant for playing matchmaker!”

“I’m not doing this for you!” Liu San rolled his eyes, “Whether it works or not, we won’t know until we try, right? He Bao’er, who has been a concubine, what kind of man does he think he can marry? It’s already good if someone is willing to marry him. If things haven’t blown up yet, why are those two so fixated on you? I think this idea is feasible, we just lack a candidate! Dalang, what do you think?”

“The idea is not bad, but… who would be so blind?”

He Ze pondered in silence, his gaze wandering around until it suddenly stopped.

On the high platform, Wei Quan was talking confidently, with his disciple standing beside him, holding a tray with several silver ingots shining brightly.

“I thought of someone.”

He Ze swirled the clear liquid in his cup, finally placing it steadily on the table, his eyes obscure and unclear.

Author’s Note： It’s a bit of a cliffhanger, sorry, the engagement is coming soon!