A lucky little peasant girl is reborn and brings prosperity to her entire family.

While saying not to bring gifts, they quickly put away the gifts they had brought.

Song Yanyan looked closely at Zhai's mother for a few moments, making sure she didn't see the slightest bit of embarrassment on her face.

In particular, the way he was grinning so wide his mouth almost reached his eyes was a stark contrast to his sarcastic and strange demeanor yesterday.

Sun Xiangmei felt a little embarrassed for Zhai's mother.

That's too impatient.

After everyone was seated in the main room, Mother Zhai warmly brought in a copper kettle and poured a bowl of water for each of them.

Sun Xiangmei quickly stood up and pressed down on Zhai's mother's arm: "Sister Zhai, don't bother. I'll get straight to the point. We've come here today to propose marriage between Yueping and your Cuihong."

Mother Zhai had obviously expected this. She put the copper kettle aside, sighed, and then spoke with great emotion about how difficult it was for her to raise Zhai Cuihong as a single woman. She then said to Tian Denghua, "...Our two families are in very similar situations. I was really moved and said a few more words. Please don't be offended, sister."

Tian Denghua clearly recalled the difficult days she spent raising her children, and nodded with deep emotion.

"So..." Mother Zhai's eyes glistened with tears, "The thought of my daughter, whom I've raised with so much care, getting married is truly heartbreaking. Sister Song, you can understand, right?"

Tian Denghua naturally understood.

She couldn't even imagine how much she would cry when Song Yanyan got married!

"I understand, I understand!" Tian Denghua sighed and nodded.

Although she had always disliked Zhai's mother and had many complaints about her, today when Zhai's mother talked about the hardships of a widow raising her children, she felt more empathy and her opinion of Zhai's mother changed slightly.

Of course, if Tian Denghua knew what happened next, she would definitely slap herself and resonate with her ancestors for eighteen generations!

Zhai's mother sighed deeply.

Sun Xiangmei secretly curled her lip.

She's seen this kind of situation many times, having worked as a matchmaker so many times.

When someone proposes marriage, saying these things is usually just a prelude to demanding a high dowry.

Besides, she knew all about the Zhai family's situation—the widow raising three children alone, haha, that's just a nice way of putting it.

Not to mention that Zhai's father had been dead for several years, not long after his death, Zhai's mother secretly began a relationship with a wealthy old man in the village.

In the last two years, the old man was taken away by his son to enjoy his retirement in another city, and that's when things finally came to an end.

“I’ve seen it all, Yueping and my Cuihong.” Mother Zhai wiped her eyes. “To be honest, my Cuihong is beautiful, and some wealthy families have come to propose to her. But I feel sorry for my daughter and want her to marry someone who will treat her well.”

This resonated with Tian Denghua.

Who said no!

"So... it's not that I disagree with the marriage between Cuihong and your Yueping." Mother Zhai seemed somewhat troubled, "It's just that the dowry... raising my daughter wasn't easy, and after Cuihong, the eldest sister, marries off, she still has younger brothers and sisters, so..."

Sun Xiangmei thought to herself, "They're here, they're here."

Judging from the tone of his voice, the dowry will indeed be quite high.

Tian Denghua was already mentally prepared: "...You go ahead."

To be honest, if Yan Yan hadn't given her ten or so taels of silver twice before, she would now have nearly thirty taels in her hands, and she really wouldn't have this confidence.

Mother Zhai stretched out a hand and flipped it over.

It means ten taels.

Song Yueping gasped.

Twelve!

Although he was mentally prepared, he never expected there to be so much!

You should know that a whole family wouldn't even use ten ounces of food for a year!

He looked at Tian Denghua with some helplessness.

Tian Denghua was clearly much more mentally prepared than Song Yueping.

When she heard that ten taels of silver was indeed a lot, it wasn't outrageous.

Tian Denghua looked at Sun Xiangmei.

Sun Xiangmei knew it was time for her, the matchmaker, to step in. She rubbed her hands together, eager to discuss the betrothal gifts.

Sun Xiangmei smiled and said, "...Sister Zhai, you may not be familiar with the betrothal gifts in our surrounding villages. In our surrounding villages, most people ask for two taels of silver to marry off their daughters, and a few might ask for three or five taels. But any more than that, and that's it. Sister Zhai, you want ten taels... that's really too much."

When Zhai's mother heard Sun Xiangmei say so much, her face fell: "They say that if a family has a daughter, a hundred families will want to marry her. Our Cuihong is so beautiful, it's not like Song Yueping is the only one who can marry her. If you ask me, this ten taels of silver is only because Song Yueping has been quite good to my Cuihong."

Mother Zhai said unhappily, "Ten taels of silver, is that a lot? If you ask me, if you can't even come up with ten taels of silver, what kind of wife are you going to marry?"

Sun Xiangmei's temper flared up instantly.

Judging from what you're saying, your Cuihong has no shortage of suitors, but our Yueping has no one to marry her?

But Sun Xiangmei was very sensible and knew that saying such things would be useless, so she took a deep breath and suppressed her anger.

For a moment, no one spoke in the room.

Song Yueping's face turned pale, and she stood there blankly.

Tian Denghua glanced at her second son's face and recalled a time when she had a high fever, but her eldest son had gone out to work hard to earn money, and Doctor Ding was also making house calls.

At that time, only Song Yueping, who was less than fifteen years old, was at home. Song Xingming and Song Yanyan were less than ten years old and could only cry anxiously.

It was Yueping, her second son who was not yet fifteen years old, who gritted his teeth and carried her on his back, who was delirious with fever. He staggered over a mountain and carried her to the village where Doctor Ding made house calls. He found Doctor Ding, got medicine, borrowed a clay pot from a neighbor, boiled the medicine, and fed it to her spoonful by spoonful.

Tian Denghua let out a long sigh.

She gritted her teeth and agreed: "Ten taels...okay."

Song Yueping suddenly raised her head and looked at Tian Denghua, feeling joy, but even more so, bewilderment.

With such a large sum of money going out of the family, will they still have enough to live on?

“Mother…” Song Yueping stammered.

Tian Denghua knew what her son wanted to ask, and she sighed, "Alright, don't worry about the money!"

Song Yueping was both happy and uneasy.

Sun Xiangmei felt a pang of regret, but since Tian Denghua had already agreed, she didn't say anything more. Next, she was determined to use her silver tongue to negotiate a proper settlement on the other matters!

When Zhai's mother saw that Tian Denghua had agreed to pay ten taels of silver, she realized that he was indeed eager to marry her daughter!

Mother Zhai couldn't help but feel a little proud. She smiled and said, "There's one more thing."

She called out, "Nan'er, Nan'er, come here!"

Zhai Yongnan came in from the courtyard, standing up straight, looking quite upright.

A hint of pride shone in Mother Zhai's eyes, and she spoke with a slightly condescending tone: "...We married off a daughter to your family, so you should return a daughter to our family in return."

Neither Tian Denghua nor Song Yueping understood what Zhai's mother meant.

Even Sun Xiangmei didn't realize what was going on. She thought that Zhai's mother meant that Zhai Cuihong and Song Yueping should have a daughter so that she could raise her.

Tian Denghua slowly said, "What do you mean by that?"

"Don't you understand?" Mother Zhai chuckled. "Then let me be more blunt. It's not impossible for your son to marry my daughter. In addition to a dowry of ten taels of silver, you also need to marry your daughter to my son, and then I will agree."