In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chen Lian knew that every time Wu Han came, Chen Dao would sell some old yellow-feathered chickens, so when she heard Chen Dao wanting yellow-feathered chickens, she couldn't help but guess that Wu Han had come.

"No."

Chen Dao, who had just received the yellow-feathered chicken, said with a smile, "This is the betrothal gift for Cheng Ge'er and his two brothers to find wives."

In the Xia Kingdom, wealthy families often gave betrothal gifts consisting mainly of gold and silver ornaments, but poor people were obviously not so particular, and giving chickens, ducks, money and the like was enough.

Of course, these six yellow-feathered chickens were not the entirety of the betrothal gifts; Chen Dao would also contribute some money as part of the betrothal gifts.

"bride price?"

Chen Lian, Wu Yun, and the other women looked at each other in bewilderment. The news that the three Chen brothers were about to marry three brides from Xiahe Village had already spread throughout the village yesterday afternoon. After all, Chenjia Village was such a small place that any little news could spread throughout the village in no time.

Therefore, Chen Lian and the others knew that the three Chen brothers were about to get married, but they didn't expect...

The dowry for the wedding was actually paid for by Chen Dao.

"Rice Brother".

Wu Yun couldn't help but ask, "Did you help provide the betrothal gifts for Cheng-ge and the others?"

Don't be fooled by the fact that Chen Dao only prepared six chickens as a betrothal gift. In these times when every family is struggling to get enough to eat, six chickens are already a precious commodity, not to mention that Chen Dao is giving away rare yellow-feathered chickens.

"Of course!"

Chen Dao nodded and smiled, "Cheng-ge worked at my house. He got married, so of course I had to help him out!"

After saying that, Chen Dao added, "Not only Chen Cheng, but also when you get married, Sister Lian, I will help you with your dowry. If you remarry, Aunt Wu, I will also help you!"

In his previous life, Chen Dao was just an ordinary worker and had not yet developed the greedy and exploitative characteristics of a capitalist. In his view, since Chen Cheng, Chen Lian and others worked so hard for him, he should naturally treat them better. It wouldn't cost much to help Chen Cheng with his betrothal gifts, but it would earn him Chen Cheng's favor and make him work even harder. Why not?

"Brother Dao, please don't make fun of us."

Wu Yun and the other women smiled somewhat embarrassedly and said, "We're all this age, how could we possibly remarry?"

Although they said that, Wu Yun and the other women were deeply moved. To be fair, although they worked diligently at Chen Dao's house, it was not tiring.

But Chen Dao treated them so well that it brought tears to their eyes.

Aside from her deceased husband, Chen Dao was the kindest person to them in the village.

"All right!"

Chen Dao waved his hand and said, "I'm busy going to Xiahe Village to deliver the betrothal gifts, so I won't talk to you any longer."

After saying that, Chen Dao carried the six yellow-feathered chickens back to his front yard.

At this time, a group of young men, including Chen Da and Chen He, had gathered outside the front courtyard. Some of them were holding musical instruments that Chen Dao did not recognize, which he guessed were instruments used for weddings and funerals in the Xia Kingdom.

"Brother Dao, shall we set off now?"

Upon seeing Chen Dao arrive, Chen He hurriedly stepped forward and asked what was wrong. He had gotten up even earlier than Chen Dao today to arrange the villagers' work, and he had already finished arranging it.

He assigned the village women to tend the crops in the fields, while the young and strong men worked next to Chen Dao's house to build a larger and sturdier chicken farm.

"Wait a moment, I'll go get ready."

Chen Dao returned to the house, found the red rope he had prepared beforehand, tied it to the feet of the yellow-feathered chicken, and then put the chicken into the chicken coop with red paper pasted on it. He then handed the chicken coop to Liu Yan and said, "Aunt Liu, you will be responsible for delivering the betrothal gifts to the bride's family later."

"I understand."

Liu Yan nodded. Several women were with her, responsible for selecting betrothal gifts.

"besides."

Chen Dao then took out three bundles of copper coins wrapped in red cloth from the house and handed them to Liu Yan: "Each bundle contains 888 copper coins. Aunt Liu, you can give them to the bride's family later as well."

Chen Dao didn't know what numbers were auspicious in Xia Kingdom, so he simply followed his own ideas and prepared 888 copper coins and two yellow-feathered chickens for each bride.

"Brother Dao, thank you."

Holding the copper coins, Liu Yan was deeply moved. Chen Dao's gift was incredibly generous: six yellow-feathered chickens plus more than two taels of silver, totaling over five taels of silver—a sum that she couldn't raise even if she sold everything in her family.

"Small thing!"

Chen Dao waved his hand and said, "Let's go!"

As soon as Chen Dao finished speaking, the main force set off!

The village's able-bodied men, along with the women who helped, formed a betrothal procession of more than a dozen people, heading towards Xiahe Village with gongs and drums.

Before long, the procession entered the territory of Xiahe Village, and the sound of gongs and drums immediately attracted the attention of many villagers.

"What are those people doing?"

A man huddled at home looked out the window at Chen Dao and the others, asking with a puzzled expression.

"They look to me like they've come to present betrothal gifts."

The woman in the house replied that she had married into Xiahe Village ten years ago and had also experienced such a lively scene of betrothal gifts.

"Give a betrothal gift?"

The man jumped out of bed and said to the woman, "Honey, let's go out and take a look!"

It's human nature to join in the fun. Faced with such a lively scene, neither men nor women could sit still. They braved the cold wind and went out to watch Chen Dao and the others who were about to present the betrothal gifts.

Before long, the roadside of Xiahe Village was crowded with villagers who were watching the excitement. These villagers did not go up to disturb Chen Dao and the others, but just chatted with each other.

"Old Jiang, which family are these people visiting to offer betrothal gifts to?"

"How would I know?"

The man called Old Jiang thought for a moment, then grabbed a young man from Chenjia Village who was passing by and asked, "Young man, which family in our village are you sending betrothal gifts to?"

"Zhao Kang's family, and Wang Yuan's family."

"So it's the Kang family and the Wang family!"

Old Jiang suddenly realized, and then said, "You're from Chenjia Village, aren't you?"

"Of course!"

When talking about his identity as a resident of Chenjia Village, the young man's face was full of pride. He had reason to be proud, as life in Chenjia Village was obviously much better than in Xiahe Village, which was still poor and struggling to get enough to eat.

As the two were talking, the group stopped in front of Li Qian's house. Liu Yan placed the chicken coop she was carrying in front of the door and then went up to knock on the door.

At this moment, the villagers of Xiahe Village who were watching finally noticed the betrothal gifts that Liu Yan had been carrying around.

"Wow! What a plump chicken!"

"How come this chicken is so big?"

"This chicken is the betrothal gift? Wang Yuan's family has really gone all out! Such a plump chicken, one could easily last three days."

"If this chicken were sold in the city, it would probably fetch 300 coins, wouldn't it? Chenjia Village is really generous! They actually used such a beautiful chicken as a betrothal gift."

"..."