My younger brother, Mu Chongwu, whose nickna is Wu’er, has now passed the scholar qualification exam, but he hasn’t been assigned a position yet. Wu’er is already twenty-one years old, but because of , he still hasn’t married. He always says the order of seniority must be followed: if the older brother isn’t married, how can the younger brother marry first? People would spit in contempt.
Only I know that this boy is just using as a scapegoat because he actually doesn’t want to get married at all.
It’s not that we don’t want to marry; in fact, since I was fifteen years old, I began to pay attention to young ladies whose families match ours, but none of these ladies have been to my liking.
I also want to be like my sister and brothers-in-law, marrying only one woman in my lifeti, living with her in love for life. Therefore, this woman must be the one I like, otherwise, how can I spend a long life with soone who’s unsatisfactory once she’s brought ho?
Mother and my sister are exceptional beauties, known as two of the three great beauties of the Great Jin Nation. Later, as my younger sister gradually grew up, she replaced Mother and beca part of the new trio of great beauties of the Jin Nation.
Having grown accustod to the beauties at ho, Wen’er and I naturally have higher standards than others; we are determined to find won whose appearance and temperant can match up to our mother and sisters. Unfortunately, won whose beauty can rival theirs are not just few and far between, they’re nonexistent.
Moreover, these so-called noble young ladies are pretentious by nature, not a single one is gentle, generous, natural, or amiable like the won in our family. Hence, adhering to the principle of ’better have none than subpar,’ my brothers and I have yet to find a suitable woman.
Originally, I wasn’t in a hurry; choosing a woman to spend a lifeti with is not that simple. I want to choose slowly, and sooner or later, I will et a woman like that.
However, Mother couldn’t wait any longer, especially after the Crown Prince and the Third Prince got engaged. Mother kept nagging by my ear daily: "Look at you, Wen is complete while Wu isn’t, your nephew is about to marry, and you’re still single. Aren’t you ashad?"
Mother has always had a gentle and soft temperant, she never speaks loudly, but because of my marriage, she gradually has turned into a woman quite close to a shrew over the years. Every ti I turn down a match she deems suitable, she’d cautiously persuade , then scold for a while, cry for a while, and make a fuss for a while...
Seeing Mother like this, I also feel very guilty, but when it cos to matters concerning my entire life, I truly don’t want to settle. Therefore, the matter of being engaged has been dragged on.
A few days ago, during my elder sister’s Qianqiu Festival banquet, Mother’s behavior almost made hit the wall in frustration. She, the elder, would pull strangers aside, asking if they had a daughter ready for marriage, how old she was, what was her temperant...
I couldn’t stand it any longer. After the banquet ended, I left a letter at ho and went out on a journey...
My first stop was to see the old ho at Mu Family Village in Bian Prefecture. When I left Mu Family Village, I was just a seven-year-old boy. My impression of Mu Family Village still remains in poverty, backwardness, hunger, and ignorance.
Even so, for this place that gave birth to and raised , I still have a deep affection. The impression Mu Family Village left on is not just about pain; there are also many beautiful mories.
For instance, in spring, going up the mountain with my sisters to dig wild vegetables, catching mudfish by the creek with playmates, in sumr, going up the mountain with Second Sister to herd the geese and ducks raised at ho, and by the way, collecting mushrooms in a flower basket. I rember once, while gathering mushrooms, I unexpectedly found a nest of wild chicken eggs, which delighted us thoroughly. At that ti, wild chicken eggs were a rare luxury for our family.
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