novelraw Chapter 477 - 452: Quickly Renovate the New House (1)
Chapter 477 - 452: Quickly Renovate the New House (1)
Hey, what’s the meaning of this?
Isn’t it hard enough for Li Yuzhu to propose to a boy?
Li Yuzhu looked around, broke a cotton branch to hold in her hand, glared at Mu Yuanxiu, and fiercely asked, "Mu Yuanxiu, give me a straightforward answer, will you marry me or not?"
Mu Yuanxiu stopped smiling and looked at her intently.
"Yuzhu," he said, "if it weren’t for Aunt Li pressuring you to get married, would you still have asked me this?"
Li Yuzhu slightly raised the corners of her lips and looked at him. Yes, a proposal should be serious, no need for laughter.
Mu Yuanxiu spoke seriously, so she also replied seriously, "Yes, I would, but it might be a few years later."
Mu Yuanxiu breathed a little sigh of relief, "Okay, I’ll marry you. So, when should we hold the ceremony?"
Li Yuzhu threw away the cotton branch in her hand, grabbed his hand, and ran back, "In three days!"
Mu Yuanxiu, "..."
He followed her, a beautiful curve forming at the corner of his lips.
The two ran out of the cotton field hand in hand. At the entrance of the house, they saw Prince Luling coming out of the house.
"Dad," Li Yuzhu called out with a smile.
"Uncle Li," Mu Yuanxiu also called out.
Prince Luling glanced at their clasped hands, stroked his beard, and lightly coughed, "Oh, I’m heading to the school. You two go about your business." With that, he strolled away.
He sighed inwardly, his youngest daughter is smart enough to find a man she likes. The eldest daughter, there’s no need to say, just by standing there she attracts suitors.
But what about the second daughter?
Truly a cause for worry.
Li Yuzhu entered the house, pulling Mu Yuanxiu towards the inner courtyard.
Princess Consort Luling was about to go out to the village to find a match for her second daughter when she saw them walking hand in hand. So, she sat back down.
She knew these two had something to discuss.
"Your dad just went to the school. Did you see him?" Princess Consort Luling glanced at Mu Yuanxiu and asked Li Yuzhu.
Li Yuzhu nodded, "We saw him. He said he was going to the school and told us to take care of our own business. We’ve come to find you, Mom."
Mu Yuanxiu stepped forward, bowed deeply to Princess Consort Luling, and said, "Respected mother-in-law, please accept my bow. I, Mu Yuanxiu, wish to marry Li Yuzhu and promise to treat her well for a lifetime, never letting her suffer any grievance."
Princess Consort Luling felt her nose turn sour and her eyes redden immediately.
She never expected her daughter’s marriage to be so hurried and modest.
After giving birth to her daughter, she often thought of how her daughter would choose a husband with grace, hold a grand banquet, and carry a hundred chests of dowry magnificently out of Lu Ling Royal Mansion.
Even after arriving at this Zhen An Prefecture, she still thought about adhering to the full traditional match-making and marriage process.
She never imagined that when it came to marrying off her daughter, it would be a simple ceremony.
"Yuanxiu, are you sure you’ve thought this through seriously?" Princess Consort Luling looked at the young man in front of her.
Although he was an orphan, he was literate and knowledgeable, understanding etiquette and manners no less than her sons.
His demeanor was like that of a child from a wealthy family.
It was truly astonishing.
No wonder her youngest daughter and her husband both liked him.
Mu Yuanxiu lifted his robe and knelt in front of Princess Consort Luling, "I’ve thought about it for a long time."
Li Yuzhu extended both her hands towards Princess Consort Luling, shaking the pair of jadeite jade bracelets on her hands, and smilingly said, "Mom, he’s given me the engagement gift, so he must be serious, right?"
Princess Consort Luling, who could appraise jewelry, was surprised and asked, "When did you buy this?"
"In the county," Li Yuzhu said with a joyful smile, "Yuanxiu specially bought it for me. Mom, is it pretty?"
Princess Consort Luling thought, of course, it’s beautiful. It’s jadeite after all!
Not something one could buy without at least a hundred or eighty taels of silver.
Mu Yuanxiu was quite generous, buying her such expensive bracelets.
"Alright, alright, I agree to your marriage. You may rise now." Princess Consort Luling stood up and helped Mu Yuanxiu to his feet.
"Thank you, mother-in-law, for your blessing," Mu Yuanxiu returned the gesture before standing up.
He helped Princess Consort Luling sit back down.
Princess Consort Luling raised her hand, motioning for both of them to sit. She took a handkerchief and wiped the corners of her eyes, "The fortune teller said the sisters must marry this year to avoid calamities. Yuanxiu, in a few days, your uncle will prepare the wedding banquet for you. You don’t need to worry about the bride price; just make sure the house is in order."
Mu Yuanxiu nodded, "Yuzhu just told me, and I’ll head back to the mountain soon to fix up the house."
The Princess Consort Luling said, "If you need any help, ask your big brother."
Mu Yuanxiu smiled and said, "I know many people in the village, no need for my brother’s help. I can fix the house myself."
The Princess Consort Luling said, "That’s fine, I trust you to get things done."
After chatting idly with the Princess Consort Luling for a while, Mu Yuanxiu returned to Uncle Gui’s place, helped move the gifts brought back into the storeroom, and then went back up the mountain.
Li Yuzhu escorted him to the main road before turning back.
She glanced back at the young man walking away and couldn’t help but smile.
.
After visiting Chai Eying, Li Yuzhu returned to their sisters’ bedroom.
In the bedroom, the Great Princess was sitting at the table, concentrating on writing.
She wrote for a while, then bit her pen and tilted her head, thinking for a moment.
Li Yuzhu walked over to look and saw the writing, "Marketplace street, the assistant at the Xiang’s Bun Shop, fifteen years old, good-looking, loves to laugh. The senior apprentice blacksmith, large and strong, has a set of white teeth, twenty years old. The son of the shopkeeper next door, seventeen years old, can read, knowledgeable. Qi Ersheng of Taohua River Village, good at farming, good temper. Wang Tianlai, eighteen years old, owns two cows at home, ten acres of land, five large brick houses..."
"What is this? Big sister?" Li Yuzhu pointed to the long list of names she had written and asked.
The Great Princess raised her eyebrows proudly, "Oh, these are all unmarried men I’ve talked to several times and look decent. I’ve written their names down to pick the one I like the most."
Li Yuzhu, "..." She tried to hold back her laughter, but the Great Princess truly lived up to her reputation; she’s a heartthrob wherever she goes.
Not afraid to be overwhelmed by choices.
"Alright, take your time picking." Li Yuzhu said with a laugh.
"Boo hoo hoo hoo... Why am I so miserable?" Just then, the Second Princess, sitting in front of the dressing mirror, suddenly burst into tears.
Li Yuzhu walked over to her, "What’s wrong, second sister?"
"No one likes me, and I haven’t found someone I like either. Who will I marry? Boo hoo hoo... Our big sister has so many suitors, and I don’t even have one." The Second Princess lay on the dressing table, crying loudly.
Now safe in her own bedroom, she needn’t worry about anyone overhearing her cries.
The Great Princess turned around and glared at her, "Crying, all you know is crying. Do you expect a husband to come from crying?"
The Second Princess pouted, "I’m heartbroken, can’t I at least cry a little?"
Li Yuzhu lifted the Second Princess’s head, "Second sister..." Just as she was about to offer some comfort, she couldn’t hold back and burst into laughter at the sight of the Second Princess’s face, "What are you doing? Why is your face such a mess?"
"Isn’t it pretty?" The Second Princess wiped her tears with her sleeve, asking blankly.
The Great Princess, finding their conversation amusing, turned back to look.
Seeing the Second Princess’s face, she dropped her pen and ran over quickly, laughing, "Second sister, are you planning to perform a shaman dance?"
In the village, some superstitious people, when troubled by misfortune, would invite someone who understands spirits to set up a shrine outside their house and perform exorcism rituals. The spiritual person would smear colorful paints on their face, wear strange clothes, hold a bell in one hand and a peach wood sword in the other, dancing wildly, chanting incantations.
The Second Princess, at the moment, had wrapped herself in brightly colored clothes and smeared some of the Great Princess’s makeup like rouge, eyebrow powder, and forehead yellow on her face. But having applied it unevenly, and after crying, the tears mixed with the makeup into one big mess, turning her pink and white face into patches of red, yellow, and black.
Like the painted face of a warrior in modern opera.
Li Yuzhu and the Great Princess couldn’t help but burst into laughter at the sight of the Second Princess.
The Second Princess, however, felt even more miserable, crying out even louder.
Now, not only was she plump, but she also looked hideous.
Li Yuzhu laughed for a while, then patted the Great Princess on the shoulder, "Alright, big sister, let’s stop laughing and help her out."
The Great Princess, rubbing her stomach aching from laughter, said, "Second sister, quickly wash that makeup off your face. I’ll help you with your eyebrows and makeup."
Li Yuzhu said, "I’ll choose the clothes."
Both sisters offered to help the Second Princess, and the Second Princess finally sighed in relief.
Because she knew the Great Princess was very skilled at grooming. A little rouge and powder, casually applied, turned an ordinarily pretty face into that of a fairy.
The Great Princess’s hands were also skillful, always braiding her hair in different styles every day.
Li Yuzhu was the best at dressing, making every outfit look beautiful, even better than those worn at the Prince Mansion.
The Second Princess went to the basin stand in the corner of the room and washed the rouge and powder off her face with the clear water in the basin.
She sat back at the dressing table, glanced at the Great Princess next to her, and pleaded, "Big sister, please help me."
"I know, I know." The Great Princess said, choosing rouge.
Her rouges were all red but varied in ten different shades.
Scarlet red, begonia red, peach blossom red, pomegranate red, lotus pink, rose red, and so on.
The Great Princess opened each rouge box and held them up to the Second Princess’s face to compare, selecting the blush that best suited the Second Princess’s complexion.