Matchmaker Wang caught a faceful of spittle and recoiled half a step in disgust, holding her handkerchief loosely over her nose and mouth. Unable to maintain her false smile, she adopted a sharp, spiteful expression:
"Brother Li, don't get so worked up! This is your third son's chance to rise straight to the heavens! Once he joins the Xu Family, he'll feast on fine food and wear silk and satin. Isn't that a hundred times better than chewing wild greens in this mountain backwater? What's wrong with changing his surname? Plenty of people would love to secure this marriage and can't! Besides-"
Her eyes shifted, settling on Li Xuan, who had remained silent throughout, with a hint of disdain.
"Who in all the surrounding villages doesn't know that your third son dreams of Miss Xu day and night? He would scrape the very last copper coin out of your household just to buy her a silk flower."
"Now the Xu Family has shown him such tremendous favor by allowing him to marry into their household. That means they think highly of him! Thirty taels in betrothal gifts might be a little steep, but what is that compared to his feelings for Miss Xu?"
"Third Son, wouldn't you agree? You used to empty your family's pockets for her. Now, to enter the Xu Family honorably and spend your life with Miss Xu, surely you'd be even more willing to part with thirty taels and change your surname... than to buy a few silk flowers?"
She smugly watched the Li family's faces turn ashen.
The despair and terror in Li Zhong's and Wang's eyes, in particular, made her certain.
Given the Li family's third son's old foolish, reckless ways, how utterly bewitched he was by Miss Xu, and how much he loved saving face and putting on a brave front, a little goading from me might really muddle his head enough to agree!
Then the Xu Family will certainly reward me handsomely!
Li Zhong's and Wang's hearts sank to the very bottom. Both stared fixedly at Li Xuan, holding their breath as though awaiting their final judgment.
At last, Li Xuan moved.
He slowly took a step forward, still showing no strong emotion. He merely looked calmly at the smug Matchmaker Wang and asked:
"Auntie Wang, you just said that when Squire Chen's household on East Street took in a live-in son-in-law, he brought fifty taels and a shop?"
Seeing him finally respond-and ask about that, no less-Matchmaker Wang grew even more delighted. Thinking he was comparing the "terms," she hurried to embellish:
"Yes, yes! A full fifty taels of gleaming silver! The shop wasn't large, but it was right on the street! Now that was real sincerity! That's why Shopkeeper Xu..."
Li Xuan nodded thoughtfully, then clicked his tongue softly.
He shook his head, his tone full of exaggerated disappointment and criticism:
"Thirty taels? And some silk? That's it?"
"Huh?" Matchmaker Wang froze, failing to grasp his meaning.
Li Zhong, Wang, and Li Shan all stared at him in bafflement as well.
Li Xuan clasped his hands behind his back, paced a step, and gazed into the distance.
His tone suddenly turned solemn and earnest:
"Auntie Wang, go back and tell Shopkeeper Xu and Miss Xu this. I, Li Xuan, was young and foolish before, and behaved outrageously. But now I've thought things through."
He paused, then spoke slowly while everyone held their breath:
"Miss Xu is a heavenly beauty, educated and gracious, gentle and virtuous. How could a mere thirty taels of silver and a few bolts of silk possibly be worthy of her? That would be an insult to Miss Xu! And a desecration of my sincere feelings!"
Matchmaker Wang's eyes slowly widened. She was struggling to keep up.
Li Xuan's tone grew still more sincere, even taking on a measure of "heartbroken indignation":
"Squire Chen's household? He's nothing but a rice-selling country moneybags. What taste could they possibly have? They offered thirty taels because they couldn't recognize jade set in gold! If I, Li Xuan, am to marry Miss Xu, the betrothal gifts must never be so shabby!"
He extended his right index finger and jabbed it firmly into the air, declaring with absolute finality:
"At least a hundred taels! Of fine silver! And gold bracelets, jade hairpins, and the finest Suzhou brocade! Only then would it barely be worthy of Miss Xu's standing and my sincere devotion! Thirty taels? No! Absolutely not! I, Li Xuan, cannot bear that disgrace! Nor can Miss Xu's dignity be trampled on like that!"
A hundred taels?! Gold bracelets, jade hairpins, and Suzhou brocade?!
A deathly silence fell over the courtyard.
Matchmaker Wang's mouth hung open. She even forgot to flick the red handkerchief in her hand.
The powder on her face seemed to flake off in shock.
Her mind raced. A hundred taels! Good heavens! If this really goes through, how much will my matchmaking fee be?
Enough to buy a little shop in town, surely?
This third son of the Li family... could he have run into some evil spirit in the mountains yesterday and lost his mind?
But... what he's saying seems... quite reasonable?
The higher the betrothal gifts, the more prestige the bride's family gains-and the more glory I get as the matchmaker!
Li Zhong and Wang had turned completely to stone, staring at Li Xuan as though he were a stranger.
A hundred taels? Third Brother, he...
Has he truly gone mad? Or has something unclean possessed him?
Leaning on his crutch, Li Shan stared at his youngest son, his chest heaving.
"You, you..."
What trick is this boy hiding in his gourd?
After finishing, Li Xuan politely cupped his hands toward the still-bewildered Matchmaker Wang:
"Auntie Wang, sorry for the trouble, but please deliver my words to the Xu Family exactly as I said them. Though I, Li Xuan, am poor now, my ambitions are not! I must never wrong Miss Xu with shabby betrothal gifts!"
"Once I've saved up betrothal gifts worthy of one in a hundred, I will come to ask for her hand in grand style! Until then, please ask Miss Xu to wait patiently, and not lower her standing for the thirty-tael gifts of some stray cat or dog!"
This barrage of "lofty pronouncements" left Matchmaker Wang dizzy.
But the words "a hundred taels," "gold and jade," and "Suzhou brocade" glittered like gold in her mind.
Who cares whether the Li family's third son has gone mad? The Xu Family will certainly be delighted to hear this!
At least this trip won't have been wasted. I might even get something out of it!
Her face immediately filled with an exceedingly radiant, almost fawning smile:
"Oh my! Listen to that! Just listen to what your third son said! Now that's a fine young man with ambition and a sense of responsibility! Loyal and devoted! He treats money like dirt and values only true love!"
"I'll be sure to pass that on! Every single word! Shopkeeper Xu and Miss Xu will be overjoyed when they hear it!"
As she spoke, she swayed her hips and headed out, bubbling with delight.
"Just wait for the good news! Just wait!"
With that, she hurried out through the courtyard gate, as though afraid Li Xuan might change his mind.
Her merry steps made her look as though she had just picked up a hundred taels of silver.
Even after Matchmaker Wang vanished down the village road, an eerie silence still lingered over the Li family's courtyard.
"Third... Third Brother..."
Li Zhong was the first to recover. He stammered, his face full of worry and lingering fright:
"You... what were you saying? A hundred taels? And gold bracelets and jade hairpins? Our family... where would our family get..."
Wang also snapped out of her daze, stamping her foot in anxiety:
"Third Brother! Has anger muddled your head? The Xu Family is plainly trying to trap us! Thirty taels would already be the death of us, and you went and said a hundred? You... aren't you deliberately..."
She wanted to say, "deliberately making us a laughingstock," but feared provoking Li Xuan.
Li Shan stared hard at Li Xuan and asked in a deep voice:
"Xuan, what exactly are you trying to do?"
"Were you serious about what you just said...?!"
Yet, to their surprise, after Matchmaker Wang left, Li Xuan's expression changed again.
Looking at his dumbfounded family, he suddenly clutched his stomach and burst out laughing.
"Father, Big Brother, Sister-in-law, did what I just said sound serious to you?"
"Do you know what Praising to Death means?"
Before you continue