On this day, Zi Qing and Fu Ke had just returned home from the orange garden. At the door, they ran into San Popo who was on her way out. After saying hello and sending off the guest, she hurriedly asked Shen Shi and found out that San Popo had come to propose a marriage for Zi Lu.

  The Shens have recently been inquiring about families with daughters, so that their son can get engaged this year and married next autumn.

  "Mother, Second Brother is still young. What's the hurry?" Zi Lu was only two years older than Zi Qing, this year he was sixteen by Chinese age reckoning, and next year when they got married he would be sixteen in Western age, just a high school student, yet he had to take on family responsibilities prematurely.

  "Your second brother is not in a hurry, but someone is in a hurry, there must be an order of priority, otherwise, your second brother can really wait for two years. I'm just afraid that when the time comes, Kangping won't do it," said Shen Shi, and she specifically glanced at Zi Qing.

  Ziying didn't notice Shen's gaze, at this moment Ziying suddenly felt that time was like water and years were like arrows, unintentionally, they all grew up, got married, and became individual small families. She could no longer be as close to her two brothers as she used to be, coaxing them to surround her, Ziying felt a little reluctant and sour in her heart, Zifu sensed Ziying's emotions and stroked her hair.

  This time, the three old women mentioned a family not far from here, Chenjiacun Village. She is the eldest daughter of the family and has three younger brothers below her. The family situation is slightly worse, but it is said that this girl is very capable and can take care of half of the household chores. Shen heard this and had some thoughts in mind. She always thought that Zilu was too honest and didn't have any schemes in his heart, and he wasn't very talented in reading books. Moreover, he wasn't suitable for going out to be an official, and in the future, he could only guard this family business. If she could find a clever and resourceful wife to help him manage this family business, it would make Shen feel at ease.

  Shen's family quietly inquired about the girl and found that she was quite good-looking, but unfortunately, she couldn't read or write. However, Shen herself didn't mind too much, as she had been illiterate before marrying into this family and only learned some common characters after following her husband. They would have to wait until the winter solstice holiday when Zi Lu returned home for a few days to take a look at each other.

  On this day, Ziqing was digging tree seedlings. Suddenly, she felt a bloated and sinking sensation in her lower abdomen. Feeling very uncomfortable, Ziqing suddenly remembered that she had already turned thirteen years old, and her aunt should have arrived. Ziqing hastily threw down the hoe in her hand, called Zifeng to replace her, and handed him a purse containing many copper coins. She said: "Big brother, I'm not feeling well, you go plant the tree seedlings by yourself today, otherwise ask Big Sister-in-law to accompany you."

  Zi Fu was very surprised, this was a phenomenon that had never happened before, and he kept asking Zi Qing, "Sister, you'd better say it, what's wrong with you? You're going to drive your brother crazy." Zi Qing didn't dare tell him the reason, she just pushed him away.

  Returning to the room, Ziqing found a piece of fine white cloth. Just as she was about to go wash and dry it, she suddenly thought that this matter should be discussed with Shen Shi first, otherwise, if she did everything herself, it would arouse suspicion. This wasn't like modern times, where there were physiology classes, and besides, Ziqing didn't have an older sister to teach her these things.

  Thinking of this, Zi Qing pulled Shen into the house and said with a pretended serious tone: "Mother, just now I was digging tree saplings outside, my lower abdomen has been bloated and it's so uncomfortable, can you massage it for me?" After finishing speaking, she still wanted to hold back her laughter.

  Shen's family immediately understood and stroked Zi Qing's head, laughing: "My family's Qing Er has finally grown up, this time it's really time to prepare the dowry."

  "Mom, how can you be like this? You're even making fun of your own daughter. I remember when I was a kid and mentioned this, you scolded me several times." Zi Qing asked with a pout.

  "Shen said, tapping Zi Qing's head: "This is one thing, that is another. You've been engaged for over a year now, can you still be the same? It's been so long, do you still hold a grudge?" After finishing speaking, she took out a few new cloth covers and had Zi Qing put them on the grass ash, teaching her how to use it. Zi Qing refused no matter what, that grey stuff looked like it would give her psychological trauma just by looking at it."

  Zi Qing washed the fine white cotton cloth and put it under the sun to dry, also scalding a pile of cotton wool with boiling water and putting it under the sun as well. Shen Shi shook her head, but didn't say anything.

  At dinner time, Zeng Rui Xiang suddenly said to Zi Fu: "Fu Er, I'm going to collect the rent for the late rice tomorrow, come with me."

  Zi Fu looked at Zeng Rui Xiang and Shen Shi in surprise, but didn't ask anything, nodded and agreed.

  "Little Mei, from tomorrow on, you'll also help me with household chores and manage the accounts. It's just in time for Zi Lu's matchmaking, you can learn from it too. You'll be in charge of arranging this year's New Year's Eve dinner."

  Liu listened and responded with a bow, then looked at Zifeng's puzzled face. "It's like this, next year when spring begins, Zifeng will go to the capital, I want you to follow him and take care of him. At that time, you'll have to be in charge yourself, now learn so that later on you won't be flustered." Shen said.

  "Daughter, how come I don't know? What am I going to Beijing for?" asked Zifeng.

  "This, your father will tell you later," said Shen Shi.

  "Ziyu, starting tomorrow, you'll follow me to the back mountain to collect eggs. After that, the back mountain will be yours." Ziqing also hastened to say, seeing her parents' attitude, she herself would not be able to avoid getting married in two years, and the family's affairs should find someone to take over. Moreover, Ziyu's future conditions were not bad, considering her older brother, she should be able to find a husband from a better family. In case there were many relatives in the husband's family, such as mother-in-law, younger uncle, younger aunt, and so on, and there would be infighting, it was still necessary to cultivate at least one woman who could manage the household first, which was also an advantage.

  The whole family looked at Zi Qing and asked: "Why?"

  "I'm also quite busy, I have to take care of the orange garden, and I still need to embroider a screen for my second brother. Zi Yu will eventually learn how to manage the household in a few years anyway. I didn't start learning from elementary school either." Zi Qing said.

  "That's right, Zi Yu will follow your sister starting tomorrow. Your sister was about your age when she single-handedly managed the mountain, and it has been effective over the years, with a considerable income every year. You should learn from your sister too." Shen Shi advised Zi Yu.

  "Originally, your sister was so capable when she was young? The screen in my room was also embroidered by your sister, right? It's really well-embroidered." Liu said with admiration.

  "What's more, big brother, I've already given you several large gifts for your wedding, including a screen, an entire piece of jade rough stone, jade jewelry, chicken bloodstone, and that statue of a boy holding a lotus flower. Big brother, right?"

  "I knew it, that jade stone and the lotus held by Tongzi were indeed sent by Lin Kangping. You even had the nerve to say they were from you. No wonder I've been treated like a laborer every day, doing all the work for you." said Zifeng.

  "Isn't this nonsense? If it weren't for me, why would Kangping give you such a big gift? What's the difference between that and what I gave you? Besides, that jade was something I told him to buy." Zi Qing argued.

  "How dare you talk to your brother like that, look at what you're saying, it's a bit virtuous, and I'm the one who teaches you every day, but you still don't obey. From now on, you're not allowed to go anywhere, just stay at home." Shen said sternly. Zi Yu secretly drew a shame symbol on her face with her finger, while Zi Qing raised her fist at her.

  "What about my orange garden?" asked Zi Qing.

  "What's Orange Garden? Your elder brother has been there many times, just hand it over to your elder brother."

  This was exactly what Ziqing had expected, anyway, there was already a rough outline, and Ziqing didn't want to run around every day, so he quickly chimed in: "Then I'll have to trouble Big Brother."

  "Mother, my sister is now even more justified in making me do chores and ordering me around."

  "Alright, stop pretending. You've been biased towards your sister and given her all the good things. It's time for you to make some sacrifices. I didn't want to let Qing'er run around outside from the beginning," said Zeng Rui Xiang.

  Zi Qing jumped up excitedly and hugged Zeng Rui Xiang, "Daddy still loves me the most." Everyone burst out laughing.

  From then on, Zi Qing slowly abandoned the back mountain, Liu Shi took care of household chores, Shen Shi also freed up a lot of time, she took Zi Yu to the back mountain often, and Zi Qing had nothing to do but embroider screens.

  This time, Zi Qing originally planned to embroider a magpie standing on a branch of red plum blossoms, called "Joyful Surprise". The reason why Zi Qing was in a hurry was that her own wedding day was only two years away. A piece of embroidery as large as this would take at least seven or eight months to complete. Zi Qing herself had to prepare two sets of screen fans, clothes for the four seasons, both hers and Lin Kangping's, most importantly, the wedding dress, veil, and gift pouches. On Lin Kangping's side, there was only him, so all these things needed to be prepared by Zi Qing. It was fortunate that in recent years, she had accumulated quite a few pouches.

  Who would have thought that Zi Qing had just set up the embroidery frame, and Zeng Rui Xiang had also finished drawing the painting. Shen said it's better to change to a hundred sons picture, the implication of getting married is best with a hundred sons picture, many children bring good fortune. Zi Qing could only take down the auspicious embroidery from above her eyebrows, and then embroidered it herself to keep for later.

  The Winter Solstice is just around the corner, and Zilu returned home to worship his ancestors. After that, Shen Shi couldn't wait to talk to Zilu and said that both parties had already agreed on it, so Zilu could only agree. Because Shen Shi told him that he couldn't delay Ziying's marriage, originally Zilu didn't plan to get married so early, but once it involved Ziying, he couldn't help it, after all, he also loved his sister dearly.

  Zilu had a three-day holiday, the first day was for ancestor worship, the second day he went to the bride's home, and the third day the bride came to his home. It was similar to Zifu's situation, but with a tighter schedule. The result of their meeting was satisfactory, and Zilu hastily returned to school. The remaining matters were left to Zeng Rui Xiang and Shen Shi. The betrothal gifts were already prepared by Shen Shi, just like Liu Shi's, a pair of dragon and phoenix gold bangles and two pieces of satin fabric.

  Shen said quietly to Zi Qing, looking at the maid from the Chen family, she seems quite clever, must have suffered a lot when she was young, and her family is not well-off.

  "Then aren't you afraid she'll take this family property to her mother's house in the future?" Zi Qing asked.

  "This is not a worry, I had them separate early on, if they were to take anything it would be her own share. This way, she has a bottom line and won't overdo it. Properly assisting the maternal family is also no problem. I also don't want to give birth to a child who will marry someone without feelings or conscience." Shen said.

  Zi Qing sighed, hoping that Er Sao could grasp this degree well.

  Zi Rong's marriage was settled, and Shen Shi didn't have time to relax, finding people to build houses and make furniture. The house was built next to Zi Fu's, and Zi Qing smiled and said: "Why not, big brother's courtyard is called Fuyuan, second brother is Luyuanyuan, in the future, Xiaosan and Xiaosi will be Shouyuan and Xiyuan, it's easy to get lost, getting lost is also troublesome."

  "What kind of nonsense are you spouting again? You're everywhere! Can't even find your way around your own courtyard?" Shen's wife pointed at Zi Qing's head.

  "Qing'er's suggestion is worth considering, it's a good idea." Zeng Rui Xiang said, stroking his beard.

  "Look at that, Father even praised me. What a wonderful thing, who made Mother not follow Father to study?" Zi Qing muttered.

  Shen's face turned red, she shook her head and then hurried away.