In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 158 The Delicate Chen Cheng

"No, no, no."

Liu Yan shook her head vigorously. Li Ping hadn't even accepted the matchmaking fee, so how could she possibly stay at Chen Dao's house and freeload off him?

Despite Li Ping's repeated attempts to persuade her, Liu Yan refused Li Ping's invitation to stay for dinner and hurriedly went home.

When Liu Yan returned home, the three brothers Chen Cheng, Chen Shi, and Chen Mu were already sitting at the dining table. In addition, several younger siblings who were not yet adults were also sitting next to them, constantly swallowing their saliva as they looked at the food on the table.

Today, the food at Chen Cheng's house was quite good. There was a large bowl of noodles on the table. This was a gift of wheat flour that Chen Dao had given to Chen Cheng a while ago. There wasn't much wheat flour, only about five or six pounds. However, Liu Yan hadn't been willing to eat it and had saved it up. She only took it out today and had the three brothers make noodles and cook it for them.

Why hasn't Mother come back yet?

Chen Shi looked anxiously towards the door, but the aroma emanating from the noodles on the table seemed to have no appeal to him whatsoever.

"Would Aunt Li really be unwilling to arrange a marriage for us?"

Chen Mu said with a worried expression, "We all know that Liu Yan went to ask Li Ping to act as matchmaker for us. We are extremely eager to get married, and we have been concerned about this matter."

"Do not worry!"

Chen Cheng reassured the two, saying, "Aunt Li is a reasonable person; she certainly won't refuse."

Chen Cheng was quite confident about this. Having worked at Chen Dao's house, he knew Li Ping's personality very well and knew that Li Ping was an easy-going person. He figured she wouldn't refuse his mother's matchmaking request, and might even be able to avoid using the money his mother brought.

"Mom is back!"

Just then, the youngest, Chen Ya, called out, and everyone turned to look at the door. They saw Li Ping hurrying into the house.

"Mother, how is the situation?"

"Mother, did Aunt Li agree?"

Upon seeing Liu Yan return, Chen Shi and Chen Mu immediately stood up and went to greet her.

"Don't worry."

Liu Yan gestured for the two to sit down, then sat down next to Chen Cheng herself, saying, "Dao Ge'er's mother has agreed! She will go to Xiahe Village later to arrange a marriage for you two."

Upon hearing this, Chen Shi and Chen Mu looked relieved. "It's good that Li Ping agreed. This means we have a much better chance of getting married."

Thinking of this, smiles immediately appeared on the faces of the two, as if they couldn't help but start imagining the days of married life with their wives, children, and a warm bed.

Chen Cheng then asked, "Mother, did Aunt Li not take your money?"

"how do you know?"

Liu Yan looked at Chen Cheng in surprise.

"Guess!"

Chen Cheng said, "Dao Ge'er's family isn't short of money, and Aunt Li isn't a petty person, so she definitely won't take your money!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Yan couldn't help but take a deep look at her eldest son. Although the child seemed honest and even a little simple-minded, he was actually quite perceptive.

"You didn't take the money?"

Chen Mu and Chen Shi exchanged a glance, finding it hard to believe that these people offered matchmaking services for free.

"The Dao family has been incredibly good to us."

Li Ping sighed and looked at Chen Cheng, saying, "Cheng-ge'er, you've seen how good Dao-ge'er's family is to us. You must be diligent in your work at Dao-ge'er's house from now on, understand?"

"I know."

Chen Cheng nodded emphatically. Although he rarely spoke, he remembered all the kindness Chen Dao had shown him.

If it weren't for Chen Dao, Chen Cheng would still be starving, unable to afford meals or even have spare money to get married.

"You too!"

Liu Yan then looked at Chen Shi and Chen Mu: "From now on, when you help Daoge'er with the work in the village, you must be diligent and conscientious, or I won't let you off the hook!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Shi and Chen Mu nodded like chickens pecking at rice. The Chen Dao family treated them like benefactors, and they dared not show the slightest disrespect.

…………

…………

The sun gradually rose higher.

After finishing breakfast, Chen Dao took Chen Fei's hand and escorted her to school.

After saying goodbye to Ding Xiaohua, Li Ping went straight out the door, walked through a busy field, and headed towards Xiahe Village.

"Aunt Li, are you going back to visit your family?"

"Li Mei, are you going to Xiahe Village?"

"Good morning, Sister Ping!"

"..."

In the farmland of Chenjia Village, because most of the men in the family had gone to the county town to buy supplies, most of the farmland was occupied by women doing tasks such as watering. When they saw Li Ping walking through the farmland, everyone greeted her warmly.

Li Ping waved back to the crowd, and then walked through the farmland of Chenjia Village and Xiaohe Village, entering the territory of Xiaohe Village.

"Let's go check on my older brother's house first!"

Standing on the boundary of Xiahe Village, Li Ping thought for a moment and decided to go to Li Dadan's house to find out what was going on from Feng Xiang.

She hadn't been to Xiahe Village for a long time and didn't know much about the village or which families had daughters ready to be married. Therefore, she had to find someone who knew the situation.

Following her memory, Li Ping arrived at Li Dadan's house and knocked on the door.

"Who?"

A familiar voice came from inside the door.

Li Ping immediately responded loudly, "Sister-in-law, I am Li Ping."

"coming!"

With a creak, the door to Li Dadan's house opened, and Feng Xiang looked at Li Ping outside with a joyful expression: "Little sister, what brings you here? Come in quickly, it's cold outside!"

As she spoke, Feng Xiang welcomed Li Ping into the house, poured her a cup of hot water, and then asked, "Little sister, Da Dan isn't home today."

As soon as she finished speaking, Feng Xiang realized that she had said something pointless. The fact that Li Dadan and Li Feng went to the county town to learn how to do business was arranged by Li Ping's son, Daoge'er, and Li Ping must know about it.

As expected, Li Ping immediately said, "Sister-in-law, I didn't come to see my brother. I just came to see you and also to help arrange a marriage for someone."

"Say marriage?"

Feng Xiang paused for a moment, and memories long buried in her mind resurfaced. She asked in surprise, "Little sister, didn't you stop helping people with matchmaking?"

Feng Xiang knew that Li Ping used to be a matchmaker, and even told Li Ping about the situation of many girls in Xiahe Village who were ready to get married. However, in recent years, Li Ping has given up this business. The reason is very simple: everyone is struggling to make ends meet, so who has spare money to hire a matchmaker to find a wife?

These days, getting married is quite expensive. With the cold disaster sweeping through Qingzhou, very few ordinary people can afford to get married!

Of course, the villagers of Chenjia Village are living much better lives now, and some have spare money, so it's normal for them to ask Li Ping to arrange marriages for them. However...

Feng Xiang didn't quite understand. Li Ping's family was now well-off, with no shortage of money or food and drink. She could have stayed home and been a wealthy housewife. There was no need for her to go back to her old ways and continue to act as a matchmaker.