The Daily Life of a Rich Peasant's Boy in the Imperial Examination

Sun Shan heard Zhang San kept muttering about borrowing money for his sister's dowry.

He frowned and asked, "Your family has three taels of silver for travel expenses, which is obviously enough to buy a dowry. Why do you have to travel all the way to Chenzhou Prefecture to borrow money?"

The dowry of an ordinary peasant girl consists of a box, a quilt and a set of clothes.

Even if you love your daughter very much, you can still buy some pots and pans, and spend a few hundred coins or even a tael to keep them in the bottom of the box.

Zhang San has three taels of money for travel expenses, which is enough to buy his dowry. Why should he go all the way to Chenzhou Prefecture to borrow money?

Sun Shan was afraid he had made a mistake, so he looked at Zhang San carefully again. He was just an ordinary farmer. His coarse clothes and straw sandals proved that he came from an ordinary farming family.

Zhang San lowered his head, looked at Sun Shan quietly, and mumbled without saying a word.

Sun Shan glared at him with his triangular eyes like a venomous snake, and Zhang San trembled with fear.

He said tremblingly, "Sir, my sister's future husband's family is quite wealthy, so I have to bring a corresponding dowry."

Zhang San told the story in a disjointed manner that his sister's future husband's family was a small landlord from the next village. They had a hundred acres of fertile land, a lot of dry land and mountains, and even hilltops. They were well-known for being rich in the surrounding area.

The husband's family gives a lot of betrothal gifts and requires the wife's family to give a corresponding dowry, otherwise the marriage will be cancelled.

Upon hearing this, Li Si sneered, curled his lips, and said disdainfully: "Zhang San, don't you look at yourself? How could a rich young master marry your sister? I'm afraid he's a liar."

These days, there are scammers everywhere, just like his cousin, who not only cheated him of all his money, but also his life. Fortunately, he was smart and managed to escape.

Li Si thought about returning to Lijiawan and complaining to the clan elders and the village chief.

This kind of clan brother who is worthy of being killed by anyone should be infamous for eternity, and his family should not be able to hold their heads up. The clan elders and the village chief should uphold justice and make his family compensate for their losses.

Zhang San quickly denied it: "The landlord's young master and his family are not scammers. They live in the town next to us, how could they be scammers? When we were young, we even went to the landlord's house. He is definitely not a scammer."

Zhang San shook his head like a rattle, and would get angry with anyone who said that the landlord was a liar.

Seeing Chang San's mad look, Li Si didn't dare to say anything more.

I muttered to myself: "He's either a liar or he's marrying my sister off as a concubine. Otherwise, why would the landlord's son marry my sister? Humph, don't you see how poor you are? Which landlord would look down on you?"

Sun Shan thought so too, and asked expressionlessly, "How could your sister be engaged to the young master of a landlord's family?"

Zhang San did not dare to hesitate any longer when facing Sun Shan, and said honestly, "Sir, my grandfather saved the landlord more than ten years ago. To repay my grandfather's life-saving grace, the landlord arranged a marriage between our two families."

At that time, there was Zhang San and his sister from a farmer's family, and there was a young master and his daughter from a landlord's family. There was no reason for Zhang San from the farmer's family to marry the daughter from the landlord's family, so the decision was made to arrange a marriage between the young girl from the farmer's family and the young master from the landlord's family.

Look, more than ten years have passed, the landlord's son has grown up, and the farmer's daughter is about to get married.

We have started discussing marriage in the past two years.

Not long ago, the landlord's family sent a lot of betrothal gifts. The only requirement was that not only the betrothal gifts should be taken back to the husband's family, but also a corresponding dowry.

The implicit meaning is that if the dowry is not worthy of the wedding gift, it will be a great loss of face for the landlord's family.

As for how the peasant girl's dowry comes from, that is the Zhang family's business.

Zhang San said painfully, "Sir, my family is just an ordinary farmer. We can't afford such a large dowry. I have no choice but to borrow money from my aunt in Chenzhou Prefecture. Who knew that my aunt would be such a person?

My Lord, I was so confused at the time, thinking only of my sister's dowry, that I saw Li Si holding a piece of fine cotton cloth. Greedy, I rushed to grab it. My Lord, please forgive me. I truly acknowledge my sin.

Sir, please punish me severely and don't let the villagers know that I have done something wrong. Sir, please, my sister is getting married and I can't let her down. Sir, I don't deserve death, but my sister is innocent. Please show some mercy and don't tell my family about this."

He kowtowed to Sun Shan while crying, looking so pitiful.

If I had known today, why bother in the beginning?

Sun Shan didn't look at Zhang San and continued to frown.

How come the landlord's behavior is similar to countless novels or TV shows?

Because the elders saved their lives, the younger generations arranged marriages with each other. When they grew up, the rich younger generation looked down on the poorer generation and found various reasons to cancel the engagement.

But since the child engagement had been arranged long ago, how could it be canceled just like that?

For the sake of reputation, people either force themselves to get married and have children, or find all kinds of reasons to cancel the engagement, especially the wealthy one, who often acts like they want both.

The marriage must be cancelled, and the reputation must be saved.

So they try to find ways to make things difficult for the poorer party, so that the poorer party will give up and be the first to cancel the engagement.

Thinking of this, Sun Shan couldn't help but sigh: Child marriage is not advisable! If you want to repay the life-saving grace, just give money or a job. Repaying the favor with the lifelong happiness of your children and grandchildren often leads to big problems and family disharmony.

Looking at Zhang San who was still expecting his girlfriend to marry into a wealthy family, Sun Shan had to point out the cruel truth.

The main reason is his identity. Even if it is revealed, Zhang San would not dare to blame him.

Sun Shan said coldly, "Zhang San, if what you said is true, the landlord is trying to embarrass your family in order to break off the engagement."

Zhang San was still sobbing, but he suddenly raised his head and looked at Sun Shan in disbelief.

He shook his head and said, "Sir, how can we cancel a marriage that has been arranged? Besides, the landlord hasn't said anything about cancelling it. In the past, the landlord gave my family gifts during festivals and holidays. How could he cancel the engagement so kindly?"

Sun Shan asked calmly, "Did the old man pass away in the past few years?"

Zhang San looked at Lord Sun in shock and asked in surprise, "Sir, how did you know that?"

How else would you know? That's how it's portrayed in novels and TV dramas.

The old man and Zhang San's family saved their lives. As long as the old man is around, the younger generations naturally dare not say anything.

According to the plot, the grandfather must have passed away, and the younger generation is about to rebel. If they were a kind family, they would just accept it. Obviously, the landlord is not kind and is trying to break off the engagement.

Judging from Zhang San's tone, his interactions with the landlord's family were all in the past. If they were still on good terms now, there would be no question of breaking off the engagement.

In addition, the landlord demanded a dowry equivalent to a betrothal gift, which clearly made things difficult for the Zhang family.

If you really want to marry her, either don't care about the dowry, or the man can quietly pay the dowry so that the girl can save face and your family won't lose face.

Obviously, the landlords would not do this, which makes people suspect that they are finding various reasons to make the Zhang family cancel the engagement and to gain a good reputation for themselves.

Although Zhang San snatched the cloth, his love for his sister was very touching.

Upon seeing this, Sun Shan expressed his guess with reason and evidence.

Zhang San:.......

Li Si's eyes sparkled as he exclaimed, "Your Excellency is wise. You are worthy of being called an Excellency. You know what the landlords are going to do without even meeting them. Your Excellency, I admire you."

Li Si looked at Sun Shan with admiration in his misty eyes and officially became a member of Sun Shan's fan club.