Don't worry about traveling through time, she has an all-powerful senior sister to help her

Shen Lingzhu frowned slightly, stuffed the onion to her senior sister, and then blocked the door in an instant: "Eighth Aunt is here to visit my aunt, how can I trouble you to go into the kitchen.

We sisters will borrow this old hen to make you some fried chicken."

Before she finished speaking, she had already forcefully taken the basket from Shen Bagu's hand, and shouted to her eldest brother who was walking quickly towards her, "Take the eggs to the stream and kill them."

Shen Bagu's eyes showed displeasure. She leaned forward and walked into the kitchen. She had already seen the wild vegetables and small salted fish on the table. "You kid, I'm not willing to help you out of kindness. How can you rely on your sister alone to prepare meals for 10 to 20 people?"

"Eighth aunt, my mother said the kitchen is hot, please go to the main room to cool down for a while.

Brother Songzhu is going to the clan school to pick up Aunt Nineteen, so it's a good opportunity for you sisters to have a chat." Shen Xianzhu politely extended her hand and invited her to the hall.

Shen Lingzhu made a face at her back. The grandmother and the teacher were both very nice, but their eighth aunt might not be.

Just now, when the aunt and senior sister came back, they happened to meet her outside the door when she came to visit. She looked her senior sister up and down, as if she was weighing the quality of the goods. It was too explicit.

"Senior Sister, she wouldn't want to marry you off to her daughter-in-law, would she?" Shen Lingzhu couldn't blame herself for overthinking it. In ancient times, people got engaged and married early. For example, boys in the village were considered adults at the age of sixteen and had to perform labor service and pay the full amount of population tax.

Shen Miaozhu looked at the old hen in the basket and said with a smile: "No, it's not her state to be a daughter-in-law.

Probably, he's here to help someone get in touch with someone."

"I'll go listen."

"Come back, my aunt won't agree, don't waste your energy."

"alright."

Shen Miaozhu's guess turned out to be correct. In the hall, Aunt Shen was matchmaking for her, and the man was from the eldest wife of her husband's family.

"Fifth sister-in-law, apart from anything else, the fact that Miaozhu can marry into the county town is countless times better than Beigou, and she's also the second son.

Moreover, the eldest wife owns thousands of acres of fertile land and countless shops, so she will never have to worry about food and clothing for the rest of her life.

Didn't Chi Ge'er send her to you to be raised because he wanted her to marry into a wealthy family? "

"She is still young. Let's talk about it in two years." Mrs. Hu didn't know when the people from her husband's family's main house had seen Miaozhu.

Shen Bagu said, "Not too young, not too young. They'll get engaged this year, and start going through the six rituals in the next two years. She'll be exactly fifteen when she gets married."

Mrs. Hu shook her head again, stopping her from talking, and said, "The master has his own arrangements for his two nieces."

Bagu Shen immediately stood up and said that she would discuss it directly with her fifth brother. Looking at her hurried back, Mrs. Hu suppressed her displeasure.

But a moment later, Shen Bagu, who was directly rejected by Shen Huai, came back and said, "Fifth sister-in-law, look at how blunt Fifth Brother speaks, what do you mean by not marrying into a merchant family?

What's wrong with being a businessman? It's better to be frugal and save some for you than to let Miaozhu eat rice.

It's better than Fifth Brother pawning your dowry land to pay off his debts."

The bitterness in Hu's eyes quickly subsided, and her face was as gloomy as water: "Eighth sister, there is no need to mention this matter again."

But Aunt Shen kept talking to herself: "Besides, the two girls are just nieces, and when others talk about family background, they always mention Chi Ge'er.

In the past, Chi Ge'er was the younger brother of a Jinshi official, and his two daughters could barely be considered the daughters of an official. What about now?

Even if the fifth brother didn't become an official, he would still be a Jinshi. What does Chi brother have? He has no land, no house, and no son.

If Miaozhu is married to a wealthy businessman, he will also benefit from it, right? In the future..."

"That's enough! If Eighth Sister wants to keep me for lunch, I welcome you. If it's for anything else, please come in!" Mrs. Hu stood up and spoke bluntly.

Shen Bamei was stunned on the spot. After a few breaths, her face turned awkward: "You're kicking me out? Why?"

"Because she is the hostess of this house, and you are a wedding guest." Shen Huai also stood at the door with a bad look on his face, and he emphasized the last two words.

Fifth Brother, who has always been close to my family, said I was an outsider? Shen Bagu showed disbelief: "Fifth Brother..."

"Xiao Zhuzi, your eighth aunt is not feeling well. I'm here to help her." Shen Huai called out towards the kitchen. Shen Lingzhu responded crisply, "I'm coming."

She came running like a little bee, holding Shen Bagu's arm with both hands and pushing her out, still showing concern and reminding her to take precautions against heatstroke in the hot summer.

Under the gaze of several brothers and juniors, Shen Bagu was politely escorted out the door with a dazed look on her face.

After walking down the gentle slope, she held Shen Lingzhu's injured hand with her backhand, not noticing that the little girl hissed.

"Lingzhu, Eighth Auntie really cares about your sister!

Look at where you live now, a grave-guarding house at the foot of the mountain where even the poorest families in the village are unwilling to live."

She looked at Shen Lingzhu with pity on her face: "Look at your coarse clothes, and your skinny face. It's okay to eat wild fruits and vegetables in the summer, but what about the winter?

When the mountain winds penetrate your bones and wild animals run loose, you will suffer greatly."

"We can move to the clan school temporarily during the winter." Anyway, the debt has been paid off, so no one will keep looking for us. The only problem is that the schoolchildren are too noisy.

However, the house here is made of bricks and stones. My senior sister said that the walls are very thick and strong. If we put up a kang before autumn, it won’t be too cold in winter.

Shen Bagu said, "How can it be better than living in your own house?

I said it was the old house. If your sister marries a good man and gives a lot of betrothal gifts, the ancestral house can be built immediately.

Then you can wear beautiful silk clothes again."

"Goodbye, Eighth Aunt. I won't see you off." I don't know how much benefit the matchmaker gave you, but you actually tried to win over me.

Shen Lingzhu pushed her hand away, turned around and started running. He ran home in just a few breaths and waved to the new boys, "Close the gate."

The three children of the Huang family sent by their uncle moved as soon as they were told. The five children of the Shen family also looked in the direction of the hall. Only when Shen Xianzhu went forward to close the door did they move.

Shen Lingzhu saw it and kept it in mind. It turned out that it was not good to recruit too many members of the Shen family.

When she reported to her uncle, she repeated word for word what Shen Bagu had said.

Shen Xianzhu got angry when he heard this: "What kind of elder is she? She almost said she would exchange my second sister for money.

Dad, when have the people from the Cai family's main branch ever met my second sister? Why are they looking for my eighth aunt to pass on a message now?"

Shen Lingzhu also looked at her uncle, who sent her to help in the kitchen. She refused to leave: "Uncle, I know Eighth Aunt is here to propose marriage, but her family didn't choose the right person."

"You're a little brat." Mrs. Hu pulled her to sit down and said, "Just now, your uncle and I thought carefully about it, and it seems that the inn where we rested in the county town was run by the Cai family.

The Cai family has a good reputation, otherwise they wouldn't have let your eighth aunt marry into their family.

The intention to get married may not necessarily have any bad intentions, but may be to stir up trouble.

This matter ends here and must not be mentioned in front of outsiders."

Shen Lingzhu naturally wouldn't do that, but Shen Bagu wasn't sure. She watched the door close and walked home angrily, complaining.

When she met her sister and nephew on the way, she was so angry that she started talking about how she was kind enough to arrange a marriage for Miaozhu.

Master Shen yelled at her to shut up but she kept talking, which made Master Shen so angry that he ignored his image and rushed over to cover his sister's mouth.

But Shen Bagu's complaints had been heard by others, and the rumor spread like wildfire, saying that the Fifth Master had to sell his wife's dowry to pay off everyone's debt.

Xia Zhu of the Xia family vividly told those who knew him that whoever could build the old house of the Shen family would be married to his niece, and the Shen family would be ruined!

Others said he was talking nonsense, but he swore that he heard it with his own ears from the eighth aunt of the Shen family, and that so and so also heard it.

These words were initially circulated only among people who were not members of the Shen clan.

Shen Lingzhu and his friends had been busy for several days and had not returned to the village. It was not until June 6th when Master Shen got engaged that a stranger at the banquet got drunk and let the cat out of the bag.

Mrs. Hu immediately became furious and left the table of relatives and rushed straight into the grandmother's room.

When Shen Lingzhu and Shen Miaozhu caught up, they saw their aunt showing off her power.