Because she had a father who married into the family, Li Mingwei deeply understood the hardships of a son-in-law. In Beijing, the most frequent thing she heard others say about her father was “What would Zhang Dexi be without the Li family?”
In her eyes, although her father was not born into a good family, he was a talented and capable man. It was normal for him to reach his current position. But because he was the Li family’s son-in-law, his brilliance was completely obscured. It was as if during the more than ten years he spent studying, it wasn’t him doing the reading but his father-in-law helping him.
When she was younger, she would often argue with others about this. Later her father told her that they weren’t really wrong. Without her maternal grandfather, he probably would have frozen to death on a winter day. How could he have met her mother then?
He always said that being able to be with her mother was the luckiest thing in his life, and nothing else mattered. But Li Mingwei still couldn’t help feeling distressed for him.
She didn’t want Liu Yizhu to end up like this either. He was still young with much of the future unknown. Once labeled as being attached to the Li family, all his future accomplishments would become reliant on the Li family. No matter how successful he became in the future, he would always be tinged with a layer of gray.
Such was human nature.
Therefore, Li Mingwei didn’t want to bring him before the public eye before he had a chance to shine. But he...
Li Mingwei rolled around in bed, utterly perplexed. Wang Chunhua hurried in from outside. Seeing her still in this state, she angrily slapped her several times. "Still lazing around here? People have arrived already. Hurry up and get ready!"
"People? What people?"
"Who else could it be? Your future mother-in-law has come with a matchmaker to propose marriage!" Wang Chunhua said excitedly. "Scholar Liu is here too. Why aren't you getting ready to come out and greet them?"
"Huh?"
She hadn't even decided yet. What was Liu Yizhu doing?
Bewildered, Wang Chunhua was thrilled. Earlier, Dong Shan had come back saying her younger sister and Scholar Liu were discussing marriage. She hadn't believed it, but it turned out to be true after all. Some things destined by fate simply can’t be stopped by anyone, not even Old Lady Wang.
She urged Li Mingwei to hurry up, then happily went back to the main hall to receive the guests.
Li Mingwei quickly washed up and rushed over to assess the situation. She stood in the yard and peeked inside. There were four people in the room. Wang Chunhua was happily chatting with the only person she didn’t recognize, who should be the matchmaker.
When Liu Yizhu saw her, he signaled to her with his eyes and made an excuse to come out.
She grabbed him and blamed, "Didn't we agree I would think about it some more? Why are you moving so fast?"
"It wasn't me!"
Liu Yizhu felt wronged. Last night after returning home, he had given his mother advance notice that he wanted to get married.
Old Lady Wang had just nodded and said she knew, without much reaction. Seeing her expression was not very happy, Liu Yizhu hadn't said anything more.
Unexpectedly, early this morning, she had gone out to invite a matchmaker and even bought gifts before bringing him over to propose marriage. At the time, Liu Yizhu's mind went blank and he didn't react.
"I hadn't seen this matchmaker my mother invited before today. I really didn't know she was a matchmaker."
His mother had only told him one thing - let's go. He had thought they were going to visit relatives. Only after hearing their conversation on the way did he realize something was wrong.
In fact, this matchmaker had just started in the business last year. After Chen Matchmaker had lost face badly at the Dong family, no one trusted her anymore. With Chen out of favor, naturally someone wanted to replace her.
Old Lady Wang knew they weren't on good terms with Chen Matchmaker, so today she had deliberately invited this new matchmaker.
Li Mingwei looked at Liu Yizhu in disbelief and shook her head. "Your mother is not your mother anymore."
She didn't understand. How could Old Lady Wang approve of her so quickly?
Didn't she dislike the idea of no heir to continue the Liu family line?
Liu Yizhu also felt his mother had changed drastically, and he was caught off guard and got Li Mingwei in trouble. "What should we do now?"
"What else can we do?"
Li Mingwei thought for a moment, then still went into the main hall to greet the matchmaker and chat for a while. She expressed that she needed more time to consider.
The matchmaker glared. She still needed to consider this?
Old Lady Wang looked at her son. Seeing him nod, she left with the matchmaker and Wang Chunhua. After going out, she immediately slapped her son. "You're still single and she hasn't agreed to marry you yet!"
"Daydreaming again!"
Liu Yizhu complained, "I'm not daydreaming anymore."
Matchmaker: ???
Wang Chunhua now had an expression similar to the matchmaker's. She saw the guests out and hurried back to check on her younger sister. "What else do you need to consider? You didn't already settle this?"
Li Mingwei was rather troubled and leaned her head on her hand. "No, we didn't."
"Then what now..."
"Old Lady Wang invited the matchmaker. He didn't know."
Old Lady Wang changed personalities?
Wang Chunhua looked up at the sky, wanting to see which direction the sun had risen from today, but only saw the roof.
"So now you two are...?"
Li Mingwei said she didn't know either. "I have to tell my family if I'm getting married, right?"
But if she brought Liu Yizhu home, she was afraid her mother would insist he marry into their family. If they argued, she would never be able to escape her mother's clutches again. Liu Yizhu had no family or friends in Beijing. If he offended her mother, where could he go?
If she fell back into her mother's hands, her mother might arrange another marriage for her and adopt a child to be the heir. It would be really annoying.
When she had run away, it was to escape Murong Yu, but also to avoid the outcome of returning to the Li family home for now, and temporarily avoid her mother's coercion.
She had gotten used to her days of freedom and definitely would not submit if forced to return and be controlled again. She was determined not to give in.
She made up her mind. "Sis, please call Liu Yizhu over."
"Oh, wait a moment."
Wang Chunhua trotted quickly to the Liu house. Liu Yizhu hadn't returned home yet when she chased him back.
He sat down opposite Li Mingwei and saw her frowning, seeming uneasy. Hesitantly, he asked, "What's the matter?"
"I've decided. Let's get married first before going home."
"Huh?" Liu Yizhu was somewhat hesitant. "Isn't that too rude? Marriage is a major event after all. We should at least inform our elders, right?"
Li Mingwei hit him with a teacup. Go be a son-in-law in someone else's home then, and you might not even succeed!
Liu Yizhu caught the teacup. "I will try my best to please your parents and get them to marry you to me."
Humph!
"What can you use to please them? You've only managed to charm me. My mother is on a level you can't reach."
What kind of men hadn't her mother seen? Rich businessmen, noble scions, poor scholars, lower gentry. From south to north of the city, she could choose whoever she wanted. Her father had only taken advantage of proximity.
Having a mother who was too outstanding was actually very distressing. Lacking her mother's talents, she had always been inferior since childhood and was often scolded and punished for making mistakes. It was only because her maternal grandfather didn't dislike her and felt everyone had their own fortune that her mother was persuaded not to demand perfection from her.
Liu Yizhu saw the sadness on Li Mingwei's face and conceded helplessly, "Is there really no other way?"
"There is." Li Mingwei nodded. "We don't get married and just trick them into thinking I already married you."
"What's the difference?"
"There is a difference!"
The former would be a real marriage and they could consummate as husband and wife.