Chapter 9: Can I Spend Money If It Doesn't Look Good???

A fire had been burning steadily in the kitchen hearth at home, drying the place out. After last night and most of today, the house was free of dampness.

Hardly had Jiang Chengyan and Bai Yan returned home when the things they had bought earlier began arriving in succession.

It was just past March, the crops had only just been planted, and there was little work to be done. Madam Wang, along with a group of other women, was standing at the entrance to the village, cracking sunflower seeds and gossiping, when they saw one carriage after another pull up in front of Jiang Chengyan's house.

A group of workers began carrying things inside.

Madam Wang, upon witnessing this, immediately grabbed Mrs. Zhao's arm. "Sister Jiang, how much did your Chengyan buy?"

"He’s always dabbling in business. He buys whatever he wants. We can’t keep him in check," Mrs. Zhao replied. When she’d given birth to Jiang Chengyan, she’d nearly died from a difficult labor and excessive bleeding, so she had never been fond of her eldest son.

Everyone was aware of this, so they didn’t press further, but each craned their neck to peer toward Jiang Chengyan’s house.

"He’s not married yet. What use does a man have for so many things?" Madam Wang clicked her tongue. "Sister Jiang, you’d best keep an eye on Chengyan. Those city girls are shrewd. He might end up losing all his things before he even gets a wife."

Mrs. Zhao gave a perfunctory grunt, patted the dust from her clothes, and prepared to head home to cook. Her younger son, Jiang Cheng’an, should be returning from his studies about now.

"Husband, we bought a basket of little radishes! Where are the radishes? They’re missing!"

Just as Mrs. Zhao had taken only a few steps, a sweet, crisp, but clearly agitated female voice rang out from Jiang Chengyan's courtyard.

The voice sounded downright exasperated, almost as if the speaker were hopping mad.

Madam Wang and the other women: "!!!!!"

"Sister Jiang, wasn’t that voice coming from Chengyan’s courtyard? Since when does your Chengyan have a wife?!" Without waiting for an answer, Madam Wang had already hurried toward Jiang Chengyan’s courtyard.

Mrs. Zhao also felt something was amiss. Only yesterday, she’d sent away a matchmaker, so how could there be a woman today?

She hesitated, then followed.

…

Inside the courtyard, Bai Yan stood with her hands on her hips, fuming as she searched for her basket of little radishes, turning everything over but finding nothing. In her agitation, she paced back and forth.

"Stop making such a fuss. They brought them in for you and put them in the kitchen," Jiang Chengyan said, his ears ringing from her noise.

"Really?" At his words, Bai Yan dashed toward the kitchen like the wind.

Having seen off the delivery men, Jiang Chengyan was just about to close the door when he spotted seven or eight gossiping faces peeking in.

"Chengyan, have you gotten married?" Madam Wang asked, her face carefully composed. Mrs. Zhao stood off to the side, cold and expressionless.

"Yes," Jiang Chengyan replied, but made no move to call Bai Yan out to introduce her.

"Which family is the young lady from? What’s her family like? Any brothers or sisters?" Madam Wang pried.

"No family left. She sold herself to bury her father," Jiang Chengyan explained, his face impassive.

The onlookers fell silent. Sold herself to bury her father? Wasn’t that an orphan girl?

Bai Yan: "??????"

Madam Wang forced an awkward laugh and continued, "Is she pretty?"

"If she weren’t, would I have spent money on her?" Jiang Chengyan retorted.

The group fell silent again.

There was, after all, nothing wrong with that reasoning.