Thirty-two, propose marriage

  The second young master, although reluctantly insisting that he did not want to marry Zhang Douyao's daughter, finally nodded under the pressure of the eldest young master. At this time, there was no concept of "free love", and neither men nor women had much say in their own marriages, as long as the elders arranged it, ultimately, whether they were willing or not, they would all agree.

  The next day, the young master sent out five trusted knife hands, carrying gift boxes and rushing to Chengcheng County to pull in Zhang Douyao. This trip was extremely smooth, and Zhang Douyao was actually also confused by the relationship between the Ma family and the Shan family, thinking he had offended the eunuch party and was anxious with fear. Seeing the Ma family taking the initiative to show goodwill, he almost cried out in excitement. He quickly welcomed the five knife hands into his house for a feast, and when they proposed that they wanted to marry their daughters to each other, Zhang Douyao agreed without hesitation.

  Things went smoothly from then on, and the relationship between the two families suddenly improved, as if they had never fought before. They started visiting each other frequently. Today you send me a gift box, tomorrow I'll send one back to you. The entrance of the Ma family is bustling with horses galloping by, either it's the young master's knife hand or Zhang's trusted aide...

  Zhu Yuanzhang watched coldly and decided not to get involved in this matter anymore.

  It's already March, the so-called "beautiful spring in March", which is supposed to be the most beautiful time of the year. However, this year's spring doesn't feel very comfortable, with temperatures still quite low, just like winter hasn't passed yet, and the air is extremely dry. Usually at this time, there would have been several spring rains already, but this year not a drop has fallen... It should be the season when all things come back to life, but looking around, the earth is still a dull yellow color.

  In this yellow land, occasionally there is another color flashing, not green, but the figures of farmers wearing hemp clothes, working hard in the fields. What else can be plowed in this field? Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but sigh in his heart: The severe drought has already begun, no matter how good your experience in planting crops is, you can't grow crops that don't drink water.

  On this day, another group of people from the Zhang family came to visit, among whom was a matchmaker wearing a large red robe. It turned out that the Zhang family had come to propose to the third young lady. Marriage is a major event, and according to the parents' orders, after being matched by a matchmaker, the first step is to propose. They exchanged "geng tie", which is actually the eight characters of birth, and the matchmaker took the "geng tie" in her hand and pressed it against the bottom of the tea cup in front of the stove god image to test the divine intention. If there were no unusual situations within three days (such as breaking bowls, spoiled food, family quarrels, or restless cats and dogs), it would indicate that the stove god agreed with this marriage. Then they would enter the next step, "pai ba zi", which is to compare the male and female's year of birth and zodiac signs to see if there were any "conflicting" situations.

  There are many taboos here, such as those born in the year of the Rooster cannot be with those born in the year of the Dog. Why? Because the proverb says it well: "Chicken and dog do not coexist peacefully!" If a Rooster and a Dog become relatives, their home will not be peaceful in the future. For example, those born in the year of the Tiger and those born in the year of the Goat also cannot become relatives. Why? Because the goat falls into the tiger's mouth, destined for one side to have a short life.

  After the matchmaker arrived at the Ma family's home, she first asked Young Master Da for Third Miss's "geng tie" and placed it in front of the stove god image. Then, she began to walk around the entire Ma family courtyard, presumably to observe if there were any unusual situations. Since she was unfamiliar with the place, Ma Qianjiu accompanied the matchmaker along with Zhu Yuanshang, and the three of them strolled together in the yard.

  Three people walked together, the matchmaker kept talking about happy words, one moment praising the grandeur of the Ma family's mansion, another moment praising the prestige of the scholar's pole in front of the door, one moment praising the second young master's handsomeness, and another moment praising the third young lady's kindness... Anyway, the matchmaker didn't say a reliable word, she had never seen the third young lady, how did she know she was kind?

  Three people turned into the inner courtyard, where it was very quiet. There were several maids carrying wooden basins and walking under the corridor, with water in the basins that looked very heavy. Among them was a maid who was actually San Shaoye's personal maid, Zi Xincui. She had a small head and carried a large basin of water. When she saw the matchmaker, Ma Qianjiu, and Zhu Yuanzhang approaching, she seemed to be in a panic. Her foot slipped, and she fell to the ground along with the basin, "splash" sound, the wooden basin broke, and the water splashed out, wetting a large area of land, almost splashing onto the matchmaker and Zhu Yuanzhang's bodies.

  "Oh no!" Zixincai suddenly burst into tears: "It's all over, I spilled the water...... Waaahhh......"

  Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes were extremely sharp, and in just an instant, he had figured it out - this little servant girl's crying was devoid of any sorrow or distress, she was faking it! Why did she run here to fake a fall and then cry?

  Oh, I see! Looking at the matchmaker standing in front of him, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately understood that this was intentionally done to make the matchmaker think that something unusual had happened in the Ma family during the "divination" and that the Kitchen God did not approve of this marriage... It seems that Third Young Miss is still not willing to get married, so she must have instructed Zixincai to put on a show!

  Ma Qianjiu didn't notice that the little maid was faking it and thought something unusual had really happened at home. A look of tension appeared on his face, afraid that the matchmaker would be unhappy. If this meeting with relatives couldn't come to an agreement, the relationship between the Zhang and Ma families would deteriorate again, which wasn't what Young Master wanted to see. He couldn't help but glare angrily at Zixin Cai, if it weren't for the matchmaker being present, he might have already scolded her severely.

  Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zixincai deeply, but didn't expose her, only thinking to himself: the way women solve problems is really childish and laughable. Do you think this fake tantrum can get you out of the marriage? You're underestimating the importance of this union that involves family interests. Even if you just broke a water basin, let alone a priceless family heirloom, the matchmaker would pretend not to see it.

  Things turned out as expected by Zhu Yuanchang, and the matchmaker was also instructed by the Zhang family. No matter what, she had to make this marriage a success. She wouldn't care about a little maid breaking a water basin. She walked past with her head held high, seemingly not seeing Zixincai at all, and said with a smile: "Wow, what a lovely little maid! The Ma family's servants are so spirited, the young lady must be even better. I think this marriage will be successful."

  Zixincai was sprawled in the dirty water, her face full of disbelieving expressions. Having fallen to such a state, could she still be cute? Ethereal?

  Three people stepped over the puddle of water that had been splashed out by the purple-hearted vegetable, and continued walking forward. After just a few steps, a large dog suddenly darted out from behind the door, barking loudly. Zhu Yuanzhang's sharp eyes caught sight of the fact that this dog had been deliberately whipped by a maidservant and driven over, apparently in an attempt to create a "cat-and-dog" disturbance for the matchmaker to see.

  However, the matchmaker didn't take it seriously at all and smiled: "The dog in your Ma family is really spirited!"

  They walked a few more steps forward, and two pretty maids were fighting in the flower garden, they fought as if it was a matter of life and death, their clothes and hair were all messed up, with disheveled hair and black faces, completely losing their composure. One maid's bun came undone, her long black hair spread out, scattered on her shoulders. The other maid had two buttons torn off from the front of her dress, fortunately it was not summer now, she was wearing thick clothes, although the outer buttons were gone, the inner jacket still protected her modesty, otherwise she would have been utterly humiliated.

  Zhu Yuanzhang sighed secretly: This third miss seems to be very reluctant to get married, and actually mobilized so many maids to perform a play. It's really pitiful for her, but unfortunately, she is still too naive. Even if you killed someone, the matchmaker would pretend not to see it.

  The matchmaker didn't mind the two maids fighting and instead smiled: "These two maids have a really good relationship!"

  As soon as she said this, the two maids who were fighting stopped immediately, standing still and staring at each other with a strong sense of disappointment in their eyes... ?? Late Ming Zhu Chongba 32

  The matchmaker turned to Ma Qianjiu with a smile and said, "Ma Da Guan Shi, I have taken the situation of the Ma family into consideration. It is clear that Master Huo is in favor of this marriage. Let's go calculate their eight characters now. As long as they don't clash, we can settle this marriage."

  Ma Qianjiu was overjoyed and said: "No problem, this way please... Let's go to the front hall to chat."

  Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and said, "Ma Guanshi, I won't go to the front yard then. Miss's birthday eight characters, I don't want to interfere either. I'll just go back to the side yard."

  "Alright, you may go!" Ma Qianjiu led the matchmaker hastily away to the front hall.

  Zhu Yuanzhang let out a long sigh and waved his hand at the two maids who were still standing there, saying: "Quickly go and tidy up your clothes and hair!"

  "Ah!" The two maidservants finally reacted, realizing that they had gotten too into the fake fight earlier and had torn open a few buttons on their clothes, which was indeed a bit indecent. The two women ran away like rabbits shot with an arrow.

  Zhu Yuanzhang turned around and said in a low voice to a small bush beside him, "Come out, don't hide there anymore."

  A shrubbery swayed gently, and a dirty little maid emerged, her clothes and sleeves were wet, and her knees were also wet. It was Zi Xingcai. After pretending to fall, she didn't even change her clothes, and secretly followed the matchmaker, wanting to see her reaction. As a result, she was very disappointed, no matter what methods the maids used, the matchmaker was completely unmoved.

  "Is it Purple Hearted Choy who arranged for you all to run out and put on a show?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked in a deep voice.

  "Yes... what a pity... completely useless... waaahhh..." Xia Zi Xin Cai had really cried this time.

  "Stop being naughty, you're just a kid." After saying this, he couldn't help but chuckle to himself. Zixin was only 13 or 14 years old, and San Niangzi was also just 15 years old this year. The master and servant were both young kids after all, so it was normal for them to have childish tempers. Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and said: "The union of two great families can't be ruined by your little tricks. Go back and advise San Niangzi to behave herself and wait quietly for her marriage."

  "But Third Miss doesn't want to get married." Zixincai became anxious: "Miss's life was originally going well, but suddenly marrying into another family is also unreasonable. Zhu Baige, everyone says your schemes are formidable, even the county magistrate can't win against you, help Third Miss think of a solution."