"Mm-hmm." Eight-year-old Yan Caicai nodded, tugging at the just-six-year-old Yan Jun, and headed towards Ye Jiu and Ye Qinghua.
Once outside, Yan Caicai looked in the direction where Ye Qingzhi and others were playing in the snow and asked Ye Jiu, "Auntie, can I go play with them?"
"Of course, go ahead." After saying this, Ye Jiu called out to Ye Qingzhi, "Qingzhi, Wenhao, take Caicai with you to play."
Yan Caicai, while walking, didn’t forget to pull the little Yan Jun along. It was clear that the siblings had a good relationship.
Ye Wenqing and Ye Wenyu had also run off somewhere by then, leaving just a few children in the courtyard, who were still horsing around. Ye Jiu, feeling uneasy, had the servants in the courtyard keep an eye on them.
Turning her head, Ye Jiu asked Ye Qinghua, who was still standing behind her, "Why don’t you feel like playing?"
Ye Qinghua in turn asked Ye Jiu, "Auntie, aren’t you going?"
Ye Jiu shook her head and smiled, "I’m afraid of the cold."
Ye Qinghua glanced at the few little brats and then thought about her own age, suddenly losing the interest to join them: "Then I won’t go either. I don’t want to play with those little brats."
"You speak as if you’re much older!" Ye Jiu laughed, "Is it that your sister-in-law has been too strict with you, making you forget that you’re still a child yourself?"
Ye Qinghua’s face immediately wrinkled in consternation, pleadingly pulling on Ye Jiu, "Auntie, dear auntie, can I stay here with you for a few days? I’m nearly driven mad by my mother at home!"
"What happened?" Ye Jiu asked in surprise.
Given Mrs. Zhang’s temperament, at most she would be a bit strict. It shouldn’t have reached the point where Ye Qinghua felt the need to escape, should it?
"My mother said next year she wants to start looking at matchmakers for me, and she’s constantly making me learn this and that; I’m about to go crazy." Ye Qinghua said dispiritedly.
Ye Jiu frowned deeply, clearly disapproving as well.
But then she thought about it; after the New Year, Ye Qinghua would be fourteen, a maiden by then. According to the norms of this era, indeed she should start seeing suitors, then get engaged, and marry and bear children by the time she was fifteen or sixteen.
Though having lived in ancient times for over a decade, Ye Jiu was still uncomfortable with the idea of early marriage.
"This... I really can’t help you with," Ye Jiu replied cautiously after pondering, "I can only ask your grandma to speak to your mother, to not let you leave the house before you’re sixteen."
Because, not marrying by seventeen meant being considered an old maid!
Ye Jiu felt helpless about this.
In this era, the standards for girls were just that harsh. Otherwise, strong women like Mrs. He still had to struggle so many years, enduring until her mother-in-law’s death to finally have a say.
"I also know that girls ultimately have to marry; it just scares me a bit." Ye Qinghua said worriedly.
"Scared of what?" Ye Jiu asked, then started walking outside.
Still a young girl after all, when it came to this topic, Ye Qinghua inevitably couldn’t avoid blushing, "Just scared, of life after getting married, Auntie, you know, my mother often says I speak without thinking, and I will inevitably be disliked later, so..."
Ye Jiu finally understood.
This was because her sister-in-law overcorrected, causing Ye Qinghua to doubt herself and lose confidence.
Ye Jiu shook her head helplessly, "You’re purely overthinking, scaring yourself. Moreover, even if suitors start coming next year, it’s just the beginning of preparations, not a guarantee of success. You still have two years until you’re an adult, don’t add to your own troubles."