Chapter 42: Marrying a Wife?

  After bidding farewell to Li Dechen and others, Liu Yitiao went to visit several other peasant households again, and then returned home with Liu Ertiao.

  Back home, Liu Yitiao immediately bought over a hundred sheets of white paper and placed them in front of Liu Ertiao's desk, calling it "practicing calligraphy". However, the content to be practiced was the contract that Li Desheng had read out that morning. In Liu Yitiao's words, as a student of a sixth-grade official, Liu Ertiao would also become an official in the future and would inevitably have to write characters or couplets for people. If his handwriting was too ugly, it would be ridiculed by others. Could the old Liu family afford to lose face like that? No! Could Officer Wang afford to lose face like that? No! Therefore, in order not to lose face in the future and to have some dignity in front of others, practice writing!

  Liu Er Tiao had no choice but to stay at home and "practice calligraphy" as he couldn't even come up with a reason to refuse.

  Seeing Liu Er Tiao being so obedient, Liu Yi Tiao nodded in satisfaction, praised him a couple of sentences and then took the money out the door.

  He also went to buy willow wood.

  According to Yuan Fang's address, Liu Yitiao soon found the supplier of wood.

  Thirty willow trees are not a small number, and the size of the pile is also as big as a car. Fortunately, the seller's service attitude was good, after hearing that the wood was being sent to Yuan Fang's house, he proactively offered to deliver the goods to their doorstep. The price was also much cheaper than others. It saved Liu a lot of trouble and also made him see Yuan Fang's influence in the woodworking circle, and he became even more confident about Yuan Fang making the curved plow.

  The goods were delivered by a young man who drove a donkey cart. Liu Yitiao hitched a ride on his donkey cart all the way to Yuan Fang's mansion in Xia'er Village.

  After arriving at the place, Liu Yitiao got off the carriage and knocked on the door. The one who opened the door was still Yuan Pei. When he saw that it was Liu Shen Yi, he warmly invited him in, saying: "So it's Doctor Liu, please come in quickly." Seeing the young apprentice behind Liu Yitiao, he also smiled and greeted him, saying: "Xiao Fu, you're here to deliver today? Hehe, bring the donkey cart in, and unload the wood at the usual place. Trouble you!"

  "How is it that you all know each other?" Liu Yitiao asked Yuan Pei as Xiao Fu led the donkey into the backyard.

  Yuan Pei smiled and explained: "My father and I are both carpenters, and we always need wood when working. Every time we work, they have to come and deliver it once, so after coming and going many times, we became familiar with each other."

  Liu nodded and said bluntly that Xiaofu and his family were the designated timber suppliers for the Yuan family. No wonder buying raw materials from them would be cheaper.

  As they walked into the main hall with Yuan Pei, Yuan Fang was sitting there studying the drawings. Seeing Liu Yitiao come in, Yuan Fang stood up and welcomed him: "Mr. Liu has arrived, please sit down quickly. Pei'er, pour tea for Mr. Liu!"

  "Mr. Yuan, please." Liu Yitia returned a courtesy and sat down after Mr. Yuan did. He said: "Mr. Yuan, I have sent the wood materials, I don't know when you can make the first one. To be honest, I am also very curious about this plow head, and I want to see its whole appearance as soon as possible."

  When it comes to his own expertise, Yuan Fang suddenly became spirited and smiled at Liu Yitiao: "Mr. Liu doesn't have to worry, through last night's calculations, the old man is confident that he can produce the first plow head within three days. Afterwards, the second and third ones will be even faster. It won't delay your farming."

  "As for the function of the plow," Yuan Fang said with some hesitation, "because I've never seen a plow like this before, I can only make some guesses based on the drawings. Therefore, I'm not sure if I can make an exact replica of the plow in the drawing. However, I can assure you that the new plow will be at least ten times better than the one currently in use!"

  Liu nodded, this is more normal. If Yuan Fang can really make a curved share plow that is exactly the same as those in later generations, it would be strange. He said to Yuan Fang: "It doesn't matter if it's not the same, Liu only wants it to be easy to use. As long as the new plow is more useful than the current one, Liu will be satisfied."

  "Hehe, don't worry about this, Mr. Liu." Yuan Fang said with a smile to Liu Yitiao. Seeing Xiao Fu pulling an empty cart out of the backyard, he knew that the wood had been unloaded and was ready. Yuan Fang stood up, bowed his hands to Liu Yitiao and said: "Mr. Liu, the wood is ready, I have to go first, excuse me."

  Liu Yitiao also stood up and said, "Mr. Yuan is too polite, I should take my leave as well. This afternoon I still have to order a plowshare and attend to some mundane matters, so I won't come to disturb you again."

  Yuan Fang nodded and instructed Yuan Pei to see off the guests, while he himself went to the backyard to start making a new plow.

  Liu Yitiao smiled and nodded in understanding, thinking that Yuan Fang now resembled some modern workaholics.

  Walked back home and found out that Liu He was not at home.

  This was something that had never happened since Liu Yitiao came back, Liu Yitiao felt a little anxious in his heart. Had something happened at home? He quickly went to each room and found that neither Liu Laoshi nor Liu Xiaohui were at home. Only Liu Ertiao was sitting there practicing calligraphy.

  Now that this has been seen, Liu Yitiao's hanging heart can finally be put down. Liu Ertiao still has the mood to practice calligraphy, which means there is no big problem.

  "Second Brother, Father, Mother, and Little Sister, where are they? Why haven't I seen them?" Liu Yitiao walked to the back of Liu Laore and asked: "Has something happened at home?"

  "Big brother?" Liu Er Tiao put down his pen and turned around, looking at Liu Yi Tiao with a hint of playful smile on his face. "Big brother, it's true, but it's good news, you don't have to worry."

  "Good news?" Liu Yitiao felt a little uneasy in his heart, could it be that Old Liu had mentioned something about getting married the other day? He opened his mouth to ask: "What good news?"

  "The village head's third aunt told my elder brother about a potential daughter-in-law, and both parents were very satisfied. Then they went to see her together with the third aunt. If they liked her, our family would have another sister-in-law soon. Hmm, maybe next year I'll even have another little nephew! Elder brother, don't you think this is good news?"

  Liu Yitiao's face turned red with rage, and he slapped Liu Ertiao on the head, pressing him down into the chair under his buttocks. "You little brat, what do you know? Practice your calligraphy properly, I'll take it away later."

  "What a little kid?!" Liu Er Tiao turned his head, saying with discontent: "I'm already fifteen years old now, Father said that next year I can get married!"

  "Hmm..." Liu Yitiao was speechless, and Liu Ertiao was right. In this era, getting married at the age of 15 or 16 was normal, and marrying at 18 had become an exception. Not wanting to dwell on this issue, he asked: "Where did Father and Mother go? How long have they been gone?"

  "It's almost time for him to return, it's been about an hour since he left Xiao Xin Zhuang, which is not far from here." Liu Er Tiao muttered under his breath: "I wanted to go take a look too, but Father didn't allow it, saying I had to avoid suspicion. Do I need to avoid suspicion when visiting my sister-in-law? Ridiculous!"

  A black line rose from the corner of Liu's forehead. He thought to himself, should he go buy a few hundred more pages and let this kid practice for a few more days?

  Fortunately, at this time Lao Liu and Madame Liu had just returned, allowing Liu Er to escape this disaster.

  Lao Liu entered the house and saw that Liu Yitiao was also there, so he walked over with a smile and said: "Yitiao, you're home just in time. San Gu from the village head has spoken of a daughter-in-law for you. Your mother went to see her earlier, and the girl is very pretty and comes from a good family, she's a good match for you."

  "Yes," added Mrs. Liu with a smile, chiming in from the side: "Sixteen years old, slender and good-looking, pleasant to look at. Most importantly, she has breasts and her butt is big enough, definitely will be a good child-bearer in the future."