Chapter 6: The Golden Finger Arrives!
Seeing this, Auntie Zhang grinned from ear to ear, while many in the courtyard pitied Chen Shi.
“Haha, Chen Shi, you really know how to spin a tale! Does your family even own a cat?”
“Ah, this girl… she looks like she comes from a poor family. Chen Shi’s household already has two chronically ill people. Now, with an impoverished in-law family added to the mix, how will they even survive?”
“Unlike Jia Dongxu, who picked Qin Huairu, hardworking and skilled. I heard she’s excellent at managing their private plot, producing plenty of grain every year. They won’t even need to spend money on food!”
Seeing the situation, Matchmaker Wang grew anxious. “Chen Shi, this is a matter of your lifelong happiness! Think carefully!”
Tian Xiulan, standing nearby, was equally worried. But Chen Shi had always been a man of action. He turned directly to the girl and asked, “Coming?”
The thin, frail girl lowered her head and whispered meekly, “Yes.”
Chen Shi grinned. “Then let’s go!”
With that, he strode toward the eastern courtyard.
**[Comparison Content:
Matchmaking: Host’s prospective partner,
Temperament: Delicate and sweet-natured
Constitution: Brings prosperity to her husband, devoted to him.
Jia Dongxu’s prospective partner,
Temperament: Alluring and seductive
Constitution: A white-eyed wolf, a bloodsucker.
Chen Shi outperformed Jia Dongxu in the matchmaking and received a Newbie Gift Pack. Special reward: A 10-cubic-meter storage space (upgradeable).]**
Chen Shi’s pupils contracted in disbelief as he turned to look at the dark-skinned, skinny girl behind him. He had chosen Shen Youchu… and won?
A prosperity-bringing constitution?
And the newbie reward was a 10-cubic-meter storage space?
Small as it was, it could fit a set of wooden desks and chairs or a simple sofa, basically, a tiny study. But if used to store rice, considering rice’s bulk density of 800 kg per cubic meter, the space could hold at least 8,000 kg of rice.
The real advantage was that this portable space was undetectable. He could stash all his valuables inside!
Who would’ve thought that picking this girl would lead to such a treasure?
Foolish Zhu sneered, “Oh-ho! Chen Shi, you really have… unique tastes. This girl looks like Piggy’s second aunt. Wouldn’t you have nightmares waking up next to her?”
Xu Damao rubbed his chin, eyeing Qin Huairu lustfully. “Yeah, Jia Dongxu is the lucky one, landing such a stunner…”
Foolish Zhu was practically drooling over Qin Huairu. Chen Shi snorted. “At least I have a wife. Foolish Zhu, if you’ve got the skills, why don’t you find yourself one?”
Once he fattened up his little wife, her looks would shut them all up!
Foolish Zhu’s face darkened. Everyone in the courtyard knew that in 1951, his father had run off with a widow, leaving him to raise his younger sister alone, playing both father and mother. Forget finding a wife; just surviving was an achievement.
Shen Youchu followed Chen Shi into the eastern courtyard. Tian Xiulan pulled Chen Shi aside. “My dear son, didn’t we agree you’d pick Qin Huairu? She’s beautiful, virtuous, and capable!”
Chen Shi replied, “Mom, a wife should be chosen for her virtue, not just her looks. Qin Huairu may be pretty, but those seductive eyes could lead to trouble. Who knows if she’d let men grope her for a bite to eat in the future?”
“Un girl, honest and simple. Besides, she’s just malnourished. Once she’s well-fed, she’ll look fine.”
Old Chen (Chen Lao Han) nodded. “The boy’s right, wife. A virtuous woman makes the best spouse. This girl seems decent.”
Shen Youchu had been nervous. For Qin Huairu, if this match failed, there’d be others. But for her, it was different.
Her mother had asthma and desperately needed medicine. But as a peasant girl, where would she get the money?
When the matchmaker approached her, she had resolved never to marry, staying home forever. But the matchmaker said that if she married, she could buy medicine for her mother.
At first, Tian Xiulan hadn’t taken a liking to her. She had nearly cried from anxiety. But when Chen Shi said he approved of her, an inexplicable sweetness filled her heart.
She knew a destitute girl like her, a refugee from Sichuan, her father missing, her mother critically ill, was no match for a city man like Chen Shi.
Seeing her on the verge of tears, Chen Shi walked over and pinched her cheek hard. “Hey, say something. Are you mute? This is my home. If you’re satisfied, let’s settle the engagement!”
Normally, Chen Shi wouldn’t rush into marriage .
But first, this wasn’t the modern era, it was the 1950s. Back then, love meant meeting in the morning, chatting, and registering the marriage by afternoon.
Second, Chen Shi had awakened the Comparison System. Through it, he knew Shen Youchu had a prosperity-bringing constitution and was utterly devoted to her husband.
What man could resist that?
Qin Huairu, on the other hand, was a husband-sucking vampire. Marrying this girl meant his future would surely outshine Jia Dongxu’s.
Shen Youchu winced from the pinch but neither cried out nor pulled away. She just stared at Chen Shi with big, tearful eyes.
Tian Xiulan couldn’t bear it. This girl just stood there dumbly, letting Chen Shi bully her.
“You little rascal, stop bullying her! Speak properly!”
Chen Shi pinched her earlobe next. “Talk, or I’ll pinch you all over!”
Terrified, Shen Youchu whimpered, “I… I’ll follow your lead.”
Chen Maihua stared in disbelief. “Girl, look carefully, this is my brother, the neighborhood’s most notorious loafer!
‘Roaming idle by day, mending pants by lamplight at night!’ Don’t you want to reconsider?”
Shen Youchu glanced timidly at Chen Shi. “I… I can mend your pants for you later.”
Tian Xiulan was speechless. She had initially preferred Qin Huairu, but Qin Huairu’s calculating and ambitious nature was obvious.
She knew her son, a good-for-nothing loafer. If he married someone like Qin Huairu, she might abandon him when life got tough.
That girl had big ambitions. A scheming woman invited trouble. This girl, though, simple and devoted, would stick by him even if he remained a scoundrel, caring for him in old age.
At least he’d have someone to rely on.
With that thought, Tian Xiulan took Shen Youchu’s hand. “Come, let’s talk inside. We’ll discuss our families first.”
Old Chen tapped his cane. “Come with me!”
Chen Shi swaggered behind him, mimicking Old Chen’s limp, making Maihua stifle her laughter.
Old Chen sensed something amiss and spun around. Chen Shi instantly straightened up, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
In his past life, Chen Shi had been the middle child, ignored by his father, who favored the eldest, and overlooked by his mother, who doted on the youngest.
He had spent his life in blind filial piety, desperately seeking his parents’ approval, only to end up unloved.
But now, he was the eldest son, the only son, of the Chen family.
Sure, Old Chen scolded and hit him, but he was the family’s treasured baby.
No one dared bully him. He was cherished.