Transmigrated as an Unwanted Ugly Girl

Chapter 527: Chapter 275: Qingmu’s Wedding (Part 1)

Every time Zhang Huai went to Qinghui, Juhua had him buy a great many books, or she would ask Li Changyu to collect various titles on her behalf. She wanted Qingmu and Zhang Huai to broaden their horizons, open their minds, and enrich their knowledge through reading. To this end, Juhua spent a considerable amount of her savings to gradually fill the shelves of Qingmu’s study.

Buying books was an expensive endeavor, so Juhua urged Zhang Huai not to spend his own Silver. If he wanted to read, he could simply borrow from Qingmu’s collection—the Zhang family couldn’t afford to buy so many books. Even so, Zhang Huai still bought a few himself, mostly for Zhang Yang. He also studied alongside Zhang Yang, who acted as his tutor at home.

Huai Zi suddenly chuckled. ’We’re just farmers and fish-breeders, yet we study so hard. We don’t do it to seek official rank or show off our literary flair to others. We just do it because we want to. Do you think that counts as what the sage meant by, ’When substance and refinement are balanced, then one is a gentleman’?’

Juhua let out a soft laugh. She knew he was referring to the passage in the *Analects*: ”Where substance prevails over refinement, you have a rustic. Where refinement prevails over substance, you have a scribe. Only when substance and refinement are in appropriate balance do you have a gentleman.”

She rolled her eyes at him playfully. ’A gentleman? You’re still a million miles from that. But at least with a few books under your belt, you’re not so uncouth anymore. And you haven’t turned into some pedantic Scholar, so I guess you’re not what the quote calls a ’scribe’ either!’

Zhang Huai listened, smiling.

Lately, he had grown very fond of reading and discussing books with her. It would be even more wonderful in the spring or summer, reading together under the flowering trees in the courtyard, but they were always too busy back then to find such quiet moments.

Sometimes Qingmu and Zhang Yang would join them, and the four of them would discuss things together. Zhang Yang claimed it kept his mind nimble and was much better than just burying his nose in a book alone, so he often came up with questions to pester them with. The only thing was, the others were all completely unorthodox. They paid no mind to stylistic conventions or schools of classical thought, simply speaking whatever came to mind. At times, their insights would lead to a sudden breakthrough for him; at other times, they left him utterly exasperated!

Just as the two were enjoying their conversation, they suddenly spotted the old grand-aunt. She was carrying a Lanzi of some sort and hobbling down the pebble path, lined with a mix of peach and willow trees, on her way to the river.

Zhang Huai jumped in alarm. He quickly pulled Juhua into the bamboo grove and whispered in her ear, ’Whoa! She almost saw us! We would’ve gotten an earful! Wait till she’s down by the river, then you sneak home. If you don’t, she’ll spot the two of us when she’s done washing and turns around.’ There was a genuine hint of panic in his voice.

Seeing him acting so furtive, Juhua couldn’t help but start shaking with laughter. She leaned against Zhuzi for a good while before she calmed down, then pushed his hand away. ’Then why are you still holding onto me? Honestly. Anyway, my brother is getting married in two days, so you shouldn’t come looking for me. After Sister Yunlan joins the family, won’t they all be leaving? It’s not good for us to be seen like this. It’s different from usual; everyone around right now is family.’

Huai Zi nodded apologetically. ’You’re right. I wasn’t going to call you out today, but I bought some land and I just couldn’t wait to tell you about it. It won’t happen again tomorrow. I’m busy during the day anyway, so I’ll just study with Yangzi at night. I won’t go over to your place.’ With that, he urged her to leave.

Over the next two days, a heavy snow began to fall.

Heaven seemed to be smiling on them. On the thirtieth day of the eleventh month, the day before the wedding, the snow finally stopped. By noon, the sun had even come out.

Gazing at the thick piles of cottony snow outside, Zheng Changhe sighed, his brow furrowed with worry. ’What are we going to do? The snow is so thick, the roads will be a mess. And once the sun comes out, everything will be wet and slushy. The guests are going to hate it. This is just the worst luck.’

Juhua quickly comforted him. ’Dad, you shouldn’t look at it that way. Isn’t there a saying, ’A timely snow promises a bountiful year’? You should be happy! A wedding in such heavy snow means next year’s harvest will be good. What a wonderful omen! We can just clear the snow out of the courtyard now, and everything will dry up once the sun is fully out.’

The old grand-aunt shot Juhua an appreciative glance, praising her for her clever words. Then she turned to Zheng Changhe. ’On such a happy day, why would you say something so unlucky? Juhua is right. This snow is a good thing. A wedding in a heavy snow like this brings prosperity! You’ve prepared everything perfectly, and you have so many people coming to help. What is there to worry about?’

Juhua’s maternal grandmother, eldest maternal uncle, and his wife had all rushed over early that morning precisely to lend a hand.

Her eldest uncle, Yang Defa, chuckled. ’Changhe, once the helpers arrive, you can stop worrying. Just focus on waiting for your daughter-in-law to arrive. The one who should really be worried is Liu Fugui! He’s prepared a huge dowry for his daughter, and now getting it here is going to be a real headache. Hmm, but it won’t be easy on our end either. We’ll need to send more people for the bridal procession, otherwise we’ll never get all that dowry back here.’